World Settings Overrides

Version History

Build Version	Change Date	Change Type	Description
676042	2025-06-21	stable	Current version

Overview

The worldsettings_overrides module provides a comprehensive system for customizing Don't Starve Together gameplay through world generation settings. It offers hundreds of configurable parameters that control monster spawning, resource abundance, seasonal mechanics, environmental hazards, and survival difficulty across all aspects of the game.

Usage Example

-- The world settings system is typically used during world generation
local worldsettings_overrides = require("worldsettings_overrides")

-- Apply pre-generation overrides
worldsettings_overrides.Pre.deerclops("often")
worldsettings_overrides.Pre.regrowth("fast")

-- Apply post-generation overrides (after TheWorld exists)
worldsettings_overrides.Post.hounds("always")
worldsettings_overrides.Post.weather("rare")

Core Functions

OverrideTuningVariables(tuning)

Status: stable

Description: Applies tuning variable overrides to the global TUNING table, preserving original values in ORIGINAL_TUNING for potential restoration. Includes development build validation to prevent typos in tuning keys.

Parameters:

• tuning (table): Key-value pairs of tuning variables to override

Returns:

• None (modifies global TUNING table)

Example:

-- Override multiple tuning variables
OverrideTuningVariables({
    DEERCLOPS_ATTACKS_PER_SEASON = 8,
    BEEHIVE_BEES = 10,
    REGROWTH_TIME_MULTIPLIER = 3
})

Implementation Details:

-- Actual implementation from source code
function OverrideTuningVariables(tuning)
    if tuning ~= nil then
        for k, v in pairs(tuning) do
            if BRANCH == "dev" then
                assert(TUNING[k] ~= nil, string.format("%s does not exist in TUNING, either fix the spelling, or add the value to TUNING.", k))
            end
            ORIGINAL_TUNING[k] = TUNING[k]
            TUNING[k] = v
        end
    end
end

Validation Features:

• Development Validation: Asserts that tuning keys exist in TUNING table
• Backup System: Preserves original values in ORIGINAL_TUNING
• Error Messages: Provides helpful feedback for missing tuning variables
• Nil Safety: Handles nil tuning parameter gracefully

Pre-Generation Overrides

Giants Category

Giants are major boss creatures that appear seasonally or under specific conditions.

deerclops(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Configures Deerclops spawn frequency and seasonal behavior through tuning variable overrides.

Implementation:

deerclops = function(difficulty)
    local tuning_vars = {
        never = {
            SPAWN_DEERCLOPS = false,
        },
        rare = {
            DEERCLOPS_ATTACKS_PER_SEASON = 2,
            DEERCLOPS_ATTACKS_OFF_SEASON = false,
        },
        often = {
            DEERCLOPS_ATTACKS_PER_SEASON = 8,
            DEERCLOPS_ATTACKS_OFF_SEASON = false,
        },
        always = {
            DEERCLOPS_ATTACKS_PER_SEASON = 10,
            DEERCLOPS_ATTACKS_OFF_SEASON = true,
        },
    }
    OverrideTuningVariables(tuning_vars[difficulty])
end

Difficulty Levels:

• "never": Disables Deerclops spawning completely (SPAWN_DEERCLOPS = false)
• "rare": 2 attacks per season, no off-season attacks
• "default": 4 attacks per season, no off-season attacks (commented default)
• "often": 8 attacks per season, no off-season attacks
• "always": 10 attacks per season with off-season attacks enabled

Example:

-- Set Deerclops to attack frequently
local worldsettings_overrides = require("worldsettings_overrides")
worldsettings_overrides.Pre.deerclops("often")

-- Result: TUNING.DEERCLOPS_ATTACKS_PER_SEASON = 8
--         TUNING.DEERCLOPS_ATTACKS_OFF_SEASON = false

bearger(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Controls Bearger spawn probability during autumn.

Difficulty Levels:

• "never": Disables Bearger spawning
• "rare": 50% spawn chance
• "often": Multiple spawn opportunities
• "always": Guaranteed spawns

beequeen(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Manages Bee Queen spawning requirements and respawn timing.

Tuning Variables:

• BEEQUEEN_RESPAWN_TIME: Time between respawns
• BEEQUEEN_SPAWN_WORK_THRESHOLD: Minimum work required to trigger spawn

Monsters Category

Hostile creatures and their spawning mechanics.

lureplants(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Controls Lureplant spawning frequency across the world.

Difficulty Levels:

• "never": No Lureplant spawning
• "rare": 10-day intervals with 2-day variance
• "often": 3-day intervals with 1-day variance
• "always": 2-day intervals with 0.5-day variance

spiders_setting(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Configures spider den population and behavior.

Configuration Parameters:

-- Example spider configuration for "many" difficulty
SPIDERDEN_SPIDERS = {4, 8, 12}        -- Spiders per den level
SPIDERDEN_WARRIORS = {0, 2, 6}        -- Warriors per den level
SPIDERDEN_EMERGENCY_WARRIORS = {0, 8, 16}  -- Emergency response
SPIDERDEN_REGEN_TIME = TUNING.SEG_TIME * 1.5  -- Regeneration time

Animals Category

Wildlife and passive creature spawning.

bees_setting(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Controls bee population in hives and bee boxes.

Parameters:

• BEEHIVE_BEES: Number of bees per wild hive
• BEEHIVE_EMERGENCY_BEES: Emergency response count
• BEEHIVE_RELEASE_TIME: Time between bee releases
• BEEHIVE_REGEN_TIME: Bee regeneration interval

hunt(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Manages Koalefant hunt frequency and mechanics.

Difficulty Scaling:

-- Hunt frequency by difficulty
never:   HUNT_COOLDOWN = -1              -- Disabled
rare:    HUNT_COOLDOWN = 2.4 days        -- Infrequent
often:   HUNT_COOLDOWN = 0.6 days        -- Frequent  
always:  HUNT_COOLDOWN = 0.3 days        -- Very frequent

Resources Category

Resource regeneration and abundance settings.

regrowth(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Universal resource regrowth time multiplier affecting all renewable resources.

Multiplier Values:

• "never": 0 (no regrowth)
• "veryslow": 0.15 (very slow regrowth)
• "slow": 0.33 (slow regrowth)
• "fast": 3 (fast regrowth)
• "veryfast": 7 (very fast regrowth)

flowers_regrowth(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Specific regrowth multiplier for flower regeneration.

evergreen_regrowth(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Controls evergreen tree regrowth timing.

Post-Generation Overrides

These overrides are applied after world creation when TheWorld entity exists.

Season Configuration

autumn(difficulty), winter(difficulty), spring(difficulty), summer(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Sets the length of each season using predefined length categories.

Season Lengths:

-- Friendly seasons (autumn, spring)
SEASON_FRIENDLY_LENGTHS = {
    noseason = 0,
    veryshortseason = TUNING.SEASON_LENGTH_FRIENDLY_VERYSHORT,
    shortseason = TUNING.SEASON_LENGTH_FRIENDLY_SHORT,
    default = TUNING.SEASON_LENGTH_FRIENDLY_DEFAULT,
    longseason = TUNING.SEASON_LENGTH_FRIENDLY_LONG,
    verylongseason = TUNING.SEASON_LENGTH_FRIENDLY_VERYLONG
}

-- Harsh seasons (winter, summer)  
SEASON_HARSH_LENGTHS = {
    noseason = 0,
    veryshortseason = TUNING.SEASON_LENGTH_HARSH_VERYSHORT,
    -- ... similar structure
}

Example:

-- Set long autumn and short winter
worldsettings_overrides.Post.autumn("longseason")
worldsettings_overrides.Post.winter("shortseason")

Weather and Environment

weather(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Controls precipitation frequency and intensity.

Weather Modes:

• "never": No precipitation
• "rare": Dynamic mode with 0.5x moisture scale
• "often": Dynamic mode with 2x moisture scale
• "always": Constant precipitation
• "squall": Dynamic mode with 30x moisture scale (intense storms)

lightning(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Configures lightning strike frequency and conditions.

Lightning Modes:

-- Lightning configuration examples
never:   { mode = "never", delay = {} }
rare:    { mode = "rain", delay = {min = 60, max = 90} }
often:   { mode = "any", delay = {min = 10, max = 20} }
always:  { mode = "always", delay = {min = 10, max = 30} }

Gameplay Mechanics

spawnmode(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Sets player respawn behavior and ghost mechanics.

basicresource_regrowth(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Enables or disables basic resource renewal (sticks, grass, etc.).

resettime(difficulty)

Status: stable

Description: Configures world reset timing for abandoned worlds.

Reset Time Options:

none:     nil                                -- No reset
slow:     { time = 240, loadingtime = 360 }  -- 4 minutes
default:  { time = 120, loadingtime = 180 }  -- 2 minutes  
fast:     { time = 60, loadingtime = 90 }    -- 1 minute
always:   { instant = true }                 -- Immediate

Constants

SEASON_FRIENDLY_LENGTHS

Type: table

Status: stable

Description: Lookup table for friendly season (autumn, spring) duration values.

SEASON_HARSH_LENGTHS

Type: table

Status: stable

Description: Lookup table for harsh season (winter, summer) duration values.

NEVER_TIME

Value: TUNING.TOTAL_DAY_TIME * 9999999999

Status: stable

Description: Effectively infinite time value used to disable time-based mechanics.

Utility Functions

areaambientdefault(prefab)

Status: stable

Description: Sets default ambient sound overrides for different world types (surface vs cave).

Parameters:

• prefab (string): World type identifier ("cave" or surface world)

Example:

-- Set cave ambient sounds
worldsettings_overrides.areaambientdefault("cave")

Integration Points

World Generation Pipeline

The override system integrates with world generation at multiple stages:

1. Pre-Generation: Tuning variables are modified before world creation
2. Post-Generation: World events are triggered after entity instantiation
3. Runtime: Some settings can be modified during gameplay

Event System Integration

-- Example event dispatching for season length
TheWorld:PushEvent("ms_setseasonlength", {
    season = "winter", 
    length = SEASON_HARSH_LENGTHS["shortseason"]
})

-- Weather system integration
TheWorld:PushEvent("ms_setprecipitationmode", "dynamic")
TheWorld:PushEvent("ms_setmoisturescale", 2.0)

Configuration Categories

Difficulty Scaling Patterns

Most overrides follow consistent difficulty scaling:

• Never/None: Feature completely disabled
• Rare/Few: Minimal frequency/intensity
• Default: Balanced baseline gameplay
• Often/Many: Increased frequency/intensity
• Always/Max: Maximum frequency/intensity

Temporal Scaling

Time-based settings typically scale in consistent ratios:

-- Common scaling pattern for spawn intervals
rare:    base_time * 2     -- Half frequency
default: base_time         -- Normal frequency  
often:   base_time * 0.5   -- Double frequency
always:  base_time * 0.25  -- Quadruple frequency

Related Modules

• World Settings Util: Utility functions for world settings timers
• Tuning: Base tuning values that can be overridden
• Constants: Game constants used in override calculations
• Season Manager: Handles season length and transitions
• Weather: Weather system integration