Mound

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-06

Overview

mound is a static world entity representing a buried grave. It functions as a loot-generating feature that becomes accessible when dug up using the DIG action. The mound uses the workable component for excavation, childspawner to spawn ghosts periodically (especially under full moons), hauntable to respond to haunt interactions, and lootdropper to release items. It also integrates with DST's full moon cycles and Halloween-specific event systems.

The entity registers listeners on the world state (isfullmoon) to toggle ghost spawning behavior and persists its dug state via OnSave/OnLoad.

Usage example

-- Spawn a mound at world position
local mound = SpawnPrefab("mound")
mound.Transform:SetPosition(x, y, z)

-- Once dug (e.g., via player action), it drops loot and may spawn ghosts:
-- - Loot: nightmarefuel, trinkets, gems, cooking recipe cards, pumpkin carvers, scrapbook pages, ornaments
-- - Ghosts: occasionally during excavation, especially on full moons
-- - Halloween bats: 3 bats may spawn over time if luck rolls succeed

Dependencies & tags

Components used: inspectable, workable, lootdropper, hauntable, childspawner, sanity, spooked, specialeventsetup, health, age Tags: Adds grave, buried

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
ghost	entity reference	nil	Reference to the spawned ghost entity, if any.
ghost_of_a_chance	number	0.1	Base probability (10%) of spawning a ghost when dug.
scrapbook_anim	string	"gravedirt"	Animation name used for scrapbook representation.
components.workable	Workable component	nil (removed after digging)	Workable state management.
components.childspawner	ChildSpawner component	Initialized	Controls ghost spawning behavior.

Main functions

onfinishcallback(inst, worker)

• Description: Executed when the mound is fully dug. Plays the "dug" animation, removes the workable component, applies sanity penalty to the worker, and handles loot spawning and ghost/bat/orament spawning logic.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — The mound entity.
  • worker (entity or nil) — The entity that performed the digging action. May be nil in some cases.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: No explicit error handling; relies on component existence checks (worker.components.sanity ~= nil, etc.). Ghost/spawn logic uses luck rolls to probabilistically determine outcomes.

ReturnChildren(inst)

• Description: Removes all children currently outside the mound (i.e., spawned ghosts), either by calling "detachchild" and Remove() on sleeping ones, or by killing active ones.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — The mound entity.
• Returns: Nothing.

spawnghost(inst, chance, worker)

• Description: Attempts to spawn a ghost at a slight offset from the mound. Uses TryLuckRoll with LuckFormulas.ChildSpawnerRareChild.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — The mound entity.
  • chance (number or nil) — Override spawn chance; defaults to nil, falling back to inst.ghost_of_a_chance.
  • worker (entity) — Used for luck roll calculation.
• Returns: true if ghost spawned successfully, false otherwise.

onfullmoon(inst, isfullmoon)

• Description: Callback triggered by world full moon state changes. Enables ghost spawning via StartSpawning/StopRegen on full moons, disables it and clears children on non-full moons.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — The mound entity.
  • isfullmoon (boolean) — Current full moon state.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnHaunt(inst, haunter)

• Description: Callback for haunt interactions. Always returns true (indicating a successful haunt), but original ghost-spawning logic is commented out.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — The mound entity.
  • haunter (entity) — The haunting entity.
• Returns: true.

GetStatus(inst)

• Description: Returns "DUG" if the workable component has been removed (i.e., after excavation), otherwise returns nil.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — The mound entity.
• Returns: string "DUG" if dug, or nil.

OnSave(inst, data)

• Description: Serializes state for persistence. Sets data.dug = true if workable component is absent.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — The mound entity.
  • data (table) — Save data table.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnLoad(inst, data)

• Description: Restores state on load. Removes workable and sets animation to "dug" if data.dug is true or workable is missing.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — The mound entity.
  • data (table or nil) — Loaded save data.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to:
  • "onremove" — Sets inst.ghost = nil to prevent dangling references when the ghost is removed.
  • World state "isfullmoon" — Triggers onfullmoon(inst, TheWorld.state.isfullmoon) to manage spawning behavior.
• Pushes:
  • "on_loot_dropped" — Indirectly via lootdropper:SpawnLootPrefab (fired by loot entity).
  • "loot_prefab_spawned" — Indirectly via lootdropper:SpawnLootPrefab (fired by mound).
  • "sanitydelta" — Indirectly via sanity:DoDelta.
  • "gosane"/"goinsane"/"goenlightened" — Indirectly via sanity change.
  • "detachchild" — Pushed to child ghosts before removal.