Subworlds

Barren



Forest



Frozen



Jungle



Magma



Marsh



Ocean



Oil



Rust



Sandstone



Space

This section explains how subworlds are generated.The default subworld groups, each of which corresponds to a folder in the "\subworlds" directory, are:Each subworld group contains a number of subworlds. In Volcanea, the Sandstone subworlds used in worldgen are "SandstoneStart", "SandstoneMiniMetal", and "SandstoneMiniWater". ("Sandstone" is loaded, but not generated.) The topographical differences between those subworlds are relatively minor. The most notable difference is the presence of lakes, which "SandstoneMiniMetal" does not generate.Looking at other Sandstone subworlds not used by Volcanea, we can find subworlds with similar topographies but different environments, as in the case of the "Cold" Sandstone variants. Note the only difference between the two subworlds below, "SandstoneMiniMetal" and "SandstoneMiniMetalCold", is the temperatureRange parameter.More noticeable differences can be found elsewhere. "JungleFrozen", a subworld not used in Volcanea, contains no lifeforms indigenous to the "Jungle" subworld, except the morb. This is because the flora and fauna of the Jungle subworld require high temperatures to grow. See below.This example should be followed as a rule. Generating critters or plants in a subworld that is too cold or hot for them to survive has very limited function and is generally bad design.Subworld borders should be an important consideration in this regard. Avoid generating subworlds adjacent to others that vary drastically in temperature without an abyssalite border.An exception to this can be seen in the Oasisse asteroid, where part of the world's difficulty is in the need to quickly insulate the borders of the starting subworld against the enroaching heat of the surrounding subworlds.By default, starting subworlds have a granite ("rocky") border, which offers limited insulation. Abyssalite ("hardToDig") border should not be used for the starting subworld, primarily so that the player has the opportunity to explore without needing a Duplicant skilled in Superhard Digging.More creative uses of worldgen will naturally deviate further from typical world types, and may bend or break the usual rules of world building. See below for an example I generated for the sake of this guide. Whatever type of world you build, the most important criterion to hold it to should be whether or not other players will find it fun to create a colony in it.Below are all the subworld parameters whose functions I have tested and understand to some degree.determines the subworld's terrain structure. An illustration of each noise type will be given in the Noise section of the guide.determines the temperature of the subworld. Possible temperature ranges can be found in "\worldgen\temperatures.yaml".determines the size of the subworld. Smaller values generate smaller subworlds.seems to determine the population of the subworld, with higher values seeming to generate less critters and plants. More testing is needed.forces the given subworld border type. Possible border types can be found in "\worldgen\borders.yaml".references biome data ("name"), found in "\worldgen\biomes", determines the distribution of that data throughout the subworld when referencing multiple biomes ("weight"), and determines the flora and fauna of the subworld ("tags").anddetermine which features can be generated in the subworld, but do not guarantee that any feature will be generated. centralFeature is a single feature that has priority over other features. Features can be found in the "\worldgen\features" directory.determines which templates will be generated in the subworld. If a subworld lists a POI to be generated, exactly one instance of all instances of that subworld in the world will have the given POI generated in it. If multiple POI are listed, each POI will have equal chance of being generated.are drawn from a template like POI, but are generated similar to features. While there can only be one of any given POI in the world at one time, there can be any number of featureTemplates, including multiple in the same subworld. The only featureTemplates in base game are geysers, generated by "globalFeatureTemplates", and volcanoes, generated in volcanic subworlds. featureTemplates are found in the "\StreamingAssets\templates\features" folder.assigns particular limits to the subworld. I have not tested the function of most of these. NoGlobalFeatureSpawning, which refers to "globalFeatureTemplates", is particularly useful for controlling where geysers and volcanoes are generated. IgnoreCaveOverride overrides subworld noise generation to disallow vacuum, essential for any volcanic subworld.determines the background qualities of the subworld block. Each zoneType has its own color scheme and patterning. The "Space" zoneType is unique in that it creates vacuum.Note that the subworld given in "startSubworldName", in the world .yaml, must be given the centralFeature "features/generic/StartLocation" and each subworld in the greater starting subworld must be given the tag "StartWorld".