DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine News

[h3]Q: How do I download DFHack?[/h3]
A: Either add to your Steam library from our Steam page or scroll to the latest release on our GitHub releases page, expand the "Assets" list, and download the file for your platform (e.g. dfhack-XX.XX-rX-Windows-64bit.zip. If you are on Windows and are manually installing from the zip file, please remember to right click on the file after downloading, open the file properties, and select the "Unblock" checkbox. This will prevent issues with Windows antivirus programs.

This release is compatible with all distributions of Dwarf Fortress: Steam, Itch, and Classic.

• Install DFHack from Steam
• Manual install
• Quickstart guide (for players)
• Modding guide (for modders)

Please report any issues (or feature requests) on the DFHack GitHub issue tracker. When reporting issues, please upload a zip file of your savegame and a zip file of your mods directory to the cloud and add links to the GitHub issue. Make sure your files are downloadable by "everyone with the link". We need your savegame to reproduce the problem and test the fix, and we need your active mods so we can load your savegame. Issues with savegames and mods attached get fixed first!
[h2]Highlights[/h2][h3]The stonesense stands up[/h3]
Stonesense, the beloved tool that renders your fortress in 3D, has seen some serious love in this release. Thanks to the efforts of new contributor Squid Coder and our own Rome of Oxtrot, longstanding crash bugs are fixed and many quality of life features are added.



Here are some new things to try:

• Hit semicolon (;) to toggle fog (huge performance boost)
• Hit a to toggle announcements (which are now neatly tucked away in the lower right corner)

You can edit the startup configuration in the new dfhack-config/stonesense/init.txt file. For example, you can set the initial window size to 1920x1200 or increase the size of the font used to render text.

Give it a try if you haven't already! It can be breathtaking to see your fortress creations in full 3D!
[h3]Rescue missions for lost squads[/h3]
Occasionally, squads that you send out on a mission get stuck on the world map. They lose their ability to navigate and are unable to return to your fortress. This tool allows a messenger that is returning from a holding or any other of your squads that is returning from a mission to rescue the lost squad along the way and bring them home.



This fix is enabled by default in the DFHack control panel, so you don't need to do anything special to benefit from it. However, it is still up to you to send out a messenger or squad that can be tasked with the rescue. If you have a holding that is linked to your fort, you can send out a messenger – you don’t have to actually request any workers. Otherwise, you can send a squad out on a mission with minimal risk, like “Demand one-time tribute”.

This tool is also integrated with the DFHack notifcation panel, so you will get a notification when a squad is stuck and there are no squads or messengers currently out traveling that can rescue them.



Note that there might be other reasons why your squad appears missing – if it got wiped out in combat and nobody survived to report back, for example – but this tool should allow you to recover from the cases that are actual bugs.
[h3]Rename anything that can be named[/h3]
Sure, you can rename your fortress before you embark, but what about second rename?

Fire up gui/rename, and you can choose from a list of nameable entities in your environment to give a custom name to. This tool works with DFs in-world languages, so you get an interface similar to the one you use to give names to fortresses and governments on embark. It is a little more informative and flexible compared to the vanilla UI, though. For example, you can search for or sort by the English word or the translated language word. You can also change the language of a name, and you can give units new "real" first names.



You can click on something (e.g. a unit) and then run gui/rename to rename it, or you can choose any of the following from an in-tool selection dialog:

• An artifact on the current map
• A unit on the current map
• A squad belonging to the current fortress
• A location (e.g. tavern, hospital, guildhall, temple) on the current map
• The current fortress (or adventurer site)
• The government of the current fortress
• The civilization of the current fortress
• The world

If you run gui/rename while on the “prepare carefully” embark screen, you can choose new names for your starting dwarves.



Modders and power users can also pass game IDs on the commandline to rename other entities like foreign sites or religions.

gui/rename also comes with an overlay for convenience. When generating a new world, you'll get a button for renaming the world before you save it for the first time.



As a side bonus, this tool transparently fixes a DF bug on the embark screen where you are unable to give your starting dwarves nicknames. You'll be able to set nicknames normally now.

More info here: https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/docs/tools/gui/rename.html#gui-rename
[h2]Announcements[/h2][h3]PSAs[/h3]
As always, remember that, just like the vanilla DF game, DFHack tools can also have bugs. It is a good idea to save often and keep backups of the forts that you care about.

Some DFHack tools that worked in previous (pre-Steam) versions of DF have not been updated yet and are marked with the "unavailable" tag in their docs. If you try to run them, they will show a warning and exit immediately. You can run the command again to override the warning (though of course the tools may not work). We make no guarantees of reliability for the tools that are marked as "unavailable".

The in-game interface for running DFHack commands (gui/launcher) will not show "unavailable" tools by default. You can still run them if you know their names, or you can turn on dev mode by hitting Ctrl-D while in gui/launcher and they will be added to the autocomplete list. Some tools listed as "unavailable" in the docs do not compile yet and are not accessible at all, even when in dev mode.

If you see a tool complaining about the lack of a cursor, know that it's referring to the keyboard cursor (which used to be the only real option in Dwarf Fortress). You can enable the keyboard cursor by entering mining mode or selecting the dump/forbid tool and hitting Alt-K (the DFHack keybinding for toggle-kbd-cursor). We're working on making DFHack tools more mouse-aware and accessible so this step isn't necessary in the future.
[h2]New Tools[/h2]

• fix/stuck-squad: allow squads and messengers returning from missions to rescue squads that have gotten stuck on the world map
• gui/rename: (reinstated) give new in-game language-based names to anything that can be named (units, governments, fortresses, the world, etc.)

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• gui/notify: new notification type: save reminder; appears if you have gone more than 15 minutes without saving; click to autosave
• gui/rename:
  • add overlay to worldgen screen allowing you to rename the world before the new world is saved
  • add overlay to the "Prepare carefully" embark screen that transparently fixes a DF bug where you can't give units nicknames or custom professions
• gui/settings-manager:
  • new overlay on the Labor -> Standing Orders tab for configuring the number of barrels to reserve for job use (so you can brew alcohol and not have all your barrels claimed by stockpiles for container storage)
  • standing orders save/load now includes the reserved barrels setting
• orders: add transparent overlays to the manager orders screen that allow right clicks to cancel edit of quantities or condition details instead of exiting to the main screen
• stockpiles: add simple import/export dialogs to stockpile overlay panel
• stonesense:
  • added hotkey to toggle fog ; (default keybinding)
  • added hotkey to toggle announcements: a (default keybinding)
  • added hotkey to toggle debug mode: ~ (default keybinding)
  • added init file config to show announcements (on by default)
  • added init file config for whether Esc is recognized for closing the stonesense window (on by default to match previous behavior)
  • added init file config for whether creature moods and jobs are displayed (off by default)

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• caravan: no longer incorrectly identify wood-based plant items and plant-based soaps as being ethically unsuitable for trading with the elves
• fix/dry-buckets: don't empty buckets for wells that are actively in use
• gui/design: don't require an extra right click on the first cancel of building area designations
• gui/gm-unit: refresh unit sprite when profession is changed
• gui/unit-info-viewer: skill progress bars now show correct XP thresholds for skills past Legendary+5
• preserve-rooms:
  • don't erroneously release reservations for units that have returned from their missions but have not yet entered the fort map
  • handle case where unit records are culled by DF immediately after a unit leaves the map
• preserve-tombs: properly re-enable after loading a game that had the tool enabled
• stockpiles: don't set use_links_only flag to a random value when the flag is not set to anything in the settings that are being imported
• stonesense:
  • fixed crash when maximizing or resizing the window
  • fixed crash when turning the onscreen display (OSD) layer off
• strangemood: ensure generated names for artifacts match what the game itself would generate
• zone: assign animal to cage/restraint dialog now allows you to unassign a pet from the cage or restraint if the pet is already somehow assigned (e.g. war dog was in cage and was subsequently assigned to a dwarf)

[h2]Misc Improvements[/h2]

• caravan: add filter for written works in display furniture assignment dialog
• dig-now: handle digging in pool and river tiles
• fix/wildlife: don't vaporize stuck wildlife that is onscreen -- kill them instead (as if they died from old age)
• gui/sitemap: show primary group affiliation for visitors and invaders (e.g. civilization name or performance troupe)
• immortal-cravings: goblins and other naturally non-eating/non-drinking races will now also satisfy their needs for eating and drinking
• stonesense:
  • changed announcements to be right-aligned and limited to only show the most recent 10 announcements
  • init.txt config file is now read from dfhack-configs/stonesense/init.txt
  • creature names are now hidden by default (they can still be shown by pressing n (default keybinding) while stonesense window is active)
  • use smaller increments for zooming in and out
  • OSD is now hidden by default; hit F2 (default keybinding) to show it again
• strangemood: add ability to choose Stone Cutting and Stone Carving as the mood skill
• suspendmanager: add more specific messages for submerged job sites and those managed by buildingplan

[h2]Documentation[/h2]

• Added example code for creating plugin RPC endpoints that can be used to extend the DFHack API

[h2]Removed[/h2]

• dfhack.TranslateName has been renamed to dfhack.translation.translateName

[h2]API[/h2]

• Persistence :: getUnsavedSeconds: returns the number of seconds since last save or load
• Translation :: generateName: generates in-game names, mirroring DF's internal logic
• Units :: getVisibleName: when acting on a unit without an impersonated identity, returns the unit's name structure instead of the associated histfig's name structure
• Units :: isUnitInBox, Units :: getUnitsInBox: add versions accepting pos arguments

[h2]Internals[/h2]

• Errors when unloading a plugin's DLL are now checked and reported
• Plugin command callbacks are now called with the core suspended by default so DF memory is always safe to access without extra steps

[h2]Lua[/h2]

• dfhack.persistent.getUnsavedSeconds: Lua API for Persistence :: getUnsavedSeconds
• dfhack.translation.generateName: Lua API for Translation :: generateName
• dfhack.units.isUnitInBox, dfhack.units.getUnitsInBox: add versions accepting pos arguments
• widgets.FilteredList: search keys for list items can now be functions that return a string

[h2]Structures[/h2]

• fixed incorrect vtable address for widget superclass on Linux

A quick compatibility update for 50.15. No new features beyond the major release just announced yesterday: https://steamcommunity.com/games/2346660/announcements/detail/519699278946371794

This release is compatible with all distributions of Dwarf Fortress: Steam, Itch, and Classic.

If you are running the DF Steam-only adventure beta, please download by subscribing to DFHack's adventure-beta branch on Steam.

• Install DFHack from Steam
• Manual install
• Quickstart guide (for players)
• Modding guide (for modders)

Please report any issues (or feature requests) on the DFHack GitHub issue tracker. When reporting issues, please upload a zip file of your savegame and a zip file of your mods directory to the cloud and add links to the GitHub issue. Make sure your files are downloadable by "everyone with the link". We need your savegame to reproduce the problem and test the fix, and we need your active mods so we can load your savegame. Issues with savegames and mods attached get fixed first!
[h2]Highlights[/h2][h3]Unstick stuck wildlife[/h3]
Have you noticed that wildlife sometimes gets stuck on the map? This happens most frequently with birds who just seem to freeze in mid-air, but you will also find the occasional giant elephant stuck in a tree (take that, physics!). Stuck wildlife causes issues because they prevent any new wildlife from entering the map, reducing the player's opportunity for FUN.

When the wildlife system is working properly, a small group of creatures enters the map, wanders around for a while (or aggressively attacks you if it is an agitated group), and then leaves the map. Once all members of the group have left, have been killed, or have been caught in cages, then a new wave (potentially of a different species/agitation level) can enter the map.

You can run the fix/wildlife script without parameters to immediately remove currently stuck wildlife, or you can enable it in gui/control-panel on the Bug Fixes tab to monitor and manage wildlife in the background. When enabled from the control panel, it will monitor for stuck wildlife and remove wildlife that has been stuck for 7 days.



Unlike most bugfixes, this one is not enabled by default since some players like to keep wildlife around for creative purposes (e.g. for intentionally stalling wildlife waves or for controlled startling of friendly necromancers). These players can selectively ignore the wildlife they want to keep captive before they enable fix/wildlife.



In related news, the force command has gained the ability to spawn new waves of wildlife: force Wildlife will allow a new wave of wildlife to enter the map regardless of how much wildlife is already wandering around.

Have fun : )
[h3]Improved lifestyles for immortals[/h3]
There's no question about it: being immortal is tough! Fort citizens who are immortal (like necromancers or vampires) have no bodily reason to eat or drink. However, they still have personality needs that can only be satisfied by eating or drinking! Despite not needing the nourishment, they can become distracted and unhappy when they go too long without a good meal.

If you enable immortal-cravings in the DFHack control panel, your distracted immortals will be allowed to satisfy their needs for food and drink like any other citizen. This will help reduce their stress (and solve what many players consider to be a bug), but beware that it will make vampires harder to detect -- they'll no longer have a telltale unmet need for food displayed on their info sheet!


[h3]The sky is no longer the limit[/h3]
Do you dream of castles in the clouds? Enable infinite-sky in the DFHack control panel and go build one!



When enabled, infinite-sky will automatically create new z-levels of sky as you build taller and taller constructions.


[h3]Realistic returns from melting items[/h3]
DF has an odd quirk (just one?) when calculating how many bars of metal you get when melting an item. Depending on the item type, you sometimes get more bars from melting than you used for manufacturing the item in the first place! If this bothers you, you can enable realistic-melting in the Gameplay tab of the DFHack control panel. It normalizes melting returns to about 95% of forging cost per item, with efficiency reductions if the item is damaged.


[h3]Text navigation keys[/h3]
Thanks to the new custom keybindings added in DF 50.14, DFHack text boxes can now support more advanced cursor navigation keys:

• Delete the character at the cursor with the Delete key
• Move the cursor by one word left or right with Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right
• Move the cursor to the beginning or end of the line with Home and End

If any of these hotkeys do not work well for you on your system, you can remap them in the vanilla DF Keybindings config screen. For example, Mac users may want to remap Custom: Ctrl + Left to Meta+Left to avoid conflicts with workspace switching hotkeys.


[h3]Dreamfort tutorial video series[/h3]
The popular Dreamfort quickfort blueprint set now has a video walkthrough! After a showcase of the finished fort, I guide you through each step of fort creation, demonstrating and discussing the design choices of Dreamfort along the way.



Start your journey here: https://youtu.be/N3YpK00Z2VE or browse the entire playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzXx9JcB9oXxmrtkO1y8ZXzBCFEZrKxve



Of course, the written walkthrough is available in-game and online as well if you would rather read: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15TDBebP8rBNvsFbezb9xuKPmGWNzv7j4XZWq1AsfCio/edit?gid=0#gid=0
[h2]Announcements[/h2][h3]PSAs[/h3]
As always, remember that, just like the vanilla DF game, DFHack tools can also have bugs. It is a good idea to save often and keep backups of the forts that you care about.

Some DFHack tools that worked in previous (pre-Steam) versions of DF have not been updated yet and are marked with the "unavailable" tag in their docs. If you try to run them, they will show a warning and exit immediately. You can run the command again to override the warning (though of course the tools may not work). We make no guarantees of reliability for the tools that are marked as "unavailable".

The in-game interface for running DFHack commands (gui/launcher) will not show "unavailable" tools by default. You can still run them if you know their names, or you can turn on dev mode by hitting Ctrl-D while in gui/launcher and they will be added to the autocomplete list. Some tools listed as "unavailable" in the docs do not compile yet and are not accessible at all, even when in dev mode.

If you see a tool complaining about the lack of a cursor, know that it's referring to the keyboard cursor (which used to be the only real option in Dwarf Fortress). You can enable the keyboard cursor by entering mining mode or selecting the dump/forbid tool and hitting Alt-K (the DFHack keybinding for toggle-kbd-cursor). We're working on making DFHack tools more mouse-aware and accessible so this step isn't necessary in the future.
[h2]New Tools[/h2]

• fix/wildlife: prevent wildlife from getting stuck when trying to exit the map. This fix needs to be enabled manually in gui/control-panel on the Bug Fixes tab since not all players want this bug to be fixed (you can intentionally stall wildlife incursions by trapping wildlife in an enclosed area so they are not caged but still cannot escape).
• forceequip: (reinstated) forcibly move items into a unit's inventory
• immortal-cravings: allow immortals to satisfy their cravings for food and drink
• infinite-sky: (reinstated, renamed from infiniteSky) automatically create new z-levels of sky to build in
• justice: pardon a criminal's prison sentence

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• force: add support for a Wildlife event to allow additional wildlife to enter the map
• tweak: realistic-melting: change melting return for inorganic armor parts, shields, weapons, trap components and tools to stop smelters from creating metal, bring melt return for adamantine in line with other metals to ~95% of forging cost. wear reduces melt return by 10% per level

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fix mouse clicks bleeding through resizable DFHack windows when clicking in the space between the frame and the window content
• autobutcher: don't run a scanning and marking cycle on the first tick of a fortress to allow for all custom configuration to be set first
• control-panel: fix error when setting numeric preferences from the commandline
• emigration: save-and-reload no longer resets the emigration cycle timeout
• exportlegends: ensure historical figure race filter is usable after re-entering legends mode with a different loaded world
• fix/loyaltycascade: allow the fix to work on non-dwarven citizens
• geld, ungeld: save-and-reload no longer loses changes done by geld and ungeld for units who are historical figures
• gui/notify: don't classify (peacefully) visiting night creatures as hostile
• gui/quickfort:
  • only print a help blueprint's text once even if the repeat setting is enabled
  • fix build mode evaluation rules to allow placement of furniture and constructions on tiles with stair shapes or without orthagonal floors
• logistics: don't ignore rotten items when applying stockpile logistics operations (e.g. autodump, autoclaim, etc.)
• makeown:
  • quell any active enemy or conflict relationships with converted creatures
  • halt any hostile jobs the unit may be engaged in, like kidnapping
• nestboxes: don't consider eggs to be infertile just because the mother has left the nest; eggs can still hatch in this situation
• rejuvenate: fix error when specifying --age parameter
• timestream:
  • adjust the incubation counter on fertile eggs so they hatch at the expected time
  • adjust the timeout on traps so they can be re-triggered at normal rates

[h2]Misc Improvements[/h2]

• DFHack now verifies that critical DF data structures have known sizes and refuses to start if there is a mismatch
• DFHack text edit fields now delete the character at the cursor when you hit the Delete key
• DFHack text edit fields now move the cursor by one word left or right with Ctrl-Left and Ctrl-Right
• DFHack text edit fields now move the cursor to the beginning or end of the line with Home and End
• Quickfort blueprint library:
  • aquifer_tap blueprint walkthough rewritten for clarity
  • aquifer_tap blueprint now designated at priority 3 and marks the stairway tile below the tap in "blueprint" mode to prevent drips while the drainage pipe is being prepared
• buildingplan: add value info to item selection dialog (effectively ungrouping items with different values) and add sorting by value
• fix/occupancy: additionally handle the case where tile building occupancy needs to be set instead of cleared
• fix/stuck-worship: reduced console output by default. Added --verbose and --quiet options.
• gui/design:
  • add dimensions tooltip to vanilla zone painting interface
  • new gui/design.rightclick overlay that allows you to cancel out of partially drawn box and minecart designations without canceling completely out of drawing mode
• gui/gm-editor: automatically resolve and display names for language_name fields
• gui/pathable: improve calculation and visualization of wagon path to depot
• idle-crafting: also support making shell crafts for workshops with linked input stockpiles
• necronomicon: new --world option to list all secret-containing items in the entire world
• orders: orders sort now moves orders that are tied to a specific workshop to the top of the list in the global manager orders screen
• preserve-rooms: automatically release room reservations for captured squad members. we were kidding ourselves with our optimistic kept reservations. they're unlikely to come back : ((
• timestream: improve FPS by a further 10%

[h2]Documentation[/h2]

• Dreamfort: add link to Dreamfort tutorial youtube series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzXx9JcB9oXxmrtkO1y8ZXzBCFEZrKxve
• The error message that comes up if there is a version mismatch between DF and DFHack now informs you which DF versions are supported by the installed version of DFHack

[h2]Removed[/h2]

• UI focus strings for squad panel flows combined into a single tree: dwarfmode/SquadEquipment -> dwarfmode/Squads/Equipment, dwarfmode/SquadSchedule -> dwarfmode/Squads/Schedule
• faststart: removed since the vanilla startup sequence is now sufficiently fast
• modtools/force: merged into force

[h2]API[/h2]

• DFHack :: Units: new function setPathGoal
• Units :: setAutomaticProfessions: bay12-provided entry point to assign labors based on work details

[h2]Lua[/h2]

• dfhack.units: new function setPathGoal
• widgets.TabBar: updated to allow for horizontal scrolling of tabs when there are too many to fit in the available space

[h2]Structures[/h2]

• added unitst_set_automatic_professions entry point export to list of known globals

This release is compatible with all distributions of Dwarf Fortress: Steam, Itch, and Classic.

• Install DFHack from Steam
• Manual install
• Quickstart guide (for players)
• Modding guide (for modders)

Please report any issues (or feature requests) on the DFHack GitHub issue tracker. When reporting issues, please upload a zip file of your savegame and a zip file of your mods directory to the cloud and add links to the GitHub issue. Make sure your files are downloadable by "everyone with the link". We need your savegame to reproduce the problem and test the fix, and we need your active mods so we can load your savegame. Issues with savegames and mods attached get fixed first!
[h2]Announcements[/h2][h3]PSAs[/h3]
As always, remember that, just like the vanilla DF game, DFHack tools can also have bugs. It is a good idea to save often and keep backups of the forts that you care about.

Many DFHack tools that worked in previous (pre-Steam) versions of DF have not been updated yet and are marked with the "unavailable" tag in their docs. If you try to run them, they will show a warning and exit immediately. You can run the command again to override the warning (though of course the tools may not work). We make no guarantees of reliability for the tools that are marked as "unavailable".

The in-game interface for running DFHack commands (gui/launcher) will not show "unavailable" tools by default. You can still run them if you know their names, or you can turn on dev mode by hitting Ctrl-D while in gui/launcher and they will be added to the autocomplete list. Some tools do not compile yet and are not available at all, even when in dev mode.

If you see a tool complaining about the lack of a cursor, know that it's referring to the keyboard cursor (which used to be the only real option in Dwarf Fortress). You can enable the keyboard cursor by entering mining mode or selecting the dump/forbid tool and hitting Alt-K (the DFHack keybinding for toggle-kbd-cursor). We're working on making DFHack tools more mouse-aware and accessible so this step isn't necessary in the future.
[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• autobutcher: fix regression in ordering of butcherable animals
• preserve-rooms: don't reserve a room for citizens that you expel from the fort

On Steam, this release is available on the DFHack default "None" channel (for DF 50.13), the adventure-beta channel (for DF 51.01-beta), and the 50.14testing channel (for DF 50.14-beta).

This release is compatible with all distributions of Dwarf Fortress: Steam, Itch, and Classic.

• Install DFHack from Steam
• Manual install
• Quickstart guide (for players)
• Modding guide (for modders)

Please report any issues (or feature requests) on the DFHack GitHub issue tracker. When reporting issues, please upload a zip file of your savegame and a zip file of your mods directory to the cloud and add links to the GitHub issue. Make sure your files are downloadable by "everyone with the link". We need your savegame to reproduce the problem and test the fix, and we need your active mods so we can load your savegame. Issues with savegames and mods attached get fixed first!
[h2]Highlights[/h2][h3]Idle crafting[/h3]
Dwarves will now have to option to go craft something when they have the need. The only thing you have to do is designate a Craftsdwarf's workshop as a place where dwarves can elect to go to do their crafting.

At the bottom of the "Workers" tab, you'll now see an option for "Allow idle dwarves to satisfy crafting needs". The option will only be toggleable if the workshop is not already assigned to a master. If you set this option to "yes", then you'll see crafting jobs start to appear as your idle dwarves figure it's time to go craft something. Feel free to trade those crafts away to the next caravan!

Although you can designate any Craftsdwarf's workshop as an idle crafting designation, this feature works best if you build a separate Craftsdwarf's workshop (or two) specifically for idle crafting. If you set the number of "General work orders allowed" to zero on the "Work orders" tab for the workshop then the workshop is kept free for dwarves to use in their down time.

If you have the "Permitted General Work Order Labors" customized for the workshop, the kinds of crafting jobs that dwarves will do there will respect the setting. Note that you must have at least one of Stonecrafting or Bone Carving enabled for the workshop to be used for idle crafting. You can also link the workshop to a stockpile to control which materials will be used for the crafts.


[h3]Room reservations[/h3]
This is actually two features in one: a bugfix and a quality of life tool. The bugfix part takes effect automatically when a unit leaves the map. The most common situation is a squad going out on a raid. You may have noticed that when a unit leaves the map, they lose ownership of all their rooms. If you have carefully assigned specific bedrooms to your squad members, you'll be annoyed to see the rooms snagged by some random dwarf while your squad is away. This is even more impactful if you have nobility or administrators in the squad: their room requirements will be suddenly unmet.

Now, when your units leave the map, their room will be reserved in their names for when they get back. The room's zone will be disabled, and you'll see a message when you click on the zone telling you who the room is reserved for. You have the option of cancelling the reservation and making the room available for general use, if you want to. The reservation is automatically canceled if the owner is killed while away on their raid.

The second part of this feature is the ability to reserve rooms for specific noble or administrative roles. You can make a fine office and pre-reserve it for when a baron is appointed. The office will be disabled until a baron appears, and when the role becomes filled, the room will be automatically assigned to the role holder. You can even prepare for the situation where you have many barons. If you reserve 10 fine offices for the baron role, one office will be assigned to each of your 10 barons as they appear.

This is also very useful for administrative roles like managers. If you switch managers frequently, it can be a hassle to reassign the office each time. When you reserve the room for the manager role, the room will be automatically reassigned when a new citizen is appointed to the role.


[h3]Ethics violation warning[/h3]
It is now much harder to accidentally offend the elves. To be clear, you can still offend them if you want to. It's just harder to do it unintentionally.

Elves will refuse to trade for any item that could have come from harming an animal or a tree. They'll then refuse any further trades and leave the map in a huff. It is not always easy to figure out which items will trigger their ire. If a stone craft has a wooden decoration, they'll notice. If you sell innocent sand in an animal leather bag, they'll notice. If your artifact warhammer menaces with spikes of yak bone, they'll definitely notice.

If you do select any of those items in the bartering menu (that is, when you are actually specifying which fort items to trade for which merchant items), you'll see an "Ethics warning" badge next to the Trade button. Clicking on this badge will list the offending items, and it will give you an option to deselect them. If you click the Trade button anyway, you'll get one final confirmation to make absolutely sure you know what you're doing.

Give it a try! Remember, happy elves bring friendly giant animals instead of hostile ones! : )

For elves, the check is for animal and tree ethics, but this feature also works on modded races that have any other combination of ethical requirements.


[h3]Matchmaking interface[/h3]
By popular request by matchmaking role players, we now have an interface for assigning (or reassigning) spouses and lovers: gui/family-affairs. You can also initiate pregnancies with the partners of your choice, regardless of existing relationships. Go forth and meddle!

You can open the tool with the pregnancy tab pre-selected by invoking it as gui/pregnancy.


[h2]Announcements[/h2][h3]PSAs[/h3]
As always, remember that, just like the vanilla DF game, DFHack tools can also have bugs. It is a good idea to save often and keep backups of the forts that you care about.

Many DFHack tools that worked in previous (pre-Steam) versions of DF have not been updated yet and are marked with the "unavailable" tag in their docs. If you try to run them, they will show a warning and exit immediately. You can run the command again to override the warning (though of course the tools may not work). We make no guarantees of reliability for the tools that are marked as "unavailable".

The in-game interface for running DFHack commands (gui/launcher) will not show "unavailable" tools by default. You can still run them if you know their names, or you can turn on dev mode by hitting Ctrl-D while in gui/launcher and they will be added to the autocomplete list. Some tools do not compile yet and are not available at all, even when in dev mode.

If you see a tool complaining about the lack of a cursor, know that it's referring to the keyboard cursor (which used to be the only real option in Dwarf Fortress). You can enable the keyboard cursor by entering mining mode or selecting the dump/forbid tool and hitting Alt-K (the DFHack keybinding for toggle-kbd-cursor). We're working on making DFHack tools more mouse-aware and accessible so this step isn't necessary in the future.
[h2]New Tools[/h2]

• embark-anyone: allows you to embark as any civilization, including dead and non-dwarven civs
• gui/family-affairs: (reinstated) inspect or meddle with pregnancies, marriages, or lover relationships
• idle-crafting: allow dwarves to independently satisfy their need to craft objects
• notes: attach notes to locations on a fort map
• preserve-rooms: manage room assignments for off-map units and noble roles. reserves rooms owned by traveling units and reinstates their ownership when they return to the site. also allows you to assign rooms to noble/administrator roles, and the rooms will be automatically assigned whenever the holder of the role changes

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• caravan:
  • DFHack dialogs for trade screens (both Bring goods to depot and the Trade barter screen) can now filter by item origins (foreign vs. fort-made) and can filter bins by whether they have a mix of ethically acceptable and unacceptable items in them
  • If you have managed to select an item that is ethically unacceptable to the merchant, an "Ethics warning" badge will now appear next to the "Trade" button. Clicking on the badge will show you which items that you have selected are problematic. The dialog has a button that you can click to deselect the problematic items in the trade list.
• confirm: If you have ethically unacceptable items selected for trade, the "Are you sure you want to trade" confirmation will warn you about them
• exportlegends: option to filter by race on historical figures page
• quickfort: #zone blueprints now integrated with preserve-rooms so you can create a zone and automatically assign it to a noble or administrative role

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• DFHack screens that allow keyboard cursor and camera movement while focused now also allow diagonal and Z-change keyboard cursor keys
• DFHack state for a site is now properly saved when retiring a fort
• prevent hang when buildings in zones are destroyed in the case where the buildings were not added to the zone in the same order that they were created (uncommon)
• System clipboard: when pasting single lines from the system clipboard, replace newlines with spaces so they don't show up as strange CP437 glyphs in-game
• buildingplan:
  • improved performance in forts with large numbers of items
  • fixed processing errors when using quick material filter slot '0'
• deep-embark:
  • fix error when embarking where there is no land to stand on (e.g. when embarking in the ocean with gui/embark-anywhere)
  • fix failure to transport units and items when embarking where there is no room to spawn the starting wagon
• empty-bin: --liquids option now correctly empties containers filled with LIQUID_MISC (like lye)
• exterminate: don't kill friendly undead (unless --include-friendly is passed) when specifying undead as the target
• gui/create-item, modtools/create-item: items of type "VERMIN", "PET", "REMANS", "FISH", "RAW FISH", and "EGG" no longer spawn creature item "nothing" and will now stack correctly
• gui/design: don't overcount "affected tiles" for Line & Freeform drawing tools
• gui/pathable:
  • fix hang when showing trade depot wagon access and a trade depot is submerged under water or magma
  • fix representation of wagon paths over stairs and through doors
• gui/settings-manager: work details overlay no longer disappears when you click on a unit in the unit list
• gui/teleport: fix issue when teleporting units that are not prone, resulting in later issues with phantom "cannot build here: unit blocking tile" messages
• regrass:
  • no longer add all compatible grass types when using --force without --new
  • --mud now converts muddy slade to grass, consistent with normal DF behavior
• rejuvenate:
  • don't set a lifespan limit for creatures that are immortal (e.g. elves, goblins)
  • properly disconnect babies from mothers when aging babies up to adults
• strangemood: manually-triggered Macabre moods will now correctly request up to 3 bones/remains for the primary component instead of only 1
• timestream: ensure child growth events (that is, a child's transition to adulthood) are not skipped; existing "overage" children will be automatically fixed within a year

[h2]Misc Improvements[/h2]

• Dreamfort:
  • integrate with preserve-rooms to assign relevant rooms to nobles/adimistrators
  • smooth tiles under statues and other large furniture that you can't easily smooth later
• assign-minecarts: reassign vehicles to routes where the vehicle has been destroyed (or has otherwise gone missing)
• buildingplan: only consider building materials that can be accessed by at least one citizen/resident
• exterminate:
  • show descriptive names for the listed races in addition to their IDs
  • show actual names for unique creatures such as forgotten beasts and titans
• fix/dry-buckets: prompt DF to recheck requests for aid (e.g. "bring water" jobs) when a bucket is unclogged and becomes available for use
• fix/ownership: now also checks and fixes room ownership links
• gui/control-panel: include option for turning off dumping of old clothes for tailor, for players who have magma pit dumps and want to save old clothes from being dumped into the magma
• gui/family-affairs: you can start this tool by the name gui/pregnancy to start directly on the "Pregnancies" tab
• gui/sitemap:
  • show whether a unit is friendly, hostile, or wild
  • show whether a unit is caged
• position:
  • report current historical era (e.g., "Age of Myth"), site/adventurer world coords, and mouse map tile coords
  • option to copy keyboard cursor position to the clipboard
• sort: can now search for stockpiles on the Places>Stockpile tab by name, number, or enabled item categories

[h2]Documentation[/h2]

• add documentation for dfhack.items.findType(string) and dfhack.items.findSubtype(string)
• gui/embark-anywhere: add information about how the game determines world tile pathability and instructions for bridging two landmasses
• modding-guide:
  • added examples for reading and writing various types of persistent storage
  • updated all code snippets for greater clarity

[h2]Removed[/h2]

• quickfortress.csv: remove old sample blueprints for "The Quick Fortress", which were unmaintained and non-functional in DF v50+. Online blueprints are available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WuLYZBM6S2nt-XsPS30kpDnngpOQCuIdlw4zjrcITdY if anyone is interested in giving these blueprints some love

[h2]API[/h2]

• DFHack :: cuboid: cuboid :: clampMap now returns the cuboid itself (instead of boolean) to allow method chaining; call cuboid :: isValid to determine success
• Items :: createItem: removed growth_print parameter; now determined automatically
• Units: new isWildlife and isAgitated property checks

[h2]Lua[/h2]

• Overlay widgets can now assume their active and visible functions will only execute in a context that matches their viewscreens associations
• dfhack.items.createItem: removed growth_print parameter to match C++ API
• dfhack.units.isDanger: no longer unconditionally returns true for intelligent undead
• dfhack.units: isWildlife and isAgitated property checks
• gui.simulateInput: do not generate spurious keycode from _STRING key inputs