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DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine News

DFHack 50.13-r5rc1

This beta release is available on the DFHack "beta" 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.

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 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.

This feature works best if you build a separate Craftsdwarf's workshop (or two) specifically for idle crafting, and you set the number of "General work orders allowed" to zero on the "Work orders" tab for the workshop. That way, 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.


[h3]Room reservations[/h3]
This is actually two things 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 name 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 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 someone is appointed to that role, the room will be automatically assigned to them. You can even prepare for the situation where you have many barons. If you prepare and reserve 10 offices for the baron role, one office will be assigned to up to 10 barons when 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.

When you select items for trade in the bartering menu (when you are actually specifying which fort items to trade for which merchant items) and have an item selected that will cause the elves to declare you a heathen, 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! : )


[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.
Changelog
[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: manage map-specific notes
  • 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
    • 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
  • 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
  • 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
[h2]Removed[/h2][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

DFHack 50.13-r4

If you are subscribed to the DF adventure beta (the DF "beta" branch), please subscribe to the DFHack "adventure-beta" branch for a compatible build.

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

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]Table of contents in gui/journal[/h3]
Community contributor psychowico has continued to deliver improvements to gui/journal. It now supports markdown syntax for section headers, and it will automatically build a hyperlinked table of contents as you add the headers.



To add a header, start a line with "# ", e.g. "# Fortress goals". You can add level 2 subheadings with "## ", and so on.

Due to the tool's popularity, there is now a global hotkey (in fort mode) for launching gui/journal: Ctrl-j
[h3]timestream bugfixes and improvements[/h3]
The FPS fixer timestream has been significantly refined for better behavior at the highest FPS improvement levels. For example, jobs were not being generated quickly enough for the accelerated calendar rate. Also, some non-skill-based jobs, like eating and drinking, were taking too long to complete. With the updates, dwarves will no longer be left jobless or get stuck in the booze stockpile with seemingly unquenchable thirst.
[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.
Changelog
[h2]New Features[/h2]
  • gui/journal:
    • new hotkey, accessible from anywhere in fort mode: Ctrl-j
    • new automatic table of contents. add lines that start with "# ", like "# Entry for 502-04-02", to add hyperlinked headers to the table of contents
[h2]Fixes[/h2]
  • Copy/Paste: Fix handling of multi-line text when interacting with the system clipboard on Windows
  • add-spatter: fix a crash related to unloading a savegame with add-spatter reactions, then loading a second savegame with add-spatter reactions
  • autodump: cancel any jobs that point to dumped items
  • build-now: fix error when building buildings that (in previous DF versions) required the architecture labor
  • changelayer: fix incorrect lookup of geological region in multi-region embarks
  • fix/dead-units: fix error when removing dead units from burrows and the unit with the greatest ID was dead
  • full-heal: fix -r --all_citizens option combination not resurrecting citizens
  • gui/autodump:
    • prevent dumping into walls or invalid map areas
    • properly turn items into projectiles when they are teleported into mid-air
  • gui/settings-manager: fix position of "settings restored" message on embark when the player has no saved embark profiles
  • gui/unit-info-viewer: correctly display skill levels when rust is involved
  • list-waves: no longer gets confused by units that leave the map and then return (e.g. squads who go out on raids)
  • locate-ore: fix sometimes selecting an incorrect tile when there are multiple mineral veins in a single map block
  • makeown: ensure names given to adopted units (or units created with gui/sandbox) are respected later in legends mode
  • open-legends: don't intercept text bound for vanilla legends mode search widgets
  • plant: properly detect trees in a specified cuboid that only have branches/leaves in the cuboid area
  • prioritize: fix incorrect restoring of saved settings on Windows
  • timestream:
    • fix dwarves spending too long eating and drinking
    • fix jobs not being created at a sufficient rate, leading to dwarves standing around doing nothing
  • zone: fix alignment of animal actions overlay panel (the one where you can click to geld/train/etc.) when the animal has a custom portrait (like named dragons)
[h2]Misc Improvements[/h2]
  • performance improvements for DFHack tools and infrastructure
  • allneeds: display distribution of needs by how severely they are affecting the dwarf
  • autodump: allow dumping items into mid-air, converting them into projectiles like gui/autodump does
  • build-now: if suspendmanager is running, run an unsuspend cycle immediately before scanning for buildings to build
  • gui/pathable: give edge tiles where wagons can enter the map a special highlight to make them more identifiable. this is especially useful when the game decides that only a portion of the map edge is usable by wagons.
  • list-waves:
    • now outputs the names of the dwarves in each migration wave
    • can now display information about specific migration waves (e.g. list-waves 0 to identify your starting 7 dwarves)
[h2]Documentation[/h2]
  • improved docs for dfhack.units module functions
[h2]Removed[/h2]
  • The PRELOAD_LIB environment variable has been renamed to DF_PRELOAD to match the naming scheme of other environment variables used by the dfhack startup script. If you are preloading libraries (e.g. for performance testing) please define DF_PRELOAD instead of PRELOAD_LIB or LD_PRELOAD
  • cuboid :: clamp(bool block): renamed to cuboid :: clampMap(bool block), name taken by cuboid :: clamp(cuboid other)
  • Units :: getPhysicalDescription: function requires DF call point that is no longer available. alternative is to navigate the unit info sheet and extract the description from the UI (see markdown)
  • Units :: MAX_COLORS, Units :: findIndexById, Units :: getNumUnits, Units :: getUnit: replaced by DFHack :: COLOR_MAX and the generated type-specific get_vector functions
[h2]API[/h2]
  • cuboid:
    • construct from df :: map_block*, forBlock iterator to access map blocks in cuboid
    • clamp(cuboid other), clampNew(cuboid other) for cuboid intersection. clampNew returns new cuboid instead of modifying.
  • Items: no longer need to pass MapCache parameter to moveToGround, moveToContainer, moveToBuilding, moveToInventory, makeProjectile, or remove
  • setAreaAquifer, removeAreaAquifer: add overloads that take cuboid range specifiers
  • Units :: getCasteRaw: get a caste_raw from a unit or race and caste
  • Units :: getProfessionName: bool land_title to append "of Sitename" where applicable, use Prisoner/Slave and noble spouse titles (controlled by ignore_noble)
  • Units :: getProfession: account for units with fake identities
  • Units :: getRaceChildName, getRaceChildNameById, getRaceBabyName, getRaceBabyNameById: bool plural to get plural form
  • Units :: getReadableName: correct display of ghost+curse names w/r/t each other and unit prof, use curse.name instead of iterating syndrome name effects
  • Units :: isDanger: added bool hiding_curse, passed to isUndead to avoid spoilers
  • Units :: isNaked: now only checks equipped items (including rings, for now). Setting bool no_items to true checks empty inventory like before.
  • Units :: isUndead: bool include_vamps renamed to hiding_curse. Fn now checks that instead of bloodsucker syndrome.
  • Units :: isUnitInBox, getUnitsInBox: add versions that take a cuboid range, add filter fn parameter for getUnitsInBox
  • Units :: isVisible: account for units in cages
  • Units: add overloads that take historical figures for getReadableName, getVisibleName, and getProfessionName
[h2]Lua[/h2]
  • dfhack.items.moveToInventory: make use_mode and body_part args optional
  • dfhack.units:
    • allow historical figures to be passed instead of units for getReadableName, getVisibleName, and getProfessionName
    • add getRaceReadableName, getRaceReadableNameById, getRaceNamePluralById
  • gui.ZScreen: new defocused property for starting screens without keyboard focus
[h2]Structures[/h2]
  • world_site: rename is_mountain_halls and is_fortress to Bay12 names min_depth and max_depth

DFHack 50.13-r3

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

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]Designating digging and constructions with shapes[/h3]
Our digging layout tool, gui/design has had a major usability overhaul.



There is a new, button-oriented interface for selecting modes and shapes, and the overall experience of designating, stretching, rotating, moving, and applying to the map is much easier than it was before.

Have fun with those curves!


[h3]Keep notes in-game with the new fort journal[/h3]


Brought to you by community member psychowico, gui/journal is a multi-line text editor that allows you to take notes on your fort's goals, plans, and progress. The text is saved with your fort, and the editor provides many mouse- and keyboard-friendly text editing conveniences, like cursor movement, text selection, and copy/paste (fully integrated with the system clipboard).

It is especially useful for jotting down what you're in the middle of doing so you can remind yourself when you load the game later.


[h3]Fix FPS death with timestream[/h3]


timestream has a simple premise: when the FPS drops, speed up reality to compensate. It dynamically adjusts the calendar so that the flow of time scales to match a target FPS (usually 100). Put simply, it makes the game move as quickly as it did when you first embarked, even when you have hundreds of units on the map.

With timestream active, you can keep the game running at full speed as long as the vanilla FPS counter stays above 15 FPS. At that point, the game will still run faster than it would otherwise, but you'll start noticing the slowdown.

This tool breathes new life into old forts. If you start to feel frustrated that the game is getting sluggish, give timestream a try. It's on the "Gameplay" tab of gui/control-panel.
[h3]Interactive map editing[/h3]
You may have heard of tiletypes as the command to use for editing the map. It has a reputation for being difficult to understand, and startlingly easy to get wrong. Thanks to community member tatoyoda600's efforts, we now have gui/tiletypes, which turns map editing into simple point and click!



You can now easily fill in gaps in accidentally-dug areas, change tiles to the materials of your choice for decoration, or reshape the terrain to your liking!


[h3]Control the rate of immigration[/h3]
A common complaint is that very large migrant waves can overwhelm fort infrastructure. If you enable the pop-control tool in gui/control-panel (Gameplay tab), you can limit migration waves to a reasonable size. The default is 10, but you can adjust it to any number you feel comfortable with.



Note that this tool will overwrite the population caps set in the vanilla settings, so if you have those numbers customized, be sure to update the setting for pop-control itself. For example, if you want a maximum population of 100 (along with the default per-wave maximum of 10 immigrants), run

pop-control set max-pop 100

after you enable pop-control.
[h3]Quick find and zoom for people, locations, and artifacts[/h3]
The new gui/sitemap tool helps you find and zoom to things quickly.



It works in both adventure and fort mode. In adventure mode, its primary use is to find what you're looking for when you get to a site. If you have a quest to talk to a specific person or find a specific artifact, it can be very frustrating to arrive at the correct site but then be completely unable to find what you're looking for on the map. It doesn't help that nobody at the site can give you directions! gui/sitemap will list all the people, places, and things of interest and let you zoom the screen to their location with a click. You'll still have to find your way over there, though, which can be a challenge if it's deep underground.

In fort mode, it serves as a faster alternative to the vanilla overview screens. It also has the unique benefit of telling you both the Dwarven and the English names of artifacts. Now, when you get a notification that Thunderbanner has been stolen, you can search for the artifact in gui/sitemap and see that it's actually warning you about Amudzulban. Then you can zoom to its current location and search some pockets.


[h3]Trade depot pathability visualization for wagons[/h3]


Veteran players may remember a feature from Dwarf Fortress in its pre-Steam times: the ability to show where caravan wagons can path on their way to your trade depot. This feature was not brought forward to DF v50, so DFHack offers a replacement. If you are concerned about whether wagons can get to your depot, or if you'd like to identify the choke points, start up gui/pathable and select the "Depot" tab. That will highlight the tiles that wagons can traverse on their way to your trade depot (or any of your trade depots, if you have more than one).
[h2]Announcements[/h2][h3]What does DFHack do for Adventure mode?[/h3]
DFHack supports the DF adventure mode beta on its own adventure-beta Steam branch. If you're subscribed to the beta branch for Dwarf Fortress, please subscribe to the adventure-beta branch for DFHack.

DFHack automatically applies a number of bugfixes and interface enhancements by default, such as:
  • fix corrupt throwing/shooting state, preventing save/load crashes after shooting a weapon
  • extend the searchable keywords in the conversation topic list to make it easier to find the topic you're looking for
  • add "ask whereabouts of" conversation topics so you can discover the location of people with whom you have some sort of relationship (before, you could only ask whereabouts of people involved in rumors)
  • add drowning/suffocation and blood loss countdown displays so you can tell how dire your situation is

There are also bugfixes, productivity tools, and sandbox (armok) tools specifically designed for adventure mode that you can run as needed:
  • advtools party: promotes one of your companions to become a controllable adventurer
  • advtools pets: fixes issues with companions' pets and pets you gift to others in adventure mode
  • fix/sleepers: fix sleeping units belonging to a camp that never wake up
  • gui/sitemap: list and zoom to people, locations, and artifacts
  • unretire-anyone: start an adventure as any historical figure in the world (use on embark preparation screen)
  • gui/reveal: reveal the adventure mode map and keep it revealed as you move
  • bodyswap: move adventurer control to another unit (any other unit)
  • flashstep: jump your adventurer across the map by hovering over a tile with the mouse and hitting a hotkey (Ctrl-t)
  • ghostly: allow your adventurer to walk through walls
  • resurrect-adv: revive a newly dead adventurer
  • reveal-adv-map: reveal hidden sites on the adventure travel map

In addition, most general tools that act upon a selected unit, like set-orientation, gui/gm-unit, etc. should work without trouble. You can select the adventurer with the z key, and any other unit by right clicking on them.

DFHack is continuing to build support for the new adventure mode, so you can expect even more in upcoming releases!
[h3]Locale-sensitive number formatting[/h3]
DFHack tools can display a lot of large numbers, especially where prices and weights are involved. We have traditionally formatted those numbers exactly the same as DF itself does -- that is, no formatting; just numbers. For example, one million is written as 1000000.

This can be hard to read, but it's also not perfectly clear how else the numbers should be formatted. In English, we often add commas to numbers, one comma every third digit, so one million would be written as 1,000,000. That would make it easier to read if English is your native language. People from India might prefer to see one million as 10,00,000, and people from Germany might prefer 1.000.000.

So now you have a choice. In gui/control-panel, in the Preferences tab, there is now a Large number formatting preference that you can set.



You have several options:
  • None (the default), which formats the numbers without embellishment like vanilla DF does (e.g. 1234567)
  • English, which formats the numbers with commas every third digit (e.g. 1,234,567)
  • System locale, which formats the numbers according to the locale settings for your operating system (system-dependent)
  • SI suffix, which shows up to three significant digits and a metric-system suffix (e.g. 1.23M)
  • Scientific, which shows numbers in scientific notation (e.g. 1.2e+06)

Your choice will apply to DFHack displays, such as gui/unit-info-viewer or the prices on the DFHack trade screens. Vanilla DF displays will not be affected.


[h3]Dreamfort updates[/h3]
The Dreamfort quickfort blueprints have seen significant updates in this release. If you are in the middle of building from the Dreamfort blueprints, expect some minor errors or misplaced furniture if you started building from the Dreamfort blueprints in a previous DFHack version.

Starting from a new embark, of course, will work perfectly fine.

If you're not already familiar with it, Dreamfort is DFHack's marquee blueprint set for a complete fort layout. It demonstrates good design patterns for new players and shows what the game is capable of. For more experienced players, it provides a simple, yet complete fortress that you can quickly get up and running when you want to focus on specific aspects of the game and not worry too much about infrastructure.



Screenshots are available here: https://docs.dfhack.org/en/latest/docs/guides/quickfort-library-guide.html#dreamfort

and the walkthrough is available via the blueprint notes (which you can display with gui/quickfort) or online here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15TDBebP8rBNvsFbezb9xuKPmGWNzv7j4XZWq1AsfCio/edit?gid=0#gid=0
[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.
Changelog
[h2]New Tools[/h2]
  • advtools:
    • collection of useful commands and overlays for adventure mode
    • added an overlay that automatically fixes corrupt throwing/shooting state, preventing save/load crashes
    • advtools party - promotes one of your companions to become a controllable adventurer
    • advtools pets - fixes pets you gift in adventure mode.
  • bodyswap: (reinstated) take control of another unit in adventure mode
  • devel/luacov: (reinstated) add Lua script coverage reporting for use in testing and performance analysis
  • devel/tree-info: print a technical visualization of tree data
  • fix/occupancy: fixes issues where you can't build somewhere because the game tells you an item/unit/building is in the way but there's nothing there
  • fix/population-cap: fixes the situation where you continue to get migrant waves even when you are above your configured population cap
  • fix/sleepers: (reinstated) fixes sleeping units belonging to a camp that never wake up.
  • gui/journal: fort journal with a multi-line text editor
  • gui/sitemap: list and zoom to people, locations, and artifacts
  • gui/tiletypes: interface for modifying map tiles and tile properties
  • plant: (reinstated) tool for creating/growing/removing plants
  • pop-control: (reinstated) limit the maximum size of migrant waves
  • timestream: (reinstated) keep the game running quickly even when there are large numbers of units on the map
[h2]New Features[/h2]
  • Locale-senstive number formatting: select your preferred format in gui/control-panel. prices and other large numbers in DFHack UIs can be displayed with commas (English formatting), the number formatting used by your system locale, in SI units (e.g. 12.3k), or even in scientific notation
  • advtools: automatically add a conversation option to "ask whereabouts of" for all your relationships (before, you could only ask whereabouts of people involved in rumors)
  • buildingplan: dimension tooltip is now displayed for constructions and buildings that are designated over an area, like bridges and farm plots
  • gui/design: all-new visually-driven UI for much improved usability
  • gui/notify:
    • new notification type: injured citizens; click to zoom to injured units; also displays a warning if your hospital is not functional (or if you have no hospital)
    • new notification type: drowning and suffocation progress bars for adventure mode
  • gui/pathable: new "Depot" mode that shows whether wagons can path to your trade depot
  • gui/unit-info-viewer: new overlay for displaying progress bars for skills on the unit info sheet
  • logistics: automatically forbid or claim items brought to a stockpile
  • plant: can now remove shrubs and saplings; list all valid shrub/sapling raw IDs; grow can make mature trees older; many new command options
  • prioritize: new info panel on under-construction buildings showing if the construction job has been taken and by whom. click to zoom to builder; toggle high priority status for job if it's not yet taken and you need it to be built ASAP
  • tweak: named-codices: display book titles instead of a material description in the stocks/trade screens
[h2]Fixes[/h2]
  • Mortal mode: prevent keybindings that run armok tools from being recognized when in mortal mode
  • assign-profile: fix handling of unit option for setting target unit id
  • autobutcher: fix inverted ranking of which animals to butcher first
  • buildingplan: properly identify appropriate construction items for modded buildings built from thread
  • caravan: fix errors in trade dialog if all fort items are traded away while the trade dialog is showing fort items and the confirm trade confirmation is shown
  • clear-smoke: properly tag smoke flows for garbage collection to avoid memory leak
  • confirm: fix confirmation prompt behavior when overwriting a hotkey zoom location
  • control-panel: restore non-default values of per-save enabled/disabled settings for repeat-based commands
  • dig: don't leave phantom dig designations behind when autodigging warm/damp designated tiles
  • gui/create-item: allow creation of adamantine thread, wool, and yarn
  • gui/gm-unit:
    • correctly display skill levels above Legendary+5
    • fix errors when editing/randomizing colors and body appearance
  • gui/notify: the notification panel no longer responds to the Enter key so Enter key is passed through to the vanilla UI
  • gui/sandbox:
    • spawned citizens can now be useful military squad members
    • spawned undead now have a purple shade (only after save and reload, though)
  • makeown: set animals to tame and domesticated
  • overlay: overlay positions are now adjusted according to the configured max interface width percentage in the DF settings
  • prioritize: also boost priority of already-claimed jobs when boosting priority of a job type so those jobs are not interrupted
  • quickfort:
    • fix incorrect handling of stockpiles that are split into multiple separate areas but are given the same label (indicating that they should be part of the same stockpile)
    • allow farm plots to be built on muddy stone (as per vanilla behavior)
  • regrass: don't remove mud on regrass, consistent with vanilla behavior
  • seedwatch:
    • display a limit of - instead of 0 for a seed that is present in inventory but not being watched
    • do not include unplantable tree seeds in status report
  • suspend: remove broken --onlyblocking option; restore functionality to suspend all
  • tiletypes: make aquifers functional when adding the aquifer property and there are no existing aquifer tiles in the same map block
  • warn-stranded: don't warn for babies carried by mothers who happen to be gathering fruit from trees
  • zone:
    • animal assignment overlay button moved to not conflict with vanilla aquarium/terrarium button on glass cages
    • allow friendly creatures to be released from cages by assigning them to a pasture zone and then unassigning them
  • Buildings :: containsTile: fix result for buildings that are solid and have no extent structures
  • Gui :: makeAnnouncement, Gui :: autoDFAnnouncement: fix case where a new announcement is created instead of adding to the count of an existing announcement if the existing announcement was the first one in the reports vector
[h2]Misc Improvements[/h2]
  • Dreamfort:
    • add a full complement of beds and chests to both barracks
    • redesign guildhall/temple/library level for better accessibility
    • walkthough documentation refresh
    • add milking/shearing station in surface grazing pasture
    • integrate building prioritization into the blueprints and remove prioritize checklist steps
    • add plumbing template for filling cisterns with running water
  • autobutcher: do not butcher pregnant (or brooding) females
  • autonestbox: wait until juveniles become adults before they are assigned to nestboxes
  • blueprint: capture track carving designations in addition to already-carved tracks
  • buildingplan: add option to ignore items from a specified burrow
  • caravan:
    • optional overlay to hide vanilla "bring trade goods to depot" button (if you prefer to always use the DFHack version and don't want to accidentally click on the vanilla button). enable caravan.movegoods_hider in gui/control-panel UI Overlays tab to use.
    • bring goods to depot screen now shows (approximate) distance from item to depot
    • remember filter settings for pedestal item assignment dialog
    • add shortcut to the trade request screen for selecting item types by value (e.g. so you can quickly select expensive gems or cheap leather)
  • changevein: follow veins into adjacent map blocks so you can run the command once instead of once per map block that the vein crosses
  • empty-bin: select a stockpile, tile, or building to empty all containers in the stockpile, tile, or building
  • exterminate:
    • add all target for convenient scorched earth tactics
    • add --limit option to limit number of exterminated creatures
    • add knockout and traumatize method for non-lethal incapacitation
  • gui/civ-alert: you can now register multiple burrows as civilian alert safe spaces
  • gui/control-panel: highlight preferences that have been changed from the defaults
  • gui/create-item: allow right click to cancel out of material dialog submenus
  • gui/design: circles are more circular (now matches more pleasing shape generated by digcircle)
  • gui/launcher:
    • "space space to toggle pause" behavior is skipped if the game was paused when gui/launcher came up to prevent accidental unpausing
    • refresh default tag filter when mortal mode is toggled in gui/control-panel so changes to which tools autocomplete take effect immediately
  • gui/notify: notification panel extended to apply to adventure mode
  • gui/quickfort:
    • you can now delete your blueprints from the blueprint load dialog
    • allow farm plots, dirt roads, and paved roads to be designated around partial obstructions without callling it an error, matching vanilla behavior
    • buildings can now be constructed in a "high priority" state, giving them first dibs on buildingplan materials and setting their construction jobs to the highest priority
  • gui/unit-info-viewer:
    • add precise unit size in cc (cubic centimeters) for comparison against the wiki values. you can set your preferred number format for large numbers like this in the preferences of control-panel or gui/control-panel
    • now displays a unit's weight relative to a similarly-sized well-known creature (dwarves, elephants, or cats)
    • shows a unit's size compared to the average for the unit's race
  • gui/unit-syndromes: make werecreature syndromes easier to search for
  • item: option for ignoring uncollected spider webs when you search for "silk"
  • nestboxes: increase the scanning frequency for fertile eggs to reduce the chance that they get snarfed by eager dwarves
  • orders: you can now delete your exported orders from the import dialog
  • prioritize:
    • add ButcherAnimal to the default prioritization list (SlaughterAnimal was already there, but ButcherAnimal -- which is different -- was missing)
    • list both unclaimed and total counts for current jobs when the --jobs option is specified
    • boost performance of script by not tracking number of times a job type was prioritized
  • quickfort:
    • support buildable instruments
    • new delete command for deleting player-owned blueprints (library and mod-added blueprints cannot be deleted)
    • support enabling logistics features for autoforbid and autoclaim on stockpiles
  • regrass: now accepts numerical IDs for grass raws; regrass --list replaces regrass --plant ""
  • suspendmanager: add option to unsuspend that unsuspends all jobs, regardless of potential issues (like blocking other construction jobs)
  • tiletypes:
    • performance improvements when affecting tiles over a large area
    • support for creating heavy aquifers
    • new autocorrect property for autocorrecting adjacent tiles when making changes (e.g. adding ramp tops when you add a ramp)
[h2]Documentation[/h2]
  • Developer's primer for DFHack's type identity system
  • installing: add instructions for how to use Steam DFHack with non-Steam DF (e.g. to benefit from DFHack auto-updates and cloud backups)
  • modding-guide: add a section on persistent storage, both for global settings and world-specific settings
[h2]Removed[/h2]
  • adv-fix-sleepers: renamed to fix/sleepers
  • adv-rumors: merged into advtools
  • devel/find-offsets, devel/find-twbt, devel/prepare-save: remove development scripts that are no longer useful
  • fix/item-occupancy, fix/tile-occupancy: merged into fix/occupancy
  • max-wave: merged into pop-control
  • plants: renamed to plant
  • dfhack.HIDE_CONSOLE_ON_STARTUP and dfhack.HIDE_ARMOK_TOOLS are no longer directly accessible. Please use control-panel or gui/control-panel to interact wtih those settings.
  • gui.FramedScreen: this class is now deprecated; please use gui.ZScreen and widgets.Window instead
[h2]API[/h2]
  • Focus strings have moved for stockpile states: dwarfmode/CustomStockpile is now dwarfmode/Stockpile/Some/Customize and similar for dwarfmode/StockpileTools and dwarfmode/StockpileLink
  • Buildings :: getName: get a building's name
  • format_number: format numbers according to the configured player formatting preference
  • Items :: remove: now cancels related jobs and marks the item as hidden and forbidden until it can be garbage collected
  • Maps :: isTileAquifer, Maps :: isTileHeavyAquifer, Maps :: setTileAquifer, Maps :: removeTileAquifer, Maps :: setAreaAquifer, Maps :: removeAreaAquifer: new aquifer detection and modification API
  • Units :: create, Units :: makeown: new APIs to use bay12-provided entry points for low-level operations
[h2]Lua[/h2]
  • dfhack.formatInt, dfhack.formatFloat: formats numbers according to the player preferences for number formatting set in gui/control-panel
  • dfhack.gui.getSelectedJob: can now return the job with a destination under the keyboard cursor (e.g. digging/carving/engraving jobs)
  • dfhack.internal.getClipboardTextCp437Multiline: for retrieving multiline text from the system clipboard
  • dfhack.maps.isTileAquifer, dfhack.maps.isTileHeavyAquifer, dfhack.maps.setTileAquifer, dfhack.maps.removeTileAquifer: access to new aquifer API
  • dfhack.units.create, dfhack.units.makeown: Lua access to new module API
  • dialogs.showYesNoPrompt: extend options so the standard dialog can be used for gui/confirm-style confirmation prompts
  • gui.get_interface_rect, gui.get_interface_frame: convenience functions for working with scaled interfaces
  • overlay: new attributes: fullscreen and full_interface for overlays that need access to the entire screen or the scaled interface area, respectively
  • plugins.tiletypes.tiletypes_setTile: can now accept a table for access to previously unavailable options
  • safe_index: will now return nil when attempting to index into a non-indexable object
  • script-manager: add getModSourcePath and getModStatePath so modders can get the directory path to their own files
  • string : wrap: now preserves inter-word spacing and can return the wrapped lines as a table of strings instead of a single multi-line string
  • widgets.ButtonGroup: subclass of CycleHotkeyLabel that additionally displays clickable graphical buttons
  • widgets.CycleHotkeyLabel: when the widget has both forward and backward hotkeys defined, support moving backwards by clicking on the appropriate hotkey hint
  • widgets.DimensionsTooltip: reusable selected dimensions tooltip that follows the mouse cursor around
  • widgets.FilteredList: don't restrict the player from inputting multiple successive space characters
  • widgets.makeButtonLabelText: create text and graphical buttons from character/color/tile maps and/or dynamically loaded tilesets
[h2]Structures[/h2]
  • added several bay12 exported entry points to list of known globals
  • canonicalized a wide swath of type names, field names, and structure organization to match DF's internal names and organization. fields that already had useful names were largely left alone, but all unk, anon, and other "placeholder" names have been changed. structures that differed from reality were also corrected (e.g. collections of fields that were actually substructures and vice versa).
  • job.item_category is now job.specflag, contains a union of flag fields, and depends on the job type
  • plant_flags: rename is_burning, is_drowning, is_dead to Bay12 names unused_01, season_dead, dead
  • slab_engraving_type: correct order of items (last two were swapped)
  • unitst: correct return type of create_nemesis vmethod
  • world_data: identify many fields and substructures

DFHack 50.13-r3rc2

This beta release is available on the beta channel (for DF 50.13) and the adventure-beta channel (for DF 51.01-beta).

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

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]
In addition to the features introduced in DFHack 50.13-r3rc1, there are some new highlights for this beta release:
[h3]Fix FPS death with timestream[/h3]


timestream has a simple premise: when the FPS drops, speed up the world to compensate. It dynamically adjusts the calendar so that time flows at a rate that makes you feel like you're playing at a much higher FPS. It makes the game much more responsive and snappy, even when you have hundreds of units on the map.

With timestream active, you can keep the game running at full speed as long as the vanilla FPS counter stays above 15 FPS. At that point, you'll hit other limitations and you'll start noticing the slowdown.
[h3]Trade depot pathability visualization for wagons[/h3]


Veteran players may remember a feature from Dwarf Fortress in its pre-Steam times: the ability to show where caravan wagons can path on their way to your trade depot. This feature was not brought forward to DF v50, so DFHack offers a replacement. If you are concerned about whether wagons can get to your depot, or if you'd like to identify the choke points, start up gui/pathable and select the "Depot" tab. That will highlight the tiles that wagons can traverse on their way to your trade depot (or any of your trade depots, if you have more than one).
[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.
Changelog

This changelog has been trimmed to only show the difference from the previous beta.
[h2]New Tools[/h2]
  • devel/luacov: (reinstated) add Lua script coverage reporting for use in testing and performance analysis
  • fix/sleepers: (reinstated) fixes sleeping units belonging to a camp that never wake up.
  • timestream: (reinstated) keep the game running quickly even when there are large numbers of units on the map
[h2]New Features[/h2]
  • Locale-senstive number formatting: select your preferred format in gui/control-panel. prices and other large numbers in DFHack UIs can be displayed with commas (English formatting), the number formatting used by your system locale, in SI units (e.g. 12.3k), or even in scientific notation
  • gui/pathable: new "Depot" mode that shows whether wagons can path to your trade depot
[h2]Fixes[/h2]
  • clear-smoke: properly tag smoke flows for garbage collection to avoid memory leak
  • overlay: overlay positions are now adjusted according to the configured max interface width percentage in the DF settings
  • zone: animal assignment overlay button moved to not conflict with vanilla aquarium/terrarium button on glass cages
[h2]Misc Improvements[/h2]
  • empty-bin: select a stockpile, tile, or building to empty all containers in the stockpile, tile, or building
  • exterminate:
    • add --limit option to limit number of exterminated creatures
    • add knockout and traumatize method for non-lethal incapacitation
  • gui/unit-syndromes: make werecreature syndromes easier to search for
  • orders: you can now delete your exported orders from the import dialog
[h2]Removed[/h2]
  • adv-fix-sleepers: renamed to fix/sleepers
[h2]Lua[/h2]
  • gui.get_interface_rect, gui.get_interface_frame: convenience functions for working with scaled interfaces
  • overlay: new attributes: fullscreen and full_interface for overlays that need access to the entire screen or the scaled interface area, respectively
  • string : wrap: now preserves inter-word spacing and can return the wrapped lines as a table of strings instead of a single multi-line string

DFHack 50.13-r3rc1

This beta release is available on the beta channel (for DF 50.13) and the adventure-beta channel (for DF 51.01-beta).

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

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]Designating digging and constructions with shapes[/h3]
Our digging design tool, gui/design has had a major usability overhaul.



There are now icons for selecting modes and shapes, and the overall experience of designating shapes, stretching, rotating, and moving them, and finally applying them to the map is much easier than it was before.

Have fun with those curves!


[h3]Interactive map editing[/h3]
You may have heard of tiletypes as the command to use for editing the map. It has a reputation for being difficult to understand, and startlingly easy to get wrong. Thanks to community member tatoyoda600's efforts, we now have gui/tiletypes, which turns map editing into simple point and click!



You can now easily fill in gaps in accidentally-dug areas, spawn tiles of the material of your choice for digging, or reshape the surface terrain to your liking!


[h3]Quick find and zoom for people, locations, and artifacts[/h3]
The new gui/sitemap tool helps you find and zoom to things quickly.



It works in both adventure and fort mode. In adventure mode, its primary use is to find what you're looking for when you get to a site. If you have a quest to talk to a specific person or find a specific artifact, it can be very frustrating to arrive at the correct site but then be completely unable to find what you're looking for on the map. It doesn't help that nobody at the site can give you directions! gui/sitemap will list all the people, places, and things of interest and let you zoom the screen to their location with a click. You'll still have to find your way over there, though, which can be a challenge if it's deep underground.

In fort mode, it serves as a faster alternative to the vanilla overview screens. It also has the unique benefit of telling you both the Dwarven and the English names of artifacts. Now, when you get a notification that Thunderbanner has been stolen, you can search for the artifact in gui/sitemap and see that it's actually warning you about Amudzulban. Then you can zoom to its current location and search some pockets.


[h3]Controlling rate of immigration[/h3]
A common complaint is that very large migrant waves can overwhelm fort infrastructure. If you enable the pop-control tool in gui/control-panel (Gameplay tab), you can limit migration waves to a reasonable size. The default is 10, but you can adjust it to any number you feel comfortable with.



Note that this tool will overwrite the population caps set in the vanilla settings, so if you have those numbers customized, be sure to update the setting for pop-control itself. For example, if you want a maximum population of 100 (along with the default per-wave maximum of 10 immigrants), run

pop-control set max-pop 100

after you enable pop-control.
[h3]Plant and tree manipulation[/h3]
For those looking to meddle in the natural order, we now have the commandline plant tool for spawning, growing, and removing plant life.



For example, to grow a sapling into a tree, enter mining mode, enable the keyboard cursor, and highlight the tile with the sapling on it. Then, run plant grow here to increase the sapling's age. Once you unpause the game, the sapling will instantly grow into a tree!


[h3]Locale-sensitive number formatting[/h3]
DFHack tools can display a lot of large numbers, especially where prices and weights are involved. We have traditionally formatted those numbers exactly the same as DF itself does -- that is, no formatting; just numbers. For example, one million is written as 1000000.

This can be hard to read, but it's also not perfectly clear how else the numbers should be formatted. In English, we often add commas to numbers, one comma every third digit, so one million would be written as 1,000,000. That would make it easier to read, assuming English is your native language. People from India might prefer to see one million as 10,00,000, and people from Germany might prefer 1.000.000.

So now you have a choice. In gui/control-panel, in the Preferences tab, there is now a Large number formatting preference that you can set.



You have several options:
  • None (the default), which formats the numbers without embellishment like vanilla DF does (e.g. 1234567)
  • English, which formats the numbers with commas every third digit (e.g. 1,234,567)
  • System locale, which formats the numbers according to the locale settings for your operating system (system-dependent)
  • SI suffix, which shows up to three significant digits and a metric-system suffix (e.g. 1.23M)
  • Scientific, which shows numbers in scientific notation (e.g. 1.2e+06)

Your choice will apply to DFHack displays, such as gui/unit-info-viewer or the prices on the DFHack trade screens. Vanilla DF displays will not be affected.


[h2]Announcements[/h2][h3]Behind-the-scenes changes[/h3]
This release marks a significant step forward in aligning the DFHack names for variables with the actual names used internally by the Dwarf Fortress code. Not only does this help smooth communication between DFHack and DF devs, but it opens up a whole new world for modders who can now access large new sections of the game state. Expect new tools soon that capitalize on this improvement in accessibility, especially in regards to the world map!

One of the major reasons for this beta is to test the existing DFHack tools and ensure they were all properly migrated to the new naming scheme. Please be on the lookout for commands that you know worked before but that now spit out errors.
[h3]Dreamfort has been updated[/h3]
The Dreamfort quickfort blueprints have seen significant updates in this release. If you are in the middle of building from the Dreamfort blueprints, expect some minor errors or misplaced furniture if you started building from the Dreamfort blueprints in the previous DFHack version.

Starting from a new embark, of course, will work perfectly fine.

If you're not already familiar with it, Dreamfort is DFHack's marquee blueprint set for a complete fort layout. It demonstrates good design patterns for new players and shows what the game is capable of. For more experienced players, it provides a simple, yet complete fortress that you can quickly get up and running when you want to focus on specific aspects of the game and not worry too much about infrastructure.



Screenshots are available here: https://docs.dfhack.org/en/latest/docs/guides/quickfort-library-guide.html#dreamfort

and the walkthrough is available via the blueprint notes (which you can display with gui/quickfort) or online here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15TDBebP8rBNvsFbezb9xuKPmGWNzv7j4XZWq1AsfCio/edit?gid=0#gid=0
[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.
Changelog
[h2]New Tools[/h2]
  • advtools: collection of useful commands and overlays for adventure mode
  • bodyswap: (reinstated) take control of another unit in adventure mode
  • devel/tree-info: print a technical visualization of tree data
  • fix/occupancy: fixes issues where you can't build somewhere because the game tells you an item/unit/building is in the way but there's nothing there
  • fix/population-cap: fixes the situation where you continue to get migrant waves even when you are above your configured population cap
  • gui/sitemap: list and zoom to people, locations, and artifacts
  • gui/tiletypes: interface for modifying map tiles and tile properties
  • plant: (reinstated) tool for creating/growing/removing plants
  • pop-control: (reinstated) limit the maximum size of migrant waves
[h2]New Features[/h2]
  • buildingplan: dimension tooltip is now displayed for constructions and buildings that are designated over an area, like bridges and farm plots
  • gui/notify: new notification type: injured citizens; click to zoom to injured units; also displays a warning if your hospital is not functional (or if you have no hospital)
  • plant: can now remove shrubs and saplings; list all valid shrub/sapling raw IDs; grow can make mature trees older; many new command options
  • prioritize: new info panel on under-construction buildings showing if the construction job has been taken and by whom. click to zoom to builder; toggle high priority status for job if it's not yet taken and you need it to be built ASAP
  • tweak: named-codices: display book titles instead of a material description in the stocks/trade screens
[h2]Misc Improvements[/h2]
  • Dreamfort:
    • add a full complement of beds and chests to both barracks
    • redesign guildhall/temple/library level for better accessibility
    • walkthough documentation refresh
    • add milking/shearing station in surface grazing pasture
    • integrate building prioritization into the blueprints and remove prioritize checklist steps
    • add plumbing template for filling cisterns with running water
  • autobutcher: do not butcher pregnant (or brooding) females
  • autonestbox: wait until juveniles become adults before they are assigned to nestboxes
  • blueprint: capture track carving designations in addition to already-carved tracks
  • buildingplan: add option to ignore items from a specified burrow
  • caravan:
    • optional overlay to hide vanilla "bring trade goods to depot" button (if you prefer to always use the DFHack version and don't want to accidentally click on the vanilla button). enable caravan.movegoods_hider in gui/control-panel UI Overlays tab to use.
    • bring goods to depot screen now shows (approximate) distance from item to depot
    • add shortcut to the trade request screen for selecting item types by value (e.g. so you can quickly select expensive gems or cheap leather)
  • changevein: follow veins into adjacent map blocks so you can run the command once instead of once per map block that the vein touches
  • exterminate: add all target for convenient scorched earth tactics
  • gui/civ-alert: you can now register multiple burrows as civilian alert safe spaces
  • gui/control-panel: highlight prefrences that have been changed from the defaults
  • gui/create-item: allow right click to cancel out of material dialog submenus
  • gui/design:
    • significant redesign of UI for much improved usability
    • circles are more circular (now matches behavior of digcircle)
  • gui/launcher:
    • "space space to toggle pause" behavior is skipped if the game was paused when gui/launcher came up to prevent accidental unpausing
    • refresh default tag filter when mortal mode is toggled in gui/control-panel so changes to which tools autocomplete take effect immediately
  • gui/notify: notification panel extended to apply to adventure mode
  • gui/quickfort:
    • you can now delete your blueprints from the blueprint load dialog
    • allow farm plots, dirt roads, and paved roads to be designated around partial obstructions without callling it an error, matching vanilla behavior
    • buildings can now be constructed in a "high priority" state, giving them first dibs on buildingplan materials and setting their construction jobs to the highest priority
  • gui/unit-info-viewer:
    • now displays a unit's weight, relative to either dwarves, elephants, or cats
    • shows a unit's relative size compared to its race's average.
    • add precise unit size in cc (cubic centimeters) for comparison against the wiki values. you can set your preferred number format for large numbers like this in the preferences of control-panel or gui/control-panel
  • logistics: automatically forbid or claim items brought to a stockpile
  • nestboxes: increase the scanning frequency for fertile eggs to reduce the chance that they get snarfed by eager dwarves
  • quickfort:
    • support buildable instruments
    • new delete command for deleting player-owned blueprints (library and mod-added blueprints cannot be deleted)
    • support enabling logistics features for autoforbid and autoclaim on stockpiles
  • regrass: now accepts numerical IDs for grass raws; regrass --list replaces regrass --plant ""
  • suspendmanager: add option to unsuspend that unsuspends all jobs, regardless of potential issues
  • tiletypes:
    • performance improvements when affecting tiles over a large range
    • support for heavy aquifers
    • new surroundings property for autocorrecting adjacent tiles when making changes (e.g. adding ramp tops when you add a ramp)
[h2]Documentation[/h2]
  • installing: add instructions for how to use Steam DFHack with non-Steam DF (ito benefit from DFHack auto-updates and cloud backups)
  • modding-guide: add a section on persistent storage, both for global settings and world-specific settings


For the complete changelog, please see https://github.com/DFHack/dfhack/releases/tag/50.13-r3rc1