u/BagledEpoch

Hello! :D

This is an introductory post to VotV Community Savefile, as well as a Rules & Guides post for it.

I tried to keep it as comprehensive and, "concise" as possible, so I hope it helps you understand and partake in VCS easier! : >

So. What is VotV Community Savefile?

VotV Community Savefile (VCS) is a community project/event where the people of VotV subreddit take turns playing a single .sav file, all getting their shifts in and leaving their traces behind to communicate, interact, and have fun with eachother in unique and creative ways.

VCS could have multiple seasons, if people want more VCS. If so, each one will have a finite amount of turns, lasting from 20 turns to 32, or more or less. And each season can have their own rules, so to learn about them, refer to your season's Intro Post.

In this post, you'll learn about the following topics:

1. How the VCS Works
2. How to Participate, Download, & Export
3. How to Add Custom Assets
4. Mandated In-Game Duties
5. VCS Rules
6. Additional informations (Addendum)

《 1. How the VCS Works》

VCS works in turns.

An employee (person who is playing or have played in a turn), after receiving the savefile and the VCS assets folder, will download and unpack them into their copy of VotV.

Then they will play the savefile for set amount of in-game days - with the day speed modifier applied, but depending on the season of VCS that is. After they've finished playing, they'll package the savefile and the VCS assets folder inside a google drive folder, then give the link to it to a manager within a week from the day they've received the savefile. The manager will then post an announcement, notifying people that the last employee have finished their turn. Being notified, people can then comment under that post with "✅️" emoji to apply for the Lottery for the next turn. The Lottery is a system made to fairly determine who will get to play the turn. The people who've applied for the lottery in the last announcement post are included in the pool (see pic.2), and the randomly chosen applicant gets to play for the turn. The applicant - now the new employee, will play the game for 3 in-game days, and the cycle continues.

Also, the announcement post will be posted at least 3 to 4 days after the last one has been posted, even if the employee have already returned the savefile. This is to give potential applicants time to see the announcement post. Note that this does not change how soon you have to return the savefile; you can return it anytime you want as long as it's within a week from your receival.

You may now wonder what's going to happen on the first turn, where there isn't any previous employee.

The first announcement post of a season will be an Intro Post. Intro posts will include things like the season rules, link to the current rule post you are reading, and more. Under that post, you can apply for the Lottery like normal. And since there isn't any previous employee, the manager will play the first turn. And after they've finished their turn, an announcement post will be posted alongside the winner of the Lottery from the Intro post. Then turn cycle continues normally.

While people are playing the save, the manager will also archive the savefiles they've previously received from the employees to prevent griefing and document the growth and progress of the VCS, as well as make a portrait image - image made to be set up on the Portrait Shelves - for the current employee with a picture of their choice.

《 2. How to Participate, Download, & Export 》

(see pic.3)

Like aforementioned, you first apply for the Lottery via commenting on the announcement post with the "✅️" emoji. You must include the emoji to be recognized as an applicant!

The next announcement post will show the results of the Lottery, and if you've been appointed, you'll receive in your DM a messege from the manager.

Here, you'll be given the link to the google drive folder, as well as a request for an image of your preferrence for the portrait image. If you'd like, you can request additional things like a doodle messege or sticker to be added to the portrait, as well as a font of your preferrence for the text. (see pic.4 for basic example portrait)

To download and unpack the folder's contents, follow these steps. (see pic.5)

0. Go to the link, then download the folder named "VotV#_contents".

1. Put the .sav file named "VotVCommunitySavefile#_T#" in the "SaveGames" folder in VotV.

2. Copy the directory route to the folder named "VCS#_Assets", then paste it in "Asset folder location" the game's Extras settings. This will make the game use the assets within the new folder as its custom assets.

Now, restarting the game or refreshing the assets should let you play the savefile with the custom assets added by the previous employees all in their right places.

Changing the asset folder used in the game won't affect your pre-existing custom assets, meaning as long as you just change the asset folder back to the normal one in the "Asset folder location" setting, everything is reversible.

Now, if you've finished playing your turn, follow these steps to export the files. (see pic.6)

1.Log/Sign into google drive, then click on New, then New folder. Name the new folder "VCS#_contents"; the # is the season number.

2. Put the .sav file and the VCS Assets folder - now with your progression and new assets added - into the google drive folder.

3. Click Share on the folder, then set general access to Anyone with the link. Contact the manager with DM, then give them the link to the folder, and write them a general summary & personal notes about your turn, and optionally, send them pictures you've taken that you want to share. These items will be included in the announcement post.

《 3. How to Add Custom Assets 》

You can add your own custom assets! However, some rules are set. (see pic.7) (Ignore the text about 20MB limit, I added the wrong picture @_@)

1. Prepend all custom assets with "[VCS#_T#]". The "#" behind "VCS" is for the season, and the "#" behind "T" is for the current turn number.

2. You can only add upto limited amount of MBs. It will depend on the VCS's season, but most of the time the limit will be 20 ~ 40 MBs. You can check your season's limit in the season's Intro post. Of course there will be some leeway, but try to keep the file sizes minimal. And compressing files down will let you add more and more assets, so I heavily recommend that!

3. You cannot delete pre-existing assets added by others.

4. No NSFW!

An important caveat is that changing the name of a custom asset that's been already placed in the game will reset that placed item. e.g: A poster placed in the game, after changing its .png file name to something else, will change its texture to the magenta & black checkerboard error texture. To prevent this while prepending your custom asset files with "[VCS#_T#]" as the rule 1 requires, some options are given:

1. Start from new files! You can just use a new file that hasn't been used in your original custom assets folder to prevent this from happening from the very beginning. However, if you want to add the custom assets you've been using in your original custom assets folder...

2. Copy the file. Simply copying the file should prevent the problem from ever happening. Copy the file of your choice, paste it to VCS assets folder, then rename it to prepend with "[VCS#_T#]".

《 4. Mandated In-Game Duties 》

You are free to do whatever you want in your turn, but there are some things that are required for you to do. (see pic.8)

1. Read the letters left by the previous employee in the Unread Letters cabinet, then put them in the Letter Archive.

2. Check the Notes, Pictures, and Drawings put up on the Communication Board by the previous employee, then put them in the Board Archive.

3. Put the portrait image given by the manager on the Portrait Shelves. The image will be given as soon as possible, after you've handed them the image and requests for the portrait. The portraits must be placed on the shelves in bottom left corner to the top right corner order. (see pic.9)

4. Before getting off of your turn, write at least a few line of summary and notes for the next employee in a paper, then put them in the Unread Letters cabinet.

Optionally, you can write more letters, or leave Pictures, Drawings, and additional Notes on the Communication Board for the next employee. If you've written a journal during your turn, put it in the Journal Archive before finishing your turn.

Also, don't take stuff out from the Archives!!!

《 5. VCS Rules 》

And now finally, the rules!

If you violate these rules, depending on the severity, you can be put on a blacklist and not able to participate in VCS again.

Note that these rules can change, or new rules can be added in the future as VCS progresses. And note that each VCS seasons can have their own seperate rules, like maximum file size, days per turn, and maybe some gameplay related rules. To learn about it, refer to your season's Intro Post.

1. It is mandated to read the Rules & Guides post and your season's Intro Post before participating. You seem to be following that rule very well !!!

2. No griefing. It's okay to relocate the decos and placements made by others, but outright throwing everything away is prohibitted.

3. No game breaking glitches. Self explanatory!

4. Do not change the save settings. e.g: permanent weather, difficulty, etc.

5. Respect the set playtime of your VCS's season. e.g: only 3 days per turn

6. Return the savefile & the assets folder within a week of receiving them. This is just the maximum leniency, so you can return it before it's been a week!

7. You cannot participate untill 3 turns have passed from your last one. You can't play consecutively!

8. No NSWF content in custom assets. Self explanatory!

9. No transferring items through the mailbox. It wouldn't be fun if we could transfer five shrimpzillion dollars out of nowhere!

10. You must write the letter for the next employee As stated before.

11. Respect the maximum amount of MBs you can add in your turn. Lots of heavy custom assets can lag lower spec machines, so try to keep the files compressed!

12. You can get off the game anywhere in the map, except for Out of Bounds area, somewhere dangerous, or anywhere you cannot make your way back to base from.

13. You must get off the game with at least 2/5 of your fatigue/hunger points filled.

14. Do not obstruct, damage, or relocate the props of the Communications corner. These are all things important for VCS's rules and cycle, so please refrain from touching them!

If I've forgotten anything else - or if you have an idea for a new rule - please do tell me!

《 Addendum 》

[1. Viruses] There might be a concern regarding a possibility that one might include viruses in the custom asset files. In traditional sense, with the file formats used for the custom assets like .png, .mp3, .mp4, and .obj, it's not possible to execute a line of code to deploy virus directly. However, viruses exploiting 0-day vulnerabilities regarding meta data within a file can exist. From my very little knowledge on the topic, 0-day means "an exploitable software vulnerability with zero days of public disclosure or vendor remediation time". But as long as you keep the OS updated, anti-virus softwares should be able to catch these potential viruses quickly. So to prevent any viruses from entering anyone's machine, I (or other manager), receiving the files from the previous employee, will run the files through an anti-virus software to check for any possible viruses, so that you don't have to worry about the files' safety nor check manually for viruses yourself.

[2. Treasure hunts] You may come across a riddle - perhaps a cipher - or just about anything that includes figuring out a puzzle to find some hidden thing left by the previous employees. If you've try to solve this treasure hunt - but have failed to solve it within your turn, don't worry - you can use the Treasure Hunt Board! In the Communications corner, there will be the Treasure Hunt Board, where you can put up unsolved notes and clues left by the previous employees, so that the next employees can try to solve it themselves. If you've made some progress in your investigation, you might want to leave alongside the clue some of your findings for the next employee to build their imvestigations on. If a treasure is solved and finished, put the clues related away in the Puzzle Archive next to the Treasure Hunt Board.

《 Closing Words》

That should be all! I hope this guide serves you well! :D

I started this project as a fun little idea I had when I was making an adventure map savefile im VotV, but now it's grown into something people can all be excited about and communicate, mess with, and just have fun with eachother. And I'm so glad many of you seem to enjoy this idea as much as I do! : >

I hope you have fun playing and partaking in VCS! Have a great day! : >

The VCS Guides & Rules post is Out !!! Check it out for full detail on VCS. :D

VotV Community Savefile is a story mode savefile that the people of the VotV subreddit will take turns playing for designated amount of days, all working their shifts and leaving behind traces of their own!

This project is to be backed by the mod team, getting its own flair and posts regarding it pinned. Most of the managements, like posting the announcement of the start of the next turn, pinning the announcement, archiving savefiles from each turn, and more, will be done by me.

The actual start of the VCS will happen with the finishing of the first turn, which will be done by me - I'll be setting up things like Communications board, and Portrait Shelves for us!

Further details regarding the project - whether it be rules of participation, guides on how to participate or whatnot - will be posted some days later with the VCS Guides and Rules post.

If you want more information regarding this project, some previous discussion posts around VCS can be found - albeit outdated. Here are the links to the posts. Survey post / Idea post

I am very excited for this project, and what fun things people would bring with it! :D

If you have any questions, feel free to ask !! : >

Magnet maze!

And subsequentially, to solve this maze, you'll need to find the magnet first... :0

This is one of many puzzle ideas I've got, and on the more physical side. Very excited to show more... : >

This time, I made info prints and an updated version of the map, now with more POIs!

The info prints are for the puzzles you'll have to solve in the map, so taking a peek on these, you'll have some idea on what the puzzles will look like... :D

The new icons on the map are locations of some puzzles that your crew have came across and documented! Wonder what other puzzles are in the forest that went unnoticed by them... :0

I'll post a teaser for the mechanic of a relatively spoiler free puzzle a bit later; you can expect some cool sight... : >

Good day :D

This symbol is drawn on the floor of one of the abandond village's houses - or rather one of the two house models used in the village.

At first, I thought it was another sigil for the demons of Ars Goetia, but I couldn't find any match. I tried identifying it via the ring around the sigil (the sigils' ring in Ars Goetia have the name of the demon written on it), but this one doesn't seem to follow that convention. So I am now thinking that this is not a sigil belonging in Ars Goetia, or maybe even any real life classification at all. But I am not knowledgeable enough to make assumptions.

Then what could this symbol be for? :0 If you recognize this symbol, please let me know what it is!

Some people might've noticed in my previous post where I posted some screenshots of my new build that some screenshots had this cool fish-eye lens like distortion.

That is a product of the Panini Projection setting in the settings! In there you can modify many variables like the level of distortion, if it will fit in the screen(for example, I selected off, hence the curvy borders in the screenshots), and some other things I don't understand. :D The default FOV setting also effects the projection, so try messing around with that as well.

And here are some pictures I took with the said setting. Some very cool and funky looking ones here!

It's definitely a fast and effective way of making your screenshots prettier and coolier. Or maybe, to spice up the game's default view and use it in normal gameplay! :D

Like every bitter thing in the world, war brings an unconscious aesthetic in material form

I really like how the metal debris from the explosions scatter about in the air !! Pretty like fireworks

Also this is the first time I've ever seen this event happen in person; I've always watched it via drone, so I had not a single idea that a whole UFO comes over and drops a barrage of hogs and tanks !!! Really a cool sight

This is a map that I made for an adventure map savefile I am working on! :D

The basic layout and texturing is done, so only things that needs some work are new icons, hints and memos.

I am having so much fun making and planning this adventure map !! One thing that I want to say to those who are interested in playing this... Get ready to flex those thinking muscles... :D

Here are some wallpaper worthy screenshots I took; feel free to use them yourself !!! :D

The screenshots will be in very high resolution when downloaded; the previews will show you the compressed version.

I should go make a save and take some photos, it's been a long time since I've done that !!

My build project that I've been working on for a few days have finally ended !!! Yay

I am very content with what I have managed to bring up about here; some of the screenshots doesn't even look like it was taken in VotV !!

The Savefile release will come later today, I'm too tired to do that right now,,, I have to get some shut eye

Today, I've mostly worked on the bathroom and the storage room, as well as making a poster to hang around the place. :D

Also, I've decided that I'll be sharing the save file once I am done with the build! With that in mind, I've been hiding easter eggs and writing a story that you can piece together by finding various hints!

The build is inspired by a story I am currently writing, and the story you'll find in the save will be related to that.

Very excited to finish this build !!! : >

(I included the PNG file for the poster, feel free to use it if you want :D)

I accidentally launched myself at a mach speed across the map and crash landed in the middle of a forest, losing my glasses in the process. But it incidentally led me to this nice sight! Once I'm done with this build I've been working on, I'll be going on a photographic spree! :D

Update on the build I am working on!

The basic layout of the place is now complete, and now only the wallpaper/texture work and prop placement remains! Still looking for decent wall & floor textures...

If you have any suggestions on what more to add, please do tell! :D