Discussions about Layering

[Tiger]

Originally Posted by supertrucker

if "layering can cause problems and those problems don't always show up immediately.", can anyone define or describe what the problems could be, what to look for, what to expect?

i have a couple of 3-layer farms, just for crops - no trees, decorative stuff, flowers, NOTHING else. should i remove 2 layers from each farm, as a preventive measure against something that MIGHT happen at some unpredictable point in the future?

Hi supertrucker,

The problems can vary as to if or when you might see them so I'm just going to give you an idea of what can happen.

Most of the issues where data has been truncated can't be visibly seen by just looking at what is on the farm or by working what's on the farm which is why people have been doing this for years and may have never seen any problems with them.

Problems sometimes can only be seen when either one more items are added to the farm and things go missing or plots won't stay plowed, or when remodeling the farm they can show up when you find something is stuck and can't be moved/stored/deleted. What ends up corrupted or goes missing can range from a small amount to large amounts going missing or small or large areas of the farm being corrupted. There have also been occasions where there has been more than one person working a farm that is layered at the same time as someone else, that can then show up some of the problems.

The more that is layered the higher the risk and the more difficult it can be to try and correct it..... if it's possible to correct. We have had cases where there has been so much layering on the farm that the farm has become permanently corrupted no matter what has been tried to fix it.

Putting something in the exact same spot as another whether by mistake or by intention, is a bigger risk than overlapping something to get it closer to another. For example if you overlapped just waters, which is allowed, those shouldn't have any problems unless one has ended up in the exact same spot as another, BUT if you were to get something else in the same spot as those like overlapped crops or trees/flowers or even facilites/decor then the risk is much higher.

If your 3x crops don't have anything else on top of them then you're less likely to run into an issue but that doesn't mean that it will never happen.

In a nutshell there are no guarantees that any form of layering will never get any problems.

[supertrucker]

Originally Posted by Tiger

Hi supertrucker,

The problems can vary as to if or when you might see them so I'm just going to give you an idea of what can happen.

Most of the issues where data has been truncated can't be visibly seen by just looking at what is on the farm or by working what's on the farm which is why people have been doing this for years and may have never seen any problems with them.

Problems sometimes can only be seen when either one more items are added to the farm and things go missing or plots won't stay plowed, or when remodeling the farm they can show up when you find something is stuck and can't be moved/stored/deleted. What ends up corrupted or goes missing can range from a small amount to large amounts going missing or small or large areas of the farm being corrupted. There have also been occasions where there has been more than one person working a farm that is layered at the same time as someone else, that can then show up some of the problems.

The more that is layered the higher the risk and the more difficult it can be to try and correct it..... if it's possible to correct. We have had cases where there has been so much layering on the farm that the farm has become permanently corrupted no matter what has been tried to fix it.

Putting something in the exact same spot as another whether by mistake or by intention, is a bigger risk than overlapping something to get it closer to another. For example if you overlapped just waters, which is allowed, those shouldn't have any problems unless one has ended up in the exact same spot as another, BUT if you were to get something else in the same spot as those like overlapped crops or trees/flowers or even facilites/decor then the risk is much higher.

If your 3x crops don't have anything else on top of them then you're less likely to run into an issue but that doesn't mean that it will never happen.

In a nutshell there are no guarantees that any form of layering will never get any problems.

hi tiger, thanks for the reply... as i said, the only thing on those 'layered' farms is crops - and the fields aren't completely on top of each other, they're offset a bit... i have noticed that sometimes the graphics get a bit slow, clearing my caches seems to fix that easy enough. realistically, as long as i'm not trying to harvest all 3 at the same time, it's not much slower than with a single layer.

for now, they're staying, more farms cost too much...

[Tiger]

Originally Posted by supertrucker

hi tiger, thanks for the reply... as i said, the only thing on those 'layered' farms is crops - and the fields aren't completely on top of each other, they're offset a bit... i have noticed that sometimes the graphics get a bit slow, clearing my caches seems to fix that easy enough. realistically, as long as i'm not trying to harvest all 3 at the same time, it's not much slower than with a single layer.

for now, they're staying, more farms cost too much...

Hi supertrucker,

If you're already slowing down with 3x crops on only 3 farms, then it sounds like the very heavy layered farms could cause you more of a problem with slowness or possibly not being able to work that many in one go. That's something you can consider before you decide if you want to do more farms with 3x crops depending on what time you have to spend on the game. It's entirely up to you of course.

[supertrucker]

if they (the developers) were really serious about curbing the practice of layering as much stuff - crops, trees, flowers, factories, decorations, etc - onto farms as possible, they would make expanding and adding farms more affordable... when expansions get into multiple BILLIONS of coins, and additional farms cost multiple BILLIONS of coins, no wonder people are trying to get as much income from existing space as they can... not sure where you (the mods) will put this, i couldn't find a similar thread in either the 'suggestions' or 'feedback' sections...