Fruit Tree Update
Introducing Tree Crops A new farming system has arrived! Tree Crops introduce long-term orchard management to ACRES. Added new fruit trees: Apple Banana Avocado Orange Fig Lemon Tree crops use the Perennial Growth System : Trees grow through 4 unique growth stages Mature trees co
Introducing Tree Crops
A new farming system has arrived! Tree Crops introduce long-term orchard management to ACRES.
Added new fruit trees:
Apple
Banana
Avocado
Orange
Fig
Lemon
Tree crops use the Perennial Growth System:
Trees grow through 4 unique growth stages
Mature trees continue producing after harvest
Harvested trees return to a regrowth stage instead of being removed
Orchards can produce multiple harvests without replanting
Crop stress continues accumulating across seasons
Orchard Gameplay Changes
Mature trees (growth stage 2+) now affect farm operations:
Block tractor movement
Block adjacent pathfinding
Prevent normal field actions in occupied spaces
New Tree Harvest Implement
Tree harvesting collects fruit from the tree cell and neighboring left/right cells
Designed for efficient orchard harvesting with tractor equipment
Tree Removal
Plowing a tree cell removes the tree and returns the land to a plantable state
Performance Improvements
Hourly Game Update Decoupling
Heavy ECS updates are now decoupled from game speed, preventing simulation slowdowns during higher speed settings. Game progression now runs using an elapsed-hours model instead of per-frame updates.
The following systems now scale using HoursSinceUpdate:
Crop growth
Weed spread
Mulch decay
Producer updates
Updates now run through a sequential simulation pipeline:
Mulch
Game Simulation
Producer Updates
Weed Updates
Storage Decay
Overlay Refresh
This reduces frame spikes and keeps simulation timing consistent regardless of frame rate.
Multithreaded Crop Simulation
Crop simulation now uses concurrent processing to improve performance on larger farms.
Improvements include:
Multi-threaded crop processing
Reduced cell update contention
Localized state collection before merging changes
Deferred rendering updates back to the main game thread
Large farms should see smoother simulation performance and improved stability.
Tractor & Harvest Improvements
Tractor harvesting has been optimized.
Previously:
Each harvested cell immediately updated storage
Large implements could trigger dozens of storage updates per frame
Now:
Tractor harvest results are queued
Storage updates are processed once per frame
Storage capacity is validated before items are added
This improves performance with:
Large tractors
Multi-row implements
Tree harvesting
(Player and worker harvesting remain immediate.)
Pathfinding Improvements
Improved Livestock Navigation
Livestock pathfinding now uses a proper lowest-cost search system.
Changes:
Replaced basic queue processing
Added min-heap based node expansion
Paths now prioritize the lowest-cost movement options
Animals should make more accurate movement decisions, especially in larger areas.
Action Queue Optimization
Improved action processing performance:
Removed expensive array shifting operations
Actions now use a moving queue index
Queue cleanup only occurs after all actions are completed
This reduces unnecessary memory movement during gameplay.
Storage & UI Improvements
New Storage Update Events
Added:
OnStorageRowUpdated
Storage changes can now notify UI systems immediately while only updating when relevant items are modified.
Graphics Improvements
Field Shadow Controls
Added new shadow control support:
FarmField now exposes bUseShadow
Applies to crop rendering and high-poly weeds
The graphics shadow setting now correctly controls field object shadows.
Fixes & Improvements
Improved simulation stability on large farms
Reduced unnecessary storage updates
Improved tractor harvesting performance
Reduced frame spikes during world updates
Improved foundation for future large-scale farming systems
Free Range Shed
