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0009479Dwarf FortressDwarf Mode -- Environmentpublic2016-01-16 03:242023-01-01 17:32
Superrob 
Loci 
normalminorrandom
acknowledgedopen 
Windows 8
0.42.04 
 
0009479: Growth of floating tree causes random collapses on clear cut area.
I have a clear cut area just outside a statue that I am making. Seemingly at random, something in the clear cut area will collapse, gouging out large sections of land, and throwing dust everywhere. However, as far as I can tell, there are no trees, except for one that seems to be floating. There is another floating tree as well, that seems to resist all attempts to designate it for cutting.
To find a collapse, goto the announcements, and zoom to the collapse announcement. You will find that it occurs 2 z levels above the ground, and is filed with loamy, and black sand.

Scroll up once to see a tree. jump down 2 z levels, and find that there are roots at the surface, but the tree trunk doesn't connect to it at all.

Hit F8 and jump to a Tree that seems ground level, but cannot be designated.

http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=11664 [^] Game save is here.
No tags attached.
Issue History
2016-01-16 03:24SuperrobNew Issue
2016-01-18 13:26DetrosNote Added: 0034457
2016-01-19 02:52SuperrobNote Added: 0034468
2016-01-19 11:04DetrosNote Added: 0034476
2016-01-23 11:53SuperrobNote Added: 0034528
2016-01-23 16:43DetrosNote Added: 0034535
2017-05-20 01:20PatrikLundellNote Added: 0036564
2017-05-20 07:12PatrikLundellNote Edited: 0036564bug_revision_view_page.php?bugnote_id=0036564#r14742
2017-05-23 10:37lethosorAssigned To => lethosor
2017-05-23 10:37lethosorStatusnew => acknowledged
2017-05-23 10:37lethosorAssigned Tolethosor =>
2017-05-23 10:37lethosorStatusacknowledged => new
2017-05-23 10:38lethosorAssigned To => lethosor
2017-05-23 10:38lethosorStatusnew => acknowledged
2017-05-23 10:38lethosorAssigned Tolethosor =>
2017-05-23 10:38lethosorStatusacknowledged => new
2017-05-31 21:16LociAssigned To => Loci
2017-05-31 21:16LociStatusnew => acknowledged
2017-05-31 21:19LociSummaryRandom collapses on clear cut area. => Growth of floating tree causes random collapses on clear cut area.
2017-06-01 02:26PatrikLundellNote Edited: 0036564bug_revision_view_page.php?bugnote_id=0036564#r14755
2017-06-08 18:40HuntthetrollIssue Monitored: Huntthetroll
2023-01-01 17:32MrDiggerNote Added: 0041363

Notes
(0034457)
Detros   
2016-01-18 13:26   
Trees seem to like to respawn in the same area you cut them out, not caring about what is or is not there (0008752, "Trees spawn on up stairs"). Can that "can't be designated for cutting" be caused by 0008700, "Trees can't be designated for cutting when other part of given tree is already designated for that" so you can't designate their accessible part for cutting because you already have some other, unaccessible, part of them designated?
(0034468)
Superrob   
2016-01-19 02:52   
I checked, and there was no other part of the tree designated. I even lost a miner to a tree that I couldn't designate. I even mined underneath it, and mined out the roots.
(0034476)
Detros   
2016-01-19 11:04   
Shoot that tree with ballista then. Or bring magma.

In one my fort I build a roof so that trees spawned onto/into it rather than in midair where immediately collapsed. Trees are weird.
(0034528)
Superrob   
2016-01-23 11:53   
SO, is that what is happening, then? They're spawning, then collapsing?
(0034535)
Detros   
2016-01-23 16:43   
Yes, that's my guess.
(0036564)
PatrikLundell   
2017-05-20 01:20   
(edited on: 2017-06-01 02:26)
This report is the closest one I could find for the issue of trees spawning and falling, creating cave-ins, so I add my findings to this report.

I dug away the level below the surface under a large area (about 40*40) with numerous trees, built a support, channeled away the sides of the surface area, cut down the trees outside the area whose branches tangled with those of trees on the inside, hooked a lever to the support, and pulled the lever. The area caved in, as intended. It was also noted that roots of trees that had been plunged to destruction still remained in the soil outside of the area, indicating the fallen trees weren't removed properly (when cutting a tree the roots magically revert to soil).
Shortly after that the fortress was interrupted by reports of cave-ins in the area, as trees came crashing down.
Using DFHack to investigate the issue, it was found that one difference between a standing ordinary tree and the same tree after it has been cut down is that df.global.world.plants.all[<index>].tree_info (in DFHack terms) points to a struct describing the tree before it's cut, but the pointer is nil after cutting.
Quite a few trees were found within the cave-in area that did have pointers to tree descriptions. In further testing the trees in half the cave-in areas had their tree_info pointers set to nil, while half were kept. This caused cave-ins to happen only in the area where the pointers were kept. Reverting to a save before pointer manipulation and removing the pointers on the other half instead cause cave-ins to switch side.
A further indication of something being amiss is that in the half of the area where the pointers were retained, the ground (one level down) showed patches of leaves, flowers, and fruit in the same way as those "contaminants" appear under the trunk of a tree if you dig out the tile beneath the trunk.

Conclusion: DF does not check cave-ins for trees to be removed as a result of falling, so those trees remain and have effects (leaves, roots,...). I haven't confirmed this, but my guess is that collapses happen when trees grow.

Edit: Further testing has confirmed that the tree most likely to have causing a cave-in has morphed from after the previous cave-in to the pause caused by the latest one. Twigs and a trunk appeared, and a number of tiles were marked as blocked.

Edit 2: Building a floor over parts of the area where tree cave-ins were induced caused trees to gradually appear on top of the floor, including 4 trunk tile (i.e. mature) ginko trees. In addition to that, one tree appeared suspended next to the floored over area, but stopped from falling by having the branches tangled with those of a tree standing on the floor.

(0041363)
MrDigger   
2023-01-01 17:32   
I encountered this today while undertaking a mega project to bring sunshine down to the magma sea. I dropped a massive block (31x37x52) of intact tiles into the magma sea creating very large empty space. That large block included layers of the lowest cavern.

There were plenty of uncut trees on those cavern layers that were instantly vaporized by the magma flow and every 20-30 minutes I get random collapse announcements on exactly the z-levels that the trees once stood, they don't occur anywhere else in the 52 z-level deep empty space that was created.

It's fairly annoying so I'm going to attempt to drop a single 31x37 z-level of natural stone onto a support wall, muddy it, see if the trees regrow, then cut them.

Long story short, do not collapse tiles containing trees because they will grow back in midair causing random cave-ins.