Troubleshooting

Before you start troubleshooting:

Always check if updates for MineColonies and Structurize are available and update to the latest alpha if you are not running the latest. (Alpha does not mean it’s unstable, it just means it’s a relatively small release.)

Missing Graphics, Issues with the Build Tool Preview, And/Or Citizen GUIs Not Opening

If you experience missing textures for hut blocks, your build tool previews are messed up, and/or the citizen GUIs aren’t opening when you right-click them, try updating MineColonies. As of the writing of this section, 1.16.5 and 1.18.1 versions are compatible, but not 1.18.2 yet.

Crashes when Placing Structures

If your game crashes placing a structure (e.g. a supply camp or ship), your MineColonies and Structurize versions are probably incompatible. Update both to the latest alphas.

CHECKLIST: Identifying why a citizen is not working

  1. Is it nighttime? Citizens do not work after sunset.
  2. Is it raining or snowing? Citizens do not work in the rain or snow.
  3. Did a citizen die yesterday (in-game time)? Citizens will mourn the next day and not work if one of them died the day before.
  4. Are there raiders (barbarians, pirates, vikings, egyptian raiders) still around? Citizens will hide during raids until all attackers are killed.
  5. Does their work hut have a low building level? Does the worker have low XP? Then they will often idle in between actually working until their personal XP improves and/or their work hut is upgraded.
  6. Is their hut PAUSED? Work huts now have a pause button. Sometimes players forget to unpause.
  7. Is their hunger level low? Citizens won’t work while hungry. Give them food, and if you have a Restaurant, check that it is stocked and you have hired a Cook. If they are hungry but won’t eat the food they have, fire them until they eat then rehire them.
  8. Do they have any open requests? They might need a tool or other item to continue their work.
  9. Do they have tools of the correct level?
  10. Is their inventory or their hut inventory full? They will get stuck if they have no room to move things in or out.
  11. Do they start working when you get close to them? Maybe Minecraft is not loading enough chunks in your colony. If you are using Optifine then disable the “Smooth World” option. You can also tweak the “forceloadcolony” and “colonyloadstrictness” values in the Config file

If none of these apply, go on to the next troubleshooting checklists.

CHECKLIST: Troubleshooting a citizen not working by career

  1. Builder: Remember to click the Build Building button inside the hut block you want to be built, then wait for the Builder’s Hut to announce they have begun building. If you are upgrading a building, check that the Builder level is higher than the building you are upgrading.
  2. Forester: Set which type of tree they are allowed to cut and if they should replant them. Make sure that your trees are at ground level, or if you place them one block higher, place slabs next to them.
  3. Miner: Is there an ore they cannot mine in their way? Break it for them or assign them to a new mining level. Do they have cobblestone, torches, a pickaxe, a shovel, slabs, planks, and fencing (for the mineshaft)? Check for water sources, and waterlogged blocks, including dripstone. Removing them will sometimes resolve related issues.
  4. Cook: Set which fuel you want them to use.
  5. Baker: Set which fuel you want them to use and which recipe you want them to bake.
  6. Smelter: Set which fuel you want them to use and which ore you want them to smelt.
  7. Farmer: Assign the farmer to a field. Make sure each scarecrow has a seed and make sure all tilled soil is hydrated.
  8. Composter: Set which items you want them to convert into compost.
  9. Crafter (Carpenter, Blacksmith, Mechanic, etc): The request for items must be made after the crafter is hired and the colony must have a Courier. Cancel the request at the original NPC to generate a new request, or make a new request from the Postbox. Also remember to teach them the recipes they’re allowed to craft and make sure afterwards that the recipes were saved.
  10. Stone Smelter: Set which fuel you want them to use. (They know their recipes already.)

CHECKLIST: Troubleshooting a Citizen not working for unknown reason

  1. Log out of the game. Open the config file.
    • Go to the line
      #Should in development features be enabled (might be buggy). [Default: false]
      enableInDevelopmentFeatures=false
    • Change the false to true
    • Restart your game
    • Watch the name area above the worker’s head. The information at the end will be important for devs/support staff to troubleshoot issues or assist you on the Discord help channels.
  2. Nudge worker by walking into them, off the block they are standing on or out a door.
  3. Recall worker to their work hut.
  4. Make sure the path to their worksite is clear of obstructions.
  5. Recall all citizens to the Town Hall.
  6. Pause the problematic work hut, wait a few minutes, unpause the work hut and recall the worker.
  7. Pause the work hut, then click ‘Restart.’ This will restart the worker.
  8. Fire worker, wait a few minutes, then hire the same worker.
  9. Empty out the worker’s personal and workhut inventories, then only give them what they request in the amount requested until they have no more requests.
  10. Fire worker, empty out their personal and workhut inventories, wait for them to actually get into bed at night, after sunrise, hire the same worker.
  11. Punch them with an empty hand (taking damage resynchronizes them with world). Never punch a guard, fire them first then punch then rehire them.
  12. Use the /mc colony requestsystem-reset command.
  13. Repair their work hut. Some workers will stop working if required elements are not present. Only the Builder can place beds, crafting tables, furnaces, chests, racks, and compost barrels. If you broke any of those, create a repair build order for the building.
  14. Fire worker, wait a few minutes, then hire a different worker (you will lose advantage of the experience the first worker had accumulated at this career).

Upgrading to a newer Minecraft version

Minecolonies is not compatible in between major Minecraft versions. Upgrading a 1.16.5 modded world with Minecolonies to 1.18.1 won’t work and is not supported at all.

This is because mods tend to make breaking changes in between major Minecraft versions.

An example to what can happen when you try to upgrade a world between major versions, to illustrate why it is a bad idea:

  1. Shingles and timber frames got moved to Domum Ornamentum. Therefore, shingle and timber frame blocks will be gone from the world during the upgrade.
  2. There is a bug that prevents modded block entities from retaining their data, which would mean that any hut block would lose the building they are connected to, and any Domum Ornamentum block would fall back to their standard textures, or simply be removed.

If changes are needed or you think there is content missing, feel free to edit this page (the button at the top right) or submit an issue for us to make edits. - MineColonies Wiki Team