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 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:

1. Mulch

2. Game Simulation

3. Producer Updates

4. Weed Updates

5. Storage Decay

6. 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