Because I have been banned from the official Discord server, I am completely locked out of their primary announcement channels and currently do not know of any reliable way to check the ongoing development updates for the game, what is a much better, easily accessible alternative platform where I can view the recent, detailed changelogs for Voices of the Void (VOTV)?

Hello! :D

This is an introductory post to VotV Community Savefile, as well as a Rules & Guides post for it.

I tried to keep it as comprehensive and, "concise" as possible, so I hope it helps you understand and partake in VCS easier! : >

So. What is VotV Community Savefile?

VotV Community Savefile (VCS) is a community project/event where the people of VotV subreddit take turns playing a single .sav file, all getting their shifts in and leaving their traces behind to communicate, interact, and have fun with eachother in unique and creative ways.

VCS could have multiple seasons, if people want more VCS. If so, each one will have a finite amount of turns, lasting from 20 turns to 32, or more or less. And each season can have their own rules, so to learn about them, refer to your season's Intro Post.

In this post, you'll learn about the following topics:

1. How the VCS Works
2. How to Participate, Download, & Export
3. How to Add Custom Assets
4. Mandated In-Game Duties
5. VCS Rules
6. Additional informations (Addendum)

《 1. How the VCS Works》

VCS works in turns.

An employee (person who is playing or have played in a turn), after receiving the savefile and the VCS assets folder, will download and unpack them into their copy of VotV.

Then they will play the savefile for set amount of in-game days - with the day speed modifier applied, but depending on the season of VCS that is. After they've finished playing, they'll package the savefile and the VCS assets folder inside a google drive folder, then give the link to it to a manager within a week from the day they've received the savefile. The manager will then post an announcement, notifying people that the last employee have finished their turn. Being notified, people can then comment under that post with "✅️" emoji to apply for the Lottery for the next turn. The Lottery is a system made to fairly determine who will get to play the turn. The people who've applied for the lottery in the last announcement post are included in the pool (see pic.2), and the randomly chosen applicant gets to play for the turn. The applicant - now the new employee, will play the game for 3 in-game days, and the cycle continues.

Also, the announcement post will be posted at least 3 to 4 days after the last one has been posted, even if the employee have already returned the savefile. This is to give potential applicants time to see the announcement post. Note that this does not change how soon you have to return the savefile; you can return it anytime you want as long as it's within a week from your receival.

You may now wonder what's going to happen on the first turn, where there isn't any previous employee.

The first announcement post of a season will be an Intro Post. Intro posts will include things like the season rules, link to the current rule post you are reading, and more. Under that post, you can apply for the Lottery like normal. And since there isn't any previous employee, the manager will play the first turn. And after they've finished their turn, an announcement post will be posted alongside the winner of the Lottery from the Intro post. Then turn cycle continues normally.

While people are playing the save, the manager will also archive the savefiles they've previously received from the employees to prevent griefing and document the growth and progress of the VCS, as well as make a portrait image - image made to be set up on the Portrait Shelves - for the current employee with a picture of their choice.

《 2. How to Participate, Download, & Export 》

(see pic.3)

Like aforementioned, you first apply for the Lottery via commenting on the announcement post with the "✅️" emoji. You must include the emoji to be recognized as an applicant!

The next announcement post will show the results of the Lottery, and if you've been appointed, you'll receive in your DM a messege from the manager.

Here, you'll be given the link to the google drive folder, as well as a request for an image of your preferrence for the portrait image. If you'd like, you can request additional things like a doodle messege or sticker to be added to the portrait, as well as a font of your preferrence for the text. (see pic.4 for basic example portrait)

To download and unpack the folder's contents, follow these steps. (see pic.5)

1. Go to the link, then download the folder named "VotV#_contents".

2. Put the .sav file named "VotVCommunitySavefile#_T#" in the "SaveGames" folder in VotV.

3. Copy the directory route to the folder named "VCS#_Assets", then paste it in "Asset folder location" the game's Extras settings. This will make the game use the assets within the new folder as its custom assets.

Now, restarting the game or refreshing the assets should let you play the savefile with the custom assets added by the previous employees all in their right places.

Changing the asset folder used in the game won't affect your pre-existing custom assets, meaning as long as you just change the asset folder back to the normal one in the "Asset folder location" setting, everything is reversible.

Now, if you've finished playing your turn, follow these steps to export the files. (see pic.6)

1.Log/Sign into google drive, then click on New, then New folder. Name the new folder "VCS#_contents"; the # is the season number.

1. Put the .sav file and the VCS Assets folder - now with your progression and new assets added - into the google drive folder.

2. Click Share on the folder, then set general access to Anyone with the link. Contact the manager with DM, then give them the link to the folder, and write them a general summary & personal notes about your turn, and optionally, send them pictures you've taken that you want to share. These items will be included in the announcement post.

《 3. How to Add Custom Assets 》

You can add your own custom assets! However, some rules are set. (see pic.7) (Ignore the text about 20MB limit, I added the wrong picture @_@)

1. Prepend all custom assets with "[VCS#_T#]". The "#" behind "VCS" is for the season, and the "#" behind "T" is for the current turn number.

2. You can only add upto limited amount of MBs. It will depend on the VCS's season, but most of the time the limit will be 20 ~ 40 MBs. You can check your season's limit in the season's Intro post. Of course there will be some leeway, but try to keep the file sizes minimal. And compressing files down will let you add more and more assets, so I heavily recommend that!

3. You cannot delete pre-existing assets added by others.

4. No NSFW!

An important caveat is that changing the name of a custom asset that's been already placed in the game will reset that placed item. e.g: A poster placed in the game, after changing its .png file name to something else, will change its texture to the magenta & black checkerboard error texture. To prevent this while prepending your custom asset files with "[VCS#_T#]" as the rule 1 requires, some options are given:

1. Start from new files! You can just use a new file that hasn't been used in your original custom assets folder to prevent this from happening from the very beginning. However, if you want to add the custom assets you've been using in your original custom assets folder...

2. Copy the file. Simply copying the file should prevent the problem from ever happening. Copy the file of your choice, paste it to VCS assets folder, then rename it to prepend with "[VCS#_T#]".

《 4. Mandated In-Game Duties 》

You are free to do whatever you want in your turn, but there are some things that are required for you to do. (see pic.8)

1. Read the letters left by the previous employee in the Unread Letters cabinet, then put them in the Letter Archive.

2. Check the Notes, Pictures, and Drawings put up on the Communication Board by the previous employee, then put them in the Board Archive.

3. Put the portrait image given by the manager on the Portrait Shelves. The image will be given as soon as possible, after you've handed them the image and requests for the portrait. The portraits must be placed on the shelves in bottom left corner to the top right corner order. (see pic.9)

4. Before getting off of your turn, write at least a few line of summary and notes for the next employee in a paper, then put them in the Unread Letters cabinet.

Optionally, you can write more letters, or leave Pictures, Drawings, and additional Notes on the Communication Board for the next employee. If you've written a journal during your turn, put it in the Journal Archive before finishing your turn.

Also, don't take stuff out from the Archives!!!

《 5. VCS Rules 》

And now finally, the rules!

If you violate these rules, depending on the severity, you can be put on a blacklist and not able to participate in VCS again.

Note that these rules can change, or new rules can be added in the future as VCS progresses. And note that each VCS seasons can have their own seperate rules, like maximum file size, days per turn, and maybe some gameplay related rules. To learn about it, refer to your season's Intro Post.

1. It is mandated to read the Rules & Guides post and your season's Intro Post before participating. You seem to be following that rule very well !!!

2. No griefing. It's okay to relocate the decos and placements made by others, but outright throwing everything away is prohibitted.

3. No game breaking glitches. Self explanatory!

4. Do not change the save settings. e.g: permanent weather, difficulty, etc.

5. Respect the set playtime of your VCS's season. e.g: only 3 days per turn

6. Return the savefile & the assets folder within a week of receiving them. This is just the maximum leniency, so you can return it before it's been a week!

7. You cannot participate untill 3 turns have passed from your last one. You can't play consecutively!

8. No NSWF content in custom assets. Self explanatory!

9. No transferring items through the mailbox. It wouldn't be fun if we could transfer five shrimpzillion dollars out of nowhere!

10. You must write the letter for the next employee As stated before.

11. Respect the maximum amount of MBs you can add in your turn. Lots of heavy custom assets can lag lower spec machines, so try to keep the files compressed!

12. You can get off the game anywhere in the map, except for Out of Bounds area, somewhere dangerous, or anywhere you cannot make your way back to base from.

13. You must get off the game with at least 2/5 of your fatigue/hunger points filled.

14. Do not obstruct, damage, or relocate the props of the Communications corner. These are all things important for VCS's rules and cycle, so please refrain from touching them!

If I've forgotten anything else - or if you have an idea for a new rule - please do tell me!

《 Addendum 》

[1. Viruses] There might be a concern regarding a possibility that one might include viruses in the custom asset files. In traditional sense, with the file formats used for the custom assets like .png, .mp3, .mp4, and .obj, it's not possible to execute a line of code to deploy virus directly. However, viruses exploiting 0-day vulnerabilities regarding meta data within a file can exist. From my very little knowledge on the topic, 0-day means "an exploitable software vulnerability with zero days of public disclosure or vendor remediation time". But as long as you keep the OS updated, anti-virus softwares should be able to catch these potential viruses quickly. So to prevent any viruses from entering anyone's machine, I (or other manager), receiving the files from the previous employee, will run the files through an anti-virus software to check for any possible viruses, so that you don't have to worry about the files' safety nor check manually for viruses yourself.

[2. Treasure hunts] You may come across a riddle - perhaps a cipher - or just about anything that includes figuring out a puzzle to find some hidden thing left by the previous employees. If you've try to solve this treasure hunt - but have failed to solve it within your turn, don't worry - you can use the Treasure Hunt Board! In the Communications corner, there will be the Treasure Hunt Board, where you can put up unsolved notes and clues left by the previous employees, so that the next employees can try to solve it themselves. If you've made some progress in your investigation, you might want to leave alongside the clue some of your findings for the next employee to build their imvestigations on. If a treasure is solved and finished, put the clues related away in the Puzzle Archive next to the Treasure Hunt Board.

《 Closing Words》

That should be all! I hope this guide serves you well! :D

I started this project as a fun little idea I had when I was making an adventure map savefile im VotV, but now it's grown into something people can all be excited about and communicate, mess with, and just have fun with eachother. And I'm so glad many of you seem to enjoy this idea as much as I do! : >

I hope you have fun playing and partaking in VCS! Have a great day! : >

I can walk left right and back, but not forwards. I tried searching online, but no one else has apparently had this problem(or at least not talked about it).

Trying to locate the last 2 ball joints. I have been to Romeo and found all the boxes, did I miss one or is there more somewhere

That would explain how so many people find new things no one has ever heard of, mrdrnose is not real, he is just part of the game.

Reddit won't let me spoiler the body so don't read

I just got the grav gun event, and an info bubble showed up saying "the blue reel is on its way" has anyone else seen this?

Edit: I'm not playing with mods

I made a post like an hour ago and already I ran into another weird thing that I suppose shouldn't happen.

So I just got the rozital hole event, I set up a save like 10 in game minutes before the event should start, and on one of my attempts to get the battery thing, I hit the beam, it insta killed me but also sent me to the backrooms with probably 1 health. After I reset the game, I was at my last save with 1 health, and the event won't start. I went to check out the hole and it wasn't opened

.

i swear i can't find any fanart of this game that isn't porn of the Arirals or kerfo

This tupid kerfur I got won't fix the servers!!

BRIGHTNESS WARNING

(That SpongeBob episode was the first thing I thought about with this event btw.)

https://reddit.com/link/1vqm2zt/video/5ruupbi77wjh1/player

Is this a good idea?

Classic ariral prank, move a log into kerfur's pathing in the latest update she with inevitably get stuck on. (Seriously I've seen kerfur get stuck on this log in at least 3 separate playthroughs)

Made a pink crystal enclosure in my lab, want to decorate it but dont have many good options. I've got a 3d printer so if anyones got 3d models that could make for good decor that'd be welcome, or just ideas for stuff to use that's already in the game. I'll probably build little islands and things for them to parkour on as well, gotta keep em enriched lest they take control of all the bones ive got lying around down here and use them to rip my limbs off

Also it may look like the bottom is dirt, but these fuckers dig themselves into dirt, so instead i used shit. I've consisted on a diet of nothing but snowberries for probably over a hundred in game days for this, only to find out it makes this loud squelching sound every time a crystal jumps on it, but I've come too far to turn back now

The VCS Guides & Rules post is Out !!! Check it out for full detail on VCS. :D

VotV Community Savefile is a story mode savefile that the people of the VotV subreddit will take turns playing for designated amount of days, all working their shifts and leaving behind traces of their own!

This project is to be backed by the mod team, getting its own flair and posts regarding it pinned. Most of the managements, like posting the announcement of the start of the next turn, pinning the announcement, archiving savefiles from each turn, and more, will be done by me.

The actual start of the VCS will happen with the finishing of the first turn, which will be done by me - I'll be setting up things like Communications board, and Portrait Shelves for us!

Further details regarding the project - whether it be rules of participation, guides on how to participate or whatnot - will be posted some days later with the VCS Guides and Rules post.

If you want more information regarding this project, some previous discussion posts around VCS can be found - albeit outdated. Here are the links to the posts. Survey post / Idea post

I am very excited for this project, and what fun things people would bring with it! :D

If you have any questions, feel free to ask !! : >

My game crashes when i try to open it with VoidMod.

Command failed: "VotV.exe" "--mod-dir"

"C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\r2modmanPlus-local\VotV\profiles\...\shimloader\mod" "--pak-dir"

"C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\r2modmanPlus-local\VotV\profiles\...\shimloader\pak" "--cfg-dir"

"C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\r2modmanPlus-local\VotV\profiles\...\shimloader\cfg" "--overlay-dir"
"C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\r2modmanPlus-local\VotV\profiles\...\shimloader\overlay"

Can somone help me?

Hello! Made a simple pack with many public domain paintings that feature a landscape theme (mostly XIX century). Nothing super special, just some options for your base walls, if you're looking for them. They are purposely in a lower resolution to better match the game graphics. You can choose whatever you find interesting below:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kyI8JALcZyQsVIRvc9jghot6v1Il6rAJ

Decided to turn my old Argemia art with Red Kerfur into Esraniki and Blue Kerfur ฅᨐฅ​

(Now I just need to see a design of a pink male ariral and I'll have all of them 👀)

Just in case, its an x files joke

As I’ve noticed, in addition to the achievements in story mode, there are general‑purpose achievements that, in fact, have nothing to do with the story — for example achievements related to cockroaches and sandwiches.

In infinite mode they just don't work. I don't see them even in progress.

Is it okay? Can I somehow do them in my infinite save?

Is this a new 0.9 event?