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[weatheredscholar]

Hey all,

I'm playing the Steam version of Dwarf Fortress. At first, my scribes were copying texts onto blank scrolls, but at some point they stopped and never started again. This is despite me firing/hiring new scribes, ensuring that my scribes are happy, playing with labor restrictions, increasing the number of copies for scribes to make in the library settings, ensuring that plenty of spare scrolls are in the library chests, ensuring that there are plenty of open spaces in the bookshelves, etc.

Am I doing something wrong, or do you think this could be a bug?

Cheers,
weatheredscholar

[axemangeorge]

Could it be a bug? Yes!

I'm going to recommend you check one thing first, because I saw this happen in a busy 47.xx fort... My library had SO MUCH TRAFFIC that my scribes weren't able to get a chair with a table attached. Every time I built a new table + chair combo, some slacker would come racing in and plop down to peruse The Beaker And You or whatever. I was stumped at first and only figured out what was going on by watching the library in action and I SWEAR it was busier than the tavern! Should've named that fort Ravenclaw I guess...

Another thing to consider before reporting a bug? Make sure your scribes aren't getting dragged away to other duties. I'm not sure how high a priority book-copying has. (Scholars, it seems, have the OPPOSITE problem -- mine at least tend to think themselves into total mental collapse, John Nash style, unless I rotate them in and out of the Scholar position.)

Hope this helps!!

[weatheredscholar]

I'm going to recommend you check one thing first, because I saw this happen in a busy 47.xx fort... My library had SO MUCH TRAFFIC that my scribes weren't able to get a chair with a table attached. Every time I built a new table + chair combo, some slacker would come racing in and plop down to peruse The Beaker And You or whatever. I was stumped at first and only figured out what was going on by watching the library in action and I SWEAR it was busier than the tavern! Should've named that fort Ravenclaw I guess...

Another thing to consider before reporting a bug? Make sure your scribes aren't getting dragged away to other duties. I'm not sure how high a priority book-copying has. (Scholars, it seems, have the OPPOSITE problem -- mine at least tend to think themselves into total mental collapse, John Nash style, unless I rotate them in and out of the Scholar position.)

Okay, so I added more tables and chairs, and restricted my library to citizens only. I ensured that plenty of uncopied texts were available, and blank scrolls. I also restricted the scribes' labor and put them in a burrow that was essentially only the library. The scribes just stood around socializing, and never copied a single text. Hmmm, thinking this might be a bug.

[weatheredscholar]

A quick update: You were totally right! Once I built a ton of chairs and desks, the scribes suddenly had room to copy. This is a good tip!!!