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[Shazial]

In my tutorial/testing fortress I uncovered an artifact. Problem is, I uncovered it while playing around with DFHack commands, especially dig-now. Thus said item is in the middle and at the bottom of a two-level subterranean ocean (Both sections of the sea are 7/7 water). Being the greedy dwarven overlord that I am, it would be lovely to retrieve it and put it on display.

Having accidently created this self imposed challenge, it's time to start planning for a small engineering project. For that I have a couple questions I couldn't find a good answer to: Do artifacts move with water pressure / flow of water or is that solely dependent on size and weight of the object? The item somewhat close to a wall (2 tiles away), so my first idea was to create a "sieve" with fortifications / bars / grates, floodgates, levers, and downward channeling.

Fortifications, bars and grates allow for fluids to pass by, but from what I've gathered they should stop animals, and items? (Outside of aquatic creatures, according to the Wiki). The wiki mentioned that items can be jammed or get stuck in fortifications, but that it can be fixed by removing and reconstructing the fortification. If such a situation occurs, does the item get destroyed, or does the fortification get broken down to its construction material plus the item stuck into it?

If using above mentioned constructions and goods for sieving the artifact from water doesn't work or risks it getting destroyed, my second idea is to flush it from the sea into an artificial lake that I can dry up and then retrieve it from the mud.

However, if artifacts can't move with water flow, I'll probably need to look into somehow damming a part of the sea and draining it to retrieve the item. The only idea I have for this would be to cause a controlled cave-in, since constructing in 7/7 water is impossible, if memory serves? Any ideas on how this could be achieved?

The ocean it self is connected to the edges of the map at multiple points so draining it completely would be nigh impossible, or at least one massive project that I dunno if I want to partake in.

Using DFHack would probably make that easy, making walls with magma etc., but I'm also taking it as a learning opportunity, since I don't often dabble in the liquid side of the game. I know it's a bit hypocritical since I gained this fortune while messing with the commands, but it's fun to try and solve the dilemma with the non-DFHack tools at hand as well. Sort of like a self made challenge.

Though, if my engineering seems quite impossible, is there another command outside of autodump that could be used to move the item? Artifacts cannot be marked for dumping so that command cannot be used.

[Ulfarr]

I think damming a portion of the ocean with magma/obsidian is the best bet. I haven't done anything similar, so I'm not sure how well it's going to work but moving all that water seems unfeasible to me (fps drop, new water spawing from the map edges etc).

[Bumber]

You'd need to drain the fortification to deconstruct it and retrieve the artifact, so I'm not sure that would help.

I'd obsidian cast or cave-in a setup like this:
77777777
7WWWWWW7
7WA777W7
7WWWWWW7
77777777

Where W = wall, A = artifact in water. Z-level above looks the same, without artifact. You can then pump out the water in the top level so you can build a second pump there.

[0x517A5D]

[...] is there another command outside of autodump that could be used to move the item?  [...]

No worries, gotcha covered fam.

If you decide not to mess around with magma, cave-ins, or draining the ocean:

It just so happens that I've written a DFHack script that teleports items to a pedestal.  It's not quite finished, but it's functional.

Copy-paste this into a file named put-item-on-display.lua ; put that file in the dfhack-config/scripts/ subdirectory.

Spoiler: put-item-on-display.lua (click to show/hide)

Code: (put-item-on-display.lua) [Select]

--Teleports and displays an item in a display furniture.
--[====[

put-item-on-display
===================
Teleports and displays an item in a display furniture.

Usage:
    First, set the target display furniture by running the script
    while viewing the display furniture building.

    After doing this, you can teleport items to the display furniture
    by running the script while viewing an item's description page.

Suggestion: assign keybindings to do this.
    e.g. add these lines to dfhack-config/init/dfhack.init :

    keybinding add Ctrl-Shift-Z@dwarfmode/ViewSheets/ITEM "put-item-on-display"
    keybinding add Ctrl-Shift-Z@dwarfmode/ViewSheets/BUILDING "put-item-on-display"
]====]


local utils=require('utils')

local verbose = true

function printf(...)
  print(dfhack.df2console(string.format(...)))
end

function vprintf(...)
  if verbose then
    printf(...)
  end
end


function put_item_on_display_teleport(item, building)
    local desc = dfhack.items.getDescription(item, 0)
    local title = dfhack.items.getBookTitle(item)
    if title ~= '' then desc = title; end
    desc = string.format("%s (%d)", desc, item.id)

    if not item.flags.on_ground then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: not .on_ground", desc)
    elseif item.flags.in_job then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .in_job", desc)
    elseif item.flags.hostile then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .hostile", desc)
    elseif item.flags.in_inventory then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .in_inventory", desc)
    elseif item.flags.removed then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .removed", desc)
    elseif item.flags.in_building then  -- redundant to .on_ground
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .in_building", desc)
    --elseif item.flags.container then  -- redundant to .on_ground 
    ----NO IT ISNT; it means THIS ITEM is a container.
    --  vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .container", desc)
    -- allow .dead_dwarf
    -- allow .rotten
    -- allow .spider_web
    elseif item.flags.construction then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .construction", desc)
    -- allow .encased
    -- allow .unk12
    -- allow .murder
    -- allow .foreign
    -- allow .trader; see below.
    -- allow .owned
    elseif item.flags.garbage_collect then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .garbage_collect", desc)
    -- allow .artifact
    -- allow .forbid
    elseif item.flags.already_uncategorized then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .already_uncategorized", desc)
    -- allow .dump
    elseif item.flags.on_fire then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .on_fire", desc)
    elseif item.flags.melt then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .melt", desc)
    -- allow .hidden
    elseif item.flags.in_chest then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .in_chest", desc)
    elseif item.flags.use_recorded then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .use_recorded", desc)
    -- allow .artifact_mood
    -- allow .temps_computed
    -- allow .weight_computed
    elseif item.flags.unk30 then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .unk30", desc)
    -- allow .from_worldgen
    elseif item.flags2.has_rider then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .has_rider", desc)
    elseif item.flags2.unk1 then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .unk1", desc)
    -- allow .grown
    -- allow .unk_book
    -- TODO: test flags2 .4 through .31 ??  They do get set sometimes.


    -- TODO are there any relevant GeneralRef's ?
    --elseif nil ~= dfhack.items.getGeneralRef(item,  xxx) then
    --  vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: General Ref xxx", desc)

    -- TODO maybe delete the GeneralRef df.general_ref_type.UNIT_ITEMOWNER
    --   and clear flags.owner ??  hmm, also delete the item.id from unit.owned_items[] .
   

    else -- item is okay to deal with.  verify the building and do the job.
      -- local pos = xyz2pos(building.centerx, building.centery, building.z)
      local pos = utils.getBuildingCenter(building)

      -- TODO is this step necessary?  Probably not.
      if not dfhack.items.moveToGround(item, pos) then
        vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: moveToGround() failed.", desc)
        return
      end

      if not dfhack.items.moveToBuilding(item, building) then
        vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: moveToBuilding() failed.", desc)
        return
      end

      -- strangely, dfhack.items.moveToBuilding() doesn't set .in_building.
      item.flags.in_building = true
      item.flags.on_ground = false
      item.flags.in_inventory = false -- redundant; we don't allow items in an inventory.
      item.flags.dump = false
      item.flags.forbid = true -- I think I want this.
      item.flags.trader = false -- it can happen that .trader items end up on the ground,
--  sometimes visitors bring them and drop them.  Claim them.
--  (Do they drop them when they are grabbed for interrogation?)

      -- from here on, I just want to abort the script on failure.
      --   failure means the game is in an inconsistent state.

      -- Okay.  It's in the building.  Now we need to display it.
      local igr = df.general_ref_building_display_furniturest:new()
      igr.building_id = building.id
      item.general_refs:insert('#', igr)

      -- on brief inspection (one example, 3 .displayed_items[]) this is probably sorted.
      -- DONE check that, because if it's sorted, it gets out-of-sync with the building contents.
      -- Answer: checked with an 80-item pedestal.
      --   building.contained_items[] also gets sorted by item/id.  But just the .mode 0 items,
      --   the .mode 2 item still comes first.
      -- DONE2: Actually, I have a pedestal with NONSORTED items in lockstep.
      --   I now suspect that they get incidentally sorted during the fortress map load.
      -- Accordingly, I am going to NOT keep .displayed_items sorted; I will insert in lockstep
      --   with .contained_items.
      --utils.insert_sorted(building.displayed_items, item.id)
      building.displayed_items:insert('#', item.id)

      -- ... and we're done.

    end -- big if
end



-- GLOBAL for persistence.  Uses the .id instead of the actual building object to
--   prevent problems from objects being moved around, deallocated, etc.
buildingid = buildingid or -1


-- if Viewing a building and that building's type is display furniture, cache that building's id.
if dfhack.gui.getSelectedBuilding(true) then
  local building = dfhack.gui.getSelectedBuilding(true)

  if building ~= nil and building._type == df.building_display_furniturest then
    buildingid = building.id   -- GLOBAL for persistence.
    vprintf("targetting %s (%d)", utils.getBuildingName(building), buildingid)
  else
    -- TODO complain.
  end

  return
end


if buildingid == -1 then
  printf("First, you must specify a display furniture building, by running this script while Viewing the building.")
  return
end

local building = df.building.find(buildingid)
if building == nil then   -- this could happen e.g. if the building is deconstructed.
  printf("Error: could not find building %d", buildingid)
  return
end

if building._type ~= df.building_display_furniturest then   -- can't happen.
  printf("Error: building %d is not of type df.building_display_furniturest", buildingid);
  return
end


-- TODO perform job on all in select rectangle, with options for forbidden/unforbidden.
local items = { dfhack.gui.getSelectedItem() }

for _, item in ipairs(items) do
  put_item_on_display_teleport(item, building)
end


Now you have a DFHack command named put-item-on-display.

Optionally add these two lines to dfhack-config/init/dfhack.init :
keybinding add Ctrl-Shift-Z@dwarfmode/ViewSheets/ITEM "put-item-on-display"
keybinding add Ctrl-Shift-Z@dwarfmode/ViewSheets/BUILDING "put-item-on-display"

[Shazial]

You'd need to drain the fortification to deconstruct it and retrieve the artifact, so I'm not sure that would help.

I'd obsidian cast or cave-in a setup like this:
77777777
7WWWWWW7
7WA777W7
7WWWWWW7
77777777

Where W = wall, A = artifact in water. Z-level above looks the same, without artifact. You can then pump out the water in the top level so you can build a second pump there.

A walling / cave-in might be the best option. What I personally had in mind was a sort of "self draining" fortification sieve.



A flood gate can be controlled with a lever, so I could leave it open to have the water flow down towards the pit so it would pull the artifact to the fortification, and once it's in place, the idea is that I could just close the flood gate and let the rest of the water flow down into the pit / reservoir, so the hallway dries up and I can then just remove the fortification and loot the goods. The connected T-hallway with the door would allow the Urists to come and go into the dry hallway.

The issue with my plan is that dunno if floodgates pass items and if the dwarves can hop over and open floodgate to mine out the last square of wet wall.

[...] is there another command outside of autodump that could be used to move the item?  [...]

No worries, gotcha covered fam.

If you decide not to mess around with magma, cave-ins, or draining the ocean:

It just so happens that I've written a DFHack script that teleports items to a pedestal.  It's not quite finished, but it's functional.

Copy-paste this into a file named put-item-on-display.lua ; put that file in the dfhack-config/scripts/ subdirectory.

Spoiler: put-item-on-display.lua (click to show/hide)

Code: (put-item-on-display.lua) [Select]

--Teleports and displays an item in a display furniture.
--[====[

put-item-on-display
===================
Teleports and displays an item in a display furniture.

Usage:
    First, set the target display furniture by running the script
    while viewing the display furniture building.

    After doing this, you can teleport items to the display furniture
    by running the script while viewing an item's description page.

Suggestion: assign keybindings to do this.
    e.g. add these lines to dfhack-config/init/dfhack.init :

    keybinding add Ctrl-Shift-Z@dwarfmode/ViewSheets/ITEM "put-item-on-display"
    keybinding add Ctrl-Shift-Z@dwarfmode/ViewSheets/BUILDING "put-item-on-display"
]====]


local utils=require('utils')

local verbose = true

function printf(...)
  print(dfhack.df2console(string.format(...)))
end

function vprintf(...)
  if verbose then
    printf(...)
  end
end


function put_item_on_display_teleport(item, building)
    local desc = dfhack.items.getDescription(item, 0)
    local title = dfhack.items.getBookTitle(item)
    if title ~= '' then desc = title; end
    desc = string.format("%s (%d)", desc, item.id)

    if not item.flags.on_ground then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: not .on_ground", desc)
    elseif item.flags.in_job then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .in_job", desc)
    elseif item.flags.hostile then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .hostile", desc)
    elseif item.flags.in_inventory then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .in_inventory", desc)
    elseif item.flags.removed then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .removed", desc)
    elseif item.flags.in_building then  -- redundant to .on_ground
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .in_building", desc)
    --elseif item.flags.container then  -- redundant to .on_ground 
    ----NO IT ISNT; it means THIS ITEM is a container.
    --  vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .container", desc)
    -- allow .dead_dwarf
    -- allow .rotten
    -- allow .spider_web
    elseif item.flags.construction then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .construction", desc)
    -- allow .encased
    -- allow .unk12
    -- allow .murder
    -- allow .foreign
    -- allow .trader; see below.
    -- allow .owned
    elseif item.flags.garbage_collect then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .garbage_collect", desc)
    -- allow .artifact
    -- allow .forbid
    elseif item.flags.already_uncategorized then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .already_uncategorized", desc)
    -- allow .dump
    elseif item.flags.on_fire then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .on_fire", desc)
    elseif item.flags.melt then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .melt", desc)
    -- allow .hidden
    elseif item.flags.in_chest then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .in_chest", desc)
    elseif item.flags.use_recorded then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .use_recorded", desc)
    -- allow .artifact_mood
    -- allow .temps_computed
    -- allow .weight_computed
    elseif item.flags.unk30 then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .unk30", desc)
    -- allow .from_worldgen
    elseif item.flags2.has_rider then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .has_rider", desc)
    elseif item.flags2.unk1 then
      vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: .unk1", desc)
    -- allow .grown
    -- allow .unk_book
    -- TODO: test flags2 .4 through .31 ??  They do get set sometimes.


    -- TODO are there any relevant GeneralRef's ?
    --elseif nil ~= dfhack.items.getGeneralRef(item,  xxx) then
    --  vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: General Ref xxx", desc)

    -- TODO maybe delete the GeneralRef df.general_ref_type.UNIT_ITEMOWNER
    --   and clear flags.owner ??  hmm, also delete the item.id from unit.owned_items[] .
   

    else -- item is okay to deal with.  verify the building and do the job.
      -- local pos = xyz2pos(building.centerx, building.centery, building.z)
      local pos = utils.getBuildingCenter(building)

      -- TODO is this step necessary?  Probably not.
      if not dfhack.items.moveToGround(item, pos) then
        vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: moveToGround() failed.", desc)
        return
      end

      if not dfhack.items.moveToBuilding(item, building) then
        vprintf("Warning: skipping %s: moveToBuilding() failed.", desc)
        return
      end

      -- strangely, dfhack.items.moveToBuilding() doesn't set .in_building.
      item.flags.in_building = true
      item.flags.on_ground = false
      item.flags.in_inventory = false -- redundant; we don't allow items in an inventory.
      item.flags.dump = false
      item.flags.forbid = true -- I think I want this.
      item.flags.trader = false -- it can happen that .trader items end up on the ground,
--  sometimes visitors bring them and drop them.  Claim them.
--  (Do they drop them when they are grabbed for interrogation?)

      -- from here on, I just want to abort the script on failure.
      --   failure means the game is in an inconsistent state.

      -- Okay.  It's in the building.  Now we need to display it.
      local igr = df.general_ref_building_display_furniturest:new()
      igr.building_id = building.id
      item.general_refs:insert('#', igr)

      -- on brief inspection (one example, 3 .displayed_items[]) this is probably sorted.
      -- DONE check that, because if it's sorted, it gets out-of-sync with the building contents.
      -- Answer: checked with an 80-item pedestal.
      --   building.contained_items[] also gets sorted by item/id.  But just the .mode 0 items,
      --   the .mode 2 item still comes first.
      -- DONE2: Actually, I have a pedestal with NONSORTED items in lockstep.
      --   I now suspect that they get incidentally sorted during the fortress map load.
      -- Accordingly, I am going to NOT keep .displayed_items sorted; I will insert in lockstep
      --   with .contained_items.
      --utils.insert_sorted(building.displayed_items, item.id)
      building.displayed_items:insert('#', item.id)

      -- ... and we're done.

    end -- big if
end



-- GLOBAL for persistence.  Uses the .id instead of the actual building object to
--   prevent problems from objects being moved around, deallocated, etc.
buildingid = buildingid or -1


-- if Viewing a building and that building's type is display furniture, cache that building's id.
if dfhack.gui.getSelectedBuilding(true) then
  local building = dfhack.gui.getSelectedBuilding(true)

  if building ~= nil and building._type == df.building_display_furniturest then
    buildingid = building.id   -- GLOBAL for persistence.
    vprintf("targetting %s (%d)", utils.getBuildingName(building), buildingid)
  else
    -- TODO complain.
  end

  return
end


if buildingid == -1 then
  printf("First, you must specify a display furniture building, by running this script while Viewing the building.")
  return
end

local building = df.building.find(buildingid)
if building == nil then   -- this could happen e.g. if the building is deconstructed.
  printf("Error: could not find building %d", buildingid)
  return
end

if building._type ~= df.building_display_furniturest then   -- can't happen.
  printf("Error: building %d is not of type df.building_display_furniturest", buildingid);
  return
end


-- TODO perform job on all in select rectangle, with options for forbidden/unforbidden.
local items = { dfhack.gui.getSelectedItem() }

for _, item in ipairs(items) do
  put_item_on_display_teleport(item, building)
end


Now you have a DFHack command named put-item-on-display.

Optionally add these two lines to dfhack-config/init/dfhack.init :
keybinding add Ctrl-Shift-Z@dwarfmode/ViewSheets/ITEM "put-item-on-display"
keybinding add Ctrl-Shift-Z@dwarfmode/ViewSheets/BUILDING "put-item-on-display"

Oh, that's awesome.  I'll need to test that out if my engineering plans go awry.

[Salmeuk]

floodgates pass items

yeah they should. when 'open' they are like open doors in that regard

A flood gate can be controlled with a lever, so I could leave it open to have the water flow down towards the pit so it would pull the artifact to the fortification, and once it's in place, the idea is that I could just close the flood gate and let the rest of the water flow down into the pit / reservoir, so the hallway dries up and I can then just remove the fortification and loot the goods. The connected T-hallway with the door would allow the Urists to come and go into the dry hallway.

tbh I'm not certain that the water flow will definitely carry your artifact inward, but it is worth a try. the thing about large bodies of water is that the flow can be super chaotic.

you might find that the rate of exit flow provided by a single tile passageway / drain is insufficient to bring the artifact closer, due to the effect of a bottleneck. making this setup two tiles wide may improve your chances. but again, this is not a scientific statement and I'm sure others might be able to correct me here.

you mention this underground sea is two z-levels tall. a manufactured cave-in is fairly annoying to designate but as long as you are precise there is little danger. let me know if you need help setting one up. I think there are tutorials on the wiki. the idea is to isolate your intended plug from the natural stone, excluding one point of connectivity, then channeling or collapsing that point, dropping the plug into the water. As long as the tiles you drop were natural and not something constructed wall, it will remain as a tile and not turn into the stone object, thus creating a wall directly below the position it was dropped. there are quite a few uses for this technique, from trapping invading forgotten beasts to bringing massive amounts of magma up from the bottom of the map instantly, so it is worth learning!

if the object is magma safe you can just flood the place with magma and dig the artifact out later. sometimes stupid simple is the best route.

have you thought about tunneling from underneath, with some kind of dwarven emergency catchement area to keep the miner alive as the sea drains from above?

[Bumber]

pull the artifact to the fortification, and once it's in place, the idea is that I could just close the flood gate and let the rest of the water flow down into the pit / reservoir, so the hallway dries up and I can then just remove the fortification and loot the goods.

You should be using a floor grate over the pit, then. Fortifications won't stop the artifact from being swept through them.

[thefinn]

I have had this issue for YEARS whereby I cannot get dead dwarves out of the single level river (along with their gear).

So I'd love to see a solution to this one.

[eerr]

Oh that? careful use of screw pumps works just fine. You'll need to find a place for the water though.

I would advise you to build the screw pumps 'opposite' the side of the river your fortress is on. Just in case.
The water's movement will naturally push the unfortunate sop towards the screw pumps,
and then all you need to retrieve him is a ramp and an open coffin or stockpile.
Then you would unforbid the body and let the dwarves collect it.

[DerpFortress]

I have had this issue for YEARS whereby I cannot get dead dwarves out of the single level river (along with their gear).

So I'd love to see a solution to this one.

Not sure if it works on artifacts, but if you're using DFhack, marking the items for dumping then using autodump on an accessible tile works nicely.

If that's not your cup of tea, you could set up a tunnel with a (linked) floodgate, to a tile diagonally adjacent (to stop pressure shenanigans) to the tile that's directly under your desired items. Then carve a ramp up to the items. They should fall down the ramp, get pushed by water flow through the diagonal path, then you can close the floodgate once they're through. Much easier to drain a tunnel than the whole ocean. In fact, if your tunnel is long enough and the items get pushed through fast enough, you might not get enough water in it to need to do anything other than wait for it to dry out on its own. Won't work on stuff that's on the edge of the map, though, since you can't dig there. Also won't work on some older versions, IIRC water pushing items wasn't a from-the-beginning-of-development thing.