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[pokute]

I've recently constructed a macabre tower to store all my bones, shells, skulls, and coffins.  To my surprise, once I began using it, my bones and shells started vanishing at an alarming rate.

At first, I thought I might have had some bone craft jobs running, but after confirming this is not the case, I watched the bone stockpiles carefully.  It turns out my bones and shells were vanishing right off their respective stockpiles. 

The tiles themselves are marked as Inside Light Above Ground.

I have since solved the problem by moving the stockpiles below ground.

But my question is, are there other items that also disappear while above ground, even in a stockpile?  Or is this a behavior peculiar to refuse items?

[Elvang]

I believe it applies just to refuse items.

[pokute]

Has anyone built a storage tower like this and haven't had stuff disappear?

[Logical2u]

Refuse automagically disintegrates, I believe it's only when it's in the light/outside (since indoor storage piles work seem to be permanent...)
It's not your tower being glitchy - I usually put refuse piles outside at the start of a fortress' life so as to ensure it will never be completely full. If anything it's the fact that it's a construction outside being wonky more than a bug with the tower in general. (Like how roofing over grassy plains still counts as "outside").

[pokute]

Oh well, guess I'll just put shit up there and see if it disappears.

[Noble Digger]

Once the sun touches a tile it's permanently flagged as 'light' even if you construct a new ceiling above it. The game is sort of finnicky about the inside\outside\light\dark tags. For example, bridges and floors built over an open-air room will not prevent refuse from rotting away and they will suppress misama generation, but dwarves who stand under them will become cave adapted as if they were indoors.

Refuse and food are the only things that will miasma and eventually disappear outside. Bones and shells skip the miasma stage obviously, and vanish after a while. It seems to take a dwarfmonth or so for each stage (rotting, rotting down to bones, bones disappearing). The DF wiki probably has detailed information on all of the above. http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net gogogo!

[IceShade]

Yes, the current Dark/Light/Outdoor/Inside/Subterranean (and all that) system is a bit.. odd. I was looking whether there is a tool to change certain tiles. I thought, there are so many things you can edit, surely you can edit that? So far I've been unsuccessful in my quest for this magical tool.

Ahem.

The order "All dwarves stay inside" has nothing to do with "outside" and "inside", but rather everything with light and dark subterranean. I want to flag certain above ground constructed buildings as "dark, subterranean" so they won't flee from the damn building, even though they're inside and perfectly safe.

[Albedo]

The problem is that bones/shells are "refuse", and that works differently than more durable items.

[Hyndis]

Bones/skulls/shells have a chance to vanish when the season changes if they are outdoors.

If you want to hold onto them forever, you need to store them underground.

[Aspgren]

INVISIBLE OGRES

[Cheater]

The order "All dwarves stay inside" has nothing to do with "outside" and "inside", but rather everything with light and dark subterranean. I want to flag certain above ground constructed buildings as "dark, subterranean" so they won't flee from the damn building, even though they're inside and perfectly safe.

I hate to disagree sir, but my dwarves remain under my constructed walkways when ordered to stay inside. These walkways are on the surface (Z+1 to be precise).

They are, logically, "Light" and "Above ground".

[pokute]

It's really odd how the wording gets confused again and again.

Let me reiterate my experience that my bones and shells located on a stockpile in a tile tagged as "Inside Light Above Ground" spontaneously disappeared over time.  They stopped disappearing once I moved them onto a tile tagged as "Inside Dark Subterranean."

This might be a glitch in 40d peculiar to items of the refuse type.

[Smew]

The order "All dwarves stay inside" has nothing to do with "outside" and "inside", but rather everything with light and dark subterranean. I want to flag certain above ground constructed buildings as "dark, subterranean" so they won't flee from the damn building, even though they're inside and perfectly safe.

I hate to disagree sir, but my dwarves remain under my constructed walkways when ordered to stay inside. These walkways are on the surface (Z+1 to be precise).

They are, logically, "Light" and "Above ground".

Your dwarves must be order ignoring bastards then, because my dwarves certainly won't do that.

[Elvang]

...
They stopped disappearing once I moved them onto a tile tagged as "Inside Dark Subterranean.
...

Its the Above Ground/Subterranean flag that affects cave adaptation and whether refuse automagically disappears over time.

[Name Lips]

It's really odd how the wording gets confused again and again.

Let me reiterate my experience that my bones and shells located on a stockpile in a tile tagged as "Inside Light Above Ground" spontaneously disappeared over time.  They stopped disappearing once I moved them onto a tile tagged as "Inside Dark Subterranean."

This might be a glitch in 40d peculiar to items of the refuse type.

As far as I can remember this has always been the case. ANY refuse - bone, body parts, leather, chunks, shells - they will all vanish on their own if they are not stored underground. Whether or not they're in a stockpile, and whether or not you personally consider them valuable and want to hold onto them. When the seasons change, if they are not underground, they have a chance of vanishing forever.

I don't think it's a glitch - it's been around forever. Load up old versions if you have them - you'll find it still happens.