Plot creator staff
The plot creator staff registers custom buildings you built in the world: footprint, specialty blocks, prefab export, costs, and (optionally) a live plot in your town. Most players should use Decoration or Variant, not the full workplace types below.
Open your town journal → Guide → Mechanics → Plot creator staff (this page) while learning the flow. In play: equip the staff, use Open or confirm to start or open the current step panel, use Mark on blocks in the world, Back / Continue for the previous / next step, Step menu to jump to a step you already reached, and crouch + Back to cancel. The game shows your own key for each of these at the bottom right of the screen.
Recommended paths
| Goal | Building type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmetic build, no jobs | Decoration | Optional town records shelf; no production or villager logic. |
| Alternate look for an existing building | Variant | Pick which main building it counts as (house, barn, inn, etc.). Substeps follow that main type. |
| New workplace / production plot (modding) | Work | For adding new workplace types; needs management block, production storage, and a work surface POI. |
Building types (picker)
Decoration — Parks, props, and builds that should not act as homes, shops, or workplaces. Minimal required spots.
Variant — A prefab that counts as another building id already in the mod (for example a custom house that counts as plot_house). You choose the main type from the dropdown; important spots match that main building.
Home — Residential plot: town records shelf + sleep POI.
Work — Developer / content author use. Defines a new workplace-style plot: town records shelf, production storage, and a work-surface POI. Use when you are adding a new production or job building type, not for normal cosmetic variants.
Amenity — Fun or leisure (park, altar-style amenity): shelf + fun/sit POI.
Shop — Villager shop with a counter: shelf + shop-tagged work POI, plus shop spots for the goods.
Inn — Full inn layout: shelf, work surface, beds, eat spot, innkeeper and visitor spawns (and optional guild master spawn slot).
Town hall — Civic hub: shelf, treasury block, planning desk POI.
Guild hall — Adventurer guild: shelf, work surface, adventurer spawn points.
Overlap and confusion
- Variant vs Home / Work / … — Variant is for “looks different, behaves like X.” Pick Variant + main type, not Home, if you are reskinning an existing gameplay building.
- Work vs Shop — Shop is for villager shops that sell from shop spots. Work is for farms, mills, forges, and other production workplaces.
- Amenity vs Decoration — Decoration has almost no gameplay hooks. Amenity sets fun/amenity tags and POIs for villager schedules.
- Inn, Town hall, and Guild hall are full templates; use Variant only if you are matching one of those templates on purpose.
Flow (short)
- Drag to mark the build box (the plot sign is placed at the center automatically). Stand inside the box and use Adjust or remove to expand one block toward where you look, or crouch + Adjust or remove to shrink. You can also drag the side panels.
- Choose building type (and variant of if applicable).
- Place important spots (blocks are given one at a time per substep).
- Open building settings (F): name, id, tags, treasury gold cost, self build days, empty space prefab option, and other options.
- Export prefab with F on the save shape step (uses settings from step 4).
- Set build materials (virtual chest; items return to you when you continue).
- Review and save.
To remove an important spot in either the Plot Creator or Building Editor, aim directly at its floating cube or villager hologram and use Adjust or remove (right-click by default). Stay within eight blocks with a clear view of the marker. You do not need a block underneath it. This removes the saved spot, leaving your building's blocks in place; you can then mark its new position. Required spots still need to be replaced before you save.
Choosing buildings for style quests
In Building settings, enter the building's Style, then tick Preferred quest building for this style if quests should use this design. You can change this setting in the Building Editor too.
For example, mark your farm design to make it the farm plot given by quests in towns using that style. The building must still count as a farm. If several matching designs are marked, the quest picks one at random. Marked designs take priority even if they also count as another building, such as a house.
Leave the setting off to let quests prefer buildings with just the requested purpose, then use mixed-use buildings when no single-purpose option exists. Only installed buildings in the town's chosen style are considered.
Required equipment and animal spots
Both the creator and building editor include the equipment required by the chosen core building, including variants. Required steps cannot be removed. Place and select each named block; saving checks that the equipment is still inside the building.
For a Hunter's Lodge, place the Hunt Beacon in a flat 9 by 9 arena. Face toward where you want the portal, then mark the beacon to see Hunt portal opens here, Creature entrance and Hunter's starting position. Mark it again while facing another direction to turn all three positions together. Keep those spaces clear. Your chosen direction is saved and turns with the building when placed. The lodge also needs Production Storage.
For a barn, mark five animal pens on the floor, facing the direction each animal should look. Older community barns without these markers automatically use clear floor spaces until their author supplies pen markers.
Permissions
By default, config may allow everyone to use the plot creator; servers can require the aetherhaven.plot.creator permission instead.