Troubleshooting

The mod doesn't appear in the mod manager

Likely cause

The folder is in the wrong place or nested one level too deep, so the game can't find manifest.json.

Fix

1. Close Timberborn.
2. Open Documents\Timberborn\Mods and check that this file exists: PersistentWorkAreas\version-1.1\manifest.json.
3. If it is at PersistentWorkAreas\PersistentWorkAreas\version-1.1\manifest.json instead, move the inner folder up a level.
4. Make sure you extracted the zip rather than opening it and dragging a single file out. PersistentWorkAreas.dll must sit next to manifest.json.
5. Start the game again. See the install steps for the exact layout.

I select a building but there's no "Working area" panel

Likely causes

• The mod isn't enabled. Check the mod manager, and restart if it asked you to.
• The building doesn't have a working area. The panel only appears for buildings that show a terrain or road-spill outline when selected in the base game, such as farms, foresters, lumberjack flags and gatherers.
• It's a Builder's Hut. These are deliberately excluded. See below.
• The building is only a placement preview (a ghost you haven't placed yet).

Fix

Try a farm or forester first. If the panel appears there, the mod is working and the other building simply has no pinnable area. If it doesn't appear on a farm either, check the log.

The panel says "Working-area pinning is unavailable. Check the game log."

What it means

The outline renderer failed for this map. This normally happens when a game update has changed the internal renderer the mod borrows. The mod turns pinning off for the map and leaves everything else in the game alone.

Fix

1. Look for a newer version on the releases page and update.
2. Otherwise find the log, search for Outline disabled for this map, and report it with that line and its stack trace.
3. Reloading the map resets the mod, but it will fail again if the cause is a game change.

I pinned a building but no outline is showing

Likely causes

• The pin isn't on. The row should read ON, and a Clear pinned areas (N) button should be showing at the top right. If not, the pin was removed or never registered.
• It isn't connected to a path. The area is measured from the building's entrance, exactly as the game does for its own outline. A building with no reachable entrance has no area to draw.
• Visible level. Like the game's outline, pinned areas follow the visible-level setting. Parts above the level you're viewing are hidden.
• Pinning is unavailable on this map.

Fix

Make sure the pin reads ON, raise the visible level, and check the building has a working path to it. If it still doesn't show, uncheck and re-check the box to force a refresh. Note that while a pinned building is selected, the game draws its normal outline, and the pinned outline takes over when you deselect it.

The outline doesn't match my recent terrain or path changes

What to expect

Outlines refresh when terrain, paths, visible level, construction mode or your selection change, at most five times per second, so a change can take a moment to show.

Fix

Wait a second. If it's still stale, uncheck and re-check the building's box to rebuild it, and report it if it keeps happening, saying what you changed.

My pins disappeared

Why

Pins are temporary by design. They reset when you leave the map, load a save, or a multiplayer resync happens. They are never written to your save file. Deleting a pinned building also removes its pin, and Clear pinned areas removes all of them.

Fix

Pin the buildings again. This is expected behavior, not a fault.

I can't find the "Clear pinned areas" button

Why

It sits at the top right of the screen and only appears while at least one building is pinned. Its label shows how many pins you have, for example Clear pinned areas (2).

Fix

Pin a building and look at the top right. To remove a single pin, select that building and uncheck its box.

My "clear" key binding does nothing

Likely causes

• It's unbound by default. Assign a key under Settings > Key bindings > Persistent Work Areas > Clear all pinned working areas.
• Nothing is pinned. The shortcut only acts when there's at least one pin.
• Another game action uses the same key. Choose a different one.
• You're holding an extra modifier key (Shift, Ctrl or Alt) that isn't part of the binding. The shortcut ignores presses with extra modifiers.

Fix

Pin a building, then press the key on its own. You can always use the top-right button instead.

A Builder's Hut shows an outline when I select it

Why

That outline comes from Timberborn itself. The game gives every Builder's Hut a road-spill range and draws it while the hut is selected. Persistent Work Areas doesn't draw it and doesn't change it. Since version 0.1.2 the mod simply doesn't offer a pin for Builder's Huts.

Fix

Nothing to fix. To confirm, disable the mod, restart, and select a Builder's Hut: the same outline appears.

It stopped working after a Timberborn update

Why

The mod is built and checked against Timberborn 1.1.2.4. It borrows the game's own outline renderer, so a later game version can change something it relies on. When that happens pinning disables itself for the map (see above) and the rest of the game is unaffected.

Fix

Check the releases page for a build that supports your game version, or open an issue that says which game version you're on.

Co-op and BeaverBuddies

Things to know

• Pins are local. Pinning or clearing on your computer never changes what your partner sees.
• The mod doesn't patch the game, run simulation code or send multiplayer events, so it shouldn't cause desyncs. If you suspect it, disable it on the affected computer and see if the problem goes away.
• It's designed for compatibility with the BeaverBuddies Stability Fork, and installing it on both computers is recommended for a first session.
• A multiplayer resync clears your pins. That's expected.

Slowdowns with many pins

What to expect

The outline only recalculates when something changes, at most five times per second, and does no work while nothing is pinned. All pins share one combined mesh.

Fix

Clear pins you no longer need. If you still see a drop in frame rate, report it with roughly how many pins and how large your colony is.

Finding the game log

Timberborn writes a log every time it runs. On Windows it is here:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Mechanistry\Timberborn\Player.log

Paste that into the File Explorer address bar to open it. Player-prev.log next to it is the previous session, which is useful if the game crashed. Search the file for [PersistentWorkAreas]. You'll see:

• [PersistentWorkAreas] <version> loaded. when the mod started normally.
• Outline disabled for this map: followed by an error, when the renderer failed.
• Renderer cleanup failed: followed by an error, if freeing the outline hit a problem.

No [PersistentWorkAreas] lines at all means the game never loaded the mod, so go back to the first fix.

Reporting a problem

Open an issue on GitHub and include as much of this as you can:

• The mod version (from the mod manager, or the [PersistentWorkAreas] ... loaded log line) and your Timberborn version.
• Whether you use BeaverBuddies, and which other mods are enabled.
• What you did, what you expected, and what happened instead.
• Any [PersistentWorkAreas] lines from Player.log, with the full error text.