FAQ - Answers to common issues!

Ask and answer any and all questions pertaining to Salem's game-play.

FAQ - Answers to common issues!

Postby TotalyMeow » Thu Apr 30, 2015 11:48 pm

Since a number of new players seem to be posting the same questions over and over again, I'll be putting the answers to many of those questions here. These first few are just off the top of my head. Please suggest questions to be added below and I'll add them here. Useful links appreciated.


1. I just started playing, what do I do?

Salem is a sandbox game and so doesn't have specific goals. However, if you need more help than the tutorial gave you on how to build a base or develop your character, we have some useful links, including links to wikis here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=92

Consider going to the Planters and Pilgrims section of the forums and looking for a town to join. You will learn very quickly with a group of other players to help you.

Also, be sure to check what weather conditions you have entered Salem in. Salem is in a perpetual state of Autumn, but it experiences Cold Snaps and Everblooms, which affect your character. Cold Snap can be a dangerous time for a new player as your starting clothing will not keep your warm enough. See the next question for more information.


1 (b). My humors don't regenerate when I eat food, and/or I have a 'Hypothermia' debuff, and/or I've frozen solid, help!

Salem has two weather effects: Everbloom, which is a nice warm time when you don't have to worry about winter clothing, though there do tend to be more bears around, and Cold Snap, which is sometimes much colder, cold enough to freeze you solid if you're not careful. The first warning you will get will be a Hypothermia debuff, which is visible by default in the upper left of your screen and which will slowly get worse until you start having cold effects. You will stop regenerating your humors when you eat, you will sometimes stop and shiver in an attempt to warm up, and you will eventually freeze into a solid block of ice.

Before you get to the ice stage, there are a number of things you can do to warm up:

Get inside a building. There are several buildings in Providence, including the barn just across the river to the North and West, which you can enter and warm up in. Or, if you have the skills, you can build a Pilgrim's Hovel of your own. This is the simplest way to stay warm, though it is only temporary and you will start getting cold again when you leave.

You can make and drink some broth, though this requires having at meat cut, a pot of water, a fire, and a cup. Just put the meat in a pot of water, wait for the water to turn to broth, put some into the cup, and drink. By the time you have all these things though, you probably could have made some warm clothes.

Warm clothes are the best method for keeping yourself warm as they will keep you from getting cold in the first place. Patchwork and Rags is a skill that is available almost immediately to a new player. The skill will allow you to make Jute clothing, which requires only fibers to make. Fibers are most easily obtained by picking reeds. Pick two reeds, grab one on your cursor, and right click it on the other reed to weave it. This will create a Woven Reed that counts as Fiber. There are also some easily available clothings that use Dried Hides. Snakeskin, a type of dried hide, can be found randomly in stumps and hollow logs, or it is fairly easy to get Small Game Hunting, kill rabbits, and dry their hides on tanning racks like the one you build in the Tutorial.

If you've gone so far as to become a block of ice, you're in a bit of trouble. If you're in town, someone might kindly thaw you out with a torch or burning pinecone. If you're out in the wilderness, you'll need to either wait for Everbloom (weather effects last about a week so you may or may not get lucky there), or just start over with a new character. Salem is a pretty harsh place, you might end up losing more than one toon before you really get the hang of things.


2. I've been gone for months and everything is different. What do I do?

If you've been gone for long, chances are you'll be a bit lost trying to get back into the game. There is a very good summary of what major systems have changed or been added since July 2014 here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13240. This link also includes direct links to every patch announcement near the bottom of the OP.

If you've been gone for a couple years or more, there was a server reset a bit before MM bought the game; your characters would have been deleted at that time. Additionally, the Popham server (which was a special event server) has been shut down so any characters left there are no longer accessible.


3: I logged out before finishing the Tutorial and my character disappeared! Where did it go?

Nothing gets saved in the Tutorial. If you log out before you finish it, you'll have to do it again and get to the point where the Indian Guide has brought you to a leanto somewhere in the Salem wilderness. That is when you will be saved for the first time, when you are actually in the game. Why do it this way? The Tutorial is a completely safe, single-player zone. Salem itself is a risk-laden, dangerous, multi-player game. Therefore, we don't want you staying in the Tutorial; if you choose to do so, you are taking a risk of losing it all. Salem is full of risks, rewards, and consequences. You can stay in the Tutorial and get the rewards of an easy and safe time leveling some skills and humors for a few minutes or a few hours, but the risk you take is that you will be disconnected for some reason and lose your progress. Don't worry, if you've lost a character here already, it won't be your last.


4: I'm being knocked out over and over again! Why do I keep passing out?

You most likely were just mining and have a bat on your neck. Open your equipment window and Ctrl-Click the bat on your neck to make it fall off. Be quick; you'll only have a few seconds. Once it is off, you must run away from it or kill it as it will try to attack you again.

Less likely scenarios include:

You're wearing a Leech. Leeches will cure Maroon Fever if you are diseased, but they also drain your Blood humor slowly. Open your Equipment window and take it off.

Someone tricked you into wearing a Crown of Thorns or you accidentally wore one yourself and it is doing Blood damage. Take it off.

You have set up your homestead in darkness and are dying from darkness humor drain. You must quickly eat something while you are awake to regenerate your humors. Alternatively, quickly port to Providence when you wake up to stop taking drain.

You became a Witch and your homestead is set up in the light. Witches take drain in the light instead of the darkness. You must eat to counteract it. Providence is unfortunately not an option for you.


5: I logged in and a bunch of my stuff was gone! Where did it go?

You are never safe in Salem. When you log off, players can peek into your leanto or claimstone and see your inventory. If they like what they see, they may steal something. That will leave scents which you can see with 'Toggle Tracking' in your Adventure menu. Be sure to leave the area and come back to make the scents load. Scents can be used to find the perpetrator, get revenge, or put the criminal in the stocks. Find out how by checking a wiki or asking here in the forums.


6: My minimap is covered in so many foragables, I can't tell one from another. What can I do?

Very common foragables are not visible in the default client map so you shouldn't have this problem if you are using the official client. But you may be using a modded client with an editable radar file that you need to update. How to update that file is covered here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6708. That thread is also a good place to ask questions about your radar file. Any other questions about modded clients should also be asked in the Artifice and Arcana section.


7: I can't log in to the game, what's going on?

The server is probably down due to an update or a crash. Check here to see the server status: http://login.salemthegame.com/portal/state. Check here for the most recent news on server crashes and hotfixes: viewforum.php?f=25.

If the server is not down and you are getting a 'Token Expired' message, you may be banned. You may have broken one of the in-game rules (such as no botting). For more information, contact John Carver via forum PM.


8: I got KOed and now I'm just lying there not going home to my homestead. Is this a bug?

This is not a bug if you've been committing crimes. If you KOed with a Crime! debuff, you have to wait for it to wear off before you will be sent home. If you are actually lying on someone else's claim, you're going to be waiting several hours and the owner may come home and do horrible things to you while you are lying there, or you may be able to convince them to send you home early.


9: I tried to trade with someone and they stole all my stuff. How can I trade safely?

Salem has no 'safe trade' mechanic for one-on-one trades. You must take a chance or you must find someone trustworthy you know won't scam you. The Tradewinds section of the forums is full of trustworthy traders who will trade with you honestly or act as a go-between if you want to make an expensive trade with a stranger. Be advised that there are many impersonators and scammers out there too and your best bet when trying to trade high value objects is to first contact your trader here to be certain you are not about to be robbed. Then remember to kin them in-game for later trades.


10: What is this level of Madness I just gained?

The Lumberwoods are a terrifying and bewildering place full of monsters and things no one from the civilized world has seen before. Is it any wonder you might go a little mad now and then? Every player in Salem gains Insanity slowly over time, that Insanity builds until you suddenly go a little mad, gaining one level of Madness. Your Insanity then resets to zero and begins building again until you get another level of Madness. Gain 10 levels, and you DIE. But don't despair! There are ways to reduce both your Madness and your Insanity. And new players have no passive insanity gain at all for the first 48 hours of play time (that's time spent in the game, so if you only play a couple hours a day, your newbie immunity might last days), so all you have to worry about at first is active insanity gain. Active gain happens when you do something crazy like lick the mold off a moldy board or butcher an animal with your bare hands instead of using a knife like a sane person.

Ways to reduce your Insanity levels include studying Inspirationals (which you must do anyway to advance your character), whittling wood at the Whittler's Bench (another thing you'll be doing a lot while making tools and other things you need), and playing simple musical instruments after learning the right skills.

Ways to reduce your Madness levels include purchasing or making a teddy bear and sleeping with it in your hand for 8 hours (you can remove one level of Madness this way each time you log out, you must be sleeping in a bed), smoking a hookah (available in town, but hard to find), or smoking tobacco (only has a chance to reduce your Madness, you can buy tobacco from other players).

Having a level or two of Madness usually won't harm you. You will hear voices, and you will have Psychotic Episodes, which can range from the merely hilarious (a log takes on the appearance of a giant sausage), to the actually harmful (small chance of you having an 'epiphany' and destroying your metal pick or shovel), so you do have to be careful and you might not want to do a lot of mining.

For more information on Madness, how it works, and more actions that might case your Insanity to increase or decrease, see this thread: Insanity Update. Be sure to read the mini updates at the end of the post in addition to the main Insanity section. You can also look up Insanity in the player-run wiki.


11: I have a disease, what do I do?

You can catch diseases in Salem by hanging around infected corpses, being coughed on by a sick person, or getting bitten by a rat. The first time you are diseased, you will get a popup explaining how to cure it. If you missed it, you can reopen any help screen by clicking the ? among the buttons on the lower right of your screen. This screen will tell you which cures will help you with which diseases. There are four possible diseases and of the four symptoms you will experience while sick the most common symptom will indicate which disease you have. It will be easiest to tell if you wait a little while until the disease buff has advanced about halfway as indicated by the little bar at the bottom of the buff icon. Don't just take all the cures at once and hope for the best. Taking the wrong cure will only make you sicker. It may also take a few doses to actually cure you so don't panic if the first dose does nothing. There are also ways to prevent getting sick in the first place, including wearing a Plague Doctor's Mask or drinking Berry Juice. The player-run wiki also has a nice section on Disease cures and prevention.
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Re: FAQ - Weird Happenings? Confused? Check Here First

Postby bologna_man00 » Fri May 01, 2015 1:43 am

TotalyMeow wrote:3: I'm being knocked out over and over again! Why do I keep passing out?
You most likely were just mining and have a bat on your neck. Open your equipment window and Ctrl-Click the bat on your neck to make it fall off. Be quick; you'll only have a few seconds. Once it is off, you must run away from it or kill it as it will try to attack you again.

Less likely scenarios include:
Someone tricked you into wearing a Crown of Thorns or you accidentally wore one yourself. Take it off.
You have set up your homestead in darkness and are dying from darkness humor drain. You must quickly eat something while you are awake to regenerate your humors. Alternatively, quickly port to Providence when you wake up to stop taking drain.
You became a Witch and your homestead is set up in the light. Witches take drain in the light instead of the darkness. You must eat to counteract it. Providence is unfortunately not an option for you.


Don't forget about leeches!
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13394
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Re: FAQ - Weird Happenings? Confused? Check Here First

Postby TotalyMeow » Fri May 01, 2015 2:55 am

Indeed, I'll add leeches.
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Re: FAQ - Weird Happenings? Confused? Check Here First

Postby Procne » Fri May 01, 2015 6:08 am

You know, you could have the client check the server status on login screen
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Re: FAQ - Weird Happenings? Confused? Check Here First

Postby Rifmaster » Fri May 01, 2015 8:01 am

TotalyMeow wrote:You became a Witch and your homestead is set up in the light. Witches take drain in the light instead of the darkness. You must eat to counteract it. Providence is unfortunately not an option for you.


Providence is definetly an option for witches, but I don't want to anger mother and tell everyone how to make the evil brew we use to negate the light!
Oh i've said too much already!
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Re: FAQ - Weird Happenings? Confused? Check Here First

Postby Kandarim » Fri May 01, 2015 1:05 pm

Rifmaster wrote:
TotalyMeow wrote:You became a Witch and your homestead is set up in the light. Witches take drain in the light instead of the darkness. You must eat to counteract it. Providence is unfortunately not an option for you.


Providence is definetly an option for witches, but I don't want to anger mother and tell everyone how to make the evil brew we use to negate the light!
Oh i've said too much already!


hardly an option if you have your homestead set up in the light and are constantly being knocked out. Also, beetlejuice is in the patch notes ;)
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Re: FAQ - Weird Happenings? Confused? Check Here First

Postby hijack01 » Mon Jun 22, 2015 2:54 pm

I made a character and was guided to friend's (we met playing Haven) homestad with the New World Survey. After building a leanto I went to look around and ended up getting bit by a snake. I started running towards my display homestead marker but then we figured otu he forgot to tell me I would have to set leanto as my homestead. So I ended up running to random direction where my spawned homestead happened to be, got KO'd and ported there. He gave me another New World Survey but the explorers refused to take me, they had voice acted line demanding cake or something. I ended up creating new character and grinded inspirationals at the tutorial zone. Friend said he needed to go quick so I closed the client thinkign I will do something else, having played Salem for multiple hours. He then said in skype that his other friend can give me New World Survey so I logged back in. But my account only had my first character on it.

TL;DR my character is missing after I closed my client while still in tutorial zone.

If this is intended I have to stay is pretty damn stupid with no warning or anything.
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Re: FAQ - Weird Happenings? Confused? Check Here First

Postby Dallane » Mon Jun 22, 2015 3:54 pm

hijack01 wrote:I made a character and was guided to friend's (we met playing Haven) homestad with the New World Survey. After building a leanto I went to look around and ended up getting bit by a snake. I started running towards my display homestead marker but then we figured otu he forgot to tell me I would have to set leanto as my homestead. So I ended up running to random direction where my spawned homestead happened to be, got KO'd and ported there. He gave me another New World Survey but the explorers refused to take me, they had voice acted line demanding cake or something. I ended up creating new character and grinded inspirationals at the tutorial zone. Friend said he needed to go quick so I closed the client thinkign I will do something else, having played Salem for multiple hours. He then said in skype that his other friend can give me New World Survey so I logged back in. But my account only had my first character on it.

TL;DR my character is missing after I closed my client while still in tutorial zone.

If this is intended I have to stay is pretty damn stupid with no warning or anything.


Correct you need to finish the tutorial to get your character in the game.
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Re: FAQ - Weird Happenings? Confused? Check Here First

Postby TotalyMeow » Mon Jun 22, 2015 5:31 pm

Yes, after seeing a few posts about this, it looks like I better add an entry to the FAQ.

Edit: Done.
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Re: FAQ - Weird Happenings? Confused? Check Here First

Postby khang0000 » Sat Jul 25, 2015 2:43 am

I park a canoe on the claim land, then try to get my canoe out and got KOEd with 0 black bile. The owner seem to leave this spot but still put the claim stone there. What can I do now ? Now i'm KOed with crime on claim land, stuck there. Even my friend cant get me out of this. PLz explain to me.
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