AutoSave
Server module for Blockland v21. While you host, it saves every brick on the server to saves/autosave/ on a timer. A save is written a few milliseconds at a time, so the server keeps ticking during a large save.
The files use the stock .bls format and can be loaded from the normal load screen.
Install
Place AutoSave.dll in the game's modules folder, then quit and start Blockland from Steam. A DLL that is already loaded stays mapped until that restart.
It only saves while this game is the server: a local single-player or multiplayer host, or a dedicated server.
Files
Each save is named for the local time it started, for example saves/autosave/2026-10-26 00-29-28.bls. Windows does not allow colons in file names, so the time uses hyphens; the description line inside the file uses colons. If a file with that name already exists, (2), (3) and so on is added.
The save is written to saves/autosave/writing.bls.tmp and renamed when it is complete, so a crash or cancel never leaves a half-written .bls. Old autosaves are not deleted.
$pref::SaveOwnership and $pref::SaveExtendedBrickInfo are followed the same way the stock save follows them. No screenshot is taken.
When it saves
The first save after starting always runs. After that, a save is skipped if nothing changed. Planting, loading, removing or killing a brick counts as a change. So does adding or clearing events, renaming a brick, and changing its color, paint effect, shape effect, print, collision, raycasting, rendering, light, emitter, item, music, sound or vehicle.
A save is also skipped while bricks are loading, while bricks are being cleared, and while the mission is being cleaned up. If a load or a clear starts in the middle of a save, the save stops, its temp file is removed, and the next interval tries again.
Large builds
Each slice handles up to the chunk size and stops after 8 ms, then waits at least 12 ms before the next slice. Progress is written to the console every 2 seconds.
Up to 75000 bricks, bricks are sorted by height like the stock save. Over 75000, the sort and the wrench-extras pass are skipped and the file is written in one pass. The brick count in the header is filled in when the write finishes.
Chat commands
Anyone can use:
/autosaver help/autosaver status
Admins can use:
/autosaver onand/autosaver off/autosaver save(ornow): save right away/autosaver load(orreload): clear all bricks, then load the newest file insaves/autosave//autosaver interval <seconds>: 30 to 86400, default 300/autosaver chunk <bricks>: bricks per slice, 1 to 20000, default 4000/autosaver tick <milliseconds>: pause between slices, 1 to 1000, default 1 (never less than 12 ms in practice)
Out-of-range values are clamped. Changes are announced to everyone. They are not stored, so the defaults return when the game restarts.
load uses the file with the newest modified time on disk, including saves made since the game started. It loads with saved ownership and exact colors. The command is case-insensitive.
Console
autoSave()starts a save nowautoSaveNewest()returns the newest autosave pathautoSaveApply()clamps the settings and restarts the timer$AutoSave::Enabled,$AutoSave::Interval,$AutoSave::Chunk,$AutoSave::Tick
Build
Blockland is a 32-bit program, so the DLL has to be built with a 32-bit MinGW toolchain (i686-w64-mingw32). Put that toolchain's bin directory first on PATH so CMake finds that gcc and mingw32-make.
find_package(TSFUNCS) needs a tsfuncs 1.0.1 package: tsfuncs-config.cmake next to include/ and lib/. MinHook's cmake package lives under that package's lib/minhook. Pass the package directory as CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH.
From this repo:
cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5 -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=C:/path/to/tsfuncs -S . -B build
cmake --build build
The result is build/AutoSave.dll. CMake is set so the filename has no lib prefix. The link line is tsfuncs, MinHook and psapi, with static libgcc and libstdc++.
Source is src/main.cpp and CMakeLists.txt. The current DLL is attached to the v1.0.0 release.