Housing Decay/IDOC
Housing: Refresh & Decay
Houses on this server run on the classic, percentage-based decay system. When a house is built or refreshed, a clock starts. If the house is not refreshed before the clock runs out, it passes through a series of visible decay stages — shown on the brass house sign — and finally collapses: the house is deleted and its contents are scattered or lost. This page explains how it works, lists every stage, and gives the full timeline to collapse.
How the cycle works
- When a house is built or refreshed, its "last refreshed" timestamp is set to the current time and the clock starts from there [1].
- The standard decay period is 180 days (the period is a virtual value that can be overridden per house type, so the stage shown on your house sign is always authoritative) [1].
- The server inspects every house once per minute [1]. A house that crosses the 100% mark is deleted within about a minute — and if the deadline passes while the server is offline, the house is processed on the next load.
- This server uses the fixed percentage system: each stage boundary is an exact percentage of the period, not a randomized schedule [1].
- Whenever the house's decay stage changes, the brass house sign is updated [1].
The decay stages (in order)
A decaying house moves through the stages below based on what percentage of the 180-day period has elapsed since the last refresh [1]:
| Stage | Percent of period used | Point in the 180-day cycle | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ageless | Never | Never | House never decays. GM-owned accounts and GM-flagged (decay-restricted) houses are Ageless [1]. |
| Like New | 0.0% – 0.4% | Day 0 – ~Day 0.9 (first ~22 hours) | House was just refreshed. |
| Slightly | 0.5% – 24.9% | ~Day 0.9 – Day 45 | First visible wear. |
| Somewhat | 25.0% – 49.9% | Day 45 – Day 90 | A quarter to a half of the cycle is gone. |
| Fairly | 50.0% – 74.9% | Day 90 – Day 135 | Halfway through — about 45 days remain. |
| Greatly | 75.0% – 94.9% | Day 135 – Day 171 | Heavy decay; less than a month left. |
| IDOC (In Danger Of Collapse) | 95.0% – 99.9% | Day 171 – Day 180 | Final warning — refresh now. See the server note below. |
| Demolition Pending | 100.0% | Day 180 — only if the house has active rental vendor contracts or vendor inventories | House is marked for demolition instead of collapsing immediately. It cannot be transferred while in this state [1]. |
| Collapsed | 100.0% | Day 180 | House is deleted and its contents are scattered. See "When the house collapses" [1]. |
Server note (IDOC): at any time, a house sitting in IDOC may be taken and used in a server event. Most of the time, however, it is simply left to fall through and collapse normally on the timeline above. If your house is in IDOC, treat it as still at risk of collapse — refresh it.
Timeline to collapse
Assuming the standard 180-day period and no refresh [1]:
- Day 0 — House built/refreshed: Like New.
- ~Day 1 (about 22 hours) — Enters Slightly.
- Day 45 — Enters Somewhat.
- Day 90 — Enters Fairly.
- Day 135 — Enters Greatly.
- Day 171 — Enters IDOC (In Danger Of Collapse).
- Day 180 — Collapsed (house deleted within about a minute), or Demolition Pending if vendor contracts/inventories are active in the house [1].
Which houses need you to refresh them
The server decides each house's decay behavior from its ownership [1]:
- Auto-refresh (no action needed): on AOS-era rules, only the most recently built/traded house on an account is auto-refreshed — its clock is effectively always reset. All older houses on the account must be refreshed by hand [1]. (On pre-AOS rules every house auto-refreshes.)
- Condemned (cannot be refreshed):
- Houses with no owner are Condemned on AOS-era rules — they decay and cannot be refreshed [1].
- Houses owned by an account marked Inactive are Condemned — the clock keeps running and refreshing is blocked [1].
- When a house becomes Condemned, owners of rental vendors inside it are sent a warning that the house and their vendor are in danger of deletion [1].
- Ageless (never decays): GM-owned houses and houses flagged decay-restricted by GMs [1].
Refreshing your house
- Refreshing sets the "last refreshed" clock back to the current time, returning the house to Like New [1].
- A Condemned house cannot be refreshed [1].
- Only your most recent house auto-refreshes — don't forget your older houses [1].
- A house marked for demolition (Demolition Pending) cannot be transferred to another player [1].
When the house collapses
When a house reaches the Collapsed stage, the server deletes it within about a minute (the check runs every minute) [1]. As the house goes down:
- Player vendors and barkeepers inside are destroyed, and any stuck non-player creatures in the house are removed [1].
- On SA-era servers, 1–4 grubbers spawn in the house's footprint, and each one steals one random loose item (movable, non-blessed items sitting on the ground) [1].
- Everything the house was holding is released where the house stood: locked-down items and secure containers become loose, movable items; strongboxes are destroyed outright; carpets are released as movable [1].
- Addons are converted to deeds dropped in place (raised garden addons and house training elementals do not produce a deed) [1].
- Feed buckets and house teleporter tiles are deleted outright [1].
- Vendor inventories and any moving crate are deleted [1].
- On ML-era servers, the house's footprint is blocked to new housing placement for 1 hour [1].
In short: anything that is not secured or properly locked down can be lost, scattered, or stolen the moment your house collapses.
Keeping your items safe
- Keep valuables in secure containers or properly locked down containers [1].
- Warning: items left loose inside a locked-down container (the container is locked down, but the item itself is not) are deleted at the next server save [1].
- If you will be away a long time, refresh your house first — houses on Inactive accounts are Condemned and can never be refreshed again [1].