EconomyOverride.json – traders and prices

Two parts in one file

EconomyOverride.json consists of two very different parts.

At the top there are 21 global keys. They apply to the whole server and decide the character of the economy. They are manageable, and they are what you actually adjust.

Below sits traders with 36 traders, each with a list of goods. Out of the box almost all lists are empty – which does not mean those traders stock nothing, but that nothing is overridden for them. An entry here is an exception to the game's own rule, not a catalogue.

Every value is in quotes

Unlike the ServerSettings.ini, all values here are strings: "2.0", not 2.0. The game reads the number out of the text. Stick to it – mixed notation is a common source of errors.

And as everywhere in this configuration, -1 means “use the game default”. A -1 is not a switched-off value but an unset one.

The four decisions that matter

Of the 21 keys, four noticeably change how the game feels; the rest is fine tuning:

• prices-subject-to-delta – do prices move at all? Off means a fixed catalogue.
• traders-unlimited-funds – can you sell without limit? On means money stops being scarce.
• traders-unlimited-stock – does anything ever run out? On means rarity no longer exists.
• fully-restock-tradeable-hours – how fast is the shelf full again? The most important dial for whether trading requires patience.

Set all three switches to unlimited and you have a server without an economy. That is a valid choice – you should just know you made it.

The trader names

There are 36 traders: nine kinds across four sectors. The kinds are Armory, Barber, BoatShop, Hospital, Hunter, Master_Hunter, Mechanic, Saloon and Trader; the sectors are A_0, B_4, C_2 and Z_3. Combined they give names like A_0_Armory.

There is a trap here: the template built into the server program writes the master hunter as A_0_MasterHunter, while the file your server actually creates writes A_0_Master_Hunter. What counts is always the file your own server produced – not one copied from a forum. A trader name the game does not know is silently ignored.

Overriding individual goods

A goods line consists of seven fields. tradeable-code is the item's internal name; everything else is prices, requirements and switches, each sitting at -1 or default for “do not touch”.

Only set what you really want to change and leave the rest at the default. A list of 300 lines that all contain nothing but -1 is a lot of file for no effect – and every one of them has to be re-checked after an update.

What we check here and what we do not

We check the 21 global keys for notation, range and contradictions, plus the structure of the goods lists: unknown trader names, duplicate item codes, unknown fields in a goods line, impossible prices.

We do not check whether an item code exists in the game. That would need the game's complete item catalogue – a project of its own, and it is on the list.

Every field at a glance

Fields per goods line

The 36 trader names

What the file looks like

{
    "economy-override": {
        "traders-unlimited-funds": "0",
        "fully-restock-tradeable-hours": "6.0",
        "traders": {
            "A_0_Armory": [
                {
                    "tradeable-code": "Weapon_AK47",
                    "base-purchase-price": "4500",
                    "base-sell-price": "900",
                    "delta-price": "-1.0",
                    "can-be-purchased": "default",
                    "required-famepoints": "-1",
                    "available-after-sale-only": "default"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}