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Thanks for the advice, I have attached an output log for people to see. So it's not a memory related problem but a mod problem? I no longer crash when seeing the map glitch out like that but if I were to alt-tab out and back in, the game would still run but all I see is my desktop, I can still click and hear sounds but I don't know what I am pressing so clearly the game still works.

I apologize, I didn't see you say you crashed! My bad.
I don't ever crash, and I use a lot of mods, so I agree, it's almost definitely a mod "ordering"issue - I'll upload a debug file when I can.

Just saying to anyone else trying to help: My world map also often looks like that, I'm playing on a ludonecrous (that spelling...) world, with 100% map size, though.
I'll check my mods and how much memory is being used, when I get home today.

tl;dr - Electric Smelter w/ Steel Slag doesn´t feel balanced for the investment you put into it. 10 steel per slag, plus the work needed and the power consumption doesn´t feel worth it for 10 steel.

I had been struggling with steel for a while, I no longer am after making mining colonies next to my base but in the early midst of my steel struggle I invested in the Electric Smelter.

I excitedly collected all the slag on my map. Slag from our original pods of which two of those four colonists are no longer with us and slag from pods crashing into our colony were gathered and hauled in a full work-day. I took one of my least busiest pawns (since we were struggling from the aforementioned losses earlier that season) and got him working on the smelter.

I watched as he melted down the slag and out pops : 10 underwhelming steel. All of the slag from the map, of which there is 17 would give me 170 steel. I smelted all of my available steel items and gained about ~103 steel. I made a very small profit off of my investment.

I moved on from the Smelter and about a day later I notice the lights in the freezer are going off. Scrolling to my batteries I realized my mistake, I left the damn smelter on. My food didn´t spoil luckily.

Is this balanced? Is this going to change come next alpha when ¨The Balancing¨ comes?

I think it's balanced well. In my current colony, I have likely hundreds of slag, which makes it super balanced for me.
Plus, isn't the smelter also what allows you to smelt weapons? That's also super helpful, even if to just exchange a plasteel knife for some plasteel, it helps a lot mid-later game when you have more guns than you know what to do with, and just smelt them all
I think it's pretty okay (maybe bad)for early game, but when you get a colonist with free time in mid-late game, that's likely when it shines.

Right before this // while this was happening, I was talking to my friend about how I never keep my starting animal, and my friend was trying to (semi-jokingly) tell me about how I'm a horrible person for always slaughtering it.

So, I set my animal to be slaughtered.
My colonist immediately walks up to it, stabs it with a knife, brings it to the butcher table, butchers it.
He proceeds to immediately make a meal out of the Husky, then to set the meals down, and eat his once-beloved dog.
He then proceeds to sleep.

I have as much compassion for that Husky, as my loving colonist had for his loved dog. That he ate.

well to integrate what your thinking of into the game sounds like it would take its own dedicated patch(or 2) but I think id like it my self could end up creating a hell of a lot of interesting narrative.

If you've ever played Factorio, there is a huge mod set called "Bob's Mods" and make the simplest things, much, much more complicated...
I can imagine something similar for this game, but you'd practically have to play on an easier difficulty, as it'd be so hard and tedious, that it'd likely be just boring, rather than fun. But, of course, maybe!

So with roads and rivers now passing through the maps, were the max size of the maps shrunk any?  I usually use the more advanced sized maps since I've never experienced performance issues and it seems like the maps are smaller and there is less hill/mnt type terrain per map.

Nope, when you're creating a map you can change the size from the map settings. Or I believe with the camping mod.

I tried with and without the Hospitality mod since I was experiencing the same problem. With it traders would steal stuff that was considered outside even from stockpiles. Without it they left it alone. Its a great mod to help improve faction relations but at the same time it makes me want to gun down every caravan I see.

If yo click on a guest, click on the guest part, you can give them things they can and can't do. I reccomend just having the second one enabled, and none of the other ones, unless you see a really good one,since they get mad if you get ine of their colonists.

I have a mountain strong hold on my main play map, and outside the front during the summer I have several huge fields that are low priority. if the raiders come in, they tend to burn up their retreat path making it easier to take prisoners for my colony.

How do you manually set a fire?  I like this idea!

In his idea, the raiders would do it on their own, but manually you can draft a colonist and force them to throw a molotiv cocktail, or a incineary launcher

i made a in game sun-clock that can almost accurately show time. i know there is a in game clock UI but this is just for fun, an also how do colonist know time if they don't have any clock 
cheek out my video at bottom to know how i made it.

That's amazing! Reminds me of all the craziness people make in other games, despite seeming like many crazy things couldn't happen in them.
Uh oh, you're starting the craziness. It all started with a Sun clock.. then a rocket.. then..

It's just a huuuuuuuugeeee aanoyance that this simple artifact needs to be deconstructed time and time again... This is not a complex artifact, it emits radiotransmissions. Not rocket science. It's like a radio (and radios are portable), so I don't get the purpose behind making this thingy stationary. In challenging maps like sea ice, where materials are scarce and deconstructing is a must, this really takes the extra patience remaining in me.
I now there are mods for that, but it makes no sense that this is not in vanilla.

In sea ice, you should never deconstruct stuff, frist of all, besides maybe walls if you are/have expanded; plan for the future.
If you could reinstall trade beacons, nothing stops you from plopping it near a siege, or just moving it around multiple times, cheesing the fk out of everything. (Place it outside near a drop pod, sell everything, put the beacon back in your base, buy back everything if you want) etc.

I take from your answer that you have never tried the sea ice challenge, have you?
Permanent Cold Snap, no traders, no calling for traders, no visiting traders, no visitors for that matter. Deconstructing is an essential part of this challenge at the beginning, cuz you are limited in terms of materials and there is no way you can influence the frequency of trade ships (you cannot call for trader ships yet).
Besides, you cannot "cheese the fuck out of that," because you need power to run a trader beacon. It's not like randomly using every free space in the map for that anyway. Or do yo extend you power grid to every corner of your map? I don't think so.

Nope, I've done the Sea Ice challenge, you get orbital traders, and normal traders, thwy just usually die before getting to you. Along with most the raiders, especially sieges, LOL.
You can either use an electric smelter, or an orbital trade beacon and pray for a bulk goods trader, to sell human meat with. Electric smelter is slow, orbital trade beacon is RNG. The first thing you do, make a 4x3 house out of silver, a silver bed for mood boost, a campfire, and a research bench, wait inside the house, then make a heater with a solar panel and battery (no wires), instantly deconstruct the campfire for the little bit of wood. Then, you make either the trade beacon, or research an electric smelter. Then, research hydroponics, make hydroponics after getting steel, then yeah.

It's just a huuuuuuuugeeee aanoyance that this simple artifact needs to be deconstructed time and time again... This is not a complex artifact, it emits radiotransmissions. Not rocket science. It's like a radio (and radios are portable), so I don't get the purpose behind making this thingy stationary. In challenging maps like sea ice, where materials are scarce and deconstructing is a must, this really takes the extra patience remaining in me.
I now there are mods for that, but it makes no sense that this is not in vanilla.

In sea ice, you should never deconstruct stuff, frist of all, besides maybe walls if you are/have expanded; plan for the future.
If you could reinstall trade beacons, nothing stops you from plopping it near a siege, or just moving it around multiple times, cheesing the fk out of everything. (Place it outside near a drop pod, sell everything, put the beacon back in your base, buy back everything if you want) etc.

[Introduction]

Introduction
Hello people, the Extreme Desert Challenge has now hit the forums! Inspired by Rhadamant's (from who'm I also sought permission to bring this to light) Sea Ice Community Challenge, this instance takes things to the opposite end of the spectrum: You're now fighting the sweltering heat of a particularly mean Extreme Desert as opposed to the bitter cold of a particularly mean Sea Ice.

Much like the Sea Ice Community Challenge, the scenario powering the Extreme Desert Challenge is based off the 'Rich Explorer' scenario where you won't have a starting pet, except now there's a permanent heat wave as opposed to cold snap, and there's a climate cycle in play - so be prepared!

Starting Pawn
Another key difference is that the story is started by a name-in-game pawn called Lumi, as opposed to Engie in the polar opposite of this challenge. Lumi has a full set of good traits going for her too, and she's an excellent fighter - whilst not so great at activities outside of fighting; she has great potential to become good, especially in Medicine and Growing (courtesy of EDB Prepare Carefully).

In regards to clothing, Lumi is equipped with some tribalwear, and a rather sub-par duster in terms of insulation (raccoon leather to be exact) - but that extra heat insulation can buy a few extra seconds and mean the difference between scraping through, or keeling over from extreme heatstroke!

The World
The world is generated at full size for the sake of maximum explorability, with one-above-minimum rainfall so there are patches of arid shrublands interspersed in the vast deserts and barren wastelands, and the thermostat is cranked to the max!

The starting tile is at the most ludicrous of ludeonicrous sizes, is flat, and rock types present are poor in terms of use in structure (but any rock is better than steel). You'll crashland near a ruined building so that the challenge is even possible ktf with.

That's it!
That's the scenario and surroundings summarised! Go forth, and make me proud people

Save game can be found attached to the post (best compression ftw).
Put the save game in C:/Users/YourName/AppData/LocalLow/Ludeon Studios/RimWorld by Ludeon Studios/Saves

Your drive letter may be different to 'C:', but C: is the default, and 'YourName' is pretty self-explanatory.

Good luck!

Cool idea! But my computer can't play on anything besides the normal world size... RIP...

[Day 141]

I haven't had a lot of chances to play now that the semester has started again, but I made some progress tonight.  Here's what happened:

Day 141

Norman brought me some chocolate to try and cheer me up.  He said it landed in some cargo pods nearby.  I nearly decapitated him when I went to reach for it with my left hand and accidentally extended the telescoping blade.

I think I broke down crying for a while.  Norman sat quietly for a while, but eventually had to go back to his work.  He left the chocolate.

I can still do this.

Day 142

I awoke sometime in the night to the sound of gunfire.  I had to fumble around in the dark for my rifle, and when I finally found it I realized there was no way I'd be able to weild it properly now.  I choked back a sob and ran outside to see what was happening, but it was already over.  Norman said a large group of tribals had showed up and tried to swarm the defenses, but had given up after we killed enough of them.  I angrily demanded to know why nobody had gotten me and immediately wished I hadn't.  Norman glanced at my hand and then tried very hard to look away.  Dejected, I dropped my rifle on the ground and walked back to my room.  I passed Hakuja on the way and I swear I heard her humming to herself.  At least all the violence and loss puts someone in a good mood.  I felt like using her to see just how sharp my new blade was.

Before I'd even slept four hours Norman exploded into my room.  I was tired and angry, and I was going to scream at him but before I could he said that a prosthesis trader had just radioed in.

I don't know how long I just sat there, dumbfounded.  I couldn't believe my luck.  Norman ran over and shook me out of bed and I almost knocked Cyber down running to the comms console.

The trader didn't have any proper hand replacements, but they did have a bionic power claw.  It costs half our silver, and I'll still look a bit disfigured, but at least this thing was designed for human operation and will work almost as well as my hand did.  Cyber helped me detatch the scyther blade and grafted the claw to the end of my arm.  I still feel like crying, but this time it's from relief.  I'm not a cripple anymore.

((Author's note:  Well, that was a pretty incredible stroke of luck.  I was expecting the scyther blade to be this whole thing, and kind of looking forward to writing it to be honest.  Then four days later a prosthesis trader shows up and Engie's back to 98% efficency with her left hand.  I guess I can't complain, but it's a bit of an anticlimax.  It really did cost about half my silver, though, so that's going to hurt somewhat if a bulk goods trader ever does come by.  Ultimately I decided it was worth it to keep Engie a decent worker and let her help in a fight without risking her in melee.  I still have all sorts of looted tribal weapons to sell in case a combat supplier shows up, so I'm not too worried.

Also, she will be significantly less dangerous in a berserk rage holding a gun than she would be with a sword for a hand.))

Day 145

Another prosthesis trader?  That's odd.  They don't have anything better than the power claw, and they weren't interested in buying the scyther blades we recovered.  Oh well.  If we ever really needed to, those could turn a person into a really terrifying fighter up close... but I don't think I could put anyone through that.  Those few days were the worst of my life.

Day 149

Another tribal raid today.  Nobody was injured in the attack.  Not by the attackers, at least.  I sort of winged Hakuja with my assault rifle on accident.  I guess I'm not fully used to the new hand yet.

After the attack, though, Norman collapsed.  We rushed him back to his room and Hakuja, still bleeding, said it looked like he had symptoms of the plague.  God only knows how he managed to catch a disease out here on the ice.  Well, we brought him to my room (the silver my bed is made of helps keep it clean, so he'll recover faster) and broke out the medicine so Hakuja could treat him.

I hope he pulls through.  I know he killed Red, but that wasn't really his fault.  And he's sweet.  He makes me think of Otto, wherever he is.  I hope he comes back to me.

A psychic ship crashed here in the night.  I was going to save this ploy for the coldest night of winter, but we can't afford to keep waiting now.  Let's crack it open and see if mechanoids freeze.

Day 152

Norman is going to be alright.  Hakuja says he's no longer in danger and will get better on his own from now on.  I'm really glad.  We need his help with that mechanoid ship.  And... things wouldn't be the same without him.

Day 153

Norman kissed me today.  We were getting our weapons together so we'd be ready to hit the mechanoid ship, and he pulled me aside.  He told me how much I meant to him, and that we shouldn't be afraid of being together just because things are hard.  And he kissed me.  And I kissed him back.  I was so caught up in the moment I couldn't help it.  And I do like Norman... a lot.  He's smart and kind and he was there for me when I was at my lowest.  But...

I still miss Otto.  I don't know what happened to him after he went off in search of another colony, and I can't give up hope that he'll come back.  But it's already been so long.  Surely we would have heard something by now, anything to let us know that he was still....

I need to go.  Work to do.

Day 154

While we were stacking up to assault the mechanoid ship some cargo pods full of rice crashed nearby.  Maybe we can cook up a victory meal if we live through this.

Mechanoids do not freeze.  They must have some kind of internal heating system to keep their circuits at a stable operating temperature.  That was a pretty big dissapointment, but thankfully we prepared for the worst.  We managed to get a couple of improvised turrets built and set them up in front of the defensive line and hauled over one of our batteries to power them.  It was expensive, but it gave the mechanoids something else to shoot at.  Cyber also decided to throw EMP grenades since he's not that great of a shot with a rifle.  Between the turrets and the grenades we actually managed to take out the mechanoids without sustaining any injuries!  We did lose a turret, but that just means it did its job.

I'm just so glad I can't feel that thing in my head anymore.

Day 156

Hakuja and Cyber are getting married!  They told us this morning.  I'm glad people are beginning to find happiness out here despite the horrible conditions.  I'll help Hakuja organize the party, and hopefully a trader comes along soon so we can start to build proper accomodations for everyone.

Day 157

A pair of thrumbos collapsed near our outpost today after trying to cross the ice.  I'm saddened to see any of these creatures die but at least it means we'll eat well for a while.

Also, we really nee to start asking more questions about people who say they're fleeing from pirates.  It seems like most of the time that means we're about to have a raid drop on our heads.  This time it was someone by the name of Bluejay who asked for our help.  It was the middle of the night, so we all got up and started shooting from our rooms, but there was no time for Bluejay to get into cover - the pirates killed him.  then they decided to grab what they could and flee, nearly making off with all our good medicine before Norman managed to gun down two more of them and send them into a full-blown retreat.  good riddance.

We were about to go back to bed when the comms console lit up, this time with a pirate merchant!  odd timing, but I'm not complaining.  They probably won't have much in the way of building supplies but they should be willing to take all our useless weapons off our hands.

Day 158

We sold all our worthless tribal weapons and looted clothes, making back around 2000 silver (hey, that just paid for my new hand) and buying 80 smokeleaf jointes to help keep everyone in a good mood.  Just as we closed the channel, a group of tribals showed up and began preparing to attack.  Maybe the merchant will stick around long enough to buy their weapons too.

They didn't.  Oh well.  Better start digging some new graves.  Corpses are unsightly, you know.

Day 160

A wanderer named Wobber asked if he could join our colony today.  I agreed, and he's on his way now.  He's apparently a very good negotiator, which should help when the next trader comes by, and another pair of hands to help with the hauling is always welcome.

A few hours later, a group of sappers showed up.  The cold wasn't enough to deter them, but our bullets were.  Naturally one of our conduits took this opportunity to explode.  Nothing important was destroyed, but the sudden loss of power killed our crop of smokeleaf right before harvest.

Day 162

Another plume of toxic ash has envelloped the region.  Nothing to do but stay under cover and wait for it to pass.

Day 164

Otto, if you're out there, I'm sorry.  I can't wait any more.  It's been more than a year since you left me without saying goodbye, and I haven't heard a single thing from you since then.  One way or another, I feel like you're gone for good.

Norman proposed to me today.  I said yes.  We've been through so much together - I love him.  He loves me.  And he's here for me.  And I don't ever want that to change.

Day 165

Just as the worst of the fallout cleared up, a large group of tribals attacked us from the east.  They actually managed to get close, and for a while we were fighting hand-to-hand before they eventually broke and ran.  We're all a bit dinged up, but there are no permanant injuries.  Silver lining, the bodies are right next to the graveyard.

Day 169

An exotic goods trader arrived today.  They didn't have any construction materials either, but we were able to sell off the remainder of our looted tribalwear as well as a bunch of armchairs made of... well, let's just say I don't really want to sit in them myself.  The trader was pleased to hear they were made of leather, and we didn't elaborate on what kind.  They also bought our scyther blades and thrumbo horns.  We ended up with about 5000 more silver, and we bought all their gold and plasteel.  I don't intend to use the plasteel for buildings - it's too valuable, even in our circumstances - but it will definitely be good to have in the future.

We also bought something interesting.  An artifact from some glitterworld civilization.  A psychic insanity lance.  I don't much like the look of this thing, but it could easily turn the tide if a group of raiders ever shows up packing too much heat for us to handle.

Speaking of raids, a group of pirates arrived in drop pods nearby (not on top of us, for a change) and started preparing an attack.  One of them has a really, REALLY big rocket launcher.  They attacked sooner than I thought they would, so it looks like we're going to get to see how that lance works.  Cyber grabbed it and pressed the activation switch, aiming it in the direction of the incoming raid.

A few seconds later, we heard a massive boom sweep across the ice.  The lance had driven one of the swordsmen berserk, and the raider with the rocket launcher decided to turn it on his friend in close quarters.  Not a smart move.  We counted at least five dead bodies on the ice, who knows how many more injured in the subsequent retreat.  i don't like to think about what that weapon might have done to us.

Day 173

A combat supplier is not a bulk goods trader.  We need a bulk goods trader.  We did sell off the melee weapons the pirate merchant wouldn't take.  Clubs, mostly, but we had so many we actually made a fair bit of silver.  We need a bulk goods trader.

Day 176

Hey, those cargo pods had megasloth wool.  I should really make a tailoring bench.

Day 178

Norman and I exchanged our vows today.  I haven't felt this happy in a long time.  I never thought I'd find peace in this horrible frozen wasteland but Norman gives me hope every day and I wouldn't be able to do this without him.  For the first time in what feels like a hundred years I have real hope for the future.

Day 180

That was intense.  A mechanoid raid arrived and we manned the defensive walls.  We took out the scythers, but my poor Norman got his foot shot off.  I wanted to tend to him myself but I am the best shot in the colony and somebody needed to kite the centipedes, so I grabbed a sniper rifle and got their attention.

While I was leading them around, a tribal raid arrived.  I thought that was it for us, but then I had an idea.  I switched directions and tried to pull the centipedes into the path of the tribals.  I almost got caught in the horde, but thankfully they saw the mechanoids and, recognizing the greater threat, diverted to attack them.  And they actually won, though it was more through force of numbers.  Cyber and Hakuja, still bleeding from fighting the scythers, managed to kill enough of the remaining tribals to force a rout.

We're lucky to be alive, but I feel terrible for Norman.  He is up and moving around, and we patched him up as best we could, but I can tell how difficult and painful it is for him.  If ony we hadn't sold all those wooden feet.... I wonder if there isn't anything I can do.

Day 181

More mechanoids arrived in drop pods nearby.  I don't know if we can survive another assault.  thankfully it's only centipedes, and they're slow.  I'm going to get my rifle and do my best to keep them away from the colony.

Day 183

two days.  Two friggin' days of leading those centipedes out on the ice.  Wobber tried to help, but he had to use a worse rifle and he's not as good a shot as I am.  We both ended up having to lead them far away from the base and then run inside just so we could rest for a couple hours and eat.  We eventually killed them, but... I mean, Jesus.  We realy need a better way to deal with these things.

And we STILL haven't fought that poison ship yet.  I'm beginning to truly dread what lies within.

Day 189

Some cargo pods landed today carrying uranium.  I wonder where all these supplies are coming from?  Regardless, this will be quite useful when we are finally able to cobble together a ship.

Day 191

Hakuja and Cyber are getting married today!  I hope they're happy together for a very long time.  Unfortunately, a psychic ship crashed nearby, which put a bit of a damper on the celebration.  I'm working on some more turrets to help us like last time.  If we could get our hands on some mortar shells I have a few ideas for rigging up some traps, but we'll have to save that idea for later.

Day 195

Finally!  A bulk goods trader!  We are going to build SO MANY THINGS.  We bought about a thousand each of steel, marble blocks, granite blocks and wood.  We also bought a handful of components, and Wobber talked me into buying all their beer.  Hey, why not?  We actuallly have a shot at making this work now!  It cost us well over eight thousand steel, but it was worth every ounce.  There are so many things we need to build - but first we need to kill that damn psychic ship.  Everything is in place.  We attack at first light.

That.. is... amazing

I've never seen predators or any animals spawn anywhere but the edge of the map. I have, however, seen a polar bear spawn with an near empty food meter on an ice sheet and immediately make a beeline for my colonists. I've also seen predators take extremely long routes to get to animals behind walls because they are the "closest" prey. Either one of these could account for predators seeming to spawn in your base if you aren't paying enough attention.

I surrounded my base exits with wood, with doors to enter.
I'm 90% sure they spawned past it, since I had a second spaced layer, with boomalopes in between, I'll confirm next Monday

It is all a plot by the machines. The core and glitterworlds are a lie! Every ship that takes off will just crash again in the RimWorld, the machines make sure of it.

...I get it.
It's like portal.
You try to escape, over and over, and when you finally do escape, the AI forces you to lose your memory, and try to escape, over and over, until death.
It's a learning experience!