The Woods Milestones: Common Progression Bugs and Fixes

Primitive Gearbox Stays Grayed Out in the Primitive Assembler

A player documented accumulating 937 oak wood while trying to fulfill the 600 oak wood requirement, but the primitive gearbox remained locked and grayed out inside the primitive assembler menu. The milestone counter failed to trigger the recipe unlock despite the player exceeding the necessary total.

Neither the community nor the developer has documented an official workaround for this milestone trigger bug in the demo. Studio Ashty noted in the March 9 post-playtest notes that later versions would clarify mechanics and fix bugs, alongside pacing adjustments.

No confirmed fix is documented yet if the recipe stays locked. Manual gathering of sticks and stones will still function, but automated crafting through the primitive assembler will remain stalled until an updated build resolves the condition.

Tin and Coal Harvests Do Not Register Beyond The Woods

Mining tin or gathering coal in the preview area fails to update research statistics. Even when automated with a crusher, coal counters stay at 1 and new crafts never appear.

This lock is deliberate. The developer announced on April 30 and May 8 that the demo restricts milestone progression entirely to the first area, The Woods. While players can physically walk into the Mountains biome preview and sample the Mountains minigame, milestone tracking for tin and coal is blocked in this software version.

You cannot craft advanced items or progress research using materials collected in the preview territory. Keep factory loops centered on oak wood, sticks, and stones within The Woods, or test the Dark Thicket minigame to obtain production buffs for your current machines.

Building Menu Displays Keyboard Prompts While Using a Controller

Opening the construction interface generates an on-screen prompt reading "Press [ B] to open the Building Menu". Gamepad users find that pressing B on a controller does not open the menu, as the prompt refers to the keyboard key rather than a controller button.

The prompt hardcodes keyboard bindings and refers exclusively to the letter B on a standard keyboard. One player reported stopping after 3 minutes because interface navigation required switching back to a keyboard.

Press B on your keyboard to access construction tools when the gamepad fails to register. Studio Ashty confirmed in forum discussions that gamepad support is being reworked ahead of the full 1.0 launch.

Graphic Settings and Framerate Limits Reset After Loading a World

Both anti-aliasing and max FPS settings reset upon loading a world. Inside the harvester UI, the name for the first resource being collected shakes and jitters.

No confirmed fix is documented yet for these issues in the demo.

Players can manually reapply their settings in the options menu after loading the world.

Mouse Inversion Flips Both Horizontal and Vertical Axes Simultaneously

Camera inversion binds pitch and yaw to a single toggle, inverting both the horizontal and vertical axes at the same time.

No confirmed fix is documented yet for the demo build. Studio Ashty confirmed in a forum reply that mouse controls are reworked for version 1.0, where players will receive separate horizontal and vertical inversion settings.

Save Files from The Woods Demo Cannot Import into the Full Release

Players spending between 1 and 4 hours completing milestone goals across The Woods and the Dark Thicket minigame have asked whether factory setups will port directly into the full release.

Save files from the demo will not transfer. Studio Ashty confirmed that multiple early game sequences were altered and replaced during development. Attempting to force demo save files into the retail game leads to world corruption and game breaking bugs.

Nightwater releases on September 18, 2026. Progression into the Bronze Age and the Industrial Era toward the Lighthouse endings requires starting from a fresh save.

Restrictive Build Distance and Missing Grid Snapping Impede Automation Layouts

Blueprints appear directly in front of the character model rather than at a target distance. Without a grid snapping feature, aligning machinery and pipe connections can be difficult.

The demo restricts placement reach and players noted the absence of a grid snap option.

No confirmed fix is documented yet for build distance or grid snapping in the demo. Because buildings can be moved or deconstructed at any time without losing items, players can adjust misplaced structures by dismantling and replacing them. In the March 9 update notes, Studio Ashty stated that future releases would offer improved graphic and gameplay options alongside inputs and outputs on all boxes.