# Hearthling personal space

**URL:** <https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthling-personal-space/31316>\
**Category:** Gameplay\
**Created:** [July 20, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthling-personal-space/31316 "2017-07-20T00:00:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chickenman12365](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/chickenman12365/32/55129_2.png) [@chickenman12365](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/chickenman12365)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthling-personal-space/31316/1 "2017-07-20T00:00:53Z")

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can someone explain this a bit to me? I don’t quite understand how big a hearthling needs a space to be to not feel cramped, because it seems that even some of the premade buildings are considered cramped.

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**Author:** ![Alexander\_Harvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Alexander\_Harvey](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Alexander_Harvey)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthling-personal-space/31316/2 "2017-07-20T00:11:25Z")

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I second this request! I’ve had them blip in and out of “cramped” while walking or working in buildings I’ve created. I also wonder if it’s possible to mine out large enough tunnels and rooms to make living underground not make them feel cramped?

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**Author:** ![Fornjotr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/fornjotr/32/54961_2.png) [@Fornjotr](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Fornjotr)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 6:28am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthling-personal-space/31316/3 "2017-07-20T06:28:20Z")

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Hi @chickenman12365 and @Alexander_Harvey here is some reading for you :merry:

> [@DT: Personal Space](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/dt-personal-space/26838):
>
> [image] [DT: Personal Space – Stonehearth](http://www.stonehearth.net/dt-personal-space/)

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**Author:** ![Alexander\_Harvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Alexander\_Harvey](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Alexander_Harvey)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 10:03am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthling-personal-space/31316/4 "2017-07-20T10:03:37Z")

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Thanks @Fornjotr ! That’s a lot closer to the information I was looking for…I suppose it’s time to experiment a bit more with some careful mountain carving to see if I can get hearthlings to feel good about it. Some numbers on how many blocks high or wide would be nice, though…or if I could toggle the debug mode the devs use to see the personal space “bubble” each hearthling is experiencing.

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**Author:** ![tim1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@tim1](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/tim1)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthling-personal-space/31316/5 "2017-07-20T10:31:32Z")

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You can temporarily enable the debug setting with the instructions in the post below. DO NOT SAVE WITH THIS SETTING ON, once saved and turned of again, the green squares will stay in place forever.

> [@Desktop Tuesday: Personal Space II](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/desktop-tuesday-personal-space-ii/29921/7):
>
> I think it’s in user\_settings.json, inside the stonehearth mod settings (be careful with the commas):
> 
> …  
> “mods” : {  
> “stonehearth” : {  
> “show\_open\_space” : true  
> }  
> }  
> …
> 
> But I don’t remember if a console command was needed to be run before enabling this option.
> 
> HUGE DISCLAIMER: As far as I remember, if I saved with this option turned on, and later on I decided to turn it off after saving, the polygons would still be present where the hearthlings were last standing after loading that savefile, but they wouldn’t move/update from there, leaving an ugly sight in your town (this option was to help with debugging, after all). That might have changed, but just to let you know in advance.

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**Author:** ![Alexander\_Harvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Alexander\_Harvey](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Alexander_Harvey)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthling-personal-space/31316/6 "2017-07-25T14:33:57Z")

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Ok, I poked it just a little bit and I got a couple of numbers. I’ll try and put them under a spoiler tag just in case anyone doesn’t want to know.

> **Spoiler**
>
> I went ahead and temporarily enabled the show\_open\_space line in my user settings and measured around one of my hearthlings while they were out in an empty field. I doubt that it makes any difference, but I was using Rayya’s Children in the Desert for this. On Peaceful. The outermost edge of the displayed polygon was a 15x15 block area for their “comfort zone” whose lowest point (at the four corners of the 15x15 square) was 3 blocks in height. At the center, directly above the hearthling, it topped out at 6 blocks.
> 
> I appeared to be receiving no unhappiness from my hearthlings in their meager cave dwellings having dug them out to 12x12x6. They were not, however, very pleased with the 4 wide and 6 high tunnels that connected them. I suspect that either a window lined hall (somehow…in a mountain…) or a minimum of 8 blocks wide would help alleviate that. 10 or 12 blocks wide would probably be best in my opinion. And again, likely a minimum of 6 blocks high to prevent them from feeling like they’re scraping their poor little heads on the ceiling.