Growing potatoes does work. You need an atmophere of 30% or 100% oxygen of carbon dioxide. I usually fully pressurise so that I can take my helmet off. The potatoes grow in the same atmosphere that the astronaut can use. Remember to put the seedbag in the hydroponics pod AND rightclick to deploy it. Just putting in the bag does not start it.
After time, some of them (1 out of 3 or 4) will become plants. The rest dies.

Thx for the tip!

I rebuilt my base at home plate after losing my 2 bases at the end of 2016. I have now 2 barrels+ of potassium and ammonia each in the Silos. To fill one barrel with human waste to produce the fertilizer, I need enough pressure in my basic module.

In the early phase after completing both modules, I tried to create an atmosphere for the first time. But I couldn't hold the nitrogen. It led to a total loss of nitrogen obtained from Martian soil and air.

Therefore, I installed 1 airlock per module with 2 airlock doors. I can of course experiment from a saved savegame. But it didn't work back then. Maybe something was wrong with the module.


In reality, it would be like this: After opening the outer airlock door, the atmospheric pressure of the thin Martian atmosphere prevails in the airlock. So before I open the airlock door to the inner area, I have to create the Earth's atmospheric pressure in the airlock so that the Mars toilet works (: ?).

But the Life Support Module should be able to hold the gases in any case. Otherwise I would be forced to consume more nitrogen than I can produce.

It's hard to produce Water, Nitrogen, Hydrogen and Methan.

Although the current state of knowledge is that, for example, near the equator at an estimated depth of 0.5 to 3 meters, you could reach the (dirty) water ice of the former stagnant waters with a soil drill, which could frozen once during a supernova shock wave that would have blown away the Martian atmosphere in a very short time.


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I could produce Fertilizer. But I had to test the Life Support Module first.

Normally, a Mars base would always have an airlock/decompression chamber. What am I supposed to do with the Life Support Module if I end up losing always ~2/5 of the nitrogen after that?

But at least I was able to take off my spacesuit once and use the Mars toilet. Together with 2 barrels of potassium and ammonia, I was able to make the fertilizer with the Material-Raffinery.

For the second try I have replaced the Airlock-Door for the inner-room with a standart-door instead of the 2 Airlock-Doors; if that is wrong or right, I do not know.

But as I wanted to go outta the basis module, I had to press - oh my bad - the button [Ext.].

I think for a base module it is normally not possible, to split the mixed air (78,9% nitrogen, 21% oxygen) back in the barrels without a machine as the Material-Raffinery. Isn't that a joke?

During my first try, I was closed in, because the outer Airlock door wouldn't open. Couldn't the dev team have implemented the principle of the airlock/decompression chamber? That comes closer to realism.

See science fiction movie <The Last Days on Mars ©2013>. There you can see a airlock/decompression chamber; only in the movie, but okay.

Something is wrong here in the game. But nothing stands in the way of successful potato planting now.

Here is an example of a basic Outpost. It has everything in place so you can pull it apart if you like. To see how things fit together. Includes a hydroponics and water station.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3420468091

Which Gusev scenario are you useing? I see two of that name in the Workshop. One by deltuhvee and one by Noodle Bro.

This scenario has both types of bases. You can pull them apart to see how they work. ;)
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=872666545
Personally, I build Outpost style bases because they take less material.

I tried to get the greenhouse working yesterday. I was able to produce 5 barrels of Fertilizer Soil.

I did manage to create a [0.3] atmosphere using 1 barrel of nitrogen and 3 barrels of oxygen, which should be enough to get the potatoes growing.

Before the experiment, I replaced the normal inner gate with an airlock gate.

But then!

The inner airlock gate could not be opened at first. Pressing [Cycle] increased the atmospheric pressure to the earthly (!) pressure. There must be an error here. This then blocked the outer gate. Once again I had to press [Ext.], i.e. “Blow off air again”.

It could perhaps be the scenario [Gusev Survival] itself.

In contrast to your 2 demos, dust storms, for example, never occur here. Should it be possible to correct this with an editor?

I will start another attempt.


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The one I did was in Gusev Crater.

Some tips for the Editor.
To freeze the scene for selecting things, you right click anywhere on the screen.
To resume moving around, right click anywhere again.
To slow down and speed up rate of movement you use the wheel on the mouse.

So after starting the Editor with that region, you look to load the scenario called 'CUSTOM Basic Outpost' in the SCENARIOS LIST. That's the icon with an open folder with an upward pointing arrow on it.

After that you need to click New scenario, the icon top left that looks like a document with a + symbol on it. You then need to give it a new Title: and File Name: of your choice and click CREATE.

After doing that you need to immediately save the new scenario by clicking on the 'Save' icon. It looks like a floppy disc with a downward pointing arrow. Only then should you change things.

You can change the starting conditions for instance, by clicking the 'Edit scenario properties' icon, looking like a document with a pencil on it.

On the window that opens, to change the solar activity, left click and hold on the bottom left gadget labelled CURRENT and drag it fully to the left and release. Do the same, click on and drag left, the two other gadgets labelled CURRENT and FORECAST in the area bottom right labelled 'Weather'.

Once you are happy, click CLOSE and save the scenario as you did before, by clicking floppy with the down arrow.

You can test immediate by pressing the space bar followed by the F key. To get back into the Editor you press F followed by the space bar.

You will make lots of errors and miss-clicks to begin with, but you will get better and more proficient over time. So back-up your scenario from time to time. GOOD LUCK.

The scenario folder is in...
Steam\userdata\<a number for your user on Steam>\244030\local\addons\scenarios

Originally posted by underground-x:

In contrast to your 2 demos, dust storms, for example, never occur here. Should it be possible to correct this with an editor?

I will start another attempt.


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I will change mine to be nice and calm and update this post when done.

The second one I linked to was made by lord.herbo, not me. I cannot edit that one, unless I make a copy. I have outlined how to do that already. :)

Edit: Weather should now be calm and next solar flare burst is in 50 mins.
Oh! The best way to re-download is to Delete And Unsubscribe in the Senarios Menu. Shut down the game and Subscribe to it again on Steam.

Thanks for the tips and everything!


Growing a potato plant in the greenhouse was successful.

Without problems I can create the [0.3 ATM] atmosphere in the greenhouse with the Life Support Module. I was also able to refill the empty water bags.

The problem is perhaps the [Gusev Survival] scenario itself (: ?), created by the author, which I chose to play.

The 2 small demo scenarios - provided by you - show correct behavior with the 2 built-in airlock doors (> decompression chamber).

Not so here!

Yesterday I had to improvise and replace the outer gate with a simple one (!). Only then was I able to get out of the greenhouse at all. Not everything works perfectly here. Some things seem to be different in this scenario.


What doesn't quite work:

a.) The batteries of the control computer in the large Mars vehicle leaked out of power after I forgot to turn off the headlights during one night. And they stay empty! Unrealistically, the vehicle has no solar panels.

b.) No water for the fertilized soil is drawn from the barrel in the greenhouse in the glass box - only some soil is drawn from the barrel with the Fertilizer Soil. The ratio of the soil extracted from this barrel to the size of the cold frame in the glass box looks like not correct.

c.) Functionality of two built-in airlock gates is incorrupt, limited, or something has not been adjusted right with the Editor (: ?).

d.) There are no sandstorms. This gets boring over time.

e.) There is no energy-saving light in the large Mars vehicle at night. Incidentally, only NASA currently has the technology to bring such a big thing to the surface of Mars.

f.) No oxygen is drawn from the oxygen-barrels in the large Mars vehicle during the oxygen tank of the medium Mars suit gets refilled.


Yes, it might have been worth trying out the editor before I had started the game.

Where did you get the scenario? Do you know its name and the name of the user who created it? I see several in the Workshop with 'Gusev Survival' in the name. Post a link if you can.

Many of the mods in the Workshop were created many years ago and could potentially give problems these days. Some are so old, that they do not even need barrels of gas to pressurise the base.

It's Lucia's map:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=791401234&searchtext=Gusev+Surival

Hmm. Made in 2016. But it looks pretty basic. You basically make everything from scratch with the printer. Myself, I would probably not use it because of its age, or make my own similar scenario in the Editor.

And I get a crash. Every time I approach the supply container north of where you spawn. Bye bye Gusev Survival.

Okay. So at least I tracked down the reason for my crash. It only happens when I use the Slot Keys mod and go to pick up a small crate that is already spawned in the scenario.

If I spawn my own small crate and focus on that, everything is fine.

I have had this happen before, but now I know what causes the crash. So be suspicious of older mods and scenarios.

Edit: Just to be clear. There is nothing wrong with the Slot Keys mod. My crash was something to do with the small crates already in the scenario. Newer spawned versions of the crate are fine. 👍

Yeah. Be wary of older mods\scenarios. A lot of the older ones are broken in some regard or just plain do-not-work. Treat anything before 2017 with caution would be my advice. Although, even new stuff can have errors. Sláinte