Is there a limit in the population size?
The population limit is around 90 villagers.

I always run out of berries before i can get enough tech points to increase my harvest level?
Try to put more people at the research table. Also, you don't need to always have someone at the berry bush. If there's enough food in your bin bin (approximately 100 to 150 is good early in the game), allow that farmer to do some research. Then once your food dips below a certain point, put that farmer back on the berry bush. Remember, also, that you can put children on mushrooms that appear around the village, and they will take them to the food bin, helping to increase the food supply.

At what age can kids start working and breeding?
Working at 14 and breeding at 18.

How do you build new huts?
Just drag a villager onto the construction site (foundations) and he will start constructing. It may take a few tries to get the villager started.

How do I know where to start construction?
Drag the villagers around (hold the villager and don't let go) and they will tell you what they see.

How do you accumulate tech points ?
Drag a villager to the research table (center of the village) and they will initiate research and start gaining points. You can also check the preferred skill box for research (in the villager’s Details screen) so that they prefer that activity over the others!

What can children do?
In Virtual Villagers 1, children can be put on mushrooms around the village. But act quickly, because mushrooms wilt rapidly in the sun. In Virtual Villagers 2 children can gather mushrooms and various collectibles around the village.

How is Virtual Villagers different from Village Sim?
Virtual Villagers is basically the desktop version of Village Sim. Since Virtual Villagers was developed after Village Sim, it has some additional features: 4 addtional puzzles, naming of villagers, more island events, likes and dislikes of villagers, mushroom hunt for children, new original music.

How do I become a beta tester?
Go to our Beta Test Program, fill in the application and send it to us. We will send out emails on to the choosen testers.

Is there an update to Virtual Villagers? How do I get it?
The latest version of Virtual Villagers at this time is v1.01. To obtain the update, simply download the trial version from the game site where you purchased the game and install it into the same directory. It’s important that you download the update from the site where you purchased it, or your activation code will no longer work.

What happens to my game when Daylight Savings Time changes happen?
Normally, the time changes involved with Daylight Savings Time don't affect the game, because they occur overnight when most people aren't playing the game. If your game is off overnight, the clock will be adjusted before you start it back up in the morning, and there will simply be one more or one less hour since the game was last run. The only time you have to be concerned about the time change is when you are actually running the game at the time the system clock is adjusted. It's best just to turn the game off for the night twice a year when the DST changes occur.

Is there anything to do after all the puzzles are solved?
Virtual Villagers, like all of our real-time games, is designed to be open-ended. Each game has clear goals, but the games continue to go on and allow you to play as long as you like. The Island Events will continue to happen, which can dramatically change the way things are going for your villagers. Many people start over to try some new strategies, set some new challenges for themselves (like finishing the game without any villagers dying), or play the game on a different setting.

How do you tell what has happened when the game was off?
The game records selected information into a game log, which is located in the Virtual Villagers folder. The file is called ldwLog.txt, and it can be viewed easily in any text editor (such as Notepad or WordPad). When viewing the game log, you can see when villagers have been injured, or have lost health due to disease, old age, or starvation. You can also see when villagers have mated and with whom, and the production of food and tech points. The game log is overwritten each time you launch the game, though, so it has to be viewed immediately after you quit the game.

Can I rename my villagers?
Yes, you can. Simply click where the villager’s name is displayed on their Details screen and you will see a vertical cursor appear (you may have to click twice). When the cursor appears, you can change the villager’s name to one of your choosing.

How long do the villagers live?
At the beginning of the game, they will become elderly in their 50s and begin to lose health due to old age. As your villagers become more advanced, however, they can live much longer – even more than 100 years!

Can I back up my game files? Can I move them to another computer?
For Windows users:
Using Windows Explorer, go to the directory where Virtual Villagers is installed. The Virtual Villagers folder should be located in Program Files. The actual folder name will depend upon which site you downloaded the game from, but it should contain the words “Virtual Villagers” in the folder name. Open the Virtual Villagers folder and look for files named Isola**.ldw (where ** is a number). There may be up to 11 of those files, depending upon how many player slots you are using. The single-digit numbers are your "primary" savegame files and are numbered 1-5 (corresponding to the player slots). The two-digit numbers are the "backup" savegame files, and are numbered 21-25. There is also a file Isola0.ldw which contains settings. You can copy those files to a diskette, CD or other external media, or copy them to another computer.
For Mac users:
The savegame files have the same names as described above, and they should be located in User => Library => preferences => LDW => Isola

I accidentally deleted my Virtual Villagers game; can I get it back?
There is a backup file in your Virtual Villagers folder, but it won't be as current as the one that you deleted. The savegame files are Isola**.ldw (where ** is a number). The single-digit numbers are your "primary" savegame files and are numbered 1-5 (corresponding to the player slots). The two-digit numbers are the "backup" savegame files, and are numbered 21-25. If you rename the backup file that corresponds to the one that you deleted, you will be able to recover that game to a previous point in play. To safeguard your games in the future, you may want to periodically back them up manually. The savegame files are ordinary files that can be backed up in a safe location of your choosing. Just remember to pause the games first, or you may be greeted by an unpleasant surprise if you ever need to restore one of them.

My game isn’t progressing normally. What’s wrong? Is it a bug?
That is something we see frequently when people try to make the game progress more quickly by adjusting their computer’s system clock. Adjusting your computer’s system clock, either intentionally or inadvertently, can cause unpredictable things to happen in the game. While that sort of “time travel” is a popular way to speed up game play, real-time games rely on the accuracy of the computer’s system clock to operate properly. Unpredictable results can occur if adjustments are made to the clock, especially moving the clock backwards in time. Different games will respond differently under those circumstances, ranging from minor statistics anomalies to killing whatever is living in the game. Virtual Villagers has a much more complex real-time engine than Fish Tycoon, and you're much more likely to see problems with it when adjusting the system clock. While many people do adjust their system clocks to speed up play, doing so affects far more than just the games. Every application in your computer is affected, including the file system and Windows system applications. For all of those reasons, we don’t recommend changing your computer’s system clock to speed up game play.

What is the difference between Virtual Villagers 1, Virtual Villagers 2 and Virtual Villagers 3?
Virtual Villagers is a chapter based game. The story is about a group of islanders that flee their island and land on the shores of a new mysterious island called Isola. Chapter 1 is the story of their new life on the southern shores of the island. Chapter 2 continues the story on the western shores and Chapter 3 will take place on the nothern part of the island. In all the chapters the villagers need to find ways to survive and slowly unravel the mysteries of this island. Virtual Villagers 1, Virtual Villagers 2 and Virtual Villagers 3 are all independent games (can be played without having played the other ones. They are though, connected by a common storyline.

When is Virtual Villagers 3 coming out?
Virtual Villagers 3 will be out in spring 2008. We are adding a lot of features and new stuff.