Dwarf Therapist Config File & Default Settings Explained
Introduction Dwarf Therapist is a powerful external management tool for Dwarf Fortress, but most players interact only with its visual interface and never explore the configuration layer underneath it. The config file and default settings control how the application behaves, what data it displays, and how it organizes your dwarf roster. Understanding these settings gives you meaningful control over the tool beyond basic point-and-click labor management. You can define custom roles, adjust display behavior, set default labor states for new dwarves, and resolve persistent issues that the interface alone cannot fix. This guide explains every major component of the Dwarf Therapist configuration system, what each setting does, where the relevant files are located, and how to modify them safely and effectively. Quick Facts about Dwarf Therapist Config File What the Dwarf Therapist Config File Contains File Location and Structure Overview The config file location varies depending on your platform and how Dwarf Therapist was installed. On Windows, the file is typically found in the same directory as the Dwarf Therapist executable, named DwarfTherapist.ini or preferences.ini depending on the version. On Linux, the file is commonly stored in the hidden .config directory within the user’s home folder, under a path such as ~/.config/DwarfTherapist/DwarfTherapist.conf. On macOS, it may be located in ~/Library/Preferences/ or within the application bundle depending on how the build was compiled. The file is structured in sections, each marked with a bracketed header such as [MainWindow] or [Labor]. Each section contains key-value pairs that define specific behaviors. A typical entry looks like this: Understanding this structure makes manual editing straightforward. Each key has a defined purpose, and values are constrained to expected types such as integers, booleans, or strings. Entering an invalid value type for a key will usually cause Dwarf Therapist to fall back to its built-in default for that setting. Core Settings Sections and What They Control The config file is organized into logical sections that correspond to different areas of the application. The most commonly relevant sections for players are MainWindow, Labors, Roles, Display, and General. The MainWindow section stores the application window’s saved position and size, whether the toolbar and sidebar panels are visible, and the last-used column sort order. These settings are updated automatically each time you close the application, so manual editing of this section is rarely necessary. The Labors section is where default labor states are defined. Each labor has a corresponding key that determines whether it is enabled or disabled by default when Dwarf Therapist first reads a dwarf that has no prior configuration. This section directly influences how new migrants appear in the labor grid when they arrive at your fortress. The Display section controls visual presentation including column visibility, color thresholds for skill level highlighting, and whether mood indicators are shown inline with dwarf names. Adjusting these settings can meaningfully improve readability for large fortresses with dense labor grids. The General section contains application-level settings such as the memory polling interval, whether Dwarf Therapist should auto-refresh when new dwarves are detected, and logging verbosity for troubleshooting purposes. How Default Settings Affect Your Labor Grid Factory Defaults and What They Mean in Practice When Dwarf Therapist is installed fresh with no prior configuration, the factory defaults determine how every element of the interface is presented. These defaults are embedded in the application binary and represent the developer’s judgment about a reasonable starting state for a new user. By default, most labors are neither universally enabled nor universally disabled in the grid display. The tool presents the current state of each dwarf’s labor as it appears in the game, rather than imposing its own starting values. This means the grid on first launch reflects whatever labor states your dwarves already have from in-game assignment or vanilla defaults. The refresh interval defaults to a moderate polling rate, typically a few seconds between memory reads. This balances responsiveness with system resource usage. For players managing very large fortresses, lowering the polling interval can make the grid feel more reactive. For players on lower-end hardware, increasing it reduces background CPU usage. Color-coding defaults assign visual distinctions to skill-level ranges, helping players quickly identify which dwarves are novices versus experts in any given labor column. These thresholds can be adjusted in the Display section if the default ranges do not match your preferred visibility style. Role Definitions and How They Interact With Default Settings Roles in Dwarf Therapist are named labor bundles that you can define once and apply to any dwarf with a single action. A role called Farmer might enable agriculture, plant gathering, and food hauling while disabling everything else. A role called Dedicated Smith might enable only metalsmithing and related hauling labors. Role definitions are stored in the config file’s Roles section. Each role entry specifies a name, a list of enabled labors, and optionally a list of explicitly disabled labors. When you apply a role to a dwarf, Dwarf Therapist writes those labor states directly to the game’s memory for that dwarf. Default roles shipped with Dwarf Therapist cover common fortress archetypes and provide a useful starting point. They are fully editable and can be replaced with custom definitions suited to your particular fortress management style. Common problems with default settings and how to resolve them: Editing the Config File Safely and Effectively Manual Editing Best Practices Manual configuration file editing gives you precise control over settings not exposed through the graphical interface. Before making any changes, copy the existing config file to a backup location named DwarfTherapist.ini.backup. Open the config file in a plain text editor. On Windows, Notepad works but a code-aware editor such as Notepad++ or VS Code will highlight structure more clearly and reduce the risk of accidental formatting errors. On Linux and macOS, any terminal-based or GUI text editor is suitable. Edit only the key-value pairs you intend to change. Avoid altering section headers, removing keys entirely, or changing the file encoding. Most config parsers used by Qt applications expect UTF-8 encoding without a byte order mark;
How to Install Dwarf Therapist With Mods Enabled
Introduction Installing Dwarf Therapist alongside a modded version of Dwarf Fortress introduces a specific set of challenges that a clean vanilla installation does not. Mods can alter labor definitions, add new professions, change dwarf attributes, and restructure the underlying data that Dwarf Therapist reads from game memory. When these changes conflict with what the tool expects to find, the result ranges from minor display issues to a complete failure to connect. Understanding how Dwarf Therapist interacts with mods before you begin the installation process saves significant troubleshooting time later. The relationship between the tool and the game is built on memory offset mapping, and mods that touch labor, skill, or unit data are most likely to disrupt that mapping. This guide covers the full installation process for a modded Dwarf Fortress environment, what to check before installing, how to configure the tool for mod compatibility, and how to handle the most common conflicts players encounter. All guidance is based on community-verified procedures and is intended for informational use. Quick Facts about How to Install Dwarf Therapist What Mod Types Affect Dwarf Therapist Compatibility Labor and Profession Mods Mods that introduce new labors or redefine existing profession categories are the most directly relevant to Dwarf Therapist functionality. The tool builds its labor grid based on an internal list of expected labor identifiers. When a mod adds labors that fall outside that list, those labors simply do not appear in the Dwarf Therapist interface. This does not necessarily break the tool entirely. Dwarves will still appear in the roster, and existing vanilla labors will still display and function normally. The gap is that any mod-added labor becomes invisible to the Dwarf Therapist, meaning you cannot assign or track them through the tool. Mods that rename or reindex existing vanilla labors carry more risk. If a mod reassigns the numeric identifier of a labor that Dwarf Therapist expects at a specific memory position, the tool may display incorrect labor states, showing labors as enabled when they are disabled or vice versa. Unit Attribute and Skill Mods Mods that add entirely new skill categories or extend the skill list beyond the vanilla range can cause display anomalies in the skill columns of the Dwarf Therapist grid. The tool allocates columns based on the expected number of skills, and additions outside that range may display as blank columns, overflow into incorrect positions, or cause the grid layout to shift. Mods focused purely on graphics, interface improvements, creature additions without new labors, or world generation parameters generally have no impact on Dwarf Therapist at all. The tool only reads unit-level data, so anything that does not touch how dwarves store their attributes, labors, and skills in memory is effectively invisible to it. Knowing which category your active mods fall into before installing Dwarf Therapist helps you set realistic expectations for what will and will not work without additional configuration steps. How to Download and Install Dwarf Therapist for a Modded Game Preparing Your Modded Installation Before Download Before downloading Dwarf Therapist, take stock of your active mods and identify which ones, if any, introduce new labors, modify existing profession definitions, or alter skill structures. Mod documentation, typically included in the mod’s readme file or its forum or workshop page, will usually state whether the mod affects labors or skills. For mod packs with known Dwarf Therapist compatibility work done by the community, search for a Dwarf Therapist patch or compatibility file associated with that specific mod pack. These are separate downloads that provide updated labor definition files pre-configured for the mod’s additions. Using an existing compatibility patch is always faster than building labor definitions manually from scratch. Steps to prepare before installing: Downloading and Extracting the Correct Release Download Dwarf Therapist from the official GitHub repository releases page. Select the release that matches your Dwarf Fortress version exactly, applying the same version-matching requirement that applies to any Dwarf Therapist installation regardless of mod status. Extract the downloaded archive into a dedicated folder outside your Dwarf Fortress installation directory. Keeping the tool folder separate from the game folder prevents any accidental interaction between the two directory structures and makes future updates easier to manage. If you are using a mod pack that has a community-maintained Dwarf Therapist compatibility patch, download that patch as well and keep it ready. You will apply it after the base installation is confirmed working, not before. Configuring Dwarf Therapist to Work With Your Mods Applying Compatibility Patches and Labor Definition Updates If a community compatibility patch exists for your mod pack, apply it now before your first launch. Most patches consist of replacement or additional labor definition files that slot into the Dwarf Therapist folder structure. The patch documentation will specify exactly which files to place where. Read the patch instructions carefully before copying files. Some patches replace existing default files entirely, while others add supplementary files alongside defaults. Replacing a file you should have kept, or adding a file to the wrong subfolder, are the two most common application mistakes and both produce incorrect labor displays. If no pre-built compatibility patch exists for your mods, you will need to add mod-introduced labors to Dwarf Therapist’s labor definition files manually. These files are plain text and can be opened in any text editor. Compare the labor identifiers your mod adds, found in its raw files, against the existing entries in Dwarf Therapist’s labor list, and add matching entries that follow the same formatting pattern as the existing entries. Testing the Installation Before Your Main Playthrough Before committing to a long modded playthrough with Dwarf Therapist as part of your workflow, run a short test session in a temporary fortress. This confirms that the tool connects correctly, displays your mod-added labors if you have configured them, and does not show any obviously incorrect data in the grid. Common problems and practical solutions in a modded installation: After confirming basic functionality in the test fortress, load your actual modded save or start your intended playthrough. Monitor the labor grid