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[Avin]

*Warning* If you have never dug deep spoilers may follow

I'd intended to dig a square hole in the center of my map and once at the bottom fill each layer with magma and then water to turn the whole structure into the largest obsidian tower possible. This way my dwarfy home would be dug entirely in obsidian rather than slacking off and using just obsidian bricks. Everything almost went perfect or well as perfect as possible having survived two tantrum spirals that nearly ended the fort along with some other *fun* events.

To begin with I had walled off an area that was nearly 70% of the map and then channeled around the inner edge of the wall down to the magma sea. My goal here was to use the block destroying properties of the semi-molten rock to destroy the bulk of this hole for me. For the most part this was uneventful in a "dwarfs falling to their death" or "getting hit on the head with rocks" kind of way. In the end a single support was removed causing the entire center of my map to fall into the magma sea. Once my game recovered from what I'd thought was to be the crash to end all crashes I'd found in amazement that no dwarfs had died (well no additional dwarfs anyways).

With the giant hole in the center of my map I then began to channel areas for pumps and flood gates so that I could begin to fill each floor with magma and then water respectively in order create the needed obsidian. I had to take a moment to be impressed with the fact that I hadn't given up at this point as with hundreds of flood gates and pumps I was able to fill or drain any level of this hole as needed to ensure the best fill for obsidian creation.

Then the spirit breaking problem was found.
For some reason when filling the lowest floors the water would not form obsidian when hitting the magma. I tried a number of methods such as water first and then magma and vice versa. I'd even gotten so desperate as to try both at once and of course just clogged everything right up.

It's now at this point that I'm hoping someone in the community might be able to share some insight as to why the obsidian wouldn't form. Or perhaps if someone else has tried such an undertaking that they may be able to share any of their discoveries I'd be most grateful.
 

[StagnantSoul]

Check your init files. Temperature needs to be on to form obsidian.

[Avin]

Temperature was enabled. Obsidian was being formed but as the water would fill the are above the obsidian would stop forming near the center of the structure.

[ImagoDeo]

Water falling onto magma that is right above a 'magma flow' tile (SMR floor) will not transform it into obsidian. Instead, the tile will be empty of both magma and water for one or two steps.

There's a complicated process for transforming it into obsidian, and I'd be happy to inform you about it if you want. It involves painstakingly building downstairs on the z-level above, then dropping water and designating constructed upstairs on the temporarily empty tile. Your dwarves will build the upstairs without regard for the magma filling the tile. Then more dropped water will actually obsidianize the tile.

So you have two options: Either go through the pain-in-the-ass process above, or go up one z-level, fill it with magma, and obsidianize THAT instead.

[Avin]

Ok, interesting. I was filling a z level in its entirety with magma or water and then from the level above pumping in the other. It would work for about 10 or so tiles around where ever the source of the second fluid was coming from. I had considered making some type of sprinkler system where I would fill the lowest level with magma or water, and then "rain" down the other fluid for obsidian construction.

[ImagoDeo]

The other main issue is that water has to fall at least one full z-level before touching magma, or else it won't transform it. The water that flows over the edge of the already-obsidianized section is not going to cool the lava beneath it - it'll just make a lot of steam and be useless.