Early in Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift in Time’s story, players obtain the Royal Hourglass, a powerful new tool used to uncover treasures around Eternity Isle and the Valley. This new tool can be upgraded at a new type of crafting bench, the Timebending Table. Upgrading the Royal Hourglass unlocks an assortment of new recipes and also enables it to recover specific, crucial crafting materials called Ancient Cores.
Ancient Cores are used to craft upgrades to the player’s Royal Tools and also to craft special devices called Ancient Machines. These devices allow the player to automate certain actions to streamline parts of the day-to-day gameplay experience in Dreamlight Valley and Eternity Isle.
Disney Dreamlight Valley: How to Get Ancient Cores (& What They're Used For)
Uncover pieces of ancient technology and unlock fantastic upgrades in Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift in Time.
Players can craft an Ancient Cooker that can batch-prepare meals, an Ancient Vacuum that can automatically collect items in a biome, and an Ancient Gardener that is capable of planting, watering, and gathering crops. Here’s everything players need to know about crafting and the Ancient Gardener in Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift in Time.
How to Craft the Ancient Gardener
Before the player can craft Ancient Machines, they must first unlock the Royal Hourglass and have access to a Timebending Table. Both are available after a few short quests have been completed at the start of A Rift of Time’s story. As the player progresses, additional quests will have them perform specific tasks, including upgrading the Royal Hourglass and later crafting an Ancient Machine of their choosing.
Disney Dreamlight Valley - Village Project: Gear Loose and Fancy Free (Scrooge Friendship Quest)
Harness the power of the Royal Hourglass and learn to craft Ancient Machines in Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift in Time.
Before players can craft an Ancient Machine, they must be capable of uncovering Ancient Cores while Timebending, the process of treasure hunting with the Royal Hourglass. There are three levels of Ancient Cores, each one corresponding to the level of the player’s Royal Hourglass. There are also three levels of Ancient Machines, and each crafting recipe requires both the previous level machine and an appropriate level Ancient Core. To craft the Ancient Gardener in Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift in Time, follow these steps:
Upgrade the Royal Hourglass to Level 1
The Royal Hourglass can be upgraded at a Timebending Table by spending Mist, a currency similar to Dreamlight that is earned by completing duties while on Eternity Isle. Players will also find Mist while Timebending. Once the player has accumulated 5000 Mist, they can visit the Timebending Table and select to upgrade the Royal Hourglass. At Level 1, a handful of recipes unlock, and players can now discover Ancient Core (Level 1) when Timebending.
Gather Materials via Timebending
With the Level 1 Royal Hourglass in hand, the player can travel around both Eternity Isle and the Valley and use the Timebending ability to uncover hidden treasures. The Ancient Core (Level 1) is rarer than the rest of the materials, but thankfully, the recipe requires just two. To craft the Basic Ancient Gardener, collect the following materials:
- 2000 Mist
- 3 Ancient Gears
- 3 Ancient Pipes
- 2 Ancient Core (Level 1)
Craft the Ancient Gardener at the Timebending Table
With the materials collected, head back to the Timebending Table and craft the Basic Ancient Gardener, which can be found in the "Ancient Machine" recipe category. There are three versions of each Ancient Machine, and the ability to craft the Regular and Advanced machines will unlock after the player has upgraded their Royal Hourglass to Level 2 and Level 3, respectively.
Each recipe requires a corresponding level Ancient Core, which can only be discovered after upgrading the Hourglass. To craft each tier of Ancient Gardener, players will need these materials:
Ancient Machine | Materials | Auto-Gardening Area |
|---|---|---|
Basic Ancient Gardener |
| Will dig soil, plant seeds, water, and collect crops from a 4x4 area (15 spots). |
Regular Ancient Gardener |
| Will dig soil, plant seeds, water, and collect crops from a 5x5 area (24 spots). |
Advanced Ancient Gardener |
| Will dig soil, plant seeds, water, and collect crops from a 6x6 (35 spots). |
How to Use the Ancient Gardener
The Ancient Gardener is capable of digging soil, planting seeds, watering planted crops, and collecting fully grown vegetables in exchange for Mist. The Ancient Gardener’s functionality is the same at all three levels. However, the higher leveled machines will cover more area, as detailed above.
Only four Ancient Gardeners can function in a single biome. Players can place additional Ancient Gardeners for decorative purposes, but only four machines total will be active and capable of Gardening. This limitation is inclusive of all three levels of the machine; placing both Basic and Advanced machines in the same biome will still count toward the device limit.
To use the Ancient Gardener, place it from the "Utilities" category of the Furniture menu. While placing the device, a square showing the area it will cover is displayed, with the machine itself positioned in a corner. Once the machine has been placed, here’s how to use the Ancient Gardener:
- Interact with the Ancient Gardener. It will show a variety of functions. Before it can plant any seeds, there need to be holes dug in the soil nearby. The player can have the Ancient Gardener automatically dig all holes within its coverage area for 10 Mist per plot.
- Once holes have been prepared, click on “Select Seeds.” You can assign only seeds that you have in your inventory, so bring at least one bag of whatever you want it to plant when interacting with the machine. Once you have selected a seed type, it will continue to “reload” the machine with any bags of that seed it finds in the player’s storage and display the current available count, regardless of where the chests are physically located.
- Once a seed type has been selected, click “Plant Seed” and the machine will automatically plant seeds within its coverage area up to the maximum available plots or bags of seeds available. The machine will automatically water the seeds when needed.
- Once the plants are fully grown and ready to harvest, select the “Harvest” button, and the Ancient Gardener will automatically collect all grown crops in its coverage area and place them in the player’s inventory.
While harvesting using the Ancient Gardener has no cost, players will not receive the Companion Role bonus for hanging out with a character with the Gardening role--so no extra crops. Therefore, it is recommended to continue to manually harvest crops.
After the nearby crops have been collected, interact with the machine and repeat the process as desired. You will need to interact with the machine every time you want it to plant seeds or harvest crops. You can tell if the crops are ready to be harvested by checking the map and looking for the green carrot icon where you have the machine(s) placed.
Disney Dreamlight Valley
- Platform(s)
- PC , PS4 , PS5 , Switch , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Apple Arcade
- Released
- December 5, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Gameloft
- Publisher(s)
- Gameloft
- Genre(s)
- Life Simulation
