World generation

Descriptive labels of climate regions

The world is generated through a variety of different features procedurally generating to organically form different environments. Rather than discrete biomes, regions are formed through mechanics such as temperature, rocks, tree density, and water density.

Rock Layer Generation

Rock layers come in three general categories: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Each category of rocks has several specific types of rocks in it, and when generating in the world, there can be multiple layers of each type (or none). The type of rock has no effect on any flora or fauna generation. However it has a huge effect on what ores you may find in the area.

Tree Generation

Trees generate with different densities across the landscape, with some tree shapes only available through world generation that cannot be regrown.

Forestation and Shrubs

Shrubs composed of Birch leaves commonly generate across the world, in proportion to the 'Forestation & shrubs' world generation setting.

Natural Resources

When exploring, there are various natural resources that the average explorer may be interested in.

Sticks

Sticks are commonly found scattered across forest floors, and can be readily gathered from breaking the leaves of trees and shrubs.

Bones can substitute for sticks in some recipes. The player can harvest bones from hunted animals, and may even occasionally find carcasses yielding bones - from animals which were hunted by predators, or which died of natural causes (such as fall damage).

Reed

Reeds are essential for many early recipes. Cattails are common near water in temperate regions. Papyrus can substitute for cattails in most recipes, and are common near water in warm regions.

Clay

Clay forms on the surface of the world, appearing most commonly as red clay, but also in the form of blue or fire clay. Clay does not generate in extreme hot or extreme cold climates.

Fire clay can make the same items as red and blue clay, in addition to some unique items related to higher temperatures.

Ores

Ore Deposits generate all over the underground in Vintage Story. It is very important to pay attention to the type of rocks that are nearby, as ores will only form in specific rock types.

A nugget of ore on the earth's surface indicates a larger deposit of that ore not far below - in stone blocks which need a pickaxe to break.

Rocks

Underneath the surface lies a large variety of rock types. There are 22 different types of rocks, each hosting its own selection of ores .

The type of small stones on the earth's surface indicate the type of rock directly below. Other rock types might be even deeper.

Soil

Different types of soil form over the landscape to form the surface. Some are more rare than others, with low fertility soil being the most common. The varying soil types have different levels of fertility - you may want to keep this in mind when choosing a location.
The rainfall frequency seems to be directly tied to the area's average soil fertility, as 'very rare' rainfall correlates with almost only low fertility (or barren) soil, whilst an area receiving rainfall 'almost all the time' translates into almost only medium fertility soil being found there.

Crops

Crops or Wild Foods spawn once, on world generation, and very slowly grow while the chunk is loaded. A mature crop resets back to stage 1 eventually. These wild crops do not naturally spread, and cannot be planted by the player. Propagation of the seeds harvested from wild crops requires farming.

Temperature

The temperature is a vital part of deciding what wild foods can generate, whether or not clay can form, and even which entities can spawn.

Weather

A region has a set of weather parameters that apply. An area of common rainfall might have higher fertility soil than a dry area, even if it doesn't rain for long stretches of time.

In general, areas that are more green indicate a larger amount of rainfall.

Winter conditions depend on latitude, altitude, and precipitation. Snowmelt might occur later in the year in northern areas, or on higher hills. Lack of snow doesn't necessarily mean it's warm enough for crops to survive.

Water

Environments are formed with varying levels of water density, this means that oceans, for example, are not force as a 'biome' but instead form organically.

Entities

Which animals the player will encounter is affected by the climate of the area. Creature spawning rules are tied to minimum and maximum temperature, as well as rainfall constraints, forestation constraints, and elevation constraints.

Structures

Structures form over the world's surface and underground in the form of ruins . These structures often contain loot that can benefit survival in various ways. Some blocks, such as aged wooden planks , can only be found in these ruins.

History

The ability to reduce landcover was added, so players can configure the size of oceans and the distance between landmasses.