Guide: Auto Pan Sand and Bony Soil

[Cetasaya]

Panning is a chore ain't it?  You need copper to mine copper but you don't want to hunt for surface bits nor sit all day agonizingly panning sand?  You want that sweet tasty Gold Crown but don't wanna pan all those stacks of Bony Soil you've gathered?  Well, lemme tell you about the wonders of auto-clickers!  Specifically auto-clickers that allow multiple instances at once.

My favorite is called Key Clicker Holder.  Tiny and effective.  Follow these steps and you'll be able to automatically pan a bunch of sand/bony soil blocks rapidly.  Note: this process could probably be refined further for more efficiency but it works really well so I ain't messing with it.  So after gathering all needed materials to pan...

Step 1: Open Key Clicker Holder.  Open it again to create two parallel instances.

Step 2: Change the first to Hold, Mouse, Right Click, then change the hotkey to whatever you want it to be make sure its a key not used by your game's control layout.

Step 3: Change the second to Autoclick, Keyboard, the key to the first's hotkey, frequency to 1000ms (1 second), and a new hotkey for this one (preferably right next to the first's hotkey)

Step 4: Layout a bunch of pannable blocks out in front of you in a row where you wont have to move the mouse to pan each one as they disappear.  Put a Wooden Pan in your active hand.

Step 5: Press the second instance's hotkey (you wont ever need to press the first's hotkey) and watch as your inventory fills up with easy loot.

Step 6: Do whatever else you need to do while your character pans!

Note: Not a perfect method by any means, you will have to stop and start the sequence (by pressing only the second instance's hotkey) as you will need to move the mouse to finish off almost finished blocks and place new ones for the next batch.  Because Bony Soil is unfortunately not affected by gravity and most peoples' world settings leave the physics of sand blocks either unpredictable or non existent.  I don't even know if its possible to have sand blocks always fall straight down just like in Minecraft in Vintage Story.  If you can, just stack em up infinitely in a one block tower and just let it run until its all gone!  So barring that, just time how long each batch takes and set an alarm or listen with headphones and replenish when the panning noise stops restarting.  Repeat until finished.  You COULD record everything as a macro or program the timing and actions of placing the new pannable blocks with more instances but that's way too much work and complexity to be worth it to me tbh.  It's possible though.

How it actually works: Panning needs a click to take in material into the pan.  It then needs a moment to release the click.  Then it needs a hold long enough to pan, the release after the material is panned is automatic so it thankfully doesn't need to be defined.  Then it needs to repeat from the beginning.  The first instance takes care of the actual panning.  The second takes care of taking in the material AND initiating the first instance's panning.

Edited February 23, 2025 by Cetasaya

[Maelstrom]

I've thought about how to stack sand/gravel for mass panning purposes but haven't tested the idea yet.   It depends on what happens to the block above the one being panned.  Once a partial sand block exists, does the sand block above it become unstable and drop?  If not, then build a chute of blocks surrounding the column that will contain the sand blocks.  Use horizontal slabs for the base layer where panning will happen and full blocks or vertical slabs to encase the column of sand.   Load the sand from the top and begin panning.

I haven't tested what happens, but either the partial sand block will cause problems for the blocks above or it will hold the blocks above until the final layer is panned.

[Thorfinn]

@Maelstrom, I thought you could only pan blocks that had an air block immediately above them? You might  be able to do it with a chute, where it would not place the next block until the one you were working on was gone.

[Maelstrom]

Did I mention I needed to test my speculation?  

[Maelstrom]

Update - air above the block being panned is a requirement for panning.

Now I can get back to making steel tools and prep for that medium storm headed my way.  

[Cetasaya]

On 3/4/2025 at 6:29 PM, Maelstrom said:

Update - air above the block being panned is a requirement for panning.

Now I can get back to making steel tools and prep for that medium storm headed my way.  

Yep, when I stacked bony soil up to the ceiling of my cellar i got a message saying each block needed open air above it.  Seems the devs thought of my cheeky little exploit long before I did.  Im not surprised, auto clickers are a common way to alleviate tedious tasks

[Thorfinn]

Turns out it's easier to do than I thought it was. Since sand slides sideways, you can build a "hopper" that delivers to a space 1 above and one to the side of the solid block you target. Though it is not unusual that the sand block does not slide sideways, with enough of them lined up in your crosshairs, one of them will. And that's all it takes to create another avalanche. Not that it is a serious AFK exploit -- you will starve long before you run out of sand in a reasonably-sized "hopper".

Edited March 12, 2025 by Thorfinn

[wasa]

personally instead of moving the block to the player i would suggest moving the player with flowing water to the next block, i don't pan much to have done any large scale operations with the method though, only to go through occasional bony soil, so i'm not sure if there's any downsides besides being space inefficient.

 

[Maelstrom]

Moving the player (by water mechanics) would end up leaving a bunch of blocks with at best 1 layer of sand/soil panned.

[wasa]

the block you are panning keeps you in place, until it's depleted, at that point, the water pushes you until you get stuck on the next block, the water isn't pushing you above or beside the block but instead against it, i hope that makes more sense

[Maelstrom]

That does.  And I didn't think of being pushed against the block that's being panned.   Not that I pan that much to begin with.

[AnniPicto]

Sorry if I'm intruding on your cozy mod-free world. My friends and I use this mod and it works great for auto-washing. It hasn't been updated for a long time and it has a nuance with the placement of the block (never attach to an already finished shaft. First the auto-sifters then the shaft.) But it works in the current version of the game. This is a well-balanced mod that uses the energy of the mill and depends on your progress in metals.
3 auto-sifters 4 blocks of sand on each and you don't have to sit in a puddle - you continue to do interesting things.

https://mods.vintagestory.at/autosifter

I tested this mod several times before installing it in the main world and it does not break the world for me (the crash in case of incorrect placement is annoying, but does not damage anything and this is a rare case)

Edited March 13, 2025 by Scorpictorem

[Cetasaya]

3 hours ago, Scorpictorem said:

Sorry if I'm intruding on your cozy mod-free world. My friends and I use this mod and it works great for auto-washing. It hasn't been updated for a long time and it has a nuance with the placement of the block (never attach to an already finished shaft. First the auto-sifters then the shaft.) But it works in the current version of the game. This is a well-balanced mod that uses the energy of the mill and depends on your progress in metals.
3 auto-sifters 4 blocks of sand on each and you don't have to sit in a puddle - you continue to do interesting things.

https://mods.vintagestory.at/autosifter

I tested this mod several times before installing it in the main world and it does not break the world for me (the crash in case of incorrect placement is annoying, but does not damage anything and this is a rare case)

Interesting.  Yeah I for one keep my modlist very light and im planning on cutting to down a bit before my next playthrough.  I personally dont plan on using that mod but thanks for posting about it, I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of people that land here are looking for a mod like that!

[LoveWyrm]

Would be nice to get an accessibility option to get a semi automated sifting option.

One click and your character goes for the clicked stack until it's gone, then you have to aim at a new one. Clicking a button is not really that riveting gameplay and well, repetitive stress injury is a thing.

Perhaps a buildable structure you put half into a water tile, and it behaves like a raft, when you're on it, it sifts a reservoir of sand for you, with your character being assumed of operating the machine.

...looking at your too, quern.

Sifting is mostly tedium, and not the fun kind (at least to me). I mean, it's cozy, the sound is well designed, the animation is smooth enough, but it's just clicking around.

And while a reductionary argument can be made for anything 'game wise' (it's just clicking buttons)...c'mon...lol