How do you manage paths (path vs path slab)

[Human17]

Hi all,

Just wondering how everyone builds their stone paths.

I've used paths before (entire block), but those are pretty resource intensive. I've experimented with slabs (half block), however those look a bit weird on top of the landscape and also weird if dug in.

How do you build your paths?

[Michael Gates]

yeah, slabs are just Bad for this. No speed bonus, expensive, and cobble does not look right. There are several better options.

If you really hate dealing with stone path blocks, the wood path is easier and faster -- you make stacks of 'em in the craft grid and then lay them ON the ground. Doesn't give as much speed boost and you may not like the look as well. For REALLY cheapass path you can just place a stone on each square, which at least prevents grass growth and marks the spot. In open areas you can put up a dirt pillar every 30-50 squares.

[OkayRelax]

me and my friend use rammed earth blocks, probably gonna chisel it into grass blocks for more neat looking paths soon.

[Vratislav]

I have tried Natural trail mod ( https://mods.vintagestory.at/trailmodcupdated ), that allows to create paths with speed boost simply by frequent walking the same way. It may be good for some use cases, but rarely used path grows back. For a really permanent trail you need to walk there many times. Also, it is probably discontinued. But still fun and I have enjoyed the semipermanent paths before I made them from stone. 

So the result:

• I have made the most frequently used paths around the base from stone paths, despite being soo resource intensive. I have about 1000 blocks of length of these paths around, mostly expanded to 2 blocks width for comfortable elk ride in snow. In distant parts the paths are just one block wide because of the resource consumption. I combine it with NOT having a Quarry mod for ashlar blocks builds, so I have plenty of stones and there is always some unwanted kind of stone from mining. Yeah, I could have the same amount of cobblestone blocks and build a village or a big wall around the base probably...  
• For better orientation on more distant journey (about 2000 blocks) to my preferred trader, I made markers from stone pillars like MG wrote, about every 50 - 100 blocks on distance, just to be barely visible when rainy. 
• I have realized, that for orientation in the forest when riding the elk, even 1 block wide path winding around trees is very convenient. For passing through forests, the continuous path is better than pillars, and mostly necessary, especially in hilly terrain.
• However for repeated "shopping" journeys around my favourite set of traders, after repeating almost the same pattern several times, I mostly memorized the route, knowing areas to take detours to speed up. With the elk that may be used conveniently for every journey out of the base, the roadbuilding gets less sense. What is a pity in my opinion, because I love to build roads, bridges and so on, but it is not very economical, so I will probably not do much of them. 

Also, I have checked that mods I use for different purposes, may actually make roads cheaper or nicer:

• Better Ruins provide Paver's road blueprint that makes stone path 4 times cheaper (just one stone per block). That is maybe i bit OP, I'd see 2 stones as an appropriate price. Unfortunately, I haven't found that blueprint yet. 
• Chisel Tools have Path Maker that allows to change chiseled block into path. I did not use it, but it may provide different look for the paths. I did not tried it yet.

[Vratislav]

39 minutes ago, Michael Gates said:

No speed bonus

I haven't tested it, but in the help page for the stone path slabs, there is 1,3 speed bonus. Is it valid?

[Michael Gates]

9 hours ago, Vratislav said:

I haven't tested it, but in the help page for the stone path slabs, there is 1,3 speed bonus. Is it valid?

*looks*

..huh. I wasn't aware that stone path CAME in slab. I wonder if that's new, or if I've just been ignoring it for years? Still guaranteed to look funny though

[Vratislav]

1 hour ago, Michael Gates said:

I wonder if that's new, or if I've just been ignoring it for years?

I think that it is 1.19 or 1.20 feature. It was not there in 1.18 for sure. The best supposed use is for gentle slopes probably.

[dakko]

5 hours ago, Michael Gates said:

*looks*

..huh. I wasn't aware that stone path CAME in slab. I wonder if that's new, or if I've just been ignoring it for years? Still guaranteed to look funny though

Stone path slabs have been around for a long time. V.1.12 is the earliest I have on this computer and it has stone path slabs with speed buff of 1.3%.

[dakko]

14 hours ago, Vratislav said:

I haven't tested it, but in the help page for the stone path slabs, there is 1,3 speed bonus. Is it valid?

Yes, I believe so. In earlier versions I used slabs exclusively and I remember them as having a speed bonus.

[Vratislav]

5 hours ago, dakko said:

Stone path slabs have been around for a long time.

Oh, then my mistake and blindness  I just made myself that trey do not exist.

[Human17]

On 4/13/2025 at 6:14 PM, Vratislav said:

I have tried Natural trail mod ( https://mods.vintagestory.at/trailmodcupdated ), that allows to create paths with speed boost simply by frequent walking the same way. It may be good for some use cases, but rarely used path grows back. For a really permanent trail you need to walk there many times. Also, it is probably discontinued. But still fun and I have enjoyed the semipermanent paths before I made them from stone. 

So the result:

• I have made the most frequently used paths around the base from stone paths, despite being soo resource intensive. I have about 1000 blocks of length of these paths around, mostly expanded to 2 blocks width for comfortable elk ride in snow. In distant parts the paths are just one block wide because of the resource consumption. I combine it with NOT having a Quarry mod for ashlar blocks builds, so I have plenty of stones and there is always some unwanted kind of stone from mining. Yeah, I could have the same amount of cobblestone blocks and build a village or a big wall around the base probably...  
• For better orientation on more distant journey (about 2000 blocks) to my preferred trader, I made markers from stone pillars like MG wrote, about every 50 - 100 blocks on distance, just to be barely visible when rainy. 
• I have realized, that for orientation in the forest when riding the elk, even 1 block wide path winding around trees is very convenient. For passing through forests, the continuous path is better than pillars, and mostly necessary, especially in hilly terrain.
• However for repeated "shopping" journeys around my favourite set of traders, after repeating almost the same pattern several times, I mostly memorized the route, knowing areas to take detours to speed up. With the elk that may be used conveniently for every journey out of the base, the roadbuilding gets less sense. What is a pity in my opinion, because I love to build roads, bridges and so on, but it is not very economical, so I will probably not do much of them. 

Also, I have checked that mods I use for different purposes, may actually make roads cheaper or nicer:

• Better Ruins provide Paver's road blueprint that makes stone path 4 times cheaper (just one stone per block). That is maybe i bit OP, I'd see 2 stones as an appropriate price. Unfortunately, I haven't found that blueprint yet. 
• Chisel Tools have Path Maker that allows to change chiseled block into path. I did not use it, but it may provide different look for the paths. I did not tried it yet.

Fantastic tips and thanks for sharing! I'm a road beginner - only just creating 500 or so road tiles. I do definitely see the massive benefit in speed and convenience due to mostly event grade + steps, which REALLY speed up traversal. I also started chopping down trees around the roads as having wolves or bears jump me out from behind a tree is no fun!

[Ryan Thomas]

What I use for paths isn't very fancy, but it works for my beach town:

Stone paths, granite blocks that I chisel for a sidewalk, and I jump into creative to snag the ancient blocks for a meridian. My wife says I'm nuts; walking paths don't have sidewalks and meridians. But my little vacation town here does. The path is for those who have an actual destination in mind, the sidewalk is for those out for a stroll, and the meridian is because I don't like how some groups of folks irl take up a whole walking path, like they're a pack of teenage girls at the mall or something. 

[HalfAxd]

I'm currently using slab path blocks to build a King's Road South to the RA.  Digging tunnels thru mountains for the stone needed... paths across large bodies of water...  small forward bases to stock pile materials in crates...  burning large swaths of land to clear the way... 

It's a huge waste of time but relaxing 

[Human17]

On 4/14/2025 at 10:21 PM, Ryan Thomas said:

What I use for paths isn't very fancy, but it works for my beach town:

Stone paths, granite blocks that I chisel for a sidewalk, and I jump into creative to snag the ancient blocks for a meridian. My wife says I'm nuts; walking paths don't have sidewalks and meridians. But my little vacation town here does. The path is for those who have an actual destination in mind, the sidewalk is for those out for a stroll, and the meridian is because I don't like how some groups of folks irl take up a whole walking path, like they're a pack of teenage girls at the mall or something. 

That's not a path! That's a highway! Amazing haha!

[Michael Gates]

On 4/14/2025 at 5:21 AM, Ryan Thomas said:

What I use for paths isn't very fancy, but it works for my beach town:

 

Now you need to sculpt a Mustang and a Trans Am...

[Ryan Thomas]

On 4/16/2025 at 7:38 AM, Human17 said:

That's not a path! That's a highway! Amazing haha!

It does look like a highway. I'm not sure if it'd be wide enough; each lane is only three blocks wide. That's supposed to be the point; it's supposed to be reminiscent of a highway, but not wide enough for people to actually drive on. For the last several years, I've been really reticent about sharing anything with any online community. I mean, it feels like everywhere is like a landmine, regardless of how mindful and respectful one tries to be. However, I've been here since like January of 2020; this place seems fairly chill. So, if you're in the mood for a little reading, I'll share the story I made for the Homo sapiens world that the little highway pictured up above belongs to.

One day, while the rest of the family is eating pizza and soda, I'm presented with salad and a skinless chicken breast. As I raise an eyebrow to the wife, she's all like "blah blah, you're not 22 in the military anymore, you're 45 blah blah we need to eat better blah blah blood pressure's a little high blah blah." Hey, I get it. However, I don't exactly ask "how high" when told to jump; I've always had an independent, rebellious streak. When you have a rebel soul, military life wasn't always easy. It wasn't exactly my first choice, but it was kind of a little middle finger to my parents, but that's a whole other story. 

Anyway, wife wanted me to eat better. I complied, but with a few grumbles. After all, I don't just roll over like a puppy; that's too easy. That night, we go to bed, and I don't wake up. I open my eyes, and see nothing but white. The night before, my wife was like "would it kill you to eat the chicken blah blah". Evidently, it did; I make a mental note to give her a hard time when we're together again. If I had to call myself something, it would probably be "agnostic" or "Nondenominational", but I was raised Roman Catholic. So, you know, if there's something to see, I'd half expect like St. Peter with a long scroll, standing in front of gates made out of light and clouds and stuff. I do eventually see something, but it sure isn't St. Pete, it's Codi Vore, and instead of a gate, there's three doors, one marked "+1", one marked "+1/2", and one marked "-1". Ok, I get it, I watched The Good Place, I get the "afterlife not exactly what you were raised on" deal. But I do have some questions. In movies and shows, beings assume the likeness of someone the viewer is familiar/comfortable with. I get it, but that always seemed a little lazy to me. But why Codi Vore? That's someone whom I'm neither comfortable nor familiar with. The only thing I know about Codi Vore is that I caught my daughter watching a few of her videos. It made me slightly uncomfortable, I closed the door, and never really addressed it. When my daughter was born, the question of "how do I address it if I find her watching adult videos" didn't really enter my head, ya know? I never addressed it; I was planning on slowly pacing around the living room,  cloud of vape trailing behind me, contemplating if it's something I even really need to address. My parents caught me, when I was my daughter's age, and the whole thing was cringe and I couldn't even meet their gaze for a week or two afterwards. When we're alive, we think there's always gunna be enough time.

So, seeing her made me a little uncomfortable. But perhaps that's the point. Or, maybe the point has nothing to do with me. Maybe it's egocentric to consider a being changing her visage just because of me. Maybe the being likes looking like Codi Vore. Or perhaps the being was indeed Codi Vore. You know, this story was fun to write, but I'm boring even myself reproducing it. It's also really long; I've worked on it for over a year. So, here's the main gist:

Because of my volunteer work with places like Habitat For Humanity and Houses For Heroes, I'm asked to build a whole world, in the "+1/2" realm. That's fine, but just because I'm an carpenter doesn't mean that I'm an architect, ya know? I'm popped into a pre-existing world, and I don't quite get what I'm to do: wilderness stretches as far as the eye can see. Am I to build like homes or something? A town? I can't do any of that. Codi tells me that construction isn't the same as on Earth; here, you line up a few rows of rocks and twigs and junk and poof: instant fence. But there's bigger questions, like "What the heck is +1, +1/2, and -1?"; isn't that subjective? My +1 is going to be far different than someone else's. She says that this is the whole point; I am to build MY "+1/2".

So, my +1/2 is a vacation that sucks a little. I see a single row of beachfront homes, kinda like this:

 

 Only they're spaced out more; I don't like living right on top of other people. I'm a good ole American country boy; I'm used to wide open spaces. I've seen pictures of like England; I mean absolutely zero disrespect, but I don't know how you good folks do it; you're like elbow to elbow w people. I'd go nuts.

My homes look like this:

 

I love this style of housing. However, it's supposed to partly suck. So: these homes aren't furnished at all. A bed, couch, and maybe carpeting when I'm in a good mood. You'd expect a home like this to have a big ole tv, microwave, etc. A home as such ( at least the ones I've been in) have been smart homes. Lighting, appliances, garage door, all that: smart. Not MY homes  Bed, couch, carpet, and firepit. Oh, every home does have a pool, but it's not as fun as it might sound. In my world, you use the pool to clean yourself. As you know, we don't urinate and defecate in the game. But in my world, instead of #1 and #2, you exude a thick, stanky residue. You're not allowed to wash it off in the ocean; you have to use your pool to do it. All pools are outside, but being that no one has naughty bits anymore, one doesn't have to be as modest about being nekkid anymore. 

Another feature I'm working on is a boardwalk, like the one in Barefoot Landing, Myrtle Beach:

 

Here's my boardwalk so far. All I have at the moment is one restaurant, called Bernie's Beef Bucket. After all, it's supposed to be part vacation, and every beach area I've ever vacationed at has some type of tourist-type area with restaurants, shops, and entertainment. However, this is supposed to also suck. So, the sucky parts are things like you can't just go to Bernie's and get like the burger basket with fries and a soda. Naw, you have to make your own bowl at the workshop;

 

All of the game's workstations are here, can't be burning my boardwalk down  Which my kids say looks very "noobish", but that's kind of the point. The workshop has no flair and is a little depressing. That's the whole point of Sandhoffish resort: part vacation, part suck. Oh, the name, Sandhoffish, is because of a town I was stationed by in Washington, called Snohomish. 

One of my kids said "what's the sucky part? I have sand, surf, raw nature behind the homes to wander in. Animals are all over, you have gardens; so I can make my own meals at Bernie's. The boardwalk doesn't have like sunglass huts and t shirt shops, but I don't like that tourist crap! I don't need a smart home to play Xbox at; I have a bed in a fancy home; it's all I need!" That's the point of Sandhoffish: psychological. I know plenty of people who'd love to spend eternity there, and I know plenty of people who'd be in abject misery. What if you were the only person who hated it while everyone else was having a blast? Or vice versa; what if you were the only person cracking a smile while everyone else was yelling "dude, this SUCKS!" This is also a bit of a punishment for the "me" in the game. Unlike the tv show, there is no "Janet"; he's got to do all that stuff for himself. Every board in the boardwalk was cut down from oak, every block of sand was created with the help of a mod called "Stone Quarry". The only thing I give myself in creative is the ancient stone blocks, but I only allow myself 64 of those a day, so homes like this: 

are taking FOREVER. But, that's the point: Sandhoffish is supposed to be part punishment, not just for the residents, but also the me in the story. I hope this post doesn't suck so bad that it was a punishment for you folks, too   

[Ryan Thomas]

I'm not sure why I have a duplicate picture at the end there, evidently my computer thought you needed to see that house a second time. OR, it thought that the house I built sucks so badly that it had to finish the post with a better home