why so hard ?

[Lescalope]

grind food, u die !

grind wood, u die !

grind mineral, u die !

It s juste a dying simulation ! 

and a no found simulation because u never find what u want.

i didn't even find the fun.

 

[Lescalope]

i dead and i have respawn 5km away from my home, i don't want to run naked and die again.

Give me the power to not give up

[Lescalope]

 

I didn't understand anything about prospecting.

this game make me feel stupid

[Lescalope]

i'm in crisis

[Moltrey]

Lescalope:

I recommend watching some YouTube videos on getting started in VS; they can ease you into what to do in early days and what to avoid.

You can also slightly tune the experience by changing some basic settings under "customize" next to "create world". It will let you reduce the distance on respawn and many other settings like delaying the monsters for a handful of days so you can get your feet under you. You still have to deal with wolves and bears yes. Just run. Sometimes the shrubs and trees conceal them, so don't go into the heart of woods/forest, just the edges.

VS is tough because it appeals to players who want a real sense of accomplishing advancing through the game. Give it some time, unlucky spawns and bad luck early on can really get anyone down. Find some help with beginners guides on YT and start there.

Good luck!

[cjc813]

I'm calling troll.

[Lescalope]

4 minutes ago, Moltrey said:

Lescalope:

I recommend watching some YouTube videos on getting started in VS; they can ease you into what to do in early days and what to avoid.

You can also slightly tune the experience by changing some basic settings under "customize" next to "create world". It will let you reduce the distance on respawn and many other settings like delaying the monsters for a handful of days so you can get your feet under you. You still have to deal with wolves and bears yes. Just run. Sometimes the shrubs and trees conceal them, so don't go into the heart of woods/forest, just the edges.

VS is tough because it appeals to players who want a real sense of accomplishing advancing through the game. Give it some time, unlucky spawns and bad luck early on can really get anyone down. Find some help with beginners guides on YT and start there.

Good luck!

thanks u help me, not like cjc813

[Lescalope]

i see a lot of video but i speak french and we don't have much youtuber playing this game.

i gonna change the setting for my next world but i usually play with my childrens, i dont think a 12y old girl and 9old boy can enjoy a game like that

 

[Lescalope]

it's as hard as real life

[Echo Weaver]

44 minutes ago, Lescalope said:

i see a lot of video but i speak french and we don't have much youtuber playing this game.

i gonna change the setting for my next world but i usually play with my childrens, i dont think a 12y old girl and 9old boy can enjoy a game like that

 

It sounds like maybe you want to start a new game on Explorer mode. The difficulty is reduced on that mode.

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums! I agree with @Echo Weaver and @Moltrey; you'll likely have a more enjoyable experience by starting a new world on Exploration difficulty, playing through the in-game tutorial, and watching some YouTube videos or asking for help on the forums(be specific with your questions, as it can be hard to offer advice otherwise).

1 hour ago, Lescalope said:

grind food, u die !

grind wood, u die !

grind mineral, u die !

It s juste a dying simulation ! 

 

1 hour ago, Lescalope said:

i dead and i have respawn 5km away from my home, i don't want to run naked and die again.

Give me the power to not give up

From the sounds of it, you likely picked Wilderness Survival or Homo Sapiens as your difficulty, both of which are notoriously punishing. Standard or Exploration will be much more forgiving regarding mistakes and the lengths you need to go to in order to survive; for example, you'll have access to the map and will respawn close to the world spawn should you die, instead of spawning miles away. And if the lore content doesn't interest you as much as pure realistic survival, you can always disable the lore content and temporal mechanics in the settings at world creation.

 

1 hour ago, Lescalope said:

i gonna change the setting for my next world but i usually play with my childrens, i dont think a 12y old girl and 9old boy can enjoy a game like that

Exploration is probably the best general difficulty for children due to how forgiving it is. For the basics of the game, I recommend just focusing on surviving your first winter as your first big goal in the game--if you can handle this, everything else will be fairly simple. For short term goals, securing a good food supply should be your first priority, as without food you won't be able to do anything else. Once you have your food supply secured, then you can focus on building a proper base, making pottery, and acquiring your first set of metal tools. Be patient! Success does not come overnight in Vintage Story, and it really pays to make your plans carefully instead of trying to rush through things.

Also, a tip for exploring: don't forget to stop and examine your surroundings every so often, especially in areas like forests where your vision is limited. Examining your surroundings will allow you to spot and avoid threats like bears and wolves more easily, as well as notice resources that you might have otherwise missed. Also, when you're exploring, make sure to mark anything you think might be useful on your map, so you can easily come back for it later.

1 hour ago, Lescalope said:

I didn't understand anything about prospecting.

This is most players starting Vintage Story, I'd wager. The most you really need to know is that there are two different modes on the prospecting pick: density search and node search. Density search will give you an idea of what could be in the area, but it's not a guaranteed spawn of those minerals either. It does help you decide where you'd like to dig though for the best chances at finding certain ores. Generally, you want to dig at Decent readings or higher, but it doesn't hurt to check Poor or Very Poor readings either as it's possible minerals could be located there as well, especially in the case of more rare minerals like chromite.

The node search mode will tell you for sure if there is an ore vein nearby, and what kind, but it has a very short range(6 block radius by default) and is unavailable on Wilderness Survival and Homo Sapiens difficulties. 

The basic strategy for prospecting is to use the density search to survey the landscape and figure out where you want to dig, and node search is best used every so often while digging to see what ore is actually there and pinpoint the location. The general strategy for mining is to dig a shaft straight down, placing ladders as you go. As long as your character is on the ladder block, you won't fall, so this method is very safe. Another method is to explore nearby caves in the hopes of finding an exposed ore vein, however, this method is much riskier if you are playing with lore content enabled since you will need to contend with monsters and potentially temporal stability.

[hudson1]

you could look for some mods to make it easier 

[Thorfinn]

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't worry about prospecting at all. Unless you have set your surface copper to "Never", you don't need to prospect until you want to advance to bronze. Technically, you never need to prospect -- you can do just fine with spelunking, but that is also a skill you have to build up to. But at present, you can experience most of the things the game has to offer once you have a copper or preferably bronze anvil.

I'd try Standard, then if that's still too hard, create a new world, but nerf the specific settings you are finding troublesome. Reduce hunger rate if that's your problem. Wolves? Turn down their damage (creature strength, I believe it's called) or turn up you HP. Or both. If that's still not enough, set their behavior to passive, where they will only retaliate if you attack them first. And so on. Tailor the experience to your strengths and weaknesses.

[Echo Weaver]

Be careful about @Thorfinn saying things are easy. He's probably the most hard core player on the forum. He plays on permadeath with no map and no node search propick and basically runs around naked throwing spears at things. 

[Kyassady]

16 minutes ago, Echo Weaver said:

Be careful about @Thorfinn saying things are easy. He's probably the most hard core player on the forum. He plays on permadeath with no map and no node search propick and basically runs around naked throwing spears at things. 

and he is playing in his first world since the game was open to play!  

[Maelstrom]

1 hour ago, Kyassady said:

and he is playing in his first world since the game was open to play!  

Nah.   He's just started enough worlds that makes it seem that way.  

[Paeddy]

Pick easier options, reduce animal damage modifier, give yourself more health and reduce hunger rate a bit, you should be fine.

[Lescalope]

i pick easier options, now its good, i feel the fun.

but i lost my home because no pin on my map.

 

[LadyWYT]

8 minutes ago, Lescalope said:

but i lost my home because no pin on my map.

Right-clicking the map will allow you to set waypoints. If you already have waypoints set, you can modify them at any time as well--this includes pinning and unpinning them from your minimap.

[Thorfinn]

21 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Right-clicking the map will allow you to set waypoints.

Been a while since I was on a server with map, but can't you somehow set them just from the mini-map? I could swear I just clicked or right clicked or shift clicked or something and set them.

[Thorfinn]

On 9/19/2025 at 5:14 PM, Maelstrom said:

Nah.   He's just started enough worlds that makes it seem that way.  

Truth. Lotsa seraph deaths. Probably more than most people. Sometimes I wonder if permadeath is easy mode -- I'm never trying to figure out where I died, or how to get back to my homestead. Those things are not only irrelevant, they aren't even options.

[LadyWYT]

38 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

Been a while since I was on a server with map, but can't you somehow set them just from the mini-map? I could swear I just clicked or right clicked or shift clicked or something and set them.

Honestly, I don't know. My cursor is locked to the crosshair, unless I'm in a menu, and I don't use macros or anything. I might as well just take a moment to open my map, and that allows me to fine-tune the placement, as well as decide on other important details. I have a particular system of color-coding as well, that my friend has yet to properly learn. 

 

38 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

Sometimes I wonder if permadeath is easy mode -- I'm never trying to figure out where I died, or how to get back to my homestead. Those things are not only irrelevant, they aren't even options.

I'd still call it hard mode, since you don't get the luxury of learning the hazards of the land via death. You'll have to start over on a brand new map, which means that you'll have to learn an entirely new set of hazards and useful locations.

[myenemies]

On 9/19/2025 at 9:14 PM, Lescalope said:

i pick easier options, now its good, i feel the fun.

but i lost my home because no pin on my map.

yeah, some people can be rude or elitist about others wanting to make the game easier or less hostile for them, but the game IS designed for you to change the difficulty to what you want to experience  i personally play with "creatures only attack when provoked" and i decrease animal swim speed to 100% because their default feels unfairly fast. setting your world temperature a bit warmer can also be a bit "nicer" because more crops will generate in warmer climates!

you should also definitely basically abuse the map waypoint system; any time you find something interesting or set up a base you should definitely drop a waypoint as soon as you can. Also Personally, if i travel several thousands of blocks from spawn before finding somewhere i want to build at, i will just use /serverconfig setspawnhere so i don't have to either run thousands of blocks back home or be required to grind drifter kills to get a temporal gear

(threw post into Google Translate for french in hopes it'll be easier for you to read ^_^)

Spoiler

Oui, certaines personnes peuvent être impolies ou élitistes envers celles qui souhaitent simplifier le jeu ou le rendre moins difficile. Mais le jeu est justement conçu pour que chacun puisse ajuster la difficulté à son propre niveau. Personnellement, je joue avec la règle « Les créatures n'attaquent que si elles sont provoquées » et je réduis la vitesse de nage des animaux à 100 % car elle me semble trop rapide par défaut. Augmenter la température du monde peut aussi être un avantage, car les cultures pousseront mieux dans un climat plus chaud!

Je vous conseille aussi d'utiliser le système de repères de la carte au maximum. Dès que vous trouvez un endroit intéressant ou que vous créez une base, ajoutez un repère. Personnellement, si je voyage à plusieurs milliers de blocs du point de départ avant de trouver un endroit où construire, j'utilise la commande « /serverconfig setspawnhere » pour éviter de devoir parcourir des kilomètres à pied ou de devoir tuer des hordes de créatures pour obtenir un équipement temporel.