I'm new and started a Homo Sapiens run because I don't like monsters, but now I am missing traders, ruins, and lore items. Is there a way to add them?

[Haltingpoint]

Title says it all. I'm into my first summer and really like my setup so far so I don't really want to start a new run. However I really do not like the monsters and supernatural elements of the game.

 

What I want to add to my current Homo Sapiens save:

• Traders
• Ruins
• Lore objects (books, scrolls, cool dungeon objects that I can put on display in a exploration trophy room

What I do not want under any circumstances:

• Supernatural monsters or any added hostile things that are not already in Homo Sapiens configs
• Temporal stuff
• Anything new that would create added danger and reduce how relaxing my current run is

I have seen that there is a `/worldconfig loreContent true` flag I can set, but as I understand it, that spawns all the stuff I want but also all the stuff I do not want. I am aware of a few mods out there but it is unclear if could like, enable the config lore flag, add the mod, and have it magically work within my current save, or if I really need to start a new save.

 

I am feeling a bit stuck. Any suggestions?

[ifoz]

Turn lore content on with the world config, but then get a mod that disables the monsters.
That way you get ruins/traders/story and all the items that come with that, but you don't get monsters spawning.

Theoretically mods like that should just work with existing saves, but make sure to back up your world beforehand just in case! 

EDIT: I don't think bosses are covered by the monster mods, so you'd probably still have both of those. However bosses themselves are only within two specific story locations, so you'd really have to go out of your way to seek them out in the first place.

Edited September 26, 2025 by ifoz

[LadyWYT]

@ifoz beat me to the solution, lol. I will note though that if you disable the monsters, the story locations will lose some of their flavor and challenge. Not all of course--the puzzles will still be solvable, but monsters are part of the storytelling in a couple of locations.

[Echo Weaver]

I mod bowtorns out of my primary game because I play with my teen who doesn't like them, so I've poked around in this a bit.

Warning: Highly technical mod blathering here. 

Mods that disable rust monsters often don't take story locations into account. If the mod just sets the enabled flag on a monster to false, then you can get serious problems in story locations that continually try to spawn monsters that don't spawn. The way to fix this is easy -- set the spawn counts in config(I think)/mobextraspawns under "devastation" to 0 as well, but I've poked around in mob disabling mods, and usually they don't do that.

The best way to disable a rotbeast is to set all their spawn quantities to 0, which has to be done both in the json file that defines them AND in mobextraspawns. The second file governs both temporal storms and devastation (i.e. story locations -- or a specific one? I haven't actually played it yet....). If you set the enabled flag for a mob to false in its json file, temporal storms won't care that mobs it tried to spawn failed. The only places that seem have problems if they try to spawn mobs that don't materialize are the story locations.

I've been tempted to create a suite of rotbeast disablers done "right," but I don't actually disable any except bowtorns, and those only in the game I play with my teen, so I wouldn't be testing them much.

Another alternative would be to disable the spawns of naturally occurring rotbeasts but leave them in place for temporal storms and story locations (all the stuff defined in mobextraspawns). That could be a fun way to play. 

TL;DR: You'll be fine with mods that disable rotbeats UNLESS you head to a story location. At that point, you pretty much need to uninstall it unless it specifically says it's ok to play in those locations, and then those rotbeasts will turn up. Also, of course, story locations have boss fights unrelated to these rotbeast spawns, so you might or might not be interested in going there anyway.

Edited September 28, 2025 by Echo Weaver

[Haltingpoint]

@Echo Weaver I am less familiar with specific monsters. Are "rotbeasts" effectively all supernatural monsters that are not normal critters, and disabling those is all I need? Asking as you also mentioned rust monsters. I may not have enough context here, but I am simply grouping all the things I do not want as "supernatural monsters."

[Haltingpoint]

11 hours ago, ifoz said:

Turn lore content on with the world config, but then get a mod that disables the monsters.
That way you get ruins/traders/story and all the items that come with that, but you don't get monsters spawning.

Theoretically mods like that should just work with existing saves, but make sure to back up your world beforehand just in case! 

EDIT: I don't think bosses are covered by the monster mods, so you'd probably still have both of those. However bosses themselves are only within two specific story locations, so you'd really have to go out of your way to seek them out in the first place.

Can you recommend any specific mods that work with 1.21 and cover off on what I am looking for?

[LadyWYT]

31 minutes ago, Haltingpoint said:

@Echo Weaver I am less familiar with specific monsters. Are "rotbeasts" effectively all supernatural monsters that are not normal critters, and disabling those is all I need? Asking as you also mentioned rust monsters. I may not have enough context here, but I am simply grouping all the things I do not want as "supernatural monsters."

When it comes to monsters, there are two different types: rotbeasts, and mechanicals. Rotbeasts are going to be creatures like shivers, drifters, and bowtorn. Mechanicals are going to be things like locusts and bells. Technically, they're all supernatural monsters, but the mechanicals are more machines given supernatural intelligence rather than some incomprehensible horror.

[Echo Weaver]

1 hour ago, Haltingpoint said:

Can you recommend any specific mods that work with 1.21 and cover off on what I am looking for?

This is a popular one that covers supernatural monsters: https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/5603

ETA: I'm not sure if it will work for story locations. It doesn't patch mobextraspawns, but it patches a file called lorecontent.json -- I'll have to look at what that is. 

But, whatever the case, It's absurdly unlikely you'll find a story location accidentally, so there's plenty of time to figure that out.

Edited September 26, 2025 by Echo Weaver

[Echo Weaver]

56 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

When it comes to monsters, there are two different types: rotbeasts, and mechanicals.

Sorry, I wasn't thinking about the mechanicals, since they're created as part of worldgen rather than spawning regularly around you, but the same principle applies. So, "rust monster" as the general term. Rotbeasts are the ones that come out of rifts and show up during temporal storms. 

[Haltingpoint]

Got it, so:

"Supernatural" = Rust Monster

And the hierarchy is:

• Rust Monsters
  • Rotbeasts
  • Mechanicals

Unfortunately, with that mod you linked @Echo Weaver, from the description it says:

Quote

In order to get a totally monster-free experience, you must start a new game!  If you don't start a new game there's a high chance that locust nests have spawned into your world already.

This means I would have to abandon my current play through or risk locust nests. Are locusts part of the "stuff that is absurdly unlikely I will stumble upon" things? I believe Homo Sapiens defaults to disabling temporal things, but if not I want to say I did so. Not sure how to verify though...I certainly have not seen anything about that in many hours of playing.

[Echo Weaver]

18 minutes ago, Haltingpoint said:

Got it, so:

"Supernatural" = Rust Monster

And the hierarchy is:

• Rust Monsters
  • Rotbeasts
  • Mechanicals

Unfortunately, with that mod you linked @Echo Weaver, from the description it says:

This means I would have to abandon my current play through or risk locust nests. Are locusts part of the "stuff that is absurdly unlikely I will stumble upon" things? I believe Homo Sapiens defaults to disabling temporal things, but if not I want to say I did so. Not sure how to verify though...I certainly have not seen anything about that in many hours of playing.

That sounds right.

OK, mechanicals spawn in caves as part of worldgen. So, if you keep the game you have, you run the risk of finding locust nests in any of the caves that have already generated. If you cave on land that generates after installing the mod, you won't get them. This is also true of bells, though a bell won't do much other than being loud if it doesn't have rotbeasts to summon. (Bells are literally mechanical bells that ring when they detect you to summon the monsters in the area -- I don't know if they summon locusts too.)

If you really like your game, that seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me. And if you happen to see a locust, run the other way and go cave someplace farther out.

ETA: And honestly, you could switch to creative mode, destroy them, and switch back if you wanted. They're not supposed to be here, so it's a world fix.

Edited September 26, 2025 by Echo Weaver

[ifoz]

6 hours ago, Haltingpoint said:

This means I would have to abandon my current play through or risk locust nests. Are locusts part of the "stuff that is absurdly unlikely I will stumble upon" things? I believe Homo Sapiens defaults to disabling temporal things, but if not I want to say I did so. Not sure how to verify though...I certainly have not seen anything about that in many hours of playing.

If this was the case, you'd occasionally find locust nests in new, unexplored areas. If you've already explored somewhere they will not appear since they are fixed on chunk generation.
They're not really a huge deal if you have some armour, and they won't visit your base or anything like that. They will always just hang around the small area underground where their nests are, until you break the nests and kill them all.

[Haltingpoint]

So I am still confused...it sounds like the approach of:

 

1. Create copy of save
2. Enable mod
3. Flip lore content config flag

Will result in locusts possibly appearing in the cave areas I have already explored. But not any new caves. And they are relatively easy to kill and do nothing other than sit in caves as a monster, and once I clear them, they are gone for good and do not respawn?

I am unclear if the bells will still appear.

Also, what are thoughts on the approach of deleting the applicable files for things like locusts?

[LadyWYT]

2 minutes ago, Haltingpoint said:

And they are relatively easy to kill and do nothing other than sit in caves as a monster, and once I clear them, they are gone for good and do not respawn?

Once cleared, I wouldn't expect them to respawn if you have a mod that stops their spawning. They're fairly easy to kill as well, requiring only a couple of hits, or just one hit if you're a Blackguard. Their numbers can make them difficult to deal with though, so you may wish to switch to creative temporarily to wipe them out safely, and then switch back to survival. Is it a bit cheaty? Possibly, but it's an easy way to fix things in a pinch.

 

5 minutes ago, Haltingpoint said:

Also, what are thoughts on the approach of deleting the applicable files for things like locusts?

That will definitely stop them from appearing, however, I don't recommend outright deleting things like that unless you really know what you're doing, as it's a good way to break something. And in the event something does break, it will probably require a reinstall to fix.

[Haltingpoint]

1 hour ago, LadyWYT said:

switch to creative temporarily to wipe them out safely, and then switch back to survival. Is it a bit cheaty? Possibly, but it's an easy way to fix things in a pinch.

Sorry, what is the way to toggle this off? And are there any other longer lasting implications from toggling creative mode like that? I am ok periodically doing that to purge these things.

[LadyWYT]

7 minutes ago, Haltingpoint said:

Sorry, what is the way to toggle this off? And are there any other longer lasting implications from toggling creative mode like that? I am ok periodically doing that to purge these things.

/gm 1 to switch to creative, /gm 2 to switch to survival. Variations like /gamemode creative and /gamemode survival should also work. Toggling gamemode like that shouldn't hurt anything--the worst that can happen is you break a block by accident in creative, or otherwise switch back to survival in an awkward spot(such as while hovering above the ground).

[ifoz]

5 hours ago, Haltingpoint said:

Will result in locusts possibly appearing in the cave areas I have already explored. But not any new caves.

Other way around. Locusts could appear in new caves, but not ones you have already generated.
I mean sawblade locusts might be able to appear in existing caves near the mantle, but they're very rare and are a one-off almost miniboss type enemy.

Edited September 28, 2025 by ifoz

[Echo Weaver]

26 minutes ago, ifoz said:

Other way around. Locusts could appear in new caves, but not ones you have already generated.
I mean sawblade locusts might be able to appear in existing caves near the mantle, but they're very rare and are a one-off almost miniboss type enemy.

OK, now I'm confused. If locust nests are modded out, no new nests will spawn. If they spawned in a cave system already generated that you have not explored, you could run into them. If you move into an area that generated AFTER the mod was installed, the caves will not generate locust nests. 

Is this not how it works?

Edited September 28, 2025 by Echo Weaver

[ifoz]

3 minutes ago, Echo Weaver said:

OK, now I'm confused. If locust nests are modded out, no new nests will spawn. If they spawned in a cave system already generated that you have not explored, you could run into them. If you move into an area that generated AFTER the mod was installed, the caves will not generate locust nests. 

Oh sorry, I thought they were just getting a mod to disable normal monsters and not locusts.
I was trying to say that if you still had locust nests generating, they'd only appear in new chunks.

[Haltingpoint]

I have run the lore command `/worldconfig loreContent true` and used that linked mod. I have not encountered any ruins, traders, or monsters yet. I have not thoroughly explored my existing populated map area though...am I correct that I should see some locusts in the existing map, and the other stuff like ruins and traders will only spawn in map areas that are currently gray? Or should those populate in my current map? Is there a way to get them to do so?