Suggestion: Add a 'Perceived Temperature' Indicator

[Dead Sigma]

I noticed that the temperature in the game is displayed a bit strangely. For example, if I’m standing near a campfire or inside a completely closed dugout, the temperature reading is still the same as outside.

At first, I thought this was meant to show the “outside air temperature,” but it actually changes when going up a mountain or down underground. It seems that this value reflects some sort of general regional temperature around the player, rather than what the character actually feels.

It would be great if the game had a separate indicator for “perceived temperature” — one that depends on campfires, torches, and other heat sources near the player.

[Kaldo]

I think the temperature isn't simulated that realistically. As long as you are indoors the outside temperature doesn't seem to matter that much, I'm in december now and I haven't had to light up a fireplace a single time so far and temperatures definitely dropped below my clothing threshold. Similarly, when outside the temperature only seems to matter regarding the body temperature dropping, which eventually causes HP damage, but otherwise you're just 20% hungrier no matter your insulation or the temperature diff.

So I'd say it only shows the outside temperature because if you stay outside when it's too cold relative to your clothes insulation, you might eventually start taking damage. Correct me if I've interpreted sth wrong

[LadyWYT]

52 minutes ago, Kaldo said:

I think the temperature isn't simulated that realistically. As long as you are indoors the outside temperature doesn't seem to matter that much, I'm in december now and I haven't had to light up a fireplace a single time so far and temperatures definitely dropped below my clothing threshold. Similarly, when outside the temperature only seems to matter regarding the body temperature dropping, which eventually causes HP damage, but otherwise you're just 20% hungrier no matter your insulation or the temperature diff.

So I'd say it only shows the outside temperature because if you stay outside when it's too cold relative to your clothes insulation, you might eventually start taking damage. Correct me if I've interpreted sth wrong

I think hunger rate might increase as much as 25% when out in the cold, not 20%. But otherwise I think what you've written here is fairly accurate. As far as interior spaces, it does need to be an insulated room in order for the cold to quit affecting the player; otherwise, a fire will need to be lit in order to warm up.

 

2 hours ago, Dead Sigma said:

It would be great if the game had a separate indicator for “perceived temperature” — one that depends on campfires, torches, and other heat sources near the player.

To my knowledge, torches don't count as heat sources currently. As for the idea itself...it's not a terrible idea, but I don't think it's really necessary for the base game. If it's warm outside you're not going to get cold. If it's cold outside, you'll probably get cold if you go out and will need to take breaks to warm up if you're going to avoid freezing to death. I don't think a "perceived temperature" reading really adds anything to that, aside from maybe helping the player decide if they want to go outside that day or not. However, it's not really feasible for the player to stay indoors all winter as they'll most likely get bored/have things they need to do outside, and such decisions can already be made with the current temperature system for reasons stated above.

[Jochanaan Fair-Schulz]

Temperature was really confusing to me early on. Now that I understand how it works with rooms, and indoor vs outdoor spaces, it feels like a solid system, but definitely un-intuitive for a new player. That said, adding in a fully dynamic spatial-temp gradient would probably be more trouble than it's worth to code. A status to communicate the effect, if any, of the Outside Temperature on our Seraph could make the current system much more readable. 

For example,

• if Body Temp is not changing, then it is Stable;
• if Body Temp is getting lower, then it is Decreasing;
• and, if Body Temp is getting higher, then it is Increasing;

Because, right now, it seems like the only way to gauge temperature change is by already knowing how different systems interact. Being able to quickly see what is happening to our body temp, and hover over it to see why ("Nearby heat source" or "Insufficient clothing") would peel back the curtain in a good way.

 

Edited October 3, 2025 by Jochanaan Fair-Schulz
Clarification and correction

[Dead Sigma]

Thanks for the explanations! That already clears up a lot.
One thing I’m still struggling with is my crops indoors: I try to insulate the space, but I don’t really know how cold it actually is inside. The outside temperature is shown, but is there any way to check or estimate the indoor temperature of a room?

Right now it’s hard for me to tell if my insulation is good enough for the crops to survive the winter. Do you have any tips on how to measure or at least roughly judge the temperature inside enclosed farm rooms?

[LadyWYT]

26 minutes ago, Dead Sigma said:

One thing I’m still struggling with is my crops indoors: I try to insulate the space, but I don’t really know how cold it actually is inside. The outside temperature is shown, but is there any way to check or estimate the indoor temperature of a room?

Right now it’s hard for me to tell if my insulation is good enough for the crops to survive the winter. Do you have any tips on how to measure or at least roughly judge the temperature inside enclosed farm rooms?

If growing crops in a greenhouse, mousing over the farmland tile should show a +5 C bonus. That means that the temperature inside the greenhouse will be the outside temperature plus an extra 5 C, so the coldest temperature your crops will need to endure is whatever the lowest nighttime temperature is plus that 5 C.

Otherwise, I don't think crops can be grown indoors, unless "underground farming" has been enabled...in which case, I'm not sure what is required for growing crops in those circumstances, aside from a strong light source like lanterns.

[Echo Weaver]

Rather than perceived temperature, I think it would be useful to just know whether body temp is increasing, decreasing, or staying the same. I've had a few situations where I start freezing far from my base. I dig into the dirt and seal myself up, but I don't have what I need to make a fire. It's a long time before I see that reassuring change in my body temp that tells me I'm not going to freeze to death. And are torches sources of heat? I haven't been able to be sure? Not a ton of heat, but it's possible they're giving off some?

Since it's not always obvious what you can use to warm up, knowing that you ARE starting to warm before you've raised your body heat 1/10 of a degree would be very useful.

[Dead Sigma]

In my opinion, the temperature system in Vintage Story needs serious improvement.
One of the most absurd things I’ve noticed is that even if you set the temperature to minus one million degrees, the character freezes almost the same as at –40°C. And if you go underwater at such temperatures, the player actually starts to warm up. The same effect happens if you surround yourself with a room made of ice blocks. Both situations are completely illogical. Some might say that you can warm up by sheltering from the wind, but that’s not really how it works in real life. If you’re freezing, a box of blocks won’t save you.

Crops are also impossible to control. The most you can do is raise the temperature by 5 degrees by building a greenhouse. At the same time, a garden plot can still be ruined by 35-degree heat, even if it’s in water with 75% humidity and covered with blocks on top (I really thought the sun and shadow mechanics were supposed to work here).

I haven’t been playing Vintage Story for very long, but the temperature mechanics have been very disappointing — they feel unfinished and in need of serious work.

[Diff]

32 minutes ago, Dead Sigma said:

The same effect happens if you surround yourself with a room made of ice blocks.

With you for the most part besides here. It's not just being out of the wind, it's having an enclosed area trapping the heat from your body. An ice/snow shelter can be quite comfortable (well above freezing) even when it's well below zero. The -1M° thing is also kinda like. Like let's engage the game on its own terms. The game doesn't simulate temperature at -1M, it's not trying to. It's trying to simulate normal freezing at normal winter temps.

For the same reasons as the snow shelters, we should be able to get a small fire going in there and really keep it toasty, would love to see that in a future update. And player body temp management for high temperature (same as low temp) is an often requested thing, too.

Edited October 25, 2025 by Diff

[Dead Sigma]

13 minutes ago, Diff said:

With you for the most part besides here. It's not just being out of the wind, it's having an enclosed area trapping the heat from your body. An ice/snow shelter can be quite comfortable (well above freezing) even when it's well below zero. The -1M° thing is also kinda like. Like let's engage the game on its own terms. The game doesn't simulate temperature at -1M, it's not trying to. It's trying to simulate normal freezing at normal winter temps.

For the same reasons as the snow shelters, we should be able to get a small fire going in there and really keep it toasty, would love to see that in a future update. And player body temp management for high temperature (same as low temp) is an often requested thing, too.

I’ve actually survived at –40°C in the Arctic, and I didn’t cool down any faster than at –10°C. What really breaks the immersion for me is being able to warm up at such temperatures just by being underwater or inside an enclosed space without a fire.

Or take my house, where I’ve lit many fires thinking they would raise the temperature: because of a single window in the wall, the house stops being recognized as a proper room and the player no longer warms up, even though the fires should logically heat the space.

I understand that the game’s temperature logic doesn’t work that way currently, which is frustrating. In my opinion, it would be great to improve this mechanic so that the air around the player is properly accounted for — allowing it to cool or heat based on nearby heat sources.

[Facethief]

33 minutes ago, Dead Sigma said:

Or take my house, where I’ve lit many fires thinking they would raise the temperature: because of a single window in the wall, the house stops being recognized as a proper room and the player no longer warms

Actually, fires always warm the player up within a couple blocks. The second that same fire is in a room, though, the range of warm air increases to include the whole room.

Once or twice, I’ve saved my butt by hiding out of the snow in a cave, huddled close to a fire. It’s quite cozy, and there’s even a song that plays if you sit by the fire long enough.

[Dead Sigma]

1 hour ago, Facethief said:

Actually, fires always warm the player up within a couple blocks. The second that same fire is in a room, though, the range of warm air increases to include the whole room.

Once or twice, I’ve saved my butt by hiding out of the snow in a cave, huddled close to a fire. It’s quite cozy, and there’s even a song that plays if you sit by the fire long enough.

Based on my observations, a campfire does not affect the room temperature; it only affects the player's temperature.
You might have encountered the warming of a closed space itself. This is what I described above: when the player is inside a closed room, they start warming up even though it’s –40 outside.
To avoid being speculative, I will now additionally test how a campfire affects the warming rate outdoors, in a fully closed room, and in a semi-enclosed space.

[Diff]

2 hours ago, Dead Sigma said:

I’ve actually survived at –40°C in the Arctic, and I didn’t cool down any faster than at –10°C. What really breaks the immersion for me is being able to warm up at such temperatures just by being underwater or inside an enclosed space without a fire.

Underwater is a silly oversight, but you *can* warm up quite a lot in a small enclosed space under your own body heat. I myself have never cared to hang out anywhere colder than -23C, but at those temps you can keep warm just by retreating from the open air. A snow shelter will warm to well above freezing temps just by virtue of you being inside it. I don't disagree either that this still leaves room for improvement, but it doesn't seem as patently ridiculous to me as it does to you.

[Dead Sigma]

3 hours ago, Facethief said:

Actually, fires always warm the player up within a couple blocks. The second that same fire is in a room, though, the range of warm air increases to include the whole room.

Once or twice, I’ve saved my butt by hiding out of the snow in a cave, huddled close to a fire. It’s quite cozy, and there’s even a song that plays if you sit by the fire long enough.

Testing the Effect of a Campfire on Indoor Temperature

1. Large enclosed room (14×14 blocks):

• With a campfire: the player warmed up from 31°C to 37.8°C in 25.11 seconds at –64°C.

• Without a campfire: the player warmed up from 31°C to 37.8°C in 25 seconds at approximately –60°C.

2. Small enclosed room (4 blocks long, 2 blocks high):

• With a campfire: at –60°C, the player warmed up from 31°C to 37.8°C in 25.77 seconds, while the campfire was burning at the far end of the room the entire time.

• Without a campfire: under the same conditions, the player warmed up in 25.15 seconds.

Conclusion:
The presence of a campfire has virtually no effect on the player’s warming rate in enclosed spaces. The minor differences observed can be attributed to measurement error — most likely, the campfire’s influence on indoor temperature is zero.

[Dead Sigma]

On 10/25/2025 at 5:34 PM, Diff said:

Underwater is a silly oversight, but you *can* warm up quite a lot in a small enclosed space under your own body heat. I myself have never cared to hang out anywhere colder than -23C, but at those temps you can keep warm just by retreating from the open air. A snow shelter will warm to well above freezing temps just by virtue of you being inside it. I don't disagree either that this still leaves room for improvement, but it doesn't seem as patently ridiculous to me as it does to you.

If you had ever been in an unheated building, you’d know that warming up from your own body heat alone is impossible — even in the tightest enclosed space. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.
And if you’re already frozen like in the game, or worse — wet — you’re done for. You’ll just die from hypothermia unless you find a heat source like a campfire.

I also really dislike that there’s no way to control the temperature that affects crops, other than using greenhouses, which only give +5 degrees. In real life, you can create shade, cover the crops with tarps like they do on farms, or simply water them generously to cool them down — and again, sadly, none of this is possible in Vintage Story.

[Professor Dragon]

I'd be happy if the Character "Body Temperature" could be added as an option to the Simple HUD Clock Patch mod.

[Diff]

1 hour ago, Dead Sigma said:

If you had ever been in an unheated building, you’d know that warming up from your own body heat alone is impossible

This may shock you, but I have been. Absolutely impossible, yes.

1 hour ago, Dead Sigma said:

And if you’re already frozen like in the game, or worse — wet — you’re done for.

Absolutely. So to be explicit about it: everything I am saying only applies to a warm, dry human and a small, well-insulated space.

I do trust you know what you're talking about. I also trust my own experience of having built snow shelters where I had to remove some outer layers to keep from overheating. I also trust the Inuit and their igloos which are capable of holding warmth without requiring a lamp to add warmth. Your body loses heat to your surroundings. Your surroundings lose heat to their surroundings. If A is greater than B, your surroundings will gain heat until the two stabilize. If your surroundings are insulated enough, that point can be comfortable.

The amount of heat your body dumps into its surroundings is variable and relatively small, but it can be enough if you set yourself up for it. For a small contrived example, just climb into a sleeping bag and pull it up over your face. You've created an enclosed area that'll get quite warm quite fast even in quite cold weather, and that basic principle from earlier doesn't break down if you give yourself a bigger sleeping bag, install some poles, and realize you've now got an awkward miniature insulated tent. It doesn't break down if you swap the awkward insulated tent for a snow-insulated shelter. There is a tipping point as you increase the size, but if your insulation is enough it can at least be the size of a one-person shelter.