Clay not spawning.. I SWEAR

[roflpuppy]

Im playing modded vintage story, could this be the issue? Im not using any world get mods, but could this be because of expanded matter? I have looked for hours and I have not found it in a single one of the worlds Ive generated. How common actually is it??

[Nathan Flaminio]

I find tons of clay all over, so I would say it's very common. In my world, red is everywhere, blue is usually by coastlines or slightly submerged on tiny islands, and fire is often under black coal in claystone, or occationally in bauxite deserts. 

I have not used Expanded Matter, so I can't speak to that. 

Have you tried going into god mode (creative) and flying around?

[Maelstrom]

5 hours ago, Nathan Flaminio said:

Have you tried going into god mode (creative) and flying around?

Or try disabling the suspect mod and play the first day?

[Nathan Flaminio]

3 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Or try disabling the suspect mod and play the first day?

Or that, lol

[Vexxvididu]

Clay is common!  But many new players fail to spot it without some practice.. very hard to know what is going on for you without knowing what the mod is.  If the mod affects world generation at all, this could be an issue.

[LadyWYT]

20 hours ago, roflpuppy said:

Im playing modded vintage story, could this be the issue? Im not using any world get mods, but could this be because of expanded matter?

Welcome to the forums and the game! Mods are often the cause of many issues in the game, even if the mod itself doesn't appear to affect the thing in question. I don't see any reported clay issues with Expanded Matter, but that doesn't rule out a different mod being the potential cause. If you suspect the issue is due to mods, the easiest way to figure out exactly which mod it is, is to disable all mods and verify that vanilla works correctly. Once you've done that, re-enable the mods one by one and test them as you do so; when the issue resurfaces you will have found the culprit.

20 hours ago, roflpuppy said:

I have looked for hours and I have not found it in a single one of the worlds Ive generated. How common actually is it??

Like others here have already said though, it's also not uncommon for newer players to struggle with finding clay until they know what to look for. Clay is more easily spotted from the side, as the texture stands out more readily from dirt, and from the top it will have bits of clay peaking through patches of grass. Clay deposits tend to spawn in areas that have sufficient rainfall and aren't too cold, though there are a couple of exceptions. Avoid looking in forests, since the forest floor will cover any clay that does spawn.

Red clay is the most common one to find, and can occur in highlands(but not mountain tops) and lowlands. It's also the only clay that can spawn naturally in the arctic regions, though in smaller deposits.

Blue clay only occurs near sea level, often near bodies of water, so searching near the shores of lakes can sometimes be a good idea.

Fire clay only occurs naturally in bauxite deserts or occasionally underneath deposits of black coal or anthracite. 

In addition to natural deposits, you can also buy clay from certain traders, find it in ruins, obtain it from cracked vessels, or rarely obtain it from panning, though it is worth noting that the first three options only count if you are playing with lore content enabled.

[dakko]

22 hours ago, roflpuppy said:

Im playing modded vintage story, could this be the issue? Im not using any world get mods, but could this be because of expanded matter? I have looked for hours and I have not found it in a single one of the worlds Ive generated. How common actually is it??

It would be interesting to try an experiment to see if the clay is really there or not. Just install the Visible Clay Particles mod and see if you see the particles rising from the ground.

[Maelstrom]

12 hours ago, Vexxvididu said:

many new players fail to spot it without some practice.

That was me with the new berry bushes.  And I've been playing since 1.14! 
My first world I nearly starved to death the first night coz I couldn't see what was in front of me the whole time!   Once I knew what to look for berry bushes were popping out all over the place.

[Grummsh]

10 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

That was me with the new berry bushes.  And I've been playing since 1.14! 
My first world I nearly starved to death the first night coz I couldn't see what was in front of me the whole time!   Once I knew what to look for berry bushes were popping out all over the place.

Aye - kinda same here i was lucky enough an area i decided to settle in have those new pink beauty berry bushes and those are big so You cant miss em - but after couple of in game days playing i circled back to the spawn and only then i noticed there are cranberry bushes ALL AROUND! those one are soooooo small now i couldnt really see them at all at first

[Vexxvididu]

On 5/21/2026 at 7:01 AM, Maelstrom said:

That was me with the new berry bushes.  And I've been playing since 1.14! 
My first world I nearly starved to death the first night coz I couldn't see what was in front of me the whole time!   Once I knew what to look for berry bushes were popping out all over the place.

One other thought about the new berry bushes is that for my meh eye sight, it's not super obvious to me to see the difference between ripe and other stages.  ...I usually have to get close and mouse of them to be sure.  I don't remember having this issue near as much before. I think the new look is more realistic, but I'd like the ripe berries to look bigger and juicier just to be more visually obvious.

[Milverton]

5 standard maps generated, 60 hours, no clay. The game has issues, the comments are wrong.

[Dilan Rona]

what is your seed, and generator settings? and what mods did you use?

[Milverton]

1196580620

[Milverton]

I don't use mods, I said standard map. Just trying to play normal, and the clays is far too hard to hunt down. Probably hoping to make money off steam mods. Not cool at all.

[Maelstrom]

3 hours ago, Milverton said:

I don't use mods, I said standard map. Just trying to play normal, and the clays is far too hard to hunt down. Probably hoping to make money off steam mods. Not cool at all.

The game isn't on steam.  Or GOG.  Only place to get it is from this website or humble bundle.  The only money the devs make are from sales of the game as the mods are free.

As for your clay woes?   Your eyes aren't trained to see it yet.  Once they are then you'll be seeing clay almost everywhere.  This happened to me when the new berry bushes released.  Nearly starved the first night coz I wasn't accustomed to the new berry bush model.  Keep playing and look carefully at the sides of hills.  Red clay is the most common but blue clay has the same look only blue colors not red.

[Milverton]

I'll start a 5th standard map, and try one last time. If it turns into where's waldo again, I'll just search another game. TY

[LadyWYT]

22 minutes ago, Milverton said:

I'll start a 5th standard map, and try one last time

Tagging on to what @Maelstrom already noted, you might consider making a creative world and placing some blocks of blue clay and red clay so you can get a better idea of what to look for. Clay is definitely easier to spot from the side, but not every deposit will have the sides of the clay visible, so it's important to pay attention to the ground nearby in order to notice changes(clay and peat will both have patchy grass on top rather than a full layer of grass). And that goes for more than just clay--paying attention to the ground can help you notice changes in rock types, deposits of ore near the surface, and other resources that may not be immediately noticeable. Looking in grassy fields is generally the best method of searching, since there won't be much to obstruct your vision.

I will also note that colorblindness could make the clay more difficult to spot. If that is a factor here, you may want to search for a mod that makes clay stand out more, or politely make a request for such a mod here: https://www.vintagestory.at/forums/forum/34-mod-requestsideas/

[Dilan Rona]

15 hours ago, Milverton said:

1196580620

 

15 hours ago, Milverton said:

I don't use mods, I said standard map. Just trying to play normal, and the clays is far too hard to hunt down. Probably hoping to make money off steam mods. Not cool at all.

Ok, assuming we did both get the same map, your red clay is at the following locations.
-32, 106, -47 (Under a layer of dirt, so its not visible)
-90, 115, -61 (Mostly under a layer of dirt, but there is a few blocks above ground.) This one is by far the largest deposit of clay.

It does happen that the clay spawns with a layer or 2 of dirt, sand or gravel above it (red and blue).

[Maelstrom]

@Milverton  That's a pretty gnarly spawn location.  Tons of spires and mountains which reduces travel but also clay spawning chances.   It's best to go to a plain with hills, which you have pretty close to the cool spawn location.

Just by running around I found a huge clay deposit at -237, 115, 158 which so happens to be on the edge of a limestone sandy desert which is good for finding malachite, aka copper, easily.  The red star is the clay deposit and in that plain there's likely to be one or two more clay deposits.

Bonus - my marker is at a cave with copper, borax and silver bearing quartz.  Not a bad place to put down the homestead and close to spawn for those early deaths.

Edited Friday at 04:03 PM by Maelstrom

[Stevej018]

use the Block Overlay mod and take another look

[Zane Mordien]

There are some cursed spawns out there, but not 5 in a row. I had no issue finding clay in this one either, but I've been playing this game for a long time now.