LadyWYT

Welcome to the forums(and the game)! My first thought is that it's probably XSkills, but it's hard to say for sure. The easiest way to figure it out is, as @Zane Mordien said, go into the mods folder for that particular server and see what's there. @RationallyParanoid also has a good point in that it might not be a mod that's causing it, but rather a choice of class.

In fairness, it's guesswork on my end. I know it was quite unfinished when introduced in 1.20, and 1.21 added quite a bit more. Some areas though are still lacking, such as the player's lack of ability to rent a room at the inn. Most NPCs have something to say, but there's some dialogue that still feels a bit barebones so there could possibly be more added later.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are added next release. Nadiya still isn't finished yet, and child NPC models were teased in one of the news threads.

Welcome to the forums(and the game)! I do agree that blood trails and tracks would be nice to have. You might be interested in trying out these mods: https://mods.vintagestory.at/bloodtrail https://mods.vintagestory.at/footprints It depends a lot on what kind of arrows you use--flint arrows are cheap but low damage. Likewise, early bows aren't very good either. The spear is a much better choice in the early game, as a simple flint spear will do around 5 points of damage when thrown. A single spear can easily kill rabbits, unless it was thrown by a Blackguard--in that case it takes two spears.

Welcome to the forums(and the game)! Like @pigfood already noted, bees will not spawn in player planted trees. Two thousand blocks is quite a wide search area though, so unless you got really unlucky with the world generation(it does happen) there's probably a beehive or two somewhere. You might want to try out Buzzwords in order to help you locate beehives, as the sound can be quite hard to notice sometimes. The mod is very lightweight, adds a text popup when you get close to bees, and can be safely uninstalled at any time. https://mods.vintagestory.at/buzzwords

It's a neat idea, but I'm not sure how feasible this would actually be to code given that the world is randomly generated. I think it's probably much easier to simply allow traders to sell more goods, with the harder to obtain resources being a very rare trade and very expensive. For the record, while tier 3 bricks are nice to have, tier 2 bricks are quite durable themselves, so don't sweat it if you have trouble finding ilmenite. In regards to halite, it's usually easier to buy it, but to tack on to what @MKMoose already explained, if you've got promising prospecting results it's easy enough to armor up and do a little caving to see if you can find a deposit. Don't forget that you can also switch your focus to a different task that involves a lot of travel, like completing the main story or venturing to the tropics, and prospect along the way. Odds are that you'll find a lead on the missing resources, but if not the trip won't really feel wasted either.

I've not used the mod so take what I say with a grain of salt, but judging by what I've seen lurking around the forums and mod database, the rivers can be fairly long or fairly short. The main drawbacks seem to be that the rivers aren't the most realistic as they just tunnel through terrain as needed, and the mod itself seems to be prone to causing issues with other mods related to worldgen. I doubt wind will ever be obsolete. The main advantage to a water wheel is that it's a steady source of power; the wind will quit blowing, but the water won't stop flowing. The advantage to wind power though is that you can utilize it almost anywhere, whereas a water wheel will almost certainly require a natural water source that's moving fast enough to generate power. No buckets here! The only other flaw I see to water power is that the water source could potentially freeze over, but that would probably require more complex freeze mechanics as fast-moving water doesn't freeze easily. So...pretty much the same things you noted in your post. If you're playing on default world generation, the world will be 97.5% land, meaning you'll find an ocean or two eventually but otherwise not have much water to really sail. I've found 80% landcover to be much better, as the world is still majority land but will include enough oceans/large lakes to make the sailboat feel useful.

Honestly, while complaints like these feel like a modern thing, I daresay they've been around since the beginning of time. I get the frustration about them though. Pretty much. The other block game allows the player to pretty much find most resources in every chunk, and I think some players come here with the same expectation and then are understandably shocked when Vintage Story turns out to be different. However, I don't think it's just the other block game though; a lot of modern games in general tend to hold the player's hand and make sure they always have what they need, when they need it, and don't really allow the player the opportunity to get themselves in over their head. I'm just speaking generally, of course, but I do think those are two big reasons why Vintage Story tends to catch many players off-guard. I know in my case, I had to rethink a lot of my own approaches to various game loops, as logic that works in most other games just doesn't work here. If I'm recalling correctly, the devs themselves at one time said that it was a deliberate design that not every resource can be easily obtained everywhere. For exotic woods like ebony and purpleheart, the player needs to make at least one trip to the tropics. Some tropical fruit, like pineapples, can be grown in greenhouses in colder climates, but it's quite difficult to do so. Most tropical fruits require warm climates to actually grow. Granted, this kind of design does limit creativity a bit, but sometimes less is more, and seeing what one can do with local resources makes for a pretty fun challenge. I do think though, that this would be a prime time for traders to shine, when it comes to rare resources. Agriculture traders could sell exotic fruits like pineapples and mangos, while building traders could sell stuff like ebony logs or purpleheart planks. Of course, such resources would also be rather expensive, but that would give players more reason to visit traders and do something with their rusty gears. As it stands now, most of what you can purchase from traders you can either find or craft yourself easily enough.

Welcome to the forums! There should already be seasonal coloring in the game, though the color changes depend on the climate the player chose to settle in. Early spring is primarily pale yellow-green, with late spring taking on bright yellow-green hues. Early summer the greens are deep and vibrant, but starting yellowing into the late summer. In the early fall, the trees turn vibrant shades of red, gold, and orange while the grass turns golden with a bit of lingering green tint. By late fall, the frost is arriving, and the bright colors turn to muted browns and beiges. Early winter brings frosty overlays and snow, making the entire landscape look asleep. Late winter is similar, but by this time the days are getting longer again so the winter colors are much more crisp as spring begins to awaken the world much more. I'm guessing though that you're likely looking for more exaggerated effects?

https://mods.vintagestory.at/fogless Then there's this mod, though it is made for an older game version so it may or may not work properly anymore. Make sure you test it on a throwaway world before adding it to a world you actually intend to play! Unfortunately I don't see any other options, but if that mod fails you could try making your own if you're up to it, or drop a request over in the Modding section of the forum.

Just to clarify here: temporal mechanics, while important to the lore, are separate from lore stuff in the settings. So it's very possible to just turn off temporal storms and/or temporal stability but keep all the other lore stuff. The Exploration preset has temporal storms and temporal stability turned off by default. Pretty much, though I think the players that just truly don't like the interruption already turn the storms off. I do think though that there is a subset of players who end up regarding the storms as nothing but an interruption/punishment because monsters don't really drop much loot, and the storms offer no benefits otherwise. Regarding the latter...it's an unnatural disaster so there's really no reason that it should be beneficial. Regarding monster loot, that may or may not change in the future, but I don't get the impression that monsters are meant to be a steady supply of resources. They're an environmental hazard and the main reason to kill them is to ensure your own survival. In contrast, other games like Minecraft and Valheim actively encourage the player to hunt monsters for their drops, even to the point of being ridiculous mob grinders to farm the loot more efficiently. The best way to handle disappointing monster loot in VS, I think, is mods; that way the player can set the loot tables to whatever they feel is most reasonable. Ironically, temporal storms really don't take that much time, when you do the math. A day in Vintage Story is equal to 48 minutes; I think the longest temporal storm lasts about 10 minutes, roughly. By default, each in-game month is 9 days long, and temporal storms arrive every 10-20 days. Assuming the player doesn't sleep through the night(and assuming I did the math right), that leaves them around 470-950 real life minutes free to do whatever they want between each temporal storm, which is quite a lot of time. Speaking of potential solutions though, I wonder if the code governing temporal storms is difficult to mod? That might explain why there aren't that many mods that try to modify temporal storm behavior. If that's the case, a good solution would probably be to make temporal storms easier to mod, so that players can make adjustments as they see fit. Of course, the lack of mods could also be because most of the playerbase is fine with the options that currently exist, and thus not really inclined to mod the mechanic.

I think the optimal height is going to vary based on where one builds their windmill, so I'm not sure it's really possible to be more specific than "it's usually windier at higher altitudes, so build your windmill on a tall structure".

It depends on the location. The RA boss will respawn, but the boss of chapter 2 does not(to my knowledge). Treasure will not respawn at all. You can regenerate the location via console command in order to reset everything--monsters, bosses, and treasure included. Though if you're just after those particular decorations in singleplayer, I would recommend just hopping into creative and giving yourself a few extra instead. Probably a little safer than trying to regenerate the entire story area.

I do agree that the respawn rate probably needs to be tweaked, as I've killed a bear or two only to have another bear immediately spawn. That being said, I'm not sure that I would put an option for it in the world settings; the Survival Challenges tab is pretty cluttered as it is. In this case, I think placing some fresh meat over the trap is a good solution, provided that the pit is also disguised(as you mentioned in #3). That way the player still has the option of building a trap to more safely deal with a large predator, with the drawback of needing to put in a little extra effort to build the trap. I'd also note that like most traps, the pit trap still has a chance to fail should a smaller, less dangerous creature like a fox or boar take interest in the bait. I like this idea as a late game option, and I daresay it would also see some good use in PvP scenarios. Simply scatter some leaves over the trap to help disguise it from other players and creatures. Players could easily pry it open if caught though, so the PvP application depends heavily on a status effect system--getting caught in such a trap should really be breaking bones or causing other lingering injury. Honestly, I'm going to vote no on this one. It's not a bad idea, but it feels a little too clunky to implement(I could be wrong) and I'm not sure it would really increase a player's chance of survival. Most new players, I think, don't last ten seconds when spotted by a wolf/bear; typically by the time they notice the beast they're already being attacked, in which case it's usually too late to run. Not always, but usually. I also think this kind of effect would require the status effect system to be implemented, and such a system is just as likely to apply a debuff to the player after getting chomped. An adrenaline buff won't really help survival there either. The best method of avoiding death by wild animal is to simply pay attention to the surroundings and avoid the aggressive wildlife. The aggressive wildlife can be very brutal, yes, but that brutality also serves to teach newer players a very important lesson--Vintage Story doesn't pull its punches, so it's best to be cautious, pay attention to actions, and be appropriately equipped for the task at hand.

Like @PoisonedPawn777 already noted, the handbook contains this information. The Guides section specifically contains an overview of the different "tech tiers" available in the game, as well as basic instructions for various gameplay loops. Steelmaking has its own page, and windmills can be found on the Mechanical Power page. There are two basic ways the player can figure these out: finding one in the wild, and completing the main story. There's currently no useful handbook entry describing how these work, as currently teleporters are not craftable and the late game steampunk tech itself isn't fully implemented. I will also note that the story will introduce the concept of mechnical power to the player, should they happen to completely miss the handbook information somehow. One important thing to note about the tutorial is that it's barebones by design. It's there to teach the player the basic game controls and help them acquire two essential tools that they'll need to do everything else in the game...and that's it. From that point on, it's up to the player to determine how to best proceed in the game based on their own playstyle preferences, what they experience in the world, and the information they read in the handbook.

To my knowledge, the unique collectibles found in the story locations can't be broken down into other things. They're strictly decor. I'm not familiar with any relic by this name. Are you playing with mods that might add relics and collectibles? Or that might otherwise allow decor items to be broken down into resources(Omok pieces can be smelted, if I recall correctly)? The closest items I'm aware of:

This is probably what you are looking for: https://mods.vintagestory.at/noindoorfog

As I recall, the grace period will prevent monster spawns, but won't prevent rifts from appearing and affecting the player if the player stands too close to one.

It's...complicated. A funny joke about some old forum drama, basically.

Okay, so going by the screenshot, you're definitely out of temporal stability, and you said you weren't using mods so we can rule that out as a potential cause. Since you noted the gear started spinning quickly, what's almost certainly happened is that a rift spawned nearby and you were either standing directly in it, or otherwise close enough to it for it to drain your stability. Only rifts will drain it that fast. Pressing C will bring up your character information panel, where you can check the current rift activity.

Changing the month length will adjust the growth time of crops accordingly, but the yield will remain the same. Thus if the player increases month length, they'll want to be planting bigger farms.

Yeah, I mean, if Vintage Story was requiring 1000+ hours of play just to finish one game...no thanks. There is some grind in the game, yes, but nothing that feels unreasonable. For reference, I racked up over 1000 hours in the OG Skyrim, but that was over the course of a few years. If I like a game I'll happily sink a lot of time into it, but I also like to feel like I'm accomplishing something and not being baited into just pumping up the gametime numbers. Being able to beat a game in a few hours doesn't make it bad, same as needing a few hundred hours minimum to beat a game does not make it good. If it takes me a few hundred hours to beat the game, I want it to be by my own choice, not because the game itself forced me to grind that long. Many MMOs use that sort of tactic to keep players hooked.

https://mods.vintagestory.at/shiverpet

Welcome to the forums! My first question is, what color is your temporal stability meter? If the gear is grey, that means your stability is at 0%, hence the temporal storm effects and health drain. What likely happened in that case is the area you built in was unstable, or mostly so. It's not really a hard stat to track, but it's not unusual for temporal stability to slip a player's mind either. If the gear is still a bright teal color though, then yeah, that's not supposed to happen. In that case, the question is whether or not you are using mods, as those tend to be the culprit when it comes to strange behavior. Not to say it couldn't be a bug in vanilla, but I'm not aware of such issues in 1.21.6.

Regarding forests with steep hills, those are not unrealistic at all. Same with mountains with flatter tops instead of the classic pointy top. The mountains of the eastern US tend to be like this--very long with flatter tops and their steep slopes are covered in forest. In contrast, the Rockies in the western US tend to have pointed tops, but it depends on which part of the Rockies one looks at as well. Forests don't really need a change, in my opinion, as forests can grow on pretty much any type of terrain as long as there's enough rainfall and it's not too cold. Mountains, I think, just need some more variety; some ranges could be the classic peaks and others could be the long ridges. That may be partly why it's taking so long. Rivers, when they are added, are going to majorly overhaul the world generation, so it's incredibly important to get them right the first time.