LadyWYT

It sounds like something in the world files got corrupted; that's one of the hazards of uninstalling mods mid-playthrough, even if you re-enable them later. The easiest solution is to start over with a new world with however many mods you want, and then stick to those settings for that playthrough. It does suck to start over from scratch, but sixteen hours isn't a lot of playtime either, so it should be relatively easy to catch back up on the progress you made in the old world.

I believe it means that you won't be able to fill a bucket and create another water block somewhere else should you empty it, although that only applies if you enable that option in your world. It's just there to add an optional challenge. They probably do. I know in the modded version of the other block game, waterwheels can be an incredibly convenient power source for exactly that reason. Not necessarily. One idea I've heard floated is having a different water source block that is capable of powering waterwheels--one that moves(unlike the still water we have now) and that specifically cannot be moved by the player. So you'd need to find one of those spots and build your stuff there in order to take advantage of it, which may or may not be a very good option depending on how one's world generates. As for why you might want to deliberately search for one of those spots anyway, despite having other power sources like windmills? Water flows at a steady rate and doesn't stop, whereas wind is quite variable.

If you don't mind a bit of "cheating"--change gamemode to creative and spawn in a bronze anvil, at the cost of deleting materials that you have to fashion one(so a few copper ingots + bits of stuff that would turn it to bronze). Then switch back to survival and proceed as normal. It's a lot faster and less frustrating than locating more ore and processing it into an anvil. For future reference though, I would wait until you have a bronze anvil before breaking down the copper one, or make two chisels ahead of time. That way you'll still have the old one to work with, should you need it.

I'm just lazy and focused my attention elsewhere. There are actually bees somewhat close to my base, but I've been pushing hard to get to the Archive and was banking on panning a candle or two out of bony soil. I usually have good luck with that, but then again I usually get better map generation as well. If you have issues with the shivers you might want to build a perimeter fence. Shivers don't seem to be able to climb over those.

One change I've been enjoying is the fact that animals now run away when you shoot them. It makes hunting a little more challenging, but it's also a little more engaging since you now have to potentially track your prey. It's also very useful for dealing with hazardous wildlife as well--throw a rock at bears or wolves to get them to leave certain areas. Of course, it's not a foolproof method, since they will sometimes come after you instead of running away. Maybe. I would guess that there probably won't be any changes between now and release that would warrant creation of brand new worlds, but there's also no guarantee that that will be the case. Trial versions, even release candidates, are marked unstable for a reason. If it's a world that you intend to get attached to and keep for multiple versions, it's best to wait until a stable release.

Indeed! I'm not sure if it's a new thing or not--they may have spawned in lake bottoms before, but there was no real reason to go diving either given that there was nothing to see underwater. I even found some ruins I wouldn't have spotted otherwise, which netted me a bunch of bony soil(but unfortunately no candles, so I'll probably be going to the Archive without a great light source). I mean hey, if it keeps you alive! One thing I've learned since increasing the hunger rate--in many cases it's better to slow down and walk unless you really need the extra speed for some reason. It could just be from picking Blackguard, in part, but I've found myself rethinking how I manage my stamina after making that change. Not that food is a huge issue for me currently, but the last thing I want to do is burn through too much of my stores before winter. I lived out of my cellar for quite a while before building anything that qualifies as a house. I'm not sure that it's lazy as much as it is efficient. Personally, I don't really like building temporary structures if I can avoid it, so I'll usually live under a tree until I build a small house, and hide in the cellar when it's too dangerous outside. As far as storage...uh...I tend to scatter everything around outside where I can see it all at once, and wait until I have a really nice storage shed before worrying about anything resembling organization.

It still only takes one ingot. The shape did change though, so it will take more hammering and a little more care to actually forge the shears.

I'm pretty sure they only spawn when it's warm outside, though what that threshold is I'm not sure.

It would be nice to have a bit of warning that there's a moose there, but then again...if I were a moose and saw a potential threat, I'd probably want to go stomp it too. At least they do sometimes back off instead of stomping your face in. Generally I just run away, or if I'm engaging without armor or a bow, I'll throw a few spears and then engage with a crude shield/falx if I'm actually wanting the meat. I know you said you were joking, but there might actually be a lore reason for the aggression. The "Ambush" tapestry notes that wolves have become much more territorial and aggressive since whatever cataclysmic event unfolded in the past, so it stands to reason that other wildlife might also have reason to be extra wary or aggressive.

Having played with a mod that adds diseases...no, absolutely not. It wasn't really fun, it wasn't really challenging, and it was more annoying than anything else. Leave that concept to the realm of mods, where it belongs. Sounds like you may need to tune some settings to increase the challenge, or look into mods that add more challenge(such as thirst or disease). Though in all fairness, once one learns the ropes of most any game, and acquires decent gear...it's going to be relatively easy compared to how one first started out. Incidentally, this is the reason I said the disease mod(XDiseases, I think it was) wasn't fun. Most of the diseases you could avoid just by following these steps and otherwise not playing recklessly, which essentially killed any challenge the mod might have had. As for the stuff you could catch randomly, like colds(which were overtuned anyway)...the problem there is that if it just happens, it's going to be mildly annoying at best, because now you have to put up with something you didn't have any chance to avoid. At worst, you have to put up with having your gameplay knee-capped by something you had no control over. Now accidents do happen in normal gameplay, of course, but those tend to be pretty rare since the player usually has some way to actively mitigate bad things happening. Don't want to get chomped by bears/wolves? Pay careful attention to your surroundings, don't charge into places they might be lurking, and don't poke them unless you're ready for a fight. Likewise, watch your step when traveling to avoid falling into deep holes, and always bring some ladders to ensure you can climb out of a hole if you should happen to fall in(and survive). In contrast, diseases are like temporal storms; they just get dumped on you and you're left to deal with the effects...but the temporal storms actually warn you in advance and give you a shot at nice loot.

Rivers would be cool, even just small streams to find while out and about too. I think the main issue with them is figuring out how to get flowing water to generate like that. That being said, if rivers are added, I would probably also advocate for rapids as well, as a somewhat rare obstacle. I don't know that I would make rapids destroy boats necessarily, but they should be impassable spaces for watercraft at the very least. Small rapids would probably just be a nuisance, while big ones could limit which sections of river are really useful for water navigation. Hmmm, I like this idea. It lets the players move their boats around, so they don't need to sink resources into building multiple boats, but at the price of taking more time and effort to move the thing. I actually disagree here; not because it wouldn't be interesting, but because I don't think it would fit the lore of the game. The short course, as I understand it, is the world of Vintage Story is set in the late medieval period(with some steampunk influences) after an apocalypse-level event essentially reshaped the entire world. The remnants of humanity that are left are few and far between. As for the ruins, they're either leftovers from the old world(underground mainly), or survivor settlements that got overrun(most likely scenario for surface ruins, based on the events in the Ghosts short story). In short, the player has been dumped into a monster-infested wilderness, with practically nothing except what's left of their clothing, and very limited knowledge of how they even got there to begin with. Now I do expect ruins to potentially get another facelift or two as the game is further developed, but barring the specific story locations, I think they're primarily minor points of interest that may or may not hold anything of value to the player. In the meantime though, the Better Ruins mod upgrades the ruins to make them more detailed.

Is it a steady 25 FPS, or is it choppy/stuttery/laggy? I had some issues when I upgraded my hardware a while back, and it turned out to be some sort of weird issue with Corsair's iCUE software for mice. The easiest way to detect a mouse issue like that is to go into the settings and look at the lagometer(red graph thing), for lack of a better term. If you're getting big spikes whenever you wiggle your mouse around, it's probably a mouse problem.

Correct. Perhaps sometime in the future though, either via update or a mod.

Suddenly "doggy biscuit" has a very different meaning.

To me they seem balanced. Keeping in mind that I've not gone hunting them or delved deep enough to encounter the really nasty ones: They do seem to avoid daylight, but they will occasionally wander out of a cave, if there's one nearby and they are able to. It seems a bit variable on whether or not predators will chase you. Generally they'll notice and come after you, but I've walked up on bears/wolves a few times and managed to get away before they noticed. It was a thing in 1.19 too, but it does seem to happen just a bit more frequently now. That being said...I still do not advocate seraphs testing their luck around large wild animals.

Finally got my hands on leather. Ended up opting to hunt for seashells...several many seashells later, and I come to find out that survival goods traders sell lime. Oops! That would've saved me a couple months of time, at least. As it currently stands, I've managed to make some basic iron brigandine, with a gambeson helmet, and hoarded several many meat pies and bandaids in preparation for the Archive. I'll have to tackle it in the dead of winter, it seems, but that should be fine...I'm just hoping there's no new nasties to deal with down in those tunnels. Thoughts on the update so far: Really enjoying it. Very glad that there's stuff to see underwater, especially since after spending so much time combing the lake bottoms for shells. Terrain generation feels a lot smoother, with proper highlands and lowlands along with the standard mountains and other strange bits. The more complex recipes for the quern and fire clay will take a bit of getting used to, but it makes sense for the quern. As for the fire clay, the flint processing felt all right as well; tedious, sure, but not too much hassle and gave a use for all the flint I inevitably acquire. The new tong animations are very jank; items will either be clipping through the tongs at weird angles, or outright floating in the air. Regarding the new monsters--so far they've been pretty fun to fight. Granted, I've not gone hunting them, nor have I encountered the really nasty ones yet, so I could always change my mind, but overall they feel nicely balanced. The thing that's given me the biggest spook so far was the solar eclipse. I forgot those had been added, was out harvesting grass, and the lights suddenly went out. Pretty sure I jumped in my chair.

Thanks! I did almost follow in your footsteps though, and fall down a deep hole far from base. It wouldn't delete the world, of course, since I don't play hardcore, but it would still have been frustrating nonetheless.

Status update: I found my way out of the granite and into sedimentary layers when finding a route to the Archive. Spent a good couple of hours or so searching the claystone, sandstone, and conglomerate...not a sign of borax anywhere. Nor any limestone or bauxite, for that matter. Which is certainly going to be a frustrating bottleneck.

Regarding that specific thing...

Oof, that's rough, considering that sounds like a super good setup. I'm bearing down on iron tier in my world currently, with the first temporal storm due to hit any day now. The Resonance Archive isn't too far away, so I may be able to hoof it there by winter and at least pilfer some of the goodies prior to fighting my way to the library. My main goal right now is figuring out how to get my hands on an elk, heh heh. Something tells me it's probably not happening prior to completing the Archive, but one never knows. Still haven't managed to figure out where the shiver in the basement is...not that I've gone looking. Between granite, andesite, and peridotite, I think I'd rather have granite the most, if I had to choose. I actually like the blue tint of andesite more, but the neutral grey of granite offers a wider selection of colors to pick from when building and decorating. Peridotite is way too green for me to want to use it as much other than an accent color.

Typically I play on the standard Balanced setup, but this time I increased the hunger and food spoilage rate a bit, in return for a small boost to health. I thought it would be a nice little challenge with a small benefit to go with it, without being too frustrating. Oh boy did the game decide otherwise. Spawn into the world, and there's nothing but granite for miles it seems when it comes to the stone type. Fewer food options than normal, fewer surface copper spots than normal, and quite a bit of jagged terrain to make navigation difficult. Wolves outside my camp, there's a shiver somewhere close to my basement clicking around. The main positives are there are sheep nearby to corral, a surface tin deposit, a treasure hunter within reasonable distance, and several meteors. I actually don't mind the granite maps that much; they're fun to play, so even if I end up rerolling I'll probably keep this map for tinkering with later. How's everyone else's adventures going so far in the update?

Terminus teleporter. Late game tech, but it will teleport you to the last place you died, I do believe. Exactly. That's part of the thrill of the adventure. You don't know what you'll find, so you'll need to both be careful, and make sure you're prepared. The higher the stakes, the higher the thrills and (hopefully) higher rewards. Well said on both. The slew of world options is there for a reason, after all. There's no shame in tuning the settings for an easier game, same as it's perfectly fine to crank up the difficulty if it's too easy. As a bonus, a lot of the settings(like "Keep Inventory") can be toggled on/off by running simple commands and reloading the world.

Salute to Fred the stunt drifter, sacrificing himself to showcase the scrap bomb. So excited to dig into the story content and really happy it's ready for a test run!

To me, the difficulty of getting a fruit tree going is part of what makes it satisfying to harvest one when you do get them established. Not only do they produce a lot of fruit in one harvest, that often keeps for quite a while, but having a proper orchard means that you sank quite a bit of time into that part of your farm. Even moreso if you managed to graft two or three different fruit types onto one tree.

One other possibility that I forgot to mention: if you'd prefer to keep the more realistic world climate generation, you might try changing the polar-equator distance to a lower number. The climate will still be arranged in "real world" layers that way, but it'll take much less time to travel from a cold region to a warmer one, and vice versa.