Tags:

Technology Survival Loot automation user experience User interface Chutes Ancient Tools gameplay Behavior passive income Mechanic Economy Utility Crafting Other QoL Tweak Simplification Accessibility Tools Foraging UI

Author:

not_william

Side:

Both

Created:

Apr 18th at 4:38 PM

Last modified:

Apr 18th at 5:23 PM

Downloads:

72

Follow Unfollow 8

Latest release (for Vintage Story 1.21.6, outdated):
notwilliamresourcecrates_0.0.2-alpha_1.21.6.zip  1-click install

Resource Crates (WIP / Experimental)

Fully JSON Configurable

Turn time into resources.

Resource Crates are passive generators that slowly produce items over time based on a configurable tier system. Set a target item, upgrade the crate, and let it work while you do something else.

⚠️ This mod is currently experimental. Expect rough edges.

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Why?

Making a 10 minute grass-and-sticks errand run is fun for the first 50 times or so. Then one begins to ask: "I'm in the iron age, is there really no better way?"
This mod aims to solve that frustration in relation to various items.

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Crafting

Craft a Resource Crate using:

• 1 Knife

• 4 Sticks (surrounding the knife)

• 4 Dry Grass in the corners
  (see screenshot)

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Basic Usage

1. Place the crate

Place it like any normal block.

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2. Set a target item

• Shift + Right Click the crate while holding a valid item (see JSON config)

• That item becomes the generation target

✔ The crate will now begin generating that item over time

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3. Upgrade the crate

• Shift + Right Click with valid upgrade materials (see JSON config)

• Each upgrade increases the crate’s tier

• Upgrade material is consumed on use

Higher tiers:

• Generate faster

• Allow higher-tier items mathematically and greatly increase speed for lower-tier items mathematically

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4. Open the crate

• Right Click (no shift) to open the UI

The crate has a single output slot.

⚠️ You can insert items into the output slot manually right now, but you should not (and it won't do anything beneficial anyways).

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Automation (Highly Recommended)

Because this mod is early-stage:

Best practice setup:

• Attach a chute

• Output into a normal crate

Prevents:

• item loss

• stalled generation

• bugs from wiping item-generating progress overall

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How Generation Works

Generation uses in-game time, not real time.

Default base rate:

BaseTierRateMinutes = 5

So:

• Tier 0 items generate every ~5 in-game minutes

• Other tiers scale from this

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Tier Scaling (Asymmetric!)

This system is intentionally asymmetric:

LowerTierFactor = 5
HigherTierFactor = 50

Meaning:

• Lower-tier items → 5× faster per tier

• Higher-tier items → 50× slower per tier

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Example (Crate Tier 3)

Item Tier	Speed
Tier 2	5× faster
Tier 1	25× faster
Tier 4	50× slower
Tier 5	2500× slower

👉 You are strongly encouraged to match crate tier at least to item tier if not higher than item tier 

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Default Upgrade Materials Path

1. Copper Ingot

2. Tin Bronze Ingot

3. Iron Ingot

4. Steel Ingot

5. Crushed Ilmenite

---

Default Item Tiers (Non-exhaustive examples list)

Tier 0

• Logs (game:log-*)

• Clay (red/blue)

• Dry grass

• Sticks

• Papyrus / cattails

• Firewood

• Flint

Tier 1

• Planks (game:plank-*)

• Rocks / stone

• Lime

• Peat bricks

• Low soil

• Calcined flint

Tier 2

• Copper nuggets

• Quartz variants

• Bauxite rocks / stone

• Resin

• Charcoal

• Fire clay

• Medium soil

Tier 3

• Tin / zinc / bismuth ores

• Sulfur / saltpeter

• Lignite

• High soil

Tier 4

• Iron bloom

• Iron ores

• Gold

• Bituminous coal

• Rot

Tier 5

• Blister steel

• Ilmenite / chromite

• Special items (jonas*)

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JSON Configuration (How to Customize)

This mod is fully configurable via JSON.

Where to find the config

After running the game once:

VintageStoryData/ModConfig/resourcecrates.json

---

What you can change

Generation speed

"BaseTierRateMinutes": 5.0

Lower = faster generation

---

Tier scaling

"LowerTierFactor": 5.0,
"HigherTierFactor": 50.0

Controls how strongly lower/higher tiers scale.

---

Upgrade items

"TierUpgradeItems": [
  "game:ingot-copper",
  "game:ingot-tinbronze",
  ...
]

Each entry:

• Defines an upgrade item

• Order = upgrade progression

---

Generated items

"TierItems": [
  ["game:log-*", "game:clay-blue"],
  ["game:plank-*"],
  ...
]

Each sub-list = tier

• Items defined in multiple tiers at the same time (e.g. stone-* vs stone-bauxite) will have the highest defined tier as the item tier.
  • (tier 2 for bauxite stones, instead of tier 1 for all other stones)

---

Wildcard support

You can use:

"game:log-*"

This expands automatically into all matching items.

Examples:

• game:log-*

• game:plank-*

• game:soil-low-*

---

⚠️ Important config notes

• Wildcards only apply to TierItems

• Upgrade items must be exact codes

• Duplicate items across tiers will take the highest tier for an item

• Config is validated at load — invalid entries may crash startup

---

Default Config

• The current default config (generated in the ModConfig folder when first loading a world with the mod active) is below:{
  "BaseTierRateMinutes": 5.0,
  "LowerTierFactor": 5.0,
  "HigherTierFactor": 50.0,
  "TierUpgradeItems": [
    "game:ingot-copper",
    "game:ingot-tinbronze",
    "game:ingot-iron",
    "game:ingot-steel",
    "game:crushed-ilmenite"
  ],
  "TierItems": [
    [
      "game:log-*",
      "game:clay-blue",
      "game:clay-red",
      "game:drygrass",
      "game:stick",
      "game:papyrustops",
      "game:cattailtops",
      "game:firewood",
      "game:flint"
    ],
    [
      "game:plank-*",
      "game:rock-*",
      "game:stone-*",
      "game:lime",
      "game:peatbrick",
      "game:soil-low-*",
      "game:calcined-flint"
    ],
    [
      "game:nugget-nativecopper",
      "game:nugget-malachite",
      "game:rock-bauxite",
      "game:stone-bauxite",
      "game:clearquartz",
      "game:smokyquartz",
      "game:ore-quartz",
      "game:resin",
      "game:charcoal",
      "game:clay-fire",
      "game:soil-medium-*"
    ],
    [
      "game:nugget-cassiterite",
      "game:nugget-sphalerite",
      "game:nugget-bismuthinite",
      "game:ore-olivine",
      "game:nugget-nativesilver",
      "game:nugget-galena",
      "game:ore-sulfur",
      "game:saltpeter",
      "game:soil-high-*",
      "game:ore-lignite"
    ],
    [
      "game:ironbloom",
      "game:nugget-hematite",
      "game:nugget-limonite",
      "game:nugget-magnetite",
      "game:nugget-nativegold",
      "game:ore-bituminouscoal",
      "game:rot"
    ],
    [
      "game:ingot-blistersteel",
      "game:nugget-ilmenite",
      "game:nugget-chromite",
      "game:jonas*"
    ]
  ],
  "HasUpgradeItems": true,
  "HasTierItems": true,
  "MaxTier": 5
  }

---

⚠️ Known Issues

❌ Some items cannot be set as targets

Items with special right-click behavior:

• gears

• fat

• certain tools

👉 These will NOT work currently due to how the game prioritizes shift-right-click behavior in certain cases

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❌ Block items (logs, rock, etc.) only work conditionally

Logs only work if:

• placement is blocked (you’re standing in the way)

Otherwise:

• they will place instead

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❌ Item loss

• Breaking crate = destroys contents

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❌ UI slot not protected

You can insert items manually — please don’t. It doesn't do anything special, just occupies the slot and may result in bugs.

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❌ Chunk unload not handled

• Crates only generate while the chunk is loaded

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Stability Warning

Early version.

👉 Use automation
👉 Expect bugs
👉 Do not rely on critical items

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💡 Tips

• Match crate tier to item tier (or higher tier crate)

• Use chutes and regular crates to prevent loss in the event of bugs

• Avoid interactive items as targets

• Upgrade before targeting rare resources

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Planned Improvements

• Fix held-item interaction conflicts

• Safe inventory handling

• Offline generation

• UI improvements

• More config options

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