Mods / Drifter Tweak (Includes Shivers & Bowtorn too)

Tags:
QoL Tweak
Author:
Cian
Side:
Both
Created:
Jul 7th 2024 at 3:46 AM
Last modified:
Aug 31st 2025 at 5:20 AM
Downloads:
4771
Follow Unfollow 80
Latest release (for Vintage Story 1.21.0, potentially outdated):
zdriftertweak1.3.zip  1-click install

There are a lot of similar mods out there, but none that do things exactly how I wanted. So this is my version of modifying drifter spawns and looting.

Spawning:

  • Max light level was reduced to 4.
    This makes it easier to spawn-proof underground areas.

  • Spawn height was reduced to 0.9.
    From my experience, this guarantees they no longer spawn on the surface. I tried 0.95 and had quite a few pop up while exploring at night, presumably due to some shallow pits or something. I have roamed around over quite a distance on the surface at night with it set to 0.9 and haven't seen any yet.

Looting:

  • Loot drops immediately, no butchering necessary.
  • Corpses decay in 0.1 hours, so no cleanup necessary either.

 

Update for 1.20. Added all the same changes to the two new monsters.

Updated for 1.21. The folder path changed. The new rip looting added for falx doesn't seem to be compatible with the auto dropping loot thing, but auto dropping everything works better than the rip looting imho.

Mod Version Mod IdentifierFor Game version Downloads Released Changelog Download 1-click mod install*
1.3.0 driftertweak
882 Aug 31st 2025 at 5:20 AM zdriftertweak1.3.zip 1-click install

Updated the mod to the new 1.21 folder structure. Note that the loot changes seem to disable the new rip looting feature with falx, but I prefer getting all the loot automatically at the end to possibly getting some loot during the fight.

1.2.1 driftertweak
2729 Dec 16th 2024 at 3:47 AM zdriftertweak1.2.1.zip 1-click install

Changed the way it patches the loot, so that it moves the loot table over instead of rewriting it, to improve compatibility with future game versions and other mods. Also added a "z" to the file name, since this seems to make it come later in the load order - but I'm not sure how effective this is. It did work with "Useful Drifter Loot" when I tried it, where it was causing an error without the 'z'.

1.2.0 driftertweak
79 Dec 16th 2024 at 2:36 AM driftertweak1.2.0 for 1.20rc4.zip 1-click install

Updated for RC4.

1.1.0 driftertweak
324 Oct 30th 2024 at 5:48 AM driftertweak1.1.0 for 1.20.zip 1-click install

Added the new monsters from 1.20 pre (bowtorn and shiver) to the mod. Same changes as the ones to drifters (light level 4, spawn at 0.9 max, auto-drop loot, 0.1 hour corpse decay)

1.0.0 driftertweak
757 Jul 7th 2024 at 3:47 AM Empty driftertweak1.0.0.zip 1-click install

13 Comments (oldest first | newest first) (threaded | flat)

Cian , Mar 13th at 5:03 PM

Huh. It was just quietly failing but apparently started crashing. Sorry about that, my personal life has been busy and I haven't had a chance to fix it. I'll look into it as soon as I get the chance.

Devious_Soldier, Feb 25th at 2:09 AM

I'm getting the same result as RawrSheepy, ctd when attacking with a falx.

RawrSheepy, Oct 9th 2025 at 9:31 PM

Me and my friends are using this mod on 1.21.4 and we seem to get an exception with rip harvesting when attacking a shiver with a falx.

Here is the of the error

Crash Report
[Error] Exception: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Vintagestory.GameContent.EntityBehaviorRipHarvestable.OnEntityReceiveDamage(DamageSource damageSource, Single& damage) in VSSurvivalMod\Entity\Behavior\EntityBehaviorRipHarvestable.cs:line 33
   at Vintagestory.API.Common.Entities.Entity.ReceiveDamage(DamageSource damageSource, Single damage) in VintagestoryApi\Common\Entity\Entity.cs:line 932
   at Vintagestory.API.Common.EntityAgent.OnInteract(EntityAgent byEntity, ItemSlot slot, Vec3d hitPosition, EnumInteractMode mode) in VintagestoryApi\Common\Entity\EntityAgent.cs:line 415
   at Vintagestory.Server.ServerSystemEntitySimulation.HandleEntityInteraction(Packet_Client packet, ConnectedClient client) in VintagestoryLib\Server\Systems\World\EntitySimulation.cs:line 316
   at Vintagestory.Server.ServerMain.HandleClientPacket_mainthread(ReceivedClientPacket cpk) in VintagestoryLib\Server\ServerMainNetworking.cs:line 280
   at Vintagestory.Server.ServerMain.ProcessMain() in VintagestoryLib\Server\ServerMain.cs:line 934
Rogue77, Sep 1st 2025 at 2:09 PM

Awesome stuff, one of my fav mods! Really appreciate the work and testing. ty!

Cian , Aug 31st 2025 at 5:29 AM

MarximusMaximus

I didn't bother going through the trouble of adding a config, but I made a quick alt version without that change here: https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/28920

MarximusMaximus, Jan 23rd 2025 at 4:07 AM

Any chance of making the spawn height configurable? I want everything else except till want nighttime spawns away from lights. Thank you!

Cian , Dec 16th 2024 at 3:52 AM

I thought about it, and did another quick patch to see if I could get it working with mods that change drifter loot. I changed the patch that I used to the "move" function instead of deleting and replacing wholesale. So as long as it loads after any mod that adjusts drifter loot, it should grab the modified loot tables that the other mod changed. This should also make it more compatible with future versions, if Vintage Story ever changes monster loot.

Upon testing, it stil caused issues with "Useful Drifter Loot", so I renamed the file to add a "z". This seems to have made it load later, I guess it does it alphabetically? Regardless, whether it was due to the file being edited more recently or the "z" at the front - it seems to be compatible with other mods affecting drifter loot now.

For anyone who downloaded version 1.2.0, 1.2.1 doesn't actually do anything mechanically different from 1.2.0 in RC4 so you don't really have to update unless you want to use it with monster loot mods.

Cian , Dec 16th 2024 at 2:49 AM

VSkeleton

Was just a very slight change to the entity types for the new ones in the RC versions, got a fix up for it.

kitrana

Are you using my mod with another one that edits drifter loot? That patch error isn't from my mod, but mine is likely causing it to throw that error. This mod wouldn't be compatible with anything that changes drifter/shiver/bowtorn loot, as it overwrites the way they drop their loot by deleting the harvestable behavior and replacing it with instant drops.

Cian , Dec 16th 2024 at 2:10 AM

Something must have changed in the RCs, this one was made for Pre. I'll have to grab the latest RC and see what was changed. Patches like this can break pretty easy if the structure of the files gets changed too much.

VSkeleton, Dec 15th 2024 at 12:31 AM

Awesome mod, a new must-have for me even. It doesnt appear that the new 1.20 mobs actually drop items, though. They will die, cant be skinned, and bodies dissapear quickly after all without producing any kind of drops. I hope this bug is addressed in the future because this mod is fantastic otherwise.

DUCATISLO, Nov 30th 2024 at 10:20 PM

nice

kitrana, Nov 27th 2024 at 6:48 PM

27.11.2024 13:48:03 [Error] Patch 0 (target: game:entities/land/drifter.json) in game:patches/survival-entities-land-drifter.json failed because supplied path /server/behaviors/9/dropsByType/*-normal is invalid: The json path /server/behaviors/9/dropsByType/*-normal was not found. Could traverse until /server/behaviors, but then '9' does not exist. Full json at this path: [

error code

herbemoji, Aug 4th 2024 at 10:39 PM

Does this still allow drifters to spawn during storms? I'm sick of being hassled on the surface during normal gameplay, but I feel storms should still be hella dangerous.

 

Edit: They still spawn during storms. In my house, even! Hooray...