Ok, I gave this a try and it was amazing. My house is on the shore of a massive lake. And it's been driving me crazy that the ice formed out to a solid line dead in the middle of the lake. But I didn't want to raft out there and sit for days till all the ice got around to freezing. Then I installed this (and yes you can install it normally even though it's not zipped) as soon as I logged in I opened my map and watched everything in my explored area just instantly freeze over as it should have already been. But be warned, it did freeze my poor potato of a computer for several seconds while it worked. I think this is best used by unloading it before the start of a new season because the sudden all at once change is Emerson breaking. But once everything around you is changed, load this to get everything out of range caught up. And looking uniform everywhere. Or keep it loaded while you travel in cold climates, so the ice is frozen when you inter a new area, as it really would be. Very useful in any event. It solves a problem I didn't even know could be solved.

This is not zipped is it installed same as other mods or does it need to be placed some place special

Not zipped?

Oh! This is just the mod I was looking for, thank you for making it!
I'll have to properly try it out next time I play!

TheInsanityGod basic game works on loaded chunks and gradually freeze/unfreeze water.

Also I know about that bug and if it possible I will fix it.

Thank you for your feedback 😄

Love the idea, though sadly doesn't help much when the chunks stay loaded for most of the time (either when not leaving base or when playing multiplayer/server).

Also seaweed refuses to freeze, not sure what's up with that but added it to the issue tracker.