Vintage Story FAQ — Complete Beginner Guide to Survival, Crafting, Mining and Trading
This Vintage Story FAQ answers common beginner questions about survival, crafting, tools and armor, traders, food preservation, temporal stability, mechanical power, farming, animals, mining and multiplayer.
How do I get started in Vintage Story?
Should I build a shelter near spawn?
Yes. A shelter near your spawn point can be useful during the early game, at least until you obtain Temporal Gear and can set your spawn point somewhere more convenient.
Tools, Weapons and Armor
Can tools and weapons be repaired?
No. Tools and weapons cannot be repaired.
Which classes are best for beginners?
Commoner, Hunter and Malefactor are recommended for new players.
How many resources are needed for armor?
A full set of chainmail armor requires smithing and 40 ingots on an anvil. A full set of plate armor requires 72 ingots.
Does armor drop when you die?
No. You will respawn wearing the armor pieces you had equipped before death. Armor can be repaired.
Traders and Trading
Where can I find traders in Vintage Story?
Traders are found in small outposts scattered across the surface. Some live in huts protected by palisades and gates, while others use ruins as underground dwellings.
How do I identify a trader outpost?
Trader outposts can be identified by a banner outside and a land claim that prevents players from placing or destroying blocks nearby.
What can I use at a trader outpost?
You can use the bed and resonator at an outpost. Interaction with firepits, chests, tool racks and items placed on the ground is prohibited.
Do traders appear in Homo Sapiens mode?
No. Trader outposts do not appear in Homo Sapiens mode, which removes story content.
How often does trader stock change?
Trader stock rotates. The shop interface shows when the next stock change will happen.
What currency do traders use?
All traders use rusty gears as currency.
How Does Food Preservation Work?
Does a cellar need to be deep underground?
No. A cellar does not become more effective simply because it is deeper underground.
Which blocks are best for a cellar?
Stone-type, soil-type and ceramic-type blocks are equally good cellar building materials. Glass and other materials reduce effectiveness but do not completely break the cellar.
Where can I find salt?
Salt is notoriously difficult to find. One option is to look for a trader who sells halite.
Temporal Stability
Does light protect against monsters?
Lots of light can prevent monster spawns on most normal days, but it does not work during temporal storms.
What should I do if temporal stability drains at my base?
You do not necessarily need to move your base. Find a stable location nearby and spend time there when necessary.
Temperature and Cold
Why do I get colder after swimming?
Getting wet from swimming makes the character much more susceptible to cold.
Mechanical Power and Windmills
Does windmill sail direction matter?
As of version 1.20.9, it does not matter which direction the windmill sails face.
At what height does a windmill get the maximum speed bonus?
A rotor at elevation Y 170 receives the maximum speed boost.
Why does my windmill stop when I connect a machine?
This means the connected machine requires more torque than is available. If there is a large wooden gear in the power train, try removing it until you have several more sets of sails.
Crafting in Vintage Story
How does knapping work?
Hitting a knapping surface with a bare hand will not create a tool and will eventually break the material. Any stone in the active hand works.
How do I find alternative crafting recipes?
The Survival Handbook cycles through valid recipe alternatives. Cattails can usually be used instead of vines or papyrus.
Why does a recipe fail when all items are in the correct positions?
If all components are positioned as shown by the Handbook but the recipe produces nothing, try again with tools that have not lost much durability.
How do I dismantle a copper anvil?
Dismantling a copper anvil requires a brand-new copper chisel or a higher-tier chisel.
Can I add molten metal to an already partially filled mold?
Yes. Molten metal can be added to a mold that is partially filled with hardened metal.
Can I cool hot metal with water?
Yes, water can cool hot metal faster, but there is a high risk of breaking the mold and losing some metal. Protect the mold from rain.
Should I smith an item or use a mold?
Many items can only be produced on an anvil. If a mold option is available, using the mold is recommended.
How much do I need to make jam?
A single portion of jam uses the cooking pot's four slots as follows: 1 fruit + 1 fruit + 0.2 L honey + 0.2 L honey. A full batch requires 6 fruit + 6 fruit + 1.2 L honey + 1.2 L honey.
Which wood is needed for tannin?
Only oak and acacia are valid for making tannin.
Why does the Seal button not work on a barrel?
If the Seal button on a barrel does not work, there is a problem with the ingredient types or their ratios.
Foraging and Resources
Do loose stones and ore nuggets respawn?
No. Loose stones, ore nuggets and most other resources never respawn.
Do mushrooms respawn?
Yes. Mushrooms continually regrow in approximately the same locations.
Panning and Finding Copper
What is panning used for?
Panning allows you to obtain resources such as native copper ore nuggets from sand, gravel and bony soil.
Early in the game, panning is a slow but reliable alternative to searching the surface for copper nuggets. On average, about 34 blocks of sand or gravel and 22 minutes of panning are needed for the 40 starting copper nuggets required for a copper hammer and pickaxe.
Farming and Animal Husbandry
What is farming used for?
Farming allows players to grow food crops, fiber crops for linen fabric and grain crops for feeding domesticated animals.
How does animal breeding work?
Breeding requires one male and one female. The female must be given appropriate feed in a trough.
Domestication is determined by generation. Wild animals are generation 0, while offspring of a generation 0 female are generation 1. As generations increase, aggressive animals such as pigs and sheep stop attacking the player unless provoked. Flighty animals such as chickens and hares stop being afraid of the player.
How do I find bees?
To find bees, you need to hear them. Turn down weather, effects and entity volume while keeping ambient volume high. Headphones are recommended, ideally with directional output. Pay close attention near areas with lots of trees.
How to Mine Ores in Vintage Story
What do I need to leave the Stone Age?
You need a regular pickaxe, not a prospecting pick, and a hammer, not a helve hammer.
How do I find ore underground?
Make a prospecting pick and study prospecting guides. Understanding the results can take some time.
How deep do I need to dig for copper?
Surface copper deposits are small and shallow. Large deposits of most ores are much deeper. Expect to dig vertical shafts below elevation Y 72 before finding the copper forecast by the prospecting pick's Density mode.
Multiplayer and Base Protection
How do I protect my house and items from other players?
Use the built-in land claims system. You can define an area with a specific height and depth that can only be edited and used by you or your group.
Other players cannot break blocks or pick up items from the ground or from chests within the protected area.
Does time stop when the server is empty?
By default, in-game time and the calendar pause when the server is empty and every player has left. The server administrator can change this setting.
How to Keep Your Inventory After Death
How do I enable keep inventory when creating a new world?
When creating a new world, click Customize, find Death punishment and select Keep inventory contents.
How do I keep my inventory in an existing world?
In an existing world, use /worldconfig deathPunishment keep in chat.
To restore the default item-drop behavior, use /worldconfig deathPunishment drop.
Other Vintage Story Questions
Where is the Vintage Story screenshot folder?
Screenshots taken with F12 by default are saved in your My Pictures folder. On Windows, the usual path is %userprofile%\Pictures\Vintagestory.
Can I play Vintage Story through a cloud service?
Yes, a service such as Shadow Tech can be used as long as the game was officially purchased.
Can wolves be tamed?
Not yet. Traders buy and sell wolf pups, but players cannot pick up wild wolf pups. Once a purchased pup is released into the world, it becomes wild and cannot be picked up again. It will eventually grow into a normal, aggressive wolf.
Original FAQ
This article is based on the original Vintage Story Wiki FAQ. Read the full original version on the official Vintage Story Wiki — Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).