Better Than Heresy is a Vintage Story mod by EreticKB. Better Than Heresy expands survival crafting with straw, leather processing, ash products, compost, charcoal powder, new molds, and practical tool tweaks.
Why this mod is worth installing
This content mod suits players who want more useful by-products from farming, forestry, mining, and leatherwork without adding scripted systems. It is especially helpful for flexible early and mid-game crafting.
What Better Than Heresy adds
Better Than Heresy adds a broader crafting loop around farm waste and basic materials. Grain crops can provide straw, which becomes thatch, compost, briquettes, and other useful products, while ash, lye, and potash offer additional ways to process wood and improve fertilizing.
Leatherwork is reworked so hides become tanned hide that must be sliced into leather. Prepared and scraped materials can also be cut, and shears provide a better result. The mod also adds egg cooking in a firepit, a flint saw made through knapping, and extra smithing options for spearheads and pairs of knives.
Several recipes make resource handling more convenient: molds can produce spears or multiple knives, muddy gravel can be washed for limestone, and charcoal powder supports briquettes and metalworking fuel. Compost combines straw, rot, and soil, then matures into fertilizer or richer soil products.
Harvesting rules are adjusted as well. Mature grain plants yield their products instead of dropping seeds, seeds can be made from several crops, and a skep can drop when honey is collected. The mod is content-only, so its changes come through items and recipes rather than scripts.
Where to download Better Than Heresy
The official Vintage Story Mod DB page is the right place to get the current release through the in-game mod manager.