Interesting Ore Gen is a Vintage Story mod by RosstheGreat. Interesting Ore Gen overhauls ore generation with large, varied deposits, tracer veins, faults, chimneys, and hydro tubes.
Why this mod is worth installing
This mod suits players who want mining in Vintage Story to feel like exploration: deposits are harder to locate, but a successful find can provide a substantial supply. It is especially useful for worlds where ordinary disc-shaped veins feel too predictable.
What Interesting Ore Gen adds
Interesting Ore Gen replaces much of the familiar ore layout with several distinct geological shapes. Fault veins form broad, thin discs, chimneys create tall branching columns, and hydro tubes stretch through rock as narrow, twisting networks that may continue for hundreds of blocks. Some formations can include richer central sections or smaller secondary deposits.
Large-scale faults add another layer to exploration. They can run for thousands of blocks through host rocks such as granite, basalt, travertine, or quartz-bearing granite, with ore arrangements that vary between structures. Fault ladders, ore shoots, and horsetail zones make a promising region worth investigating instead of stopping after one exposed pocket.
The mod also changes how players track deposits. Surface boulders can mark a nearby source, while tracer veins offer an imperfect route toward the main body, sometimes forcing careful digging and interpretation. Ore placement is less tied to the usual map, although common materials such as coal remain more widely distributed.
Mining is riskier because IOG-specific cave-ins are part of its intended balance. The in-game handbook explains the main mechanics, while the mod's own saltpeter generation adds another resource to seek underground.
Fault Veins
A broad, thin fault vein cuts through the terrain in an unusual orientation, carrying silver-bearing quartz. These deposits can span a wide area while remaining only a few blocks thick.
Chimney Formations
This side view shows a vertical chimney of native copper. Such solid columns can branch, bend, contain richer material toward the center, and sometimes include secondary deposits.
Hydro Tubes
A zinc hydro tube forms a long, narrow, branching path through the surrounding rock. These formations can twist across great distances and provide a substantial amount of ore.
Fault Ladder
A large-scale fault ladder structure introduces a long geological feature containing several different vein types. It demonstrates how IOG expands ore generation beyond isolated deposits.
Ore Shoots
An ore shoot is shown as one of the specialized vein forms found within the mod's larger geological structures.
Horsetail Zones
This horsetail zone contains visible gold and zinc ore within the branching end of a major fault. The formation spreads outward into several smaller extensions.
Two Faults in a Gravel Desert
Two major faults appear close together across a broad gravel landscape, showing how large structures can dominate an otherwise plain region.
Cave In Logic
The mining scene illustrates the danger of cave-ins around IOG-generated deposits. Finding a vein is only part of the challenge; unsupported underground workings can also become hazardous.
Where to download Interesting Ore Gen
The official Vintage Story Mod DB page is the right place to get the current release through the in-game mod manager.
Download the Interesting Ore Gen mod on mods.vintagestory.at