Wild West Climate

Wild West Climate is a small worldgen mod that makes part of the western world become hotter, drier, and more desert-like as you travel west.

The eastern side of the world is left mostly untouched and should feel like normal vanilla Vintage Story. As you travel west, the climate gradually shifts toward drylands and desert. The harshest desert climate is focused in a western desert belt instead of turning the entire west side of the world into endless desert.

If you travel far beyond the main desert region, the climate will gradually start to become more normal again.

This mod was originally made for my own personal Wild West playthrough, but I decided to upload it in case other players also wanted a more western-style survival world.

Head west, leave the green behind, and ride into the desert.

• Vanilla-like eastern regions — the eastern side of the world is mostly normal Vintage Story climate generation.
• East-to-west climate progression — the further west you travel, the warmer and drier the climate becomes.
• Western desert belt — the harshest desert climate is focused in a specific western region instead of covering the entire west side of the world.
• Natural fade-out — after the main desert belt, the climate gradually becomes more normal again.
• Reduced forests and shrubs in dry regions — dry western areas become more open and desert-like.
• Configurable starting regions — choose whether new players start in temperate, prairie, drylands, or desert regions.
• Configurable climate gradient — adjust desert size, desert position, and climate strength through a server-side config file.
• Optional Rivers and Watersheds compatibility — compatibility patches are applied automatically if those mods are installed.

When creating a new world, Wild West Climate adds a starting region option:

• Temperate Start — start in a mostly vanilla climate.
• Prairie Start — start closer to the beginning of the western drylands.
• Drylands Start — start near the beginning of the desert transition.
• Desert Start — start inside the main desert belt.

Starting region presets follow the configured climate gradient values, so if you change the desert position or size in the config file, the starting region positions will adjust with it.

Wild West Climate creates a server-side config file after the game has been started once with the mod installed.

VintagestoryData/ModConfig/WildWestClimate.json

This config can be used to adjust the desert position, desert size, climate strength, and Rivers compatibility threshold.

The climate gradient values are percentages of the western half of the world. For example, 0.20 means 20% of the way from the world center toward the western edge.

The values must be in this order:

PrairieStartPercent < DesertStartPercent < DesertEndPercent < FadeOutEndPercent

Default config example:

{
  "ClimateGradient": {
    "PrairieStartPercent": 0.1,
    "DesertStartPercent": 0.2,
    "DesertEndPercent": 0.6,
    "FadeOutEndPercent": 0.8
  },
  "ClimateStrength": {
    "RainfallReduction": 0.55,
    "TemperatureIncrease": 12.0,
    "ForestReduction": 0.85,
    "ShrubReduction": 0.45
  },
  "RiversCompatibility": {
    "DisableRiversAboveDesertFactor": 0.55
  }
}

Wild West Climate is designed to be lightweight and should work with many worldgen and biome mods, but worldgen mods can still affect each other depending on load order and how they change climate or terrain generation.

Optional compatibility is included for:

• Algernon's Watersheds
• Rivers

These mods are optional. Wild West Climate does not require them. If they are not installed, the compatibility patches are simply skipped.

For best results, this mod is recommended for new worlds.

• Recommended for new worlds.
• Works best when you want a western-style survival world.
• Travel west to reach drylands and desert regions.
• Use the config file if you want a smaller, larger, earlier, or later desert belt.
• Can be used with biome/worldgen mods, but results may vary depending on the mod setup.

This mod changes climate generation. Existing chunks will not be regenerated. For the cleanest experience, create a new world after installing or updating the mod.

Worldgen mods can interact in unpredictable ways, especially if multiple mods change climate, landforms, rivers, or vegetation. If something looks strange, try testing with fewer worldgen mods first.