Pattern Mining

Pattern Mining (formerly Vertical Mining)

...:::What's New:::...

 

Pattern Mining 3.5.0 — Axes

Pattern mining now works with axes, alongside pickaxes and shovels. Hold one to
cycle patterns with Ctrl+P and to break the pattern's extra blocks.

Axes are a demolition tool, not a logging tool. An axe only widens a hit on
man-made woodwork — planks, slabs, stairs, fences, gates, doors, ladders,
support beams, furniture, placed logs. Trees and natural wood are left alone:
standing trunks, branches, leaves, bamboo, fern trees, and deadfall like rotten
logs, loose sticks and driftwood.

Tree felling is untouched. Swinging an axe at a tree never triggers a pattern,
so you won't shear the planks off a treehouse while chopping the trunk beside
it, and the hit costs no extra durability.

 

Shovels now work with Pattern Mining!

• Hold a shovel (or a pickaxe, as before) and press Ctrl+P to cycle patterns.
  - Shovels dig soil, gravel, sand and snow. Stone, ore and wood in your pattern
    are left standing — switch to a pickaxe for those.
  - Bug fix: a full pattern could destroy a nearly-spent tool despite the
    "tools won't break from pattern mining" rule. Fixed.

• Adds a Single 1x1 pattern that breaks only the block you hit — no extra tool
  wear, no mining speed penalty. It's now the pattern you start on, so you can
  leave Pattern Mining enabled all the time and it won't change how you mine
  until you cycle to something bigger.

  Single 1x1 is first in the cycle. Your existing pattern carries across on your
  next login — if you were mining with Cross, you'll still be on Cross.

  The on-screen dot grid is now larger and tighter, so the active pattern reads
  as one shape at a glance. Both are adjustable in patternmining.json:
  HudScale for dot size (default 1.6) and HudDotSpacing for the gap between
  them (default 0.72, lower is tighter).

 

The pattern-cycle key is rebindable — change it in Settings > Controls or in
patternmining.json.

Side: Client and Server
Hotkeys: Ctrl+P (cycle patterns)  Commands: /pm (toggle on/off)

New: on-screen pattern indicator. A small 3×3 dot grid shows the shape of your active mining pattern while Pattern Mining is enabled, tucked just left of the off-hand slot. It hides when you
toggle off with /pm, and follows pattern cycling live. Turn it off with "ShowHud": false in patternmining.json.

 

Description

Pattern Mining expands on the original Vertical Mining concept by giving you five
distinct mining patterns to choose from, all accessible through a simple hotkey.
Whether you're shaft mining, clearing tunnels, or carving out rooms, there's a
pattern to match your task. Larger patterns come with trade-offs — increased tool
wear and slower mining speed — keeping things balanced and grounded in realistic
gameplay. As of 3.0.0, those trade-offs are fully configurable.

Mining Patterns

 

Pattern	Shape	Extra Blocks	Tool Wear	Mining Speed
Center 1x1	Center	1	Normal	100%
Vertical 1x2	Center + below	1	Normal	100%
Column 1x3	Center + above + below	2	+10%	85%
Horizontal 3x1	Center + left + right	2	+15%	85%
Cross	Center + above + below + left + right	4	+20%	70%
Tunnel 3x3	Full 3x3 face	8	+25%	50%

Pattern Diagrams

 

Center 1x1    Vertical 1x2    Column 1x3    Horizontal 3x1    Cross      Tunnel 3x3
  _ _ _          _ _ _           _ x _         _ _ _             _ x _      x x x
  _ x _          _ x _           _ x _         x x x             x x x      x x x
  _ _ _          _ x _           _ x _         _ _ _             _ x _      x x x

 

How to Use

1. Type `/pm` in chat to toggle Pattern Mining on.
2. Hold a pickaxe or shovel and press **Ctrl+P** to cycle through the five mining patterns.
       The selected pattern and its stats are displayed in the chat window.
3. Mine any block — the extra blocks in your selected pattern will break automatically, based on which face of the block you hit.
4. Hold **Sneak** while mining to temporarily override the pattern and mine only a single block.
5. Type `/pm` again to toggle Pattern Mining off. Mining speed returns to normal.

 

Changing the "Cycle Mining Pattern" key

The default is Ctrl+P. To change it, pick whichever is easier:

In-game (easiest): Settings → Controls → search "Cycle Mining Pattern" → click it and press your new key. This overrides the config file.

Config file: edit patternmining.json in your Vintage Story ModConfig folder, then restart the game:
- Windows: %APPDATA%\VintagestoryData\ModConfig\patternmining.json
- Linux: ~/.config/VintagestoryData/ModConfig/patternmining.json
- macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/VintagestoryData/ModConfig/patternmining.json

"CycleHotkey": "P",
"CycleHotkeyCtrl": true,
"CycleHotkeyShift": false,
"CycleHotkeyAlt": false

CycleHotkey takes a key name — a letter (P, M), punctuation (Comma, Period), or function key (F6). Set any of the Ctrl/Shift/Alt flags to true to require that modifier. An unrecognized key
falls back to Ctrl+P.

Upgrading from an older version? If your patternmining.json predates v3.1.0 it won't have these lines — just add them inside the { }, or delete the file and let the mod regenerate it.

 

Crafting

No crafting required. The mod uses a chat command and hotkey to control.

 

Notes

• Defaults to **OFF** for new players.
  - Works with pickaxes and shovels.
  - A pickaxe or shovel must be highlighted in order to cycle through mining patterns with Ctrl+P.
  - Extra blocks must be within your tool's mining tier to be broken.
  - Horizontal patterns (Horizontal, Cross, Tunnel) are orientation-aware — left and right are based on which face of the block you're hitting, so the pattern always aligns with the wall in front of you.
  - Your pickaxe or shovel will not break from pattern mining — if it reaches 1 durability remaining, extra blocks stop breaking.
  - Mining speed reduction is applied as a player stat modifier while Pattern Mining is active. It is removed when you toggle off with `/pm`.

 

AI Disclosure: This mod was developed with the assistance of AI tools, and its full source code is linked on this page for anyone who wants to review it. If AI-assisted content isn't for you, please filter or skip this mod. The comment section is reserved for bug reports, compatibility questions, and gameplay feedback.