SnowDay

SnowDay

Turn the Deep North into a real winter: snow that piles up 2 m deep, that you plow, dig into caves, build igloos from and cross on snowshoes.

At a glance

• Snow up to 2 m deep. It builds up while it snows, with soft, curved edges instead of the game's square steps.
• Trails that behave like snow. Every step pushes snow into banks beside you, and trails fill back in while it snows, even while you are away.
• A Snow Shovel that clears the way. Swing to scoop up Snow, crouch and swing to shove snow aside, hold block to plow a path.
• Snow you can sculpt. Pile up snow mountains, dig tunnels and caves, and flatten walls and floors with a brush.
• Six snow building pieces for igloos and forts. They hold weight like ice and melt near fires.
• Snowshoes (4 Wood, 4 Leather scraps) keep you on top of the deep snow at 90 % of your normal speed.
• Bases that fit the winter. Build straight into deep snow, fires clear their own spot, roofs turn white in a snowfall, and floors never make you wade.

Needs Jotunn. Everyone on the server needs SnowDay, the host included.

Features

Deep snow that builds up

• Builds up while it snows. Untouched Deep North snow starts at the game's own depth (1.1 to 1.4 m) and grows to 2 m over about 30 in-game days of snowfall, 1.7 to 2 m between drifts. Trails, shovelled spots and banks rise with it.
• Shaped by what is around it. Snow doesn't build up under roofs or floors on the ground. Round tree trunks it is lower, half the game's own at the trunk and full depth about 2 m out.
• Deeper snow is slower. On top of the game's own wading, deep snow slows players and creatures up to a quarter more at 2 m. A creature you ride wades like you do.
• Seasons. With RustyMods Seasonality, snow builds up twice as fast in winter, at the normal rate in spring and fall, and not at all in summer. An optional summer melt brings it back down (off by default).
• Smooth snow edges. Snow is drawn from a map four times finer, so trails and holes curve, the deep snow's 1 m steps round off into slopes, cracks between pieces of ground close, and no grass pokes out of deep snow. Only the look changes, and each player decides.
• A steady camera. The camera rides just above deep snow and stays out of solid snow, easing in and out instead of jumping.

Trails, banks and refill

• Snow pushed aside. Footsteps, landings, swings, creatures and falling trees push the snow they move into a low bank just outside the spot, so trails get snow walls. Never on paths, next to buildings, under roofs or near fires.
• Creature trails. Creatures leave trails sized to them, with banks of their own. Flying ones leave none.
• Snow fills back in. While it snows, trails and dug spots fill back to the depth of the snow around them: about one in-game day of snowfall from bare ground to full. A spot you just changed waits 10 minutes first, so the hole you are digging stays open.
• Catches up while you are away. Come back and your trails fill in by how much it snowed while nobody was there, worked out from the game's own weather schedule. Half an hour of snowfall fills a trail dug to bare ground.

Building in the snow

• Build anywhere in deep snow. Every piece can be placed without shovelling first.
• Fires keep clear. A fire, brazier, torch or anything else that burns clears the snow under it and a little around it. Burning fires go on melting the snow nearby, as in the game.
• No wading on floors. Standing on any building piece, solid snow or snow block never slows you and leaves no trail below.
• Snow on roofs. Pieces open to the sky turn white after a few minutes of snowfall, are full after about 15 and keep their snow in clear weather. Pieces near heat stay bare. Existing builds turn white as you come by. Snow never damages a piece unless you turn that on.

The Snow Shovel

• Plow. Hold block and walk forward: the shovel clears a path about 1 m wide down to the ground. Most of the snow builds up in front of the blade and is carried along as you walk, the rest goes into banks beside the path, and a mound stays where you stop (at most about 1 m over the snow around it; more spills to the sides). You still block hits, and everyone sees you leaning in with the blade on the snow.
• Collect Snow. A swing scoops up Snow from deep snow (1 a swing) and from snowy roofs (1 more). Snow stacks to 100, weighs 0.2 and never melts in your pack or in chests.
• Shove. A crouched swing pushes the snow in front of you (about 1 m wide and 1.5 m long) into a heap ahead and banks beside. Shovel swing swaps the two swings.
• Key hints. With the shovel in hand, a row over the game's key hints shows which keys collect, shove and plow.

Solid snow: mountains, tunnels and caves

• Shape it like terrain. With the Snow Shovel in hand, press H for snow shaping. Attack piles up solid snow where you aim, block digs it out, and the secondary attack flattens it (or smooths it) so floors, walls and ceilings come out straight.
• Three brushes. J switches between a ball, a square block that lines up on a grid for straight walls, and a round pile. Left Alt + mouse wheel sizes the brush, and a see-through preview shows where the snow lands.
• Real ground. You walk on solid snow, build on it and shelter under it. Piled-up snow falls onto what is below it: squares drop whole, balls and piles settle like sand. Hold Left Shift to place it exactly at the brush instead. Snow already there never falls, so overhangs and caves hold.
• Fair cost. Adding costs 1 Snow per cubic metre, and digging gives it back.
• It melts. A fire in a snow cave widens it by about 3 m an hour, and outside the Deep North and the Mountains solid snow slowly melts away.
• Safe to use. It never buries anyone, snow piled where you stand lifts you onto it, and items in its way are lifted on top.

Snow blocks