Heartwood: An Ecosystem Platform
Core ecosystem simulation platform for Vintage Story.
Description
Heartwood
This mod is in active development and not feature-complete. Expect bugs, missing content, and breaking changes between versions. Save compatibility is not guaranteed during the pre-release period. Feedback and bug reports are welcome.
Persistent Populations
Wildlife populations are simulated 24/7 by an external Go server using logistic growth models. Animals persist across chunk loads, server restarts, and player sessions.
- Populations grow, decline, and migrate between habitat patches
- Predator-prey dynamics with configurable food webs
- Seasonal presence modifiers per species
- Hunting pressure tracking — overhunting reduces local populations
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Habitat Patches
The world is automatically divided into habitat patches based on temperature, rainfall, and vegetation. Species spawn only in habitats that match their ecological niche.
- 16 habitat types from frozen tundra to tropical forest
- Carrying capacity varies by patch size and quality
- Migration corridors connect neighboring patches
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Entity Lifecycle
Heartwood manages the full lifecycle of every entity it controls — from spawn to death.
- Entities materialize when chunks load, persist when chunks unload
- UUID-tagged for round-trip identity across sessions
- Spawn suppression — native VS spawning is replaced for managed species
- Age stages, breeding, home establishment, and natural death
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Herds, Homes & Settlements
The simulation tracks group behavior, territory, and NPC villages — not just individual entities.
- Herd membership and cohesion managed server-side
- Home/den/nest assignments with establishment and decay
- Settlement data synced for NPC village population modeling
Addon Architecture
Heartwood doesn't add any creatures itself. Instead, addon mods register species from other mods (vanilla VS, Critters, MoreAnimals, etc.) with the ecosystem platform.
- Wingspan — registers birds, adds flocking, nesting, birdwatching
- Fauna — registers land animals, adds herding, denning, predator AI
- Settlement — registers NPCs, adds autonomous villages with construction
Any mod author can write their own addon to register species with Heartwood.
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Web Dashboard
Built-in web UI at localhost:8080 with real-time visualization.
- Entity map with species color-coding and player tracking
- Habitat patch overlay with population counts
- Population heatmap and migration corridors
- Species registry, event log, and settlement markers
- Optional password authentication for remote access
Download
No download link is available for this entry right now.
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