What happened to mining?

[MadMartigan]

I started a new Navezgane world in the most recent update with traders. I’m mining in the exact same spot as my last play through. This time around tho, there doesn’t seem to be any veins of ore. I’ve been mining for an hour straight, depleting an entire 500 quality pickaxe and have only ran across 3-4 veins of iron and not one cole or nitrate vein. What happened? Last time around, I would’ve been loaded with materials by now.

[UnsentSoul]

It’d be easier for you to read through patch notes in the news section than us trying to figure out what your problem is.

[MadMartigan]

It’d be easier for you to read through patch notes in the news section than us trying to figure out what your problem is.

 

Thanks for assuming that I didn't do that already and for being absolutely no help whatsoever. Why must people be so rude for no apparent reason?

 

All the patch notes mention are new gravel patches with new ores. Nothing mentioned about there being a lack of minerals while mining.

[jackleroy]

I started a new Navezgane world in the most recent update with traders. I’m mining in the exact same spot as my last play through. This time around tho, there doesn’t seem to be any veins of ore. I’ve been mining for an hour straight, depleting an entire 500 quality pickaxe and have only ran across 3-4 veins of iron and not one cole or nitrate vein. What happened? Last time around, I would’ve been loaded with materials by now.

 

Are you on bedrock? That's where I typically find most of my ores now. Mining has changed a lot in the past few updates. Biomes are ore specific now. You'll get iron in the forest, lead and nitrate in the burnt forest, oil shale in the desert, etc. The veins also just seem smaller to me than they used to be. It's aot more difficult and time consuming.

[MadMartigan]

No, just about 15-20 blocks down. Looks like I’ll need to dig down some more. Thanks for the helpful info.

 

Edit: Went all the way back to patch 6 notes and didn’t see where ores were biome specific now. I’ll check again. That being said, my last save was only a few months back and I was finding all of them in the same biome.

[jackleroy]

No, just about 15-20 blocks down. Looks like I’ll need to dig down some more. Thanks for the helpful info.

 

Edit: Went all the way back to patch 6 notes and didn’t see where ores were biome specific now. I’ll check again. That being said, my last save was only a few months back and I was finding all of them in the same biome.

 

Maybe specific wasn't the right word to choose. It's listed in the wiki as being PREDOMINANT. If your play through is anything like mine, you'll come across the occasional lead or coal vein, but the vast majority of what you get is going to depend on the bio me you're in. Here's the actual rundown and it seems more or less accurate for console:

 

Forest: Lead Ore

Pine Forest: Lead Ore

Plains: Coal Ore

Desert: Oil Deposit

Wasteland: Potassium Nitrate

Burnt Forest: Coal Ore

[MadMartigan]

Thanks again for the helpful info.

[Faolan]

Well fron numerous mpas and lots of experience I can tell you that 90% of the time that ore veins move. Iv had a map, that i restarted, and when I restarted it I named it the same as the previous map, but when I dug to find the ore mine that I had, I came out empty. And this is true for any map. Its a hidden random element of the game.

 

Needless to say, dont expect a ore vein to be in the same spot. It can either move, or completly disapear. Finding gravel spots on the surfac helps as the is ore beneath those spots. Supposedly.

[MadMartigan]

I can totally understand the maps ores rearranging. I’m just not used to only mining stone for an hour. I’ve played on many maps and never had this issue. Just seems like something has changed. Could just be my luck

[Mr8liner]

You can get raw iron,nitrate,shale in the desert. I never go down to bedrock. 20 blocks down I'm usually good. I dig down 20 then go in a straight line. Bad thing is, you can miss alot of resources by one block. You can also go down 30-40 blocks,then when you find what you're looking for, dig up to get to the top.

 

Also, the small Boulders​ on the ground are great for raw iron. Not much of a need anymore for nitrate and coal for bullets or lead. I don't make bullets anymore and have more then I know what to do with

[GRAW2ROBZ]

You can get raw iron,nitrate,shale in the desert. I never go down to bedrock. 20 blocks down I'm usually good. I dig down 20 then go in a straight line. Bad thing is, you can miss alot of resources by one block. You can also go down 30-40 blocks,then when you find what you're looking for, dig up to get to the top.

 

Also, the small Boulders​ on the ground are great for raw iron. Not much of a need anymore for nitrate and coal for bullets or lead. I don't make bullets anymore and have more then I know what to do with

 

I still make bullets. But mainly use my bow. As for digging. I thought about digging another tunnel to the other miles of tunnels I already have. I should start from my other tunnel and dig to my new outpost of boobie trap building. I'd start from the boobie trap. But not sure the depth of the nearest tunnel. I want the tunnel looking nice. Chance I might make it a bike road in the tunnels. Looks like i'm gonna need a lot of torches again and gonna need to grab a minor helmet before I leave the boobie trap.

[PO_Man_3849]

I've been following these forums for several months now, but just recently I've seen numerous references to "the boobie trap" what is this?

[Tin]

I've been following these forums for several months now, but just recently I've seen numerous references to "the boobie trap" what is this?

 

strip joint/bar poi

[PO_Man_3849]

/facepalm... I've never seen one in game guess I should have put more thought into it lol..

[Walterstj]

I started a whole debate on this awhile ago... My old base was at bedrock under the farm, the entire surrounding area was iron vein, coal, nitrate, etc.... I started a new map with the traders and went right back to where I was and I couldn't find anything but lead... I have tunnels running to the pass n gas by the desert and tunnels running to Perishton... I found iron in the desert and nitrate right under the bank in Perishton... I had a whole debate about gravel patches, idk if they matter or not... I've dug out a few and haven't seen a significant amount of anything at a gravel patch that I haven't seen somewhere else... I pretty much resolved to breaking down the smaller white boulders and I dug out the cave in the forest biome for nitrate until I found the big spot in Perishton... Happy hunting.....

[MadMartigan]

I'm going to start a new mine inside the factory, down in the wasteland. Hopefully will have some better luck there with nitrate. Need to secure the building and trip some land mines before I get started. Didn't know mines were in the wasteland now. Obviously the zombie who showed me didn't either.

[skullpoker]

Adding some info from PC config files.

 

Every biome has 1 main ore type, some Iron, and some much less common ore types. Here's the code for Snowy Forest.

 

<layer depth="4" blockname="snow" > <resource blockname="gravelPlusIron" cluster="1" prob="0.071" rwgGenerationType="all" /> </layer>
			<layer depth="3" blockname="dirt" > <resource blockname="clay" cluster="1" prob="0.2" rwgGenerationType="all" /> <resource blockname="gravelPlusIron" cluster="1" prob="0.811" rwgGenerationType="all" /> </layer>
			<layer depth="*" blockname="stone" >
				<resource blockname="ironOre" cluster="1" prob="0.1130" rwgGenerationType="all" />
				<resource blockname="gravelPlusIron" cluster="1" prob="0.8130" rwgGenerationType="all" />
				<resource blockname="silverOre"  cluster="1" prob="0.00030" rwgGenerationType="all" />
				<resource blockname="goldOre"    cluster="1" prob="0.00020" rwgGenerationType="all" />
				<resource blockname="diamondOre" cluster="1" prob="0.00010" rwgGenerationType="all" />
			</layer>
			<layer depth="1" blockname="stone" > <resource blockname="gravelPlusIron" cluster="1" prob="0.8130" rwgGenerationType="all" /> </layer>
			<layer depth="10" blockname="stone" >
				<resource blockname="potassiumNitrate" cluster="1" prob="0.1130" rwgGenerationType="all" />
				<resource blockname="gravelPlusPotassium" cluster="1" prob="0.8130" rwgGenerationType="all" />
				<resource blockname="silverOre"  cluster="1" prob="0.00030" rwgGenerationType="all" />
				<resource blockname="goldOre"    cluster="1" prob="0.00020" rwgGenerationType="all" />
				<resource blockname="diamondOre" cluster="1" prob="0.00010" rwgGenerationType="all" />
			</layer>
			<layer depth="1" blockname="stone" > <resource blockname="gravel" cluster="1" prob="0.8130" rwgGenerationType="all" /> </layer>
			<layer depth="3" blockname="bedrock" />
		</layers>
		<decorations>
			<decoration type="prefab" name="resource_oilshale_pile" prob=".0007" rotatemax="7"/>
			<decoration type="prefab" name="resource_coal_pile" prob=".0007" rotatemax="7"/>
			<decoration type="block" blockname="rock05" prob =".001" />
			<decoration type="block" blockname="rock06" prob =".001" />
			<decoration type="block" blockname="rock07" prob =".001" />
			<decoration type="block" blockname="rockResource" prob =".025" rotatemax="3"/>
			<decoration type="block" blockname="rockResource02" prob =".025" rotatemax="3"/>
			<decoration type="block" blockname="cntBirdnest" prob ="0.002" />
			<decoration type="block" blockname="lootForestHelper" prob="0.001"/>
			<decoration type="block" blockname="plantedBlueberry3Harvest" prob=".001"/>
			<decoration type="block" blockname="snowberry3Harvest" prob =".1" />
			<decoration type="block" blockname="treeSnowyGrassDiagonal" prob =".4" />
		</decorations>
	</subbiome>

 

This shows that Iron and Nitrate should appear in Snowy Forest in equal amounts, with much smaller chances to find Coal and oil shale in this specific sub-biome. This means there can be other sub-biomes with different "small chance" ores and surface decorations. However at a chance of 7 in 1000, it isn't going to be an appreciable amount of any other ores than Iron and the main ore so it's best to look in the specific biome for other ores you want.

 

In general, Navelgaze isn't great for this, but in Random Gen maps you can often find a spot where Snow/Wasteland(nitrate), Plains/Burning Forest(Coal), and green Forest(Lead) all meet at one point and this is a great spot to dig a mine for gunpowder and bullet tip materials. You dig down as far as you want(bedrock is safest, elevation -57) and then dig a tunnel through each biome to mine all you need.