Seasons Mod Thread #2

[Thefisherj]

It would be really neat if we could review an annual balance sheet at the end of each year to evaluate our overall performance throughout each year. It could even follow the same format as the end game cash analysis page but with annual totals instead.

With the seasons mod, as is in real life, influx and out flux of capital varies throughout the year, and as of yet we don't have a proper way of evaluating the annual effect.(PS4)

When oakfield farm comes out im going to note every income and outcome, crops yields, how many cows bred that year, bales created, bales used, bales sold, tractor hours just so I can see to a year to year basis on how I'm doing. I will be bringing my 122 cows from the west coast and £3.2m and that's it. I'm going to make myself do majority of the work myself on 5x and only get the carting done by courseplay when harvesting and that's it.

[DirectCedar]

I know this has been discussed previously but it is lost somewhere I think in the previous humungous Seasons thread.

Which of the two MR mods is compatible with Seasons and which is not? I believe it is intentionally split into two mods because part of it conflicts with Seasons.

[RetiredEGS]

I want snow lol i love seasons alot but i am now on my 3rd winter (6 day) on The Valley The Old Farm with U.S. Midwest geo and no snow. None. Have not used my snowblower yet. I am on PS4


Was going to ask how you can make a request for a Western Canadian geo with long winters and lots of snow lol. But I read no updates for consoles

[VMB-TAN]

What about the Sweden geo?

[*TurboStar*]

The engine is compatible, the gameplay will likely clash with some seasons features

Dural says:

short answer =

seasons = apply a scale to the prices (function of the season)
gameplay = only modify base prices

both can work together

[Thefisherj]

Don't use that bank mod as that co flirts with seasons.

[Peter Griffin]

I want snow lol i love seasons alot but i am now on my 3rd winter (6 day) on The Valley The Old Farm with U.S. Midwest geo and no snow. None. Have not used my snowblower yet. I am on PS4


Was going to ask how you can make a request for a Western Canadian geo with long winters and lots of snow lol. But I read no updates for consoles

They are making a Canadian geo which is a mod not an update and also if you want a better chance for snow use seasons without any geo mod

[K Money]

I think I have seen somewhere before but cant find it now, Is it possible to change the time it takes for trees to fully grow? currently 5 years if I remember correctly, I would like to make it shorter maybe 2 years?
Looked through all the XML's but couldn't see it unless I have overlooked it.
THanks

[fenixguy]

Okay, I'm chiming in again on some things I'm learning/discovering. I'm in late fall of year two and have learned (just as RODHA told me and I didn't want to listen ) it's much more enjoyable if you keep it on 5x (or 15x if you're feeling froggy). It makes it seem more like you're trying to squeeze in as much work as you can before it's dark. Every morning my animals need something, at least cleaning. By the time I'm done, it's 9:00 usually. I do some work and before I know it, it's night time again. I've only had maybe one or two days this year that I've skipped completely and I've not really expanded my TVTOF land that much. I've bought two extra fields. I'm still playing with 6 day seasons, but if I expand much more, I'll have to go to 9 just to get everything done.

More "tips" if you're finding seasons is giving you downtime:
Adjust your season length to the size of your farm. Small farms might be better with 6 or even 3 day seasons if you find you're skipping days.

Don't use OP equipment for fields that are only a few acres (like a 8m+ seeder for a 1 hectare field). Use equipment that fits and makes sense for your farm. Buy more land before buying a larger tractor/equipment. Once you're really struggling to keep up your work, then look into upgrading equipment. It doesn't make sense to have a $300,000 tractor on a farm that grows 30,000l of wheat a year. My big tractor on TVTOF is a Valtra N and I'm still growing into it.

Don't put time on 1x even for hay. Leave it on 5x and only mow what you can get put up before it rains. If it rains on your hay and you get less yield, you may have to squeeze in another cutting somewhere or buy another field. If your bales get rained on, accept the loss and move on. This is farming.

Above all, enjoy the mod. It's a completely new game. If you don't find yourself enjoying it, go back to vanilla. There's nothing that says you have to use it.

I've been doing the above and have not had much, if any downtime this year and my farm is still pretty small. Winter may be another story but I plan on removing some trees and connecting some fields so I still have work to do as long as the ground isn't frozen.

[Rahkiin]

I think I have seen somewhere before but cant find it now, Is it possible to change the time it takes for trees to fully grow? currently 5 years if I remember correctly, I would like to make it shorter maybe 2 years?
Looked through all the XML's but couldn't see it unless I have overlooked it.
THanks

Yeah inside the code. ssTreeManager.

[Soles2023]

@fenixguy I'm glad you said something, I've seen all too many people starting to get bored with the down time because I assumed they were just playing on 1X speed doing planting/fert/harvesting etc... then speeding up time waiting to skip the night. My seasons save stays on 5X and 15X in the winter. I never drop below 5X and yes I have lost straw and hay/grass due to it raining 4 out of the 6 days in the fall. It is very possible for your farm to fell if you set your own boundaries and create your own level of difficulty. I could have very well dropped the time down to 1X and saved my straw/grass but I decided to take the lose and see what happens next year, that's what makes this mod so exciting to me. One year I might not be able to get all my crops out the ground in time and have to resort to buying pig feed or I'm just going to have to worry about losing some livestock. I feel the more risk I take and the more difficult the situation I put myself in, I run the risk of losing in a game you could never lose in before. One thing I wish was possible even for the vanilla game is that you got less hired help depending on difficulty (6/easy 4/normal 2/hard). I personally chose not use hired help but I feel if you were restricted and forced to do more work yourself, the days wouldn't be filled with so much downtime for some people.

[Patrick73]

Okay, I'm chiming in again on some things I'm learning/discovering. I'm in late fall of year two and have learned (just as RODHA told me and I didn't want to listen ) it's much more enjoyable if you keep it on 5x (or 15x if you're feeling froggy). It makes it seem more like you're trying to squeeze in as much work as you can before it's dark. Every morning my animals need something, at least cleaning. By the time I'm done, it's 9:00 usually. I do some work and before I know it, it's night time again. I've only had maybe one or two days this year that I've skipped completely and I've not really expanded my TVTOF land that much. I've bought two extra fields. I'm still playing with 6 day seasons, but if I expand much more, I'll have to go to 9 just to get everything done.

More "tips" if you're finding seasons is giving you downtime:
Adjust your season length to the size of your farm. Small farms might be better with 6 or even 3 day seasons if you find you're skipping days.

Don't use OP equipment for fields that are only a few acres (like a 8m+ seeder for a 1 hectare field). Use equipment that fits and makes sense for your farm. Buy more land before buying a larger tractor/equipment. Once you're really struggling to keep up your work, then look into upgrading equipment. It doesn't make sense to have a $300,000 tractor on a farm that grows 30,000l of wheat a year. My big tractor on TVTOF is a Valtra N and I'm still growing into it.

Don't put time on 1x even for hay. Leave it on 5x and only mow what you can get put up before it rains. If it rains on your hay and you get less yield, you may have to squeeze in another cutting somewhere or buy another field. If your bales get rained on, accept the loss and move on. This is farming.

Above all, enjoy the mod. It's a completely new game. If you don't find yourself enjoying it, go back to vanilla. There's nothing that says you have to use it.

I've been doing the above and have not had much, if any downtime this year and my farm is still pretty small. Winter may be another story but I plan on removing some trees and connecting some fields so I still have work to do as long as the ground isn't frozen.

I’ve been doing the same (ish) just with 3 day seasons,but i must admit I do slow time down if I look like loosing my crops due to rain. I’m going to leave it on 5x now as it’s very rare to get 72 hrs of solid rain

[TacoFarmer]

@Rahkiin/RM,
Does the "cows don't get grass on winter" count (negatively) towards the animals health?
I bought cows long time before pigs and just noticed pigs got better health (90% vs 88%) while both animals always had everything (food, water, cleaned).
As grass feeding in winter is limited by the Seasons engine itself, this would not be fair/right.

Yes, but very slowly. We modelled it and it is only a few percentage points.

In winter the cows still need the grass or not? When I fill it up it still goes away. Am I just wasting grass feeding them grass in winter?

[Thefisherj]

Yes you can still feed grass to cows

[PrincessJessi84]

i just wanna throw my 2 bits in about people having so much down time with seasons.. to me its one of the biggest problems people have with this.. the point of seasons is to make it more realistic.. to make us all feel as close as this game will allow (especially on console) to real farmers.. my issue is how we drive.. my grandpa farmed his whole life and i did a TON of various types of work on his farm allowing me to spend years of my life watching him and learning from him.. and being around him and his friends and business associates who were farmers i learned that there is no rush.. like literally.. the only time i ever seen any of them put any kind of foot to asphalt was to beat a freeze getting the harvest done and even then they wouldnt have risked damage to their equipment or selves.. otherwise they took their time, took care of their equipment and enjoyed their profession.. u will never find any career farmers who hate farming.. the ones who do quit long before it could ever be called a career.. so how this translates into the game? beyond the good advice given by others, take your time when driving and operating your equipment.. if u r trying to feel like a real farmer in the game then u should treat your equipment like it will break even though it wont.. and just because the tractors and other equipment in this game handle like race cars doesnt mean u should drive them like one.. especially if u r going for realism.. the only time i drive anything full speed is when im on a paved road.. otherwise i set a speed limit for myself.. and in my yard and in fields i reduce the speed even more.. when i use the equipment i come to a full stop, engage the equipment and only once its fully engaged will i resume driving forward.. do the same thing when coming to the end of the field.. this is how its done irl for the most part.. hired help may ramrod the equipment but u would logically NEVER treat your own $200,000 piece of equipment like that at least not if u wanted it to last.. i think people sometimes forget that there is no race.. there is no end game beyond what goals some of us set for ourselves.. take your time and do the job yourself and do it right if u r going for realism.. there is no rush.. u aint trying to win $5,000 on the race on gta5.. u aint trying to get done before horde night on 7dtd.. its farming.. just relax and enjoy it