Better Stone v7.1.0

Welcome to the official Better Stone for Space Engineers mod page.

Mod ID: 406244471

SUMMARY

This mod fixes these problems:

1. Real life ores rarely come in their pure forms. Usually ores are a mixture of many elements!
2. Gameplay-wise, finding one ore patch can be hard enough, imagine finding 20 and not finding the kind you need.
3. When modding, almost everyone makes their blocks colorful nowadays, but the vanilla ores remain their original dreary colors.

This mod does the following:

• adds many new ores according to real life.
• follows the vanilla balance.
• adds colored icons.
• adds 2 playtester-approved, qualifty-of-life gameplay changes: less stone, more ice.
• makes planetary ores 10x deeper and 5x richer.

NEWS

2025-10-29 -- v7.1.0 SE 1.207.022 Apex Survival Update

• Update to support spawning of food items
• More automation of vanilla-to-mod patch-build CI/CD
• Documentation updates

2024-04-06 v7.0.12 SE 1.203.630 Anniversary Update

Replace the sky textures back in for Triton and Pertam

2023-04-17 v7.0.11 SE 1.202.066 Automation Update

Rebalance to match vanilla changes -

• Less gold, slightly less silver and uranium
• More cobalt, platinum

Patch additions -

• Compatibility Patch with Industrial Overhaul
• You can now crush and purify ores added by Better Stone

2022-04-01 v7.0.10

Ores use their corresponding ore icons for compatibility with mods that show blueprint icons.

2021-04-24 SE 1.198.072

Added barebones compatibility with Industrial Overhaul mod

TROUBLESHOOTING AND FAQ

(0) Spinoff Mods!

Better Deep Scarce Stone by Kaito: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2724252237

• Functions like a "hardcore mod" or "Scare Resources" but for Better Stone

Redistributed Ore - Better Stone by michi84o: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3368343385

• Sets depths that are deliberately tiered by surface/small scanner/large scanner/"bonus" (extra deep)

(*) XBOX Version? A: I haven't tested it yet, but here is a release on mod.io, which I heard works for XBOX. Let me know if it works or not though: https://spaceengineers.mod.io/better-stone-official

(1) Does this work on current saves? A: Results vary by version. Backup before trying. Usually not anymore. More info: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/406244471/3108014879976279688/

(2) Does this work on custom planets? Does this work with Industrial Overhaul? A: Ore generation is normally locked in and not done by algorithm or random selection thus only one mod can impact any given planet's ore generation. The most asked-for compatibility mod is here, mixed Better Stone ores and Industrial Overhaul vanilla planets merge mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2745251918

@Sworn discovered a mod that does random planet placement called Star System Generator. Thanks and thank to Patrick for the awesome mod! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2789619117

How to use it:

1. Mod load order:

• IO+BS mixed mod
• BS and IO in any order
• [Custom planets go here?]
• Star System Generator

1. New game in empty system, in chat console type: /ssg Random 20

Some planets with B.S.: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2036347262 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2036343997

Big List of B.S. Planets: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198093886478/myworkshopfiles/?appid=244850

(3) I can't find any ores, is it broken? How deep are the ores? Why can't I see any ores? There aren't any ores on the alien planet, help! (etc.) A: They're there. Might need modded ore detector for the added range. Really, they're there. More info: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/406244471/3108014879976279688/

(4) Refinery isn't accepting ores from this mod? A: It's usually a mod conflict--place this mod atop all the others in the load order. More info: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/406244471/3108014879976279688/

(5) The ores are now all magenta (or gray?) balls, why? A: Can't find texture files. 80% chance mod conflict, 20% chance Keen changed something breaking this mod. More info: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/406244471/3108014879976279688/

(6) TIM's auto-refining script doesn't automagically refine mod ores! What can I do? A: Here is the workaround as of Oct. 2018: http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/406244471/1489992713702371705/

(7) Exactly how deep is every ore on every planet? Will a radar range of XX work? Here's the raw planet mod file from the public repository: https://github.com/dstults/BetterStone/blob/master/Data/Override-PlanetGeneratorDefinitions.sbc It might be worth noting that the deepest ores start at 1.12km down.

(8) I get errors when this loads. Is this breaking the sky? Triton's skybox is all black with this mod installed. A: No for vanilla planets, yes for DLC-like planets (ice/Europa and desert/Pertam). SE doesn't implement the same skybox fallback for the new planets as it does the original ones, the result is Triton and Pertam lose their cloud layers. Check out this link to the discussion, which has a Reddit link with instructions on how to fix it: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/406244471/3051737278923597999/ More info: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/406244471/3108014879976279688/

INTRODUCTION -- New to this mod? Read about it here!

Major Functions:

• Many new ores to find and exploit (no longer just "pure m