Frequently Asked Questions

Q: My crops keep disappearing?!

A: You are seeding in the wrong season. You can look in the Seasons menu to find out when you can plant each crop. Like in real life, if the soil becomes too cold, crops will not grow. This means winter crops needs to be planted before the temperature drops too much in autumn. You will also have to wait in spring until the soil is warm enough for seeds to germinate in the soil. The temperature limit for sowing is set for each fruit in the growth.xml file.

Q: Why is snow limited to 6 cm (1 layer)?

A: Snow is a swath. You can handle it with any bucket you would be able to use on grass. Because of the Tip Anywhere functionality, there is this new feature called the TipCol. This is a way for map developers to decide where swaths can't be placed. Good places are inside buildings, or on roads that are made of models. (The swaths would not be able to be cleaned up by machinery because the road is in the way). This technique is also present in Goldcrest Valley (it is why you can't tip on the road).

We can't use this TipCol (for performance and technical reasons), so we place snow everywhere. This will sadly cause a lot of problems on roads where it can't be cleared by a snowplough. So we added a way for map makers to tell us where we can and can't place snow. As long as the map does not tell us this, we will keep the snow till a minimum, which is 1 layer (6 cm).

If you want more fun with more snow, ask you mod-map maker to update his or her map for Seasons.

Q: Why can't I work on the fields in winter?

A: If the soil is frozen (soil temperature below 0℃) you will not be able to do any field work.

Q: Why is the costs for hired helpers varying?

A: Hired workers now have work hours between 6 am and 6 pm Monday to Friday. The wages has been reduced compared to the original game. Overtime will be charged outside regular working hours as 150% of the regular wage.

Q: I pay much less for machinery upkeep now. Why is that?

A: The machinery upkeep system has been changed and is now based on real data for the operating costs of agricultural machinery. By using this mod you will pay a low daily interest and tax as basis for the machinery upkeep. In addition you will be required to do maintenance twice a year or every 30 engine hours for any motorised machinery to avoid an increase in machinery upkeep.

Q: It says that I need to maintain my vehicle. How do I do that?

A: The maintenance can either be done at the dealer or at the placeable workshop. It is more costly to conduct maintenance at the dealer than at your own workshop. It is more costly to maintain machinery that has been used much or that is older. But unused machinery has a low maintenance cost. In case maintenance is overdue, both upkeep and the maintenance cost will be higher. The longer you wait the more costly it will be.

Q: Why does my tractor break down?

A: Motorised machinery with overdue maintenance might break down. The longer you wait the higher the chance is that you will experience breakdowns. To avoid breakdowns you should do maintenance in due time. There is no need to manually maintain equipment that is not motorised (i.e. not with specialization ) as this is done automatically.

Q: I see the sell price of the machinery is different than it used to be. How is the sell price determined?

A: The sell price of the machinery is revised in the mod and based on actual data for depreciation of value of agricultural machinery. The model has been benchmarked towards advertised machinery. Note that machinery requiring maintenance will have lower sell value. Operating hours are now more important for the sell price than the age of the machinery.

Q: Why do you not support adding the Seasons mod to an existing savegame?

A: Because it is impossible for us to test that this will work properly. We are not responsible for any puppies, kittens, or save games that may be hurt by this mod.

Q: Which crops can be planted in the autumn?

A: Currently poplar, grass, oilseed radish, wheat, barley and canola. Anything else will die during the winter.

Q: Does the mod support non-standard fruits?

A: Yes. Any non-default fruits will follow the same growth pattern as barley. For more complex and interesting growth, a map maker should create their own seasons_growth.xml file and include it in the map for the additional fruits

Q: How does the growth work?

A: There are 12 transitions during a year. A year is made up of 4 seasons. Therefore each season has 3 transitions. We do not consider these as months. Instead, we think of them as early, mid and late transitions of a season. So, spring would be broken up into early spring, mid spring and late spring. Most crops can be planted in spring and they will grow. Crops planted in the summer will not grow and will die, except for grass, poplar and oilseed radish. These can be planted any time except for when the soil is frozen. No growth happens during winter. Any crops left that should have been harvested in summer or autumn will wither and die at the beginning of winter.

Q: What are the growth patterns for all crops? If I plant crop x in season y when will it be ready to harvest?

A: Please refer to the Seasons growth calendar in the game (Alt + S)

Q: How does season length work with the transitions?

A: Season length can be set to 3, 6, 9 or 12 days. So, if season length is set to 3 days, that means early season will be day 1, mid will be day 2 and late will 3.

Season length 6 days - early: [days 1-2] mid: [days 3-4] late: [days 5-6]

Season length 9 days - early: [days 1-3] mid: [days 4-6] late: [days 7-9]

Season length 12 days - early: [days 1-4] mid: [days 5-8] late: [days 9-12]