The latest Manor Lords beta patch, covering versions 0.8.111 through 0.8.117, reworks how fields regenerate fertility and crops grow, rebalances Zeidlers, Foresters and Rye, and clears out a long list of bugs and crashes. Here is what changed and how to opt into the pre-release beta safely.
Farming changes: fertility, crops and Rye
Fields that have a crop selected but nothing planted yet now regenerate fertility as though they were fallow. Fallow replenishment builds up over the year, with most of it arriving toward the end of the cycle, and crops themselves now gain most of their growth in the final months. While a crop is growing, the other fertility types gain slightly less, so fallow cycles are generally needed to keep fields sustainable.
Rye has also been reworked. Its fertility bonus rises from x1.5 to x1.75 and its yield increases by 7%. If Wheat drops below 60% fertility, Rye becomes the better choice for bread making at the Bakery.
Zeidler, Forester and balance tweaks
Zeidlers now tend each tree only once and roll a chance, governed by Honey Hunting Affinity, to establish a beehive. That chance takes 50% of the Woodland Environment. A bug that inverted the Honey Hunting chance, giving less Honey and Wax the more Woodland you had, has been fixed. Foresters’ tree planting density has been reduced by roughly 66%, and both Foresters and Zeidlers now have productivity tracking.
Other balance changes include a 10% reduction to the Weiden Hinterlanders mining boost, so it matches its description, and a slight cut to the trade value of Smoked Fish.
Smarter AI settlement building
The AI now uses a rich mine as the centre point when placing a Bloomery or Clay Furnace, and waits to build a Charcoal Kiln until its Woodcutter’s Lodge is finished. It also tries to build enclosing roads around the central Marketplace and Churches, and rotates nearby buildings toward them. Starting road layouts have been tweaked as well.
UI, text and tutorial updates
The patch adds a Livestock icon for Ox, a building name for the Zeidler’s Hut, and a Teeming Affinity icon on the Forager Hut. Fertilizer tooltips have been clarified, environment percentages now always total 100%, and the field placement tutorial has been updated with a new farming tutorial for when a farmhouse or field is built.
Key bugfixes and crashfixes
The fixes are extensive. Highlights include production limits that were not working for Mines, Quarries, Stone Gatherer Camps and Forager Huts, raiders stealing Dung and Fertilizer, Oxen plowing fields before harvest was finished, and fruit being harvested outside September. Perk bugs have also been corrected, including a double effect on Fields and the Farmhouse from the Vogtland and Weiden Hinterlanders traits. On the stability side, several crashes were resolved, including one when loading a save with a dead soldier carrying a banner and one when troops on a Manor wall were attacked.
How to access the Manor Lords beta
Before switching, back up your save files, and remove any mods, which will most likely crash the game. To opt in on Steam, right-click Manor Lords in your library, choose Properties, open the BETAS tab, and enter the password veryNiceBasket. Then select “pre_release” from the Beta participation drop-down, wait for the files to update (restart the Steam client if nothing happens), and launch the game.
Bug reports and feedback can be posted on the Manor Lords Steam forums or on the community Discord.
Still deciding whether to jump in? Check our Manor Lords autumn sale coverage for the latest discount.
Source: Steam patch notes for Manor Lords, published 24 October 2026. Original link not available.