Valheim News

⚠️ Note: This update is for the Public Test version of Valheim, and may therefore be unstable. Before we launch this update to the Default version of the game, we want to make sure to have a chance to discover bugs and adjust the balancing, to give you the best game experience possible.

Access the Public Test branch on Steam by right clicking Valheim in your Steam library, and then select ‘Properties’. In the new window, select ‘Betas’ and type in the code “yesimadebackups”. The Public Test branch should now be available for you to choose from.

To access with Microsoft / PC Game Pass, launch the Xbox Insider Hub app. Navigate to ‘Previews’, and then find ‘Valheim Public Test’. Select ‘Join’. Wait for the registration to be complete to be directed to the Store and then install ‘Valheim Public Test’.

Be aware that there might be some minor offsets between the versions, but that we are aiming to keep the two as consistent as possible.

Please leave any feedback you may have in the appropriate channel in our Discord, or in the appropriate form on the support page on our website. 

As always, remember to be considerate towards players not partaking in the Public Test, in case they want to avoid spoilers.

Please make sure to make backups of your save files before playing.

The world is heating up and in the south something is stirring... The creatures of the Ashlands come to life as the biome update is here at last!

Please keep in mind that this is still the Public Test version, and that there will possibly be several patches to fix bugs and improve the balance of the game before this update is released to the Live version of the game. Your feedback during this testing period is highly appreciated, so please tell us what you think! Feedback and bugs are best sent in via the support page on our website.

Before you dive into the game, please do take a look at our preparation guide. This guide touches important matters such as world generation and mods.

You will find the abbreviated patch notes further down, and the detailed patch notes (full of spoilers) below those. Please respect those who don't want to see spoilers before they play.

Without further ado, we would just like to show you the brand new gameplay trailer (also full of spoilers), and then we're off towards the Ashlands!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Abbreviated Patch Notes:[/h2]

[h3]New content:[/h3]
New Biome – Ashlands:
* 30+ New weapons
* New bombs and ammunitions
* 3 New armour sets
* 2 New capes
* 10+ New creatures
* 70+ New buildable items
* 5 New crafting station upgrades
* 30+ New crafting materials
* 15+ New food items and potions
* New locations
* New music
* New events
* New mechanics

[h3]Fixes & Improvements:[/h3]
* Fixed Mead materials
* Standardised texts throughout the game

[h2]Detailed Patch Notes:[/h2]
[h3]New content:[/h3]
Mechanics:
* Beware the skies! Cinders rain down from above in the Ashlands, causing damage to those who are unprotected
* Wooden build pieces can now catch fire in the Ashlands – and the fire spreads!
* A new world modifier that allows fire to spread outside of the Ashlands as well (part of the immersive preset)
* Deadly lava takes up large parts of the landscape; traverse it with your very own platforms
* Lay claim to Charred Fortresses with two new Siege Machines
* New plantable Ashvines will grow on the walls of your base
* Combine your Flametal weapons with gems (Bloodstone, Iolite & Jade) in order to upgrade them to magical weapons (giving them blood, storm and nature based effects respectively)
* The waters in and around the Ashlands are boiling hot, and only the sturdiest of ships can sail them

Creatures:
* Enemy: Fallen Valkyrie
* Enemy: Charred Warrior
* Enemy: Charred Archer
* Enemy: Charred Warlock
* Enemy: Charred Twitcher
* Enemy Turret: Skugg
* Enemy: Morgen
* Enemy: Bonemaw Serpent
* Enemy/creature: Asksvin (tameable & rideable)
* Creature: Asksvin Calf
* Enemy: Volture
* Enemy: Lava Blob
* NPC/Enemy: Redbeard Dvergr
* Boss: Fader
* Miniboss: Lord Reto
* Spawner: Monument of Torment
* Spawner: Effigy of Malice

Crafting:
* Material: Majestic Carapace (previously Queen Drop)
* Material: Fader Relic (placeholder item)
* Material: Asksvin Hide
* Material: Asksvin Bladder
* Material: Asksvin Tail
* Material: Morgen Heart
* Material: Morgen Sinew
* Material: Celestial Feather
* Material: Bonemaw Meat
* Material: Bonemaw Tooth
* Material: Volture Meat
* Material: Volture Egg
* Material: Charred Skull
* Material: Charred Bone
* Material: Pot Shard
* Material: Bell Shard
* Material: Dyrnwyn Fragments x3
* Material: Bloodstone
* Material: Jade
* Material: Iolite
* Material: Flametal Ore (previous Flametal is now obsolete)
* Material/craftable: Flametal (previous Flametal is now obsolete)
* Material: Sulfur
* Material: Ashwood
* Material: Grausten
* Material: Charcoal Resin
* Material: Proustite Powder
* Material: Asksvin Neck
* Material: Asksvin Skull
* Material: Asksvin Ribcage
* Material: Asksvin Pelvis
* Material: Charred Cogwheel
* Material: Molten Core
* Material/craftable: Ceramic Plate
* Materia/craftable: Shield Core
* Plantable: Ashvine Seeds
* Artisan Table extension: Artisan Press
* Galdr Table extension: Feathery Wreath
* Cauldron extension: Rolling Pins and Cutting Boards
* Black Forge extension: Metal Cutter
* Black Forge extension: Gem Cutter
* Craftable: Bell
* Resource location: Lavaiathans
* Misc: Asksvin Egg

Craftable Items:
* Weapon: Dyrnwyn (sword)
* Weapon: Slayer (greatsword)
* Weapon: Brutal Slayer (greatsword)
* Weapon: Scourging Slayer (greatsword)
* Weapon: Primal Slayer (greatsword)
* Weapon: Nidhögg (sword)
* Weapon: Nidhögg the Bleeding (sword)
* Weapon: Nidhögg the Thundering (sword)
* Weapon: Nidhögg the Primal (sword)
* Weapon: Flametal Mace
* Weapon: Bloodgeon (mace)
* Weapon: Storm Star (mace)
* Weapon: Klossen (mace)
* Weapon: Berserkir Axes
* Weapon: Bleeding Berserkir Axes
* Weapon: Thundering Berserkir Axes
* Weapon: Primal Berserkir Axes
* Weapon: Ash Fang (bow)
* Weapon: Blood Fang (bow)
* Weapon: Storm Fang (bow)
* Weapon: Root Fang (bow)
* Weapon: Ripper (crossbow)
* Weapon: Wound Ripper (crossbow)
* Weapon: Storm Ripper (crossbow)
* Weapon: Root Ripper (crossbow)
* Weapon: Splitnir (spear)
* Weapon: Splitnir the Bleeding (spear)
* Weapon: Splitnir the Storming (spear)
* Weapon: Splitnir the Primal (spear)
* Shield: Flametal Shield (with multiple styles!)
* Shield: Flametal Tower Shield (with multiple styles!)
* Weapon: Trollstav (blood magic)
* Weapon: Staff of the Wild (elemental magic)
* Weapon: Dundr (elemental magic)
* Weapon: Staff of Fracturing (elemental magic)
* Armour Set: Flametal Breastplate, Flametal Greaves, Flametal Helmet
* Armour Set: Robes of Embla, Trousers of Embla, Hood of Embla
* Armour Set: Breastplate of Ask, Trousers of Ask, Hood of Ask
* Cape: Asksvin Cloak
* Cape: Ashen Cape
* Misc: Asksvin Saddle
* Bomb: Basalt Bomb
* Bomb: Smoke Bomb
* Ammunition: Grausten Payload
* Ammunition: Explosive Payload
* Ammunition: Charred Arrow
* Ammunition: Charred Bolt
* Ammunition: Flametal Missile

Build pieces & furniture:
* Building Pieces: 25 Ashwood Pieces (Ashwood Wall, Ashwood Half Wall, Ashwood Quarter Wall, Ashwood Arched Wall, Ashwood Decorative Wall, Ashwood Decorative Window, Ashwood Divider, Ashwood Floor 2x2, Ashwood Floor 1x1, Ashwood Decorative Floor, Ashwood Arch, Ashwood Beam 1m, Ashwood Beam 2m, Ashwood Pole 1m, Ashwood Pole 2m, Ashwood Beam 26°, Ashwood Roof Cross 26°, Ashwood Beam 45°, Ashwood Roof Cross 45°, Ashwood Wall 26°, Ashwood Wall 26° Inverted, Ashwood Wall 45°, Ashwood Wall 45° Inverted, Ashwood Stair, Ashwood Door)
* Building Pieces: 26 Grausten Pieces (Grausten Steep Stairs, Grausten Stairs, Grausten Floor 1x1, Grausten Floor 2x2, Grausten Floor 4x4, Grausten Small Pillar, Grausten Medium Pillar, Grausten Tapered Pillar, Grausten Tapered Pillar Inverted, Grausten Small Beam, Grausten Medium Beam, Grausten Small Arch, Grausten Medium Arch, Grausten Wall Arch, Grausten Wall Arch Inverted, Grausten Wall 1x2, Grausten Wall 2x2, Grausten Wall 4x2, Grausten Window 2x2, Grausten Window 4x2, Grausten Roof, Grausten Roof Corner, Grausten Arched Roof (2), Grausten Arched Roof, Grausten Arched Roof Corner (2))
* Building Piece: Flametal Gate
* Defence: Ashwood Stakewall
* Stack: Ashwood Stack
* Stack: Grausten Pile
* Stack: Pile of Skulls
* Stack: Bone Stack
* Furniture: Ashwood Bed
* Furniture: Bone Throne
* Furniture: Lava Lantern
* Furniture: Asksvin Rug
* Furniture: Straw
* Furniture: Small Green Pot
* Furniture: Medium Green Pot
* Furniture: Large Green Pot
* Furniture: Ashwood Bench
* Furniture: Asksvin Skeleton
* Siege Machine: Catapult
* Siege Machine: Battering Ram
* Ship: Drakkar
* Misc: Shield Generator
* Misc: Portal – Stone

Food & Potions:
* Food: Cooked Volture Meat
* Food: Cooked Bonemaw Meat
* Food: Cooked Asksvin Tail
* Food: Fiddlehead
* Food: Fiery Svinstew
* Food: Marinated Greens
* Food: Mashed Meat
* Food: Piquant Pie (cooked/uncooked)
* Food: Roasted Crust Pie (cooked/uncooked)
* Food: Scorching Medley
* Food: Sizzling Berry Broth
* Food: Smoke Puff
* Food: Sparkling Shroomshake
* Food: Spicy Marmalade
* Food: Vineberry Cluster
* Mead: Lingering Healing Mead
* Mead: Lingering Eitr Mead

Misc:
* Location: Ruins (multiple)
* Location: Redbeard Dvergr Outposts
* Location: Putrid Hole
* Location: Charred Fortress
* Event: “The undead army marches”
* Event: “The dead have been summoned”
* Lore: New stones
* Lore: New dreams
* Lore: New Munin dialogue
* New music
* New forsaken power
* Terrain changes for Ashlands (Ashlands is now cut off from other biomes, only accessible by sea)


[h3]Fixes & Improvements:[/h3]
* Fixed Major Healing Mead material
* Fixed Minor Eitr Mead Material
* Standardised texts throughout the game
* Updated names for old Flametal items
* The popup for unlocking new things is displayed longer

Once more, please do remember to check out the preparation guide before you set sail towards the Ashlands, it contains important information!

Valheim, the popular norse-inspired survival game, is set to get even deadlier and at least several percent more volcanic with its upcoming Ashlands biome. The new biome is due to enter public testing as we speak.

Read more

Embracer Group is no more, as the company has made the decision to split into three separate entities, with various developers divided up amongst them.

For the last year or so, it's not been a great time to be a part of Embracer Group. There have been almost 1400 staff laid off across various studios, and several closures too. Saber founder Matthew Karch doesn't think Embracer is evil, just a company "that everyone likes to pick on," despite the fact it spent ridiculous amounts of money on studios it couldn't ultimately afford leading to needless layoffs. But now, Embracer Group doesn't exist anymore, at least not as one company. The group announced earlier today that it is splitting into three companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends.

The "& Friends" part of Middle-earth Enterprises includes a number of familiar names, like Tomb Raider and Marvel's Avengers dev Crystal Dynamics, Dead Island 2 dev Dambuster Studios, Deus Ex dev Eidos-Montreal, and several more. Obviously IP like The Lord of the Rings, as well as Tomb Raider and others, now fall under Middle-earth Enterprises too, as well as media company Plaion, comics publisher Dark Horse, and Freemode.

Read more

Hello vikings! We've got a bunch of fixes and improvements for you today, to smooth out the game and to prepare everything for the upcoming Ashlands update. This patch touches on everything from enemy spawning and build pieces to language issues and memory leaks. Most notably though, it features an upgrade of Unity and a significant change to how the game loads assets such as dungeons. If you mod the game, please see the FAQ linked further below as it will most likely affect yours.

Important note if you have played the PTB patch 0.217.43:
If you have removed a world and then created a new world with the same name, you will need to remove the following files from your worlds folder:
[mapname]_forestMaskTexture
[mapname]_heightTexture
[mapname]_mapTexture


[h3]Abbreviated Patch Notes:[/h3]
* Unity engine upgraded
* Major changes how locations/dungeons are loaded to improve performance
* Multiple bug fixes

[h3]Detailed Patch Notes:[/h3]
Fixes & improvements:
* Upgraded Unity engine to 2022.3.17f
* Changes to how locations/dungeons/rooms are loaded and unloaded. For more information regarding this change, please see the FAQ
* Fixed issue where Seasonal groups that extended over a year change wouldn't work in the new year
* Fixed terrain modifications around locations not getting applied properly
* Fixed bug where old pre-Mistlands terrain modification did not blend with newer modifications [Note! you have to run the “optterrain” command to update the terrain]
* Fixed issue with the point emote not orienting the player properly
* Fixed multiple bugs related to the blocklist
* Fixed a bug where menu navigation via keyboard arrows keys stopped working after the setting menu was exited via ESC or back button
* Fixed some UI elements to no longer flicker when the game is running at low FPS
* Naturally spawned beds can now be removed using the hammer
* Fixed a bug where Geirrhafa and Brenna would respawn after game restart
* Turnip inventory stacking fixed to match other vegetables
* Fixed missing text for Fermenter without a roof
* Fixed hardcoded text for Kiln
* Fixed a bug where weight for many items is not displayed for Turkish language
* Fixed text in some languages not being centered vertically in the manage saves menu
* Fixed items in merchants' stores not being centered
* Fixed Sun shafts and Soft particles graphic settings not toggling properly
* Low disk space warning improvements
* Fixed a memory leak when highlighting building objects
* Improve time to validate IP addresses which speeds up loading
* Players can now find friends on Xbox/MS Store via friends tab in server browser
* Fixed missing text when trying to use an item on a cartography table and windmill
* Fixed an issue with Linux dedicated servers
* Fixed window resizing when exiting settings
* Elder no longer spawns on his altar
* Optimised minimap to reduce FPS drops when having a lot of map markers
* Fixed an issue with cloud saves on Microsoft Store
* Weight text in UI Tooltips now show both individual weight and total weight for stacked items
* Fixed a bug that caused 2 days to be skipped instead of 1 when only Xbox clients were connected to a dedicated server
* Tweaked how camera rotation on gamepads behave [Now a lot more similar to how it behaves on Mouse/Keyboard]
* Fixed inconsistent support calculations for “Cage floor” 1x1 piece
* Fixed gap when placing banners
* Fix items to no longer move in the inventory UI when upgrading them
* Fixed creature position not updating properly when transferring ownership
* Fixed an issue where blocklist would allocate 2GB of RAM, now it only allocates what is necessary
* Fixed issues with boat ownership when a client gets disconnected
* Boats no longer suddenly stop when ownership is transferred or a player is accessing the boat storage
* Sails are now blowing in the correct direction compared to winds
* Dealing knockback to an enemy in a slope no longer affects the player dealing the knockback
* Gamepad and mouse now both behave in the same way
* Added caching for minimap creation to make startup time faster
* Portals are no longer connected after the connected portal is destroyed
* Fixed an issue with loading threading to decrease load times
* Show a warning if dependencies are not installed

Xbox and Microsoft Store only:
* Fixed an issue where friends tab on server browser did not display friend's servers at all

⚠️ Note: This update is for the Public Test branch of Valheim only, and may therefore be unstable!


Prior to launching this update to the Default version of the game, we want to have a chance to discover bugs and fine-tune the balancing to ensure the best game experience.

• ACCESS: Right-click Valheim in your Steam library, then select ‘Properties’. In the new window, select ‘Betas’ and type in the code “yesimadebackups”. The Public Test branch should now be available for you to select. The PTB FAQ can be found here.
  
  
  
• FEEDBACK: Please leave any feedback in the “#valheim-public-test” channel in our Discord or through the PTB form on our website.
  
  
  

Please remember to be considerate towards players who are not participating in the Public Test, as some may prefer to avoid spoilers. As indicated by the access code, please ensure to create backups of your save files before playing.

This patch contains several fixes to the minimap, as well as fixes to dungeon generation and to portals.

Important note if you have played the PTB patch 0.217.43:
If you have removed a world and then created a new world with the same name, you will need to remove the following files from your worlds folder:
[mapname]_forestMaskTexture
[mapname]_heightTexture
[mapname]_mapTexture

[h3]Detailed Patch Notes:[/h3]

* Mountains above 200 in height should no longer be cut of on minimap
* Changed names of minimap cache files to include “Cache”
* Fixed an issue where dungeons are much smaller and has worse loot when generated
* Portals are no longer connected after the connected portal is destroyed
* Fixed an issue with loading threading to decrease load times
* Fixed asset loading system's "operation to loader" dictionaries being reassigned multiple times
*Updated Asset Bundle naming
* Fixed issue with cartography table not working when reading your own pins
* Fixed issue where the minimap would show the map for a previous world with the same name
* Fixed issue where minimap flickers with the names of pins
* Fixed issue where the files start_headless_server and steam_appid.txt were missing from the dedicated server builds
* Fixed a bug that caused dungeons to be generated differently than before
* Fixed worlds_local not being created correctly for cloud file sources.
* Show a warning if dependencies are not installed

Steam only:
* Start menu scene is no longer reloaded if the client fails to determine the backend of a dedicated server.

Xbox and Microsoft Store only:
* Fixed a freeze when entering suspend mode
* Fixed a bug that caused the game to no longer return to the start scene when entering suspend mode while hosting or being joined to a multiplayer game
* Fixed an issue where friends tab on server browser did not display friend's servers at all