⛵ Balrond Shipyard – Mod Documentation

Overview

Balrond Shipyard expands Valheim’s naval gameplay with new ships, ship upgrade systems, custom crafting stations, waterproof shipyard building pieces, a Fishnet Trap, and a collection of sailor-themed items.

The current release includes a full ServerSync-backed configuration system for ship recipes, station recipes, every ship-upgrade schematic recipe, and cargo inventory dimensions.

Ship upgrades are handled through Schematics crafted at the Scribe’s Table and applied at the Shipyard station.

⚠️ Important Warnings

• Major update warning: versions 1.3.0 and 1.4.0 introduced large ship and cargo changes.
• Before updating, empty your ship inventory if possible to reduce the risk of item loss.
• If you change a ship's inventory width or height, empty that ship first and reload/re-enter the world after changing the config so the container can be recreated safely.
• If you are upgrading a ship, keep only the intended ship close to the Shipyard station to avoid the wrong ship being detected.

🧰 Key Features

• 🚢 Three New Ships
  Adds Knarr, Holk, and Snekke alongside support for several vanilla ships.

• 🛠️ Two Crafting Stations

  • Scribe’s Table – used to craft ship Schematics.
  • Shipyard – used to apply upgrades by placing a schematic into the station and pulling the lever.

• ⚓ Ship Upgrade System
  Ships can receive thematic upgrades such as Shields, Lamp, Anchor, Tent, Armor, Oars, Ropes, and Nameplate, depending on the vessel.

• 🎨 Visual Ship Customization
  Supported ships can use multiple sail colors/patterns, shield patterns, and ship-specific visual swaps. Applying a different sail schematic replaces the currently selected sail appearance.

• 🌊 Water-Resistant Building Set
  Includes a shipyard-themed set of structural build pieces designed to resist water and rain damage.

• 🎣 Fishnet Trap
  A placeable fishing structure that can catch biome-appropriate fish more effectively when supplied with the correct bait.

• 🧳 Expanded Ship Utility
  Cargo sizes, attach points, comfort behavior, and several ship functions are expanded or adjusted depending on ship type.

• ⚙️ Server-Synchronized Configuration
  Ship recipes, Shipyard/Scribe’s Table recipes, all schematic recipes, and ship cargo dimensions are configurable and synchronized through ServerSync.

🔧 How to Use

1. Craft a Scribe’s Table.
2. Create a Schematic for the ship extension or customization you want.
3. Build the Shipyard station.
4. Place the schematic into the Shipyard container.
5. Dock the target ship as close as possible to the Shipyard.
6. Pull the lever on the Shipyard to apply the upgrade.

Notes

• If more than one valid ship is within range, the first detected compatible ship may be upgraded.
• If a ship already contains a non-replaceable upgrade, the station may try to detect another valid ship nearby.
• Sail color/pattern upgrades are replaceable: applying another valid sail schematic changes the current sail appearance.
• Best practice: keep all other ships away and dock only the ship you want to modify.
• Extensions work for vanilla ships and the custom ships added by this mod.
  Raft is excluded from the general extension system, but it has its own default bag extension.

⚙️ Configuration & ServerSync

Balrond Shipyard creates its configuration file after the mod is loaded:

BepInEx/config/balrond.astafaraios.BalrondShipyard.cfg

The configuration is divided into five sections.

1 - General

• Lock Configuration
  • 1 – the server/host configuration is authoritative for synchronized gameplay settings.
  • 0 – synchronized settings are not server-locked.

For multiplayer and dedicated servers, keeping this at 1 is recommended so every client uses the same gameplay configuration.

2 - Ship Recipes

Construction recipes can be configured independently for:

• Raft
• Karve
• Knarr
• Snekke
• Drakkar / Longship
• Holk
• Ashlands Drakkar

Recipe format:

Prefab:Amount,Prefab:Amount

Example:

FineWood:30,BronzeNails:90,LeatherScraps:16,DeerHide:10,CoalPaste:20

The Raft uses default by default, which keeps its normal Valheim recipe. It can still be replaced with a custom recipe.

Invalid recipe strings fall back to the mod's built-in/default recipe instead of silently creating an incomplete recipe.

3 - Station Recipes

The construction costs of both custom stations are configurable:

• Shipyard Station Recipe
• Scribe Table Recipe

They use the same Prefab:Amount recipe format.

4 - Schematic Recipes

Every upgrade/customization schematic has its own configurable recipe.

The current release exposes 113 individual schematic recipe entries, including ship extensions and visual customization such as sail variants.

These values control the material cost of crafting the schematic at the Scribe’s Table. The schematic is then consumed/applied through the Shipyard workflow.

5 - Ship Inventory

Cargo dimensions can be configured independently for all seven supported ship types:

• Raft
• Karve
• Knarr
• Snekke
• Drakkar / Longship
• Holk
• Ashlands Drakkar

Each ship has:

• Inventory Width
• Inventory Height

Valid configured dimensions are 1–20.

A value of -1 or 0 means:

Keep the cargo dimensions authored in the ship prefab.

When changing cargo dimensions, empty the ship first and reload/re-enter the world before using the existing ship inventory again.

ServerSync

Balrond Shipyard uses ServerSync v1.20 for synchronized gameplay configuration.

• Ship recipes are synchronized.
• Shipyard and Scribe’s Table recipes are synchronized.
• All schematic recipes are synchronized.
• Ship inventory width/height settings are synchronized.
• With Lock Configuration = 1, the server/host values are authoritative.
• Balrond Shipyard is configured as a required synchronized mod, so multiplayer clients should use the same Balrond Shipyard version as the server.

ServerSync is bundled/internalized into BalrondShipyard.dll with ILRepack. You do not need to install a separate ServerSync DLL.

📌 Important Gameplay Changes

• Ships and new build pieces use Coal Paste instead of resin where defined by the mod.
• Coal Paste is crafted at Workbench level 3 by mixing resin with coal.
• Ship construction recipes are configurable.
• Base cargo sizes were adjusted for several ships and can now be overridden through config.
• Raft received inventory support.

Boat Construction Costs

Below are the default construction costs used by Balrond Shipyard. These values can be changed in 2 - Ship Recipes.

Raft: its recipe config defaults to default, which preserves the normal Valheim recipe. You can replace it with a custom Prefab:Amount recipe if desired.

Ship upgrades, extensions, and customization schematics have their own separate costs under 4 - Schematic Recipes.

🚤 Ship Extensions

🪵 Raft

Included Feature

• Bag – always active by default and adds a 2-slot chest.

Configuration

• Raft construction recipe can remain vanilla with default or be overridden.
• Raft inventory width/height can be overridden; -1/0 keeps the prefab value.

🛶 Karve

Extensions

• Shields – increases ship health by 200
• Lamp – adds a light source with warmth effect
• Bagpack – adds blunt resistance and +100 health
• Oars – increases ship speed based on the number of players
• Anchor – allows the ship to be anchored in place
• Armor – adds pierce resistance and +100 health
• Nameplate – adds ship ownership and naming information

Additional Changes

• Added a front attach point
• Default cargo size: 6 slots
• Cargo dimensions are configurable

🪶 Knarr

Extensions

• Shields – increases ship health by 200
• Lamp – adds a light source with warmth effect
• Bagpack – adds blunt resistance and +100 health
• Oars – increases ship speed based on the number of players
• Anchor – allows the ship to be anchored in place
• Tent – increases ship health by 100
• Armor – adds pierce resistance and +100 health
• Nameplate – adds ship ownership and naming information

Additional Changes

• Added a front attach point
• Default cargo size: 12 slots
• Cargo dimensions are configurable

🐍 Snekke

Extensions

• Shields – increases ship health by 200
• Lamp – adds a light source with warmth effect
• Bagpack – adds blunt resistance and +100 health
• Oars – increases ship speed based on the number of players
• Anchor – allows the ship to be anchored in place
• Tent – increases ship health by 100
• Armor – adds pierce resistance and +100 health
• Nameplate – adds ship ownership and naming information

Additional Changes

• Added a front attach point
• Default cargo size: 18 slots
• Cargo dimensions are configurable

🛡️ Longship / Drakkar

Extensions

• Shields – increases ship health by 200
• Lamp – adds a lamp and torches with light and warmth
• Barrels – adds blunt resistance and +100 health
• Crates – adds slash resistance and +100 health
• Oars – increases ship speed based on the number of players
• Anchor – allows the ship to be anchored in place
• Tent – increases ship health by 200 and provides shelter while under it
• Armor – adds pierce resistance and +200 health
• Nameplate – adds ship ownership and naming information

Additional Changes

• Default cargo size: 24 slots
• Cargo dimensions are configurable
• Supports 3 alternative head decorations

🧱 Holk

Extensions

• Shields – increases ship health by 200
• Lamp – adds a lamp, torches, and a demister-like wisp effect
• Crates – adds blunt resistance and +200 health
• Oars – increases ship speed based on the number of players
• Anchor – allows the ship to be anchored in place
• Tent – increases ship health by 200 and provides shelter while under it
• Armor – adds pierce resistance and +200 health
• Ropes – adds extra rope ladders on the ship’s sides
• Nameplate – adds ship ownership and naming information

Additional Changes

• Default cargo size: 32 slots
• Cargo dimensions are configurable

🐉 Ashlands Drakkar

Balrond Shipyard also supports configuration for the Ashlands Drakkar.

Configuration

• Construction recipe is configurable.
• Cargo inventory width/height is configurable.
• Default configured cargo dimensions are 8 × 5 (40 slots).

🎨 Shared Ship Features

Supported upgraded ships can benefit from shared customization and extension systems, depending on the vessel:

• Multiple sail color/pattern options
• Sail appearances can be changed again later by applying a different compatible sail schematic
• Free shield pattern switching after the relevant upgrade is installed
• Health upgrades also add some ship mass

  Roughly half of the added health is converted into mass, with minimal steering impact

🪚 Shipyard Build Pieces

These are standard build pieces with a shipyard aesthetic and resistance to water/rain damage. They are styled as dark core wood with rope details.

Structural Pieces

• Pole 2m and 4m
• Beam 2m and 4m
• 45° and 27° beams
• Ramp / 27° floor
• Floor
• 1m pole

Other Build Elements

• Tar-fueled sconce
• Small cargo crate (4 slots)
• Dock cargo chest (40 slots)
• Small dragon-head standing decoration
• 2m ladder with teleport-to-top interaction
• 2 green cloth banners
• 4 green cloth roofs
• 2 rope ladders
• 3 rope bridge parts
• Hanging wisp lamp
• Fishnet wall
• Fishnet Trap

🎣 Fishnet Trap

The Fishnet Trap is built on water and can be loaded with biome-appropriate fishing bait.

• Using the correct bait increases the chance of catching fish native to that biome.
• Without proper bait, the trap will still catch basic fish every 2 minutes.

🧳 Item Prefab IDs

• CapeSailor
• CoalPaste
• HelmetPirateBandana
• HelmetPirateHat
• SwordSaber
• SledgeAnchor
• ShieldSteering

❓ FAQ

• Are there configs?
  Yes. Balrond Shipyard includes synchronized configuration for ship recipes, Shipyard/Scribe’s Table recipes, all 113 schematic recipes, and cargo inventory width/height for all seven supported ship types.

• Where is the config file?
  BepInEx/config/balrond.astafaraios.BalrondShipyard.cfg

• Does the mod use ServerSync?
  Yes. Gameplay configuration is synchronized through ServerSync v1.20. With Lock Configuration = 1, the server/host config is authoritative.

• Do I need to install ServerSync separately?
  No. ServerSync is bundled/internalized inside BalrondShipyard.dll.

• Can I change a ship's sail more than once?
  Yes. Compatible sail color/pattern schematics can replace the currently active sail appearance.

• Can I configure every schematic separately?
  Yes. Every schematic has an individual recipe entry under 4 - Schematic Recipes.

• Can I configure cargo size for each ship separately?
  Yes. Width and height are configurable independently for Raft, Karve, Knarr, Snekke, Drakkar, Holk, and Ashlands Drakkar.

• Are there translation files?
  No. Translation files are not included right now; adding them is planned.

• Do I need a larger build menu?
  Possibly. Because of the number of added build pieces, a Build Menu extension may be useful.

  • Recommended to use with Build Extensions such as:
  • Sears Catalog (ComfyMods)

🔌 Requirements & Compatibility

• ✅ Requires BepInEx
• ✅ Supports ServerSync-backed multiplayer configuration
• ✅ ServerSync is bundled — no separate ServerSync installation is required
• ✅ Server and multiplayer clients should use the same Balrond Shipyard version
• ✅ Supports vanilla ships and the custom ships included with this mod
• ✅ A Build Menu extension may be recommended because of the number of added pieces

💬 Community & Support

• Join our Discord: Balrond's Den
• Support on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/balrond1020

Take your harbor beyond vanilla — with Balrond Shipyard.

Update 1.1.1

• Fixed issue with anchors causing ships to levitate when water level dropped

Update 1.1.2

• Fixed Unity5 anchor error
• Changed oar parameters to improve steering

Update 1.1.3

• Ship upgrade costs are now returned on ship destruction
• Exception: schematic items and sail/head cosmetic extensions are not returned

Update 1.1.4

• Added 4 new sails for Bjornheim Server

Update 1.1.5

• Rebalanced recipe costs based on feedback
• Shields and Tent now increase health by 300 instead of 200
• Drakkar crate inventory extension now gives 2 rows instead of 1
• Tested increased rested bonus comfort while ships have lights

Update 1.1.6

• Added Vulkan support fixes

Update 1.1.7

• Fixed issue with ship upgrades not responding after a patch
• Fixed random ship inventory size changes

Update 1.1.8

• Fixed Drakkar chest losing items after zone unload/load

Update 1.1.9

• Fixed error during first boat modification check

Update 1.2.1

• Fixed error causing extended inventory to clear itself
• Swapped faction sails to more neutral variants
• All schematics now require Scribe’s Table level 1
• Removed Scribe Table extension

Update 1.2.2

• Reworked inventory upgrade code from scratch
• Improved reliability for upgrade slots and stored items

Update 1.2.3

• Hildir patch fix

Update 1.2.5

• Reduced requests, traffic, and memory usage in upgrade checks
• Fixed blinking inventory
• Fixed items sometimes going into the wrong inventory
• Fixed console spam about missing extensions
• Minor bugfixes for other upgrades

Update 1.2.6

• Hotfix

Update 1.3.0

• Added 2 new ships: Knarr and Holk
• Added dedicated upgrades for the new ships
• Removed inventory upgrades
• Replaced inventory upgrades with resistance and health upgrades
• Added mapping for existing inventory upgrades to convert into resistance upgrades
• Changed ship cargo sizes: Raft 4, Karve 8, Knarr 16, Drakkar 24, Holk 48
• Reworked ship recipe costs
• Added Fishnet Trap as a new active build piece
• Drakkar and Holk now require Forge instead of Workbench
• Added 13 new build pieces including bridge parts and tent roofs
• Code optimizations
• Full upgrade costs were moved into schematics for easier external editing
• Shipyard now uses a single schematic slot
• Upgraded ships now return schematics on destruction
• Added new items:
  • Sail Ink
  • Bandana
  • Pirate Hat
  • Anchor Sledge Hammer
  • Saber
  • Steering Wheel Shield
  • Sailor’s Cape
  • Coal Paste

Update 1.3.1

• Hotfix
• Fixed mixed sail patterns
• Fixed missing sail error
• Removed leftover debug content
• Fixed Karve armor upgrade error

Update 1.3.2

• Hotfix
• Fixed schematics not being returned on destruction
• Fixed free Holk roof issue
• Minor cleanup

Update 1.3.3

• Minor bugfixes

Update 1.3.4

• Fixed cost of large tarred chest
• Replaced Drakkar torches with lanterns
• Added floating behavior to schematic items so they do not sink

Update 1.3.5

• Fixed Holk anchor despawn bug
• Added more unique icons for schematics
• Removed claim hover effect from mast and kept it only on the sign
• Code optimizations
• Fixed floating yellow sail issue
• Fixed pirate hat durability

Update 1.3.6

• Fixed camera issue related to rear lantern collision
• Removed colliders from lamps and shields to reduce getting stuck
• Fixed missing Holk collider
• Minor checks and adjustments

Update 1.3.7

• Shader fix

Update 1.3.8

• Ashlands compatibility fix

Update 1.3.9

• Shader fix

Update 1.4.0

• Added long-awaited Drakkar upgrades
• Rebalanced cargo sizes: Raft 2, Karve 6, Knarr 12, Longship 24, Holk 32, Drakkar 40
• Added new silver shield visual for Longship
• Changed Nameplate into an optional upgrade disabled by default
• Rebalanced item recipes such as Sailor’s Cape and Saber
• Updated item stats and stack sizes
• Added Shield Painter system for changing shield patterns in-world

Update 1.4.1

• Fixed bug on Knarr triggering Barber code when sitting on a bench

Update 1.4.5

• Drakkar tent collider hotfix
• Fixed Drakkar extension drops
• Fixed shield read access
• Fixed Holk extension drops
• Code cleanup
• Fixed Karve front attach point

Update 1.4.6

• Fixed Drakkar head extension
• Fishnet Trap bugfixes
• Fixed Holk and Karve water-impact creation issues
• Fixed Holk shield painter
• Reworked ship-to-Shipyard distance detection
• Multiple minor bugfixes

Update 1.4.7

• Wisp Lamp build piece no longer requires fuel

Update 1.4.8

• Fixed Nameplate despawn bug
• Fixed weapon errors for Anchor and Saber

Update 1.4.9

• Reverted table requirements so all ships use only Workbench

Update 1.5.1

• Adjusted Holk boat settings
• Adjusted Knarr boat settings
• Fixed item references and small errors
• Fixed excessive water splash on Holk
• Fixed build piece issues
• Known issue: do not use Fishnet Trap in this version

Update 1.5.2

• Fixed error when opening Raft bagpack

Update 1.6.0

• Fixed ship comfort scaling
• Added new ship: Snekke
• Replaced black and cross banners with red and green triangle sail variants
• Adjusted ship recipe costs
• Fixed Knarr water splash issue
• Fixed Saber error in some cases
• Other minor bugfixes
• Preparation for deeper code reworks and optimizations

Update 1.6.1

• Hotfix

Update 1.6.2

• Fixed ship comfort scaling for all players and warm zones
• Fixed Snekke Armor and Tent extensions
• Fixed long-term anchor sinking issue
• Reworked shield painting code
• Adjusted Holk steering values to improve handling

Update 1.6.3

• Hotfix / anchor debug

Update 1.6.4

• Small optimization
• Console/debug disabled

Update 1.6.5

• Fix issue with detection range
• Fix issue with wrong ship picked for upgrade

Update 1.6.6

• fix shield painter decoration
• preperation for deep north
• minor code improvements

Update 1.6.7

• Deep North Fix

Update 1.6.8

• fix audio volume issue
• fix permission lcok on changing sail color
• fix issue with invisible head decor on longship
• minor bugfixes

Update 1.7.0

• code rework
• added config
• minor bugfixes
• KNOWN ISSUE ALL BUILD PIECES FORM THIS MOD LOST THEIR SNAPPOINTS. Will be fixed in next update

Update 1.7.1

• add local config for setting if ships are removable with hammer
• adjust speed on oars

Update 1.7.2

• shader fix for one sided sails and white cover on custom ships

Update 1.7.3

• fix bugged sailor cape
• fix snappoints on build pieces

Update 1.7.4

• Removed gameplay creator/ownership restrictions from Shipyard ship modification systems
• Sail/head customization, Nameplate naming, Anchor, ship switches, and Shipyard upgrades are no longer blocked by creator/ward checks
• Nameplate is now strictly a ship naming feature rather than an ownership-lock system
• Fixed sail/head state replication so the ZDO authority can persist accepted visual changes even when its local renderer hierarchy is not ready yet
• Removed global Shipyard patches from Ship.Awake, Ship.OnTriggerEnter, Ship.OnTriggerExit, and Ship.UpdateOwner
• Restricted Shipyard runtime ship logic to ships with an active Shipyard extension manager instead of modifying arbitrary third-party ships
• Reworked Oars steering so m_rudderSpeed is no longer permanently overwritten
• Oars steering is now applied temporarily during ship physics and restored afterwards for better Sailing-skill/mod compatibility
• Added explicit Valheim 1.0 Piece.m_usage categories for Shipyard build pieces, stations, and custom ships
• Improved compatibility with BalrondExtraSkills Sailing and other ship/sailing mods
• Minor source/build-system cleanup

Update 1.8.0

• Added synchronized per-ship base stat profiles for Raft, Karve, Knarr, Snekke, Longship, Holk, and Ashlands Drakkar
• Added configurable base:
  • health
  • Rigidbody mass
  • sail force factor
  • sail-force offset
  • paddle force
  • rudder speed
  • sailing turn force
  • paddling turn force
  • forward damping
  • sideways damping
  • angular damping
  • water-impact damage
  • upside-down damage
  • Ashlands readiness
  • no-roof/weather wear
• Most base-stat values use -1 to preserve the value authored in the ship prefab
• Added explicit Override Sail Force Offset toggle so the prefab offset remains untouched unless requested
• Added deterministic stat layering:
  • authored prefab value
  • synchronized Shipyard base config
  • installed Shipyard extension bonuses
  • temporary Oars/Sailing-skill runtime modifiers
  • vanilla physics
• Base health/mass configs no longer replace or absorb installed upgrade bonuses
• Config refresh no longer re-captures live/upgraded ship values, preventing accidental multiplier/upgrade compounding
• Preserved existing extension balance; Armor still adds durability without adding extension-derived mass
• Added synchronized Oars configuration:
  • Steering Multiplier
  • Steering Bonus Per Additional Crew
  • Forward Row Multiplier
  • Reverse Row Multiplier
  • Row Bonus Per Additional Crew
  • Maximum Additional Crew Count
• Oars forward/reverse propulsion and crew scaling are optional; default propulsion multipliers remain 1.0
• Oars modifiers are applied only during Ship.CustomFixedUpdate(float) and restored afterwards
• Improved compatibility with BalrondExtraSkills Sailing and other mods that use temporary ship-physics modifiers
• Shipyard continues to avoid adding upgrades or persistent Shipyard behavior to unsupported third-party ships
• Updated core code to use the supplied Valheim 1.0 publicized assemblies and reduce reflection in supported hot paths
• Enabled/retained unsafe support for allocation-free finite-value checks used by ship physics/stat validation
• Removed reflection for direct publicized access to ObjectDB item hash lookup, inventory change notification, and stable hash operations
• Retained reflection only where it is required for optional third-party integrations such as MagicaCloth
• Reduced per-frame polling for ShipExtensionManager, light switch, anchor switch, Nameplate, and Shield Painter
• Added cached shield ItemStyle lookup and pre-hashed ShipExtension ZDO keys
• Replaced threshold-only distance/speed calculations with squared comparisons where appropriate
• Moved movement-damage processing to FixedUpdate to align with Rigidbody simulation
• Preserved existing ZDO/RPC multiplayer authority and ServerSync requirements; performance changes do not introduce a new networking layer
• Fixed source-project build regression involving System.Reflection/Assembly and duplicate ILRepack target import

Update 1.8.3

• shield painter fix
• status Raincoat fix

Update 1.8.4

• boat turning fixes