HearthCodex

Learn the creatures of Valheim instead of reading a completed wiki on day one.

By BlackHearthx. Open the book with F7 by default.

Observe a creature to discover its identity. Defeat it with credited kill participation to complete its entry.

HearthCodex adds a progressive in-game bestiary. Unknown creatures stay hidden as ???; discovery reveals their name and portrait, while study unlocks the useful details: health, resistances, weak spots, drops, habitats, variants, and weapon suggestions based on recipes your character knows.

What you get

Weapon suggestions compare expected quality-one damage per connected primary hit at the character's current weapon skill after target resistances. The list keeps the strongest overall option first, then includes the strongest meaningful weakness match and a ranged option when available. It also shows relevant resource, full-draw, and reload costs. This remains guidance rather than a complete DPS simulator: animation speed, combos, weak spots, projectile count and spread, damage-over-time stacking, and special effects can change the practical result.

Your first session

1. Press F7 to open HearthCodex.
2. Approach a creature and keep it clearly in view to discover it.
3. Defeat the creature and receive Valheim's kill credit to complete the entry.
4. Open the book again and browse its combat notes, drops, and suggested weapons.

Installation

Install with a Thunderstore-compatible mod manager. BepInEx and Jötunn are installed automatically.

For manual installation, install BepInEx and Jötunn first, then place HearthCodex.dll in a folder under BepInEx/plugins.

Configuration

After first launch, settings are written to BepInEx/config/com.blackhearthx.hearthcodex.cfg. You can change the open key, observation distance and duration, interface scale and position, visible sections, optional numeric multipliers, and diagnostic logging.

Compatibility

The catalogue is built from creatures, recipes, spawn lists, locations, and dungeon rooms available in the running game. Compatible modded creatures and weapons can be included automatically. Bad or incomplete sources are skipped without stopping the remaining catalogue.

HearthCodex is client-side and does not enforce installation on the server. Multiplayer study progress follows the kill credit sent by Valheim to participating players.

Existing characters automatically recover per-creature kills already recorded by Valheim. Those creatures become studied without another fight; HearthCodex keeps the greater count when both records exist.

Português do Brasil

O HearthCodex adiciona um bestiário progressivo ao Valheim. A tecla padrão é F7.

Observe criaturas comuns para descobrir sua identidade e use Vegvisires para descobrir chefes. Quando você participa de uma morte reconhecida pelo jogo, a ficha é estudada e libera vida, resistências, pontos fracos, espólio, biomas e armas recomendadas. As recomendações usam somente receitas conhecidas pelo personagem e procuram variar os tipos de arma.

O progresso é separado por personagem. Criaturas desconhecidas continuam como ???, evitando revelar antecipadamente nomes e variantes que você ainda não encontrou.

Personagens existentes recuperam automaticamente as mortes por criatura que o Valheim já registrou. Essas fichas ficam estudadas sem exigir uma nova luta.

Português de Portugal

O HearthCodex adiciona um bestiário progressivo ao Valheim. A tecla predefinida é F7.

Observa criaturas comuns para descobrir a sua identidade e usa Vegvisires para descobrir chefes. Quando participas numa morte reconhecida pelo jogo, a entrada fica estudada e revela vida, resistências, pontos fracos, espólio, biomas e armas recomendadas. As recomendações usam apenas receitas conhecidas pela personagem e procuram variar os tipos de arma.

O progresso é separado por personagem. As criaturas desconhecidas continuam como ???, evitando revelar antecipadamente nomes e variantes que ainda não encontraste.

As personagens existentes recuperam automaticamente as mortes por criatura que o Valheim já registou. Essas entradas ficam estudadas sem exigir um novo combate.

Identity

Released under the MIT License.

Changelog

1.2.1

• Re-audited weapon recommendations against Valheim 1.0.17.
• Added compatible non-equipable and consumable ammunition to the candidate pool.
• Added the primary attack's current-health damage multipliers.
• Corrected displayed resource costs for projectile attacks that charge per burst.
• Reserved recommendation slots for the strongest meaningful weakness match and a ranged option when available.
• Clarified that ranking compares damage per connected primary hit rather than total projectile volleys or DPS.

1.2.0

• Audited weapon recommendations against the current Valheim 1.0 combat implementation.
• Rankings now include the primary attack multiplier, the character's current weapon skill, and target resistances.
• Neutral weapons are no longer discarded merely because a weaker weapon matches a vulnerability.
• Added current stamina, Eitr, health, full-draw, and reload information when applicable.
• Clarified that the comparison is expected primary-hit damage rather than a complete DPS simulation.

1.1.0

• Added a dedicated Bosses category above the biome list.
• Added automatic recovery of the character's existing per-creature kill history from Valheim.
• Previously defeated creatures become studied without requiring another kill when Valheim has a recorded count for them.

1.0.2

• Changed the default bestiary shortcut from B to F7 to reduce conflicts with other mods.
• Added a one-time migration that moves the old untouched B binding to F7 while preserving other custom shortcuts.

1.0.1

• Replaced the Brazilian Portuguese showcase image with an English screenshot for the international package page.
• Changed the README image URL to a new English asset so GitHub and Thunderstore do not retain the old cached screenshot.
• Fixed the MIT License link for the Thunderstore README.

1.0.0

• First public release as HearthCodex.
• Added a progressive bestiary opened with B by default.
• Added observation discovery, Vegvisir boss discovery, and credited-kill study progress.
• Added biome and knowledge filters, search, localized creature data, drops, weak spots, and resistances.
• Added weapon recommendations based on known recipes, creature modifiers, and varied weapon families.
• Added trophy-first creature portraits with a safe rendered fallback.
• Added per-character persistence and multiplayer kill-credit support.
• Added English, Brazilian Portuguese, and European Portuguese localization.
• Preserved progress created during Creature Codex development builds.

Development history

• Built biome evidence from world spawns, fixed locations, dungeon rooms, trigger spawners, spawn areas, and boss altars.
• Added compatibility guards for malformed or incomplete modded content.
• Added bounded portrait caching and isolated catalogue source failures.