Runic Build Camera

Runic Build Camera is a standalone client-side Valheim mod that lets a player move a detached camera while using the ordinary building workflow. Version 1.0.0 keeps the feature deliberately bounded: the camera stays near the player, remote actions have a separate distance limit, and all limits have finite configuration ranges.

The plugin GUID is chazman.RunicBuildCamera. It depends only on BepInEx, Harmony, and assemblies shipped with Valheim. It does not depend on Runic Core, Runic Precision Build Tool, or another Runic foundation package.

Feature scope

• Enter or leave the detached build camera with a configurable shortcut. The default is B.
• Move and look from the detached camera while the player remains in the normal building state.
• Limit camera travel to 60 metres by default, with a non-configurable hard ceiling of 100 metres.
• Keep placement, repair, and removal targeting available from the camera. The separate 100-metre setting caps avatar-to-target distance; Valheim also limits the ray to 50 metres from the camera.
• Optionally collect eligible loose world-item drops near the camera on a bounded interval. This does not search, open, or transfer items from chests or other containers.
• When the player has an active Wisplight demister, optionally move that existing mist-clearing effect to the camera and apply a configurable range multiplier while the camera is active.
• Configure camera speed, a fast-move multiplier, view-relative or world-relative movement, and independent horizontal and vertical inversion for mouse and controller look.
• Restore camera-related state when the mode exits instead of leaving a detached effect behind.

Runic Build Camera does not add free materials, bypass recipe costs, replace ward checks, or define a custom building protocol. Placement and removal still travel through Valheim's normal gameplay paths. During those scoped calls only, loaded workbench, forge, and other build-station ranges are treated as at least the configured remote-action distance; their stored range values are never changed. The required station type and the piece's other ordinary rules still apply. The avatar remains at the original world position and remains vulnerable to creatures, damage, weather, and other ordinary gameplay while the camera is detached.

Controls

Press B while building to toggle the camera with the default configuration. Normal movement and look inputs drive the detached camera. The usual jump and crouch inputs move vertically, and the usual run input applies the fast-move multiplier. Remapped Valheim inputs remain the source of those actions.

The toggle can be replaced with any BepInEx keyboard shortcut in BepInEx/config/chazman.RunicBuildCamera.cfg.

Configuration

The hard ceilings on camera range and remote action distance are part of the plugin, not merely suggested defaults. BepInEx clamps those two settings to 100 metres.

RunicBuildCamera.cfg.example contains the complete commented configuration.

Compatibility

Do not install Runic Build Camera alongside Build Camera Custom Hammers Edition. If that plugin is detected, Runic Build Camera deliberately disables its detached mode and writes one actionable log warning so two camera runtimes cannot fight over the same transform. Remove or disable the older Build Camera package before testing this one. Runic Precision Build Tool is not a conflict: it may remain installed and continues to own only its precision pose controls.

Installation

1. Install BepInExPack for Valheim.
2. Copy RunicBuildCamera.dll into BepInEx/plugins/RunicBuildCamera.
3. Start Valheim once to generate BepInEx/config/chazman.RunicBuildCamera.cfg.
4. Close the game before editing configuration values.

The manifest, README, changelog, and example configuration may be kept beside the DLL but are not loaded by the game.

Multiplayer

Version 1.0.0 introduces no custom RPC, synchronized configuration, or networked data type. Install it on each client that wants to use the camera; a dedicated server does not need a matching copy for the client feature to operate. Installing this DLL on a dedicated server does not turn the client-side camera and range settings into an enforcement system.

Camera position, look inversion, pickup scanning, and mist-effect movement are local concerns. Successful placement, removal, inventory changes, and world ownership still use Valheim's existing network behavior. However, an unmodified dedicated server does not independently attest the camera's origin or enforce Runic Build Camera's configured 100-metre caps. Those caps are local safety limits, not a server trust boundary. Server operators who require authoritative distance or camera-policy enforcement need a separate server-side policy implementation. This mod is not an anti-cheat or permission system.

Clean-room provenance and reuse

Runic Build Camera is an independently authored plugin built from a clean behavior specification. No source code, binaries, documentation text, artwork, or other assets from Build Camera Custom Hammers Edition are included.

The upstream Build Camera Custom Hammers Edition repository publishes its implementation under GPL-3.0. Copying or adapting that implementation would require satisfying the GPL terms; observing public behavior does not grant permission to copy protected implementation details. The official upstream repository and license are:

• https://github.com/AzumattDev/Build_Camera_Custom_Hammers_Edition
• https://github.com/AzumattDev/Build_Camera_Custom_Hammers_Edition/blob/github/LICENSE

Runic Build Camera does not currently include a LICENSE file, so this repository does not state a general third-party reuse grant for its own code. Add an explicit project license before inviting reuse or redistribution of source.

Changelog

1.0.0

• Promote the completed standalone Runic Build Camera feature set to its first stable release.
• Preserve the bounded detached-camera, remote-action, loose-item pickup, and Wisplight behavior established in the initial preview without adding a Runic foundation dependency.

0.1.0

• Establish the standalone chazman.RunicBuildCamera plugin identity with no dependency on Runic Precision Build Tool or the Runic foundation packages.
• Add a detached camera for Valheim's normal building workflow, with configurable movement speed, fast movement, world-relative movement, and independent mouse and controller look inversion.
• Bound camera travel to 60 metres by default and 100 metres at the hard maximum.
• Support placement and removal targeting through the camera with a separate 100-metre default and hard maximum.
• Keep only build inputs live during a camera session so camera look/movement cannot trigger avatar use, hotbar, walk-toggle, auto-pickup-toggle, or body-look actions.
• Raise effective crafting-station range only inside the scoped remote call without changing any station field, while exact player reach is restored through success, exception, and unload.
• Add optional, interval-limited pickup checks for loose world items around the detached camera; chests and other containers are outside the feature.
• Add optional follow behavior for the player's existing Wisplight demister with a configurable range multiplier.
• Add concise diagnostics with opt-in verbose state-transition logging.
• Document that the avatar remains vulnerable, client-side limits are not server enforcement, and the implementation has an explicit clean-room boundary.