BuildMenu - a build menu with categories, search and 3D preview

The hammer's build menu, rebuilt: a category tree on the left (Crafting, Building by type, Interior, Travel, Storage), a grid with names under every icon, a search and material filter on top and a tooltip with a turning 3D model of the piece right at your cursor.

Client-side BepInEx mod for Valheim 1.0.20 (the game's new build menu). Works on its own, no dependencies besides BepInEx.

Features

• Category tree instead of the game's tabs:

  • Crafting - workbenches and stations, station upgrades, smelters and production, kitchen;
  • Building by type - floors, walls, roofs, stairs and ramps, beams and poles, doors and gates, windows, arches, fences, defense, other (the material is the top bar's filter);
  • Interior - furniture, lighting, decoration;
  • Travel - carts, ships and portals;
  • Storage - everything with an inventory.

  Groups fold open like an accordion (the game's own + / - buttons); a click on a group shows all its subcategories in one list, a click on a subcategory shows only it. Every row shows how many pieces it holds.

• Sorted automatically from what each piece is (the game's tags, its components, its name, its shape), so pieces of other mods (Jotunn and similar) land in the right place too. Disagree? One line in a text file moves a piece (see Settings).

• Grid with captions - the piece's name under its icon, a small subcategory badge in the corner, 4 cell sizes.

• Tooltip at the cursor - a live, slowly turning 3D model lit by its own studio light (clear, not dark, not wet-looking), the resources, the comfort it gives with its group (only the best piece of a group counts near you) and the description. The game's bottom info panel and the placing key hints are hidden while the menu is open.

• 3D in the grid (optional, off by default) - snapshots of the models instead of icons. The game's icon shows until a snapshot is ready; snapshots are made within ~2 ms a frame and only for cells you can see; up to 512 are kept (about 32 MB), so scrolling back and reopening is instant.

• Top bar:

  • search (by name) and the repair hammer;
  • Material filter - one click on wood, stone or metal; the ▼ opens a row with every main material (copper, bronze, iron, marble, black metal…) - the main material is the one the piece needs most of;
  • Grid size, ticks for Captions, Category icon, 3D in grid;
  • Recent and Favorites - the game's own lists, the material filter works there too.

• Other mods' hammers in one menu (optional): OdinArchitect's Odin Hammer, BuildIt's hammer, Clutter's tool and the like. Each tool found gets its own switch in the config (off by default). When on, its pieces (the very same pieces, not copies - same station, cost and effects) are added to the hammer, sorted into the tree and also listed under "Other tools"; the tooltip names the mod they come from. The tool itself keeps working.

• BuildExtend (mass building, by Chistix): its "?" help and x1 / xN / xF hammer mode buttons sit at the right end of the top bar.

• Your own category icons: put icons/<key>.png next to BuildMenu.dll; until then the menu uses the game's icon of a typical piece (the workbench for Crafting, a wall for Building…).

• English and Russian, following the game's language.

Installation

1. Install BepInExPack for Valheim.
2. Put BuildMenu.dll into Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ (a mod manager does it for you).
3. Launch the game and open the hammer's build menu.

To go back to the game's menu: set Enabled = false in BepInEx/config/chistix.buildmenu.cfg and restart.

Compatibility

• Client only - only the player who builds needs it; the server and other players don't. No network messages of its own.
• Valheim 1.0.20 (the new build menu), BepInEx 5.4.23+.
• Pieces of other mods (Jotunn, ItemManager/PieceManager mods) are read and sorted like the game's own.
• Other hammers (OdinArchitect, BuildIt, Clutter…) - optional merge, see Features. Terrain tools such as MyDirtyHoe can be merged too, but are not meant for it.
• Auga - with Chistix Compat (optional) the window and the tooltip take Auga's look. Without it the menu keeps its own look.
• Other build menu mods (LegacyBuildMenu, build menu overhauls) - use one build menu at a time.
• BuildExtend 0.6.0+ - buttons on the top bar (see Features).
• Q / E no longer switch the game's tabs while the menu is open (the tabs are replaced by the tree).

Settings

BepInEx/config/chistix.buildmenu.cfg (most of them are also on the top bar of the menu):

• [General] Enabled (true) - the new menu; false - the game's menu (after a restart)
• [General] WindowSize (1) - 0 smaller, 1 medium, 2 large (after a restart)
• [Grid] CellSize (2) - cell size 0-6 (the top bar's 4 buttons: 0, 2, 4, 6)
• [Grid] Captions (true), [Grid] CategoryIcon (true), [Grid] Models3D (false)
• [Tooltip] Preview3D (true) - the turning 3D model in the tooltip; [Tooltip] ShowPrefab (false) - shows the piece's prefab name, for the categories file
• [Grid] GroundModels3D (false), [Tooltip] GroundPreview3D (false) - the same for ground tools (hoe, cultivator and the like): the game's icons by default; the "3D in grid" tick follows the tool in hand
• [Merge tools] <tool> (false) - one line per other mod's hammer found in the game
• [Advanced] DebugLog (false)

Your own categories: BepInEx/config/chistix.buildmenu.categories.txt (made on the first start, with the list of keys). A line prefab = subcategory[, subcategory…] moves a piece; * works (piece_banner* = decor); Group/Name makes a new subcategory (piece_mymod_* = Misc/My mod). The file is re-read when it changes.

Troubleshooting: BepInEx/LogOutput.log, look for "BuildMenu".

Credits

• Made by Chistix: idea, design, direction and testing. Code written with Claude Code (Anthropic) as an AI coding assistant, under Chistix's direction.
• Uses BepInEx and Harmony. The 3D previews are the game's own models drawn at runtime; no game files are included. The icon is drawn by code; no generated art or audio.
• Valheim is © Iron Gate AB; this is an unofficial mod.

All rights reserved. You may use the mod, show it in videos and streams and list it as a dependency; re-uploading or changed versions need the author's permission.

Links

Support me on Patreon

My dev channel on YouTube

My mods on Nexus Mods

Add me on Steam

Watch me on Twitch

Changelog

0.3.13

• Opening the window no longer holds the game: the captions, badges and 3D stills of the cells are filled in after the layout, the cells in view first and the rest a little each frame (the game sets up every cell of "Show all" at once, and a text under each of hundreds of cells took a second or two). The log gets one line with the opening's time when it took long.

0.3.12

• The 3D preview's studio lights lit the whole world: the game renders deferred, where a light's culling mask is not honoured, so the two directional lights of the preview stayed on and brightened nights, made the sky flicker and kept doing so until a restart even with the 3D turned off. They are on only for the picture's own frame now.

0.3.11

• Lighter on frames: the grid of pieces clips the cells out of view instead of drawing all of them under a stencil mask, and has a canvas of its own; the tooltip's 3D model is drawn 24 times a second at 320 px with lighter multisampling.

0.3.10 - first public release

• The top bar follows the game's language when it is changed during the game (it kept the language it was made in).
• The window keeps clear of the map in the top right corner (PlanetMap3D's round one too): moved left, narrowed if there is no room.

0.3.9

• Ground tools (hoe, cultivator and the like) show the game's icons by default, in the grid and in the tooltip: their own settings GroundModels3D and GroundPreview3D (off), and the "3D in grid" tick follows the tool in hand. The hammer and other tools as before.

0.3.8

• No more "The Object you want to instantiate is null" errors in the log when hovering the material buttons and BuildExtend's mode button: their tooltips use the game's tooltip.

0.3.7

• The menu is drawn over the rest of the HUD: status effects and the minimap no longer show through the window.

0.3.6

• Beams and roof crosses whose prefab names say "wall" (Log Beam 2 m, Ashwood Beam 26°, Wood Roof Cross…) are sorted into Beams and poles, not Walls.
• Long names in the category tree ("Workbenches and stations") get a smaller font instead of being cut off.
• A piece the game has no name for (Darkwood Beam 67°) shows a name instead of "[piece_darkwoodbeam67]".

0.3.5

• The tooltip shows comfort for pieces that give it: the points and the comfort group ("Comfort +2 (seats: only the best of the group counts)"), for other mods' pieces too.

0.3.4

• Settings in the config file are described in English and Russian.
• Building is sorted by type: floors, walls, roofs, stairs and ramps, beams and poles, doors and gates, windows, arches, fences, defense, other (the material is the top bar's filter). Other mods' pieces are sorted by the game's tags, their names (English and Russian) and their shape.
• The top bar's right end keeps clear of round minimaps of other mods too.
• While the menu is open the key hints for placing (alternative placing, snap points, copy, rotate) are hidden, so the hint row fits the screen.

0.3.3

• 3D in the grid without frame drops: the game's icon shows until a snapshot is ready, snapshots are made within ~2 ms a frame and only for cells in view, up to 512 are kept (about 32 MB) for instant scrolling back and reopening.

0.3.2

• The collapsed material filter shows the icons of wood, stone and metal from the first opening.
• The right end of the top bar keeps clear of the minimap.

0.3.1

• The top bar always fits the window: Recent, Favorites and BuildExtend's buttons are held to the right edge, the rest shrinks as a whole if needed.

0.3.0

• Other mods' hammers in one menu (OdinArchitect, BuildIt, Clutter…): a switch per tool found, off by default; their pieces are sorted into the tree and listed under "Other tools".

0.2.2

• BuildExtend's "?" help and x1 / xN / xF mode buttons on the top bar.

0.2.1

• Faster: the tooltip has its own canvas, its 3D model is drawn 30 times a second, the grid is scanned a few times a second.

0.2.0

• Top bar instead of the game's tabs: search, material filter (wood / stone / metal, ▼ for every main material), grid size, Captions / Category icon / 3D in grid, Recent and Favorites.
• Optional restyling by a compatibility pack (Chistix Compat with Auga).

0.1.0

• Category tree (Crafting, Building by material, Interior, Travel, Storage) with accordion groups and counts; grid with captions and subcategory badges; tooltip at the cursor with a turning 3D model in its own studio light; the game's bottom info panel hidden while the menu is open; your own categories file and icons.