Better Rowing

Make calm-water travel a crew activity. Train a Rowing skill, spend stamina for extra paddle power, and pull together to a deep drum beat.

0.3.26 is a Windows multiplayer test release. Use a copied world and test characters. Install the same mod version on every player and on a dedicated test server, if used. Chain consecutive Perfect strokes for up to 1.5× rowing XP, use Ctrl + Shift to oppose the captain's paddle direction, and row to an acoustic drum mix with twice the previous output and peak protection. The three-second rhythm, stamina costs and boat speed limits are unchanged. Multiplayer gameplay still needs crew testing. This is an unofficial Valheim mod.

What it adds

• A Rowing skill: successful moving strokes improve the skill. Higher skill gives more rowing power and lower stamina costs.
• Perfect combos: consecutive Perfect strokes earn 1.0×, 1.1×, 1.2×, 1.3×, 1.4×, then 1.5× XP on the sixth and following Perfects. Good, Miss, a skipped beat, leaving/changing seats, paused rowing or a new boat rhythm resets the chain. Each rower has their own combo; the gold Perfect label shows its multiplier. This bonus affects XP only, before the game's normal XP modifiers.
• Captain boosting: hold Shift while using forward paddle speed or backward paddling. The boat's selected direction decides the boost direction; the captain keeps the native steering oar.
• Crew rowing: sit in a supported passenger seat and tap Shift on the beat to follow the captain's paddle direction. Ctrl + Shift rows opposite that direction: forward while the captain reverses, backward while the captain paddles forward. With no captain, Shift rows forward and Ctrl + Shift back-rows.
• A shared three-second drum beat: a compact panel below the minimap shows an animated drum, crew timing and coordinated bonuses. Perfect is gold, Good green, and Miss red.
• Coordinated strokes: two or more accurate strokes on the same beat and in the same direction earn a bonus, up to 30%. Uneven port/starboard rowing adds a turning pull; balanced crews help keep the boat straight.
• Visible crew oars: fitted hull ports, weathered wood matched to the boat, overhand grips, torso movement, water splashes, ripples and sounds synchronized to accepted strokes.

The karve, longship and Drakkar have fitted crew visuals. The raft supports captain boosting without added passenger oars. Drakkar rowing uses eight main-deck side boxes; raised benches and the captain-side station are excluded.

Controls

Crew can row with the helm empty and sails raised, or at forward/backward paddle speed when someone is steering. The rhythm panel appears with any seated passenger rower. Captain reverse boosting and crew assistance do not require Ctrl. Sailing settings do not enable rowing boosts.

Install and play together

1. Make a separate Better Rowing Test profile in Thunderstore Mod Manager or r2modman. Install CwewMods-BetterRowing and its dependencies.
2. Start the game modded. Everyone must use the same Better Rowing version and the supplied balance configuration. Stop the game before updating.
3. Have one player host a local copy of the world with Start Server enabled and a password, or use a separately installed dedicated test server with its own save directory. Do not point a test server at the live world's save directory.
4. Join that test session, eat stamina food, find a boat and try rowing alone, with a captain, then with a larger crew. The rhythm panel appears whenever at least one passenger is seated to row. Test both sides, misses, back-rowing, Rested versus un-Rested stamina and ownership changes.

To row without a captain, raise the sails, leave the helm empty and sit in a passenger seat. Tap Shift on the drum for forward strokes or Ctrl + Shift to back-row. Normal stamina costs, movement-based skill gains and team bonuses apply; F8/F9 are not required. A single side rower will turn the boat. With someone at the helm, select forward paddling (speed 1) or backward paddling for crew rowing. Taking a stopped helm pauses crew strokes until the captain selects a paddle setting.

Dependencies are BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2351 and Jotunn 2.30.2. For manual installation, install those dependencies first, then copy this package's BepInEx contents into the test installation's BepInEx folder. Avoid duplicate copies of BetterRowing.dll.

The drum defaults to Audio.BeatVolume = 0.9 and follows game master/SFX volume. The mix now delivers 2× the previous RMS output at the same volume setting, with stereo-linked peak protection. This also works with an existing saved volume setting. Layered acoustic bass and frame drums provide one strong rowing cue every three seconds, preceded by two quieter preparation taps. Row on the main hit. Lower the volume to taste; zero mutes the cue. Recorded takes alternate using the shared beat index and retain their natural tail.

Drum recordings: Versilian Community Sample Library, Versilian Studios / Sam Gossner, CC0 1.0. The recordings are pitched, equalized, layered and arranged for rowing. See the included third-party notices. No audio from the Drums of Drakkar reference track is bundled.

Balance included in this package

The package includes BepInEx/config/curti.valheim.betterrowing.cfg so fresh installations match the playtested balance. Keep it consistent on all clients and the test server: boat ownership can move between players. Timing and stamina settings are shared by the boat owner; all force settings are not centrally locked.

These cutoffs taper rowing thrust; they do not clamp velocity or erase wind/wave momentum. Rested, food and world modifiers affect endurance. Installing or updating this test package can replace its bundled configuration, so preserve any custom edits first. The development F8/F9 solo modes are off in the shared configuration and cannot run in multiplayer.

Compatibility and current limits

• Built and locally tested with Valheim 1.0.20, Unity 6000.0.75f1, on Windows. Linux/macOS clients and Steam Deck visuals are not validated; the rendering bundle targets Windows. Consoles are unsupported.
• The Drakkar keeps its existing seats and compact outer ports. Rough-wave adaptation is intentionally restricted to avoid hull clipping; blades can miss the surface or remain submerged during recovery in rough water.
• Client settings let you disable the animated body, oars, wave adaptation, water effects, drum audio or HUD. Other mods that alter boat meshes, seats, player animation or rowing physics may conflict.
• Test on a world copy. Custom skill progress is associated with characters. Switching to an unmodded session may affect that custom progress; use test characters when evaluating removal.
• This download contains the mod and its configuration. It does not contain a world save, Valheim assemblies, native boat meshes or third-party dependency DLLs.

Updating or disabling

Use the same Thunderstore team/package for future versions: CwewMods / BetterRowing. Check for updates in your test profile, update together, and restart the test server and clients. To disable the mod, disable it in that profile with the game closed; keep your world/character backups. Do not join a modded test server with it disabled.

For a normal server, fully exit the game and use Start vanilla. If a server running Jotunn 2.30.2 previously rejected your modded client, it can retain that old mod list in memory. A graceful server restart clears the stale list. Alternatively, try one connection using Start modded with only BepInEx and Jotunn enabled, and BetterRowing disabled, to send a fresh list. This does not require deleting character or world files.

Credits and license

Better Rowing by CwewMods. MIT-licensed mod code and original mod assets. Uses BepInEx and Jotunn as separately installed dependencies. Oar wood artwork and the package icon were created with AI image-generation assistance; boat/character fitting references remain local and are not redistributed.