VikingClimate

VikingClimate replaces Valheim's binary environmental triggers with a physically grounded thermodynamic simulation. Internal body warmth, 16-point microclimatic ambient blending, convective wind chill, evaporative wetness, and gear insulation govern player exposure across all biomes, accompanied by non-intrusive sensory immersion and HUD telemetry.

⚠️ Work in Progress (Pre-Release v0.1.0): This mod is in active development and has not been tested extensively. Features, balance, and mechanics may change, and unintended bugs or edge cases may occur. Backup your character and world saves before testing.

⚡ Powered by VikingLib: This mod requires VikingLib. VikingLib replaces Valheim's native combat calculation and stat engines. Not all mods may be compatible / work as expected with this.

How It Works

Your character maintains an internal body warmth (comfort equilibrium at 22°C) that continually conducts towards the ambient "feels-like" temperature of your surroundings:

• Ambient Microclimates: Local temperature blends dynamically from seven environmental inputs: 16-point spatial biome sampling, solar elevation, elevation lapse rate (-1°C per 35m), precipitation, wind chill, and raycast-occluded fire radiance. Handheld torches radiate personal warmth (+3°C).
• Insulation & Exposure: Cold gear armor (wolf, lox, fenris, padded) mitigates environmental heat loss by up to 90%. Wet clothing, cold wind, and swimming accelerate heat loss. Sheltered resting and sleeping stabilize body warmth rapidly.
• Sensory Immersion: Cold breath vapor puffs emit from your character in freezing environments (scaling with exertion), while a subtle frosted screen vignette outlines severe hypothermia without obscuring your crosshair.
• HUD Telemetry: A stylized vertical thermometer column attaches beside your health bar, displaying live body temperature, rate-of-change arrows, and the local feels-like ambient target.

Changelog

All notable changes to VikingClimate will be documented in this file.

[0.3.0] - 2026-11-03

Added

• Convective Proximity Heat Propagation: Introduced a convective heat propagation model alongside raycasting with independent per-source wattage and range settings.
• Instant Graph Thermal Equilibrium: Debug and optimization solver that accelerates connected structures to thermal equilibrium without frame drops.
• Piece Insulation Visualizer: Real-time color-coded visualizer highlighting structural insulation and thermal shelter quality.
• Crystal Thermal Conductivity: Crystal walls and windows now conduct heat, absorb fire warmth, and contribute to indoor structural climate envelopes.

Changed

• Sectioned Configuration Architecture: Restructured all settings into sequential, numbered sections with automated legacy setting migration.
• Non-Structural Occlusion Bypass: Furniture, crafting tables, and decorations no longer block convective heat rays inside buildings.
• Thermal Inspection HUD: Added high-contrast dark backdrop panel behind inspection text for crystal-clear readability in blizzards.

[0.2.2] - 2026-10-29

Added

• Steady-State Thermodynamic Equilibrium: Instant equilibrium solver analytically calculates cluster heat balance and smoothly converges spatial conduction gradients without frame spikes.
• Crystal & Glass Thermal Simulation: Crystal walls and windows are fully registered as heatable structural pieces with configured thermal mass, conductivity, air loss, and absorption.
• Decoupled Heat Propagation Engines: Raycasting and convection now operate independently or simultaneously via separate switches ([09 - Heat Raycasting] and [10 - Heat Convection]).
• Granular Heat Source Tuning: Individual configuration options for total wattage, per-piece wattage caps, and reach radii across campfires, hearths, braziers, bonfires, industrial smelters, and torches.
• Dwelling & Thermal HUD Inspector: Hotkey toggle between single piece and connected dwelling views, with radiant heat source absorption and energy flux tallies.
• Piece Insulation Visualizer: Live debug toggle highlighting nearby building pieces with color-coded shaders based on thermal insulation percentage.

Changed

• Equilibrium Relaxation Performance: Replaced multi-pass convergence with single-pass accelerated relaxation and gentle 15% cluster bias, eliminating periodic stutter.
• Convective Heat Propagation Model: Proximity heat distribution engine with distance-weighted power budgeting, solving small hut overheating and large hall freeze.
• Metabolic Reversion Rate: Increased default recovery speed multiplier from 10x to 25x while resting or sleeping.
• Configuration Hierarchy: Reorganized settings into clean, sequentially numbered categories (01–14) with lossless automatic migration of existing custom configurations.
• Thermal Inspection HUD Styling: Added high-contrast semi-transparent dark background panels with clean border framing for legibility against bright snow.

Fixed

• Fireplace NullReference Crash: Hardened heat area iteration and state queries against uninitialized network views during sector load and unload.
• Transparent Heat Propagation: Non-heatable pieces (workbenches, crafting stations, chests, furniture) no longer block convective heat rays or cast artificial cold shadows.
• Hearth Alcove Heat Occlusion: Graph-connected building pieces (hearth lips, framing beams, alcove walls) no longer block convective heat transfer to the rest of the dwelling.
• Building Thermal Retention: Preserved building heat across portals and zone unloads with direct ZDO persistence and offline thermal retention.
• Dwelling Envelope Calculations: Corrected structural cover detection and ambient differential air loss reporting in connected dwelling graphs.
• Fire Output Stability: Expanded heat source discovery radius to 64m and stabilized active fire state against transient smoke accumulation blips.

[0.2.1] - 2026-10-27

Added

• Dynamic Screen Heat Vignette: Subtle visual heat distortion and warmth overlay for intense thermal environments.
• HUD Thermometer Plaque: Wood and copper mounting frame anchoring the skeuomorphic thermometer HUD.

Changed

• Thermal Sensor Calibration: Smoothed ambient temperature transitions and cold breath particle cadence.

[0.2.0] - 2026-10-25

Added

• Skeuomorphic Mercurial Thermometer HUD: Weathered bog-oak backing, blown glass capillary tube, and fluid mercury level indicator with critical temperature flashing alerts.
• Directional Thermal Radiation: Raycast-based radiant warmth occlusion from campfires, hearths, and smelters.
• Progressive Thermal Exposure: Seamless 9-tier temperature model with gear insulation and accelerated resting recovery.

[0.1.0] - 2026-10-25

Added

• Thermodynamic Climate Engine: Dynamic microclimates driven by altitude gradients, sun angle, weather patterns, and wind chill.
• Directional Thermal Radiation: Campfires, hearths, and smelters project realistic radiant warmth with raycast shadow occlusion behind walls and obstacles.
• Skeuomorphic Mercurial Thermometer: Handcrafted HUD temperature instrument with fluid mercury display, comfort indicator, and critical temperature flash warnings.
• Progressive Thermal Afflictions: Distinct 9-tier exposure progression from soothing warmth up to dangerous hypothermia and heat exhaustion.
• Gear Insulation & Resting Equilibrium: Armor, fur cloaks, and sheltered dwellings shield against extreme elements and accelerate body temperature recovery while resting.