PackBeasts

Saddlebags for every mount: craft a set, hang it on a saddled lox, asksvin, moose or horse, and it carries a chest of its own, so it finally earns its keep on a trip.

New: the Riding handle, a tiny saddle for every other tamed creature. Put it on your boar, wolf, bear or troll and ride it.

How to use

1. Craft Saddlebags at a workbench (8 Leather scraps, 4 Deer hide, 10 Bronze nails). The recipe shows up once you've had bronze nails, about when you can make OdinHorse's horse saddle.
2. Tame an animal you can ride and put a saddle on it.
3. Put the Saddlebags on your hotbar, look at the animal and use them (press their hotbar number), the same way you put on a saddle. A leather bag now hangs on each side, strapped to the saddle.
4. Look at the animal, or ride it, and press G: the normal chest window opens with 4×2 slots. Its hover text shows [G] Saddlebags and how many items are inside.
5. Shift + G takes empty bags off again, and you get the Saddlebags back.

Every rideable creature can carry bags: Lox, Asksvin, Moose (and the spirit caller's moose), OdinHorse's horse, and any creature another mod lets you saddle, including mods you add later. You can add creatures that can't wear a saddle in the config too; they only need to be tamed.

Riding handle

A small leather grip that works like a saddle on any tamed creature that can't wear one: boars, wolves, bears, Ulvs, trolls, skeletons, and anything a taming mod (like LetMeTameYou) lets you tame.

1. Craft a Riding handle at a workbench (4 Leather scraps, 2 Deer hide).
2. Tame the creature, put the handle on your hotbar, look at the creature and use the handle, the same way you put on a saddle.
3. Look at the top of its back (or its shoulders or head, wherever the handle is) and press E to ride. You steer and run like on a lox, with the same stamina bar. Shift + E there takes the handle off again ("Remove handle"). Looking lower at the creature still lets you command, pet or name it.

• It barely shows: just a small leather grip in front of where you sit.
• It stays put: the handle and your seat are fixed to the creature's own body and move with it when it walks or runs. The grip doesn't rock with breathing and steps, and on upright creatures (Fenring, troll) it sits on the neck, not on the head, so it doesn't swing when they look around.
• Fitted to each creature: for every creature in the game, the spot, the height of your seat and the riding pose were worked out from the creature's real model in its idle pose. On narrow backs (boar, wolf) you ride leaning forward like on an asksvin, on medium ones upright like on a moose, and on very wide ones, or sitting on the shoulders of upright creatures like trolls and skeletons, like on a lox. Creatures from other mods are fitted from their skeleton.
• Pick the spot: on the back (default), on the shoulders, or on the head, for all creatures or per creature (Spot per creature, for example Troll:Head).
• Your mounts keep their saddles: lox, asksvin, moose and modded mounts like OdinHorse's horse use their own saddle, as before.
• No saddlebags hang on a riding handle. A creature you've listed under Creatures can still carry bags, but they don't need or show a saddle.
• If the creature dies, the handle drops on the ground, like a saddle. When you get off, you land beside the creature, not on top of it.

Riding

On any mount, with a riding handle or a saddle (lox, asksvin, moose, a modded horse):

• Jump makes the animal jump, and attack makes it attack with its own attack: a wolf bites, a boar charges, a lox stomps. The secondary attack key uses its other attack, if it has one.
• Crouch gets you off, and so does E while you look at nothing.
• Use things while riding: open doors and chests, pick berries and mushrooms, pick up items and use a workbench without getting off. Your own mount is skipped when you look around.

Both can be turned off (6 - Riding); then the game's own rule applies, where jumping, attacking or dodging gets you off.

Safety

• Animals that already had items in their bags before the bags had to be crafted keep their bags, so nothing is ever out of reach.
• If the animal dies, everything in its bags drops on the ground, and so do the bags themselves.
• You can't take the bags off while they hold anything, and you can't take the saddle off (Shift + E on the saddle) either.
• When an empty saddle comes off, the bags come off with it.
• PortablePals: an animal kept in a palstone keeps its bags and what's in them. PackBeasts adds anwo_pb_bags,items to PortablePals' Mod ZDOs setting for you.

Settings (anwo.PackBeasts.cfg)

Riding handle (5 - Riding handle)

Riding (6 - Riding, each player)

Changes to the look settings made in Gale while the game runs show on the animals within a second, and the riding handle settings change right away (a creature someone is riding changes when they get off).

How it works

The riding handle is the game's own saddle with a tiny look: the game does the riding, controls, stamina and taking it off. PackBeasts decides where on the creature it sits and makes the top of the back the place you look at to ride. A mount's jump and attack are carried out by the player whose game runs that animal (its owner), so they work for everyone in multiplayer.

The bags are the game's own chest system attached to the animal. Items are saved with it, multiplayer ownership works like a chest, and two players can't open the same bags at once. Container mods that only use player-built chests (such as AzuAutoStore and AzuCraftyBoxes) leave the bags alone.

Multiplayer

Everyone needs the mod, so that all players see and can use the same bags and handles.

Removing the mod

Items stay saved on the animal but can't be reached until the mod is installed again. Empty the bags first if you plan to remove it. Riding handles on creatures disappear with the mod (take them off first if you want them back as items), and handles in your inventory are removed by the game.

About

Made with Claude (Anthropic's AI model) and tagged AI Generated, as Thunderstore's rules ask. Built for Valheim 1.0.17 (Deep North; also 1.0.16) with BepInEx 5.4.2351 and Jotunn 2.30.2.

Changelog

1.6.10

• Clearer changelog wording. No changes to the mod.

1.6.9

• Aiming at a hanging creature now shows its name and info and lets you interact with it, wherever it swings.
• Tied creatures stay within their rope instead of pulling against it.
• More hanging ragdoll and tied creature details in the log.

1.6.8

• Dragged fire pits and braziers rest on the ground instead of floating above it.
• Short tips by the crosshair while you carry a rope from a ring.
• The Leash key ties a carried rope, like Shift+E.
• Ropes lie still on the ground and floors.
• Flying mounts fly a little slower, and climb a little slower than they fly forward.
• Flyers on a rope move about a little.
• More rope, flying and dragging details in the log.

1.6.7

• Fixed riding GoodestBoy's dog.
• Things let go from a rope by another player can be picked up again.
• Hanging ragdolls run a little lighter.
• The log can name what is behind physics warnings (new setting).
• Fewer warnings in the log.
• Small fixes to the riding log.

1.6.6

• Seals can be ridden on land, swim without tiring or drowning, and keep you above the water.
• The riding handle sits mid-back on seals and other creatures without a ready fit.
• New speed settings: for all mounts, per creature, and per star.
• Flying mounts fly forward as fast as they climb.
• Flyers fold their wings in a dive.
• Speedometer while riding.
• The drag rope ties on where you aim.
• Hanging ragdolls bump into players, creatures and each other, lie still, and take hits.

1.6.5

• Fixed the camera twitching while riding, flying mounts above all.
• The camera stays level on a diving flying mount (new setting).
• Dives near the ground no longer switch back and forth between fast and slow.
• More riding details in the log.

1.6.4

• Tamed creatures and your builds no longer hurt each other.
• Everyone should update.

1.6.3

• Smoother riding.
• Flying mounts dive nose down, faster.

1.6.2

• Flying mounts climb and dive faster (new setting).

1.6.1

• Dragged things move with real physics.
• Hold Ctrl to let go.
• Everyone should update.

1.6.0

• Drag things on a leash.
• Needs everyone on 1.6.0.

1.5.1

• Looser shoulders and joints on hanging creatures.
• Things let go when their ring breaks.

1.5.0

• Tie items, carts, logs and pieces to ropes.
• Needs everyone on 1.5.0.

1.4.17

• Calmer hanging skeletons.
• Rope lengths reach what hangs on them.
• Held gear hangs down.

1.4.16

• Link for bug reports and ideas.

1.4.15

• Calmer hanging ragdolls.

1.4.14

• Small look fix for tie rings and bags.

1.4.13

• Hanging ragdolls no longer twitch.

1.4.12

• Smoother turning when riding.
• Wandering mounts no longer turn on the spot.

1.4.11

• Ropes no longer pass through buildings.
• The leash drops when a creature goes into a pal stone.
• Wild creatures resist the leash and don't tame on it.
• Ragdolls for creatures that had none.

1.4.10

• Steady name tags over hanging creatures.

1.4.9

• Fixed ridden mounts turning on their own while standing still.
• Fixed key names missing from the tie-up ring and rope hints.

1.4.8

• Fixed dvergr mounts spinning around while standing still.

1.4.7

• Mounts with up to three abilities use the mouse buttons for them.
• Fixed mounts turning with the camera while ridden.

1.4.6

• Mounts with three attacks use all three mouse buttons.
• Big tamed creatures keep a little distance when they follow you.
• Rewritten description page.

1.4.5

• Ropes and tied creatures stay tied after a server restart.
• Better hanging ragdolls.
• Ropes rest on things instead of passing through them.
• Fixed creatures you lead floating or glitching.
• New look for the ground peg.

1.4.4

• Creatures hanging from a rope dangle as ragdolls.

1.4.3

• Hanging creatures go limp.
• The rope is tied at the neck.

1.4.2

• Creatures can be tied to ropes.

1.4.1

• Tie-up rings fit what they're built on.
• You can let go of a rope you carry.

1.4.0

• Everyone needs this version.
• New: tie-up rings.
• New: ropes between rings that work as fences.
• The leash no longer stretches.
• Full WASD movement while riding.
• The host's recipes apply to everyone.
• Tidier settings.
• Small key fixes.

1.3.8

• More settings to turn features off.

1.3.7

• The leash rope shows on all creatures.
• Wild creatures can be leashed.
• The leash holds better.

1.3.6

• Hold E to ride.
• New passive switch for tamed creatures.
• Better support for Portable Pals.

1.3.5

• Mount abilities on the number keys.
• Key hints while riding.
• Tamed healers heal.
• Taming goes on while you're away.

1.3.4

• Mounts can back up.

1.3.3

• Better mount stamina.
• Mounts can move sideways.

1.3.2

• Animals follow you when you get off.
• Fixed the wait key.

1.3.1

• Right click uses heavy attacks.
• Mount attacks aim at the crosshair.
• Flying mounts can fly up and down.

1.3.0

• Everyone needs this version.
• New: the leash.

1.2.5

• Smoother ride on riding handles.

1.2.4

• Better-looking saddlebags.

1.2.3

• Ridden animals stand still when you stop steering.
• New wait key while riding.

1.2.2

• Works with GoodestBoy's dog.
• Better seats on other mods' creatures.
• Ridden animals no longer hop on their own.

1.2.1

• Riders hold the riding handle.

1.2.0

• Everyone needs this version.
• Ridden animals use all their attacks.
• Mount stamina.
• Ridden trolls can carry logs.

1.1.13

• Mounts jump and attack, and you can use things while riding.
• Riding handle fixes.

1.1.12

• Saddlebag rotation settings.

1.1.11

• New: the riding handle.

1.1.10

• Setting text changes.

1.1.9

• Clearer setting descriptions.

1.1.8

• Saddlebag fixes.

1.1.7

• Saddlebags fit the Odin horse.

1.1.6

• Saddlebag fixes.

1.1.5

• Saddlebag fixes.

1.1.4

• Saddlebags move with the animal.

1.1.3

• Saddlebag size settings.

1.1.2

• New saddlebag look.

1.1.1

• Saddlebags for every rideable creature.

1.1.0

• Saddlebags are crafted.

1.0.2

• Text fixes.

1.0.1

• Works on every rideable animal.

1.0.0

• First release.