Jewelcraft

Equipment refinement for Valheim · Version 0.8.5 · By Enoq

Refine weapons, shields, and armor up to +9 with Jewel of Bless and Jewel of Soul. Each level adds power and a progressive surface glow. Each armor set has an assigned palette, and weapons and shields have their own colors.

Requirements and installation

• BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350 or later.
• Jötunn 2.30.2 or later.
• Windows client build. Visuals have been tested with Direct3D 11; Vulkan shader variants are included but have not been verified in live gameplay.
• Install the same Jewelcraft version on every client and the server.

Install Jewelcraft by Enoq through Thunderstore Mod Manager or r2modman; the manager installs its dependencies automatically. For manual installation, install the dependencies first and copy the ZIP's BepInEx folder into your Valheim directory. Keep Jewelcraft.dll and jewelcraft-glow-windows together. Remove duplicate installations before starting the game.

When updating, close Valheim and your mod manager. Existing gem identifiers and refinement data remain compatible. Configuration values are preserved.

Refining equipment

1. Obtain gems from wild monsters and keep them in your inventory. Gems cannot be crafted.
2. Use a sheltered Workbench, open Upgrade, and select Gems above the equipment list.
3. Select an eligible item and review its current refinement, next level, bonus, required gem, and success chance.
4. Press Refine and wait for the crafting progress bar. Each completed attempt consumes one gem.

The Quality option retains normal Valheim upgrades. Gems uses the native equipment list, material icons, crafting button, progress bar, and workbench effects. A level 1 workbench can refine compatible equipment from any crafting station, including items at maximum normal quality. Quality and refinement are separate; standard quality upgrades preserve existing refinement.

Canceling, closing the inventory, changing selection, leaving the workbench, or losing access to the item or required gem cancels an unfinished attempt without spending a gem. Roof and distance requirements apply. F8 is an optional shortcut to Upgrade > Gems while already using a workbench.

With a controller, focus the crafting panel and use the displayed confirm-button hint to switch Quality/Gems. Equipment selection, refine/cancel, repair, and Craft/Upgrade tabs retain their native controls.

A failed attempt consumes the gem and preserves the item and its current refinement level. Refinement is separate from the normal crafting quality. The default additive bonus is 4% per level to applicable damage, armor, and block power: +9 gives a 36% bonus. Server administrators can change chances and bonuses.

Bless is a translucent coral-red crystal; Soul is an ice-blue crystal. Both use faceted models, pixel textures, matching inventory icons, and subtle colored light. Enlarged world models and native dropped-item sparkles make them easier to find on the ground.

Both gems can be displayed on the native wooden wall and horizontal item stands. Put a gem on the hotbar, aim at an empty stand, and use its slot key. The stand holds one gem; hold the interaction key to retrieve it. Displaying a gem does not refine equipment or use it up. Armor stands remain reserved for equipment.

Monster drops

The rolls are independent: a monster can drop neither gem, one gem, or one of each. Bosses use the same gem chances and do not guarantee gems. Star level, player count, and world resource multipliers do not increase gem quantities or chances.

Eligible creatures use monster combat behavior and belong to a monster or boss faction. Tamed creatures, passive wildlife, players, neutral NPCs, and friendly summons are excluded. Gems join the native loot, including loot released by a corpse after a delay, and existing monster drops stay unchanged. Monsters already spawned in the world are supported.

There are no gem crafting recipes. Gems obtained in earlier versions remain usable. Administrators can change Drops.BlessChance and Drops.SoulChance from 0 to 100; 0 disables a gem drop and 100 guarantees it for eligible deaths. The server synchronizes these settings to clients.

Version 0.8.5 lowers the defaults to 11% Bless and 8% Soul. Existing configuration files retain their saved values; to use the new rates in an existing profile or server, set BlessChance = 11 and SoulChance = 8 in the [Drops] section.

Equipment appearance

The recipe determines the tier; the refinement level controls intensity. Unrefined items do not emit these effects. Rags, leather, bronze, and troll armor are basic. Iron, root, wolf/silver, and Fenris equipment are intermediate. Padded, carapace, mage, and later equipment are advanced.

In Auto mode, native equipment uses fixed palettes. Pieces from the same armor set match; mixed sets retain their own colors. For example, an Ask chest remains gold while a carapace helmet remains pearl. Each piece retains its own refinement intensity and effects tier. Weapons and shields have independent assigned palettes.

Glints appear across the equipment, including chest, arms, legs, and weapons. Advanced pieces also release soft colored wisps. Detailed prefab lists are included in the ZIP's docs/ARMOR_TIERS.md and docs/EQUIPMENT_COLORS.md.

Native armor stands use the saved items' refinement levels and the same per-item color rules. Removing, replacing, or changing displayed equipment updates its effects.

Utility tools do not accept refinement or display its effects: hammer, hoe, cultivator, butcher knife, pickaxes, fishing rod, scythe, and torch. Combat axes, knives, and two-handed combat hammers remain eligible. Previously stored refinement metadata on utility tools is preserved but inactive.

Console commands

Open the console with F5; Valheim may require the -console launch option. For gem spawning in a local test world, enable developer commands first:

devcommands
spawn Enoq_JewelBless 10
spawn Enoq_JewelSoul 10

Developer spawning is subject to Valheim's permissions and world context. Multiplayer servers may restrict it.

Change the local equipment palette without spending gems:

jewelglow auto
jewelglow pearl
jewelglow azure
jewelglow rose
jewelglow gold
jewelglow emerald
jewelglow violet
jewelglow ember
jewelglow rosegold
jewelglow classicgold
jewelglow status
jewelglow refresh

status reports renderer, palette, tier, and live particle information for the player and nearby armor stands. refresh clears visual caches and rebuilds the current effects. These commands do not change refinement levels.

Configuration

The first launch creates BepInEx/config/com.enoq.jewelcraft.cfg.

Palette overrides apply to the named item only. Tier values are Basic, Glints, and Mist; Mist enables the advanced tier, including glints when Sparkles is enabled. Rules are separated by semicolons, prefab matching is case insensitive, and the last valid rule for a prefab wins.

Unknown or modded items use material sampling without borrowing another equipped item's color. Use overrides to customize any item. Visual settings are local and do not change gameplay balance.

Saving and multiplayer

Refinement is stored on each item. Its level is retained when moving equipment between inventories, dropping or displaying it, saving, and applying normal quality upgrades. Standard quality and gem refinement remain independent.

Install the same mod version on the server and every participating client. Balance settings are synchronized from the server; appearance settings remain local. In-game text is available in English and Spanish.

Troubleshooting

• Missing Gems tab: use a sheltered workbench and select Upgrade. Check that both dependencies and Jewelcraft are enabled in your active profile.
• Missing visuals: confirm that the item has refinement above +0 and Visuals.Enabled is on. Glints require intermediate or advanced equipment; wisps require advanced equipment. Check Visuals.Sparkles and Visuals.Mist.
• Unexpected colors: use jewelglow auto and check any Visuals.PaletteOverrides entries. Manual styles recolor all refined equipment locally.
• Missing gem models or shaders: reinstall the complete package and keep its asset bundle next to the DLL.
• Visual refresh: run jewelglow refresh; jewelglow status reports the current equipment effects. These commands never change refinement levels.