Highseat

An admin console for Valheim dedicated servers. Press F5 for a panel with everything on it, instead of memorising console commands.

Named for the ondvegi, the chieftain's high seat in a longhouse, which is where authority was exercised from.

Why You Need It

Valheim will not let you use cheats on a dedicated server. Not "you need to be an admin" - it refuses outright, because the game only allows them when you are the server. Being in adminlist.txt makes no difference, and nothing tells you why. Commands simply do nothing.

Highseat opens them up for real admins, and puts them behind a UI.

Install

Install on the admin's game, not the server. A server-side install does nothing.

Requires BepInExPack Valheim.

Admin Setup

Add your platform user ID to adminlist.txt on the server, then restart it.

It needs the platform prefix:

Steam_76561190000000000

A bare SteamID64 will not work. Pasting just the number is the single most common reason admin silently fails, and most server guides still tell you to do it. Highseat spots this and logs the exact line you should have used.

The Panel

F5 opens it. Non-admins cannot open it at all.

Before anything will spawn you have to press Confirm Cheats once, on the Server tab. That is Valheim's own requirement, not Highseat's, and it permanently marks the character as cheated.

Building

Three things on the Player tab for people who build.

Reinforce

Anything you place while Reinforce is on ignores structural support and cannot be damaged. No collapse, no weathering, and nothing a troll or a raid can do to it. It is for building the shape you want rather than the shape the support rules allow.

Only pieces placed while it is on are affected. Everything else in the world behaves normally.

Your hammer still removes a reinforced piece the usual way, so nothing you build is permanent by accident. Struck pieces still spark and make noise, they just take no damage.

The toggle starts off every time you launch, because it marks what you build permanently.

No Weather Damage

Stops rain, ash rain and heavy snow wearing your buildings down. This one is remembered between sessions.

Weather only. Unsupported pieces still collapse, lava still destroys, and raids still do their damage. Buildings also still count as wet in the rain, so they keep their protection from Ashlands embers.

Worth knowing: rain never destroys anything on its own. It wears a building down to half health and stops. This saves you the repair rounds and the shabby look.

No Cost, For Yourself Or Anyone Else

No Cost opens a menu. Your own free building is the first row, the same toggle it has always been. Below it is everyone currently connected, with a Grant button each.

Granting gives that player free building without making them an admin. They keep it until you press Revoke, including across relogs and server restarts.

The player you grant it to needs Highseat installed. Nothing else is asked of them, they do not need to be an admin, and the panel still will not open for them. Without the mod there is nothing on their machine to turn free building on.

Grants are stored in the world rather than on your computer, which is what lets them survive a restart. A side effect is that they are not private: anyone can list them with the keys console command.

Server Settings

The Server tab has every world setting a server will accept from an admin: world level, player and enemy damage, enemy speed and stars, raids, stamina, eitr, food, carry weight, durability, resource and skill rates, death rules, free building and crafting, portals, passive creatures, no map, and more.

Edit what you want and press Save. Changes apply immediately for everyone connected and are saved into the world. No restart, no editing files on the server.

Default clears a setting rather than pinning it to a value. Rates are percentages, so 150 means 1.5x.

Server name, port, password, public/private and crossplay are not here. They are set when the server starts, so they need its start script and a restart.

Mod Settings

The Mods tab lists every installed mod that has settings, grouped by section and editable in place. Pick a mod on the left, search within it on the right. Changes save as you make them.

The editor matches the setting: a switch for on/off, a dropdown for a list of choices, a slider where the mod gave a range, a text field for the rest. Default puts one setting back. Edit opens a long value full width.

Local And Server

Every mod is badged:

For a Server mod, one of two things happens when you change a setting as an admin:

• It applies to the server, and therefore everyone connected, right away. The server keeps it until it restarts
• Or it is saved as your own preference, and the server's value keeps winning while you are connected. Rows like this are marked, and show what the server is using instead

Either way, to change something permanently, edit that mod's config on the server.

Dropped Items

Valheim only despawns dropped items after an hour, and never near a player or inside a base, so gear dropped around your base stays forever. Remove Drops on the Player tab clears what is loaded around you.

The Console

The Log tab is a full console, not just an output pane. It opens beside whichever tab you are on.

Tab completion uses the game's own command list, so spawn then Tab cycles real item names.

Your commands echo in brass, the game's replies in white. That matters more than it sounds: Valheim reports a refused command by writing to its console, which Highseat hides. Without the mirror, a rejected command looks like the button did nothing.

Game keybinds are blocked while the panel is open, so typing m will not open the map.

Achievements

Confirming cheats blocks achievements for that character. Iron Gate ship an official way to turn them back on, and Highseat offers it as Restore Achievements on the Server tab. The panel reads the result back from your character so you can see whether it worked.

Settings

BepInEx/config/gbv.valheim.highseat.cfg

Window position and size are saved automatically.

For Mod Authors

Another mod can add its own tab to the panel. Highseat does not have to be installed for your mod to work, as long as the reference stays optional:

HighseatTabs.Register(new HighseatTab
{
    Id    = "yourmod.something",   // stable and namespaced
    Label = "Something",           // short, Title Case
    Draw  = rect => { /* absolute GUI.* calls, not GUILayout */ }
});

The panel owns the tab strip and the footer. Your tab owns its body. Anything you want on top of your body has to be drawn from inside Draw, because Highseat paints its own popups after every tab.

Registering the same Id twice replaces the first. Register whenever you like, including before Highseat wakes.

A tab that throws is benched until the next world load rather than taking the panel down with it. The panel is the admin's only tool for diagnosing a broken server, so it is not allowed to break.

Everything is client side. The panel only opens for admins, but treat that as a convenience and not a security boundary: a tab that changes server state must still check admin on the server when the request arrives.

Credits

Behaviour was verified against the game's own assemblies. JereKuusela's Server devcommands (Unlicense) confirmed the same approach independently.

Changelog

0.15.1

Fixed

• Teleport Player Here said "No other players" even with friends online, so it could never be used

Notes

• Everyone needs 0.15.1 for this. A player still on 0.15.0 cannot be teleported, and will not appear to receive the request

0.15.0

Added

• Right-click the world map to teleport. Teleport Here moves you to that spot, Teleport Player Here lists the connected players and moves the one you pick
• Works from the map itself, without opening the panel

Notes

• Right-clicking a map pin still deletes the pin. The menu only opens where there is no pin
• A player you teleport needs Highseat installed, because the move happens on their machine

0.14.1

Added

• Settings with a slider can now be typed into. The slider stays for rough adjustment and the box beside it takes an exact value
• Dropdowns set to Custom now show the setting that holds the custom value, on the same row, so it can be filled in without hunting for it

Fixed

• Buttons in the Mods tab were taller than their row and overlapped the row above and below

0.14.0

Added

• Admins can hand out free building. Ask one and they can switch it on for you, with no admin rights, and it stays on until they turn it off
• It survives logging out and server restarts

Changed

• No Cost opens a menu. Your own is the first row, everyone connected below it

Notes

• The granted player needs Highseat installed. They do not need to be an admin, and the panel still will not open for them
• Free building is not private. Anyone can see who has it with the keys command

0.13.1

Fixed

• Player tab buttons running underneath the Log panel. The row of toggles now wraps to a second line instead of overflowing the edge

0.13.0

Added

• No Weather Damage toggle on the Player tab. Stops rain, ash rain and heavy snow wearing your buildings down
• The toggle is remembered between sessions

Notes

• Weather only. Unsupported pieces still collapse, lava still destroys, raids still hurt
• Buildings still count as wet in the rain, so they keep their protection from Ashlands embers

0.12.1

Fixed

• Server settings in mods built on Jotunn, such as PlanBuild, did nothing. Controls snapped back the moment you released them
• Those settings now also reach the server, and apply for everyone connected

Notes

• The server holds the change until it restarts. Edit the mod's config on the server to make it permanent
• Mods using ServerSync are unchanged

0.12.0

Added

• Reinforce toggle on the Player tab. Anything you place while it is on ignores structural support and takes no damage at all
• Build the shape you want instead of the shape the support rules allow

Notes

• Only affects pieces placed while the toggle is on. Everything else decays as normal
• Saved with the world, so it survives a relog and applies for other players too
• Your hammer still removes reinforced pieces, so nothing is permanent by accident
• Starts off at every launch, because it marks what you build permanently

0.11.1

Fixed

• Confirm Cheats showing Not Confirmed forever when an achievement mod is installed. The Achievements section now names the mod that took over the cheat flag

Removed

• Clear Dropped Items from the Server tab. The Player tab's Remove Drops already did it

0.11.0

Added

• Mods tab: every installed mod's settings, editable in place. Pick a mod on the left, search within it on the right
• Editors match the setting: a switch for on/off, a dropdown for choices, a slider for a range, a text field for the rest
• Each mod is badged Local or Server, read from the mod itself
• Edit opens long values full width instead of cramming them into a small box
• Other GBV mods can add their own tab to the panel

Fixed

• Edits to server-owned settings are no longer thrown away. Your value is kept and applies whenever the server is not overriding it
• Dropdowns no longer click through to what is behind them
• Dropdowns open upwards when there is no room below, instead of being cut off

0.10.0

Added

• Server tab: every world setting a server will accept from an admin. Damage, stamina, eitr, food, carry weight, durability, resource and skill rates, raids, death rules, free building, portals, passive creatures, no map, and more
• Changes apply the moment you press Save, for everyone connected. No restart needed
• Unsaved rows are marked. Revert discards, Default clears a setting back to vanilla
• Clear Dropped Items, for loose gear that piles up around a base and never despawns

Changed

• The player list moved behind a Players button, so it stops filling the Server tab

Notes

• Server name, port, password, public/private and crossplay cannot be changed from here. They are launch arguments and need the server's start script

0.9.5

Added

• Filter items by type: Weapons, Armor, Tools, Ammo, Food, Materials, Trophies, Other

Fixed

• The panel refusing to open for a real admin when large content mods are on the server. adminlist.txt was never at fault
• Dozens of tiles all reading the same name, such as "Iron plate armor", that spawned unrelated things. Duplicates now show their prefab name, which is unique

0.9.4

Fixed

• The panel not opening on Valheim 1.0.15. The hotkey did nothing and nothing was logged

Added

• Each hotkey press is logged, so a panel that will not open can be diagnosed

0.9.3

Added

• The Log tab is a working console. Type commands and press Enter
• Command history on Up and Down
• Tab completion for command names and their arguments
• Your commands echo in brass, the game's replies in white
• The log opens alongside any tab, not just Spawn

Fixed

• Game keybinds no longer fire while the panel is open. Typing m will not open the map and Enter will not open chat
• Esc closes the panel without opening the game menu behind it
• Log text is legible against the panel background
• Debug Mode and No Cost now light up when active

0.8.2

Fixed

• The assembly version had drifted behind the plugin version
• README: use a placeholder ID in the admin setup example

0.8.1

First public build.

Added

• Unlocks devcommands on dedicated servers for players in adminlist.txt
• Spawn grid with real in-game icons, localized names and category filters
• Player, World and Server tabs: modes, skills, teleport, time, weather, kick and ban
• Console output mirrored into the panel, so refused commands are never silent
• Confirm Cheats and Restore Achievements, with state read back from the game
• Detects and explains the bare-SteamID64 mistake in adminlist.txt
• Panel is admin-only. Non-admins cannot open it
• Blocks movement, look and scroll while open, matching the inventory