Runemark

A Diablo-style loot system for Valheim.

Creatures and chests drop equipment with a rarity and randomly rolled bonuses. Magic items on the ground are marked with a pillar of light and a star on your map. Gear you do not want can be broken down at a Runestone and the materials worked into gear you do.

The name refers to the rune marks carved into an object to give it power, which is what the mod does: it writes a rarity and a set of bonuses onto an ordinary piece of equipment.

This is early and the numbers will change. Drop rates, prices and payouts have not been balanced against much real play yet. Items you already have are not affected by those changes, and every number is in a config file you can edit.

Finding Gear

Valheim's drop tables are almost entirely materials, so once you know a recipe the world stops handing you equipment. Runemark gives creatures and chests a chance to drop gear, and everything they drop is rolled.

There are five rarities. Higher ones roll more bonuses, and roll them higher within each bonus's range.

Each rarity has its own colour and frame in the inventory grid. On the ground, magic items stand in a pillar of light in their rarity colour, and a chime plays when one lands nearby.

The beam can be hidden behind hills or under trees, so magic items also show as a star on your map and minimap in the same colour. The star disappears when you pick the item up.

Bonuses change real stats: damage, armour, carry weight, stamina, and elemental damage that makes a weapon give off matching sparks other players can see.

Gear is sorted into eight tiers, from the Meadows to the Deep North, and a creature drops loot suited to the biome it lives in.

The Runestone

A standing stone you build for 20 Stone and 10 Wood. You learn it the first time you pick up anything Runemark made. Press Use to open it.

It has three ranks. Raising it is paid for in runes, using the Upgrade button under the rank in the panel. The materials come from using the stone, so there is nothing to go and mine for it.

Runes and Ochre

There are two currencies, from two different sources.

Runes come from breaking magic gear apart. There are five, one per rarity: Fehu, Uruz, Ansuz, Tiwaz and Sowilo. Four of one make one of the next. Runes pay for Recarve, Deepen and upgrades.

Ochre comes from breaking down trophies. Ochre pays for Inscribe.

Breaking pays fewer runes as the rarity rises, so common gear stays worth collecting. A Marked item gives a handful of Fehu; a Storied one gives a small number of much rarer runes.

Inscribe

A flat 25 Ochre. The stone rolls the rarity and reveals it on a spinning reel. It works on gear that already has bonuses, replacing them, so a poor result can be rerolled. The odds are shown before you commit and are the same ones the world rolls on.

Names

At a rank III stone, Jarl's and Storied gear can be given a name of your own, up to 32 characters. It replaces the rolled name everywhere: the tooltip, your inventory, and the hover text when it is lying on the ground.

The name travels with the item, so anyone who picks it up or finds it in a chest reads the same thing.

One name per item, and it is permanent. Naming is free, but a name cannot be changed or removed once it is cut, so the button asks twice before it commits.

Locks

Every row in the panel has a padlock, and locked items say so in their normal tooltip. Nothing Runemark does will consume a locked item, including runes sitting in a chest.

Nearby Chests

The stone can draw runes and ochre from chests near it, so you do not have to carry your whole stock. The range is a slider in the panel. Chests behind someone else's ward, set to private, or in use at the time are never touched.

Installing

Runemark needs BepInEx 5, and it goes on both the client and the server. Drop Runemark.dll into BepInEx\plugins\ on each.

Both are needed. The client handles rolling, stats and the interface. The server owns the loot table and sends it to everyone on connect, so on a server its settings are the ones that apply.

Other Mods

Nine are supported and all of them are optional. Install any of them and their content is included automatically. Install none and nothing changes.

Gear appears in the drop tables: Warfare, Armory, Wizardry, SouthsilArmor, WeaponAdditions, Hugo's Armory.

Creatures drop loot: Monstrum, RenegadeVikings, SeaAnimals and AirAnimals.

Modded gear is sorted by its armour and damage values rather than by its name, so it lands in the tier its stats belong to. Modded creatures are sorted by the biome the game spawns them in.

Settings

BepInEx\config\gbv.valheim.runemark.cfg holds the display and audio options: rarity frames, ground beams, map stars, weapon effects, drop sounds, and the Runestone's reach into chests.

Three of them set a minimum rarity, which is useful if the common tiers get noisy:

• DropSoundMinRarity for the drop chime.
• GroundBeamMinRarity for the pillars of light.
• MapPinMinRarity for the map stars.

BepInEx\config\gbv.valheim.runemark.loot.json holds the drop rates, the tier weights and every price the Runestone charges. On a server, that server's copy is the one that counts. Every number in it is documented in the file itself.

If you update Runemark and new drops do not appear, it is because a server keeps its existing loot table. Run runemark_reload defaults once to rewrite it. Your old file is kept as a .bak.

Console Commands

These are for server owners and for setting up a loot table. Normal play needs none of them.

Uninstalling

Safe at any time. Magic item data is stored on the item rather than in a separate save file, so items keep it while the mod is removed and get it back if you reinstall.

Credits

Runemark is a separate implementation of an idea EpicLoot popularised. It is written from scratch on Valheim's own damage types, status effects and item storage, and uses none of EpicLoot's code, data or assets.

Supported mods are referenced by prefab name only. Nothing is bundled and nothing is required.

Changelog

0.5.1

Fixed

• 0.5.0 did not load. Anyone who installed it was running none of the mod: no drops, no marks, no Runestone, no bonuses. Update and it works. Nothing you already owned was affected, and marked gear sitting in a chest is untouched.
• Marks can never land on arrows or bolts. They never could, but the guard no longer depends on ammo happening to stack.
• Corrected 0.5.0's note below about a Light stack of arrows. No stack of anything can carry a mark. What that fix changed was the weight quoted in the controller drop screen.

0.5.0

Added

• Nineteen new bonuses, taking the list to seventy.
• Weapons: Draugrbane, Beastbane and Jotunbane for extra damage to the undead, beasts and bosses. Thirsting heals you with every hit. Conduit lowers a staff's eitr cost.
• Weapons and armour: Blighting, Hallowed, Crushing, Cleaving and Piercing raise a whole damage type across everything you carry.
• Armour: Bristling returns a share of melee damage to the attacker. Oilskin stops rain making you Wet. Emberproof slows Ashlands heat. Windborne speeds you with the wind. Wisptouched pushes back the Mistlands mist, freeing your utility slot.
• Tools: Hewing on axes fells trees faster and Delving on pickaxes breaks rock faster. Enduring slows how fast an item wears out. Sparing builds the occasional piece for free.
• Rarer bonuses now appear less often than ordinary ones.

Changed

• A throw at the Runestone costs 50 Ochre, up from 25.
• The price is now a setting, InscribeOchre under Runestone, editable from any mod manager's config editor.

Fixed

• A Light item showed its unreduced weight in the controller drop screen. Carry weight was always correct.

Servers

• The new price applies even if your loot table already has the old one. The config setting decides it now. A startup warning naming both is expected on the first launch, not a fault.
• Recarve and Deepen are different. If your server has run any version before 0.4.6, its stored table still holds the old prices for those. runemark_reload defaults replaces them, but it also resets your creature rules.
• runemark_reload defaults now resets the throw price to 50.

0.4.11

Changed

• ItemDropMultiplier and RuneDropMultiplier are now settings under Loot, editable from any mod manager's config editor. They used to live only in the loot table file.
• Config changes on a dedicated server apply straight away and reach everyone connected, with no restart.
• runemark_droprate now writes to those settings, so the console and the settings screen always agree.
• runemark_reload defaults resets both multipliers to 1. It used to leave them alone.

Note for servers

• Set these on the server. A client's own values are ignored while it is connected.
• If you set itemDropMultiplier or runeDropMultiplier in the loot table file under 0.4.10, set them again in the config. The config wins now, and the log says so on startup if the two disagree.
• Nothing else in the loot table has moved.

0.4.10

Added

• itemDropMultiplier and runeDropMultiplier, scaling magic item and rune drops without touching the individual creature rules. 1 is normal, 0.5 is half, 0 turns that half off.
• runemark_droprate sets either one from the console and takes effect straight away. On its own it prints both, and what they work out to per kill.

Note for servers

• Nothing changes on update. Both start at 1.
• If drops feel too frequent, turn runes down first. They come off almost anything you kill and magic items are far rarer.
• Set these on the server. A client's copy is replaced by the server's on connect.

Thanks to SaSha for asking for this.

0.4.9

Changed

• Starred creatures no longer raise magic drop rates in a straight line. Each extra star is worth a little less than the one before, so a mod that adds stars past the game's two makes a kill better without multiplying how much falls out of it. Loose runes follow the same curve.

Note for servers

• levelCurve in the loot table sets what a star is worth. 0 ignores stars entirely.

0.4.8

Changed

• The Runestone window is readable now. Item names, bonus lines, prices and the explanation on every tab were all too small to read comfortably.
• A name you are about to cut into an item is shown at full size before you commit to it.
• The Inscribe reel calls out what it landed on in large letters.

Fixed

• On a server, reconnecting left you rolling on your own settings instead of the server's. Only the first connection after starting the game received the server's loot table.

0.4.7

Changed

• Recarving now costs 5 runes and 30 ochre, up from 2 and 15. The price does not rise with repeats, unlike deepening.

Note for servers

• Prices live in the loot table, and a stored one overrides the defaults in an update. If deepening still costs 1 rune, run runemark_reload defaults once. Your old file is kept as a .bak.

0.4.6

Added

• Runecrafting, a new skill. Working at a Runestone raises it, and it improves what Inscribe rolls. At 100 a Storied result goes from one throw in 167 to one in 50.

Changed

• Deepening now costs 3 runes instead of 1, and gets more expensive each time you deepen the same mark.

Fixed

• The Runestone no longer takes materials from a chest ticked Not For Crafting.
• The Runestone can now spend from a cart or a ship's chest. It counted what was in them but could never take it.
• Elemental weapon effects came back a moment after another mod hid them, such as when wearing a disguise.
• The Upgrade panel would not open from the Fuse tab, or from any tab the stone was not yet ranked for.

0.4.5

Added

• Drop sounds now ship with the mod, one per rarity. A .wav of the same name in BepInEx\config\Runemark\sounds still replaces the built-in one.

Fixed

• Upgrading a magic item's quality at a forge wiped its bonuses, its name and its lock. This also covers reforging mods that work through the same upgrade path, such as ReforgedPotential.

0.4.4

Added

• Breaking gear now asks twice. The first click marks the row, the second breaks it.

Fixed

• Elemental weapon effects bunched up at your hand on some weapons instead of spreading along the weapon.
• Crossbows lost their elemental effect as soon as a bolt was loaded.
• Lightning on a bow or crossbow now runs along the string.
• Elemental effects doubled after getting into a vehicle and out again.

0.4.3

Changed

• New hand-drawn icons for the five runes and for Ochre, replacing the generated ones.

0.4.2

Added

• Magic items lying on the ground now show a star on the map and minimap, in their rarity colour, for when the beam is behind a hill or under trees.
• MapPins and MapPinMinRarity settings, to turn the stars off or keep them for the good stuff.

Fixed

• Elemental weapon effects stopped when you put the weapon away. They now follow it onto your back, and other players see them there too.

0.4.1

Documentation only. No gameplay change, and nothing in the mod behaves differently from 0.4.0.

• Rewrote the README for players instead of maintainers.
• Rewrote this changelog into actual release notes.

0.4.0

Added

• Name your Jarl's and Storied gear at a rank III Runestone. One name per item, and permanent.
• Deep North tier: 82 items, 20 creature rules, and the village and memorial chests.
• Monstrum's creatures drop loot, tiered by the biome they live in.
• RenegadeVikings T1 to T7 drop loot, one rung per biome.
• Predators from SeaAnimals and AirAnimals drop loot. Scenery wildlife does not.
• Abomination, Serpent, Deer, Hare and Bonemaw Serpent drop loot. They never had rules.
• runemark_spawns lists every creature the world spawns, its biome, and what covers it.
• DropSoundMaxDistance, default 48m. A drop further away than this makes no sound.
• titleMinRarity sets the lowest rarity that can be named. Above your top tier turns naming off.

Fixed

• Drop chimes could be heard from anywhere on the map. They now fade with distance and stop at 48m.
• Bjorn, Unbjorn and Writhan dropped Deep North loot in the Black Forest, Plains and Swamp.
• Lava Blobs dropped Swamp loot and Ashlands Dvergr dropped Mistlands loot.
• Deep North goblins, skeletons, dvergr and greydwarves dropped their non-Deep-North loot.
• Ten SouthsilArmor sets above flametal armour dropped in the Ashlands instead of the Deep North.
• Corrupted Dvergr Mages dropped nothing.
• The Ask and Embla sets were missing their legs and hoods, and the Berserkir axe variants were missing entirely.

Changed

• Creature coverage went from 55 of a loaded world's creatures to 98.
• DropSoundSpatial now defaults to on, so chimes fade with distance and give a direction.
• runemark_soundcheck reports how far away a drop can be heard.

Upgrading

A server that has run before keeps its stored loot table, so none of the new rules will reach it. Run runemark_reload defaults once. Your old file is kept as a .bak.

0.3.0

Added

• Wizardry, SouthsilArmor, WeaponAdditions and Hugo's Armory gear in the drop tables. Just over five hundred items across seven tiers. None of the mods are required.
• runemark_items now prints armour, damage and max quality, and writes the list to a file.
• runemark_reload defaults rewrites a stored loot table from the build, keeping a .bak.
• runemark_validate checks wildcard keys and suggests alternatives for ones that match nothing.

Changed

• Rebuilt the ground beam. Brighter, taller, with a swirling helix and a pool of light at its foot.
• Beam colours now read as their own colour instead of washing out to white.

Fixed

• Elemental effects sat off the blade on dual-wield weapons, and lightning arced metres away.
• Drop rates were quietly cut by up to 44% on installs without the supported mods.
• Three chest rules matched nothing, so the Mistlands and Ashlands dropped less than intended.
• A harmless startup error claimed the mod had failed to load.

0.2.0

Added

• The Runestone. A buildable standing stone with three ranks, upgraded from its own panel.
• Break magic gear into runes of its tier, and trophies into ochre.
• Fuse four runes of one tier into one of the next.
• Recarve replaces a mark. Deepen rerolls a mark's value and keeps the mark.
• Inscribe cuts fresh marks for a flat price, at a standing the stone rolls.
• Per-item padlocks. Nothing Runemark does will consume a locked item.
• The stone spends from chests standing near it, within a range you set.
• Therzie Warfare and Armory gear in the drop tables, and new Mistlands and Ashlands tiers.

0.1.1

Documentation only. The mod itself is unchanged from 0.1.0.

• Rewrote the README.
• Corrected the upgrade instruction. It is the Upgrade button under the rank, not the rank itself.

0.1.0

First release.

• Equipment drops from creatures and chests, with a rarity and rolled affixes.
• Five rarities, each with its own colour, frame and drop sound.
• Affixes change real stats and show in tooltips.
• Magic items on the ground get a pillar of light in their rarity colour.
• Elemental affixes give weapons matching sparks while equipped.