CrossbowZoom

BetterArchery's zoom, for every crossbow. Hold BetterArchery's zoom key (right mouse by default) with any crossbow and the camera zooms exactly as it does for a drawn bow: the same zoom factor, speed, sounds and zoom-out.

Why

BetterArchery zooms only while a bow is being drawn. A crossbow never draws, so on its own it never zooms. No BetterArchery setting changes that. CrossbowZoom fills the gap without faking a draw, so a crossbow still gets no walk slowdown and no bow-draw pose.

What it does

• Zoom while the key is held, whether the crossbow is loaded or reloading. Release the key and BetterArchery zooms back out as usual.
• Right-click zooms instead of blocking while a crossbow is held. Bows are unchanged. The same press also no longer stands you up from a chair or steers autorun while a crossbow zooms.
• Only in play: with the inventory, map, chat or a menu open, right-click does what the game normally does and the camera does not zoom.
• Every crossbow is covered: vanilla, and crossbows added by other mods. A crossbow is any bow-type weapon that has to be reloaded, so nothing depends on item names.
• Uses BetterArchery's own settings. [Bow Zoom] in ishid4.mods.betterarchery.cfg controls it: Enable Bow Zoom, Zoom Factor, Bow Zoom Constant Time, Bow Zoom Hotkey, Enable Bow Zoom SFX. CrossbowZoom has no config of its own.

Setup

• Needs BetterArchery (2.0.2) and BepInEx 5.
• Client-only. Nothing is synced or saved. Every player who wants the zoom installs it; it does nothing on a dedicated server.

Limits

• Automatic Bow Zoom stays bow-only. With it on, BetterArchery zooms out whenever nothing is being drawn, so CrossbowZoom stays off to avoid a zoom that never progresses.
• No gamepad zoom. BetterArchery's zoom reads a keyboard or mouse key, and so does this.
• If a BetterArchery update renames its zoom internals, CrossbowZoom logs one error at startup and does nothing. Crossbows just don't zoom; the camera is never left half-driven.

Changelog

1.0.0 — 2026-09-22

First release, built against Valheim l-1.0.15, BepInEx 5.4.23.5 and BetterArchery 2.0.2.

• Holding BetterArchery's zoom key with any crossbow zooms the camera with BetterArchery's own factor, speed, sounds and zoom-out, whether loaded or reloading.
• Right-click zooms instead of blocking while a crossbow is held. No zoom while the inventory, map, chat or a menu is open.
• Crossbows are recognised by their properties (a bow-type weapon that reloads), so modded crossbows work without a list.
• BetterArchery is bound by name at startup. If anything is missing, one error is logged and nothing is patched.