SmarterHoe

A comprehensive, precision terrain-editing and agriculture overhaul for the Valheim hoe.

SmarterHoe equips you with a professional suite of terraforming and agriculture tools — from all Cultivator abilities and progression-gated crop planting built directly into the hoe, to laser-flat plateau leveling, multi-waypoint spline road carving, full multi-step undo/redo, 3D previews, 9-language localization, and server-authoritative dedicated server synchronization — all while staying fully balanced for survival play.

Features

Cultivator Integration & Farming Grid

• Unified Tool: All Cultivator abilities and plantables are integrated directly into the Hoe — till soil, regrow grass, and plant crops without swapping tools or wasting inventory slots.
• Intelligent Farming Grid System (F8): Plant crops, vegetables, and sapling rows in neat, organized grids with a single click.
• Automatic Healthy Spacing: Dynamically calculates safe growth distance based on each crop's growRadius. Crops planted in the grid will never fail to mature or complain with "Needs more space".
• Adjustable Grid Radius: Press Q (or hold Alt and scroll), or use [ and ], to adjust grid radius with live HUD dimensions (1x1, 3x3, 5x5, etc.).
• Proximity Row Snapping: Snaps the grid to align with nearby existing crop rows of the same type. Hold Shift to bypass snapping for freeform placement.
• Mass Area Harvesting (Shift + E): Harvest all mature crops and pickables in a configurable radius (default: 5m). Harvested items are automatically vacuumed directly into your inventory.
• Harvest Filter & Auto-Replant (C): Cycle between All Pickables, Replantable Crops only, or specific detected crops. Enable EnableHarvestReplant in config to immediately replant harvested fields in place.
• AzuCraftyBoxes Integration: Batch planting, single-crop placement, and area harvest replanting pull seeds and vegetables seamlessly from nearby chests and containers.
• Batch Crop Undo (Ctrl + Z): Press Ctrl + Z to cleanly remove all newly planted crops from the world and refund the seeds directly back to your inventory.
• Progression-Gated Planting: Players only see and plant crops, saplings, or seeds they have legitimately discovered in the world.

Measure Mode (3D Laser Ruler)

• Point-to-Point Measuring (N): First press sets Point A with a cyan 3D ring; second press sets Point B and locks the measurement; third press or Escape clears.
• Live 3D Ruler: Displays a live line connecting your aim point in real time.
• Elevation & Slope Diagnostics: Displays 3D distance, horizontal distance, height delta ($\Delta h$), slope angle in degrees, and road grade percentage right on your HUD.

Multi-Step Undo & Redo System

• Step-by-Step Reversion (Alt + Z / Alt + Y): Undo or redo previous terrain modifications step-by-step (up to 15 history steps by default).
• Universal Tool Coverage: Works on Altitude Leveling, Instant Plateau, Soften, Restore Nature, Spline Ramps, Raise Earth, Mud Roads, Paved Stone Roads, Cultivate, and Replant.
• Continuous Sweep Grouping: Drag-leveling or paving continuously groups the entire stroke into a single atomic undo entry.
• Texture & Grass Restoration: Undoing fully restores dirt, grass, and stone paint masks and synchronizes vegetation clutter in real time.

Altitude Lock & Instant Plateau

• Altitude Lock (L): Locks your working elevation. Every subsequent click levels terrain to that exact height across hills and slopes.
• Snap to Building Floors (Middle Click): Aim at any placed wood or stone floor piece and middle-click to snap the locked altitude to that floor's exact height.
• Elevation Tuning (PageUp / PageDown): Tap or hold down to smoothly adjust locked elevation. Hold Shift for a 5x speed multiplier.
• Instant Plateau Tool: Dedicated build-menu tool that instantly flattens the entire brush area to the elevation directly under your cursor in a single click.

Smooth Ramp & Spline Road Carver

• Waypoint Road Plotting (K): Place waypoints across rugged terrain to plot out a mountain trail or highway.
• Spline Auto-Carving (H): Instantly auto-carves a smooth, graded road corridor through all waypoints using Catmull-Rom spline interpolation.
• Slope Cart-Friendliness Guide: Live 3D spine dynamically indicates slope steepness (Green: Cart-Friendly, Yellow: Steep, Red: Too Steep for Carts).
• Cobblestone Shortcut: Hold Shift while pressing H to auto-carve the road directly in paved cobblestone.

True Square & Circle Brushes

• Shape Toggle (G): Switch between circular and square brush geometry.
• True Rotated Square Alignment: Square brush rotates smoothly using your mouse wheel or arrow keys, eliminating vanilla axis-aligned distortion. Press Home to reset rotation to North.

Terrain Restoration & Debris Clearing

• Soften Terrain: Gently blends sharp ridges and cliff creases into natural, smooth transitions without flattening the terrain to a plane.
• Restore Terrain (U): Resets terrain within the brush radius back to its natural, unmodified world-generation state.
• Clear Debris: Instantly removes trees, logs, stumps, rocks, boulders, and bushes within the brush radius. In Balanced Survival mode, requires an Axe for trees and a Pickaxe for rocks.
• Quench Lava: Unlocks in the Ashlands. Solidifies bubbling molten magma into walkable, heat-resistant crust and prevents lava leakage bugs.

Extended Reach & Height Clamping Bypass

• Extended Reach: Configurable placement reach (default 20m, range 5m–50m) for comfortable terraforming without constant walking.
• Bypass ±8m Limit: Removes Valheim's restrictive ±8m height clamp, allowing you to level deep canyons or raise towering mountain citadels up to a configurable limit (default: 50m).

Dynamic Tooltips & Multi-Language Support

• Dynamic Keybind HUD: Tooltips in the Hoe and Cultivator menus update dynamically whenever you change keybinds.
• Multi-Language Localization: Full native translations for English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Polish, and Swedish.

Controls & Keybinds

Console Commands (F5)

Open the Valheim console with F5 (requires -console Steam launch option):

Configuration

The configuration file is generated automatically at BepInEx/config/com.jubaroo.smarterhoe.cfg. All settings can be adjusted in-game via configuration managers or edited directly:

Installation

Using a Mod Manager (Recommended)

Install via Thunderstore Mod Manager, r2modman, or Gale:

1. Search for SmarterHoe.
2. Click Download with Mod Manager.

Manual Installation

1. Ensure BepInExPack Valheim is installed.
2. Extract the mod package archive.
3. Place SmarterHoe.dll (and any bundled folders) into your Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ directory.
4. Launch the game!

Compatibility & Multiplayer

• ServerSync Integrated: Server owners can enforce balance rules (CostMode, reach limits, radius, required tools). Admins listed in adminlist.txt can adjust settings in real time.
• Dedicated Servers: Fully supported with headless optimizations. Modifies Valheim's native TerrainComp heightmaps and ZDO networks so all players see changes in real time.
• Client-Optional: Players can join vanilla or community servers with SmarterHoe installed on their client safely.

Credits

Valheim terrain system research inspired by the broader Valheim modding community.