Viking Codex

Stable full release · JustQOL Viking Series

Discover more. Explore together. Viking Codex brings your discoveries, crafting knowledge and biome checklists into one native Valheim interface. Browse what you know, follow clues toward what you have yet to find, and share supported item discoveries with other Vikings on your server.

Features

Your own Viking encyclopedia

• Browse base-game items, creatures, crafting recipes, building pieces and crafting stations.
• Filter by biome, category and discovery status. Sort by progression or alphabetically.
• Search discovered content and discovery clues without exposing hidden names.
• View an item and its related recipes together without duplicate recipe rows.
• See newly discovered entries marked NEW until you view them during that session.

Clues without spoilers

Undiscovered entries display a clue instead of revealing their identity. A clue might point you toward red fruit growing on low bushes, while the item's name and recipe details stay hidden. Unknown icons appear as silhouettes where an icon is available. Select an entry to read its full clue, or search the clue to narrow your next destination.

Biome discovery checklists

Each biome shows its discovered count, completion percentage and discoveries remaining. Search and category filters do not shrink that biome's completion total. Discovered entries appear first in the All view, and Unclassified entries have a separate filter.

Completion refers to the entries assigned to that biome in the current catalog. It does not represent every possible activity or discovery in Valheim. Unclassified entries remain available in the All view.

Crafting information at a glance

Review descriptions, known ingredients, crafting stations, station levels and related recipes. The Codex distinguishes discovered, recipe known and currently craftable states. Missing resources and station requirements are highlighted; unknown ingredients and undiscovered recipe details stay hidden.

Optional Wiki buttons open mapped pages for discovered entries when you choose to use them. Viking Codex makes no background Wiki requests.

Discover together

Supported base-game collectible-item encounters contribute to the server's shared discovery history, including supported food and equipment. Other connected characters receive that knowledge through Valheim's native item-registration and recipe-unlock logic.

• Sharing applies across the server, rather than only to nearby players.
• An item encounter can contribute even when the collecting character already knows the item.
• Joining or reconnecting characters receive eligible knowledge already recorded by that server, with offline catch-up enabled by default.
• Joining a server does not upload a character's entire previous knowledge. Contributions come from supported encounters during play.
• Learned knowledge belongs to the character; shared history is stored separately for each world.
• Creature encounters and crafting-station knowledge are not shared.

Sharing grants knowledge, not physical items. Resources, crafting stations, station levels and other crafting restrictions still apply.

How to use

Choose a biome, category and discovery filter, then select an entry to inspect it. Clear filters resets the view. The main-menu guide is available before entering a world; your character's catalog is browsed in a loaded world.

The interface uses Valheim wood panels, Averia Serif text, warm highlights and native controls to match the JustQOL Viking Series.

Installation and updating

Required dependencies:

• BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2351
• Jotunn 2.30.2 or a newer compatible version

Mod manager: install VikingCodex by JustQOL through Thunderstore Mod Manager or r2modman. The manager installs declared dependencies automatically. Close the game or server before updating, then restart after installation.

Manual: install the dependencies, then place the VikingCodex plugin folder under BepInEx/plugins/. Keep only one installed copy of VikingCodex.dll. Preserve configuration, character/world saves and the mod's world-history files when updating.

Multiplayer

Install matching Viking Codex gameplay versions and the dependencies on the server and every client, including when sharing is disabled. Restart the server and all clients after an update.

Server settings control discovery sharing and catch-up. Local interface settings control your own Codex presentation. Disabling the interface does not require disabling sharing, and disabling sharing does not require disabling the interface.

Previously recorded server history is retained. Knowledge imported by older releases is not automatically removed from characters or history.

Configuration

First launch creates BepInEx/config/com.vikingcodex.cfg.

The legacy ImportExistingDiscoveries and EnableModdedContentDetection settings are ignored. They cannot enable bulk character-knowledge import or add modded identities to the catalog.

Advanced users can customize presentation metadata under BepInEx/config/VikingCodex/metadata/: biome assignments, ordering, descriptions, discovery clues and mapped Wiki pages for existing base-game identities. Metadata does not grant items, bypass progression or add non-base-game identities. See docs/CONFIGURATION.md for the file format and merge rules.

With Valheim's console enabled, vikingcodex status shows registry and sharing status, vikingcodex reload reloads local metadata, and vikingcodex export confirm writes a diagnostic catalog export. The export intentionally contains spoilers. Console commands are optional.

Restart the server and reconnect clients after changing server policy.

Compatibility

Built for Valheim 1.0.20. The catalog and sharing registry are base-game only. Modded items do not contribute to this checklist or shared discovery registry, even when a legacy configuration says otherwise.

Other mods may add crafting restrictions that the Codex does not display. Actual crafting remains controlled by the game and installed mods. If an inventory UI mod overlaps the Codex button, adjust its offset or disable the button and use F8.

Catalog and biome assignments can contain Unclassified entries. Report incorrect mappings through the community channels so they can be corrected.

Community and support

Join JustQOL | Valheim Mods on Discord for support, announcements, bug reports and suggestions.

For Viking Codex help, use viking-codex-support. Report reproducible issues in bug-reports. Include your mod and Valheim versions, server/client setup, other installed mods, reproduction steps and relevant BepInEx errors with private information removed. You can also message goon4207 on Discord.

Powered by Astra

Created with assistance from OpenAI Codex, under the project owner's direction.

1.0.8

• Finalized the stable full release README with complete feature coverage and consistent JustQOL branding.

• Finalize the stable-release README, feature descriptions, installation instructions, dependency information, and support details.

• Clarify session-only contributions, joining-player catch-up, base-game scope, and preserved crafting restrictions.

• Record successful dedicated-server operation reported by the author.

• Correct outdated version and Unclassified-filter wording. No gameplay changes from 1.0.7.

1.0.7

• Give packaged files a deterministic, release-specific timestamp instead of reusing one timestamp across every release. This prevents different releases having identical packaged DLL timestamps.
• Correct outdated README version instructions and document safe upgrades.
• Clean-profile upgrade behavior still requires in-game verification.

1.0.6 candidate

• Remove bulk character-knowledge import, including when legacy configs enable it.
• Observe repeated native item registrations so already-known item encounters can contribute to the server.
• Expand vanilla eligibility to collectible item entries with native icons; retain metadata denial and modded opt-in.
• Add packet/application counters to status and log malformed packets plus durable server commits.
• Preserve existing server history and normal crafting requirements.
• Dedicated-server gameplay verification remains pending. Not installed or published automatically.

1.0.5

• Add a native Viking Codex main-menu button above Viking Revival and Viking Meals.
• Add a main-menu guide to controls, discovery clues and biome checklists.
• Keep the existing in-game Codex and sharing behavior.

1.0.4

• Give hidden entries discovery clues in the list and detail panel; 165 verified base-game entries have specific clues, with gameplay-type clues for the rest.
• Search discovery clues while keeping undiscovered names and recipe details hidden.
• Show a biome checklist percentage and remaining count that stay stable while searching or filtering categories. Empty biomes do not claim 100% completion.
• Include base-game identities only, even when old configs enabled modded detection. Keep discovery sharing behavior unchanged for eligible base-game materials.
• Expose Unclassified entries separately and clarify that catalog and biome coverage still need review.
• Add the permanent JustQOL Valheim Mods Discord support invite.
• Build and automated verification completed; graphical and live multiplayer acceptance of this update remain pending.

1.0.3

• Replace Unity catalog JSON loading with the game-provided Newtonsoft.Json parser and reject empty embedded catalogs.
• Show All followed by named biomes, without Unclassified or progress text in the selector.
• Runtime verification of catalog loading fix remains pending.

1.0.2

• Enable existing eligible material knowledge import by default. Existing server configs retain their saved value; set ImportExistingDiscoveries=true to enable import after upgrading.
• Update the README to describe automatic existing-knowledge import.

1.0.1

• Enable import of existing eligible character material knowledge by default. Existing configs retain their saved setting.

• Rewrite the README with feature descriptions, usage instructions, dependencies, dedicated-server testing feedback, and Discord support contact.

• Combine the Astra credit and AI disclosure; remove text artwork.

1.0.0 initial release

• Label hidden creature entries as ??? - Creature instead of showing a generic placeholder icon.

• Triple wheel scroll speed; place discovered entries first in All view.

• Provide a generic codex-page icon when native icons are missing.

• Keep selected biome progress on one line; diagnostic exports report icon availability.

• Fix oversized scrollbar handle by clearing the default Unity RectTransform dimensions. Scrolling behavior unchanged.

• In-game visual verification of this fix remains pending.

• Updated plugin and package version to 1.0.0.

• Includes combined item/recipe rows, biome progress, silhouettes and scrolling improvements.

• Build and 65 automated checks pass. Actual multiplayer acceptance remains pending.

• 843 visible asset records remain Unclassified.

0.2.2 development

• Merge item/recipe rows; preserve recipe filtering and separate knowledge states.
• Show progress for the selected biome.
• Add missing-resource and station requirement guidance.
• Mark discoveries made during the current session NEW until viewed.
• Add reproducible read-only asset catalog coverage audit.
• Actual two-player gameplay verification remains pending.

0.2.1 development

• Add a draggable list scrollbar and consistent wheel scrolling.
• Fit detail scrolling to actual text height.
• Label biome/category controls and distinguish item, recipe, and building rows.
• Show dark icon silhouettes for unknown entries while hiding names and details.
• Game validation of these UI changes remains pending.

Changelog

0.2.0 — 2026-10-19 (development)

• Character-bound protocol v2 with batched atomic commits, explicit rejection acknowledgements, per-frame catch-up and testable authority/receiver cores.
• Read-only installed-asset catalog baseline, native spawn-biome metadata, progression relationships and exclusion of iconless NPC attack entries.
• Transactional registry rebuilds, alternative recipes, building requirements, known relationships, external text/icon/discovery policies and reload/export/status commands.
• Native key-based material identity fallback with ambiguity rejection; length validation before transport payload allocation.
• UI keyboard navigation, configurable inventory-button placement, preserved scroll position, coalesced refreshes, loading/error recovery and throttled warnings.
• 65 automated checks. Actual game/multiplayer/platform/installation acceptance remains pending.

Protocol v2 requires this same plugin version on every peer. World history schema 1 is unchanged. Earlier 0.1.0 archives remain available locally for rollback.

0.1.0 — 2026-10-19 (development)

Initial plugin foundation, Codex UI/data, native discovery sharing, checksummed sidecar storage, configuration, test probe and package automation. Initial automated checks passed; an isolated startup smoke test loaded the earlier DLL, but world entry was blocked by the game backend.

1.0.0 — unreleased

Reserved until approved specification 1.2 has passed actual game, multiplayer, platform and installation acceptance.