Viking Revival

Stable full release · JustQOL Viking Series

Fall in battle. Rise with your companions. Viking Revival gives fallen Vikings a chance to return to the fight through a server-controlled rescue window. It uses Valheim's native ragdoll death and lootable tombstones while letting nearby friends revive you with healing mead or a slower potion-free option.

Features

Native death with a chance of rescue

An eligible fatal hit triggers normal Valheim death: your ragdoll falls, your inventory transfers according to the world's death settings, and native death penalties apply. Viking Revival then holds automatic respawning during the rescue window.

The default window is 60 seconds, including repeated eligible deaths. You can choose Respawn now at any time or wait for help. When the window expires, normal respawning resumes. Wait for rescue does not reset the timer.

Receiving the rescue window does not require a nearby teammate and works during solo play. A rescuer is still required to perform a revival and must remain within 2.5 metres by default. PvP revival is disabled by default; drowning and scripted deaths retain their exclusions.

Healing mead or no potion

Restored health is capped by the revived character's effective maximum. Server settings can change mead durations and health values. No potion always takes twice the configured minor-mead duration and restores the configured minor-mead health.

A countdown that pauses while you help

A valid held revival pauses the rescue countdown, including inventory confirmation. Releasing the revive key, leaving range, rescuer damage or disconnect interrupts the attempt and resumes the saved remaining time. It does not restart the full rescue window.

If hold updates stop arriving, the pause is released within at most 1.25 seconds. The fallen player retains the option to respawn while waiting.

Loot and death penalties stay meaningful

Friends can loot the tombstone normally with E, separately from revival. Reviving restores the same avatar; it does not copy an inventory snapshot or pull items out of the tombstone.

Looted items stay with their looter, unlooted items remain in the grave, and native death penalties are not reversed. Valheim's world death modifiers remain authoritative, including keep-inventory and empty-inventory behavior.

Clear guidance and presentation controls

The main-menu guide explains revival controls and behavior. During play, the fallen-player panel shows the rescue window and respawn choices, and nearby rescuers receive revival-option and progress information. Optional downed-player indicators and audio provide additional feedback.

The interface uses Valheim wood panels, Averia Serif text, warm highlights and native controls to match the JustQOL Viking Series. Local settings control HUD scale, indicators, sound and whether the welcome guide opens automatically.

How to use

Select your revival option before holding R. Stay within range and keep holding until the attempt completes. Releasing the key or taking damage interrupts the attempt. R and T are configurable; E remains the normal loot control.

Installation and updating

Required dependencies:

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

Mod manager: install VikingRevival 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 merge the package's BepInEx folder into the game or server directory. Keep both VikingRevival.dll and VikingRevival.Core.dll together under BepInEx/plugins/VikingRevival/, with only one installed copy of each DLL.

Preserve character/world saves, configuration and authority journals when updating. Old 1.0.x journals use a different system: resolve any pending old-version potion escrow in its original version/world before upgrading. Do not delete or manually rewrite journals to force an inventory refund.

Multiplayer

Install matching Viking Revival gameplay versions and the dependencies on the server and every client. Restart the server and all clients after an update.

The server controls revival eligibility, rescue windows, range, duration and health values. Each client controls its own presentation and input bindings.

Documentation-only package 1.1.3 retains the 1.1.2 gameplay DLLs and is gameplay-compatible with package 1.1.2. Older gameplay versions are incompatible.

Configuration

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

The previous stock 75 / 45 / 25-second timer values migrate to 60 / 60 / 60. Custom timer values are preserved. AllowSoloRevival and TeammateEligibilityRange are legacy fields and do not gate eligibility. Old CycleMead, GiveUp, crawl multipliers and RequireHealingMead settings are obsolete.

Additional rules include recovery-window timing and post-revival protection. See docs/CONFIGURATION.md for details. Restart the server and reconnect clients after changing server policy.

Compatibility

Built for Valheim 1.0.20. Mods that replace death, respawn, inventory transfer or HUD behavior may conflict. Review overlapping death and inventory mods together before combining them.

World death settings remain authoritative. Revival does not undo the normal consequences already applied when a character died.

Community and support

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

For Viking Revival help, use viking-revival-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.

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

Changelog

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

1.1.3 - Full release documentation

• Finalize installation, controls, timers, inventory behavior, compatibility and support documentation.
• Remove current release-candidate labels following owner-reported successful live play of 1.1.2.
• Documentation-only package: gameplay DLLs remain version 1.1.2, unchanged from package 1.1.2.
• Historical entries below describe the status at the time of each release.

1.1.2

• Set all stock revival windows to 60 seconds, including repeated deaths.
• Pause the countdown during a valid held revive and resume its remainder on interruption.
• Bound lost-heartbeat pauses and preserve the native respawn option.
• Remove teammate proximity and solo restrictions on entering the revival window; actual revive range remains enforced.
• Migrate the old stock timer trio while preserving custom server settings.

1.1.0 - local native-death candidate

• Replace living 1-HP immobilization with native ragdoll/tombstone death and a deferred respawn window.
• E loots normally; hold R to revive; T cycles mead and potion-free revival.
• Add Respawn now / Wait for rescue panel, scoped death-fade suppression and emergency respawn UI.
• Fix destroyed-marker scene transition crash and retry interface creation after errors.
• Restore the dead avatar without touching tombstone inventory; apply native death penalties once.
• Require matching mod versions through Jotunn; use separate protocol-2 journal.
• Not published. Live two-player acceptance remains pending.

1.0.3

• Disable downed movement, including queued movement and autorun.
• Immediately abort an outgoing revive when its rescuer becomes downed.
• 92 rule scenarios, 100,000 simulated actions, and 72 movement/API assertions pass. Live Unity and multiplayer verification remains pending.
• Remove procedural crawl animation and crawl camera offset. Native death visuals remain untouched.
• Keep potion-free revival, give-up and respawn controls.

1.0.2

• Add potion-free revival at twice minor-mead duration, with minor-mead health and no inventory consumption.
• Allow cycling No potion and automatically select it when no healing mead is available.
• Includes 1.0.1 death/respawn fixes and Valheim-style UI.
• 50 automated checks pass; live multiplayer verification remains pending.

1.0.1

• Guard missing last-hit data before native death and clear saved downed markers before respawn.
• Acknowledge completed deaths without killing the replacement avatar again.
• Add hold-X give up, Alt-click give up, and native-death Respawn now controls.
• Replace IMGUI panels with Valheim wood panels, Averia font and native buttons through Jotunn.
• Guard world transitions against null world access.

1.0.0 testing candidate — 2026-10-20

• Added first-launch main-menu explanation, saved Don't show again preference, and a persistent How to play button. Popup UI compiled; visual testing is left to the user.

• Implemented gameplay authority, configurable timers, eligibility, hit penalties and recovery rules.

• Added transport-authenticated direct peer RPCs, owner health/death execution, persisted authority journal and potion escrow receipts.

• Added crawl control restrictions, vanilla physics movement, additive procedural prone pose, camera offset and HUD.

• Built against the installed Valheim 1.0.20 assemblies; 40 automated pure-rule/simulated-boundary checks passed.

• Unity loaded the plugin and Harmony patches. Gameplay probe blocked by Steam initialization; remaining live testing belongs to the release acceptance checklist.

• Packaged manual and Thunderstore local-import candidates and source. No publication or production-readiness claim.