Modsmith Cycle

Modsmith Cycle provides a faster restart cycle for modded Valheim on Windows.

Open the Escape menu and choose SAVE & RESTART MODDED to save your game, close Valheim cleanly, relaunch through Steam with your active r2modman/BepInEx profile, and automatically return to the same character and local world.

What it does

Modsmith Cycle will:

• give you a short countdown with time to cancel;
• use Valheim's normal save-and-quit path;
• wait until Valheim has fully exited;
• ask Steam to relaunch Valheim through the same -applaunch 892970 route used by r2modman;
• preserve the active profile's Doorstop/BepInEx launch arguments;
• select the same character after relaunch;
• reopen the same local world automatically;
• restore the world's hosted-session settings when applicable so friends can reconnect normally.

The active mod profile is preserved through its launch arguments. Modsmith Cycle does not automate or click through the r2modman interface.

Version 0.1.5 continues to use Steam for the relaunch because launching Valheim.exe directly can result in an unmodded session.

In-game restart interface

Modsmith Cycle adds a native-style section to Valheim's Escape menu:

[ gold Valheim ornament ]

      SAVE & RESTART MODDED

During the restart countdown, the button changes to:

CANCEL RESTART (N)

A notice below the button confirms whether the restart is queued or cancelled.

The restart can also be triggered with the configured keyboard shortcut while the Escape menu is open.

Default shortcut:

Left Ctrl + F9

Local hosting behavior

• Local world: Modsmith Cycle reopens the same world with the same character.
• Locally hosted multiplayer world: hosted-session settings can be restored so friends can reconnect normally after the world returns.
• By default, a restart is blocked while another player remains connected.
• If friends are playing in your locally hosted world, have them return to the main menu before restarting.
• Each auto-resume uses a unique one-use token.
• Resume requests expire after a configurable amount of time.
• A detached helper waits for Valheim to fully exit before starting the replacement process.
• If character or world resolution fails, Modsmith Cycle stops safely at Valheim's menus.

Remote servers

Automatic guest reconnect to a remote server is not currently available in 0.1.5.

The configuration entry remains reserved for future hosted co-op / remote reconnect work, but currently returns the player to Valheim's menus instead of attempting an automatic remote reconnect.

Dedicated-server restart support is not part of Modsmith Cycle's scope.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11
• Valheim 1.0.15
• BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350
• An active local-world or locally hosted Valheim session for automatic world resume

The small restart helper targets .NET Framework 4.8.

Installation

Keep both files together in the same plugin folder:

BepInEx/plugins/ModsmithCycle/ModsmithCycle.dll
BepInEx/plugins/ModsmithCycle/ModsmithCycle.Restarter.exe

Start Valheim with Start modded in r2modman.

Enter a world, press Escape, and choose SAVE & RESTART MODDED.

You can also use Left Ctrl + F9 while the Escape menu is open.

Configuration

Settings are written to:

BepInEx/config/MaddCatter.ModsmithCycle.cfg

Current settings include:

• Restart.CountdownSeconds — length of the cancel countdown.
• Restart.AutoResumeLocalWorld — when enabled, automatically reopens the previous local world.
• Restart.ResumeHostedSession — restores locally hosted-session settings so friends can reconnect.
• Restart.AutoReconnectRemoteServer — reserved for future remote-server reconnect support; currently disabled by default.
• Safety.RequireNoOtherPlayers — blocks restart while another player is still connected.
• Safety.MaximumResumeAgeSeconds — rejects stale resume requests.
• Hotkeys.Restart — restart shortcut used while the Escape menu is open.
• Compatibility.SteamExecutableOverride — optional full path to Steam.exe when automatic Steam detection cannot find a nonstandard installation.

Older configuration files may still contain settings from previous versions that Modsmith Cycle no longer uses.

Scope

Version 0.1.5 focuses on reliable local restart and resume:

• clean Valheim save and shutdown;
• Steam-based modded relaunch;
• active r2modman/BepInEx profile preservation;
• same-character restoration;
• same-local-world restoration;
• locally hosted-session restoration;
• native-style Escape-menu restart controls.

Automatic remote guest reconnect remains future work.

Dedicated-server restart support is out of scope.

0.1.5 changes

• Added and finalized the native-style SAVE & RESTART MODDED Escape-menu interface.
• Added a matching Valheim ornament and centered restart-status notices.
• Added stable countdown/cancel behavior directly through the native restart button.
• Removed temporary UI diagnostic code.
• Cleaned obsolete helper/plugin request fields.
• Removed stale cinematic-skip code and references.
• Kept unfinished remote-server reconnect functionality safely disabled.
• Revalidated character and local-world auto-resume on Valheim 1.0.15.
• Confirmed successful save, shutdown, relaunch, character restoration, and local-world restoration.

Support

For help, bug reports, or compatibility feedback, visit the Mod Support channel.

Privacy and networking

Modsmith Cycle makes no network requests of its own and collects no data.

The restart helper receives only the information needed to wait for the current Valheim process to exit and relaunch Steam with the preserved modded launch arguments.

The temporary resume marker stores the information needed to restore the previous character and local world and is consumed during the resume process.

Changelog

0.1.6

• Hotfix: corrected the restart helper to read the V2 launch-request format written by the current plugin.
• Preserved every repeated Argument= entry so the active r2modman/BepInEx launch arguments are passed back to Steam correctly.
• Restored the save → shutdown → Steam relaunch → character/world resume sequence.
• The main ModsmithCycle.dll behavior is unchanged from 0.1.5; this hotfix replaces the mismatched helper packaged with 0.1.5.

0.1.5

• Reworked the Escape-menu restart control to use Valheim's native button styling.
• Added a matching native gold ornament above the Modsmith Cycle restart button.
• Moved restart status and cancellation messages directly below the button and stabilized their layout.
• Fixed inherited native-button behavior that could trigger the original Settings action.
• Removed temporary UI diagnostics after final placement was verified.
• Cleaned obsolete fields from the plugin-to-restarter launch contract.
• Removed the retired opening-cinematic skip functionality and stale configuration references.
• Disabled unfinished automatic remote-server reconnect behavior while preserving the framework for future co-op work.
• Preserved same-character and same-local-world automatic resume.
• Preserved locally hosted-session settings so friends can reconnect normally after the host restarts.
• Revalidated the full save, shutdown, Steam relaunch, character restore, and local-world resume cycle on Valheim 1.0.15.

0.1.4

• Updated the packaged Modsmith Cycle plugin to build 0.1.4.
• Updated the support link to https://discord.gg/ZxJ8wRtxhQ.
• Bundled the restart helper and Thunderstore package metadata for the 0.1.4 release.

0.1.3

• Reissued the cinematic-skip and same-server reconnect update under a fresh Thunderstore version after the removed listing retained version 0.1.2.
• Kept the same ModsmithCycle package identity so existing installations can update normally.
• Added the Mod Support Discord channel to the package documentation and metadata.

0.1.2

• Added a configurable skip for Valheim's opening cinematic, enabled by default.
• Added immediate title-menu advancement when a valid Modsmith auto-resume is pending.
• Restores hosted-server, public-listing, crossplay, and salted password-verifier settings so friends can reconnect after the world reloads.
• Added guest-client restart and automatic reconnection to the same Steam, PlayFab/crossplay, or direct-address server.
• Uses Valheim's normal password prompt for guest reconnection; readable server passwords are not stored.
• Kept ordinary title-menu access unchanged when no auto-resume request exists.
• Left engine and publisher splash screens that occur before BepInEx initialization untouched.

0.1.1

• Changed relaunching from direct Valheim.exe execution to Steam -applaunch 892970, matching r2modman's Windows launch route.
• Rebuilds the active profile's Doorstop 3 or Doorstop 4 arguments from the currently loaded BepInEx directory.
• Added automatic Steam.exe discovery from the running Steam process and standard installation folders.
• Added an optional Steam executable override for nonstandard installations.
• Increased the post-exit delay to give Steam time to release the previous game session.
• Corrected an empty launch-argument request edge condition found by the helper smoke test.
• Verified the complete save, modded relaunch, active-profile preservation, and same-local-world resume cycle on Valheim 1.0.12.

0.1.0

• Added an Escape-menu save-and-restart button.
• Added a configurable five-second countdown and cancel action.
• Added a hidden Windows helper that waits for Valheim to exit before relaunching.
• Preserved the current r2modman profile through the existing Doorstop/BepInEx launch arguments.
• Added same-character and same-local-world automatic resume.
• Added private-session enforcement for automatic local-world resume.
• Added connected-player blocking, expiring requests, one-use tokens, and restart-loop protection.
• Added an optional Left Ctrl + F9 menu shortcut.