TameMate — Companion & Riding Overhaul

TameMate turns domesticated creatures into persistent companions that can be commanded, trained, grouped and ridden. It works from creature capabilities instead of a fixed species list, allowing compatible creatures from other mods to participate.

Current test build

Version 0.2.5 is an integrated test build. It strengthens mod-creature combat and follower recovery, connects Defensive directly to the real attacker, and adds lightweight companion map markers while retaining the attributes, radial and performance corrections. It is intended for local and multiplayer validation before the public 1.0 release. Back up important worlds before testing any new gameplay mod.

Commands and behavior

Press U to open or close the companion whistle wheel. The wheel can be controlled in either of these ways:

• Move the mouse toward an option and press right click.
• Use the arrow keys to change the highlighted option and press Enter.
• Press number keys 1–8 to choose the matching position directly.
• Press Escape or U to close the wheel.

Every wheel position now displays its number from 1 through 8, so keyboard selection never requires counting hidden slots.

U is recognized even when an older TameMate configuration still contains the previous shortcut.

• Look at one companion to command it individually.
• Look away to command nearby companions.
• Use Group and scope inside the wheel to choose one companion, nearby companions or a selected group.
• Assign the selected creature to groups 1–8 from the wheel. Group 0 removes it from a numbered group.
• Use the wheel's internal pages for orders, behavior, formations, attributes and riding. No modifier keys are required.

Movement page:

• Follow me
• Stay
• Move there
• Attack the marked target
• Guard this position
• Return home
• Patrol between home and the marked point

Mount is available directly from the main page.

Behavior page:

• Passive
• Flee
• Defensive
• Neutral
• Aggressive
• Cancel attack
• Back
• Close

Available formations are free, wedge, line and circle.

Attack searches around both the marked point and the companion, then keeps the moving target until it is no longer valid. Defensive receives the actual attacker from Valheim's damage event, while Aggressive searches for a nearby target. For creatures added by mods, TameMate restores a committed target after Valheim's native faction validation so the same AI update can continue into pursuit and attack. Active Attack, Defensive and Aggressive combat suppresses fire fear; explicit movement orders also continue to be enforced while a companion is hungry or frightened.

ARK-style whistles

Issuing a wheel command produces an audible whistle. Follow, stay, move, attack and regroup use distinct whistle patterns so players can recognize the order by sound. The whistle and command are synchronized in multiplayer and only play for players within hearing distance.

Progression

Companions earn experience from combat, mounted travel and reduced group sharing. TameMate levels are separate from Valheim stars.

Each level awards one point for:

• Health: +5% per point
• Mount stamina: +5%
• Damage: +3%
• Defense: +2%, capped
• Speed: +1%, capped at +10%
• Food duration: +4%

The radial Attributes page keeps the selected companion locked while navigating. It displays companion level, total XP, available points and the current value of Health, Mount Stamina, Damage, Defense, Speed and Food Duration. Spending a point keeps the page open for additional upgrades. Looking directly at a companion adds health, level, XP progress, available points, behavior, order, group, all six attributes and environmental exposure to Valheim's normal creature text.

Riding

Eligible companions receive a functional invisible mount controller. Existing saddle controllers are retained while their separate visual renderers can be hidden for bareback riding. Creatures with a growth component are accepted once they are actually tamed and active.

The system uses Valheim's real riding controller for movement, network ownership and stamina. Primary and secondary mounted attacks use the attacks already present on the creature. Jumping and attacking consume mount stamina, camera distance adapts to creature size, and agile, standard and heavy mounts receive different acceleration and turning behavior. Press Z while mounted to toggle camera-directed aim. Compatible creatures already capable of flight use Space to ascend and Left Control to descend.

When RideOnTroll is installed, TameMate detects its troll controller. Choosing Mount from TameMate's wheel hands control to RideOnTroll's native mount system, preserving its troll movement, combat and platform behavior. TameMate recognizes the resulting rider state for mounted travel XP and automatic loot pickup without sending duplicate combat inputs. This was matched against RideOnTroll 1.0.3 from the supplied profile. RideOnTroll remains required for its special troll implementation.

Monstrum companions are handled through their real Tameable, MonsterAI and saddle capabilities. Its current documented rideable creatures include Razorback, Grizzly Bear, Prowler and Pridetusk Mammoth. Exact seat placement and animation quality still depend on the creature prefab and should be checked in game.

Mounted auto pickup

While riding, TameMate automatically collects nearby ground loot such as wood, stone, ores and creature drops. It uses the player's normal inventory and respects item pickup delay, available slots and items marked as non-auto-pickup. The default radius is 6 meters and can be configured between 2 and 10 meters.

Care

• Universal commandability for tamed creatures
• Taming and growth tuning
• Wild tameable creatures eat valid food from nearby player-built chests when no food is on the ground, advancing Valheim's real taming process
• Hungry domesticated creatures use the same chest system for healing and breeding
• Separate synchronized switches for wild and domesticated chest feeding, 2–30 meter range, and an optional food-only chest rule
• Companion recovery instead of permanent death
• Followers return through player teleports and portals
• Hover information compatible with other hover-text mods
• Persistent owner, home, order, group, formation, level and attributes

Companion map markers

Locally owned companions appear on the map with a gold paw marker labeled with their name and group. Positions update every two seconds and retain the last known location while the creature is unloaded. Trolls already tracked by RideOnTroll are not duplicated.

WorldCataclysms

WorldCataclysms is optional. When installed, companions show exposure in their normal hover text and receive event-specific movement, riding stamina and recovery penalties. Damage remains under WorldCataclysms authority to prevent duplicate hits.

• Hurricane: heavy movement and mount-control penalty
• Blizzard: cold movement and recovery penalty
• Toxic fog: health regeneration disabled while exposed
• Meteor shower: recovery and stamina penalty
• Tsunami: movement and exhaustion penalty
• Thunderstorm: wet movement penalty and normal lightning risk
• Magical aurora: calm and gradual recovery

Interiors protect companions. Natural damage resistances remain handled by Valheim and WorldCataclysms.

My Little UI

My Little UI is optional. TameMate adds companion details to Valheim's normal creature hover text and creates no separate screen panel, so it does not cover My Little UI, inventory or hotbars. It does not modify My Little UI's DLL or assets.

Better Tames and Better Riding

TameMate implements its own systems. During transition it detects Better Tames and Better Riding and logs a warning. Disable their overlapping functionality when testing TameMate to avoid duplicate commands, feeding, protection or mount controls.

Creature content mods remain installed because they provide their own models, prefabs, sounds and attacks.

Test console commands

Look at a tamed companion before using these commands:

tm status
tm claim
tm mount
tm group 1
tm order follow
tm order stay
tm stance passive
tm stance aggressive
tm xp 500

tm xp requires the server or an administrator.

Multiplayer

Every player must install the same patch version. Gameplay configuration is synchronized through Jötunn. Orders, ownership, progression and attributes are persisted in the creature's network data.