NotSoLoud

NotSoLoud is a quality-of-life mod for Valheim that ensures sound effects respect your in-game Sound Effects volume settings — vanilla or modded.

It finds audio sources (from vanilla Valheim and third-party mods) that aren't wired into Valheim's native Sfx mixer, and fixes them: routing them in, swapping in the real vanilla clip when a mod reuses a vanilla sound's name, capping genuinely new custom sounds under a configurable ceiling, and continuously reapplying your Sound Effects slider to anything that still isn't obeying it. No more sudden, ear-shattering sound effects playing back at a fixed volume that ignores your settings.

Features

• Universal Audio Routing: Finds any ZSFX/AudioSource missing an assigned outputAudioMixerGroup and routes it into the primary Sfx mixer group, so it follows your Sound Effects slider like vanilla content does.
• Vanilla Clip Substitution: A lot of mods reuse one of Valheim's own sound effects by name (e.g. a custom weapon using sfx_arrow_hit) rather than building something new. When that happens, NotSoLoud swaps in the real vanilla clip and volume/pitch profile instead of the mod's own (often louder, uncalibrated) copy — so it plays the literal same audio Valheim itself uses.
• Fallback Volume Ceiling: Genuinely new custom sounds with nothing vanilla to compare against are capped under a configurable maximum volume instead of playing back at whatever the mod originally set.
• Continuous Slider Enforcement: On top of the one-time fixes above, NotSoLoud keeps reapplying the game's own Sound Effects slider every frame to any sound that's still unrouted — a safety net for sounds that get their volume rewritten after they start playing.
• Mod Compatibility: Fixes unrouted or mismatched audio from custom creature, item, and asset mods, with zero impact on vanilla sound effects — vanilla content is never touched.

Installation

Automatic (Recommended)

1. Install via your preferred mod manager (such as Gale Mod Manager or Vortex).
2. Launch the game through the manager.

Manual

1. Ensure BepInEx Pack for Valheim is installed.
2. Extract the downloaded NotSoLoud.dll file.
3. Place NotSoLoud.dll into your Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ folder.

Configuration

The mod generates a configuration file at BepInEx/config/Raelaziel.NotSoLoud.cfg upon first run.

General

• Enabled (Default: On): Toggles the mod's audio fixes on (1) or off (0). Lets you disable it entirely without removing the DLL.
• MaxCustomVolume (Default: 0.4, range 0–1): Fallback volume ceiling applied to a modded sound effect that doesn't match any known vanilla sound. Has no effect on sounds that do match a vanilla clip — those use the real vanilla volume instead.

Debugging

• VerboseAudioLog (Default: Off): Logs every known vanilla sound effect as it's discovered, and every substitution/clamp/slider-correction the mod actually performs. Off by default since it can be spammy — meant for troubleshooting.

Compatibility

• Valheim Version: Compatible with current Valheim builds.
• Modded Audio: Works alongside custom audio mods, asset packs, and creature mods.
• Multiplayer: Client-side only. Does not need to be installed on dedicated servers.