HitchFix

Fewer stutters and hitches in Valheim, especially while exploring, joining a world and saving.

HitchFix is one BepInEx plugin made of a few modules. Each one goes after a different cause of frame hitches. Nothing in it changes gameplay balance.

What it fixes

• Loading hitches while exploring (Spawn Budget). When you sail or run into new areas, the game builds many objects, locations and dungeons in a single frame. HitchFix spreads that work over several frames, so the game keeps moving instead of freezing for a moment.
• Render and memory pauses (RenderTrim). Turns off shadows on tiny props, culls distant clutter and particles, trims distant tree shadows, and runs garbage collection when you are idle instead of in the middle of a fight. It also warms up menus so the first open does not stutter, and makes mod sound effects follow the in-game volume sliders.
• Slow joins and save hitches (Minimap Cache + Save Hitch Fix). Keeps the generated minimap on disk so joining the same world again skips the long map rebuild. Map data is saved faster, and repeated autosaves that change nothing are skipped or delayed. Quitting and logging out always save.

Settings: one slider

Open the config (with Configuration Manager, F1 by default, or BepInEx/config/vpf.ValheimPerformanceFixes.cfg). The first tab, 0. Quick Setup, has a Preset slider:

• Slide toward Performance for the smoothest frames (more trimming).
• Slide toward Quality to keep more visual detail.
• The middle (50) is a balanced default.

Moving the slider sets the detailed values for you. Every detailed setting is still there in later tabs, with a plain description, if you want to fine-tune. Ctrl+F12 toggles the render trimming off and on so you can compare.

Client and server

• Install it on your game (client) for the most benefit.
• It is also safe on a dedicated server. On a server it detects there is no screen and only runs the parts that matter there; the graphics features stay off.
• It does not have to be installed on every player or on the server to work. Each copy only helps the machine it is on.

Optional mod support

These modules turn on by themselves only when the matching mod is installed. Without that mod they stay off and do nothing.

• DropNSpawn (sighsorry.DropNSpawn): caching and pacing so DropNSpawn's background work causes fewer hitches.
• Riverheim (dev.gurebu.riverheim.stable): a disk cache for Riverheim's world generation, so it does not have to rebuild every start.

Compatibility

• Needs BepInExPack_Valheim.
• Works alongside most mods.
• The plugin ID is vpf.ValheimPerformanceFixes, so settings from earlier versions keep working.

Source

Source code and issue tracker: use the Website link on this page. MIT license.

Changelog

2.0.0

• First Thunderstore release as HitchFix.
• Combines five earlier plugins into one: RenderTrim, Spawn Budget, Minimap Cache + Save Hitch Fix, and the optional DropNSpawn Cache and Riverheim Cache.
• One config file with a Performance-to-Quality preset slider on the first tab, and plain-language descriptions for every setting.
• Optional modules only switch on when DropNSpawn or Riverheim is installed.
• Settings from the old separate plugins are copied in automatically on first start.