Smooth Sailing

Smooth Sailing is a lightweight, configurable sailing quality-of-life mod for Valheim 1.0, built for BepInEx + Jotunn.

It improves sailing without changing the core ship experience, with configurable favorable wind, faster rowing, and increased map exploration while traveling by ship.

Features

Favorable Wind

• Forces favorable tailwind while controlling a ship at Half or Full sail.
• Wind direction automatically follows the direction of the ship while sailing.
• Designed to eliminate situations where unfavorable wind brings sailing to a crawl.

Improved Rowing

• Configurable forward rowing speed multiplier.
• Configurable reverse rowing speed multiplier.
• Forward and reverse speeds can be tuned independently.

Ship Exploration

• Configurable map exploration radius multiplier while aboard a ship.
• Makes ocean exploration and coastline mapping significantly more convenient.

Multiplayer Configuration

• Gameplay settings use Jotunn synchronized AdminOnly configuration.
• Server administrators control the gameplay settings.
• Changes can be synchronized to connected clients.

Requirements

• Valheim 1.0.x
• BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350+
• Jotunn 2.30.0+
• Smooth Sailing must be installed on the server and all participating clients for multiplayer use.

Installation

Thunderstore

Install Smooth Sailing through a compatible Thunderstore mod manager along with its required dependencies.

Manual Installation

Place:

SmoothSailing.dll

inside:

BepInEx/plugins/SmoothSailing/

The mod will generate its configuration file after the game is launched.

Default Configuration

[General]
Enabled = true

[Tailwind]
Lock Tailwind = true
Update Wind Indicator = true

[Exploration]
Ship Exploration Radius Multiplier = 2

[Rowing]
Forward Row Speed Multiplier = 1.5
Backward Row Speed Multiplier = 2

Configuration

General

Enabled

Enables or disables Smooth Sailing.

Default: true

Tailwind

Lock Tailwind

Forces favorable tailwind while controlling a ship at Half or Full sail.

Default: true

Update Wind Indicator

Controls the wind-indicator behavior associated with Smooth Sailing.

Default: true

Exploration

Ship Exploration Radius Multiplier

Multiplies the normal map exploration radius while aboard a ship.

Default: 2

Rowing

Forward Row Speed Multiplier

Multiplier applied while rowing forward.

Default: 1.5

Backward Row Speed Multiplier

Multiplier applied while rowing in reverse.

Default: 2

Multiplayer

Smooth Sailing is intended to support both single-player and multiplayer.

For multiplayer, install the mod on:

• The dedicated server, if one is being used.
• Every player connecting to the server.

Gameplay configuration is synchronized using Jotunn. Server administrators control the synchronized settings.

Some Smooth Sailing functionality is necessarily performed client-side, including map exploration and local wind-related behavior.

Reporting Bugs

Found a problem with Smooth Sailing?

Please report it through the Issues section of the Smooth Sailing GitHub repository:

https://github.com/P377Y/Smooth-Sailing/issues

When reporting a multiplayer or sailing issue, please include:

• Smooth Sailing version
• Valheim version
• BepInEx and Jotunn versions
• Single-player or multiplayer
• Dedicated server or locally hosted game
• Number of players
• Whether you were the ship captain when the problem occurred
• Ship type and sail setting
• Steps to reproduce the problem
• Your BepInEx LogOutput.log when possible

Building from Source

Smooth Sailing targets .NET Framework 4.7.2.

Open:

SmoothSailing.slnx

in Visual Studio and build using the Release configuration.

The compiled mod will be generated at:

bin/Release/net472/SmoothSailing.dll

The project requires references to the Valheim, BepInEx, Harmony, and Jotunn assemblies.

License

Smooth Sailing is released under the MIT License.

See License.txt for details.

Changelog

0.3.4 - Multiplayer Sync Improvements

• Added server-authoritative synchronization for Smooth Sailing mode changes.
• Admin hotkey changes are now sent to the server, validated, and synchronized to connected players.
• Improved sail visual synchronization so non-controlling players should see the same favorable-wind sail orientation as the captain.
• Added proper handling for solo and locally hosted worlds.
• Mode-change notifications now appear after the server confirms the change.
• Improved support for multiple actively sailing ships, with favorable wind calculated independently relative to each ship's heading.
• Additional multiplayer testing and feedback is welcome, especially with multiple players and multiple ships sailing simultaneously.

0.3.3

Changed

• Improved sail visual behavior to more closely preserve Valheim's native sail rotation and positioning.
• Smooth Sailing now substitutes its effective wind direction while retaining Valheim's native sail-angle calculation and rotation speed.

Technical

• Audited sail propulsion, rowing propulsion, wind intensity, ship exploration, and MagicaCloth wind handling against the current Valheim implementation.

0.3.2

Fixed

• Fixed ships bouncing or jumping while rowing, particularly at high rowing speed multipliers.
• Corrected rowing force handling so forward and reverse multipliers no longer affect ship buoyancy.
• Improved rowing stability across the full configurable multiplier range.

0.3.1

Fixed

• Updated ship cleanup handling for compatibility with Valheim 1.0.12.
• Replaced the removed Ship.OnDestroy lifecycle hook with Ship.OnDisable.
• Restored clean Smooth Sailing initialization following the latest Valheim/Jotunn update.

Changed

• Added "boat" terminology to package metadata and README for improved discoverability.

0.3.0

Added

• Added configurable sailing wind intensity with three modes:
  • Vanilla — uses Valheim's current environmental wind intensity.
  • Minimum — enforces a configurable minimum sailing wind intensity while preserving stronger natural wind.
  • Maximum — always uses maximum sailing wind intensity.
• Added configurable Minimum Wind Intensity, defaulting to 0.5.
• Added ship-local MagicaCloth wind handling so sail cloth visually responds to Smooth Sailing's effective wind strength.

Improved

• Ship propulsion now uses Smooth Sailing's effective wind direction and intensity together in the sail-force calculation.
• Sail cloth strength now matches the effective sailing wind instead of remaining dependent on the world's current wind intensity.
• Sailing HUD favorable-wind state now reflects the effective Smooth Sailing wind used for propulsion.
• Wind direction, wind intensity, propulsion, sail orientation, sail cloth, and the sailing HUD now use a consistent effective sailing-wind model.
• Valheim's true environmental wind remains unchanged outside Smooth Sailing's ship-specific sailing behavior.
• The minimap wind arrow continues to display the true environmental wind.
• Offset modes continue to default to 60°.

Fixed

• Fixed Maximum wind intensity producing full-speed calculations while the physical sail could remain visually flat during low environmental wind.
• Fixed ships losing sail propulsion when sailing into the true environmental headwind even though Smooth Sailing was supplying a favorable effective wind.
• Fixed the sailing wind indicator appearing unfavorable when the effective Smooth Sailing wind was favorable.
• Fixed residual environmental wind direction leaking into the final sail-force vector and causing stalled or unintended lateral movement in Dead Astern mode.

Testing

Version 0.3.0 has been tested with:

• Vanilla, Minimum, and Maximum wind-intensity modes.
• Dead Astern, positive offset, negative offset, and Off sailing modes.
• Maximum effective wind while sailing directly into the true environmental headwind.
• Sail-cloth response at different environmental wind intensities.
• Sailing HUD and minimap wind-indicator behavior.

Additional multiplayer and dedicated-server testing is welcome, particularly around captain changes, network ownership, and sail visuals across clients.

Please report issues at:

https://github.com/P377Y/Smooth-Sailing/issues

0.2.0

Added

• Added selectable sailing wind modes:
  • Off — vanilla wind behavior.
  • Dead Astern — favorable wind directly behind the ship.
  • +60° Offset — favorable wind offset to one side.
  • -60° Offset — favorable wind offset to the opposite side.
• Added a configurable favorable-wind offset angle, defaulting to 60°.
• Added in-game wind-mode cycling for the local host and server administrators.
• Added configurable Admin Toggle Key, defaulting to K.
• Added on-screen feedback when changing sailing modes.
• Added synchronization of the selected sailing mode for multiplayer and dedicated servers.

Improved

• Expanded favorable-wind support beyond the original dead-astern tailwind lock.
• Physical sail orientation now reflects Smooth Sailing's effective sailing wind.
• The circular sailing HUD indicator now reflects the effective sailing wind.
• Positive and negative offset modes correctly display the effective wind on their respective sides.
• The minimap wind arrow continues to display Valheim's true environmental wind rather than the wind being applied by Smooth Sailing.
• Improved multiplayer synchronization so participating clients use the server-selected sailing mode.
• Retained support for captain/network-owner differences introduced in previous multiplayer updates.

Credits & Inspiration

• Added selectable offset-wind modes inspired by HelmWind by SirRomey.
• SirRomey's analysis of Valheim's vanilla sail-force curve identifies peak efficiency at approximately 63° off dead astern. HelmWind uses a practical 60° default, which sits effectively at the peak and is estimated to provide roughly 2.5% more forward speed than dead-astern sailing, at the cost of additional lateral drift.
• Smooth Sailing builds on this concept with configurable positive and negative offsets, dedicated-server support, synchronized sailing behavior, administrator-controlled live mode cycling, and integrated sail/HUD visuals while preserving Valheim's true environmental wind on the minimap.

HelmWind: https://thunderstore.io/c/valheim/p/SirRomey/HelmWind/

Testing

Version 0.2.0 significantly expands Smooth Sailing's wind-handling and multiplayer behavior. Additional community testing is especially welcome for:

• Dedicated servers with multiple players.
• Switching captains while a favorable-wind mode is active.
• Cases where the captain is not the current network owner of the ship.
• Switching between Off, Dead Astern, +Offset, and -Offset modes during sailing.
• Sail orientation as viewed by passengers and other players.
• Sailing HUD and minimap wind-indicator behavior across clients.
• Different ship types.

Please report issues at:

https://github.com/P377Y/Smooth-Sailing/issues

0.1.2

Multiplayer Tailwind Improvements

• Improved multiplayer tailwind handling when the ship captain and network owner are different players.
• Favorable wind is now applied to ship physics for both the active captain and the client currently responsible for the ship's network simulation.
• This addresses cases where a non-owner captain could see favorable wind on their HUD while the ship itself still behaved as though it were sailing into the real environmental wind.
• Improved forced-tailwind sail visuals so the favorable sail orientation can be rendered for non-captain players as well.
• Improved sail visual stability while turning and while the underlying environmental wind changes.
• Updated internal sailing checks to better separate ship physics, captain-specific wind behavior, and shared sail visuals.

Testing

Multiplayer tailwind and sail visual behavior are still being actively tested.

In particular, additional testing is welcome for:

• Captain changes between players.
• Cases where the captain is not the current network owner of the ship.
• Sailing directly into unfavorable environmental wind.
• Sail orientation as viewed by passengers and other non-captain players.

If you encounter a sailing, captain-switching, sail-visual, exploration-radius, or networking issue, please report it here:

https://github.com/P377Y/Smooth-Sailing/issues

0.1.1

Important

The internal mod ID was renamed in 0.1.1. Existing 0.1.0 settings may need to be reconfigured because Smooth Sailing now uses a new config file.

• Renamed the internal mod/project branding from P377Y Tailwind to Smooth Sailing.
• Changed tailwind handling to better follow the active ship captain in multiplayer.
• Improved favorable-wind behavior during captain changes and multiplayer sailing.
• Renamed the compiled mod to SmoothSailing.dll.
• Added public GitHub source repository and bug tracker.
• Added structured GitHub bug reports for multiplayer and sailing issues.

0.1.0

• Initial development build.
• Tailwind lock while controlling a ship at half/full sail.
• Matching local wind indicator.
• Ship exploration-radius multiplier.
• Separate forward and reverse rowing multipliers.
• Server-synchronized admin-only configuration through Jotunn.