Nornforged — Fate at the Forge

Developed by RYN · Version 0.3.0 · Early access

Give every newly crafted weapon, tool and piece of equipment a permanent fate. Nornforged adds 201 perks, 19 crafting outcomes, independent perk strengths, rarity visuals and a detailed damage ledger. Use ordinary crafting stations and materials—no extra currency, reroll station or recipe is required.

This release protects the server's crafting identity outside the ordinary config folder, automatically backs up authority files and explains why an item's perks are inactive. Existing rolls and crafting balance remain unchanged; the Rested correction from 0.2.9 is included. See the changelog, update and recovery guide and complete perk catalog.

Installation

Requires Valheim 1.0.15, BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350 and Jötunn 2.30.0 or newer; Jötunn 2.30.1 is supported.

1. Close the game and server before installing or updating.
2. Install the dependencies through your mod manager. For a manual installation, place both Nornforged DLLs in BepInEx/plugins/Nornforged/ inside the game or selected mod-manager profile.
3. Start the game through the mod manager or BepInEx-enabled launcher. Missing configuration files are created automatically.
4. Craft new equipment at an ordinary station. Equipment that existed before installation remains Unrated.

For multiplayer, install the exact same Nornforged version on the server and every client, with its dependencies. The host/server controls gameplay settings; clients receive those settings automatically. Visual and interface preferences remain local.

Before your first 0.3.0 host startup, preserve the entire old BepInEx/config/Nornforged/authority/ directory. It is copied into BepInEx/NornforgedData/authority/ without removing the original. Local backups are kept separately in BepInEx/NornforgedBackups/authority/. Once migration succeeds, replacing ordinary config no longer replaces that identity. Keep customized gameplay settings instead of overwriting them with the ZIP's defaults.

Crafting and permanent Fateprints

Each eligible new equipment output receives its own Fateprint. Positive ranks grant perks; negative ranks grant penalties. Even a Worthless item remains usable. Tools draw from work-related pools, while weapons, shields and worn equipment receive effects suited to their actions and stats.

Default equipment has no perks or changed native stats. It receives no rarity border, background or special reveal sound. Default is a completed, permanent result, just like every other outcome.

Upgrading, repairing, storing or trading equipment preserves its original Fateprint and rolled values. Percentage bonuses use the upgraded item's native baseline. There is no reroll mechanic or pity counter. Independently rolled equipment occupies individual inventory slots.

Default crafting chances

These are chances per eligible crafted item, not additional monster-loot drops. Server administrators can change future-roll settings.

The table totals 100%. Positive rank equals total perk count; negative rank magnitude equals penalty count. Transcendent has nine Standard and three Ultra perks. Its chance is 1 in 1,000 per craft, without a guaranteed result after any number of attempts.

Strength and Perk Quality Score

Every numerical parameter rolls independently of rarity and the other parameters. 80% of strength rolls fall in the bottom 10% of their range; the top 5% has a 0.02% chance. A lower-rarity item can roll an excellent value, and a high-rarity item can roll modest values.

Selected uncapped percentage bonuses have wider maximum ranges at +9, +10, +11 and +12: 1.5×, 2×, 2.5× and 3× their ordinary maximum. Chances, cooldowns and bounded effects retain their limits. Current execution caps still apply to saved values.

Tooltips show each perk's PQS—Perk Quality Score, the average of its saved parameter scores. Higher scores mean stronger benefits, including shorter cooldowns; for penalties, they mean greater severity. PQS is neither a percentile nor an estimate of the item's overall power.

Controls and presentation

• Hover equipment: a dedicated information panel separates native stats from compact perk cards. It stays inside the screen, uses smaller native fonts and scrolls with the mouse wheel while the pointer remains over the item. Twelve-perk items use two perk columns when space allows.
• F6 while hovering inventory equipment: inspect complete perk triggers, saved values, individual scores, ranges and caps. Close with F6, Escape or Close.
• F9: open the damage ledger and local display settings. The HUD shows rolling damage per second and total damage; the default window is five minutes and includes idle time.
• Drag window titles: move the guide, F6 details and damage ledger. Drag the HUD header while the cursor is available, such as with inventory or F9 open. Positions are saved locally.
• Damage numbers: normal numbers show three decimals. Colored perk contributions are already included in the hit total; they are not extra damage. Damage-over-time enters the ledger when its ticks land.
• Freyr's Garden: hold Left Shift while planting for a valid 3×3 group. All nine positions and seed costs must be available.

Non-Default icons have the same rarity-colored borders in the inventory and HUD hotbar. A small +8, for example, shows the actual perk count at the lower right, slightly raised above the durability bar and without a badge background; disable it with Interface → ShowPerkCount. Penalties use a minus sign. +6 through +8 add static icon backgrounds; +9 and above animate them. +12 adds an aurora, corner runes and orbiting sparks.

Beneficial perk names with 90% PQS or higher have a gentle color sheen in the hover panel, stronger from 99%. Text position and size stay fixed. Disable this with Interface → AnimatedPerkNames or Visuals → ReducedEffects. High-severity penalties do not receive this animation.

World effects now begin at +9 for weapons and armor. Fire perks create rising flames and embers; frost perks create icy mist and crystals. Lightning, poison and spirit have their own effects, and mixed elements remain visibly distinct. The saved PQS and actual percentage jointly control each element's intensity. Higher ranks add larger, richer effects through +12.

Particles follow native weapon models in the hand, on the back and on the ground, including skinned weapon deformation. Armor effects follow body bones, with a shared rhythm for full sets while retaining each piece's own elements and strength. The effects use unlit, depth-tested particles, so they work independently of outdoor lighting and stay occluded by walls. Native item textures are preserved. Reduced effects lower particle counts and motion; setting Particles off hides added world effects.

Configuration, backups and recovery

Edit gameplay settings in BepInEx/config/Nornforged/gameplay.json while the host/server is stopped, then restart. Invalid settings are rejected. Changes affect future rolls; completed Fateprints and already-prepared crafting transactions keep their original data. Exact untouched defaults from 0.1.0, 0.2.0 and 0.2.1 upgrade automatically with a backup; customized files are preserved.

Local presentation settings are in BepInEx/config/rinor.nornforged.cfg, including intensity, reduced effects, inventory/hotbar animation, perk-count badges, PQS name animation, sounds and damage displays.

Back up character saves, world saves, BepInEx/NornforgedData/ and BepInEx/NornforgedBackups/ together. Persistent authority data includes the signing key, identity record, transaction receipts and prepared-craft configuration snapshots. Startup and successful authority writes maintain a separate local backup. A missing or damaged primary key can be restored only when the available backup and identity evidence agree; conflicting identities stop authority startup instead of silently generating a replacement. Keep an additional off-server copy, because both local folders can be lost with the disk or profile. Never distribute private keys to clients.

Move the complete authority data with a migrated server. Items issued by a different authority retain their data but have inactive effects until returned to the issuing authority. World, character and authority files are still saved separately; local backups do not make them one atomic save.

A remote craft may briefly display Fateprint pending while its receipt arrives. For an item that remains pending, keep it on its original character and authority, then choose Recover pending items in the guide. Recovery reuses the original transaction and never rerolls a completed result. A completed inactive Fateprint is not pending: its diagnostic explains whether the authority is unavailable, the issuing identity differs or verification failed. Missing original keys and transaction records cannot be recreated from a finished item. If your old key was already removed before this update, follow the recovery guide; installing 0.3.0 alone cannot restore it.

With Valheim's console enabled, nornforged welcome reopens the guide, nornforged recover requests pending-item recovery, nornforged status shows authority diagnostics and nornforged inspect explains hovered equipment or the held weapon's Fateprint state. Configuration and receipt errors are also recorded in BepInEx/LogOutput.log.

Compatibility and removal

Nornforged is in early access. Mods that replace crafting, inventory, equipment or combat behavior may require specific compatibility support. Some mod-added equipment may not be eligible, and custom models or interfaces can affect presentation. Keep backups before changing an established modded world.

To uninstall, close the game/server and remove BepInEx/plugins/Nornforged/. Equipment uses its ordinary native behavior while the mod is absent. Retain BepInEx/NornforgedData/, BepInEx/NornforgedBackups/ and any legacy authority backup for a future reinstall; other mods or save editors may discard custom item data. All clients and the server must update their mod sets together.

Nornforged and its original artwork are distributed under the included MIT license. Valheim and the required dependencies retain their respective licenses.

Changelog

0.4.0 — The raven forge

• Fixed equipment craft authorization for cosmetic recipe variants, including AAA Crafting's separate shield-style entries when only the client has that menu mod. Known variant and Unity clone names resolve to the server's original recipe and exact item prefab; valid native seasonal recipes use Valheim's current-season rules. Reforge uses the same recipe validation. Disabled, upgrade-only, missing and conflicting recipes now report a specific cause; material checks and saved transaction identities remain intact. Thanks to MrReeD for reporting the cosmetic shield/skin recipe rejection affecting Wood Shield and Flametal Shield.

• Reroll attempts now gather, hesitate and accelerate with different durations before each reveal. Each disclosed perk receives a green Success beat, its matching impact sound, icon transition and Gear Score update. The final unsuccessful continuation shows red Failed with a distinct damped-metal sound; all 12 perks finish successfully. Final counts stay concealed, and Show all and reduced effects remain available.

• The raven Roll button stays visible in its original position throughout preparation, processing and reveal. Reforge now matches the actual spacing between the native Craft and Upgrade tabs, including UI scaling.

• The enabled Damage Meter temporarily hides behind inventory, crafting stations and other interactive game or mod windows, and returns once all are closed. Damage tracking and display preferences stay intact.

• Rebuilt Gear Score around an explicit progression catalogue for 390 native equipment prefabs: every item has a base rating, upgrades increase it, and useful perk effects add or subtract points. Bronze axes and bronze maces now share a 100-point quality-1 foundation and 130-point quality-4 foundation; axes no longer collect a second full woodcutting baseline. Supported native equipment traits count once. Unknown equipment receives a disclosed stat-based estimate.

• Gear Score model 3 keeps those foundations and values offensive perks by their actual modeled output improvement. Defensive and utility effects receive role-aware budgets, so useful survival perks on weapons are not suppressed by a tiny base allocation. Opening Cut and Executioner use discrete eligible hits in a stated encounter mix; same-hit and one-hit bonuses respect their trigger and cooldown. Native elemental pools, instant Shield Composure recovery and support-staff casting cadence now have distinct treatment. This remains a practical benchmark with disclosed assumptions, not a universal build ranking.

• Every Gear Score display now uses exactly two decimals, including item icons, the equipped total, animated Reforge values, signed changes, perk explanations and F6 components. Calculations retain their precision; differences are rounded only for display. Aligned digits and bounded layouts keep small gains and large scores readable. Gear Score is not capped at 100.

• F6 separates Base equipment from the signed Perks contribution. Equipped scores combine equipped foundations and evaluate shared perks, caps and set effects together. Rarity, perk count and PQS alone still grant no score; saved items and gameplay values are unchanged.

• Reduced Roll reveal work: score prefixes come from one evaluation, existing perk rows remain in place, and only newly revealed rows are created. Forge layout updates stay local to the panel. Metal-impact samples are prepared off the main thread during the charge, with faster synthesis and unchanged audio. Focus recovery now also handles Unity clearing a selected button when it becomes unavailable.

• Roll now displays its preparing state before starting transaction work and avoids a duplicate material scan on click. Repeated clicks are blocked; closing before dispatch cancels the request. All authoritative eligibility checks, material revalidation and durable saves remain in place.

• Accelerated map serialization during forge checkpoints with bounded bulk writes that retain the native saved bytes, map pins and compression. Ordinary saves keep their native path; unsupported serializer layouts and conflicting patches fall back safely. Character save verification and authority receipts remain intact. Perk-name mist now refreshes after text rendering instead of recursively requesting another graphic rebuild.

• Fresh immediate reforges save their signed result and completion cleanup in one verified atomic character checkpoint, removing a redundant save without skipping payment or recovery safeguards. Legacy pending operations and salvage keep their existing recovery paths.

• Release polish: clearer empty, processing and locked socket states; a separate Return item action preserves favorite protection. Salvage starts with Review salvage, and unavailable controls move focus to a safe available action. Material quantities align right.

• Smoothed raven-button press/release feedback and Gear Score gain/loss colour recovery. Completion messages hold briefly for reading, then fade as one strip. Low-PQS names avoid creating unused mist graphics. Existing per-perk audio growth and stronger +4/+8 effects remain.

• Improved explanation handoff and live refresh, corrected small-screen and perkless-item layouts, and clarified held Shift/F6 controls. F6 tabs no longer imply unsupported number-key shortcuts.

• The F9 ledger now shows On / Off states, the selected rolling window and current HUD size, with disabled size controls at their limits. Welcome and ledger have draggable reading scrollbars and Page Up / Page Down navigation.

• Inventory and HUD hotbar icons show a compact gold GS value only while the mouse hovers over that item. Idle icons keep their rarity frames and perk-count badges without a persistent Gear Score label. Ordinary equipment also has a score. Item tooltips, the equipped total beside the inventory and the Reforge score remain available; Reforge reveals its icon score in step with the perks.

• Fixed equipment particles appearing away from the weapon. Surface positions now respect imported model scale, including rotated and mirrored equipment. Frost drift stays in world-sized units; changing scale remaps existing particles without restarting the effect. Perk/PQS activation rules and saved items are unchanged.

• Fixed a missing camera-fade material parameter that could hide frost mist in the actual game camera while leaving isolated ice accents visible. Soft intersections and opaque-wall depth testing remain enabled.

• The original steel raven-and-hammer logo is now the large Roll action beside Gear Score. Frost-to-ember light stays inside its silhouette, followed by a travelling metal glint and directional sparks; the steel artwork remains visible without expanding rings or pulsation. Salvage retains its native confirmation controls; pending rolls expose Recover result on the same raven action.

• Perk names start white at 0.00% saved PQS and reach their full element or role colour at 50.00%. Above 50.00%, slow, subtle colour-matched mist increases behind the name. Forge, hover, popup and F6 stay consistent; comparison markers keep their meaning and reduced effects disable motion.

• Item hover restores the full vertical native stat lines on the left beside one complete perk list. Item hover and the forge use one compact row per perk, with all 12 visible without scrolling. Name, Value and Description widths are measured once for each visible list, with 6 px gaps and shared positions across its rows. Values align right with tabular digits; F6 before/after numbers and numeric value fields also align right. Shift keeps added, removed and changed rows intelligible. Secondary mechanics move into a separate native-style explanation with PQS, saved odds and Gear Score contribution. Moving from the item icon into the sheet keeps it open; F6 retains the complete inspector.

• Standardized displayed percentages to exactly two decimals, including PQS, perk values, limits, comparison percentages and saved odds. Positive odds below 0.01% show <0.01%, while exact zero shows 0.00%. Stored values and probability calculations remain unchanged; Gear Score uses the separate two-decimal display rule above.

• Added brief, smooth hover darkening for perk rows and material hints, with immediate reduced-motion feedback. Explanation popups stay outside clipped content, remain bounded by the screen and re-clamp after resizing. The forge keeps Gear Score and its value together in a native-style frame above Salvage.

• Added Gear Score for weapons, armor and tools, plus a jointly calculated equipped score in a screen-bounded badge beside the inventory. Actual base stats, supported perk values, usefulness, conditions, cooldowns, shared limits and synergies matter; rarity and PQS do not grant automatic points. F6 explains components and limitations. It is a role-specific benchmark, not a guarantee for every encounter.

• Reforge now holds the actual item outside the inventory in a saved socket. Drag it back or clear the slot to return it; rarity frames, backgrounds and animations remain visible. An idle item returns on close if space permits; otherwise it stays saved for the next visit. Pending transactions remain protected.

• Reforge hides the final rarity and perk total until the reveal completes. A smoother, bounded anvil strike leads into the reveal; each perk advances the icon styling and its actual Gear Score contribution together. Short glints and arcing sparks confined to the margins replace full-height yellow side effects, keeping names and values clear. Cosmetic intervals vary slightly without changing the saved result. Rolls below 12 finish with one unsuccessful continuation beat; +12 receives a maximum-result seal. Negative and capped score contributions remain honest. Reduced effects and explicit skipping remain available.

• Fixed a false material-capacity failure when an incompatible, disabled AzuEPI assembly was present alongside active Extra Slots. Only enabled equipment integrations are consulted; reserved cells remain protected and integration errors are distinguished from a full inventory.

• Improved the visibility floor for neutral perk VFX while preserving native particle assets and smooth fading. The 25.00% qualifying-PQS threshold remains unchanged.

• World VFX now follow perk quality and actual strength on every equipment rank. Positive perks awaken effects at 25.00% PQS; rarity and perk count add no visual multiplier. Elemental and defensive perks choose fitting colors, and mixed elements remain independent.

• Rebuilt effects around Valheim's native animated flames, frost and sparks. Surface samples follow weapon shapes, drawn bows and worn armor; corrected imported armature scaling, indoor frost visibility, sheathing and resource cleanup. Native item meshes, materials and textures remain unchanged.

• Reforge now owns its content area: native recipe/detail backgrounds and requirement slots hide while that tab is active, then restore exactly. The character summary no longer protrudes from behind the crafting panel.

• New raven-and-hammer identity and clearer listing icon. In-game windows use Valheim's native wood textures, buttons and fonts with warm gold accents. The welcome guide, comparison and damage displays retain their controls and layouts; rarity and green/red comparison colors keep their meaning.

• A short transparent logo reveal precedes the automatic welcome guide on safe world entry. Escape, Space or a click skips the sequence. Disable it with Welcome.IntroAnimation; reduced-effects preferences also skip the animation. No startup sound, camera movement or pause is added.

• Open Reforge, the third inventory crafting tab beside Craft and Upgrade, and drag one equipment item into its socket. Roll spends the full ordinary base crafting cost once and immediately replaces all perks and the rarity on the same item. The saved result reveals its perks in sequence; Show all skips the presentation. Quality, upgrades, crafter fields and durability percentage are retained. A roll can be worse, and no extra item is created.

• Rebuilt reveal audio as twelve distinct original forged-metal impacts. Every successive perk increases the weight and volume, independently of PQS, and varies the impact texture. Installed Valheim metal-hammer variants blend into the sequence. The fourth perk introduces a larger impact and bounded shake; the eighth begins ultra audio, brief edge glints and directional margin sparks, escalating through +12. Timing remains cosmetic. Reduced effects skip the reveal; local audio settings and Valheim's audio mixer control its sound.

• Switch the socket to Salvage, inspect the returned materials and confirm permanent removal of that one item. Equipped items and existing favorites are protected. The default refund is 20.00% of each base ingredient, rounded down, with no upgrade or rarity bonus. The server may configure the percentage from 0.00–50.00%. Materials return to the player's inventory; nearby chests do not provide payout space.

• Reforge spends eligible inventory materials first, then accessible native chests through optional AzuCraftyBoxes support. Counts and payment respect its range, access and item restrictions, Leave One Item, and supported character/chest toggles. Equipped, favorite, locked and Fateprint-bearing ingredients remain protected. Drawers and bags are not included. Required station and recipe rules remain in force; no orbs, currency, stations or recipes are added.

• Forge requests use durable authority receipts and character checkpoints. New paid rolls are committed directly without a Keep/Apply step. Reopening or recovering retrieves the same saved outcome without another charge; the reveal follows durable item replacement. Only an unpaid request can be cancelled. Unfinished paid choices from earlier 0.4.0 test builds preserve their original item on recovery. Keep coordinated character/world/authority backups.

• New signed Fateprints retain the crafter's original roll odds. The rarity chance appears once in the header; each compact perk row shows its saved Drop chance at the right edge, and its separate explanation shows PQS · Drop chance, meaning the chance of that PQS or higher for that perk. Repetitive perk-inclusion probabilities are hidden. Older items show Drop: — with Roll odds not saved in the explanation instead of receiving invented historical odds. Saved rolls and generation remain unchanged.

• English forge controls and bounded layouts through 4K. Reforge inherits the crafting panel's position and scaling; other movable windows retain their saved positions and the detailed F6 inspector keeps its scrolling. Tab or inventory changes preserve the committed roll without an additional input lock.

0.3.1 — Compare and understand your equipment

• Hold either Shift key while hovering equipment to see green or red differences directly beside native values and perk amounts. Release Shift to return to the normal hover; the quick view always uses matching equipped gear. F6 keeps the detailed inspector.
• The Shift hover starts with a compact swap summary naming added, removed and changed perks. Candidate perks carry clear status labels; removed effects retain their full values. Extra gear actually displaced by a hand-slot change, such as a shield, is identified separately.
• Fixed verified private Test Lab items incorrectly appearing inactive in comparisons. Rejected or unverified items remain inactive; the comparison never rerolls or rewrites an item.
• Faster, consistent mouse-wheel scrolling across Nornforged windows, with smooth fractional input and screen-aware sizing from small displays through Full HD, ultrawide and 4K. Existing Valheim canvas scaling is respected.
• Rebuilt F6 as a draggable, scrollable equipment comparison window with three views: comparison, perk explanations, and saved values and rules. It follows the game's German or English language setting.
• Automatically compares matching equipment slots and roles, including held and sheathed equipment. A remembered reference also lets you compare two items in your inventory. Normal, Default and inactive items remain inspectable.
• Shows native item values, useful differences, and perks added, changed, removed or unchanged. Conditional effects, ammunition, skills, shared caps and displaced shields are identified instead of collapsed into a misleading overall power rating.
• Added plain explanations and worked examples for all 201 perks. Hover summaries stay compact; F6 explains triggers, quality scores, cooldowns, stacking and limits using the item's saved rolls and current server limits.
• Added stable high-quality perk-name highlights, readable small-screen layouts, remembered window position and safe input handling. Inactive rolls remain clearly marked and are never repaired or rerolled by comparison.
• This update changes presentation only. Saved Fateprints, crafting probabilities, perk ranges and gameplay configuration remain unchanged. The authority protection from 0.3.0 and MrReed's Rested fix remain included. Update server and clients together.

0.3.0 — Safer updates and recovery

• Moved authority identity and crafting records outside ordinary configuration to BepInEx/NornforgedData/authority/. Existing legacy authority data is copied on host startup while its original files remain intact.
• Added automatic local backups in BepInEx/NornforgedBackups/authority/, covering signing identity, transaction receipts and prepared-craft configuration snapshots. A recoverable missing or damaged primary can use a matching backup; conflicting identity evidence stops authority startup without replacing it.
• Added clearer authority and inactive-Fateprint diagnostics. Pending-item recovery distinguishes unfinished transactions from completed items whose original signing authority is missing or different; completed outcomes are never rerolled or re-signed.
• Added an update and recovery guide. A key already lost before this update still requires an original backup. Thanks to MrReed for reporting the update-related loss of active perks.
• Existing Fateprints, perk values, rarity chances and gameplay configuration remain unchanged. The 0.2.9 Rested fix remains included. Update the server and every client together.

0.2.9 — Rested regeneration fix

• Fixed Nornforged overwriting native status-effect modifiers, which removed the Rested stamina-regeneration bonus even without perk equipment. Thanks to MrReed for reporting this bug!
• Health and Eitr regeneration, stamina costs and fall-damage modifiers now preserve the native result before applying perks. Resting bonuses, Wet penalties and native cost limits also remain effective.
• Existing Fateprints, perk values, crafting chances and configuration remain unchanged.

0.2.8 — Armor effects and equipment fixes

• Fixed worn effects inheriting the player skeleton's 95x import scale. Helmet effects now use the native helmet socket; all armor slots and moving leg effects stay close to their equipment through animation and re-equipping.
• Failed or broken blocks no longer activate successful-block perks. Barriers, regeneration, retaliation and stamina refunds require damage actually stopped by the native block.
• Freyr's Garden checks the full nine-plant stamina cost using the world's stamina-rate setting.
• Added MyDirtyHoe 2.1.1 brush interoperability. Signed perk-expanded operations avoid its duplicate radius packet, while ordinary MyDirtyHoe operations retain their native behavior.

0.2.7 — Cleaner perk counts

• Removed the translucent background behind perk counts in inventory and hotbar icons. Only the small rarity-colored number remains.
• Raised the count by ten UI pixels to keep it clear of the durability bar.

0.2.6 — Equipment inspector and movement fix

• Fixed movement bonuses repeatedly multiplying accumulated physics velocity, including upward jump velocity. Tempo bonuses now modify native walking speed inputs once; jumping, falling and momentum retain native behavior.
• Equipment hover uses a dedicated screen-bounded panel with native stats, compact colored perk cards, smaller Valheim fonts and mouse-wheel scrolling. Large rolls use two perk columns when space allows.
• Removed repeated native tooltip title rewriting and overlapping native/custom rendering. Reused slots, gamepad selection, F6 handoff and live stat refresh retain a single stable display.
• Hover takes over only once the replacement is visible. Gameplay input blocks no longer hide inventory information; unavailable custom UI restores the native tooltip.
• Fixed missing perk cards in the actual game world: the inspector uses its own layer on the native inventory canvas, independent of Jotunn's transient invalid main-scene canvas dimensions.
• Beneficial perk names gently shimmer from 90% saved PQS, with stronger sheen from 99%. Text never moves; penalties stay static. AnimatedPerkNames and ReducedEffects control this display.
• Inventory and HUD hotbar share rarity borders, tier backgrounds and Transcendent decoration. Optional small numbers show actual perk count, such as +8, in rarity color at the lower right. Toggle ShowPerkCount locally.
• Saved items, perk rolls, crafting probabilities and authority data remain unchanged. Update server and clients together.

0.2.5 — Elemental flames and frost

• Replaced coplanar weapon surface overlays and legacy armor aura meshes with original elemental particles from Mythic (+9). Native item textures remain intact.
• Fire, frost, lightning, poison and spirit have distinct forms. Mixed perks retain their own channels; both saved PQS and actual rolled percentages determine intensity.
• +9 through +12 increase effect density, size and radiance. Full armor coordinates its rhythm while preserving each item's element and strength.
• Effects follow held, back-carried and dropped weapon geometry, including skinned deformation. Bone-attached armor includes moving leg anchors. Unlit, depth-tested materials support indoor visibility without showing through walls.
• Particle and reduced-effect preferences bound world effects. Inventory borders/background thresholds, gameplay balance and saved rolls are unchanged.

0.2.4 — Maintenance

• Updated player documentation and release packaging.
• Gameplay, saved items, perk values and drop chances remain unchanged.

0.2.3 — Weapon surface glow and compact perk quality

• Hover tooltips now keep each perk in one compact paragraph: colored bold name, neutral effect description and a subdued Perk Quality Score (PQS). PQS averages the perk's saved parameter scores; it is not reconstructed from current ranges or presented as a percentile. F6 retains the complete triggers, exact values and individual scores.
• The current six-package profile uses Jötunn 2.30.1; the declared minimum remains 2.30.0.
• Weapon rarity effects now follow the native mesh through an unlit surface pass from Epic (+6), including held, back-carried and ground equipment. Seven increasingly vivid profiles culminate in prismatic aurora across the actual weapon; weapon surfaces emit no particles.
• Saved elemental percentages still determine color and intensity. Native geometry, UVs, skinning, materials and existing effects are preserved. Unreadable or over-budget meshes use a uniform surface pulse with the same native geometry.
• Hand/back cosmetic snapshots now include the native prefab identity. New models wait for matching metadata, and native replacement hooks immediately clear the old owned overlay. This covers Valheim's separate hidden-item records and back clones.
• Armor anchors, coordinated set palette, inventory decoration and gameplay remain unchanged. The release keeps the 0.2.2 gameplay defaults and does not introduce a configuration migration or reroll existing items.
• Added native weapon mesh, skinning, visibility and material checks, focused held/back lifecycle fixtures and native-camera preview coverage. See the current testing report for executed evidence; live-world and multiplayer appearance remain separate checks.

0.2.2 — Rarity curve fix

• Corrected the lower positive rarity progression: Common 25%, Uncommon 15%, Rare 6.6%. Default stays 35%, all negative ranks and +4 through +12 stay unchanged, and the table totals exactly 100%.
• Complete untouched 0.2.1 gameplay defaults upgrade automatically with a backup, alongside existing 0.1.0/0.2.0 migrations. Custom configurations, already prepared crafting transactions and existing items keep their original data.
• Added regression coverage for strictly decreasing positive rarity chances and an exact three-weight-only configuration change.

0.2.1 — Arsenal & Fortune

• Normal Default equipment returns at 35%, with zero perks, native stats and no added icon border, background, sound or VFX. Its signed outcome stays permanent through upgrades and recovery.
• Reviewed uncapped percentage maxima expand again from +9: 1.5×, 2×, 2.5× and 3× through +12. Extreme values still require the separate rare strength roll; probabilities and bounded mechanics are excluded.
• Expanded to 201 implemented perks, including 23 weapon/shield effects with native capability and attack-type restrictions. Noncombat tool pools remain separate.
• Compact colored perk descriptions distinguish Standard, Special, Ultra and penalties. Compact values trim trailing zeros; F6 retains full numerical precision, conditions and limits. Tooltip definition lookup is cached across draws and refreshed with authority configuration.
• Wider positive percentage ranges, with far less frequent high-strength rolls: 80% in the bottom tenth of the range, 0.02% in the top five percent. Probability, cost and other structural caps remain.
• Rarer high ranks: +4 at 3%, +6 at 0.75%, +9 at 0.18%, +10 at 0.15%, +11 at 0.12%, +12 at 0.1% (1 in 1,000). No pity counter or existing-item reroll.
• Stronger original world VFX begins at +6, escalating through +12; redesigned upper-tier forms retain saved elemental colors and intensity.
• Inventory icons replace perk-count/rank badges with rarity-colored borders for every non-Default rank. Static colored backgrounds begin at +6, animated backgrounds at +9; +12 adds a distinct aurora, four corner runes and four orbiting sparks. Animation can be frozen locally.
• Dedicated worn-slot anchors cover texture-only armor. Full sets share elemental colors, timing and one central motif while preserving each piece's strength and rarity; the installed ObjectDB equipment catalog is audited beyond craftable recipes.
• Guide, damage ledger, F6 details and HUD are movable by their title/header. Local positions persist; uGUI windows adapt to screen/scale changes. The HUD can be dragged while the pointer is available, for example with inventory or F9 open.
• Current profile review targets AzuEPI 2.5.1, AutoStore 3.1.6 and CraftyBoxes 1.8.22 with Jotunn 2.30.0. Removed optional mods impose no ingredient-conflict restrictions in this profile.
• Untouched 0.1.0 and 0.2.0 gameplay defaults upgrade with a backup. Custom configurations, existing Fateprints and prepared transaction snapshots are preserved.

0.2.0 — The Living Forge

• Expanded from 107 to 178 implemented perks with deliberate item roles and native capability checks. Building tools no longer receive combat filler. Wider independent strengths allow exceptional Ultra rolls while all eighteen rarity chances remain unchanged.
• Four escalating high-rarity shiny flame forms. Actual saved elemental percentages control intensity; mixed elements produce readable gradients, including fire/frost. Equipped and ground profiles retain bounded shared resources and reduced mode.
• Native damage totals and additional colored per-perk contributions display three decimals. Actual removed health, armor, overkill, direct procs and delayed elemental ticks feed a bounded rolling damage ledger without double-counting.
• Continuous five-minute DPS/total HUD, configurable windows and display settings, F9 breakdown, and character-inventory combat record.
• Colored rank badges above durability, animated high-rarity inventory backgrounds and eighteen original rarity sounds for reveals and actual drops.
• First-entry early-access guide with all rarity odds, gameplay tips and native Norse-font “Developed by RYN”.
• Fixed pending Fateprints when auto-equip moves or clones a craft output outside the main inventory. Successful transactions follow their outputs; explicit legacy recovery reuses original prepared receipts, with aborted craft protection.
• Added targeted adapters for the supplied server pack: AzuEPI real equipment slots and statistics panel, EpicLoot component preservation/conversion attribution, ImpactfulSkills quality and equip timing, metadata-safe storage/stacking and drawer exclusion, scoped MyDirtyHoe brush choices, AzuAreaRepair durability/stamina and Build Camera placement ordering. Documented narrow AAA sequential-output policy and remaining multiplayer checks.
• Preserved EpicLoot custom/decorated names and added preflight protection against competing ImpactfulSkills/CraftyBoxes material consumption; affected equipment can be crafted with per-character container pulling disabled.
• Untouched 0.1.0 default gameplay files upgrade with a backup. Customized configurations and all permanent rolled values are preserved. New telemetry, native tool, visual, presentation and crafting regressions extend verification; actual multi-client gameplay remains a manual acceptance step.

0.1.0

Initial implementation of Nornforged — Fate at the Forge for Valheim 1.0.14.

• Eighteen exact default rarity weights; independent, biased strength sampling and completion-aware compatible selection across 107 perk definitions.
• Instance metadata, native upgrade preservation, authority signatures, durable transaction receipts and host-controlled gameplay policy.
• Implemented combat, survival, crafting, gathering, fishing and magic effects with explicit caps and trigger boundaries.
• Native tooltip integration, colored inventory accents, an F6 scrollable inspector, and original runtime rarity visuals.
• Deterministic statistical tests, production-adapter tests, installed-API checks, and isolated real-Unity startup/native-item checks. See TESTING.md for executed coverage and remaining gameplay verification.