Shack Recycler

Two new tabs at your crafting stations:

• Recycle (workbench, forge and stonecutter): turn things you crafted back into their materials: gear, tools, arrows, bolts, bombs, nails, bronze and more.
• Research (workbench): use up things you can't craft yet to learn their recipes. Food and meads count too.

Recycle

• Open a workbench, forge or stonecutter and click the Recycle tab next to Craft and Upgrade.
• The list shows what in your inventory that station crafts, plus things that need no station (hammer, torch, club...).
• Items another Recycle station makes are listed greyed out with its name, e.g. "Ironhead arrow (Forge)".
• Pick an item to see exactly what you'll get back, then click Recycle.
• Gear (tools, weapons, armour) asks Yes / No first, and the popup shows what you'll get back.
• Upgraded gear gives back its upgrade materials too (this can be switched off).
• Stacks are recycled by the craft:
  • A click recycles what one craft makes (20 arrows). Shift + click recycles the whole stack.
  • Less than a full craft gives back its share, rounded down.
• What doesn't fit in your inventory drops at your feet.
• Can't be recycled:
  • equipped items
  • things you don't know how to craft yet (they show greyed out as "not known"; research them first)
  • food, meads and potions
• The station also needs the level that crafting (or upgrading to) the item needs.

Recycling can never give back more than an item cost to make. When an item has two recipes (Bronze and Bronze x5), it returns the cheaper of the two. Crafting and then recycling can't multiply materials.

Only things you know how to craft can be recycled (a setting, on by default). Recycling something from a tier you haven't reached would hand you its materials early, and those materials unlock more recipes. With this on, you research it first.

Research

• At the workbench, open the Research tab. It lists everything in your inventory you can't craft yet, with your progress, e.g. "Black metal sword (2/5)". Items from any station can be researched there.
• Each research uses the item up, and nothing comes back. Stacks use one craft's worth per research (20 arrows).
• After 5 researches you learn the recipe. You get the game's "New recipe" popup, and it appears at the station that crafts it. You still need the materials to craft it.
• Food and meads:
  • Food with its own recipe (cauldron food) is researched directly.
  • Researching a mead teaches its mead base (it ferments into that mead).
  • Researching oven food like bread teaches its dough.
  • Cooked meat and fish can't be researched; nobody crafts them.
• Progress is saved on your character, just like the recipes you know.
• Gear asks Yes / No first, like recycling.

Settings

Set by the server admin in F1 (Shack Recycler). The server's values apply to everyone.

1 - General

• Stations: which stations get the Recycle tab. You can add $piece_artisanstation, $piece_blackforge or $piece_magetable.
• Only known recipes (on): only recycle what you know how to craft.
• Station-free items (on): the hammer, torch and other station-free items can be recycled at any Recycle station.
• Require station level (on).
• Excluded item types (Consumable), Blocked items and Blocked materials.

2 - Returns

• Mode: Flat (default) or Luck.
  • Flat gives back a fixed share of what the item cost: 100% by default.
  • Luck rolls each material as crumbled / poor / normal / good / jackpot, and the Recycling skill improves the odds as you use it (sections 3 and 4).
• Include upgrades (on): upgraded items also give back what their upgrades cost.
• Durability affects return (off): worn items give back less.

5 - Research

• Enabled (on).
• Stations ($piece_workbench).
• Researches needed (5).
• Excluded item types (empty: anything with a recipe, food included).

0 - This PC (each player's own choice): Ask before recycling: Gear (default), Everything or Never. It applies to research too.

Notes

• Install it on the server and every client. The server sends its settings to everyone (admin-only settings, through Jotunn).
• The server and players need the same version (1.1.x with 1.1.x). Players without the mod can still join; they just get no tabs.
• Works alongside My Little UI, Craft From Containers, Quick Stack - Store - Sort - Trash - Restock, Equipment and Quick Slots, and Zen.ModLib.
• Tested with Valheim 1.0.17, BepInExPack 5.4.2351 and Jotunn 2.30.2.

Credits

The idea of a Recycle tab with luck rolls comes from Forge Reclaimer by Helgi. Shack Recycler is a separate mod written from scratch; it shares no code.

This mod was written with the help of an AI assistant (Claude).