The Shack Pack

A vanilla+ quality-of-life pack for The Viking Shack server, built for Valheim 1.0 (Deep North).

It's less tedium, the same Valheim: inventory, building, farming, map and UI conveniences. Combat, mobs and difficulty are left vanilla, and the pack adds no new items, creatures or biomes.

Install

1. Install r2modman, pick Valheim, and create a new profile.
2. Online tab → search The Shack Pack → Download. Every mod installs at the exact version the server uses.
3. Click Start modded.
   • Linux (native Valheim): the first time, r2modman shows a Steam launch option. Copy it into Steam → Valheim → Properties → Launch Options. A normal Steam launch stays vanilla.
4. In Valheim: Join Game → Community tab → search The Viking Shack and connect, or use Join IP with the address your server admin gave you. Same password either way.
   • To keep it in Favorites, add the server by its public address. Valheim never checks the status of favorites with a home-network address (192.168.x.x), so those always show a red X even when the server is up.

Updating

• When the pack updates, select The Shack Pack in your installed mods and click its Update button.
• Never use "Update all": it moves mods past the versions the server runs, and the server will refuse the connection.
• Update when the server does. Most updates need the same pack version as the server: since 1.0.5, an older pack can't join (the game lists the mismatched mods).
• The pack ships some settings files, which are listed below. Updating the pack resets those files to the pack's values.

What's included

Inventory & storage

• Quick Stack - Store - Sort - Trash - Restock: stack to nearby chests, sort, restock, trash.
• MultiUserChest: several players can use one chest at once.
• CraftFromContainers: craft and build using materials in chests within 20 m.
• SmartPickup: smarter auto-pickup modes.
• Equipment and Quick Slots: separate armor slots plus 3 quick slots.
• QSS EAQS Bridge: stops sort from touching your armor and quick slots.
• Pull Toggle: switch automatic pulling off for a single chest or machine (press I, or use the button in the chest window).

Building

• ComfyGizmo: precise 3-axis rotation.
• Extra Snap Points Made Easy: more snap points and manual snapping.
• Classic Snap: switch back to the game's own snap points, with Q/E picking Top/Bottom/Edge.
• Venture Area Repair: repair everything nearby at once, at the same cost.
• Shack Magic Cam: a free build camera within workbench range (Y). Our replacement for Cartur's Build Camera, which was pulled from Thunderstore; it works the same.
• Shack Better Paths: the hoe's Pathen grades an even slope from your feet to where you aim: flat across, edges blended into the ground, no steps between clicks. Paved road then paints stone over your paths without changing their shape, only where there's already path (1 stone per 2 m). In the build camera, each click connects to your last one. Shift: vanilla Pathen, or a round patch of paving.
• SearsCatalog: a resizable build menu with multi-word search.
• Shack Comfort Ascended: your whole house shares its comfort. Comfort objects under a roof within 10 m of each other link into a chain, and anywhere under the roof within 10 m of the chain you get the whole chain's comfort (still the best of each kind, so never above the game's maximum). Look at a comfort object to see the links as moving dots (hammer out for rugs and banners). The build menu marks pieces that give comfort with a gold +N.

Crafting

• Shack Recycler: a Recycle tab at the workbench, forge and stonecutter turns gear, tools, arrows, bolts, bombs, nails and bronze back into their materials: everything they cost, upgrades included. Each station recycles what it crafts. Gear asks Yes / No first. It never gives back more than an item cost to make. Only things you know how to craft can be recycled.
  • A Research tab at the workbench uses up something you can't craft yet; research it 5 times to learn its recipe. Food and meads count too.
• Shack Workbench Pack: a workbench you carry. Craft it at a workbench (10 Wood + 2 Deer hide) and upgrade it there like gear, up to level 5 (each upgrade costs what the matching workbench upgrade does). It weighs 50 and slows you 25% while it's in your inventory. Wear it (utility slot) and press Tab to craft from your back, or set it down anywhere as a small workbench (its hotbar key, or U while worn). Shift + E packs it back up.
  • It has durability (100, +50 per level): each craft, upgrade or repair at it uses 1. Repair it at another workbench of at least its level.
  • A real stonecutter's Craft tab has Backpack stonecutter: it packs a stonecutter into the backpack (10 heavier) so you can build stone around it. Recycling the backpack gives the stonecutter back as materials.

Farming & production

• PlantEasily: grid planting and bulk harvest, with the same seed and stamina cost.
• OttoFuel: smelters, kilns, fires and torches take fuel and ore from nearby chests.
• AutoFeedRedux: tames eat from nearby chests.
• No Lossy Cooking Stations: lag no longer eats your food or ore.
• ZenBeehive: open hives like a chest.

Map & travel

• XPortalNetworks: pick a portal destination from a list. New portals are public, so anyone can use them; open a portal with E to make it private.
• Better Cartography Table: private and public pins.
• Pinnacle: pin search, edit and filter.
• Dude, Where's My Portal: auto-pins your portals.
• Portal Peek: look into a portal and see where it goes. A portal shows a place once you've been there (stand by its destination portal for a few seconds). Ctrl + F8 re-records the portal you're standing by.
• PortalPeek XPN Bridge: makes Portal Peek work with XPortalNetworks' one-way links, and keeps a day and a night view of each portal.
• AutoRemoveDeathPin: clears the death pin when you loot your tombstone.
• HUDCompass: a compass bar, plus ship, cart and portal markers on the map. Name a cart or ship with Shift+E.
• LivingMap: your bases, roads, fields and cleared forest show on the map and minimap as you build. Zoom in on the map for a detailed view. It draws what's around places you've been, and remembers it.

UI & stability

• My Little UI: clock, timers, durability and more.
• Configuration Manager: the in-game settings menu (F1).
• ValheimCommunityPatch: bug fixes only.
• OdinSaves: saves your character every 15 minutes (the base game saves with the world, every 30).
• Detailed Levels: exact skill progress.
• Chatter: a better chat window.
• StopChoppyAudio: fixes audio stutter.
• AchievementEnabler: Steam achievements while modded.
• Better Sleep Bruh: the more players in bed, the faster the night passes. Everyone in bed skips to morning as usual. Pillow icons show who's sleeping.

Libraries: BepInExPack, Jotunn, Conditional Config Sync, YamlDotNet, JsonDotNET, Zen.ModLib.

Keys

The pack's keys were chosen so mods don't clash with each other or with vanilla Valheim. You can change any of them in F1.

Settings changed from the mods' defaults

These keep the game vanilla:

• OttoFuel: blast furnace only takes its normal ores; ballistas don't auto-reload.
• CraftFromContainers: doesn't pull fuel or ore into stations; OttoFuel handles that. It reaches chests within 20 m (the mod's default is 10).
• Build camera: vanilla pickup range (2 m); the Wisplight's mist range stays at vanilla while building.
• AutoFeedRedux: feeding chests aren't protected from monsters.
• ZenBeehive: respects wards.
• My Little UI: weather and wind forecasts are off.
• AutoFeedRedux and XPortalNetworks: error reporting is off.
• XPortalNetworks: new portals start public (the mod defaults to private).
• My Little UI: chat item links use Right Ctrl + click (the default Left Alt + click clashed with favoriting).
• Zen.ModLib: H is an extra alternate-interact key, and vanilla Shift+E still works.
• Better Sleep Bruh: beds follow the base game's sleep rules (afternoon or night), and error reporting is off. Its timer protection for mead, crops and berry bushes is off (it could stop mead from ever finishing), so those speed up during a faster night like with the base game's sleep.
• OdinSaves: saves your character every 15 minutes instead of 5 (each save makes the game hitch briefly).
• Portal Peek: Medium quality, a view refreshes at most once per in-game day, 512 MB memory budget (its defaults are heavier).

Known issues

• Gizmo stops rotating after you leave a world and join again. Restart the game.
• Equipment and Quick Slots stores data in your character. Before you ever remove it, empty its armor and quick slots, or those items stay hidden until you reinstall it.
• AchievementEnabler clears the "cheated" flag on characters and items. That can't be undone.

Pack assembled with the help of an AI assistant (Claude). The QSS EAQS Bridge, Classic Snap, Pull Toggle, Shack Recycler, Shack Magic Cam, Shack Better Paths, Shack Workbench Pack, PortalPeek XPN Bridge and Shack Comfort Ascended mods were written with its help.

Changelog

1.0.10

• New: Forge backpack (Shack Workbench Pack 1.1.1 → 1.2.0). A forge you carry in your bag: craft it at a forge (4 Stone, 4 Coal, 10 Wood, 6 Copper) and upgrade it there up to level 7 with what the forge upgrades cost. When you set your Workbench backpack down, the forge goes down at its left; set down it's a forge of its level for crafting, upgrading and repairing metal gear. Shift + E on either packs up both.
• Both packs are lighter: 30 each (the Workbench backpack was 50), and each slows you 15% (was 25%), so 30% with both.
• The server and every player need this update together. Shack Workbench Pack 1.2 refuses 1.1, so 1.0.9 can't join a 1.0.10 server.

1.0.9

• Shack Comfort Ascended 1.0.0 → 1.0.1: the hammer's build menu shows which pieces give comfort: a gold +N on the icon, and the piece info says how much and which kind it counts as (only the best of each kind counts).
• A small update: 1.0.8 and 1.0.9 can play together, so you can update whenever you like.

1.0.8

• New: Shack Comfort Ascended (our own mod). Your whole house shares its comfort: comfort objects under a roof (fires, beds, chairs, tables, banners, rugs...) within 10 m of each other link into a chain, and anywhere under the roof within 10 m of the chain you get the whole chain's comfort. It still counts the best object of each kind, so it never goes above the game's maximum. Look at a comfort object to see the links as moving dots (with the hammer out for rugs and banners), or place one to see what it joins.
• Craft from chests within 20 m (was 10): CraftFromContainers reaches twice as far when you craft or build, measured from where you stand.
• Shack Workbench Pack 1.1.0 → 1.1.1: packing a stonecutter into the backpack works with a full inventory.
• Shack Recycler 1.1.0 → 1.1.1: recycling a workbench backpack that has a stonecutter also gives back the stonecutter's materials.
• ValheimCommunityPatch 0.37.0 → 0.38.0: leviathan and meteorite parts no longer get stuck so they can't be mined, plus performance fixes. Its new regen-order change is off on the server, so health and stamina regen stay as in the base game.
• SearsCatalog 1.9.0 → 1.10.0: the build menu handles long piece lists faster, and search takes several words (spaces count: "stone wall", not "stonewall").
• PlantEasily 2.3.0 → 2.3.1: auto-replant (F6 with the cultivator, off by default) replants the crop you just harvested.
• ConfigurationManager 1.1.25 → 1.1.27: small display options in the F1 menu.
• The server and every player need this update together. ValheimCommunityPatch 0.38 and PlantEasily 2.3.1 refuse older versions, so 1.0.7 can't join a 1.0.8 server.

1.0.7

• Needs Valheim 1.0.20 (the game updated on 2026-10-15).
• New: Portal Peek. Look into a portal and see the place it takes you to: an animated view of the other side. A portal shows a place once you've been there (stand by its destination portal for a few seconds); Ctrl + F8 re-records the portal you're standing by. Set to Medium quality in the pack.
• New: PortalPeek XPN Bridge (our own mod). Makes Portal Peek work with XPortalNetworks: every portal you visit is recorded, so any portal you point at it shows it, and each portal keeps a day and a night view that matches your time of day.
• Shack Workbench Pack 1.0.0 → 1.1.0: crafting from your back (Tab) works again on Valheim 1.0.20. The backpack now has durability (100, +50 per level): each craft, upgrade or repair at it uses 1, and you repair it at another workbench of at least its level. A real stonecutter can pack a stonecutter into it (Craft tab, "Backpack stonecutter"; the stonecutter's own cost) for stone building around it. It slows you whenever it's in your inventory, the set-down key is now U (G is the game's radial menu), packing up takes a moment like equipping gear, and the bench on your back no longer looks glitched.
• Fixed: mead that never finishes. Better Sleep Bruh's "protect timers" kept pushing fermenters back by hours each time someone logged in, so mead could sit at "Fermenting" for days (crops and berry bushes too). That protection is off: while some players sleep and the night runs faster, fermenters, crops and berry bushes speed up with it, like the base game's sleep. A fermenter that's still stuck: remove it with the hammer (the mead base comes back) and build it again.
• Smoother play: OdinSaves now saves your character every 15 minutes instead of every 5. Each save makes the game hitch for about a second.
• ValheimCommunityPatch 0.36.0 → 0.37.0: the Love Potion works again (trolls spawn more often and stronger near you, as in the base game), sounds no longer cut out near beehives, fermenters and spinning wheels, faster recipe lookups, and fixes for very large navigation meshes and the settings window.
• Valheim 1.0.20 updates: XPortalNetworks 2.0.14, Quick Stack Store 1.4.16, Zen.ModLib 1.14.22, OttoFuel 1.7.2, AutoFeedRedux 2.0.12, Better Sleep Bruh 2.1.2, Conditional Config Sync 1.0.11. LivingMap 0.19.2 draws wood a bit darker.
• QSS EAQS Bridge 1.1.1, Classic Snap 1.0.1, Pull Toggle 1.0.1: no changes, only updated to need the mod versions above.
• The server and every player need this update together. Shack Workbench Pack 1.1, ValheimCommunityPatch 0.37, XPortalNetworks 2.0.14, Zen.ModLib, Quick Stack Store and OttoFuel all refuse mixed versions, so 1.0.6 can't join a 1.0.7 server.

1.0.6

• New: Shack Workbench Pack (our own mod). A workbench you carry: craft it at a workbench (10 Wood + 2 Deer hide) and upgrade it there like gear, up to level 5. Wear it and press Tab to craft, upgrade and repair from your back, or set it down anywhere as a small workbench (its hotbar key, or G while worn) and pack it up again with Shift + E. It weighs 50 and slows you 25% while worn.
• Shack Better Paths 1.0.0 → 1.1.0: Paved road now only paints stone over your paths and never changes their shape, and only where there's already path, so it won't spill onto grass. Grade with Pathen, then pave. In the build camera (Y), each click connects to your last one, so you can lay and pave paths from your workbench. Stone in nearby chests counts, and if you run short it paves as far as your stone goes. Shift + Paved road paints a round patch.
• README: an older pack can't join a newer server (it said otherwise).
• The server and every player need this update together. Shack Workbench Pack is required on both sides, and Better Paths 1.0 and 1.1 refuse each other, so 1.0.5 can't join a 1.0.6 server.

1.0.5

• New: Shack Better Paths (our own mod). The hoe's Pathen and Paved road now make smooth paths: each click grades the ground into an even slope from your feet to where you aim, flat from side to side, with the edges blended into the ground around it and no steps between clicks. Pathen paints it dirt and Paved road paves it, clearing the grass. Hold Shift for the vanilla tool. Paved road takes 1 stone per 2 m of path.
• New: Shack Magic Cam (our own mod) replaces Cartur's Build Camera, which was pulled from Thunderstore (new installs of 1.0.4 quietly went without it). It works the same: Y near a workbench with a hammer, hoe or cultivator, same range and settings.
• Shack Recycler 1.0.0 → 1.1.0: a Research tab at the workbench. Research something you can't craft yet (it's used up); after 5 researches you learn its recipe. Food and meads count too. Recycling now only takes things you know how to craft.
• ValheimCommunityPatch 0.35.1 → 0.36.0: a chest's item grid no longer keeps the scroll position of the last chest you opened.
• XPortalNetworks 2.0.12 → 2.0.13: fixes clicks and fonts in the portal destination list.
• AutoFeedRedux 2.0.10 → 2.0.11 and Better Sleep Bruh 2.1.0 → 2.1.1: library updates, no changes you'll notice.
• My Little UI 1.2.29 → 1.2.31: item links in chat now work in the Chatter window (hover for the tooltip, click to open), and holding the inspect-chat key keeps chat on screen. Also fixes renaming chests and signs.
• AchievementEnabler 0.5.0 → 0.5.1: fixes a base-game bug that lowered your best-ever stats after a world's difficulty changed, and restores records it already lowered.
• Extra Snap Points Made Easy 2.1.1 → 2.1.2: snap point fix for a piece the pack doesn't use; no change you'll notice.
• The server and every player need this update together. Shack Better Paths, Shack Recycler 1.1, ValheimCommunityPatch 0.36 and XPortalNetworks 2.0.13 all refuse mixed versions, so 1.0.4 can't join a 1.0.5 server and the other way round.

1.0.4

• New: Shack Recycler (our own mod). A Recycle tab at the workbench, forge and stonecutter turns things you crafted back into their materials: gear and tools (upgrades included), arrows, bolts, bombs, nails, bronze and more. You get back everything it cost, and never more. Each station recycles what it crafts; items for another station show greyed out with its name. Gear asks Yes / No first. Shift + click recycles a whole stack. The server admin can switch to luck rolls with a Recycling skill.
• New: LivingMap. Your bases, roads, fields and cleared forest now show on the map and minimap as you build, with a detailed view when you zoom in. It draws what's around places you've been, and remembers it.
• ValheimCommunityPatch 0.35.0 → 0.35.1: fixes the water-shader errors in the game log (these were blamed on Better Sleep Bruh), and a dedicated server no longer freezes for its hourly cleanup while players are on.
• README: how to find the server in the Community tab, and why Favorites need the public address.
• The server needs this update too (Shack Recycler takes its settings from the server). Players still on 1.0.3 can join; they just don't get the new features.

1.0.3

• New: Better Sleep Bruh. When some players are in bed, the night now passes faster, in proportion to how many are sleeping. When everyone is in bed, the night skips to morning as usual. Beds follow the base game's sleep rules (afternoon or night). Smelters, kilns, cooking, crops, mead and berry bushes don't speed up during a faster night, and the sea stays calm for sailors.
• ValheimCommunityPatch 0.34.1 → 0.35.0: bug fixes, plus a compatibility API for other mods.
• AchievementEnabler 0.4.1 → 0.5.0: one new option, off by default.
• The server needs this update too, so update the pack when the server does.

1.0.2

• New: Classic Snap (our own mod). CapsLock now cycles snap modes Classic → Auto → Manual. Classic uses only the game's original snap points, and Q / E picks Top / Bottom / Edge like the base game. New players start in Classic.
• New: Pull Toggle (our own mod). Switch automatic resource pulling on or off per chest (a button in the chest window, or I) and per machine: fires, torches, smelters, kilns, ovens and the like (look at it and press I). An OFF chest isn't used by OttoFuel or CraftFromContainers; an OFF machine isn't refilled from chests. The setting is saved in the world and shared by everyone.
• HUDCompass 1.2.0 → 1.2.1: fixes ship and cart markers that stayed hidden on the map. You can now name a cart or ship (Shift+E on the cart or the rudder), and the name shows on the map.
• My Little UI 1.2.26 → 1.2.29: more item stats in tooltips; item quality above 8 shows as a number.
• Extra Snap Points Made Easy 2.1.0 → 2.1.1: more snap points on portals, crafting stations, lanterns and signs.
• Update the pack when the server updates. Players still on 1.0.1 can join, but HUDCompass logs an error on every join.

1.0.1

• Portals: new XPortalNetworks portals now start public. The mod's default made new portals private, so other players couldn't use them.
• Shift+E is back: Zen.ModLib had turned it off when it set H as its key. Vanilla Shift+E (remove a saddle, rename a tame) and any mod that listens for it work again. H still works as an extra alternate-interact key.
• Chat item links moved to Right Ctrl + click. Left Alt + click now only favorites the item (Quick Stack).
• README: fixed the PlantEasily keys (Right Ctrl + arrow keys sets the grid size) and added the keys above.
• Mod versions are unchanged from 1.0.0.

1.0.0

• First release for Valheim 1.0.17 (Deep North): 29 quality-of-life mods, plus the QSS EAQS Bridge.
• Ships vanilla-safe settings and a clash-free key layout for 13 mods.