AFKManager

Server-side AFK detection for Valheim dedicated servers.

AFKManager notices when a connected player has gone idle, tells everyone (Toro is now AFK. / Toro is no longer AFK.) and, optionally, stops AFK players from blocking the night skip and keeps new random raids away from AFK-only bases.

Features

• True dedicated-server-side AFK detection: vanilla clients do not need AFKManager (or any mod) installed
• Configurable AFK timeout (default 10 minutes)
• Activity detection from data the server already receives:
  • movement, measured relative to the ship while aboard
  • look direction
  • emotes
  • equipment changes
  • crafting-station open/close
  • getting into bed
• AFK and return announcements
  • in the normal Valheim chat window (sender AFKManager)
  • as a notification in the top-left message feed
• Optional AFK-aware sleep handling
• Optional AFK-aware raids: new random raids do not start where everyone is AFK
• Extremely low overhead: a few values per connected player every few seconds, no world scans

Installation

Mod manager / hosting panel: install AFKManager from Thunderstore on the server. The package depends on BepInExPack Valheim.

Manual:

1. Install BepInExPack Valheim on the dedicated server.
2. Copy the DLL to BepInEx/plugins/AFKManager/AFKManager.dll on the server.
3. Restart the server.

The configuration file is created on the first start.

Server side

AFKManager is a BepInEx plugin that runs on the dedicated server, so the server needs BepInEx. Players join with a completely vanilla game: no BepInEx, no AFKManager, no configuration. AFKManager adds no custom network messages, no handshake and no version check, and it never rejects clients. It only reads data every vanilla client already sends to the server, and it announces through messages every vanilla client already understands.

Installing it on a client does nothing. On a player-hosted (non-dedicated) game the host is not tracked.

What counts as activity

Logging in, dying, respawning, boarding or leaving a ship and getting out of bed are neutral: they never count as activity and never mark anyone AFK. The AFK timer starts when the player's character first appears in the world after login, and it is paused while a player is dead or loading.

Chat, attacks, jumping, eating, building, inventory management, the map and other menus do not count. They are either invisible to a dedicated server or would need invasive hooks that hurt compatibility with other mods.

Announcements

When a player becomes AFK or returns, everyone is told once, through two independent channels:

Use both, only one, or neither. AnnounceAfk / AnnounceReturn switch the two kinds of announcement on or off. Nothing is announced on login, logout, death or respawn.

Valheim shows every chat message also as a short floating text in the world; AFKManager places it above the player the message is about. The sender "AFKManager" is not a player, and no real player is impersonated.

Sleep handling (optional)

With ExcludeAfkFromSleep = true, AFK players who are not in bed are ignored by the "is everybody sleeping?" check. At least one player must actually be in bed, and players who are not AFK still have to go to bed as usual. If nobody is in bed, the night is never skipped.

This is a single small Harmony Postfix on the server's Game.EverybodyIsTryingToSleep() that can only turn a "no" into a "yes". It coexists with other mods that hook the same method; it has no effect if another mod replaces the whole vanilla sleep loop. It can be switched off without affecting AFK detection.

AFK-aware raids (optional)

With ExcludeAfkFromRandomRaids = true, a new random raid does not start in an area where every player is AFK.

• The area is the raid's own vanilla radius around the player the game would have picked. If at least one active player is inside it, the raid is allowed as usual, so an AFK character can never shield active players.
• If every player who could be targeted is AFK, no random raid starts.
• A raid that has already started is never cancelled when somebody goes AFK. Standing still does not make a raid go away.
• Boss events, scripted events and events started by an admin or another mod by name (for example the event command) are not affected.
• Completely server-side: one small Harmony Postfix on the server's RandEventSystem.GetValidEventPoints, the place where vanilla collects the possible raid targets. It does nothing except when the game evaluates a random event.

Blocked raids are not announced (only logged with DebugLogging = true). A mod that replaces vanilla's random-event selection with its own system may not be affected by this setting.

Configuration

BepInEx/config/torokal.afkmanager.cfg:

[General]
Enabled = true
AfkAfterMinutes = 10
CheckIntervalSeconds = 5

[Detection]
MovementThresholdMeters = 0.5
LookThresholdDegrees = 10

[Announcements]
AnnounceAfk = true
AnnounceReturn = true
AnnounceInChat = true
AnnounceNotification = true
AfkMessage = {player} is now AFK.
ReturnMessage = {player} is no longer AFK.

[Gameplay]
ExcludeAfkFromSleep = true

[Raids]
ExcludeAfkFromRandomRaids = true

[Logging]
DebugLogging = false

Compatibility

Other game versions and mod combinations may work but are not tested. For other server-side mods, AFKManager.AFKManagerPlugin.IsAfk(long peerUid) returns whether a connected session is currently AFK.

Known limitations

• A helmsman steering only with A/D for the whole timeout, without moving the camera or doing anything else from the activity table, can eventually be marked AFK. Any camera movement resets the timer.
• A player who only chats, fights without moving or turning, or manages their inventory for the whole timeout can be marked AFK, because a dedicated server cannot see those actions.

Building

Game and BepInEx assemblies are referenced from your local installation and are never part of this repository.

# Without the .NET SDK (Windows, uses the .NET Framework compiler that ships with Windows)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File build.ps1 -Managed "<server>\valheim_server_Data\Managed" -BepInExCore "<server>\BepInEx\core"

# With the .NET SDK (releases are built with build.ps1; this path is provided for convenience):
# copy LocalPaths.props.example to LocalPaths.props, set the two paths, then
dotnet build -c Release

# Thunderstore package (after building): writes dist\AFKManager-<version>.zip
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File packaging\build-package.ps1

How detection works is described in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

License

MIT

Changelog

All notable changes to AFKManager are documented here. The project follows Semantic Versioning.

0.3.1

• Rewritten description: what AFKManager does comes first, the technical details follow. Added a short trailer. No functional changes (the plugin DLL is the same as in 0.3.0).

0.3.0

• New: manual AFK. A player can mark themselves AFK at once by typing an emote in the chat window ([Manual AFK] ManualAfkEmote, default /rest). It only ever affects the player who typed it, repeating it does nothing, and any normal activity returns them to active. Sleeping in a bed cannot trigger it.
• Verified on a crossplay (-crossplay / PlayFab) dedicated server: detection, manual AFK, chat announcements and notifications all work there. PC Game Pass / Microsoft Store and console players never install anything, but their server must be started with -crossplay; see the README.
• No new Harmony patches, and no change to the existing detection, announcement, sleep or raid behaviour.

0.2.1

• Package description now mentions AFK-aware raid protection. No functional changes.

0.2.0

• New: AFK-aware random raids ([Raids] ExcludeAfkFromRandomRaids, default on). A new vanilla random raid does not start in an area where every player is AFK. An active player in the area still allows the raid, running raids are never cancelled, and boss, scripted and admin-started events are not affected. Server-side only.

0.1.0

Initial release.

• Server-side AFK detection for Valheim dedicated servers. Vanilla clients install nothing.
• Configurable AFK timeout (default 10 minutes).
• Activity signals: movement (relative to the ship while aboard), look direction, emotes, equipment changes, crafting-station open/close, getting into bed.
• Neutral events: login, death, respawn, boarding or leaving a ship, getting out of bed. The AFK timer is paused while a player is dead or loading.
• AFK / return announcements in the normal chat window (sender "AFKManager") and in the top-left message feed. Each channel can be switched off; message texts are configurable.
• Optional AFK-aware sleep: AFK players who are not in bed no longer block the night skip.
• AFKManagerPlugin.IsAfk(long peerUid) for other server-side mods.
• Tested on Valheim 1.0.15 (network version 40) with BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350.