Trav's Valheim Server NPCs and Marketplace Mod

Server-run NPCs for Valheim 1.0, configured in YAML on the server and pushed to every player live. No restarts.

Plus dialogue trees on any NPC, factions with bonuses and rules, and territories (map zones with their own rules).

Twenty ready-made characters ship with it: the village of Greywater Hold, survivors of the longship Skarn, each with a backstory, a conversation and ties to the others. Place them as they are, change their looks and lines in the in-game editor, or write your own.

Install it on the server and every client. Depends on BepInExPack, Jötunn and YamlDotNet (mod managers pull them in).

Status: early release. It loads cleanly alongside large modpacks, but it is young; please report anything odd with the in-game Feedback NPC or on the issue tracker, and keep backups of BepInEx/config/TravsServerNPCs/data/.

Quick start for admins

1. Start the server once. It writes examples to BepInEx/config/TravsServerNPCs/.
2. In game, open the console (F5) and type tsn hammer. Equip the NPC Hammer and place a Server NPC like any build piece. Twenty characters of Greywater Hold come ready to place, each with a backstory and a conversation: market, blacksmith, banker, ferryman, elder and quartermaster (quest givers), hunter, farmer, armorer, alchemist, gambler, seer, innkeeper, herald, scribe, champion, tailor, chronicler, guard and bard.
3. The editor opens: pick a profile (e.g. market, blacksmith, elder), change the look, press Apply.
4. Edit the YAML files any time; saves reach every player within seconds. A file with a mistake is skipped and its last working version stays live; tsn reload shows the error.

Config folder

NPC profile

id: blacksmith
name: Brokk the Smith
role: trader                # see the table above
model: Player               # Haldor, Hildir, BogWitch, Player, PlayerFemale, or any creature prefab (Troll, Lox ...)
greeting: Steel for coin, friend.
look:                       # gear, hair and colours only apply to Player / PlayerFemale
  helmet: HelmetBronze
  chest: ArmorBronzeChest
  legs: ArmorBronzeLegs
  rightHand: Hammer
  hair: Hair3
  beard: Beard5
  hairColor: '#4a2a12'
  skinColor: '#d8b49a'
  scale: 1.05               # 0.5 - 3, any model
behaviour:
  goodbye: Come back soon.
  greetRange: 5
  greetAnimation: emote_wave
  goodbyeAnimation: emote_wave
  interactAnimation: emote_thumbsup
  idleAnimation: emote_sit
  idleEverySeconds: 90
  interactSound: sfx_haldor_laugh
  craftingPose: 2           # 0-3 for Player models, -1 = none
  mapPin: discovered        # none | discovered | always
  patrol:
    speed: 1.5
    pauseSeconds: 4
    points: [ { x: 10, y: 30, z: 10 }, { x: 20, y: 30, z: 10 } ]
stock:                      # trader
  - { item: Iron, amount: 5, sell: 250, buy: 100, stock: 50, restockHours: 24, requires: defeated_bonemass, dailyLimit: 0 }
destinations:               # teleporter
  - { name: Spawn, x: 0, y: 40, z: 0, cost: 10, requires: '', cooldownSeconds: 0, allowAllItems: false }
buffs:                      # buffer
  - { buff: swift_feet, price: 30, seconds: 900 }
gambler:                    # gambler
  price: 50
  dailyLimit: 10
  loot: [ { item: Coins, amount: 100, weight: 20 }, { item: SwordIron, quality: 2, weight: 5 } ]
pages: [ rules, guide ]     # info

Each placed NPC can override its profile's name, look and behaviour in the in-game editor (Shift+E). Save preset writes the whole NPC back as a new profile file.

Dialogue

dialogue:
  start: hello
  nodes:
    hello:
      text: Welcome, traveller.
      choices:
        - text: Any work?
          requires: { questNotDone: firewood, questNotActive: firewood }
          actions: [ { startQuest: firewood } ]
          next: thanks
        - text: Show me your wares.
          action: openShop
        - text: Farewell.

Conditions: questActive, questNotActive, questDone, questNotDone, hasKey, notHasKey, inFaction, notInFaction, hasAnyFaction, notHasAnyFaction, hasItem: { item, amount }, skillAtLeast: { skill, level }.

Actions (also used by quest events): giveItem: { item, amount, quality }, takeItem, giveCoins, takeCoins, bankCoins, heal, buff: { name, seconds }, removeBuff, skillXp: { skill, amount }, teleport: { x, y, z }, message, startQuest, completeQuest, abandonQuest, unlockQuest, setKey, removeKey, joinFaction, leaveFaction, leaveAllFactions, openShop.

Quest

id: greydwarf_cull
name: Greydwarf Cull
description: Thin out the greydwarves.
giver: elder                # profile id; empty = only started by dialogue
turnIn: ''                  # profile id; empty = the giver
repeat: daily               # once | daily | weekly | cooldown (cooldownHours)
timeLimitHours: 24          # 0 = none
hidden: false               # true = needs unlockQuests from another quest
requiresQuests: [ ]
requiresKey: ''
steps:
  - { type: kill, target: Greydwarf, amount: 5, minLevel: 1 }
  - { type: gather, target: Wood, amount: 20 }          # taken at hand-in
  - { type: craft, target: SwordIron, amount: 1 }
  - { type: build, target: smelter, amount: 1 }
  - { type: explore, x: 100, z: -200, radius: 15 }
  - { type: talk, npc: banker }
rewards:
  coins: 120
  coinsToBank: false
  items: [ { item: Coal, amount: 10 } ]
  skill: Swords
  skillXp: 2
  buff: swift_feet
  buffSeconds: 600
  unlockQuests: [ ]
events:
  onAccept: [ { message: Good hunting. } ]
  onComplete: [ { heal: 100 } ]
  onTimeout: [ { message: Too slow. } ]
  onCancel: [ ]
  onDeath: [ ]

Players open the journal with J (quests.journalKey). Up to quests.maxActive quests at once.

No YAML needed: admins type tsn quests (or press Quest Designer on a quest NPC) to create and edit quests in game: name, giver, repeat, time limit, steps (with a Here button for explore spots), rewards and messages. Saving writes the file on the server and the quest is live immediately. quests/HOW-TO-MAKE-QUESTS.txt lists every field for hand editing.

Boss Writs

A chronicler NPC shows the world's boss history and sells writs. Buying the writ for a boss writes that boss's character key (defeated_eikthyr ...) onto the buyer's character, so per-player boss locks such as You Are Not Worthy treat the boss as beaten. Rules in settings.yml under writs:: price and optional item cost per boss, daysAfterFirstKill (default 3; the world must have beaten the boss first), and requireOrder (hold the previous boss first). The server never sells a key the buyer already holds; with You Are Not Worthy installed it asks that mod and refuses when it can't answer. The grant is confirmed by the buyer's game and refunded automatically if it isn't. Admins: tsn writ grant <player> <key>, everyone: tsn ledger.

Factions, territories, buffs

See the example files the server writes: factions.yml (skill bonuses, permanent buff, member-only items/pieces/recipes, blocked pickups, neutral and allied monsters, friendly fire), territories.yml (circle or rectangle; no-PvP / forced-PvP, no-build, no-spawn, keep inventory and no skill loss on death, damage / drop / skill-gain multipliers, enter and exit messages, map pin), buffs.yml (speed, carry weight, regen, run stamina, jump stamina, health per second, skill bonus).

Console commands (F5)

Admins (Valheim's adminlist.txt):

Everyone: tsn top [category] (leaderboard), tsn ledger (boss chronicle), tsn pos (your coordinates).

Coming from KG's Marketplace And Server NPCs

Run tsn import on the server host (or pass the path to KG's Marketplace folder). It writes kg_-prefixed files into our folders without overwriting anything and prints what it couldn't carry over (also saved to data/import-report.txt). Traders, teleporters, bankers, buffers, gamblers, quests, info pages, territories, factions and dialogue nodes are covered; barter trades, unsupported buff modifiers, some zone flags and dialogue commands are reported for a manual pass.

How it works

The server owns every value worth money. Clients send requests; the server checks them against its config and save data, then replies with items to hand over. Each client removes the item it offers and sends it, and the server returns it if the request is refused. Every request carries a unique id, so a retry can't run a purchase twice. Save data is written atomically every 5 minutes with 5 rotating backups.

Building

Needs the .NET SDK (9.x works), Valheim, and an r2modman profile with Jötunn and YamlDotNet installed.

dotnet build -c Release

Paths default to E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Valheim and the r2modman profile "Travs 1.0 Modpack"; override with -p:ValheimDir=... and -p:R2Profile=.... Each build copies the DLL into the profile; turn that off with -p:DeployToProfile=false. pack.ps1 builds the Thunderstore zip into dist/.

Credits

Inspired by KG's Marketplace And Server NPCs Revamped, now deprecated. This mod shares no code or assets with it; NPC bodies reuse Valheim's own characters. MIT licence.