⚓ Njord — Master of the Sea

[!WARNING] CRITICAL CONFIGURATION UPDATE (v1.3.0) Njord v1.3.0 introduces a massive overhaul to default ship physics (acceleration, forces, sails) and entirely changes how the wind blending mechanics operate. You MUST delete your existing wubarrk.njord.cfg file and let it regenerate to experience these new balanced defaults! Check the Changelog for full details on what has changed!

A mythic overhaul of Valheim’s ship handling, steering, acceleration, and sea-faring experience. Njord makes boats feel powerful, responsive, and alive — without breaking Valheim’s soul.

🌊 Core Features

⚡ Responsive Steering

• Smooth, modernized helm control.
• Adjustable steering multiplier so your longship finally answers the helm.
• Steering gate prevents jitter on helm acquisition.

💨 Acceleration, Sail Forces & Max Speeds

• Completely overhauled default physics to provide a smoother, more realistic sailing curve.
• Configurable forward/reverse forces.
• Configurable Base/Half/Full sail behavior.
• Optional reverse-kick for tight maneuvering out of rocky harbors.
• Per-boat max speed configuration (Njord vs Vanilla).
• Full native support and config generation for OdinShip prefabs.

🌬️ Dynamic Wind Systems

• Instant Snap HUD: When grabbing the rudder, the Njord HUD instantly displays the true natural wind angle.
• **Toggle Full Wind Always On/Off
• [EXPERIMENTAL] Wind Assists: Advanced mechanics like Wind_NoDeadZone (nudge out of dead zones) and Wind_BlendToFull (blend toward tailwinds) can be opted-into via config to give you a mythic edge against the sea.
• Grace Period Mechanics: Natural winds are punishing. When the wind shifts against you, Njord enforces a realistic grace period (default 2.5s). You will feel the dead zone before any magical assists kick in to save you.

🧭 Njord HUD

• Clean, minimal, mythic HUD.
• Fully multiplayer-safe.
• Shows steering, speed, waterline, hull integrity, wind blend, and readiness.
• Drag to reposition freely on your screen.
• Toggle visibility instantly with F7.

⭐ Runic Wake VFX

• Optional glowing wake effect behind ships.
• Color-tinted based on your configuration.
• Scales with speed and sail state.
• Fully multiplayer-safe with zero performance impact on servers.

⚙️ Configuration

All major systems are configurable via BepInEx (wubarrk.njord.cfg):

• SteeringMultiplier
• AccelerationMultiplier
• BaseForwardForce / BaseReverseForce
• SailForwardForce / HalfSailForce / FullSailForce
• ReverseKick
• Wind System Toggles, Blend Rates, and Grace Periods
• MaxSpeed_Njord / MaxSpeed_Vanilla per ship type (including OdinShips)
• VFX_Enable & VFX_Color
• HUD position & toggle

🔄 Runtime Reload

Press F8 in-game to reload the config from disk without restarting Valheim!

• If triggered by a server admin, the server will instantly re-broadcast the updated physics values to all connected clients!

🛠️ Installation

1. Install BepInExPack for Valheim.
2. Drop the Njord folder into your BepInEx/plugins/ directory.
3. Launch the game.
4. Edit the generated BepInEx/config/wubarrk.njord.cfg as desired.
5. Press F8 to reload settings on the fly.

🤝 Compatibility

• Works flawlessly in singleplayer and multiplayer.
• Fully server-authoritative config sync architecture.
• Safe to install or remove mid-playthrough.
• No world changes or corrupted saves.
• Native OdinShip support.

🧪 Known Limitations

• Some MP config changes may require server restart depending on the host setup.
• VFX appearance may vary heavily when using modded water shaders.
• VFX emitters may appear at slightly inaccurate offsets on certain OdinShip prefabs.

🐉 Credits

Wubarrk — Creator, Architect, Myth-Weaver
AI Assistance — For accelerating development and refining complex systems
Njord — God of the Sea, who tolerates your steering
You — For sailing boldly into the storm

❤️ Support

If you enjoy Njord and want to support development:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/WubarrkDev

📜 License

MIT License — free to modify, extend, and sail with.

📜 Njord — Changelog

v1.3.0 — The Wind & Configuration Update

• MAJOR CONFIG OVERHAUL: Completely rebalanced default ship handling physics (acceleration, sails, forces) for a smoother, more realistic feel across all ships.
• Wind System Overhaul: Rebuilt the Njord wind physics system to perfectly blend with Valheim's natural winds. Full Wind Always is now togglable!
• UI Snap Fix: The wind HUD icon now instantly snaps to the correct natural wind angle when you grab the rudder, rather than slowly interpolating from 0.
• Mythic Logs: Improved debug and mythic saga logging consistency.
• Experimental Wind Assists: The Wind_NoDeadZone and Wind_BlendToFull features have been moved to an opt-in [EXPERIMENTAL] status and are disabled by default.
• Grace Period Mechanics: Added a configurable grace period delay (default 2.5s) to the wind assists. Ships will now feel the punishing effects of natural dead zones and crosswinds before the Njord assist systems kick in.

v1.2.2 — The Configuration Polish Update

• Refined default generated configuration values

v1.2.1 — The Authority Fix Update

• Boat control authority tweaks and fixes
• Network sync bug that caused boats to refuse to move is fully resolved!

v1.2.0 — The OdinShip Update

• Initial OdinShip support
• OdinShip prefabs now seamlessly benefit from Njord's advanced physics and custom config generation.

v1.1.0 — The Runic Wake Update

A visual identity update introducing mythic ship‑trail effects and polishing Njord’s presentation on the open sea.

• Runic Wake VFX (New) Optional glowing wake effect behind ships.
  Color‑tinted based on config.
  Scales with speed and sail state.
  Fully multiplayer‑safe.

• VFX Configuration VFX_Enable — toggle the system
  VFX_Color — hex color for the runic glow

• HUD & Visual Polish Improved wake blending with waterline motion.
  Minor HUD clarity adjustments.
  Better visual consistency across ship types.

• Internal Cleanup Removed unused VFX prototype fields.
  Streamlined update loop for lower overhead.
  Minor log cleanup and diagnostics improvements.

v1.0.8 — The Deterministic Sea Update

A foundational stability update focused on multiplayer correctness, identity tracking, and predictable helm behavior.

• ZDOID-Based Ship Identity (New Architecture) Ships now use Valheim’s true network identity system.
  No HUD flicker, no control loss, no prefab collisions.
  Fully stable even with multiple identical ships nearby.

• Multiplayer-Safe Helm Control Each ship tracks its own controller.
  Identical ships no longer overwrite each other.
  Seamless helm switching between players.

• Deterministic Startup & Config Sync Config loads before patches.
  Server broadcasts authoritative values.
  Movement works instantly — no more F8 ritual.

• HUD & Telemetry Improvements Per-player HUD visibility.
  No desync or flicker.
  Clean readiness gating.

• Max Speed System Per-boat Njord/Vanilla max speed configuration.
  Fully synced in multiplayer.

• Internal Stability Deep debug instrumentation.
  Cleaned stale control states.
  No ZDOID pollution or unsafe writes.

v1.0.0 — First Public Release

• Complete overhaul of Valheim ship handling and steering
• Added steering multiplier system
• Added acceleration and reverse force tuning
• Added Half/Full sail force configuration
• Added wind‑blend smoothing system for natural sail transitions (WIP)
• Added Njord HUD with configurable X/Y position
• Added runtime config reload hotkey (F8)
• Added server‑to‑client config sync for multiplayer
• Added optional VFX system (disabled by default) (WIP)
• Added clean plugin bootstrap and Harmony patching
• Added safe runtime config architecture
• Added mythic startup logs and diagnostics

v0.9.x — Internal Development Builds

• Initial steering and acceleration prototypes
• Early HUD layout tests
• First pass at VFX system (control rune, burst, trail)
• Sync and RPC architecture established
• Internal debugging tools and logging