Tameable, Breedable and Ridable Bear

A focused Valheim mod by nick008 that makes the vanilla Bear / Bjorn tameable, breedable and ridable.

Features

• Vanilla Bears can be tamed.
• Tamed Bears can use Valheim's normal Follow / Stay behaviour.
• Tamed Bears can breed and produce bear cubs.
• Bear cubs grow into adults and are protected from the Butcher knife while young.
• Star levels are supported.
• Bears use their own craftable Bear Saddle.
• The Bear Saddle uses the vanilla Lox Saddle model / texture and riding behaviour as its visual and technical base, but it is a separate item made specifically for Bears.
• Mounted Bears can use two of Bjorn's normal attacks.
• A special riding workaround keeps 2-star Bears moving correctly while mounted.
• No Jotunn dependency is required.

Bear Saddle

Starting with 1.2.0, the mod no longer requires the player to unlock the normal Lox Saddle first.

The mod adds a dedicated Bear Saddle. Its appearance is based on Valheim's vanilla Lox Saddle, but it is registered as a separate item for Bears and does not replace the normal Lox Saddle.

The Bear Saddle recipe unlocks after the player has discovered all three required materials:

• Bronze Nails
• Bear Hide
• Fine Wood

These materials are obtainable during Meadows / Black Forest progression, so Bear riding can be accessed much earlier than the normal Plains Lox Saddle progression.

Bear Saddle recipe

Craft at a Workbench:

• 20x Bronze Nails
• 5x Bear Hide
• 10x Fine Wood

Controls while riding

• Mount: Left Alt + E
• Move / steer: normal Valheim movement controls
• Attack 1: Left Mouse Button
• Attack 2: Middle Mouse Button / press the mouse wheel

Normal E remains available for the usual pet / Follow-Stay interaction.

Food

Bears can eat:

• Blueberries
• Honey
• Raw Meat
• Deer Meat

Default timings

• Taming: 60 seconds
• Fed duration: 5 minutes
• Bear cub growth: 60 seconds
• Pregnancy duration: 90 seconds
• Pregnancy chance: 66%
• Nearby bear breeding limit: 5

Riding notes / known visual limitation

The Bear riding setup is adapted from Valheim's vanilla Lox saddle/riding system. Because Bjorn was not originally designed as a mount, riding can look a little rough: the player and saddle may sway or move from side to side while the Bear is moving. When the Bear stops, they settle back into place. This is a visual issue only and does not affect riding functionality.

Valheim scales a 2-star Bear to approximately 1.50x size. At that scale the mounted Bear can become stuck in place while its running animation continues. This mod therefore temporarily caps a mounted 2-star Bear to a known-working 1.25x riding scale. Its original size is restored automatically after dismounting.

Installation

Install with a Thunderstore-compatible mod manager, or manually copy:

plugins/nick008-tameable_and_breadable_and_ridable_bear.dll

into your:

BepInEx/plugins/nick008-tameable_and_breadable_and_ridable_bear/

folder.

Requirements

• BepInExPack Valheim
• Valheim with the vanilla Bear / Bjorn creature
• No vanilla Lox Saddle unlock is required from version 1.2.0 onward; craft the dedicated Bear Saddle instead.

Changelog

1.2.1

• Fixed leftover development/test values that accidentally remained in the 1.2.0 release.
• Bear taming time changed from 60 seconds to the intended gameplay value of 25 minutes.
• Bear cub growth time changed from 60 seconds to the intended gameplay value of 33 minutes 20 seconds.
• Bear Saddle, breeding, riding, mounted attacks, rider/saddle positioning and the 2-star riding fix are unchanged.

1.2.0

• Added a dedicated craftable Bear Saddle.
• Bear Saddle is a separate Bear-only item, while reusing the vanilla Lox Saddle model / texture and riding behaviour as its base.
• Bear riding no longer requires unlocking the normal Lox Saddle in Plains progression.
• Bear Saddle recipe unlocks after discovering Bronze Nails, Bear Hide and Fine Wood.
• Bear Saddle recipe: 20 Bronze Nails + 5 Bear Hide + 10 Fine Wood at a Workbench.
• The required materials are available during Meadows / Black Forest progression.
• Existing taming, breeding, mounted attacks, saddle positioning and the 2-star riding-scale fix remain unchanged.

1.1.5

• Documentation-only patch; gameplay code is unchanged from 1.1.4.
• Added a clear note that Bear riding requires the vanilla Lox Saddle to be unlocked.
• Clarified that the mod reuses Valheim's Lox Saddle instead of adding a custom Bear saddle.

1.1.4

• First Thunderstore release of the complete Bear mod.
• Bears are tameable and breedable.
• Added persistent bear cubs and cub growth.
• Added riding with the vanilla Lox saddle visual/system.
• Added Left Alt + E mounting so normal E can remain Follow / Stay.
• Added two mounted Bear attacks: left mouse and middle mouse button.
• Finalized rider and saddle positioning.
• Fixed the 2-star / level-3 Bear "running in place" issue by temporarily using a safe mounted scale and restoring the original scale after dismounting.
• Documented the remaining visual saddle/rider sway during movement.