
Core Gyro
Centered pilot cockpit, standing mast-grip passenger and a Surtling Core searchlight aimed forward/down at 45 degrees. 22 m/s, 55-degree bank, fast rudder, hover, held brake, cargo, parking and multiplayer.Core Gyro 0.1.10
A two-person, Surtling-core-assisted gyrocopter for Valheim: one centered pilot seat, one standing mast-grip passenger, a cargo chest and a single forward/down 45-degree exploration light. Built from Valheim timber, copper, leather and cart parts, with positional engine/rotor audio and a flight HUD.
Changes in 0.1.10
- Aim the central under-deck Core survey light forward and down at 45 degrees below the horizon, instead of straight down.
- Follow the gyro's heading while keeping the 45-degree depression angle stable through pitch and bank, so H illuminates terrain ahead during exploration.
- Preserve H, engine power requirement, light brightness/range/cone and replicated light state.
- Keep the centered pilot/stick/dashboard, standing mast passenger, recipe, speed, flight controls, Hover, parking, timber infill, cargo and other behavior from 0.1.9.
Install or update
Close Valheim before replacing the mod. In Thunderstore Mod Manager, select your Valheim profile, install BepInExPack_Valheim by denikson and Jotunn by ValheimModding, then use Settings > Profile > Import local mod and select the whole CoreGyro-0.1.10.zip. Do not extract the ZIP for this option. If asked, use package name Core_Gyro and version 0.1.10. Replace the previous local Core Gyro import and keep only one CoreGyro.dll in the profile. Start with Modded.
For an already published release, use Download/Update in Get mods after the uploading team has published this version. Import profile / From file is for .r2z profiles and is a different feature.
Manual installation: copy BepInEx/plugins/CoreGyro/CoreGyro.dll to the same relative folder in the modded game/server. Dependencies are installed separately.
Every player and the server must use the same Core Gyro version. With in-game Start Server, the host's modded game is the server. Dedicated servers also require the mod and dependencies.
Build
Use the normal Hammer > Crafting > Core Gyro, near a Workbench. Discover the materials to unlock the recipe. Place on clear, level ground or water with room for the rotor.
| Material | Amount |
|---|---|
| Core Wood | 20 |
| Copper | 15 |
| Bronze Nails | 20 |
| Deer Hide | 10 |
| Surtling Core | 5 |
This replaces the old one-of-each testing recipe. No Crystal and no consumed fuel. One centered pilot seat, one standing passenger position and an eight-slot cargo chest remain; cargo weight increases vehicle mass.
Controls
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| E on pilot chair / mast / cargo, on foot | Sit as pilot / grab mast as passenger / open cargo |
| Left Shift, held | Start engine and raise stored throttle toward 100% |
| Left Ctrl, held | Lower stored throttle toward 0%; engine switches off at zero |
| S / W | Nose up / nose down in cruise; selected pitch holds after release |
| A / D | Helicopter-style banked left / right turn in cruise, target up to 55 degrees |
| Q / E | Faster rudder left / right, up to 60 deg/s in flight, without commanded bank |
| H | Toggle the forward/down 45-degree survey light while the engine runs |
| R, held | Reverse on land or water, up to 5 km/h at full throttle |
| V | Switch Hover / Cruise; engaging Hover requires engine on and at least 50% throttle |
| Space / C | Rise / descend vertically in Hover, default 5 m/s; release to hold height |
| Right mouse button, held | Horizontal brake; release to let propulsion resume from stored throttle |
| E, held 1.5 seconds while parked, engine off | Leave the crew position; applies to pilot and passenger |
| Mouse / wheel | Normal look / seated camera zoom |
E has two contexts: while driving it is right rudder. To leave, land or float on the surface, brake below 1 m/s, reduce throttle to zero to switch the engine off, then hold E for 1.5 seconds. There is no timed airborne E bailout, so a long rudder turn cannot eject the pilot. Release the boarding E press before using it again. Space remains Hover ascent and C remains descent.
Release the boarding key after sitting before steering. The mast passenger cannot issue flight commands. Native use, weapon-block, autorun, walk-toggle and pickup-toggle actions are suppressed while seated, with one frame of exit grace; ordinary on-foot input resumes afterward. F is no longer the exit binding.
Throttle and flight
The 0.1.5 throttle scheme is retained. Shift adds 30 percentage points per second; Ctrl removes 40 by default. Release both to keep the selected throttle. Ctrl takes priority if both are held. Ctrl changes throttle, not a separate altitude target.
Maximum horizontal powered speed is 22 m/s (79.2 km/h). The HUD still displays km/h. Powered speed scales with stored throttle and changes gradually. R requests reverse only on a surface, with braking through zero before direction changes.
Hold the right mouse button to brake horizontal motion, including surface reverse and lateral drift. This is a held input, not a toggle: button transitions send a fresh command immediately, subject to network delivery. Cruise propulsion is suspended while the brake is held; stored throttle, pitch and vertical lift are retained. Releasing resumes propulsion gradually from that stored throttle. The brake does not stop a gravity-driven fall or replace Hover altitude hold. In Hover it brakes without pulling back to an older horizontal hold point, while vertical controls/hold remain active. AirbrakeDeceleration defaults to 8 m/s squared. The HUD shows BRAKE HELD.
Banked turns and rudder
A/D targets up to 55 degrees of roll in airborne cruise, scaled down at low forward speed. The physics controller builds the roll rather than snapping the body; actual bank adds bounded inward acceleration and changes the heading into the curve. Release A/D to return toward level. This is helicopter-inspired assisted steering, not a full helicopter aerodynamic simulation.
Q/E remains a separate rudder input, now 60 deg/s in flight (surface steering uses 55% of that rate). It can counteract or reinforce the heading change without changing the requested bank angle. Combined heading rate is bounded. In Hover the airframe remains level, with Q/E rotation and the existing A/D heading input.
R is held reverse, not engine start. Use it in Cruise on land or while floating, with the engine running. First slow with RMB or Ctrl, then hold R; the motor brakes through zero before moving backward. Reverse speed follows throttle, up to 5 km/h. Release R to resume forward propulsion. R does not request airborne reverse and is inactive in Hover.
Rotors take about 1.2 seconds to spin up. In cruise, level pitch at about 50% throttle commands a neutral vertical target; higher power adds climb and lower power adds sink. S/W adjust the persistent pitch angle at 25 degrees/second, limited to 35 degrees in flight and 8 near the surface. Nose angle and actual forward speed also affect climb/descent.
At 0% the engine stops, the survey light goes off and Hover disengages. No powered thrust or gravity-cancelling lift remains: momentum persists, drag slows the craft and gravity makes it fall. Restart with Shift and allow spin-up. Lost pilot input ramps throttle down. Water buoyancy remains active with the engine off.
Vertical flight and Hover
- Start the engine, reach at least 50% throttle and let the rotor spin up.
- Press V. The gyro brakes first and captures the stopping position.
- Space rises vertically; C descends vertically, targeting 5 m/s by default. Release to capture and hold the current height.
- Q/E yaw without banking. Hover levels the airframe, so cruise W/S pitch and surface reverse are inactive. A/D still contribute heading input while Hover keeps the craft level.
- Press V again to return to cruise; retained throttle resumes forward propulsion gradually.
Hover applies bounded physics forces to correct position, velocity and height. It does not teleport or rigidly lock the body. Obstacles, waves, loading and network conditions can affect the hold. Below 50% throttle, an already active Hover sinks and the HUD shows LOW POWER; raise power again to regain height hold. At zero, all powered Hover forces stop. Surface contact prevents downward Hover force from pushing the craft through land/water.
The new HoverVerticalSpeedV2 setting defaults to 5 m/s so an old 2.5 m/s setting will not mask the update. The actual speed accelerates toward the target rather than changing instantly.
Centered cockpit and standing passenger
Aim at the centered pilot chair and press E to sit and fly. The control stick, base, seat pads, dashboard and gauges are aligned with the new centerline. The passenger chair and its pads have been removed.
Aim at the mast/holdfast and press E to Hold mast. The passenger is attached to the vehicle using Valheim's existing attach_mast animation; it is not free walking on the moving deck. The native stance's sideways/forward offset is reused and rotated to the left of the mast, leaving the cargo chest on the right accessible. The mast has a leather grip and copper collars. There are still two crew reservations, with normal occupancy checks and only the pilot authorized to fly.
The existing E-hold dismount rule applies to both crew: land/float, stop below 1 m/s, engine off, hold E 1.5 seconds. Exit offsets lead out to the appropriate side rather than through the center cockpit. The wider orbit camera and HUD also work for the standing passenger. The exact hand contact, character proportions and two-client animation still need a live game check.
Forward/down 45-degree Core survey light
Both front-facing lamps and bezels are removed. A single native Surtling Core sits in a copper yoke and protective ring below the middle of the deck, above the wheel-bottom clearance. Its emitter sits beneath the mount so the deck does not cover the forward/down beam.
Press H with the engine running to toggle a warm spotlight angled 45 degrees forward and down. Its direction follows the craft's heading, while the depression angle stays 45 degrees below the horizon through pitch/bank. At level ground, the center of the beam lands approximately one emitter-height ahead, subject to terrain and the configured range. The light uses a 70-degree outer / 45-degree inner cone, 60m configured range and intensity 12. Effective visibility depends on height, ambient light and game lighting settings; this range is not a promise of equal brightness at every distance. The normal rear engine core remains.
Light state uses the existing owner-authorized H action and replicated light flag. Each graphical client creates one real-time per-pixel spotlight; headless servers create no rendering light. Zero throttle/engine shutdown switches it off. The legacy local config entry Headlights=H is retained for compatibility and now controls the survey light.
Automatic ground parking
The craft has a 600 kg base mass; cargo adds mass as before. On static solid ground, when at least two wheels have nearby support, the engine is off and motion has settled for 0.75 seconds, parking chocks lock the rigidbody against incidental pushing. The HUD shows PARKED. Walking into the parked gyro does not launch it away.
Starting the engine with Shift releases parking immediately. Water, Hover, missing support, and moving platforms cannot retain the static-ground lock. Support is checked every owner tick, even while parked, so removing the supporting floor releases it. It does not freeze a powered or falling aircraft in midair and does not lock a floating craft to the water. Water buoyancy remains independent of the engine. Combat damage and destruction still work while parked.
Camera and HUD
The wider camera retained from 0.1.6 focuses on the whole gyro, starts approximately 8 m away and supports wheel zoom from 5-20 m. Mouse look remains normal. Camera collision ignores this gyro's own colliders and characters, checks world obstacles and handles water clipping. Nearby walls may bring the camera closer. On-foot zoom is restored on exit. This override applies only to the local seated gyro crew.
The attached pilot/passenger HUD shows PARKED / SURFACE REVERSE / BRAKE HELD status alongside throttle, horizontal speed in km/h, height above the nearest detected solid/water surface, signed pitch, hull condition, engine readiness and Hover/Cruise state. Menu, inventory and console hide the panel. Values are read from the network owner; the HUD does not capture mouse input.
Durability and water
Colliding with trees, logs, rocks, terrain, buildings, players or creatures causes no collision self-damage. Colliders still block and deflect the vehicle. The gyro does not damage trees by ramming them.
Weapon/projectile combat remains enabled through Valheim's native damage path: PlayerHit, EnemyHit, Turret and Catapult, plus Undefined hits carrying an attacker for mod-weapon compatibility. Generic impact/environment categories are ignored for this gyro only; unrelated structures are unaffected. Combat can still destroy it at zero hull. Repair with the ordinary hammer. Third-party damage without a recognized combat category or attacker may be ignored.
The retired tree collision component is no longer compiled or attached. The structural support destruction fix remains enabled: this dynamic vehicle does not use building support wear. Four-point buoyancy samples native water surfaces independently of engine power, enabling water landings, floating, surface reverse and takeoff.
Multiplayer and configuration
Only the current network owner applies physics. Pilot commands validate peer ownership, seat identity, distance, finite bounded axes and sequence order. Passengers cannot pilot. Seat reservations, ward checks, occupied-removal protection, disconnect cleanup and input timeout remain. Vehicle/cargo state persists through native network data and inventory storage.
Configuration: BepInEx/config/arioh.valheim.coregyro.cfg. Flight tuning synchronizes through Jotunn as admin-only settings. Keyboard bindings remain local. Restored Left=A and Right=D reuse the 0.1.5 entries. New ExitSeatHoldV2=E selects the contextual held dismount key; old Dismount and ExitSeat entries are ignored. New RudderLeft=Q and RudderRight=E are independent. The 0.1.6 YawLeft, YawRight and ExitSeat entries are ignored. Hover retains HoverMode=V, VerticalUp=Space and VerticalDown=C. Camera distance is under [Camera] SeatedDistance.
New MaximumBankAngleV2=55 and RudderTurnRateV2=60 avoid older 20-degree bank / 35 deg/s turn values masking the new steering. TurnRate still controls surface/level A/D heading input.
New MaximumSpeedMpsV3 defaults to 22 m/s, replacing both old km/h keys so an existing 72 km/h setting cannot override the update. ThrottleIncreasePerSecond, ThrottleDecreasePerSecond, PitchRate, MaximumPitchAngle, PoweredClimbLimit and PoweredSinkLimit retain their meaning. Old pre-throttle LiftSpeed/ClimbRate/DescentRate/MaximumSpeed/Engine settings are obsolete. All peers must update together because the validated input packet now carries a separate rudder axis and validated reverse/brake flags.
Publishing the update
Upload this complete ZIP to Thunderstore's Valheim community using the same team and package name Core_Gyro. Version is 0.1.10. Do not rename the package or change teams to update the existing listing. Editing CHANGELOG.md alone does not release new code; the new manifest version and DLL must be uploaded together. Earlier versions stay in the listing's history. This same ZIP works for local app import; no second archive is needed.
Validation and assets
Compiled against installed Valheim 1.0.20 / Unity 6000.0.75, BepInEx 5.4.23.5 and Jotunn 2.30.2. Release build, installed-game API checks, control/damage/camera audits, numerical flight/Hover checks and package integrity checks pass. Live verification of this revision's centered cockpit, mast-grip hand placement/animation, survey beam brightness, physics, water, save/reload and two-PC multiplayer remains outstanding.
Meshes and materials are referenced from the installed game at runtime. No game DLLs, extracted models, textures or native audio are redistributed. The engine loop is generated by the mod. The timber infill, centered cockpit and mast grip use installed game meshes/materials. The standing pose comes from the native raft mast attachment. The survey light references the installed Surtling Core mesh. No new external asset bundle is required.