Valheim VoiceChat

Proximity voice chat for Valheim, in the spirit of Simple Voice Chat for Minecraft.

Voice travels directly between players over Steam's own peer-to-peer networking. It works the same way whether you are hosting the world yourself or playing on a dedicated server.

Features

• 3D positional audio - voices come from where the player actually is and fade with distance.
• Three transmit modes - push-to-talk, voice activation (with a live level meter to set the threshold) or open mic.
• In-game options window (F9) in the native Valheim style: microphone selection, mic gain, transmit mode, key bindings, and a list of nearby players.
• Per-player volume and mute, remembered between sessions.
• Self-mute (F10) and deafen (F11) hotkeys.
• Mic indicator on the HUD, and a speaker icon above players who are talking (both can be hidden).
• Cave/dungeon reverb - incoming voices sound reverberant while you are inside a dungeon, crypt or cave (optional).
• Loopback test - hear your own microphone through the full pipeline to check your setup without needing a second player.
• Host-controlled voice range - the hearing distance is synced from the host to everyone.
• Opus codec (48 kHz), with basic packet-loss concealment.

Installation

With a mod manager (recommended): install with r2modman or the Thunderstore Mod Manager - dependencies are installed automatically.

Manually:

1. Install BepInExPack Valheim and Jotunn.
2. Extract this package into Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ValheimVoiceChat/.

Every player who wants to talk or listen needs the mod. Players without it can still play normally on the same server, they just won't hear or be heard.

Usage

Key	Action
Left Alt (hold)	Push-to-talk
F9	Open/close the voice chat options window
F10	Mute / unmute your microphone
F11	Deafen / undeafen (mute all incoming voice)

All keys can be rebound in the F9 window. Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock cannot be used.

First time setup: press F9, pick your microphone, turn on Loopback test and speak - you should hear yourself. Adjust the mic gain, then turn the loopback test off again.

Configuration

Everything below can be changed in-game through the F9 window, or in BepInEx/config/borty.valheim.proximityvoice.cfg.

[Audio]

Setting	Default	Description
Bitrate	24000	Opus encoder bitrate in bits/second.
TransmitMode	PushToTalk	PushToTalk, VoiceActivation or OpenMic.
VoiceActivationThresholdDb	-50	Mic level (dB) above which voice activation starts transmitting.
VoiceActivationHoldSeconds	0.3	How long to keep transmitting after the level drops below the threshold.
MicGain	1.0	Multiplier applied to your microphone.
MicDeviceIndex	0	Recording device to use - easier to pick by name in the F9 window.
ShowMicIndicator	true	Show the mic status icon on the HUD.
ShowSpeakingIndicator	true	Show a speaker icon above players who are talking.
CaveVoiceEffect	true	Reverb on incoming voice while you are inside a dungeon/cave.
LoopbackTest	false	Play your own microphone back to yourself for testing.

[Server] (synced from the host)

Setting	Default	Description
ProximityMinDistance	2	Distance (meters) within which voice is at full volume.
ProximityMaxDistance	25	Distance (meters) beyond which voice is inaudible.

The host's values are applied to every connected player.

[Key Bindings]

Setting	Default
PushToTalkKey	LeftAlt
OptionsMenuKey	F9
MuteKey	F10
DeafenKey	F11

Compatibility

• Steam version of Valheim only. Voice is carried over Steam networking, so players on other platforms (Microsoft Store / Xbox) cannot use it.
• Windows, and Linux/Steam Deck through Proton. A native Linux microphone backend (ALSA) is included but is still experimental.
• No Harmony patches - the mod only reads public game data, which keeps it resilient to game updates.

Troubleshooting

• Nobody hears me: check the mic icon on the HUD reacts when you talk, check you are not muted (F10), and pick the right microphone in F9. Use the loopback test to confirm your mic works.
• I hear nobody: check you are not deafened (F11), that the other player is within range and has the mod installed, and that they are not muted in your player list (F9).
• The first word is sometimes cut off after a long silence: the peer-to-peer connection between two players can take a moment to establish the first time they get in range.
• Still stuck? Look for errors in BepInEx/LogOutput.log.

Note

• AI was used for the development of this mod primarily for the code.