Balrond Idle Actors

Balrond Idle Actors brings life to Valheim settlements with placeable, stationary NPCs. Build villagers, workers, guards, priests, merchants and other characters that look alive, use randomized appearances and equipment, speak to nearby players, and—in Trader variants—sell themed items.

Idle Actors are designed for settlements, roleplay servers and world-building. They are intentionally stationary NPCs: they do not pathfind, follow players or act as combat companions.

Features

• Place NPCs with the special Balrond Hammer (Npcmancer_bal).
• Talker NPCs provide ambient dialogue and reactions.
• Trader NPCs provide configurable themed shops.
• Human and Dverger variants with randomized names, appearance and equipment.
• NPCs react to nearby players and world events while remaining stationary.
• Shared configurable building cost for all NPCs.
• Optional Trader building restriction for servers that want shops to remain admin-controlled.
• Fully configurable Trader inventories, prices, purchase amounts and progression requirements.
• Multiplayer configuration synchronization: the server/host can control the gameplay settings used by connected players.

Installing

1. Install BepInExPack for Valheim.
2. Install BalrondIdleActors.dll in your Valheim BepInEx/plugins folder.
3. Start the game once to generate the configuration file.

Important: remove the old IdleActorsShaderFix 0.2.0 patch if you installed it previously. It is no longer needed and is incompatible with the rebuilt Idle Actors version.

No separate LitJson or ServerSync installation is required for the released mod.

Using the mod

Craft the Balrond Hammer (Npcmancer_bal) at a level 1 Forge:

• 4 Fine Wood
• 4 Bloodbag
• 4 Iron

Equip the hammer, open its build menu and place an available Talker or Trader like a normal build piece.

Talkers

Talkers are passive settlement NPCs. They use ambient dialogue and randomized visual presets but do not open a shop.

Traders

Traders use the same NPC concept but open a shop when interacted with. Their stock, prices, purchase amounts and progression requirements can be configured by the server/host.

Available archetypes include Farmer, Villager, Hunter, Guard, Defender, Priest, Blacksmith, Beggar, Merchant, Lumberjack, Miner, Forager, Fisherman, Butcher, Innkeeper/Bartender and Patron. Availability varies between Human/Dverger and male/female variants.

Configuration

The configuration file is generated at:

BepInEx/config/balrond.astafaraios.BalrondIdleActors.cfg

On multiplayer servers, edit the server/host configuration when Lock Configuration = true. Synchronized settings from the server take priority over client values. Restarting the server after manual file edits is recommended so every player receives the same configuration.

Lock Configuration

Default: true

When enabled, synchronized Idle Actors settings are controlled by the server/host. This is recommended for multiplayer servers.

Restrict Traders

Default: true

• true — Trader NPCs use the normal NPC building cost plus SwordCheat:1. Regular players therefore cannot normally build Trader pieces, while admins using debug/free-build can still place them.
• false — Trader and Talker versions use exactly the same building cost.

This setting does not change what a Trader sells. It only controls whether normal players can build Trader NPCs.

NPC Build Cost

Default:

TrophySkeleton:1,LeatherScraps:1,BoneFragments:1,Entrails:1

This is the shared base building cost for all Talkers and Traders.

Format:

Prefab:Amount,Prefab:Amount,Prefab:Amount

Example:

Wood:10,Stone:5,Coins:25

Use exact prefab IDs, not translated/display names. Each amount must be greater than zero. If Restrict Traders = true, SwordCheat:1 is added automatically only to Trader pieces; do not add it manually to the shared build cost unless you want to restrict Talkers as well.

Configuring Trader inventories

Each archetype has its own entry under 3 - Trader Inventories. All NPCs using the same archetype share that inventory.

The format is:

Prefab:Price:Stack[:RequiredGlobalKey];Prefab:Price:Stack[:RequiredGlobalKey]

Where:

• Prefab — exact item prefab ID.
• Price — price in Valheim Coins.
• Stack — how many items the player receives per purchase.
• RequiredGlobalKey — optional world progression key. If the key is absent, the item is always available.
• ; separates shop entries.

Examples:

Wood:25:1
ArrowWood:200:20
FineWood:100:1:defeated_bonemass
Wood:25:1;FineWood:100:1:defeated_bonemass

The third example means: 1 Fine Wood for 100 Coins, available only after Bonemass has been defeated in that world.

The default inventories currently use these progression keys:

Global key	Meaning
defeated_gdking	The Elder defeated
defeated_bonemass	Bonemass defeated
defeated_dragon	Moder defeated

You may also use another valid Valheim global key. Use none, -, or simply omit the fourth field when no progression requirement is wanted.

To remove an item from a Trader, remove that complete entry from the archetype's inventory string. To disable the whole shop inventory for an archetype, leave its value empty.

If an item prefab does not exist in the current mod setup, that item entry is skipped rather than breaking the whole Trader inventory.

Default Trader inventories

Lumberjack

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
Wood	25	1	Always
WoodNails_bal	25	25	Always
Club	100	1	Always
AxeFlint	250	1	Always
Roundlog	50	1	Always
FineWood	100	1	After Bonemass (defeated_bonemass)

Miner

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
PickaxeStone	200	1	Always
Coal	25	1	Always
Stone	10	1	Always
Flint	25	1	Always
CopperOre	300	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
Torch	100	1	Always

Forager

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
Dandelion	30	1	Always
Straw	20	1	Always
Thistle	10	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
CarrotSeeds	35	1	Always

Fisherman

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
FishingBait	10	1	Always
NeckTail	250	1	Always
RedKelp_bal	400	1	After Bonemass (defeated_bonemass)
FishRaw	50	1	Always
Fish2	150	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
Torch	100	1	Always

Butcher

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
KnifeButcher	400	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
KnifeCopper	250	1	Always
KnifeFlint	100	1	Always
Flint	25	1	Always
DeerMeat	125	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
RawMeat	55	1	Always

Innkeeper

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
MeadTasty	75	1	Always
BarleyWine	425	1	After Moder (defeated_dragon)
MeadHealthMinor	150	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
MeadStaminaMinor	150	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
Tankard	50	1	Always
Tankard_dvergr	100	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)

Patron

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
Tankard	75	1	Always
MeadTasty	100	1	Always
Tankard_dvergr	150	1	Always

Blacksmith

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
Hammer	50	1	Always
CopperScrap	300	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
KnifeCopper	300	1	Always
Coal	40	1	Always
BronzeNails	50	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)

Farmer

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
Straw_bal	25	1	Always
Apple_bal	200	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
WaterJug_bal	100	1	Always
BirdFeed_bal	200	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
RottenVegetable_bal	100	1	Always
Carrot	100	1	Always
Onion	300	1	After Bonemass (defeated_bonemass)

Guard

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
ShieldWood	250	1	Always
Club	100	1	Always
KnifeFlint	300	1	Always
Torch	200	1	Always

Defender

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
ShieldWood	250	1	Always
Club	100	1	Always
KnifeFlint	300	1	Always
Torch	200	1	Always

Priest

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
SilverNecklace	45	1	Always
Pukeberries	50	1	Always
Acorn	50	1	Always
BoneFragments	50	1	Always
MeadHealthMinor	500	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
MeadStaminaMinor	500	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
BarleyWine	800	1	After Moder (defeated_dragon)

Beggar

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
Straw_bal	50	1	Always
BoneFragments	100	1	Always
PoisonApple_bal	100	1	Always
RottenMeat	300	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
RottenVegetable_bal	200	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
Stone	50	1	Always
Wood	25	1	Always
Larva_bal	75	1	After Bonemass (defeated_bonemass)

Villager

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
Feathers	150	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
StrawThread_bal	100	1	Always
WaterJug_bal	100	1	Always
LeatherScraps	50	1	Always
WoodBucket_bal	50	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
OilBase_bal	500	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)

Hunter

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
Feathers	25	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
BoneFragments	50	1	Always
DeerHide	500	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
LeatherScraps	50	1	Always
ArrowWood	200	20	Always
Bow	200	1	Always
KnifeFlint	200	1	Always

Merchant

Item prefab	Price	Amount per purchase	Available
StrawThread_bal	100	1	Always
CookedMeat	100	1	Always
Ruby	100	1	Always
LinenThread	400	1	After Moder (defeated_dragon)
PaintBucket_bal	150	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
ChickenEgg	300	1	After Moder (defeated_dragon)
SilverNecklace	50	1	After The Elder (defeated_gdking)
KnifeButcher	500	1	Always

What Idle Actors are not

• They are not followers or companions.
• They do not use pathfinding.
• They do not patrol settlements.
• They do not fight like normal creature AI.
• They do not provide quests or a separate progression system.

The mod is focused on decorative, immersive and roleplay-friendly settlement NPCs.

Recommended uses

• Roleplay servers
• Villages and towns
• Markets and merchant districts
• Taverns and inns
• Temples and shrines
• Farms and workshops
• Guard posts
• Story locations and custom settlements

Video preview

Watch the Balrond Idle Actors preview on YouTube

Community & support

• Discord — Balrond's Den: https://discord.gg/Jfp8T5N7Pv
• Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/balrond1020

Bug reports, feedback and compatibility reports are welcome on Discord. When reporting a problem, include the Idle Actors version and your BepInEx log if possible.

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Bring your towns to life with Balrond Idle Actors.