⚒️ Balrond Hearth Mark

Overview

Balrond Hearth Mark adds a new buildable Hearth Mark talisman to Valheim.

Hearth Marks create named area zones around your settlements, camps, outposts, roads, mines, and other important places.
When a player enters a named Hearth Mark area, the zone name is shown in the same style as Valheim biome discovery messages.

Multiple Hearth Marks can connect into one shared network.
Connected marks share the same zone name, can be enabled or disabled together, and show temporary connection beams while being hovered.

The mod is designed to be simple and fully in-game:

No external gameplay config is required.
All setup is done directly on the build piece.

🏗️ What This Mod Adds

⚒️ Hearth Mark

A new buildable talisman-style piece.

The Hearth Mark can:

• Create a named area around itself
• Show the area name when a player enters the zone
• Connect with other Hearth Marks by range
• Share a name across connected Hearth Marks
• Toggle an area marker visual on or off
• Show temporary connection beams between linked marks
• Be enabled or disabled as part of its current network
• Store its state through Valheim ZDO data for multiplayer persistence

🧭 How It Works

1. Build a Hearth Mark
2. Press Use (E) to give it a name
3. Hover it and use + / - to adjust the range
4. Place more Hearth Marks nearby
5. If at least one Hearth Mark reaches another, they connect
6. Connected Hearth Marks act as one named network

When a player enters the active zone, the resolved Hearth Mark name is displayed.

If one Hearth Mark in a connected network is renamed, the name is applied to the connected enabled network.

⚙️ Features

• New buildable Hearth Mark
• Named area / settlement marker system
• Connected talisman network
• Shared names across connected Hearth Marks
• Adjustable range from 1m to 50m
• Default range: 15m
• Range changes directly in-game
• Optional persistent area marker display
• Temporary hover area marker
• Temporary connection beam visualization
• Enabled / disabled talisman state
• Network-wide disable behavior
• Ward/private-area access support
• Multiplayer-friendly ZDO synchronization
• Full localization key support
• No gameplay config file required

🧱 Building

Build Piece

The Hearth Mark is added to the Hammer build menu.

Category:

Misc

Crafting station:

Workbench

🧾 Recipe

🎮 Controls

⚠️ Valheim's Interact() alt parameter is the game's alternative-use input, normally Shift + E.
This mod checks the real keyboard Alt key directly for Alt + E marker toggle.

🏷️ Naming System

Press E on a Hearth Mark to open the name input.

The name limit is:

64 characters

If the Hearth Mark is connected to other enabled Hearth Marks, the name is applied to the current connected network.

This allows one large settlement or base area to share the same name across multiple talismans.

🔗 Network System

Hearth Marks connect by range.

Two Hearth Marks are connected when at least one of them reaches the other.

Example:

Hearth Mark A range: 10m
Hearth Mark B range: 15m
Distance between them: 12m

A does not reach B.
B reaches A.
Result: connected.

This lets larger Hearth Marks act as anchors for smaller ones.

Connected networks are recalculated when:

• a Hearth Mark range changes
• a Hearth Mark is enabled or disabled
• a Hearth Mark is destroyed
• a name is propagated through the network

📏 Range System

Default range:

15m

Minimum range:

1m

Maximum range:

50m

Step size:

1m

While hovering the Hearth Mark:

• Press + to increase range
• Press - to decrease range

Changing range can:

• Connect new Hearth Marks
• Disconnect old Hearth Marks
• Merge networks
• Split networks
• Change where zone entry messages appear

👁️ Area Marker

The Hearth Mark has an area marker visual.

By default, hovering the Hearth Mark briefly shows the area marker.

You can also toggle the marker permanently:

Alt + E

When enabled, the marker stays visible while the Hearth Mark is enabled.

When disabled, the marker only appears briefly while hovering.

The marker state is saved through ZDO data, so it persists after reloads.

🔦 Connection Visuals

When hovering an enabled Hearth Mark, the mod briefly shows connection effects between directly connected Hearth Marks.

These beams make it easier to see which talismans are linked.

The connection beam is visual only.
The actual network logic is based on horizontal distance and the active range values.

🟢 Enabled / Disabled State

Hearth Marks can be enabled or disabled.

Press:

Shift + E

on a Hearth Mark to toggle it.

When disabling an enabled Hearth Mark, the current connected network is disabled together.

When enabling a disabled Hearth Mark, only that Hearth Mark is enabled again.

Disabled Hearth Marks:

• do not connect to the network
• do not show player entry messages
• do not show connection beams
• display the disabled visual state
• keep their saved name and range

🛡️ Ward Access

If ward/private-area access is required, the player must have access to interact with the Hearth Mark.

This affects:

• naming
• enabling / disabling
• marker toggle
• range adjustment

If the player does not have access, the Hearth Mark shows a no-access message.

🌐 Multiplayer Behavior

Balrond Hearth Mark is designed for multiplayer use.

Important state is stored in ZDO data:

• Hearth Mark name
• Hearth Mark range
• enabled / disabled state
• persistent area marker state
• initialized state

This means the system can persist across:

• world reloads
• server restarts
• player reconnects
• zone unload / reload

Ownership is claimed when required before writing networked state.

🧪 Technical Notes

The plugin registers its asset bundle and build piece during Valheim initialization.

Plugin info:

GUID: balrond.astafaraios.BalrondHearthMark
Name: BalrondHearthMark

Main prefab:

piece_hearthmark_bal

The build piece is registered into the Hammer piece table and added to ZNetScene.

🔧 Installation

1. Install BepInEx for Valheim.
2. Place the mod DLL into:

BepInEx/plugins

1. Start the game.
2. Build the Hearth Mark from the Hammer build menu.
3. Configure the Hearth Mark directly in-game.

No extra gameplay config is required.

🤝 Compatibility

Balrond Hearth Mark should be compatible with most mods.

It uses:

• Valheim Piece
• Valheim ZNetView
• Valheim ZDO
• Valheim TextInput
• Valheim Hoverable
• Valheim Interactable
• Harmony patching for prefab/build-piece registration

Potential conflicts may happen with mods that:

• replace the Hammer build table in an incompatible way
• alter the same prefab name
• interfere with ZNetScene.Awake
• replace normal interaction behavior globally
• modify PrivateArea.CheckAccess behavior

📘 Translation Support

All player-facing text uses translation keys.

If you see text like:

$tag_hearthmark_name_bal

then the translation file was not loaded or the key is missing.

Translation JSON keys should not include the $ prefix.

Example:

{
  "tag_hearthmark_name_bal": "Hearth Mark"
}

The file for translation is stored inside config folder inside folder with mod name - > English.json

❓ FAQ

💬 Community & Support

Discord: https://discord.gg/Jfp8T5N7Pv
Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/balrond1020

🧾 Changelog

1.0.0

• Base release

📌 Final Notes

Balrond Hearth Mark is built for players who want to name, organize, and visualize important places in the world without relying on external configuration.

Place talismans, name your settlement, adjust the range, and let connected Hearth Marks define your home territory.