MuchBetterTames

Makes tamed animals real companions. They follow you reliably, keep up through portals and dungeons, can't die by accident, gain stars from fighting, and are easy to command with one key or a controller button.

Works in singleplayer, on a hosted game and on a dedicated server. Every player (and the server) needs the mod.

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Features at a glance

Area	What it does
Commands	E / A (on Controller) toggles follow ↔ stay for one tame. One key (H, or L2/LT + ✕/A on controller) toggles all tames nearby.
Following	Tames that fall behind are teleported to a spot behind you. They follow you through portals, into dungeons and after you respawn.
Survival	Tames don't die. On lethal damage they are knocked out, can be revived with first aid, and wake up on their own.
Stars	Tames earn up to 2 stars by killing enemies, and share part of the experience with nearby tames.
Defense	Tames only fight alerted or provoked monsters, but defend you and each other, even against wild animals of their own species.
Regeneration	Tames regenerate health, faster while fed, slower while hungry.
Visuals	Health bars are colored per player, a counter shows how many tames follow you, and a small label shows who a tame follows.
Languages	14 languages, or Auto to follow the Valheim language.

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Installation

1. Install BepInEx and Jötunn (the Thunderstore mod manager does this automatically).
2. Put MuchBetterTames.dll into BepInEx/plugins/.
3. Start the game once. The config file com.ezat.MuchBetterTames.cfg is created in BepInEx/config/.

Multiplayer: the server and all clients need the mod (same major/minor version). Settings marked server-synced below are taken from the server. Settings marked local are every player's own choice.

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Controls

Action	Keyboard / mouse	Controller
One tame: follow ↔ stay	E on the tame	Use button (A / ✕) on the tame
All tames nearby: follow ↔ stay	H (configurable)	L2/LT + ✕/A (configurable)
First aid on a knocked-out tame	E	Use button
Vanilla extras (rename etc.)	Shift + E	LB + A

• The group command works on tames within 10 m (CommandRadius). If any of them follows, all stay. Otherwise all follow.
• The hover text of a tame shows the correct group key for whatever you are currently using. The first aid key is shown the same way, with the controller button when you play on controller.
• Group key for the keyboard is only read at startup, so restart the game after changing it.

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Following and teleporting

• A following tame is teleported behind you (never beside or in front) when it is more than 40 m away (20 m in dungeons).
• A tame that is stuck more than 15 m away is teleported after 10 s.
• Tames that are fighting are only teleported beyond 90 m.
• Tames already within 25 m of you are never teleported: not by the portal/respawn recall and not by the stuck handling. They simply walk (NoTeleportNear).
• A tame that "runs on the spot" is detected and fixed in steps: soft reset, hard reset, and only if it is far enough away, a teleport.
• Portals / dungeons: your following tames are moved to you after you use a portal or enter a dungeon. Animals listed in DungeonExcluded (default: Lox) stay outside.
• Death: after you die and respawn, your following tames are teleported to you.

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Knocked out instead of dead

With the default settings tames cannot die (Immortal) and only the Butcher Knife can kill them (OnlyButcherKnifeKills). Anything else (monsters, other weapons, falling, …) only knocks them out.

Knocked out:

• The tame lies down, can't be hurt and is ignored by monsters (DownedIgnoredByEnemies). Monsters that already targeted it drop the target.
• Hover text and health bar show the remaining time.
• Base duration is 45 s. Each star shortens it by 15 % (never below 30 % of the base time).
• The timer runs 2× faster while a player is within 15 m (LeaderNearSpeed). Time while the tame is not loaded counts fully.

First aid: interact with the tame. Each press shortens the timer by 5 s (HelpSeconds). When it reaches zero, the tame gets up.

Waking up:

• The tame stands up and can move immediately when the countdown ends. Its health is set to 30 % and negative status effects (burning, poison, …) are removed.
• Its follow target is restored right away.
• For 2 s follow/stay commands are blocked, so you can't switch the tame's mode by accident while spamming first aid (RecoverLockSeconds). Only the follow/stay toggle is blocked, everything else still works.
• For 4 s the tame is invulnerable, so it can't be knocked out again immediately (RecoverProtectSeconds).

If you turn the protection off while a tame is lying down, it wakes up at once.

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Stars

Tames gain experience when they, or you, kill enemies. Reaching the thresholds gives a star (a higher level, more health and damage), and the tame is fully healed.

• Star 1 at 15 000 XP, star 2 at 35 000 XP (total). Maximum 2 stars from experience.
• XP per kill = enemy max health × (1 + 0.3 per enemy level above 1) × 2 for bosses × XpMult.
• Enemies with less than 20 max health give no XP.
• Other tames of the same owner within 30 m receive 25 % of the XP.
• A message above the tame shows Star gained! (x/2).

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Defense

• PassiveUntilProvoked: tames only attack a monster once it is alerted (red exclamation mark), or after a player or tame has attacked it. A monster that merely noticed something (yellow dot) is left alone.
• DefenseEnabled: tames defend themselves and their owner against wild creatures that are actively attacking, including the same species (e.g. wild wolves against tamed wolves).

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Regeneration

Per second, as a share of max health:

• 0.8 % out of combat, 0.1 % in combat (combat lasts 8 s after taking damage).
• Multiplied by 1.5 while fed and 0.5 while hungry.

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Visuals (all local)

• Health bar colors: tames that follow a player get that player's color. Everybody sees the same colors. Pick yours from a dropdown (FollowerBarColorName). If two players choose the same color, one of them is automatically assigned a free color, identically on every client.
• Follower counter: shows how many tames follow you. It is hidden with the inventory open or the HUD hidden. Corner, offset and size are configurable.
• HUD label: a small line under the health bar shows Follows: <player>, or Knocked out with the remaining time. Nothing is shown if the tame follows nobody.
• Hover text: shows the taming progress while taming (ShowTimer), the group key hint, and the first aid prompt for knocked-out tames.

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Configuration

All settings are in BepInEx/config/com.ezat.MuchBetterTames.cfg (or in-game with the Configuration Manager). Server-synced = the server's value is used for everyone.

1 General

Setting	Default	Notes
Enabled	true	Turns the whole mod on/off (server-synced)
DebugLog	false	Writes interaction details to the log (local)
Language	English	Auto follows the Valheim language (local)

2 Follow (server-synced)

Setting	Default	Notes
TeleportEnabled	true	Teleport tames that fell behind
TeleportDistance	40	Meters
DungeonTeleportDistance	20	Meters, inside dungeons
StuckSeconds	10	Time before a stuck tame (> 15 m) is teleported
CombatTeleportDistance	90	Fighting tames are only teleported beyond this
BehindDistance	3	How far behind you tames appear
NoTeleportNear	25	Tames closer than this are never teleported
CommandRadius	10	Range of the group command
FollowPortals	true	Tames follow through portals
FollowDungeons	true	Tames follow into dungeons
DungeonExcluded	Lox	Prefab names (comma separated) that stay outside
RecallOnDeath	true	Teleport tames to you after respawn

3 Survival (server-synced)

Setting	Default	Notes
Immortal	true	Tames get knocked out instead of dying
OnlyButcherKnifeKills	true	Only the Butcher Knife can kill tames
DownedIgnoredByEnemies	true	Monsters ignore knocked-out tames
DownedSeconds	45	Base knock-out duration
DownedStarReduction	0.15	Time reduction per star
LeaderNearSpeed	2	Recovery speed with a player within 15 m
HelpSeconds	5	Time removed per first aid
RecoverLockSeconds	2	Follow/stay blocked after recovery (0 = off)
RecoverProtectSeconds	4	Invulnerability after waking up (0 = off)
RecoverHealthPct	30	Health after waking up

4 Regeneration (server-synced)

RegenEnabled, RegenRestPct (0.8), RegenCombatPct (0.1), FedMult (1.5), HungryMult (0.5), CombatCooldown (8)

5 Taming

ShowTimer (true, local): remaining taming time in the hover text.

6 Stars (server-synced)

StarsEnabled, MaxStars (2), XpStar1 (15000), XpStar2 (35000), XpMult (1), XpShare (0.25), XpShareRadius (30), MinVictimHp (20)

7 Defense (server-synced)

PassiveUntilProvoked (true), DefenseEnabled (true)

8 Keyboard (local)

CommandAllKey (H), restart required.

9 Controller (local)

Setting	Default
GroupModifier	LeftTrigger (L2 / LT), set None to use the button alone
GroupButton	ButtonSouth (✕ on PlayStation, A on Xbox)

10 Visual (local)

FollowerBarEnabled, FollowerBarColorName, ShowFollowerCount, FollowerCountAnchor, FollowerCountX, FollowerCountY, FollowerCountSize, ShowHudLabel, LabelFontSize, LabelGapBelowBar, ShowGroupKeyHint

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Languages

English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Dutch, Swedish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean. Set Language to one of them, or to Auto.

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Troubleshooting

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Compatibility

Needs BepInEx and Jötunn. The mod patches Tameable, Character, MonsterAI/BaseAI, Player, Game and EnemyHud. Mods that change the same areas (other tame, follow or enemy-HUD mods) may conflict.

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Changelog

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