SmoothFishing

Fishing in Valheim without the endless waiting.

You cast your line, and a few seconds later a fish shows up in the distance and swims toward your bait, exactly like a normal Valheim fish would. Everything else about fishing stays vanilla: the bait, the fighting, the stamina use, the fish and what they give you.

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What does it do?

In vanilla Valheim you can stare at your float for a very long time because there simply may not be a fish nearby. SmoothFishing fixes exactly this one problem:

1. You cast your fishing rod.
2. Once the float lies still in the water, a short timer starts (default: 3 to 8 seconds).
3. A fish spawns a few meters away (default: 5 to 9 meters, out of sight where possible) and swims toward your bait using the game's own fish behavior.
4. You fish it like always.

That's all. No new items, no new fish, no changed loot.

Features

• Works in every water where you can fish, not just in one biome.
• Picks the right fish for the place and the bait. The mod uses the game's own spawn data (biome, water depth, progression) and your bait, so you won't catch a fish that doesn't belong there.
• Multiplayer-friendly. Only the player who cast the line spawns fish for it. Your friends see the same fish, and nothing is spawned twice.
• Only you need it to benefit. Players without the mod still see the fish normally (they are regular Valheim fish), but their own fishing stays as slow as before.
• Custom bite sound (optional). Drop in your own sound file and hear it when a fish bites. Only the angler hears it.
• Protected against abuse (see below), so spamming the cast button does not create endless fish.
• Fully configurable with a simple config file.
• Fails safe. If something unexpected happens, the mod switches itself off instead of breaking your game.

Installation

With a mod manager (recommended)

1. Install r2modman or the Thunderstore Mod Manager.
2. Choose Valheim, then search for SmoothFishing and click Install.
3. Start the game from the mod manager.

Manual

1. Install BepInExPack Valheim.
2. Copy the SmoothFishing.dll into Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/SmoothFishing/.
3. Start the game.

Multiplayer tip: For the best experience, everyone who fishes should install the mod with the same settings.

Adding your own bite sound

The mod does ship with a sound. (Stardew Valley Bite Sound)

1. Choose or record a short sound (1 to 3 seconds works best).
2. Save it as a WAV file (16 bit, 44.1 kHz). WAV is the safest format. OGG also works, MP3 should work too but is the least reliable.
3. Name it bite.wav and put it into the same folder as SmoothFishing.dll:
   • Mod manager: open your profile folder, then BepInEx/plugins/ and the SmoothFishing folder (use Browse profile folder in r2modman).
   • Manual: Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/SmoothFishing/
4. Start the game. Done.

Using another file name or format? Start the game once, then open the config file and change Dateiname (file name) in the 4 Sound section, for example to splash.ogg.

By default the sound plays when a fish nibbles at your bait (your signal to react). You can switch it to play when the fish is hooked, or both (setting Ausloeser).

Anti-abuse protection

Cast-spamming and AFK-fishing do not break the balance:

• Moving the float (casting again, reeling in) restarts the waiting timer.
• A cooldown (default 6 seconds) sits between two spawned fish.
• At most 2 unused mod fish can exist at the same time.
• A single cast can create at most 3 fish. After that you wait like in vanilla.
• If there are already 2 fish nearby (including normal ones), no further fish are spawned.
• Unused fish disappear again after 120 seconds, or 20 seconds after you pull in your line.
• A fish that has bitten is never removed by the mod, so you can't lose a catch because of it.

Configuration

The config file is created after the first start: BepInEx/config/com.smoothfishing.valheim.cfg. Edit it with a text editor or with the Configuration Manager mod. The setting names are in German in the file, the table below explains them.

Section	Setting	Default	What it does
1 Allgemein	Aktiviert	true	Turns the fish spawning on or off.
2 Spawning	WartezeitMin / WartezeitMax	3 / 8	Seconds until a fish appears after the float settles.
2 Spawning	EntfernungMin / EntfernungMax	5 / 9	How far from the float the fish spawns (meters). Capped by the game's bait range (about 10 m), because normal fish would not notice the bait from farther away.
2 Spawning	MinWassertiefe	1.5	Fish only spawn in water at least this deep (meters).
3 Schutz	MaxFischeInDerNaehe	2	No new fish if this many fish are already nearby.
3 Schutz	NaehenRadius	15	Radius used to count nearby fish (meters).
3 Schutz	AbklingzeitZwischenSpawns	6	Minimum seconds between two spawns.
3 Schutz	MaxOffeneModFische	2	Maximum unused mod fish per player.
3 Schutz	MaxSpawnsProWurf	3	Maximum fish created by one cast.
3 Schutz	FischLebensdauer	120	Seconds until an unused fish disappears.
3 Schutz	AufraeumzeitNachEinholen	20	Seconds unused fish stay after you reel in.
4 Sound	Aktiviert	true	Play your custom sound.
4 Sound	Dateiname	bite.wav	Sound file name (in the mod folder).
4 Sound	Lautstaerke	0.7	Volume from 0 to 1.
4 Sound	Ausloeser	Nibble	Nibble, Hooked or Both.
4 Sound	MindestabstandSekunden	1.5	Minimum seconds between two sounds.
5 Debug	DebugLog	false	Writes extra info to the BepInEx log.

Want faster fishing? Lower WartezeitMin and WartezeitMax. Want it closer to vanilla? Raise them, or lower MaxSpawnsProWurf.

Compatibility

• Works with a normal BepInEx Valheim setup. It only adds fish and an optional sound, and changes no item or recipe.
• Other mods that change fish, bait or the fishing rod may behave differently together with this one.
• The mod reads some game internals in a defensive way. If a future Valheim update renames them, the affected feature simply turns off and a warning appears in the log instead of a crash.

Troubleshooting

• No fish show up: Make sure the float lies still in water at least 1.5 m deep. Set DebugLog to true and check BepInEx/LogOutput.log.
• No sound: Check the file name and that the file is in the same folder as the DLL. The log tells you if the file was not found or could not be read. Try WAV.
• Fish spawn but don't come to the bait: Lower EntfernungMax a bit.
• Something else is wrong: Please report it with your LogOutput.log.

Notes

• This mod was created with the help of AI tools.
• Not affiliated with Iron Gate or Coffee Stain Publishing.

Changelog

1.0.0

• Initial release.