CharactersVault

CharactersVault keeps player progression strictly on your Valheim server. It prevents players from bringing in cheated or offline items by saving, syncing, and locking characters directly to the server.

IMPORTANT: Always make a brand new character before joining!
Joining a CharactersVault server with an existing character will wipe their inventory, skills, recipes, and progression on first join (visual appearance like hair and clothes is kept).

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Why CharactersVault?

• Works out of the box: Works instantly on dedicated servers with zero configuration required. Just install and run.
• Update Resilient: Built using clean, high-level Harmony hooks with zero IL transpilers. When Valheim releases a game update, CharactersVault won't crash your server on patch day.
• No External Dependencies: Ships as a single, lightweight DLL with a built-in JSON parser. No external DLLs or conflicting library bundles.

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For Players

1. Install the mod: Install via Thunderstore or r2modman (recommended), or manually place CharactersVault.dll in your BepInEx/plugins/CharactersVault/ folder with BepInEx installed.
2. Create a fresh character: Pick any name and appearance, then join the server.
3. Play normally: Your inventory and skills automatically sync to the server as you play and save when you disconnect.

Note: Each player account is bound to one character on the server. If you try to join with a different character, the connection will be rejected.

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For Server Hosts

CharactersVault is designed for dedicated servers. Both the server and connecting clients must have the mod installed with matching versions.

Installation

1. Install the mod: Install via Thunderstore / r2modman, or manually place CharactersVault.dll in your dedicated server's BepInEx/plugins/CharactersVault/ folder with BepInEx installed.
2. Start your server. It works out of the box with zero setup needed.

Admin Commands

Admins listed in adminlist.txt can manage player bindings and snapshots in-game using /cv chat commands:

Command	Description
/cv list	List all registered players and their bound characters.
/cv status [playerId]	View character binding and last saved snapshot info for a player.
/cv remove [playerId]	Unbind a player so they can register a new character on their next join.
/cv wipe [playerId]	Delete all saved character data and binding for a player (starts fresh).
/cv help	Show in-game command help.

Note: Use the platform ID shown in /cv list (e.g. Steam_76561198XXXXXXXXX or Xbox_...). /vault can also be used as an alias.

Configuration (Optional)

Config file location: BepInEx/config/CharacterVault.cfg

CharactersVault is plug-and-play by default, but you can tweak settings if needed:

Setting	Default	Description
EnforceCharacterBinding	true	Lock each account/platform ID to their first registered character.
AutoSaveIntervalMinutes	5.0	How often client profiles automatically sync to the server in the background.
ProfileSyncTimeoutSeconds	15.0	Max seconds to wait for server data before disconnecting high-latency clients.
ShowCharacterSelectWarning	true	Show warning banner on the character select screen.
VerboseLogging	false	Enable extra debug logs in the BepInEx console.

Server Storage

All character snapshots and bindings are saved under BepInEx/config/CharacterVault/. Remember to back up this folder during regular server backups or before major Valheim game updates.

AI Disclosure

I made this mod using AI. Most of the code in this mod was AI generated. If you have an issue with this, I completely understand and urge you to not use this mod. There is a great alternative on Thunderstore called "ServerCharacters" that is much more robust and feature-rich. This mod ("CharactersVault") is meant as a lightweight mod for small servers that don't need all the bells and whistles of a more complex mod.