Hungry Viking

Your character knows they're hungry. You should too.

The Mod That Exists Because of a Death That Didn't Have To Happen

I was deep into a zero-death solo run. Back at my base. Cooking. Doing the domestic Viking thing — moving materials around, tending the fire, keeping busy.

I died to smoke inhalation from standing too close to my own cooking station.

Not a troll. Not a greydwarf raid. Not a misread parry in the Swamp. Smoke. From my campfire. In my base. Because all three of my food buffs had silently expired while I worked, I hadn't noticed, and by the time the smoke started ticking me down there was nothing left to absorb it.

The run was over. The cause of death was distraction, but the real culprit was a UI that let a critical survival state disappear without so much as a whisper.

Hungry Viking exists to make sure that never happens to you.

What This Mod Does

Adds escalating visual warnings when your food buffs approach expiry. It does not eat for you. It does not automate anything. It respects your agency completely — it just makes sure you know what your character knows.

Screen vignette — an amber glow creeps in from the screen edges as your hungriest food slot ticks down. Intensity and extent are configurable. The vignette oscillates to draw your eye: slow pulse at first, faster as urgency increases.
On-screen label — "You are starting to feel hungry." → "You are getting hungry." → "You are hungry." The text color shifts from orange toward red as urgency rises.
HUD status icon — a Hungry icon appears in the same row as Rested and Shelter, so you can spot hunger state at a glance without reading the label.

All effects are off when you have 3 full food slots. Warnings begin when your hungriest slot crosses the configurable threshold (default 90 seconds remaining).

What It Does Not Do

It does not eat for you
It does not pause or slow gameplay
It does not cover your screen — the vignette stays at the edges, always
It does not add center-screen pop-ups

Configuration

Open BepInEx/config/DeathMonger.HungryViking.cfg to adjust settings.

Setting	Default	Description
Enabled	`true`	Master toggle for all effects
Show Status Icon	`true`	Show/hide the Hungry HUD icon
Hunger Threshold (seconds)	`90`	Seconds remaining when warnings begin
Vignette Intensity	`0.20`	Max edge opacity (0–1)
Vignette Extent	`0.50`	How far the vignette reaches toward center (0–1)

Console Commands

Open the console with F5. Run devcommands first — all hv_ commands require cheats to be active.

Command	Description
`hv_foodstatus`	Print name and remaining time for each food slot
`hv_drainfood <slot> [seconds]`	Subtract seconds from one slot (default 60s)
`hv_drainfoods [seconds]`	Subtract seconds from all slots (default 60s)
`hv_setfoodtime <slot> <seconds>`	Set a slot to exactly X seconds remaining
`hv_clearfood`	Instantly remove all food buffs

Slot numbers are 1, 2, or 3.

Example test flow:

Eat 3 foods, then hv_foodstatus to confirm all slots are tracked.
hv_setfoodtime 1 91 — slot 1 is 1 second above the threshold.
Wait ~2 seconds — amber vignette and label should fade in.
hv_clearfood — all slots empty, full-urgency vignette and "You are hungry." label appear immediately.

Compatibility

Client-side only — does not need to be installed on the server
Compatible with food-adding mods (detects expiry on any food buff)
Compatible with Valheim Plus
No known conflicts with BetterUI, VNEI, or other HUD mods

Installation

Install via Thunderstore Mod Manager or r2modman (recommended), or manually:

Install BepInExPack Valheim
Extract HungryViking.dll into Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/
Launch the game — config generates on first run

The Philosophy

Valheim's survival loop asks you to manage hunger, cold, poison, and health simultaneously — often while also navigating, building, and fighting. The game tracks all of it. Your character feels all of it.

The gap is between what the game knows and what the player notices.

Hungry Viking closes that gap. Nothing more.

If a smoke death in your own base sounds familiar, this mod is for you.