IdleBeasts
Tame animals with nothing to do rest instead of wandering, and tame animals far from every player get fewer updates. In our tests: half the time spent on creatures, about 7 FPS more.IdleBeasts
Idle tame animals rest instead of wandering, and tame creatures far from every player get fewer updates, so a base full of animals costs the game less.
Every loaded creature normally thinks and moves 20 to 50 times a second, even when it is just standing in a pen. With dozens of animals that adds up and lowers the frame rate. IdleBeasts lets animals rest while nobody is near and wakes them the moment anything happens. In tests with about 170 creatures loaded, the game spent about half as much time on creatures and ran about 7 FPS faster.
Features
- Resting animals. A tame animal that has had nothing to do for 5 seconds, with every player more than 20 m away and no enemy within 30 m, stops wandering and rests. It stands still, and its thinking and body update about once a second instead of 20 to 50 times.
- Wakes at once. A resting animal wakes when a player comes within 20 m, an enemy shows up, or it is hurt, ridden, told to follow or goes for food. Eating and breeding work as usual. Animals that are swimming, flying, on a ship or were hurt in the last 10 seconds don't rest.
- Far creatures. Tame creatures more than 50 m from every player, and not fighting, hunting, alerted, ridden or following anyone, think and move less often. Nobody is close enough to see the difference.
- Wild creatures left alone. By default wild creatures always run at full speed. Turning off Tamed only slows far wild creatures too; only tame animals ever rest.
- A rule for each creature. Every creature has its own setting: Default, Never, RestOnly or FarOnly. Bosses are Never by default.
- Built-in test and live numbers. A console command measures creature update time and frame rate with the mod off and on, and an optional line on screen shows the numbers live.
How to use
IdleBeasts works on its own once installed. To see what it does on your PC:
- Go to your animals, press
F5for the console and typeidlebeasts test(Tab completes the options). - Stay where you are: the test runs 13 seconds with the mod off, then 25 seconds with it on (15 to settle, 10 measured).
- Read the result: the time per frame spent on creature updates, and the frame rate, for both halves. It also goes to
BepInEx/LogOutput.logand the report file.
| Console command | Action |
|---|---|
idlebeasts |
Shows the current numbers and the last test |
idlebeasts test |
Measures with the mod off and on |
idlebeasts report |
Writes BepInEx/config/anwo.IdleBeasts.report.txt: every kind of creature seen, how many are loaded, resting or slowed, and its rule |
idlebeasts off / on |
Turns the mod off or back on, on your PC only, until you restart (the Enabled setting stays as it is) |
idlebeasts wake |
Wakes every resting animal |
Turn on Show stats to see live in the bottom right corner how many creatures rest or are slowed, and the time spent on creature updates.
Three runs of idlebeasts test in one base in Valheim 1.0.17:
| Run | Creatures loaded (run by this PC) | Creature updates, mod off | Mod on | Frame rate, mod off | Mod on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 171 (113) | 6.7 ms | 3.1 ms | 26 FPS | 33 FPS |
| 2 | 172 (113) | 5.2 ms | 2.1 ms | 32 FPS | 41 FPS |
| 3 | 165 (60) | 2.3 ms | 1.6 ms | 61 FPS | 67 FPS |
| Average | 4.7 ms | 2.2 ms (-53%) | 40 FPS | 47 FPS (+18%) |
"Creature updates" is the time per frame the game spends thinking, moving and animating creatures. The more of the animals your own PC runs, the bigger the gain. Results depend on the base and the PC.
Configuration
Settings are in BepInEx/config/anwo.IdleBeasts.cfg and can be changed in game with a configuration manager.
1 - General
| Setting | Default | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enabled | true |
Server | Rests idle tame animals and slows far creatures. Off: every animal wakes and runs as in the game |
| Tamed only | true |
Server | Only tame creatures are slowed when far. Off: far wild creatures are slowed too (saves more; they act less often while nobody is near) |
2 - Resting animals
| Setting | Default | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rest when idle | true |
Server | Idle tame animals with nobody near stop wandering and rest |
| Wake distance | 20 |
Server | Animals rest only while every player is further away, and wake when one comes this close, in metres (3-60) |
| Enemy distance | 30 |
Server | An enemy this close wakes resting animals, in metres (5-100) |
| Idle seconds | 5 |
Server | How long an animal must have nothing to do before it settles (1-120) |
| Only in pens | false |
Server | Only animals inside a PenPosts pen rest (without PenPosts, none rest) |
| Resting turn every | 1 |
Server | Seconds between a resting animal's turns, when it checks for food and danger (0.25-5) |
3 - Far creatures
| Setting | Default | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slow far creatures | true |
Server | Creatures far from every player, and not busy, think and move less often |
| Far distance | 50 |
Server | A creature further than this from every player counts as far, in metres (20-200) |
| Far AI every | 0.25 |
Server | How often a far creature thinks, in seconds (0.05-2; the game: 0.05) |
| Far physics every Nth step | 2 |
Server | A far creature moves on every Nth physics step (1-4; 1 = as in the game) |
| Far details every Nth frame | 2 |
Server | Footsteps, foot placement, tails and smooth movement of far creatures on every Nth frame (1-4; 1 = as in the game) |
4 - Look
| Setting | Default | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resting animation | Frozen |
Client | How resting animals look on your screen: Frozen (no animation, cheapest), Slow (a few updates a second while in view) or Normal (saves less) |
| Slow animation rate | 5 |
Client | Animation updates a second for resting animals with Slow (1-20) |
5 - Creatures
One setting for every creature the game knows, including creatures from other mods, named after its prefab name (as in the game's files): for example Boar = Default or Eikthyr = Never. Training dummies, test creatures and short-lived summons get no setting and follow the default rule.
| Setting | Default | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
(one per creature), e.g. Boar |
Default (bosses Never) |
Server | Default: rests when tame and idle, slowed when far. Never: always full speed. RestOnly: rests, never slowed. FarOnly: never rests, slowed when far. Wild ones are only slowed with Tamed only off |
6 - Diagnostics
| Setting | Default | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show stats | false |
Client | Shows how many creatures rest or are slowed, and the time spent on creature updates, in the bottom right corner |
Multiplayer
- Optional for each player. A player without IdleBeasts can still join, and the server doesn't need it. Where both the player and the server have it, the first two parts of the version must match (any 1.0.x with any 1.0.x).
- The host sets the rules. When the host or dedicated server has IdleBeasts, its Server settings apply to every player who has the mod. Look and Diagnostics are each player's own.
- Each game handles its own creatures. A player's game rests and slows the creatures it runs, judging distance by every player. On its own screen it also shows animals rested by another player's game as resting, and slows creatures far from that player. A dedicated server rests and slows nothing itself.
Compatibility
- PenPosts: Only in pens uses its pens.
- LetMeTameYou and PackBeasts work alongside it.
- Valheim Performance Overhaul: don't use both. It changes the same creature updates, and IdleBeasts warns in the log when both are installed.
Patches: the game's shared update loops (MonoUpdatersExtra) and idle wandering (BaseAI).
Uninstalling
IdleBeasts saves nothing the game needs, so it can be removed at any time; animals then wander as in the game. A report file, if written, stays in BepInEx/config.
About
Made with Claude (Anthropic's AI model) and tagged AI Generated, as Thunderstore's rules ask. Built for Valheim 1.0.17 (Deep North; also 1.0.16) with BepInEx 5.4.2351 and Jotunn 2.30.2.
Found a bug or a clash with another mod, or have an idea? Tell us on GitHub. For a bug, attach your BepInEx/LogOutput.log from the game where it happened.