SmarterHoe

A comprehensive, precision terrain-editing overhaul for the Valheim hoe.

SmarterHoe equips you with a professional suite of terraforming tools — from laser-flat plateau leveling and multi-waypoint spline road carving to full multi-step undo/redo, 3D previews, 9-language localization, and server-authoritative dedicated server synchronization — all while staying fully balanced for survival play.

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🌟 Features

⏪ Multi-Step Undo & Redo System (Alt+Z / Alt+Y) Made a mistake, cut too deep, or over-flattened a hillside? Press Alt+Z (or Ctrl+Z) to undo previous terrain changes step-by-step. Press Alt+Y (or Ctrl+Y / Shift+Alt+Z) to redo.

• Universal tool coverage: Works on Altitude Leveling, Instant Plateau, Soften, Restore Nature, Spline Ramps, vanilla Raise Earth, Mud Roads, Paved Stone Roads, and Cultivate.
• Continuous sweep grouping: Holding left-click to drag-level or pave groups the entire continuous stroke into a single atomic undo entry.
• Smart Waypoint step-back: Pressing the Undo key while ramp waypoints are active automatically steps back the most recent waypoint first before reverting terrain.
• Full texture & grass restoration: Undoing fully restores dirt, grass, and stone paint masks and synchronizes clutter in real time.

🔒 Altitude Lock — Laser-Flat Ground Press L to toggle locking your elevation. Every subsequent hoe click levels terrain to that exact height, guaranteeing a perfectly flat surface across hills and slopes.

• Snap to Building Floors: Aim at any placed wood or stone floor piece and press Middle Mouse Button to snap the locked altitude to that floor's exact height.
• Hold-to-Repeat Elevation Tuning: Hold down PageUp or PageDown to smoothly and rapidly adjust elevation without spamming buttons. Features a small delay before continuous movement begins to prevent accidental overshooting on single taps. Hold Shift for a 5x speed multiplier.

⬛ Instant Plateau — 1-Click Razor-Flat Flattening A dedicated hoe build-menu tool that instantly flattens the entire brush area to the elevation directly under your cursor in a single click. Eliminates gradual multi-click leveling and stepped ridges.

〰️ Smooth Ramp — Multi-Waypoint Road Auto-Carver Place waypoints (K) across rugged terrain to plot out a mountain trail or highway. Press H to instantly auto-carve a smooth, graded road corridor through all waypoints using Catmull-Rom spline interpolation.

• Cart-Friendliness Color Guide: Live 3D spine dynamically indicates slope steepness: 🟢 Green: ≤20° — Cart-Friendly (✓) 🟡 Yellow: 20–25° — Steep for Carts (!) 🔴 Red: >25° — Too Steep for Carts (✗)
• Shift+Carve: Hold Shift while pressing H to auto-carve the entire road directly in paved cobblestone.

🔄 True Square & Circle Brushes (Oriented Deformation) Press G to toggle between circular and square brush geometry.

• True Rotated Square Alignment: Square brush rotates smoothly using your mouse wheel or arrow keys (Left Arrow / Right Arrow). Fixed vanilla Valheim's axis-aligned diamond distortion so raised and leveled terrain aligns with the yellow indicator box.
• Press Home to instantly reset square rotation back to 0° (North).

🌀 Soften & ↩️ Restore Terrain

• Soften Terrain: Gently blends sharp ridges and cliff creases into natural, smooth transitions without flattening the terrain to a plane.
• Restore Terrain: Resets terrain within the brush radius back to its original unmodified world-gen state — erases all digging, leveling deltas, and paint modifications.

🪓 Clear Debris Instantly removes trees, logs, stumps, rocks, boulders, and bushes within the hoe radius. In Balanced Survival mode, requires an Axe for trees and a Pickaxe for rocks — preventing progression bypass while eliminating manual clutter.

📐 Extended Reach & 8m Limit Bypass

• Extended Hoe Reach: (20m default, configurable 5m–50m) Terraform comfortably without constantly jogging forward; automatically restores vanilla reach upon unequipping.
• Bypass 8m Height Limit: Removes Valheim's restrictive ±8m height clamp, allowing you to level deep canyons or raise towering mountain citadels up to a configurable limit (default: 50m).

🔼 Adjustable Raise Height & 3D Volumetric Preview

• Press E to enter Height Mode; scroll the mouse wheel to adjust single-click raise elevation (0.05m to 8.0m per click).
• Press Q to enter Area Mode; scroll the mouse wheel to adjust brush radius (0.5m to 20m).
• 3D Translucent Preview: Displays a live 3D translucent cylinder (or rotated cube box when Square brush is active) showing the exact raise volume and height before clicking, color-coded by reach.
• Camera Zoom Suppression: Prevents third-person camera jumping while scrolling to adjust brush radius or raise height.

🌐 Multi-Language Localization Automatically detects your active Valheim language. Custom tool names, hover descriptions, cart slope ratings, and HUD notifications are natively translated into: English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Polish, and Swedish.

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⚖️ Balanced Survival Mode

SmarterHoe is balanced by default for survival gameplay — all terrain operations realistically cost resources and stamina just like vanilla building:

• Dynamic Stone (Raise Ground): Proportionally scales with both Brush Area and Raise Height. Raising a towering 4m plateau costs realistically more than a 0.5m mound.
• Dynamic Stone (Paved Road): Proportionally scales with the cobblestone surface area paved.
• Live HUD Sync: Build menu dynamically displays exact stone count required. Placement ghost and 3D preview turn red when stone is insufficient.
• Stamina & Durability: Drained per operation; exhaustion halts clearing mid-sweep. Hoe and tools wear down; broken tools block operations.
• Progression Locked: Workbench proximity required for raising earth; Stonecutter required for paving. Axe/Pickaxe required for clearing debris.

🛠️ Freebuild Creative Mode

Press [Insert Hotkey Here] at any time to toggle into Freebuild Creative Mode:

• 0 Resources: No stone or materials ever required or deducted.
• 0 Crafting Stations: Terraform anywhere without needing nearby workbenches or stonecutters.
• 0 Durability & Stamina: Unlimited terraforming without exhaustion.
• Clean HUD: Stone requirements automatically vanish from the build bar.
• Note: Server owners can lock cost mode to Balanced Survival via ServerSync.

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⌨️ Controls & Hotkeys Summary

Hotkey	Action	Notes
Alt+Z / Ctrl+Z	Undo Terrain Action	Reverts last operation (or steps back last ramp waypoint)
Alt+Y / Ctrl+Y	Redo Terrain Action	Redoes last undone terrain modification
Q	Select Area Mode	Mouse wheel scroll resizes brush radius
E	Select Height Mode	Mouse wheel scroll adjusts raise height (0.05m – 8.0m)
L	Toggle Altitude Lock	Levels terrain to fixed elevation
Middle Mouse	Snap Altitude Lock	Aim at any placed piece to match its floor height
PageUp / PageDn	Adjust Locked Altitude	Tap or hold down for rapid smooth movement
Shift + PgUp/PgDn	5x Rapid Altitude Tuning	Multiplies elevation change rate by 5x
K	Place Ramp Waypoint	Places Point A, B, C... (or clears when done)
H	Auto-Carve Ramp Road	Carves along spline corridor. Hold Shift for Paved Stone
Backspace	Undo Last Waypoint	Removes most recent waypoint
[ / ]	Adjust Ramp Width	Changes road corridor width (1m – 20m)
Alt + [ / ]	Adjust Brush Radius	Changes leveling/brush radius (also Alt + Scroll)
P	Cycle Ramp Paint Mode	Cobblestone, Dirt, Keep Grass, Cultivated, Match Tool
G	Toggle Brush Shape	Switch between Circle and Square
Mouse Scroll	Rotate Square Brush	Rotates square brush when active
Left/Right Arrow	Rotate Square	Rotates square brush counter-clockwise / clockwise
Home	Reset Square Rotation	Snaps square rotation back to 0° (North)
U	Restore Terrain	Revert terrain to original world-generation

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💻 Console Commands (F5)

Open the Valheim in-game console with F5 (requires -console Steam launch option).

Command	Arguments	Description
resetterrain	[radius=10]	Reverts digging/leveling to natural world-gen state (supports Undo)
remove_forestry	[radius=10]	Clears trees, logs, stumps, and bushes within radius
cleardebris	[radius=10]	Clears rocks, boulders, and obstacles within radius
smarterhoe_undo	None	Undoes the last terrain modification
smarterhoe_redo	None	Redoes the last undone terrain modification

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⚙️ Configuration

Config file: BepInEx/config/com.jubaroo.smarterhoe.cfg All settings are configurable in-game using the BepInEx Configuration Manager (F1) or by editing the config file directly. Synced settings are enforced by the server.

Click to view all configuration options

Setting	Default	Synced?	Description
Lock Configuration	true	Yes	Locks configuration to server authority
CostMode	BalancedSurvival	Yes	BalancedSurvival or Freebuild
HoeReach	20	Yes	Maximum placement reach (meters)
MaxBrushRadius	20	Yes	Maximum brush radius (meters)
AllowBeyondGameLimit	true	Yes	Allows terraforming beyond ±8m ceiling/floor
MaxTerrainDelta	50	Yes	Maximum elevation delta from natural terrain
DefaultRaiseHeight	0.5	No	Default height added per raise
RaiseScrollStep	0.5	No	Height increment per mouse wheel step
MinRaise / MaxRaise	0.05 / 8.0	Yes	Min/Max selectable raise height
SuppressCameraZoom	true	No	Prevents zooming while adjusting hoe
Language	Auto	No	Auto detects language or choose specific
EnableUndo	true	Yes	Enable multi-step terrain undo and redo
MaxUndoSteps	15	Yes	Max undo history snapshots stored (1 to 50)
InstantFlatten	true	Yes	Instantly level 100% of terrain in brush
StonePerCubicMeter	0.25	Yes	Stone cost per cubic meter raised
StonePerPavedSquare	0.03	Yes	Stone cost per square meter paved
RequireCraftingStation	true	Yes	Require Workbench/Stonecutter
RequireToolsForDebris	true	Yes	Require Axe/Pickaxe for clearing
DynamicSlopeColoring	true	No	Color-code ramp guide by cart-friendliness

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🖥️ Dedicated Server Support & ServerSync

SmarterHoe features seamless ServerSync integration with full server-authoritative configuration.

• Server Authority: Server owners can enforce balance rules (CostMode, reach limits, radius, tools required). Admins listed in adminlist.txt are automatically exempt and can adjust settings in real-time.
• Client-Optional: You can safely join any vanilla or community server with SmarterHoe installed on your client. Local settings will apply without getting you kicked. Players without SmarterHoe can also join dedicated servers running this mod.

🤝 Compatibility

• Multiplayer: Modifies Valheim's native TerrainComp heightmaps and ZDO networks; all players see changes in real time.
• Dedicated Servers: Fully supported with headless optimizations.
• Known Conflicts: Mods that also patch Player.UpdatePlacementGhost or deeply override hoe piece behavior may conflict.

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🏆 Credits

Built by Jubaroo. Valheim terrain system research inspired by the broader Valheim modding community.

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📦 Installation Instructions

Prerequisite: You must have BepInExPack Valheim installed before installing SmarterHoe.

Using a Mod Manager (Recommended):

1. Open your preferred Valheim mod manager.
2. Click the Install with Mod Manager (or similar) button on this page, or search for "SmarterHoe" within the manager's download interface.
3. Ensure any prerequisites (like BepInEx) are enabled.
4. Launch the game via the mod manager.

Manual Installation:

1. Click the Manual Download button on this page.
2. Extract the downloaded .zip archive.
3. Move the com.jubaroo.smarterhoe.dll file into your Valheim\BepInEx\plugins\ folder.
4. Launch the game.