Modsmith Cycle

Modsmith Cycle shortens the restart loop while testing Valheim mods on Windows. From a locally hosted world, open the Escape menu and choose SAVE & RESTART MODDED.

It will:

give you five seconds to cancel;
use Valheim's normal save-and-quit path;
wait until Valheim has fully exited;
ask Steam to relaunch Valheim through the same -applaunch 892970 route used by r2modman;
rebuild the active profile's Doorstop/BepInEx arguments from the currently loaded profile;
select the same character and reopen the same local world as a private session.

The active profile is preserved through its absolute Doorstop/BepInEx launch arguments. Modsmith Cycle does not click through or automate the r2modman interface. Version 0.1.1 uses Steam for the relaunch because launching Valheim.exe directly can start an unmodded session.

Safety guards

Local worlds only. It will not auto-resume a remote or dedicated server.
By default, restart is blocked while another player is connected.
Each auto-resume uses a unique one-use token.
Resume requests expire after three minutes by default.
A detached helper waits for Valheim to exit before starting the replacement process.
If character or world selection fails, the cycle stops at the menu and does not retry.

Requirements

Windows 10 or 11
Valheim 1.0.12
BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350
A locally hosted world

The small restart helper targets .NET Framework 4.8, which is included with supported Windows 10/11 installations.

Installation

Keep both files together in the same plugin folder:

BepInEx/plugins/ModsmithCycle/ModsmithCycle.dll
BepInEx/plugins/ModsmithCycle/ModsmithCycle.Restarter.exe

Start Valheim with Start modded in r2modman. Enter a local world alone, press Escape, and use the button in the lower-right corner.

You can also use Left Ctrl + F9 while the Escape menu is open.

Configuration

Settings are written to BepInEx/config/MaddCatter.ModsmithCycle.cfg.

Restart.CountdownSeconds — cancel window, from 1 to 30 seconds.
Restart.AutoResumeLocalWorld — restart to the menu instead of reopening the world when disabled.
Safety.RequireNoOtherPlayers — blocks restart when a peer is connected; enabled by default.
Safety.MaximumResumeAgeSeconds — rejects delayed resume requests.
Hotkeys.Restart — optional shortcut used only while the Escape menu is open.
Compatibility.SteamExecutableOverride — optional full path to Steam.exe if automatic detection cannot find a nonstandard Steam installation.

Scope

Version 0.1.1 supports Windows and locally hosted worlds. It reloads the mods and configuration already present in the active r2modman profile; it does not install, stage, or replace mod files itself.

The save, modded Steam relaunch, active-profile preservation, character selection, and same-world resume sequence has been verified on a live Valheim 1.0.12 installation.

Privacy and networking

Modsmith Cycle makes no network requests and collects no data. The helper receives only the current process ID, executable path, launch arguments, working directory, and one-use resume token through a temporary local request file.