BoatMotor

A gearbox for your boat. Shift up, and the boat actually moves faster.

Gear 1 is the game exactly as it ships. Gears 2 to 5 are yours to set.

• Works in multiplayer. Nothing installed on the server or on anyone else's game.
• Only the boat you are standing in. Other people's boats are untouched, and your friends never get the gears.
• Off by default. Turn it on when you have an ocean to cross, turn it off when you want the normal game back.

Usage

Gears work while you are standing in a boat. The throttle works while you are at the wheel.

Action	Default
Shift up	Page Up
Shift down	Page Down
Accelerate — hold	Right mouse button
Brake — hold	Left Ctrl
Settings	F1, then pick BoatMotor

Shifting shows the gear centre-screen, like Gear 3 (2x). Gear 1 always says normal.

The accelerator is a motor, not a sail control. Hold it and the boat is pushed forward for as long as you hold it — your sail setting is never touched, and it works with the sail furled. The brake works the same way in reverse: hold it and the boat slows down, coming to a stop rather than backing up. Reverse is still the game's own control, where it belongs.

The gear multiplier applies to the motor too, so a higher gear is also a stronger push.

Both throttle keys are on your mouse hand and your little finger, so A and D stay free to steer while you hold the throttle.

They only respond while you are actually at the wheel. That is what lets them sit on the block and crouch buttons: step away from the helm and right mouse blocks and left control crouches, exactly as they always did.

Every key is rebindable, and none of them fire while you are typing in chat.

Settings

Section	Option	Default	What it does
General	Boat motor	Off	The main toggle.
General	Toggle hotkey	none	Optional. Gear 1 is already the normal game, so this is unbound.
General	Show on-screen messages	On	Shows the gear when you shift.
Gears	Gear up / Gear down	Page Up / Page Down	Rebind as you like.
Gears	Gear 2 speed	1.5x
Gears	Gear 3 speed	2x
Gears	Gear 4 speed	3x
Gears	Gear 5 speed	4x	Anything from 1x to 10x.
Throttle	Accelerate at the helm (hold)	Right mouse	Only while steering, so it never steals the block button.
Throttle	Brake at the helm (hold)	Left Ctrl	Only while steering, so it never steals crouch.
Throttle	Thrust	3	How hard the motor pushes. Gear multiplier applies on top.
Throttle	Brake force	10	How hard the brake pushes back.
Advanced	Take over the boat while aboard	Off	See below.

All of it can be changed while you play — no restart.

One thing to know about sailing with friends

Valheim runs a boat's physics on one player's machine, and that is not always the person steering — it is usually whoever stepped aboard first. If a friend ends up holding the boat, your gears do nothing, because the movement is being calculated on their machine.

The Take over the boat while aboard option fixes that: it moves the boat's simulation onto your machine while you are standing in it. It is off by default, so turn it on if you sail with company and want the gears to be reliable.

Sailing alone, you always hold your own boat and it just works.

Requirements

BepInEx (the Valheim pack). Any mod manager installs it for you.