TameMate — Companion & Riding Overhaul

TameMate turns domesticated creatures into persistent companions that can be commanded, trained, grouped and ridden. It works from creature capabilities instead of a fixed species list, allowing compatible creatures from other mods to participate.

Current test build

Version 0.1.1 is the first integrated test build. It is intended for local and multiplayer validation before the public 1.0 release. Back up important worlds before testing any new gameplay mod.

Commands and behavior

Hold Left Alt + R to open the companion wheel.

Look at one companion to command it individually.
Look away to command nearby companions.
Hold Control while using the wheel to command the selected companion's group.
Hold Shift after opening the wheel to show the behavior page.
Assign a selected creature to groups 1–8 with Alt + 1…8. Alt + 0 removes the group.

Movement page:

Follow me
Stay
Move there
Attack the marked target
Guard this position
Return home
Patrol between home and the marked point
Mount

Behavior page:

Passive
Flee
Defensive
Neutral
Aggressive
Cycle formation
Cycle follow distance
Regroup

Available formations are free, wedge, line and circle.

Progression

Companions earn experience from combat, mounted travel and reduced group sharing. TameMate levels are separate from Valheim stars.

Each level awards one point for:

Health: +5% per point
Mount stamina: +5%
Damage: +3%
Defense: +2%, capped
Speed: +1%, capped at +10%
Food duration: +4%

The companion HUD shows health, level, XP, available points, behavior, order, group and environmental exposure. Attribute buttons become available while the cursor is unlocked.

Riding

Eligible adult companions receive a functional invisible mount controller. Existing saddle controllers are retained while their visual renderers can be hidden for bareback riding.

The system uses Valheim's real riding controller for movement, network ownership and stamina. Primary and secondary mounted attacks use the attacks already present on the creature. Creatures without a compatible attack or body shape may need a future prefab profile.

Care

Universal commandability for tamed creatures
Taming and growth tuning
Feeding from nearby player containers when no food is on the ground
Companion recovery instead of permanent death
Followers return through player teleports and portals
Hover information compatible with other hover-text mods
Persistent owner, home, order, group, formation, level and attributes

WorldCataclysms

WorldCataclysms is optional. When installed, companions show exposure in the TameMate HUD and receive event-specific movement, riding stamina and recovery penalties. Damage remains under WorldCataclysms authority to prevent duplicate hits.

Hurricane: heavy movement and mount-control penalty
Blizzard: cold movement and recovery penalty
Toxic fog: health regeneration disabled while exposed
Meteor shower: recovery and stamina penalty
Tsunami: movement and exhaustion penalty
Thunderstorm: wet movement penalty and normal lightning risk
Magical aurora: calm and gradual recovery

Interiors protect companions. Natural damage resistances remain handled by Valheim and WorldCataclysms.

My Little UI

My Little UI is optional. TameMate preserves its hover text, uses a separate lower-left companion panel and avoids modifying My Little UI's DLL or assets.

Better Tames and Better Riding

TameMate implements its own systems. During transition it detects Better Tames and Better Riding and logs a warning. Disable their overlapping functionality when testing TameMate to avoid duplicate commands, feeding, protection or mount controls.

Creature content mods remain installed because they provide their own models, prefabs, sounds and attacks.

Test console commands

Look at a tamed companion before using these commands:

tm status
tm claim
tm mount
tm group 1
tm order follow
tm order stay
tm stance passive
tm stance aggressive
tm xp 500

tm xp requires the server or an administrator.

Multiplayer

Every player must install the same patch version. Gameplay configuration is synchronized through Jötunn. Orders, ownership, progression and attributes are persisted in the creature's network data.