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 0.1.3 is an 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

Press U to open or close the companion whistle wheel. Move the mouse toward an option and press right click to select it. Press Escape to close it.

• Look at one companion to command it individually.
• Look away to command nearby companions.
• Use Group and scope inside the wheel to choose one companion, nearby companions or a selected group.
• Assign the selected creature to groups 1–8 from the wheel. Group 0 removes it from a numbered group.
• Use the wheel's internal pages for orders, behavior, formations, attributes and riding. No modifier keys are required.

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.

ARK-style whistles

Issuing a wheel command produces an audible whistle. Follow, stay, move, attack and regroup use distinct whistle patterns so players can recognize the order by sound. The whistle and command are synchronized in multiplayer and only play for players within hearing distance.

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.

Mounted auto pickup

While riding, TameMate automatically collects nearby ground loot such as wood, stone, ores and creature drops. It uses the player's normal inventory and respects item pickup delay, available slots and items marked as non-auto-pickup. The default radius is 6 meters and can be configured between 2 and 10 meters.

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.