Forge Pipes 0.3.1 — open-chest transport beta

Build copper pipe networks that supply your kilns and furnaces, collect finished products, and move items from buffer chests into storage. Use fixed pieces or a single stretchable pipe between endpoints. Kilns process wood twice as fast and hold four times their normal wood capacity.

Every player, including the host, must install the same version. This is not a server-only mod.

New in 0.3.1: transfers while browsing a chest

Pipes can supply ingredients, collect furnace products, and move items between chests while a connected chest's inventory is open. No new setting is required. The inventory display refreshes through the game's normal inventory system.

The viewing player keeps control of their open chest. Connected closed chests and production stations can transfer network ownership to that player so automation uses the same live inventory as the UI. Allow a few seconds for an ownership handoff. Modes, capacity limits, ward checks and loaded-area requirements still apply.

Pipes skip a source stack while you are dragging it or using its split dialog. Other stacks continue moving; chest-to-chest transfers also avoid inserting into a reserved destination slot.

Multiplayer exception: if two different players have both endpoint chests open, that link waits until one closes their chest. The mod does not take an open chest away from its viewer. If different players view chests connected to one machine, one viewer is selected in stable chest-ID order; routes to other viewers' open chests wait. During handoffs or when no eligible output inventory is ready, machine output can still drop normally.

Chest-to-chest transport

All existing and newly placed eligible chests default to Both. Look at a closed chest and hold the game's alternative-placement control while pressing Use to cycle its pipe mode. On standard keyboard bindings this is Shift + E. The hover text shows the current mode and your mapped controls. Controller interaction follows the game's alternative-use modifier for the selected layout.

Mode	Receives items through pipes	Supplies items through pipes
Both (input + output)	Yes	Yes
Send only (output)	No	Yes
Receive only (input)	Yes	No

Input/output are relative to the chest. These settings apply to both chest transfers and station automation. Send only chests cannot collect furnace output; Receive only chests cannot feed a furnace. Manual chest use is unchanged. The mode is stored with the chest and synchronized through its network data; only eligible public player-built chests offer the control, and ward access is required.

Chest transfers follow Send only → Both → Receive only; Send only can also send directly to Receive only. Two Both chests do not transfer between themselves, and two chests with the same single-direction mode do not transfer. This prevents automatic loops and keeps existing default chest networks from shuffling their contents when you upgrade.

Example: finished ingots to your storage room

1. Connect the furnace's gold output port to your buffer chest. Leave the buffer on Both so it can accept ingots.
2. Connect another socket on that buffer chest to your storage-room chest using a pipe run.
3. Set the storage chest to Receive only. From Both, press the mode shortcut twice, allowing the hover text to update between presses.
4. Allow a few seconds for transport to start; either chest can remain open. Both rooms and the connecting route must remain loaded.

Tin and Copper ingots already in the buffer can now move into storage. You can also empty an ordinary stock chest into another by setting the source to Send only and the destination to Receive only.

There are no item filters: a sending chest can transfer any item in its inventory, including raw materials. Use a separate finished-product route when you want only finished goods moved. To choose one exact destination, connect only that eligible destination to the relevant route. A shared network may send to several eligible chests; Receive only destinations are tried before Both destinations, with a stable object-ID order within each group. This is not an item sorter or a balancing system. Machines can deposit directly into eligible storage chests on their output network without passing through a buffer.

Building pipes

Discover Wood and a Copper ingot, equip the Hammer, and stand near a workbench. Copper ore does not unlock pipes. Search for Forge pipe in the Crafting/Transport filter. Each of the eleven pieces costs 2 Wood + 1 Copper. Normal creative/no-cost bypasses still apply.

Available pieces: stretch pipe, straight pipe, horizontal elbow, tee junction, vertical pipe, up elbow, down elbow, chest connector, ingredient inlet, fuel inlet and product outlet. Pipes have a grainy copper finish and embedded shaded copper Hammer icons.

Port	Color	Purpose
Chest	Blue	Chest access, subject to the selected mode
Ingredient	Green	Wood, ore or native recipe input
Fuel	Gray	Station fuel, normally coal
Product	Gold	Finished coal, ingots or native station output

Select a pipe to show nearby connection guides. Aim at a port or a free pipe end to snap and align. Optional connectors put a wide collar at the matching port. Endpoints must meet with opposing directions; crossing the middle of a pipe does not connect it. Use a tee for branches.

To build a stretch pipe, select Forge pipe - stretch (0.5-16m), click a starting port/end, aim at the destination, then click again. The first click does not spend materials. Select another piece or unequip the Hammer to cancel. Each completed run is one saved piece spanning 0.5–16 metres between endpoints. Join runs at their free ends for longer routes. The curve aligns to endpoints but does not find a route around obstacles. Dismantle and rebuild to change a placed shape.

When placing a chest, its preview has connection guides and snaps upright to a free horizontal pipe endpoint. The alternative-placement control permits free placement. Pipes remain static without ground support and provide support to socket-connected floating chests. Removing their connected pipe restores normal chest support rules. Combat damage still applies.

Kilns and furnaces

The mod recognizes charcoal kilns, smelters, blast furnaces and Eitr refineries through their native recipes and ports. Only kilns get the 2× speed and 4× wood queue bonuses. Eitr refinery and modded-machine behavior have not been verified live.

For a furnace, connect ore to the green port, coal to gray, and the finished-product chest to gold. For a kiln, one connected Both chest can provide Wood and collect Coal through the same route. A separate eligible output route takes priority. The kiln can use its output connection to find Wood if no eligible input route exists. Pipe feeding burns ordinary Wood only, not fine wood, core wood or ancient bark. Smoke still needs a clear exit.

Transfer limits

• Chest transport runs roughly once per second and moves up to 10 individual items per source chest per tick, shared across its destinations.
• Station feeding moves up to ten ingredient items and ten fuel items per machine per tick, within native capacity.
• A chest can stay open during transfers handled by its viewer. Ownership handoffs can add a few seconds; two different viewers at opposite ends pause that link.
• A full storage chest leaves untransferred items in the source chest. Other eligible items or destinations can still be tried.
• Furnace output is collected when produced. If no ready eligible chest has room, remaining output drops at the station normally. Existing ground drops are not collected.
• Only public, stationary, player-built chests participate. Private/personal chests, carts, boats and dungeon containers are excluded.
• The simulating player needs ward access. Transfers require compatible ownership of both inventories; the mod requests ownership before moving items.
• Machines, participating chests and the entire route must be loaded. This does not automate unloaded storage rooms or offline worlds.
• No direct machine-to-machine transfer, traveling-item animation, item filters or user-defined priority list is included.

Requirements and installation

Built against Windows Valheim 1.0.15 with BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350, for hosting through the game's Start Server option. No Jotunn dependency. Dedicated servers are not a confirmed deployment: automation depends on a local player for access checks. Other platforms and crossplay have not been validated. Version matching is the players' responsibility; no enforced handshake is included.

1. Close Valheim on every participating PC and back up your world and character.
2. Install BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350 following its instructions.
3. Extract this ZIP and merge its BepInEx folder into your Valheim directory. The DLL belongs at Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ForgePipes/ForgePipes.dll.
4. Remove duplicate older ForgePipes DLLs from other plugin folders. If using a mod manager, install into and launch the intended profile.
5. Launch with BepInEx and confirm Loading [Forge Pipes 0.3.1] in BepInEx/LogOutput.log.
6. Update every friend to the same version, then host with Start Server as usual.

Once published, a compatible mod manager can install the package and its declared BepInEx dependency. Game updates and other automation, kiln, placement or support mods may affect compatibility. There is no custom configuration file in this release.

Updating and removal

Existing pipe prefab names are retained. Default Both mode preserves existing station access. Replace the DLL with the game closed and update everyone together. Keep a world backup; downgrades do not retain the new routing behavior.

Before removing the mod, empty enlarged kiln queues, give floating chests normal support, and dismantle all Forge Pipes while the mod is still installed. Save and quit, then remove the DLL from every player. Loading and saving without the mod can remove its custom pieces; reinstalling cannot guarantee their recovery.

Release status and troubleshooting

Fixed pipes, stretch pipes and 0.3.0 chest routing were confirmed working by the original tester. Open-chest automation in 0.3.1 is a new beta feature and has not yet been verified in a live multiplayer session. Compilation, graph/alignment tests, stretch serialization tests, mode/direction tests and installed-game compatibility checks pass. Additional tests exercise the actual chest-transfer tick with inventory doubles for open sources/destinations, ownership requests, reserved stacks, full storage and transfer budgets. These tests do not simulate Unity inventories, multiplayer ownership or save/reload behavior.

If items do not move, check the hover modes, confirm a connected endpoint route, loaded areas, free inventory space and ward access, then allow a few seconds. Both-to-Both intentionally does nothing. If a mode does not change, wait for the hover text to update and verify that nobody has the chest open. Only the chest's network owner commits the requested change.

Before wider deployment, test a small batch with a friend: count items before/after transfer; try full chests, opening the source or destination, dragging/splitting stacks, two players viewing opposite ends, mode changes, disconnecting routes, host/client ownership changes and saving/reloading. Report issues on the download page with mod/game versions, chest types, a minimal reproduction and relevant log excerpts. Remove personal information before sharing logs.

Forge Pipes is an unofficial Valheim mod, unaffiliated with Iron Gate. The archive contains the mod DLL, original package icon and documentation. Valheim and BepInEx assemblies are not redistributed.