Changelog

0.9.0

Rune Display Mode — Full Redesign

The rune display mode is now rendered by a custom, game-themed panel instead of the plain vanilla runestone reading — and every part of it is now configurable per-entry under a new display.rune block:

• Layout: header, divider, word-wrapped body, and an optional bullet list, stacked in a centered card that auto-sizes to its content.
• Fonts & colors: independent color/size/font-style (Bold/Italic/Underline/Uppercase/Strikethrough, any combination)/alignment for the header, body, and list rows, plus panel background and accent (divider) color.
• Lists: an items: array renders as a styled bullet list below the body — pick your own glyph, color, size, and style.
• Fade in/out: the panel now fades in on open and fades out on dismiss (fade_in/fade_out, seconds, default 0.35 each — 0 for instant). Re-triggering a reading mid fade-out crossfades smoothly instead of flashing.
• Uses the game's own font and vanilla Image color fills only — no custom assets. Ghost mode (ubiquitous invulnerability + undetected) and ghost-mode/intro interplay are unchanged from the old rune mode.
• Entries with no rune: block are unaffected in behavior — they get the new panel with the same themed defaults (gold header, parchment body, dark stone background) the old vanilla reading approximated.

See the wiki's Display Modes page for the full field reference and examples.

Reward Message Templating (fix)

chat_message and discord reward messages now expand the firing entry's full token set — {companionName}, {rank}, {rating}, {winSize}, {opponentOwner}, {mode}, {bracketSize}, {partyName}, {biome}, {level}, and the rest — not just {player_name}. Previously any other {...} placeholder in a reward message rendered literally, so reward text couldn't reference what actually triggered it. Display/message text was already templated; rewards now match it (chain-completion and NPC-conversation-choice rewards, which have no triggering event to template from, still expand only {player_name}).

Lost Scrolls II Integration — Rankings, Party Duels & Tournaments

Seven new trigger types for the companion mod's competitive suite (party duels, party ladder, and bracket tournaments), plus the matching template variables (CRIT-13) so guidance can announce results without extra plumbing:

• dvergr_rank_first — a companion reaches #1 on the duel ladder (optional caste: filter). Vars: {rank} {rating} {companionName} {ownerName}.
• dvergr_party_duel_won — a party of companions wins a team-vs-team duel. Vars: {partyName} {winSize} {opponentOwner} {mvpCaste} {ownerName}.
• dvergr_party_rank_changed — a party crosses into (or moves within) the party ladder's top ranks. Vars: {rank} {rating} {partyName} {ownerName}.
• dvergr_party_rank_first — a party reaches #1 on the party ladder. Vars: {rank} {rating} {partyName} {ownerName}.
• dvergr_tournament_joined — a player registers for a bracket tournament (1v1 or party).
• dvergr_tournament_match — a round's pairing is announced. Vars: {round} {opponent}.
• dvergr_tournament_won — the tournament champion is decided. Vars: {mode} {bracketSize}.

New templating variables: {partyName}, {winSize}, {opponentOwner}, {mvpCaste}, {round}, {opponent}, {mode}, {bracketSize}.

0.8.0

Quest-Start Discord Log (new)

A separate, opt-in Discord webhook that posts a debug/monitoring line every time a player starts a new quest — the first step of a chain, or the first fire of any single entry (player- or global-scope). This is independent of the normal announce.discord and discord_on_complete posts, so you can route quest-start tracking to its own channel to verify quests trigger as intended.

Each log is a rich embed containing the quest's base info (title, id, category, trigger type), the player's name, their location (biome + coordinates at trigger time), and a UTC timestamp. It fires once per character per quest (latched), so cooldown re-fires and later chain steps do not re-log. vsg_reset / vsg_reset_player clear the latch so a quest can be re-tested.

New BepInEx config (Discord section):

• QuestStartWebhookUrl (default empty) — webhook URL for the quest-start log, a separate channel from WebhookUrl. Server-side only; empty disables the log.
• QuestStartLogEnabled (default true) — master toggle for the quest-start log (requires QuestStartWebhookUrl to be set).

Config Loading

• Guidance YAML is now loaded recursively from subfolders. Every *.yaml / *.yml file anywhere under BepInEx/config/ValheimServerGuide/ — at any depth — is merged into the config, and the live file-watcher reloads on edits in subfolders too. Organise guidance by pack/topic in nested folders; ids must still be unique across the whole tree. Flat top-level layouts are unaffected.

0.7.1

Intro Cinematic Fixes

• Player is now fully frozen and invulnerable for the entire intro. Previously a stray key press (Use/Escape) released the freeze and ghost mode while the intro was still on screen, letting the player move, attack, and take damage mid-cinematic. Input is now blocked and all damage to the local player is suppressed for the whole display.
• Fixed input staying dead after an un-skipped intro. An intro that played to the end without being dismissed (common right after login) could leave the input lock stuck, disabling keys like E/C/X afterward. Release is now driven by the intro's own timer, so it always lifts.
• Configurable on-screen duration. The intro now stays up for IntroDisplaySeconds (default 15) instead of ending early, then auto-fades out. Skippable with Use/Escape after a short grace.
• Fade-out on exit. Skipping (or the timer elapsing) now fades the intro text out (IntroFadeOutDuration, default 1.0s) instead of cutting instantly.

New Config (BepInEx Display section)

• IntroDisplaySeconds (default 15) — seconds the intro stays on screen before auto-fading out.
• IntroFadeOutDuration (default 1.0) — intro fade-out duration on skip/timeout.

Dependencies

• Bumped the Jötunn dependency to ValheimModding-Jotunn-2.29.1.

0.7.0

Lost Scrolls II Integration

Adds three new trigger types so guidance can react to Lost Scrolls II's companion system. The events are raised by Lost Scrolls II through ServerGuide's public GuidanceDispatcher.Raise API — install both mods to use them.

• dvergr_recruited — fires when a player frees (communes with) a corrupted Dvergr. Optional caste: filter (Rogue / FireMage / IceMage / SupportMage); omit it to match any caste.
• dvergr_duel_won — fires when a player wins a Dvergr duel. Optional caste: filter matches on the winner's caste.
• dvergr_level_up — fires when a recruited Dvergr levels up. Optional caste: filter and optional level: (level: 0 or omitted = any level, fires on every level-up).

Schema

• New trigger.caste field on TriggerSpec for the three triggers above.

0.6.0

This release lands a large batch of features (new triggers, conversation sequencing, enhanced rewards, system polish) plus a reworked progress panel.

New Triggers

• Kill count. The kill trigger now takes a count field — fire after N kills instead of one. Progress is tracked per character and shown in the HUD/Codex.
• Shared party kill progress. Add share_progress: true to a multi-count kill so nearby group members' counters advance from each other's kills.
• 8 interaction triggers: crafting_table_used, cooking_used, portal_used (optional tag), ward_activated, tamed_creature (optional creature), sign_read, tombstone_picked, and ship_sailed. Each takes an optional prefab filter; omit it to match any.
• 4 time & day triggers: time_of_day (game_time_fraction + window), day_number, real_world_time (utc_hour/utc_minute), and day_of_week. Driven by a background poll; combine with once/cooldown for one-shot vs. per-day firing. (Individual entries only, like timed.)

NPC Conversations

• Multi-quest picker. Holding E on an NPC with 2+ eligible npc_conversation entries now opens a chooser listing each entry's title; selecting one starts that conversation. A single eligible entry still opens directly.
• Multi-node dialogue trees. Conversations can define a nodes: tree instead of a flat choice list. Choices can jump between nodes (goto_node), gate on prerequisites (requires + hidden_when_locked/locked_hint), or fire other entries (goto). resume_on_return: true reopens at the last-visited node; node progress persists per character.
• NPC hover-text override. A per-entry hover_text: block replaces the default [Hold E] Quest hint, keyed by state (default / after_fire).

Enhanced Rewards

• 13 new reward types: map_pin, location_pin, unlock_recipe, spawn_creature, set_global_key, remove_global_key, set_player_key, remove_player_key, weather, chat_message, teleport (server allowlist), rename_player, and discord (per-reward webhook). World/server-affecting rewards are resolved server-side.

Display

• bubble display mode. Floats text above an NPC's head in world-space without opening a panel or locking input — ideal for ambient flavour. Vanilla trader bubbles are suppressed while a VSG bubble shows.

Progress Panel (HUD Tracker) rework

• Player-curated panel. The F10 progress panel now shows only the quests a player pins from the Guide Codex (F3 -> Show on Tracker) instead of every active quest. The panel is hidden by default and unhides when you pin a quest.
• Codex pin toggle. In-progress, trackable quests (chains, multi-count kill, multi-count npc_item_submit, and item_acquired goals) get a "Show on Tracker" pill; finished quests and one-off tips do not. Multi-count kill quests now also appear in the Codex while in progress so they can be pinned.
• No input lock. The panel no longer freezes movement/look or shows the cursor — it displays over normal gameplay. Pins persist for the session; the panel starts hidden each login.
• Drag-to-move. The panel can be dragged anywhere while the inventory or ESC menu is open; the position is saved per character.
• Deprecated: auto_hide_delay / fade_duration are ignored — the panel no longer auto-hides or fades.

Admin

• vsg_debug. Dumps your eligible entries, all VSG.* state keys, and the last 10 fired IDs to the console.
• vsg_reset / vsg_reset_player clear more state. Resets now also clear kill counts, conversation-node pointers, and HUD progress-panel pins (VSG.trk).

0.5.2

New Features

• vsg_list_player <playerName> — Show the full VSG guidance state of any currently-online player directly from the admin console. Lists fired IDs, max_fires counters, chain progress (step / complete), item-submit progress, and goal-started flags. Works from both listen-server hosts and remote admin clients; results appear asynchronously after the RPC round-trip.
• vsg_reset_player <playerName> [all | <id>] — Reset a specific online player's guidance state. Mirrors vsg_reset exactly (clears fired IDs, fire counters, chain state, submit progress, goal state, raven flags) but targets another player's character instead of your own. The admin console receives a confirmation message once the target client executes the reset. Both commands are admin-only (onlyAdmin: true) and re-verified server-side.

0.5.1

Bug Fixes

• Raven re-show after vsg_reset fixed. After vsg_reset (all or single-id), raven entries now correctly re-show when re-triggered. The root cause was that Vanilla's Raven.AddTempText silently no-ops when a RavenText with the same key already exists in its static list, and vsg_reset clearing the seen-flag disabled vanilla's own cleanup for that entry. The fix evicts stale RavenText entries from Raven.m_tempTexts on every reset path and defensively before every re-show.
• max_fires entries re-fire after vsg_reset. Entries using trigger.max_fires: N (such as player_death tips) were permanently blocked after hitting their cap, even after vsg_reset all. Fire counts are stored in separate VSG.fc.* keys that the old reset code never cleared. vsg_reset all and vsg_reset <id> now also clear these counters.
• vsg_list surfaces max_fires progress. Entries using max_fires never appeared as "fired" in vsg_list (they don't write VSG.fired). They are now tagged [fired N/max] in the configured-entries list so you can see their counter and confirm it cleared after a reset.
• skill_level trigger fires on login for skills already above threshold. Previously the skill_level trigger only fired when a skill level actively increased during the session. If a player logged in with a skill already above one or more thresholds, those entries were silently skipped. On login the mod now scans every configured skill_level threshold; any threshold the player already meets that has not yet fired is raised in ascending level order. For chains, this means all qualifying steps cascade automatically — step 1 fires first (advancing the chain), then step 2 fires, and so on.
• location_entered trigger now detects mod-added locations reliably. The previous implementation read ZoneSystem.m_locationInstances and required m_placed = true, which is only set after the server re-syncs location data to the client. Locations generated after login never received that re-sync, so the trigger was permanently skipped for any zone entered for the first time. Detection now uses Location.s_allLocations (the scene's live spawned Location components) as the primary source, with the ZoneSystem as a fallback for locations lacking a Location component. The fallback also now tries m_name when m_prefabName is empty. Both paths emit LogDebug lines (enable LogLevel = Debug in BepInEx.cfg) so you can confirm the exact prefab names being detected and verify your wildcard patterns.

0.5.0

New Features

• Multi-goal item_acquired triggers. An item_acquired entry can now require several different items at once via a goals: list (each with its own item and count). The entry fires only when every goal is met simultaneously. Items may be collected in any order, and crafted items count toward their goals. Replaces the need to chain several single-item collection steps.
• Per-item goal progress. Multi-goal entries show a per-item breakdown (FineWood: 18/30, Coal: 12/25, …) — in the HUD Tracker row tooltip and in the Guide Codex body — so the player always knows exactly what is still needed. The Codex badge shows N / M goals completed.
• Persistent "started" state. Once the player has collected toward any goal, the entry stays visible in both the HUD Tracker and the Codex even if those items are later removed from the inventory (crafted away, dropped, or lost on death). Visibility is no longer tied to the current inventory once collection has begun.

Improvements

• Plain numeric progress. The HUD progress bar has been removed in favour of a simple current/goal count across all collection displays (chain counter steps, npc_item_submit, and item_acquired goals) for a cleaner, consistent look.
• Chain counter steps show their count. A chain step with a progress_goal now displays its current/goal count in the HUD Tracker row.
• Codex completion is goal-accurate. A multi-goal item_acquired entry is only marked complete in the Codex when every goal is currently satisfied, re-checked live against the inventory.
• vsg_reset clears goal state. vsg_reset all and vsg_reset <id> now also clear the latched goal-started flag.

0.4.0

Improvements

• Raven display queue. Multiple raven entries that fire in quick succession are now shown one at a time instead of all at once. Each raven persists until the player interacts with it (or the raven auto-dismisses). The next queued raven appears only after the current one is acknowledged, so no message is skipped or overwritten.
• Dungeon deferral for raven. Raven entries that fire while the player is inside a dungeon or interior location are held in a deferred queue. The moment the player exits, the deferred ravens drain into the normal queue and show in order.
• vsg_reset clears the raven queue. vsg_reset all wipes the entire raven display queue and deferred list. vsg_reset <id> removes any pending instance of that specific entry from both queues and cancels it immediately if it is the currently-active raven.

0.3.2

Improvements

• item_acquired inventory seeding. When an item_acquired count > 1 entry becomes eligible (on player login or config reload), the mod now immediately reads the player's current inventory and seeds the progress counter from it. Items already carried before the guide entry existed count toward the goal — the player is never penalised for having collected materials early. If the inventory total already meets the goal at that moment, the entry fires right away without requiring another pickup.
• Chain step inventory seeding. When a chain counter step uses progress_trigger: { type: item_acquired }, activating the step now seeds the counter from the player's existing inventory instead of starting at zero. If the seeded count already meets progress_goal, the step advances immediately.
• Wiki updated. Trigger-Types, Guide-Chains, and YAML-Configuration pages document the new inventory-seeding behaviour and the count field for standalone item_acquired entries.

0.3.0

New Features

• item_acquired count goal. Add trigger.count: N to any item_acquired entry to require the player to accumulate N of that item in their inventory before the entry fires. Progress is tracked as the current inventory total (all matching stacks summed), so two stacks of 10 count as 20. Both picking up items and crafting them count toward the goal. A current/goal progress bar appears in the HUD Tracker while collecting and disappears once the goal is reached.

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0.2.0

New Features

• Multi-file YAML loading. The loader now scans the entire BepInEx/config/ValheimServerGuide/ folder for *.yaml and *.yml files and merges them into one config. Split your guidance across as many files as you like. Duplicate ids across files: first file (alphabetically) wins. A malformed file is skipped with a log error; other files still load.
• Biome trigger. New trigger.type: biome fires when the local player enters a named biome (e.g. biome: BlackForest). Fires once per session entry; resets on spawn so it also fires on first login.
• Distance trigger. New trigger.type: distance fires when the local player comes within trigger.radius metres (default 50) of a world location whose prefab name matches trigger.location (trailing * wildcard supported). Fires at most once per location per character.
• Codex entry summary:. Add a top-level summary: field to any entry; the Codex shows a "Quest Complete" header + recap once the chain finishes. Falls back to the last step's message if not set.
• Codex step description:. In-progress chain steps now display description: in the Codex body (what the player needs to do), not the completion message: text. Entries without description fall back to message as before.
• General category. Added General to the list of valid Codex categories.
• Display mode rules doc. wiki/Display-Modes.md now includes a full recommended-mode table per trigger type (rune for action events, raven for environmental events, message for NPC/minor tips).
• Guide Authoring Reference. New wiki/Guide-Authoring-Reference.md — comprehensive reference for guide authors covering display mode assignments, chain patterns, and Codex field semantics.

Bug Fixes

• Raven re-fire fix. Raven entries now correctly re-fire when once is not set or after vsg_reset. Previously the vanilla Player.m_shownTutorials gate caused the raven to show only once per character save, ignoring VSG's own repeat controls.
• Raven message: and template support. Raven mode now reads the top-level message: field (same as all other modes). Template tokens ({player_name}, {biome}, etc.) are expanded each time the entry fires.
• Timed trigger player-scope fix. Player-scope timed entries now run on each client individually. Previously dedicated servers skipped player-scope timers entirely, preventing per-player timed tips from ever firing on dedicated servers.
• vsg_reset raven fix. vsg_reset (both all and single-entry) now clears the vanilla raven seen-flag so raven entries can re-show after a reset.

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0.1.0

Initial release.

Features

• YAML-driven guidance system. Server admins write a guidance.yaml that is automatically pushed to all connected clients. No client-side file editing required.
• 18 trigger types. React to crafting, item pickups, kills, builds, biome entries, location discovery, skill milestones, NPC interactions, boss defeats, player deaths, timed intervals, and more.
• 6 display modes. Raven (Hugin popup), Message toast, Chat line, Rune viewer, Intro cinematic, and NPC conversation panel — all using vanilla Valheim UI.
• Guide chains. Multi-step quests with per-step triggers, progress counters, and HUD tracking.
• HUD Tracker. On-screen objective tracker widget shows active guide chains with live progress bars. Toggle with F10 (configurable).
• Codex panel. In-game guide browser (F3) organised by category with full entry descriptions.
• NPC Conversation system. Hold E near a trader to open a dialogue panel with choice buttons. Choices can fire entries or grant rewards.
• Reward system. Grant items, skill experience, skill levels, and status-effect buffs on entry completion or conversation choices.
• Discord integration. Server-side webhook POSTs when entries fire or chains complete. Webhook URL stays on the server only.
• Player vs Global scope. Player-scoped entries track per-character; global entries fire for all connected players simultaneously and persist with the world save.
• Firing controls. once, cooldown, requires, and stop_when give full control over when entries fire.
• Admin commands. vsg_reset and vsg_list for testing and moderation from the F5 console.
• Hot-reload. Edit and save guidance.yaml — all connected clients receive the update instantly, no server restart needed.