EpicLoot progression fix

An unofficial compatibility add-on for EpicLoot 0.14.10. Keep the original EpicLoot installed. This package applies Harmony patches; it does not replace or redistribute EpicLoot's DLL, assets or configuration.

Version 0.1.2 also corrects the interaction between star-dependent creature drop chances and vanilla's pseudo-random countdown.

Behavior

When EpicLoot's Item Drop Limits is PlayerMustHaveCraftedItem, identification respects the unidentified item's tier without imposing an additional boss-kill gate. It still requires the player rolling the equipment to have held that equipment before. Recipe knowledge alone is not enough. Drops remain shared; this mod does not create personalized loot for each recipient.

• Identification previews enumerate the same eligible replacements as actual rolls.
• Equipment fallbacks respect item knowledge and the original classification ceiling. Unclassified equipment cannot silently bypass the restriction.
• Unidentified conversion retains the selected TierN equipment pool's ceiling. Tier-zero drops become Unidentified Starter Gear instead of being stamped Meadows through their item classification. Original EpicLoot already uses classification for classified items; it falls back to the physical drop biome only for unclassified items. This add-on uses normal item resolution when classification is missing. Previously saved unidentified items keep their existing tier.
• Starter Gear identification uses the configured Meadows material cost unless IdentifyCosts explicitly contains a None entry. With EpicLoot's defaults, that is 1–6 Flint for Magic through Ancient, plus the selected category's existing cost. This changes costs only, not the starter loot pool.
• Identification prepares the requested number of results before taking payment or consuming the selected items. An incomplete batch consumes nothing. The generation loop stops at the requested quantity.
• Gambling restores its temporary loot-generation flags even if generation throws.
• Sacrifice lists only eligible items in your personal inventory. Items in nearby chests or external inventory providers cannot be selected for sacrifice. Other tabs, including Identify, and nearby material access are unchanged.
• Quick Stack - Store - Sort - Trash - Restock favorites are protected in Sacrifice, including both favorited item types and favorited slots. This integration was checked against version 1.4.15 and does not require installing that mod if you do not use it. If the mod is present but its favorite state cannot be read, Sacrifice blocks the affected selection and reports an error rather than ignoring favorites.
• The selection is rechecked immediately before sacrifice. If any item was moved, protected, or became otherwise ineligible during the countdown, the whole operation is cancelled without destroying items or awarding materials.

The add-on does not select a gating mode for you, rewrite loot pools or configured drop chances, change rarity/affix settings, or alter crafting costs. Existing configuration patches still control those choices. Recipe-based and boss-based gating modes retain their existing progression behavior.

Held-item gating intentionally gives a fresh character no eligible equipment until they have crafted or picked up an eligible finished item. Type-name loot entries such as Swords are supported. If a roll has no local player, the add-on preserves EpicLoot's upstream fallback behavior because no player's item knowledge can be evaluated.

Source-tier preservation assumes vanilla equipment tiers: 0 = starter, 1 = Meadows, 2 = Black Forest/Ocean, 3 = Swamp, 4 = Mountain, 5 = Plains, 6 = Mistlands, 7 = Ashlands, 8 = Deep North. Custom biome orders or differently numbered TierN pools need a compatibility review; they are not automatically inferred from the player's physical location.

Star-dependent creature drops

Vanilla normally uses a countdown for drop chances at or below 30%. That countdown is keyed by item prefab and probability; a different probability resets it. Star-dependent chances can therefore repeatedly reset the countdown when differently starred creatures are killed.

The add-on bypasses that countdown only for native CharacterDrop entries whose level multiplier is enabled, or Drop That entries with an explicit minimum/maximum level condition. Those entries use the game's existing independent random roll at their already-calculated chance. The global NoPseudoDrops setting is not changed. Ordinary unscaled, unconditioned drops retain vanilla behavior, and guaranteed drops remain guaranteed.

This works with the pack's trophy, rare-material and shaman queen-bee rules without copying their chances into this mod. It does not add loot or change quantities. SLS custom tables already use direct rolls and are unaffected. Drop That support is optional and was checked against version 3.1.5; unsupported metadata produces an explicit startup error.

With independent rolls, a configured 25% chance means 25% on each kill, with no accumulated guarantee. Long unlucky streaks remain possible.

Optional Rested timing

BepInEx/config/valheim.epiclootprogressionfix.cfg contains [Resting] Rested delay multiplier. The default 1 preserves vanilla timing. Set 0.5 to activate Rested twice as quickly: 10 seconds instead of the installed game's 20 seconds, subject to the normal update tick. The server synchronizes this setting to clients. Fire/shelter/resting requirements, comfort, regeneration and buff duration are unchanged. This affects only the delay for applying Rested, not elapsed time for other status effects.

Installation and compatibility

If DiscordBot_AWL is installed, the add-on corrects its death-quip text-file search. Pack authors may place their templates in BepInEx/config/DiscordBot/QuipsOverrides; these are read after DiscordBot initialization and survive its default-file writer. Restart after editing that override folder. Without an override folder, the normal Quips folder is read with the corrected *.txt pattern. This compatibility path was checked against DiscordBot_AWL 1.4.7.

Install through Gale or another Thunderstore-compatible manager on the dedicated server and every client. Dependencies are installed automatically. Restart the game/server after installation. Multiplayer compatibility requires the same add-on version on both sides.

This release targets the original EpicLoot 0.14.10 and was built against Valheim 1.0.15. Starter Gear registration is attempted before the version gate and independently of gameplay patching, so a version rejection or unrelated patch failure does not skip registration. Version-specific gameplay hooks remain disabled on other EpicLoot versions. Initialization failures are logged and shown persistently on screen; the separate Sacrifice guards block destruction while initialization is incomplete or failed. Stop and fix the installation before continuing when that error appears. Do not combine this add-on with a replacement/forked EpicLoot DLL. Other mods patching the same identification or loot-resolution methods may conflict.

Validation status: compiled against the installed game and mod assemblies; live gameplay and multiplayer verification are pending. This is an initial experimental release, not a claim of completed in-game validation.

Removing the mod

Identify newly generated Unidentified Starter Gear before removing this add-on. Never load a character carrying Starter Gear without the add-on and its required dependencies, including when entering another world or an unmodded profile. Original EpicLoot does not register the None_<rarity>_Unidentified prefabs; loading and saving with missing prefabs can permanently remove those items. Keep character backups before changing mods. Existing normal gear and the original unidentified prefabs are unchanged. Remove the add-on from server and clients together.

Source and credits

The package includes its C# source under src/. Built with AI assistance. EpicLoot is by RandyKnapp; this add-on is an independent project and is not an official EpicLoot release. No personal server configuration is included.