EpicLoot Progression Fix

These are the EpicLoot changes we use on our server: loot that follows your crafting progress, better blocking, fewer wasted enchantments, and less time spent moving ingredients between chests.

We strongly recommend using all the companion mods listed below, with the same pack settings. That is the setup we play with, and many of these features rely on those mods working together.

Performance

World Performance 0.3.0 or newer is required on the server and every client. It provides the game performance fixes and measures each player's connection; Progression Fix handles loot, gameplay and its own interface.

What it doesn't change

Progression Fix doesn't add new mobs, bosses, biomes or items. It isn't meant to introduce a whole new set of gameplay systems.

The aim is to stay as close to vanilla Valheim + EpicLoot as possible: keep the game we enjoy, fix things that don't work properly, adjust some balance and cut down on repetitive chores. The changes should fit naturally into what's already there.

What it changes

• Craft an item to unlock its enchanted drops. With crafting-based progression enabled, enemy drops, treasure chests and unidentified rewards all follow what you have crafted. Buying, finding or upgrading something does not unlock it. Anyone can still pick up the loot.
• Stop getting enchantments your equipment cannot use. New enchantments must do something on the item receiving them. Runes keep their best extraction power through crafting, socketing and tempering. Augment shows each effect's chance of appearing before you pay.
• Block in the middle of a swing. Raising your guard cancels your attack. Shields are stronger and parrying is more forgiving. Attacks that hit several eligible targets award skill experience for each one; crafting a batch awards experience for every item.
• Get more out of repeat boss fights and dungeon runs. With StarLevelSystem, bosses grow stronger as the summoner defeats them repeatedly, and Nemesis ambushes cycle through different enemy groups. Configured dungeons refill their enemies and original chests after a reset, keeping your belongings and builds and waiting until everyone has left.
• Spend less time feeding machines and fetching ingredients. Craft in batches using nearby storage, and choose which chests can supply you. Hold the bulk modifier to load nearby machines, add fuel, tap fermenters or collect sap. The prompts show which ingredient will be used and how much you have.
• See what your equipment is doing. Active effects puts your resources, regeneration, defenses, skills and enchantment totals in one place. Item and skill tooltips use your character's current gear and bonuses. Hold Shift for the extra detail.
• Swap equipment more easily. Left Alt + E exchanges your worn gear with an armor stand. Number keys move and swap socketed runes and shardstones, and you can equip items directly from shared chests.

Other improvements

• Staff of Protection shields allies within 20 m and absorbs falls, freezing, heat, smoke and ongoing poison, fire and spirit damage as well as combat hits. The timer shows the bubble's remaining HP. Recasting restores full strength, and a bubble broken by damage trains its caster. Drowning, vomiting and health costs still hurt you.
• Ships respond promptly to steering and speed changes, the helmsman's sailing shardstones also improve rowing, and passengers can open storage while someone steers. Karves hold 8 slots, Longships 24 and Drakkars 40. Carts get fixes for buried wheels, changing owners and recovering cargo when dismantled.
• Tames find food more reliably, heal faster when fed and breed over wider ranges that scale with their size. Friendly skeletons and Spirit Caller animals ignore peaceful wildlife and stay nearer their caster, with fixes for crossing ice and paths that fit their size. They inherit their caster's movement and running bonuses, including equipment, skills and active effects; a penalty never slows them below their own speed. Summon health bonuses work at every star level. Aim at a summon and use its matching staff's secondary attack to dismiss it. TameRidingOverhaul gets fixes to movement, stationary steering and saddle stamina. Stay replaces Sit, and removing a saddle releases the order.
• Dropped items slow down on ice instead of sliding away indefinitely. They still slide downhill and bounce normally.
• Skeletons, Spirit Caller animals and summoned bats follow you through dungeon entrances and exits and appear in the nearest space they fit within 10 m; one too large for every space nearby comes along anyway and may get stuck. Creature paths and new spawn positions account for their full size, with recovery when a blocked route opens. A creature whose player has fallen far behind moves to a player whose connection keeps up; [Creature ownership] Slow owner milliseconds sets how far behind that is, and 0 turns it off.
• Garden lights illuminate independently of nearby fires. Firelight remains visible farther away and fades gradually.
• Favorites are protected during salvage, sacrifice and rune extraction. Matching runes stack together, chest Take All leaves behind anything that will not fit, and failed table upgrades return their materials. Interrupted fermenter loading either completes or returns the ingredient. Graves trapped in terrain or out of reach move somewhere you can recover them.
• Comfort reaches pieces above and below you, ComfortMe shows what a new piece would add, and the black metal wardrobe shows all 50 slots. Planting grids avoid overlapping crops, Ashvines retain their regrowth progress, and sap extractors catch up after time away. Enemies pause while players sleep and until everyone waking up can see and move again.
• Ammunition counts, cooking prompts, skill information and enemy health bars are easier to read. Andvaranaut helps you find accepted bounties and unopened treasure-map chests. Ctrl + G while holding a hammer shows where buildings protect the ground from ordinary enemy spawns.
• With the extra-star reward bonus enabled, ordinary creatures keep gaining extra enchanted loot rolls and rarity bonuses above five stars. Moulds, keys, memorial coal, frostfire essence and thunderblood essence keep their base drop chances and quantities. Deaths apply the server's Nemesis penalty, and your score survives reconnecting. Kills and achievements count only for players who took part in the fight.
• With the Discord mods, server chat reaches Discord, mentions show readable names, and death reports identify the creature responsible, including deaths from poison or burning. ServerCharacters integration handles first-join enrollment and verified character saves. FastLink lets you enter a new password after a saved one is refused.

Mods we use

We recommend the whole setup, including its configuration. Installing the same mods with different settings will give you different loot, recipes, dungeon resets and balance.

• Loot and combat: EpicLoot, StarLevelSystem, Drop That, FortifySkillsReborn, SkilledCarryWeight and CombatStats.
• Crafting and inventory: AAA_Crafting, AzuCraftyBoxes, AzuWorkbenchTweaks, Quick Stack Store Sort Trash Restock, EquipmentAndQuickSlots, MultiUserChest, ItemStacksItemWeights and MouseTweaks.
• Building and farming: PlantEverything, PlantEasily, AzuAreaRepair, Better Beehives, ComfortMe and Treadwell.
• Travel and animals: Sailing, QuickCart, Better Wisps, WieldEquipmentWhileSwimming, TameRidingOverhaul and Venture Floating Items.
• Everyday conveniences: LongerDays, NoSmokeStayLit, ClearSkies and LetMeSleep.
• Interface: BetterUI ForeverMaintained, FedoHud, Ammo Count by aedenthorn Fixed, AzuClock, Ship Stats, TrueInstantLootDrop and Unshamed.
• Multiplayer: BetterNetworking Valheim, ServerCharacters, Dyrr, FastLink, Venture Logout Tweaks, DiscordBot_AWL and DiscordConnector.

The pack also includes BepInExPack Valheim, Jotunn, JsonDotNET, YamlDotNet and ConditionalConfigSync.

Installation

Install Progression Fix and its required dependencies through your mod manager: BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2360, Jotunn 2.30.2, EpicLoot 0.15.5 and World Performance 0.3.0. Gale supports both Thunderstore and the Hexium packages used in this setup.

The server and every player need the same Progression Fix version and matching gameplay mods. Use the pack's separate client and server lists for the companion mods.

Settings are in BepInEx/config/valheim.epiclootprogressionfix.cfg. Settings marked Synced with Server follow the server; personal controls and supported display settings stay local.

Removal

Back up your saves first. Remove trinkets and utility items without visible models from armor stands using E, and empty the added ship-storage rows before reverting to smaller grids. If you still have legacy Starter Gear, load and save the characters and containers holding it before uninstalling. Remove the add-on from the server and every client together.

Credits

EpicLoot is by RandyKnapp. Built with AI assistance. Release notes are in CHANGELOG.md.