AFKManager

Server-side AFK detection for Valheim dedicated servers.

AFKManager notices when a connected player has gone idle, tells everyone (Toro is now AFK. / Toro is no longer AFK.) and, optionally, stops AFK players from blocking the night skip and keeps new random raids away from AFK-only bases.

Features

• True dedicated-server-side AFK detection: vanilla clients do not need AFKManager (or any mod) installed
• Configurable AFK timeout (default 10 minutes)
• Activity detection from data the server already receives:
  • movement, measured relative to the ship while aboard
  • look direction
  • emotes
  • equipment changes
  • crafting-station open/close
  • getting into bed
• AFK and return announcements
  • in the normal Valheim chat window (sender AFKManager)
  • as a notification in the top-left message feed
• Optional AFK-aware sleep handling
• Optional AFK-aware raids: new random raids do not start where everyone is AFK
• Extremely low overhead: a few values per connected player every few seconds, no world scans

Installation

Mod manager / hosting panel: install AFKManager from Thunderstore on the server. The package depends on BepInExPack Valheim.

Manual:

1. Install BepInExPack Valheim on the dedicated server.
2. Copy the DLL to BepInEx/plugins/AFKManager/AFKManager.dll on the server.
3. Restart the server.

The configuration file is created on the first start.

Server side

AFKManager is a BepInEx plugin that runs on the dedicated server, so the server needs BepInEx. Players join with a completely vanilla game: no BepInEx, no AFKManager, no configuration. AFKManager adds no custom network messages, no handshake and no version check, and it never rejects clients. It only reads data every vanilla client already sends to the server, and it announces through messages every vanilla client already understands.

Installing it on a client does nothing. On a player-hosted (non-dedicated) game the host is not tracked.

What counts as activity

Activity	Notes
Moving	More than 0.5 m between two checks. Slow physics drift (e.g. sliding on a slope, bobbing in water) is ignored.
Moving on a ship	Measured relative to the ship: a passenger standing still on a sailing ship is idle; walking on deck is activity.
Looking around	Turning the view by more than 10°.
Emotes	Starting (or ending) an emote such as /wave or /sit. Staying seated does not count.
Equipment	Equipping, unequipping or swapping gear.
Crafting stations	Opening or closing a workbench, forge, etc. Leaving the window open does not count.
Going to bed	Getting into a bed.

Logging in, dying, respawning, boarding or leaving a ship and getting out of bed are neutral: they never count as activity and never mark anyone AFK. The AFK timer starts when the player's character first appears in the world after login, and it is paused while a player is dead or loading.

Chat, attacks, jumping, eating, building, inventory management, the map and other menus do not count. They are either invisible to a dedicated server or would need invasive hooks that hurt compatibility with other mods.

Announcements

When a player becomes AFK or returns, everyone is told once, through two independent channels:

Channel	Setting	What players see
Chat	AnnounceInChat	A line in the normal chat window: AFKManager: Toro is now AFK.
Notification	AnnounceNotification	The small message feed in the top-left corner (the one used for "World saved").

Use both, only one, or neither. AnnounceAfk / AnnounceReturn switch the two kinds of announcement on or off. Nothing is announced on login, logout, death or respawn.

Valheim shows every chat message also as a short floating text in the world; AFKManager places it above the player the message is about. The sender "AFKManager" is not a player, and no real player is impersonated.

Sleep handling (optional)

With ExcludeAfkFromSleep = true, AFK players who are not in bed are ignored by the "is everybody sleeping?" check. At least one player must actually be in bed, and players who are not AFK still have to go to bed as usual. If nobody is in bed, the night is never skipped.

This is a single small Harmony Postfix on the server's Game.EverybodyIsTryingToSleep() that can only turn a "no" into a "yes". It coexists with other mods that hook the same method; it has no effect if another mod replaces the whole vanilla sleep loop. It can be switched off without affecting AFK detection.

AFK-aware raids (optional)

With ExcludeAfkFromRandomRaids = true, a new random raid does not start in an area where every player is AFK.

• The area is the raid's own vanilla radius around the player the game would have picked. If at least one active player is inside it, the raid is allowed as usual, so an AFK character can never shield active players.
• If every player who could be targeted is AFK, no random raid starts.
• A raid that has already started is never cancelled when somebody goes AFK. Standing still does not make a raid go away.
• Boss events, scripted events and events started by an admin or another mod by name (for example the event command) are not affected.
• Completely server-side: one small Harmony Postfix on the server's RandEventSystem.GetValidEventPoints, the place where vanilla collects the possible raid targets. It does nothing except when the game evaluates a random event.

Blocked raids are not announced (only logged with DebugLogging = true). A mod that replaces vanilla's random-event selection with its own system may not be affected by this setting.

Configuration

BepInEx/config/torokal.afkmanager.cfg:

[General]
Enabled = true
AfkAfterMinutes = 10
CheckIntervalSeconds = 5

[Detection]
MovementThresholdMeters = 0.5
LookThresholdDegrees = 10

[Announcements]
AnnounceAfk = true
AnnounceReturn = true
AnnounceInChat = true
AnnounceNotification = true
AfkMessage = {player} is now AFK.
ReturnMessage = {player} is no longer AFK.

[Gameplay]
ExcludeAfkFromSleep = true

[Raids]
ExcludeAfkFromRandomRaids = true

[Logging]
DebugLogging = false

Key	Default	Meaning
Enabled	true	Master switch.
AfkAfterMinutes	10	Minutes without detected activity before a player is marked AFK (0.1 – 1440).
CheckIntervalSeconds	5	How often connected players are checked (1 – 60). 5 is recommended.
MovementThresholdMeters	0.5	Horizontal distance between two checks that counts as movement.
LookThresholdDegrees	10	View turn that counts as activity.
AnnounceAfk / AnnounceReturn	true	Announce the two transitions.
AnnounceInChat / AnnounceNotification	true	Which channels are used.
AfkMessage / ReturnMessage	see above	Message texts; {player} is replaced with the player's name.
ExcludeAfkFromSleep	true	AFK players who are not in bed do not block the night skip. Needs a server restart to switch the hook on or off.
ExcludeAfkFromRandomRaids	true	New random raids do not start in an AFK-only player area; running raids are never cancelled. Needs a server restart to switch the hook on or off.
DebugLogging	false	Log activity reasons, transitions and a summary of every check.

Compatibility

Tested game version	Valheim 1.0.15 (network version 40)
Tested loader	BepInEx 5.4.23.5 (BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350)
Dependencies	BepInEx only (HarmonyX ships with it). No Jotunn, no ServerSync.
Other mods	Runs on a live dedicated server alongside Server_devcommands and other server-side mods. Chat announcements keep the "Server" chat entry Server_devcommands can add.
Clients	Tested with Steam clients. Crossplay/console clients are untested: if the chat line does not show up there, the notification still does.

Other game versions and mod combinations may work but are not tested. For other server-side mods, AFKManager.AFKManagerPlugin.IsAfk(long peerUid) returns whether a connected session is currently AFK.

Known limitations

• A helmsman steering only with A/D for the whole timeout, without moving the camera or doing anything else from the activity table, can eventually be marked AFK. Any camera movement resets the timer.
• A player who only chats, fights without moving or turning, or manages their inventory for the whole timeout can be marked AFK, because a dedicated server cannot see those actions.

Building

Game and BepInEx assemblies are referenced from your local installation and are never part of this repository.

# Without the .NET SDK (Windows, uses the .NET Framework compiler that ships with Windows)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File build.ps1 -Managed "<server>\valheim_server_Data\Managed" -BepInExCore "<server>\BepInEx\core"

# With the .NET SDK (releases are built with build.ps1; this path is provided for convenience):
# copy LocalPaths.props.example to LocalPaths.props, set the two paths, then
dotnet build -c Release

# Thunderstore package (after building): writes dist\AFKManager-<version>.zip
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File packaging\build-package.ps1

How detection works is described in docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

License

MIT