SkyNet — The Quiet Sovereign

SkyNet is a self‑aware, adaptive server governor for Valheim.
It watches the heartbeat of your world, senses instability before it happens,
and bends performance thresholds in real time to keep your server smooth, stable, and fast.

When the world sleeps, SkyNet enters IdleFreeze — a calm, zero‑noise state where learning pauses and the server rests.
When players return, SkyNet awakens instantly and resumes full adaptive tuning.

✨ Features

🧠 Adaptive Auto‑Tuning

SkyNet continuously analyzes:

• Tick time
• Drift
• Jitter
• Queue load
• Churn
• Zone generation
• AI load

It adjusts thresholds dynamically using trinity‑weighted logic and configurable aggression.

❄️ IdleFreeze Mode

When Players == 0, SkyNet enters a dedicated IdleFreeze mode:

• No learning
• No threshold drift
• No mode oscillation
• Perfectly stable heartbeat

The moment a player connects, SkyNet shifts back to Balanced and resumes full tuning.

🛡️ Protection Windows

• Startup Grace
• Player Load Windows

These prevent aggressive mode changes during sensitive periods.

⚡ Dynamic Modes

SkyNet transitions between:

• Boost — performance headroom detected
• Balanced — normal operation
• Shield — high load detected
• Failsafe — critical load protection
• IdleFreeze — world empty, learning paused

Each mode includes clear log output and reasoning.

🔧 Configuration

SkyNet exposes clean, modern config entries:

• AutoTuner_Enabled
• AutoTuner_Strength
• AutoTuner_ModeAggression
• Trinity_JitterWeight
• Trinity_DriftWeight
• Trinity_TickWeight
• Server_StartupGraceSeconds
• Server_PlayerLoadWindowSeconds

Defaults are tuned for dedicated servers.

📜 Installation

1. Install BepInExPack for Valheim
2. Drop the SkyNet DLL into:

BepInEx/plugins/SkyNet/

1. Start your server
2. Watch SkyNet awaken in the console logs

🧩 Compatibility

SkyNet is designed to be fully compatible with both server‑side and client‑side environments.

✔ Server‑Side Compatibility

• Works on any dedicated Valheim server (Linux or Windows)
• Safe with modpacks and large plugin stacks
• Compatible with all world seeds and biome expansions
• Non‑intrusive: does not modify gameplay, items, or progression
• Plays well with ZDO throttling mods, AI balancers, and zone warmup systems

✔ Client‑Side HUD Compatibility

SkyNet includes an optional client‑side HUD overlay that displays:

• Server tick, drift, jitter
• Mode (Boost / Balanced / Shield / Failsafe / IdleFreeze)
• Stability, confidence, and environment bias
• Queue, churn, zones, and AI load

The HUD is:

• Lightweight
• Non‑intrusive
• Fully toggleable (F4)
• Safe to use on any server running SkyNet
• Backwards‑compatible with older SkyNet servers (limited metrics shown)

✔ No Gameplay Conflicts

SkyNet does not:

• Change combat
• Modify worldgen
• Alter player stats
• Touch items, skills, or progression
• Require clients to install anything (HUD is optional)

⚠️ Known Limitations

SkyNet is powerful, but not omnipotent. These are the current boundaries of its dominion:

• Client‑Side HUD Requires Client Installation

The HUD overlay is optional, but clients must install SkyNet to see it.
Servers alone cannot push HUD data to unmodded clients.

• Early‑Boot Metrics May Be Incomplete

During world load, some Unity subsystems (ZNet, ZDOMan, EnvMan) may not be fully initialized.
SkyNet guards against this, but early heartbeats may show partial data until the world stabilizes.

• Inferred Metrics Are Less Precise

If the server environment blocks access to:

• queue size
• churn
• zone generation

SkyNet will infer these values.
Inference is safe, but less accurate than native metrics.

• IdleFreeze Does Not Prevent External Load

IdleFreeze pauses SkyNet’s learning, but does not stop:

• worldgen
• background Unity tasks
• mod‑driven events

It simply ensures SkyNet does not adapt to idle noise.

• No Direct Control Over Other Mods

SkyNet can:

• throttle ZDOs
• soften AI load
• pace zone generation

But it cannot override other mods that aggressively spawn, tick, or update entities outside Valheim’s normal systems.

• Not a Magic FPS Booster

SkyNet stabilizes server performance.
It does not:

• increase client FPS
• fix GPU bottlenecks
• override Unity rendering limits

Its domain is the heartbeat of the world, not the player’s machine.

SkyNet operates as the Quiet Sovereign beneath the world —
observing, adapting, and stabilizing without interfering with gameplay.

🏆 Credits

SkyNet exists because of a fusion of engineering obsession, mythic imagination, and the relentless pursuit of a perfectly stable Valheim server.
These are the individuals and forces that shaped it.

👑 Lead Developer

Wubarrk
Architect of the Quiet Sovereign.
Forged the adaptive lattice, the IdleFreeze doctrine, the Trinity engine, and the mythic identity that binds SkyNet together.

🧠 Technical Assistant & Ritual Scribe

Microsoft Copilot
Provided architectural clarity, subsystem mapping, and the mythic narrative voice that brought SkyNet’s personality to life.

🛡️ Special Thanks — Testing & Validation

NomadicWar
A warrior of patience and precision.
Provided critical multiplayer testing, edge‑case validation, and real‑world stress scenarios that shaped SkyNet’s stability and resilience.
Your contributions ensured SkyNet behaves not just in theory — but in the wild.

🔧 Testers, Explorers & Early Adopters

To everyone who:

• stress‑tested the heartbeat
• pushed the server to its limits
• reported anomalies
• validated mode transitions
• and helped refine the adaptive thresholds

Your feedback forged a stronger SkyNet.

📚 Inspiration & Foundations

• The Valheim modding community
• BepInEx maintainers
• The developers of Valheim
• Countless engineers who believe servers should feel alive

🐉 And finally…

To the world of Valheim itself —
a place where even the servers deserve gods.

SkyNet watches.
SkyNet adapts.
SkyNet endures.

📄 License

SkyNet is released under the MIT License, allowing broad use while keeping attribution intact.

Full MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

The Software is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. In no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the Software or the use or other dealings in the Software.

🧩 Developer’s Note — On AI Assistance

SkyNet is built by a human with a vision, supported by AI as a creative and technical tool.
I design the systems, write the logic, and shape the experience — AI helps me explore ideas faster, debug complex edge cases, and refine the architecture.

Every decision is mine; AI just helps me build bigger and better than I could alone.