ChestHelper

Client-side mod for Valheim that adds a live 3D chest locator, an item search bar, and one-click container sorting.

Features

Item Search Bar

• Adds a search input field directly above the player inventory window.
• Typing any item or material name (supports English and Russian) highlights all matching chests around your base and dims non-matching items in your inventory.
• Character movement (WASD, sprinting, jumping) and hotbar slots are paused while typing to prevent accidental inputs. Pressing Enter restores full movement while keeping the found chests highlighted.
• Clear the search at any time by pressing Escape or clicking the clear button.

Chest Locator & Lore-Friendly Highlighting (Overhauled in v2.0.0)

• Hovering your cursor over any item in your inventory highlights all nearby chests containing that item.
• Mesh-Conforming Misty Shroud: Replaced harsh flat highlights with a procedural, double-layer volumetric mist extruded directly along the container's surface normals (+1.8cm and +3.8cm), with organic breathing and counter-scrolling smoke animation.
• Nordic Wisp Beacon: Marked with a gentle glowing wisp and three orbiting harmonic embers in 3D tilted orbits, hovering compactly (+22cm) above the lid.
• Transport Anchored: Wisps and shrouds are attached to container transforms, smoothly following moving ships (Karve, Longship, Drakkar) and carts.
• Smart Line-of-Sight Filtering: Zero GC memory allocations (Physics.RaycastNonAlloc) with intelligent collider filtering so adjacent chests on shelves or stacks never occlude each other.
• Configurable MaxWallObstacles (default 2) illuminates chests through partitions and shelf frames while occluding multiple thick stone walls.

3D Mirage Chest Preview

• Look at any chest or storage container within interaction distance to project an ethereal 3D mirage tooltip displaying its items without opening it.
• Organic Smoky Aesthetic: Semi-transparent dark mist plate with blurred, uneven edges and a subtle breathing ripple animation.
• Adaptive 3D Billboarding: Projecting in front of the container's closest face, softly tilting towards your camera for an authentic holographic feel.
• Universal Storage Support: Works for wooden/iron/blackmetal chests, carts, longships, karves, obliterators, and modded containers.
• Security & Privacy: Automatically respects ward and key protections (silently hides if access is denied).
• Empty Storage Handling: Displays a faint, wispy smoke cloud with localized text ("Storage is empty" / "Хранилище пусто").
• Ergonomic Hotkey: Press H (free by default in Valheim) to toggle preview mode On/Off. Configurable to Hold key or Always on.

Direct 3D Chest Deposit & Multiplayer Safety (Enhanced in v2.0.0)

• Drag any item stack from your inventory and hover directly over a nearby chest in the 3D world (within reach distance, default 4.5m).
• The dragged item icon smoothly scales down (perspective depth effect) and displays a deposit prompt.
• Multiplayer In-Use Protection: Integrated with Valheim's native ZDOVars.s_inUse network variable. If another player has the chest, cart, or ship open, the prompt turns red ("Chest in use" / "Cart in use" / "Ship in use") and deposit is safely blocked without kicking the other player.
• Atomic Transaction Safety: Items are only deducted from the player's inventory after the container confirms successful addition. Never lose an item!
• Releasing the mouse button deposits the stack directly into the chest with a wooden lid sound and floating feedback (+X ItemName), without opening the chest UI.
• If the chest is full, a warning appears and the item remains held under your cursor (never dropped on the ground).

Container Sorting

• Adds a "Sort" button directly below the vanilla "Take All" and "Stack All" buttons in the chest UI.
• Merges incomplete stacks automatically.
• Groups items by category: Weapons & Tools -> Armor & Ammo -> Food & Potions -> Crafting Materials -> Trophies -> Misc.
• Secondary sorting orders items alphabetically by localized name, quality tier, and durability.
• Safe to use: does nothing while an item is actively being dragged, and includes fallback placement if other UI mods move vanilla buttons.

Configuration

A config file is generated on first launch at:
Valheim/BepInEx/config/com.awuushy.chesthelper.cfg

Section	Key	Default	Description
ChestPreview	EnableChestMirage	true	Enable 3D mirage preview of chest contents
ChestPreview	MirageActivationMode	Toggle	Activation mode: 'Toggle', 'Hold', or 'Always'
ChestPreview	MirageToggleKey	H	Hotkey to toggle/hold chest preview (default 'H')
ChestPreview	MirageShimmer	true	Enable smoky ripple and breathing animation
ChestPreview	MaxGridColumns	5	Max columns of item icons in preview grid
ChestPreview	MirageWorldScale	1.0	World scale multiplier for the 3D mirage
Highlight	HighlightRadius	25.0	Search radius in meters (5 to 60)
Highlight	CheckLineOfSight	true	Filter out chests blocked by multiple walls
Highlight	MaxWallObstacles	2	Number of wall/beam obstacles tolerated
Highlight	HighlightColor	#FFE600	Color of the beacon and chest glow
Highlight	EnableChestBeacon	true	Show 3D beacon above matching containers
Highlight	EnableChestLight	true	Spawn point light above matching containers
Highlight	ChestSurfaceGlow	0.55	Surface glow intensity on the chest model
Features	EnableSearchBar	true	Show search bar above player inventory
Features	EnableDirectChestDeposit	true	Enable direct drag-and-drop into 3D chests
Features	DirectDepositMaxDistance	4.5	Reach distance in meters for direct chest deposit
Sorting	SortButtonText	Auto	Button text ('Auto' follows game language)

Compatibility

• Multiplayer: 100% client-side. Works on dedicated servers and vanilla multiplayer without needing the server or other players to install the mod.
• Quick Stack Mods: Compatible with mods like TidyChests or QuickStackStore.
• Save Safe: Does not add custom items, prefabs, or world data. Safe to install or remove on existing worlds at any time.

Installation

Via Mod Manager (Recommended)

Install through r2modman or Thunderstore Mod Manager.

Manual Installation

1. Install BepInExPack Valheim.
2. Download this package and extract ChestHelper.dll into your Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ directory.
3. Launch the game.