GuakRogueWaves

Multiplayer-synced native ocean surges for Valheim.

GuakRogueWaves makes ocean travel feel heavier, rougher, and more alive without spawning a fake water wall. By default, Rough Ocean mode pushes Valheim's own wind and WaterVolume.CalcWave waveFactor hard, so the visible water and boat buoyancy come from the game's native ocean. Thunderstorms are meant to be a "do not sail" warning.

The creepy ocean creature / roar idea is not included yet.

Stability (2.7.0 public pass)

This release went through a dedicated public stability pass: conservative default pacing and heights, a fail-closed land-safety mask (dry land and ankle-deep water get zero wave effect, even over player-terraformed ground), all Harmony patches exception-contained, and surge magnitude synced from the event spawner so every modded client computes the same water.

Feel Pass (2.7.2)

The 2.7.1 safety tune was too gentle. 2.7.2 raises native surge strength, open-ocean chop, normal wave height cues, and boat pressure/yaw forces so normal waves feel like something you actively sail through again while keeping the no-fake-wall and land-safety rules.

Rough Ocean Mode (2.8.0)

2.8.0 pivots away from chasing one perfect giant wave. RoughOceanMode makes open-ocean transportation itself hostile: higher native waveFactor, higher wind floors, constant speed loss, cross-current shove, yaw/broach pressure, and pitch chop. Normal rogue waves are smaller again and act as extra weather events on top of an already unpleasant sea.

Always Rough Water (2.9.0)

2.9.0 makes Rough Ocean mode the main identity of the mod. Giga wave spawning is removed, the water is rougher by default, thunderstorms are far more dangerous, and shore spectators near major water can see the sea acting up instead of only boats reacting to invisible force.

What It Does

• Uses native Valheim water deformation for the wave physics and visible water.
• Makes ocean and major-water sailing persistently choppy and challenging with rough-ocean mode.
• Lets shore bases see rough water when a player is near the coastline.
• Temporarily spikes Valheim's own wave factor during synced ocean-surge windows.
• Keeps the older additive long-swell profile as an opt-in legacy setting only.
• Adds a safe non-physics foam/spray warning line for incoming native surges.
• Keeps risky crest surface meshes disabled in native mode unless you explicitly opt in.
• Adds storm surge sets: lead swell, main surge, aftermath swell.
• Adds shore/base spectacle surges that start offshore and roll toward the coast.
• Fades normal and shore waves shortly after the crest passes so they do not carry boats far past the moment.
• Makes shore-crossing waves harmless on dry land and ankle-deep shoreline so players are not lifted into the air.
• Keeps placed structures safe. Buildings, docks, lights, chests, portals, crops, and other player-built pieces are not targeted or damaged.
• Adds boat-class-aware handling: rafts get shoved most, karves sit in the middle, longships punch through normal waves best.
• Models a full boat crossing arc: dip, climb, crest, drop, recover.
• Normal waves challenge steering and speed without constantly flipping boats.
• Removes giga wave spawning from gameplay.
• Boosts open-ocean chop and storm chaos through Valheim's own wind/wave system.
• Syncs surge events through Valheim RPC so modded friends get the same ocean timing.

Boat Feel

Normal waves are meant to be rideable. A longship should shoulder through most storm swells when you keep the bow managed. A karve should feel more nervous. A raft can get pushed off course and slowed hard, but regular waves should not be instant capsizes.

The public gameplay is now persistent rough water plus normal surge events. Thunderstorms are tuned as the truly dangerous state.

Shore/Base Rule

If you are far inland, rogue waves stop. If you are near the ocean or a large water source, the ocean can still show wave activity so shore bases get the view.

Shore-mode surges are capped smaller than open-ocean surges, start from deep water, travel toward shore, and use native ocean intensity instead of damaging or moving buildings.

Useful Config

After first launch, edit:

BepInEx/config/eden.valheim.roguewaves.cfg

Preset Tuning

Want the mod calmer? Start with the Rough Ocean section. These are the main feel knobs.

Chill ocean:

[Rough Ocean]
RoughOceanWaveFactorMultiplier = 2.0
RoughOceanStormExtraMultiplier = 1.15
RoughOceanMinWindIntensity = 0.72
RoughOceanStormMinWindIntensity = 0.90
RoughOceanBoatDifficulty = 0.85
RoughOceanShoreViewMultiplier = 0.55

[Storm]
OpenOceanChopMultiplier = 1.8
StormWindChaosMultiplier = 1.25

Default rough ocean:

[Rough Ocean]
RoughOceanWaveFactorMultiplier = 4.55
RoughOceanStormExtraMultiplier = 1.85
RoughOceanMinWindIntensity = 0.94
RoughOceanStormMinWindIntensity = 1.0
RoughOceanBoatDifficulty = 1.85
RoughOceanShoreViewMultiplier = 1.0

[Storm]
OpenOceanChopMultiplier = 2.75
StormWindChaosMultiplier = 2.45
ThunderstormWeightMultiplier = 2.75

[Timing]
ThunderstormMinSecondsBetweenWaves = 18
ThunderstormMaxSecondsBetweenWaves = 55
StormNormalWaveFrequencyMultiplier = 1.65

Even worse storms:

[Rough Ocean]
RoughOceanWaveFactorMultiplier = 5.25
RoughOceanStormExtraMultiplier = 2.0
RoughOceanMinWindIntensity = 0.97
RoughOceanStormMinWindIntensity = 1.0
RoughOceanBoatDifficulty = 2.35
RoughOceanShoreViewMultiplier = 1.0

[Storm]
OpenOceanChopMultiplier = 2.75
StormWindChaosMultiplier = 2.8
ThunderstormWeightMultiplier = 3.5

[Timing]
ThunderstormMinSecondsBetweenWaves = 12
ThunderstormMaxSecondsBetweenWaves = 38
StormNormalWaveFrequencyMultiplier = 2.2

Mostly vanilla ocean:

[Rough Ocean]
RoughOceanMode = false

[Storm]
OpenOceanChopMultiplier = 1.0
StormWindChaosMultiplier = 1.0

Key settings:

• NativeOceanSurgeMode
• LegacyAdditiveHeightProfile
• NativeSurgeFoamCueEnabled
• AllowExperimentalSurfaceInNativeMode
• NormalWaveFactorSpike
• SurgeRadiusMultiplier
• NormalMinHeightFeet
• NormalMaxHeightFeet
• WaveHeightOverdrive
• SwellLengthMultiplier
• PreTroughDepthScale
• TrailingChopScale
• RoutePredictionStrength
• HeadSeaChancePercent
• CrossSeaChancePercent
• NormalWaveBoatStabilizer
• NormalWaveBoatStability
• WaveRideSurgeForce
• WaveRidePitchForce
• WaveRideHeaveForce
• WaveRideRollForce
• WaveRideYawForce
• AllowNearVerticalPitch
• ShoreSpectacleDistanceFeet
• ShoreWaveFrequencyMultiplier
• ShoreBreakDepthMeters
• ShoreBreakHeightBoost
• ShoreCrashEnabled
• ShoreMaxHeightFeet
• ShoreSearchRadiusMeters
• MinOffshoreDepthMeters
• WaveSetsEnabled
• NormalPostPassFadeSeconds
• StormWaveSetMinCount
• StormWaveSetMaxCount
• WaveSetSpacingSeconds
• StormWindChaosMultiplier
• ThunderstormWeightMultiplier
• OpenOceanChopMultiplier
• RoughOceanMode
• RoughOceanWaveFactorMultiplier
• RoughOceanStormExtraMultiplier
• RoughOceanMinWindIntensity
• RoughOceanStormMinWindIntensity
• RoughOceanBoatDifficulty
• RoughOceanShoreViewMultiplier
• OpenOceanWaveFrequencyMultiplier
• VisualWavesEnabled default off
• VisualParticleSprayEnabled
• VisualCrestSurfaceEnabled experimental, default off
• VisualSurfaceAlpha experimental, default 0
• VisualFoamAlpha
• VisualSprayRate
• VisualMaxDistanceMeters