GuakRogueWaves

Multiplayer-synced native ocean surges for Valheim.

GuakRogueWaves makes ocean travel feel heavier and more alive without spawning a fake water wall. By default, synced surge events temporarily boost Valheim's own WaterVolume.CalcWave waveFactor, so the visible water and boat buoyancy come from the game's native ocean. A safe foam/spray cue marks incoming surges so you can actually see the "oh no" moment before the boat reacts.

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), beached ships fully protected from giga damage, all Harmony patches exception-contained, and surge magnitude synced from the event spawner so every modded client computes the same water. A Debug/DebugForceGigaNow config exists purely for testing giga waves on demand.

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.

What It Does

• Uses native Valheim water deformation for the wave physics and visible water.
• Makes open-ocean sailing persistently choppy and challenging with rough-ocean mode.
• 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.
• Giga waves are rare, storm/open-ocean events that can damage ships near the crest.
• 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.

Giga waves are the exception. They can carry and overpower boats, but a healthy longship aimed well into the wave should still have a chance.

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

[Storm]
OpenOceanChopMultiplier = 1.8
StormWindChaosMultiplier = 1.25

Default rough ocean:

[Rough Ocean]
RoughOceanWaveFactorMultiplier = 3.15
RoughOceanStormExtraMultiplier = 1.35
RoughOceanMinWindIntensity = 0.88
RoughOceanStormMinWindIntensity = 0.98
RoughOceanBoatDifficulty = 1.45

[Storm]
OpenOceanChopMultiplier = 2.75
StormWindChaosMultiplier = 1.65

Spicy ocean:

[Rough Ocean]
RoughOceanWaveFactorMultiplier = 4.2
RoughOceanStormExtraMultiplier = 1.55
RoughOceanMinWindIntensity = 0.94
RoughOceanStormMinWindIntensity = 1.0
RoughOceanBoatDifficulty = 2.1

[Storm]
OpenOceanChopMultiplier = 2.75
StormWindChaosMultiplier = 2.0

Mostly vanilla ocean:

[Rough Ocean]
RoughOceanMode = false

[Storm]
OpenOceanChopMultiplier = 1.0
StormWindChaosMultiplier = 1.0

Key settings:

• NativeOceanSurgeMode
• LegacyAdditiveHeightProfile
• NativeSurgeFoamCueEnabled
• AllowExperimentalSurfaceInNativeMode
• NormalWaveFactorSpike
• GigaWaveFactorSpike
• 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
• GigaPostPassFadeSeconds
• StormWaveSetMinCount
• StormWaveSetMaxCount
• WaveSetSpacingSeconds
• GigaMinHeightFeet
• GigaMaxHeightFeet
• GigaChancePercentPerAttempt
• GigaDamageEnabled
• StormWindChaosMultiplier
• ThunderstormWeightMultiplier
• OpenOceanChopMultiplier
• RoughOceanMode
• RoughOceanWaveFactorMultiplier
• RoughOceanStormExtraMultiplier
• RoughOceanMinWindIntensity
• RoughOceanStormMinWindIntensity
• RoughOceanBoatDifficulty
• OpenOceanWaveFrequencyMultiplier
• VisualWavesEnabled default off
• VisualParticleSprayEnabled
• VisualCrestSurfaceEnabled experimental, default off
• VisualSurfaceAlpha experimental, default 0
• VisualFoamAlpha
• VisualSprayRate
• VisualMaxDistanceMeters