Valheim

This product is unreleased but remains under active development - information may change frequently and could be outdated or irrelevant.

Valheim

Developers
	Iron Gate Studio
Publishers
	Coffee Stain Studios
Engines
	Unity 2019
Release dates
Windows	Early access
Linux	Early access
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Survival, Adventure
Art styles	Stylized
Themes	Fantasy

Valheim is a singleplayer and multiplayer third-person survival and adventure game.

The game was released to early access on February 2, 2021 on Steam, selling over three million copies by February 19.

General information

Official subreddit

Official Discord

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Humble Store
Microsoft Store		Included with Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Steam

Essential improvements

Improve the performance in OpenGL mode on Linux for AMD/Intel

Use the mesa_glthread=true %command% command line argument[citation needed]
Running the game with mesa_glthread=true %command% on Steam greatly improves the performance when running on Linux with Mesa driver library for AMD/Intel GPUs in order to utilize multiple CPU cores. Not required in Mesa 21.1.

Improve performance

Edit boot.config file.
Open boot.config (located in /steamapps/common/Valheim/Valheim_Data) with a text editor. At the top of the file add: gfx-enable-gfx-jobs=1 gfx-enable-native-gfx-jobs=1 scripting-runtime-version=latest Save File. Notes Warning: This can cause freezes/crashes when using Vulkan on certain hardware.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\IronGate\Valheim\
Microsoft Store
Linux	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/prefs

This game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\
Microsoft Store
Linux	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

Graphics Options

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD		Text and icons on the map appear to use fixed pixel widths, making them difficult to read at 4K resolution.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Fullscreen mode defaults to borderless fullscreen
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		On/off toggle.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)		No plans to implement native HDR support
Ray tracing (RT)

The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unity page for more details.

HUD Settings

Hide HUD The default hotkey to toggle the HUD is Ctrl+F3

Exclusive Fullscreen mode

Command line parameter
See Command line arguments. Type in -window-mode exclusive -screen-fullscreen

This can improve the performance, but might cause issues when tabbing out of the game.

Force Vulkan on Windows

Command line parameter
See Command line arguments. Type in -force-vulkan

Console

Command line parameter
See Command line arguments. Type in -console

Input

Input settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Open chat is hardcoded to ↵ Enter. Item belt hotkeys can't be remapped.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		Added in Steam Deck update on March 1.
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Enable "Invert Mouse" option.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		Doesn't read inputs correctly. May require Steam Input support to be enabled.

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

• 

  Xbox controller mapping

• 

  DS4 controller mapping

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles		There is no spoken dialogue.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Miscellaneous settings

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Bulgarian
Simplified Chinese
Czech
Danish
Finnish
French
German
Hungarian
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		10	Co-op, Versus The game can be played through LAN using the dedicated server.
Online play		10	Co-op, Versus PVP can be turned on. Off by default

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Game runs poorly on Vulkan in AMD on Linux

Force OpenGL mode
Run the game with -force-opengl or -force-glcore, additionally you can also run with mesa_glthread=true %command% -force-opengl (or -force-glcore) for a much better performance. Will be fixed in the upcoming Mesa 21.1[citation needed]

Disable TearFree
The game runs poorly with TearFree enabled with AMDGPU and Vulkan. xrandr --output DisplayPort-0 --set TearFree off Change DisplayPort-0 to the name of your display (run xrandr to get a list)

Issues unresolved

Mouse cursor isn't captured properly on Linux

The developers are aware of this issue and are awaiting a Unity update that should resolve it.

Download and install gamescope

See the README file on GitHub for up-to-date information on how to set up gamescope. Modify the Steam launch arguments of Valheim to the following: gamescope -W <width> -H <height> -b -- %command% where <width> and <height> are the width and height of your monitor's native resolution, respectively. For example, if your monitor has a native resolution of 1920×1080, use gamescope -W 1920 -H 1080 -b -- %command%

Run via Proton and use Vulkan
Open the Library in Steam, then Right Click on Valheim and select Properties... In the Compatibility tab, set the check mark at Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool. Leave the Proton version at the default value or switch to Proton 8.0. In the General tab, under Launch Options, add the command line option -force-vulkan.

Adjust monitor layout
Suggested monitor layout Open the system settings for the monitor layout. Move the monitors so that the monitor on which Valheim is shown only touches the other monitors on the corners (see image).

Disconnect all other monitors

Move the game window after start[dubious – discuss]
Launch the game on a monitor that does not have the highest resolution. Move the game window to the monitor with the highest resolution.

Use borderless fullscreen mode[dubious – discuss]
Start the game with the command line parameter -console. Once in the main menu, press F5 to open the console. Enter the command exclusivefullscreen and confirm with Enter ⏎. In case the above command does not fix the behaviour, repeat the last step and check again.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11	Default API on Windows
OpenGL	4.5	Alternate API on Linux
Vulkan	1.2	Default API on Linux, alternate on Windows

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Linux

System requirements

Windows

Linux

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7
Processor (CPU)	2.6 GHz Quad Core	Intel Core i5 3 GHz AMD Ryzen 5 3 GHz
System memory (RAM)	8 GB	16 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 AMD Radeon HD 7970 DirectX 11 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 580
Other		Broadband Internet connection

A 64-bit operating system is required.

Linux
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Any up to date version
Processor (CPU)	2.6 GHz Dual Core	Intel Core i5 3 GHz AMD Ryzen 5 3 GHz
System memory (RAM)	8 GB	16 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 AMD Radeon HD 7970	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 580
Other		Broadband Internet connection

A 64-bit operating system is required.