Forged by the Ancients
Rune energy network by Morda: windmills, runestone, smeltery, blast furnace, stone oven and Ancient Core crafting.
About this mod Author’s original text
Forged by the Ancients
Author: Morda
A Valheim building mod that adds a rune energy network: windmills convert wind into rune energy, a runestone stores it, and rune furnaces smelt ore without coal.
Features
Rune Stone
- Stores rune energy for nearby buildings
- Hover text shows charge, connected windmills/ovens, and generation rate
- Unlocked after defeating Eikthyr
Rune Windmill
- Converts wind into rune energy
- Output scales with wind strength (light / medium / strong / storm)
- Connects to the nearest runestone in range
Rune Smeltery (Runenschmelze)
- Same ore conversions as the vanilla smelter
- Powered by rune energy instead of coal
- Blue fire visual
- Faster smelting (configurable)
Rune Blast Furnace (Runen Hochofen)
- Same ore conversions as the vanilla blast furnace
- Same rune-energy rules as the rune smeltery
- Build cost uses silver instead of iron
Rune Stone Oven (Runen Steinofen)
- Same food recipes as the vanilla stone oven (piece_oven)
- Powered by rune energy instead of coal
- Blue coal / fire VFX
- Energy drain while actively cooking (configurable)
How it works
- Place a Rune Stone
- Place Rune Windmills within range to charge it
- Place a Rune Smeltery, Rune Blast Furnace, or Rune Stone Oven within range
- Add ore / food as usual — no coal required
Default connection range is 100 meters (horizontal). Values are configurable.
Multiplayer
- Required on all clients and the dedicated server
- Energy is synced via ZDOs / RPCs
- Server config is synced to clients (Jötunn admin-only settings)
- Unlock uses the world global key for Eikthyr (defeated_gdking)
Installation
Mod manager (recommended)
Install with r2modman Mod Manager. Dependencies are installed automatically.
Manual
- Install BepInExPack Valheim
- Install Jötunn
- Copy ForgedByAncientsv2.dll into BepInEx/plugins/
Configuration
Config file: BepInEx/config/com.forgedbyancients.core.cfg
| Section | Setting | Default | Description |
|--------|---------|---------|-------------|
| Windmill | Energy per wind tier | 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 | Energy generated per second |
| Smelter | Energy per ore | 20 | Cost when smelting finishes |
| Stone oven | Energy per cooked food | 20 | Cost when cooking finishes |
| Smelter | Max ore | 50 | Queue capacity |
| Smelter | Smelt speed | 3.0 | Speed multiplier |
| Runestone | Max energy | 5000 | Storage capacity |
| Network | Ranges | 100 m | Windmill / oven / stone link radius |
On a dedicated server, these values are synced to connecting clients.
Build costs
| Piece | Materials |
|-------|-----------|
| Rune Stone | Stone 20, Greydwarf Eye 10, Ancient Core 5 |
| Rune Windmill | Wood 30, Bronze 10, Ancient Core 5 |
| Rune Smeltery (Runenschmelze) | Stone 20, Copper 10, Ancient Core 5, Tin 5 |
| Rune Blast Furnace (Runen Hochofen) | Stone 20, Silver 10, Ancient Core 5, Copper 5 |
| Rune Stone Oven (Runen Steinofen) | Stone 20, Iron 5, Ancient Core 3, Copper 5 |
Ancient Core (forge): 1 Surtling Core + 5 Crystal → 1, or 5 Surtling Core + 10 Crystal → 5.
Compatibility
- Requires Jötunn
- Network compatibility: everyone must have the mod (minor version match)
- Does not replace vanilla smelter / blast furnace — adds separate rune pieces
Changelog
1.0.0
- All Valheim languages added (names, descriptions, hover texts and messages follow the game language)
Credits
Author: Morda
Created with Jötunn.
Install & use Install: BepInEx plugin
- The archive from playbuff is the mod itself — usually a BepInEx plugin (a .dll or a plugin folder once unzipped).
- Recommended: use a community mod manager (such as r2modman) — pick this game, import the mod, and the manager sets up BepInEx and its dependencies for you.
- Manual route: install the BepInEx loader in the game folder, then drop the unzipped .dll or plugin folder into BepInEx/plugins/.
- Launch the game — the BepInEx console logs every plugin it loads; seeing this mod in the log means it is installed.
Mods with listed dependencies need those installed too, or they will not load. Options are usually changed in-game or in the plugin's config file. In multiplayer, the host and every client need the same mods installed.
Install these first, or the mod will not work: