Nero
Nero the dog - spawnable companion, tamed to his owner, truly invincible, gentle bite, and visible on everyone's map.
About this mod Author’s original text
Nero
A very good boy for your Viking adventures.
Nero is a spawnable dog built on the vanilla Wolf: same AI, same animations, same
follow/guard behavior — with a completely custom dog model. He's a bit smaller than a wolf,
he arrives already tamed, he's invincible, and everyone on the server can see him
on the map.
Vanilla wolves are not modified in any way. Nero is registered as his own creature.
Spawning
Console spawning only (no natural spawns):
- In a world, press F5, type devcommands, then:
spawn Nero
He spawns tamed. His owner (see OwnerName below) interacts with him (E) to make him
follow / stay; everyone else gets to pet him.
Configuration
BepInEx/config/com.tronn.nero.cfg
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| General / Scale | 0.85 | Nero's size relative to a vanilla wolf |
| General / Invincible | true | Nero takes no damage from anything. To remove him: enable devcommands and hit him yourself — only a direct player hit with devcommands on gets through |
| General / DamageMultiplier | 0.25 | Damage Nero deals to enemies (1.0 = full wolf damage) |
| General / MapPin | true | Show Nero on the map/minimap for every player running the mod |
| Ownership / OwnerOnly | true | Only the claiming player can command him |
| Ownership / OwnerName | Flyn | Only this character (case-insensitive) may claim and command Nero. Empty = first to interact claims him |
How it works
The mod clones the Wolf prefab at runtime (via Jötunn), then rebuilds Nero's mesh from raw
data and binds it to the wolf skeleton by bone name — no asset bundles, so it is resilient
to game updates. All movement, combat, and tame behavior is the vanilla Wolf's.
Manual installation (non-mod-manager)
Copy the plugins/Nero folder into Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ so you have:
BepInEx/plugins/Nero/Nero.dll
BepInEx/plugins/Nero/nero_mesh.bin
BepInEx/plugins/Nero/nero_albedo.png
BepInEx/plugins/Nero/nero_normal.png
BepInEx/plugins/Nero/nero_map_icon.png
Requires BepInEx and Jötunn.
Dedicated server installation (Bisect Hosting etc.)
The mod syncs — server and all players need it (it declares network compatibility,
version-strict to the minor: everyone must be on 1.4.x).
- BepInExPack_Valheim and Jötunn on the server
- Upload the plugins/Nero folder from this zip into the server's BepInEx/plugins/
(replace the old one)
- Update the server's BepInEx/config/com.tronn.nero.cfg (or delete it and let it
regenerate) so DamageMultiplier, Invincible and OwnerName match the new defaults
- Restart the server; players join with the same mod version installed
Known issues (v1.4.0)
- The death ragdoll briefly shows a wolf shape
- Nero uses wolf sounds (howls included — he's proud of it)
- Jaw doesn't open separately during bite/eat animations
- The map pin shows Nero's live position while his area is loaded for you; otherwise it
stays at his last known spot
Credits
Model: custom dog model (Meshy). Built with BepInEx + 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: