Valgrind
Dynamic, progressive skill loss on death with Jötunn ServerSync for Valheim.
About this mod Author’s original text
Valgrind
Valgrind is a lightweight mod designed to scale death penalty skill loss dynamically based on character progression.
About the Name: Valgrind
In Norse mythology, Valgrind ("The Gate of the Slain") is the sacred outer gate of Valhalla through which fallen warriors pass into the afterlife. In this mod, Valgrind acts as the gatekeeper of your mortality—fairly weighing and scaling your skill loss upon death rather than inflicting an indiscriminate flat penalty.
Features
- Progressive Skill Protection: Scales death penalty skill loss based on progression, protecting high-level masteries while keeping early-game deaths consequential.
- Multiple Calculation Modes: Supports Tiered Brackets, Continuous Curve scaling, and independent Per-Skill tier evaluation.
- Server-Synchronized Rules: Synchronizes and locks server rules across all connected clients using Jotunn.
Installation Type
- Location: Must be installed on both the Server and the Client.
- Enforcement: Client versions must match the server version.
Manual Install
- Ensure BepInEx and Jotunn are installed.
- Extract the downloaded.zip archive.
- Copy Valgrind.dll into your Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ folder.
- Launch the game once to generate the default configuration file.
Configuration
The configuration file is automatically created at BepInEx/config/com.bigai.valgrind.cfg after running the game once.
| Section | Setting | Default | Description |
|:--- |:--- |:--- |:--- |
| 1 - General | CalculationMode | TieredBrackets | Method used to calculate dynamic skill loss (TieredBrackets, ContinuousCurve, PerSkill). |
| 1 - General | UseTopNSkillsOnly | false | If true, average skill level is computed using only the player's top N highest skills. |
| 1 - General | TopNSkillsCount | 5 | Number of top skills to factor into the average when UseTopNSkillsOnly is enabled. |
| 1 - General | ResetAccumulatorOnDeath | true | If true, partial XP progress toward the next level is wiped on death (vanilla behavior). |
| 1 - General | EnableDebugLogging | false | Enables verbose calculation logging in the BepInEx console. |
| 2 - Tiered Brackets | EarlyGameLossPercent | 8.0 | Skill loss % for skill/average levels 75. |
| 3 - Continuous Curve | CurveMaxLossPercent | 8.0 | Maximum skill loss % applied at skill level 0. |
| 3 - Continuous Curve | CurveMinLossPercent | 1.0 | Minimum skill loss % applied at skill level 100. |
Controls & Commands
- Keybinds: None.
- Admin Commands: None.
Compatibility & Safe Removal
- Multiplayer: Must be installed on both server and clients with Jotunn.
- Save Integrity: Safe to add or remove mid-playthrough. Valgrind modifies only the skill loss calculation upon death.
AI Disclosure
I made this mod using AI. Most of the code in this mod was AI generated. If you have an issue with this, I completely understand and urge you to not use this mod. This mod ("Valgrind") is meant as a lightweight mod for small servers that don't need all the bells and whistles of a more complex mod.
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: