ValSeeker

v1.0.0·Updated 2026-09-22

A Seeker Rod that points you to the nearest tin, copper, silver, iron and more. Pick the resource from a radial menu, hold block and follow the glow. Reach grows with the new Smelling skill.

About this mod Author’s original text

ValSeeker

A dowsing rod for Valheim. Craft the Seeker Rod, choose what you are looking for and let it point the way to the nearest deposit within reach. Your Smelling skill grows as you find things, and with it the reach of the rod.

How it works

  • Craft the Seeker Rod at a workbench (level 2): 4 Fine wood, 1 Surtling core, 3 Greydwarf eyes.
  • Equip it. Hold the attack button (left mouse): a radial menu opens with every resource the rod knows. Move onto one and release to choose it. The menu also tells you how many of each lie within reach right now.
  • Hold the block button (right mouse): the rod seeks the nearest deposit of that resource that still has something in it. Your character turns to face it and points, the core of the rod glows in the colour of the resource and pings faster the closer you get, and the distance shows under the crosshair (with "above you" / "below you" for caves and buried veins).
  • Walk that way. Reaching the deposit gives Smelling experience.

Buried silver, copper hidden in a hillside, obsidian above you, scrap piles in a crypt: the rod finds everything the game knows about around you, loaded or not, so it works like a wishbone that can be pointed at any resource.

Big deposits are made of many pieces. The rod points at the nearest piece that is still there, not at the middle of the original rock, so a half-mined copper deposit with its rest under the surface is found too, and the crosshair says "buried" when the piece is under the ground.

Resources

Tin, Copper, Silver, Iron scrap (muddy scrap piles, bog iron), Obsidian, Black marble (petrified giant remains), Flametal, Gold veins, Sulfur, Thistle, Dragon eggs, Guck, Tar and Cloudberries. Resources that do not exist in your world are hidden from the menu.

The menu only lists resources you have already found: a resource appears once you have picked up its item (copper ore, silver ore, thistle...). The first deposit of every kind still has to be found on foot, as in the plain game. RequireKnownResource = false lists everything; RequireExploredMap = true additionally limits the rod to map areas you have uncovered.

The list is a setting: every entry is Name|IconItem|GlowColour|prefab,prefab,..., so resources from other mods can be added by their prefab names.

Smelling

A new skill. It rises a little while the rod points at a deposit and a lot when you reach one (once per deposit). Every level adds 1 m to the rod's reach: 40 m at level 0, up to 128 m. The game only knows the world about 128 m around you, so that is where the rod's senses end.

Configuration

BepInEx/config/gokbe.valseeker.cfg

| Setting | Default | Description |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Range / RadiusBase | 40 | Reach in metres at Smelling 0. |

| Range / RadiusPerLevel | 1 | Metres of reach per Smelling level. |

| Range / MaxRadius | 128 | Upper limit of the reach. |

| Range / ScanInterval | 0.5 | Seconds between two searches while seeking. |

| Controls / HoldToOpen | 0.15 | Seconds to hold the attack button before the menu opens. |

| Controls / ShowHints | true | Reminder of the buttons when the rod is equipped. |

| Controls / Beam | true | Short beam of light from the core towards the deposit. |

| Controls / Sounds | true | Wishbone pings while seeking. |

| Smelling / XpPerFind | 5 | Experience for reaching a deposit. |

| Smelling / XpPerTick, XpTickSeconds | 0.5, 5 | Experience while pointing at a deposit. |

| Smelling / FindDistance | 6 | Distance at which a deposit counts as found. |

| Discovery / RequireKnownResource | true | Only resources whose item you have picked up before are listed. |

| Discovery / RequireExploredMap | false | Only deposits inside uncovered map areas are found. |

| Targets / Targets | (list) | What the rod can seek. |

Multiplayer

Works in multiplayer. The mod must be installed on the server and on every client (it adds an item). Seeking itself happens on your own computer; others just see you point.

Notes

  • The rod is not a weapon: its attack button op

Install & use Install: BepInEx plugin

  1. The archive from playbuff is the mod itself — usually a BepInEx plugin (a .dll or a plugin folder once unzipped).
  2. 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.
  3. Manual route: install the BepInEx loader in the game folder, then drop the unzipped .dll or plugin folder into BepInEx/plugins/.
  4. 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.

Dependencies

Install these first, or the mod will not work:

denikson-BepInExPack_ValheimValheimModding-Jotunn

File & checksum

Filename
ValSeeker-1.0.0.zip
File size
70.1 KiB