Hardship

Hardship

Odin's world, just brutal. Slower progression, harsher consequences, and deadly storms for those who are not prepared.

Hardship makes Valheim's survival harsher from the very first day. Progression

is slower, death has greater consequences, and dangerous weather can turn the

world itself against you. Explore dark crypts with a handheld light, manage

your resources carefully, and prepare for storms before they find you exposed.

Features

• Copper Ore Weight: Configure the weight of copper ore on the server.
• Surtling Core Weight: Configure the weight of Surtling Cores on the server (defaults to 150 kg).
• Surtling Drops: Surtlings no longer drop Surtling Cores.
• Geyser Cores: Each geyser attempts to spawn a Surtling Core after a random 120-720 minutes, only when no core is already nearby.
• Geyser Gas: Geysers release visible toxic clouds every 4-55 seconds. Clouds last 15 seconds, affect players within 18 m, and drain 25 stamina per second before dealing drowning-type damage. These gas settings are configurable.
• Crypt Surtling Core Scarcity: Burial Chambers contain at most 1 Surtling Core (configurable spawn chance, defaults to 50%, rolled once per crypt and limited to that crypt's rooms).
• Custom Death Penalty: Skills below level 50 use percentage-based loss;

skills from level 50 use fixed reductions, with a smaller reduction at level

60 and above.

• Dark Crypts and Caves: Ambient lighting, environmental light, fog, and

dungeon light sources are disabled indoors, making handheld lighting

necessary for exploration.

• Enhanced Handheld Lights: Player torches and Dvergr lanterns have adjusted

light intensity and range while inside dark interiors.

• Lighting Note: Camera zoom can affect the perceived brightness and range

of handheld lights because Valheim adjusts light detail based on distance.

• Lightning Strikes: During thunderstorms, players out in the open (not

under a roof) risk being struck by lightning, with a higher chance while on

a ship. A struck player's health drops to 10, with a screen message and a

visible bolt effect seen by everyone nearby, followed by a per-player

cooldown before it can happen again.

• Server Synchronization: Configuration is synchronized to clients, and

every player must have the mod installed.

• Storm Ship Damage: Ships take configurable damage during severe storms, but are protected in shallow water so they do not take damage while close to shore.
• Weapon Balance: Early-game weapon damage can be adjusted at runtime through the configuration.
• Torch Recipe & Durability: Torch crafting cost and the number of melee hits before it breaks can be adjusted at runtime through the configuration.
• Early Axe Progression: Recipes requiring Curious or Mysterious Axe Heads are removed, keeping Birch, Oak, and Ancient Trees behind later progression.

Installation

The easiest way to install Hardship is using a mod manager like r2modman or the Mod Manager.

Manual Installation

• Ensure you have BepInEx and Jötunn installed.
• Download the Hardship.zip archive.
• Extract the contents and move Hardship.dll into your Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ folder.

Configuration

After launching the game once, edit the generated configuration file:

BepInEx/config/com.valheim.Hardship.cfg

• Ore Weights -> CopperOre: accepts 0.1 to 1000 (default 50).
• Ore Weights -> SurtlingCore: accepts 0.1 to 1000 (default 150).
• Crypt Loot -> SurtlingCoreChance: percent chance 0 to 100 (default 30).
• Storm Ship Damage -> ShallowWaterDepth: storms do not damage ships when the seabed is close below them; this protects boats in shallow water and near shore.
• Lightning Strikes -> Enabled: toggles lightning strikes entirely (default true).
• Lightning Strikes -> LandChancePercent: percent chance 0 to 100 per check while on land during a thunderstorm (default 0.5).
• Lightning Strikes -> ShipChancePercent: percent chance 0 to 100 per check while on a ship during a thunderstorm (default 1).
• Lightning S