New in 1.5.5Trade, alliances & war between players

A free mod for Valheim

ValheimCity Builder

Press F7 and Valheim becomes a city builder.

Settlers, production chains, research, armies and boss camps, built on top of the game you know. Press F7 again and you are back in your Viking's boots.

Get it on Thunderstore Nexus Mods Watch video
  • Free, and it stays free
  • Singleplayer & multiplayer
  • Only players need the mod

See it in action

Watch the videos

I Turned Valheim Into a City Builder
Terrain update: I Removed Valheim's Terrain Limit

The videos play from YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com) once you click.

Your town

From a single hut to a Jarl's city

Build a Viking Hut and Vikings move in on their own. They pay taxes every minute and work in your buildings. Meet their needs and their homes grow with them: a full house with every need met can be upgraded on the spot.

Viking Hut

Needs

  • Food

Where every town begins. Settlers move in and start working right away.

Karl House

Needs

  • Meat or honey
  • Mead

Plain food is no longer enough. Karls want something better, and a horn of mead.

Jarl Hall

Needs

  • Meat
  • Mead
  • Coal
  • Bread

The pride of your town. If a need isn't met, people move out.

Features

Everything a Viking city needs

City-builder view

Press F7 for a top-down camera, build menu, resource bar, minimap, tooltips and info panels.

Houses build themselves

Piece by piece, out of real Valheim building parts. Copy and paste whole blocks with their roads.

Production chains

Lumberjacks, foragers, hunters, smokehouses, apiaries, farms, quarries, mills, bakeries, meaderies, charcoal kilns and more. Lumberjacks replant, and nature grows back.

Roads & warehouses

Every building needs a road to a warehouse. Snap roads to the grid or paint them freehand, curves included.

Research

The Skald's Fire turns sagas into knowledge. Spend it in three branches: Economy, Community and War.

The world outside

The map starts under fog. Scouts find Viking clans with real villages, traders, the Dvergr and hostile tribes. Trade, send gifts, sign agreements or go to war.

Armies

Weaponsmith and Barracks train Spearmen, Swordsmen and Silver Guards into squads. Attack camps from the world map and watch the battle happen.

Heroes & tavern beta

Hire warriors, berserkers, hunters and völvas. They guard your town or follow you through portals, into dungeons and aboard your ship, level up and wear the gear you give them.

Expedition Hall beta

Send your soldiers into burial chambers, troll caves, sunken crypts, frost caves or infested mines. They come back with surtling cores, scrap iron, crystals and more.

Iron & silver beta

Smelter, Armorer, Silver Mine and Silversmith: iron swords, banded shields, silver weapons and necklaces that traders pay well for.

Harbor & ships

Raft, Karve, Longship and Drakkar sail trade routes on their own, explore unknown coasts and carry your army across the water.

Defense

Raids come with a warning and a countdown. Watchtowers with archers, palisades, gates and stone walls keep raiders out. Burned buildings become ruins you can rebuild.

Events

Fires, harvest festivals, a travelling merchant, thieves, blood moons and hidden treasure.

Terrain tools beta

Raise, lower, smooth and flatten with a brush, far past Valheim's 8 m limit. Drag out a village zone or mark an area with Level Ground, and your Vikings flatten it.

City-builder look

Small trees and rocks, warm light and a tilt-shift miniature effect from above. Back as your Viking, Valheim looks like Valheim again.

Settings your way

The gear icon in the city view: tree size, grass, the miniature effect, terrain for new worlds, strolling residents, war between players and more.

Progression

Seven ages, seven bosses

Every boss lives in a guarded camp. Beat the garrison with your army, then the boss. Each victory starts a new age, with new buildings and a new look for your town.

  1. I

    Meadows

    The beginning

    Your first huts

  2. II

    Black Forest

    after Eikthyr

    Core wood

  3. III

    Swamp

    after The Elder

    Stone & iron

  4. IV

    Mountains

    after Bonemass

    Crystal windows

  5. V

    Plains

    after Moder

    Dark shingles

  6. VI

    Mistlands

    after Yagluth

    Black marble

  7. VII

    Ashlands

    after The Queen

    Grausten & ashwood

Out now: version 1.5.5 (beta)

Trade, alliances & war

Update 1.5 brought heroes, the Expedition Hall, iron and silver and Level Ground. Now your neighbours matter too: click another player's town, on its name plate or the world map, and deal with them.

Trade & gifts

Offer your goods for theirs, like 20 wood for 10 iron. They get a message and accept or decline, nothing changes hands before that. Or send a gift straight into their warehouse.

Alliances

Both sides have to agree. Allies may build right next to each other, and when your ally declares war on someone, you are asked to join. Alliances are saved with your town.

War

After a 60 second countdown your towns are no longer protected. Your squads fight their soldiers and archers, then turn their buildings into ruins. Settlers and scouts are spared.

Fair play: war only happens while both players are online, offline towns stay safe. Don't want PvP? Turn off War between players in the settings.

Also fixed in 1.5.5

  • Placing no longer jumps: the cursor aims at the ground, not at roofs, trees or rocks.
  • No more buildings stacked on one spot after a fast camera move.
  • Lumberjacks no longer get stuck in closed sheds, skip trees they can't reach and pick up the logs.
  • Soldiers no longer vanish when you scroll away from your town.
  • Wildlife leaves your settlers alone, and they heal over time.
  • Players joining a server get the same terrain as the world's creator.
  • Raiders no longer flicker at the edge of the view, and a raid can't go on forever.
  • Quarry workers leave ore veins alone.

Multiplayer beta

Build together, rule apart

  • Every player gets their own town with own storage, economy, research and settlers.
  • Works on dedicated servers and when you host from the game. Only the players need the mod, not the server.
  • Other players' towns are protected: no damage, no deconstructing, and you keep 60 m distance to them, unless you are allies.
  • Click another player's town to trade, send gifts, form an alliance or declare war. Allies can join each other's wars.
  • When a player is offline, their town rests.
  • Boss camps and villages exist once per world, so everyone sees the same camps.
  • You see the ships of the other players sailing their routes.

Getting started

Your town in three steps

  1. 1

    Install

    Get it with r2modman or the Thunderstore Mod Manager. BepInEx is installed automatically.

  2. 2

    Create a new world

    New worlds get gentle hills, 35% of Valheim's height. Prefer Valheim's natural terrain or a flat world? Pick it in the settings.

  3. 3

    Press F7

    Your first warehouse is free. Build a Viking Hut and the first settlers move in.

Early version: back up your worlds before you try the mod on an existing save.

Controls

Know your keys

F7
City-builder view / Viking view
WASD
Move the camera
Wheel
Zoom
QE
Rotate the camera
LMB
Select, place, confirm
RMB / Esc
Cancel
R
Rotate the building before placing
T
Next design of the building
G
Grid on / off
M
World map
K
Research
CtrlC / V
Copy and paste buildings with their roads
F9
Miniature look on / off
E
Looking at a hero: follow you / wait
ShiftE
Looking at a hero: back to town
H
All heroes nearby follow or wait
1–8
Looking at a hero: give them the item in that hotbar slot
L
In the inventory: item stays with your Viking, goes to the warehouse, or auto

FAQ

Questions at the fire

Is it free?

Yes. The mod is free and stays free. If you enjoy it and want to support the work, you can do that on Ko-fi.

Can I still play normal Valheim?

Any time. F7 switches between the city-builder view and your Viking. What you carry stays with your Viking when you switch views.

Does it work with my existing world?

It does, but this is an early version, so back up your world first. Existing worlds keep their terrain, only new worlds get the gentle hills.

Does my server need the mod?

No. On dedicated servers and when you host from the game, only the players need the mod.

Is there PvP?

Since 1.5.5 you can declare war on another player, but only while both of you are online, offline towns stay safe. Don't want it? Turn off War between players in the settings and nobody can declare war on you.

What happens to the boss altars?

Boss camps replace summoning bosses at their altars. You can turn that off in the config.

Can I use my own blueprints?

Yes. Drop PlanBuild .blueprint or BuildShare .vbuild files into BepInEx/config/ValheimCityBuilder/blueprints and they show up in the Blueprints tab.

Where are the settings?

Click the gear icon in the city view for tree size, grass, the miniature effect, terrain for new worlds and more. Everything else is in BepInEx/config/rusty.valheimcitybuilder.cfg: view key, fog, raids, boss camps, regrowth, road rule, grid and more.

I found a bug. Where do I report it?

In the Discord. Trade and war between players, heroes, expeditions, iron and silver, multiplayer and the terrain tools are still marked beta, so every report helps.

How can I help test?

Install the optional CityBuilder Beta Tracker add-on. It notes which features you tried in which game mode and lets you rate them. The beta test page shows what still needs testing.

Community

Join the clan

Discord

Bug reports, ideas, sneak peeks and update news.

Join the Discord

YouTube

Videos about the mod and what comes next.

Visit the channel

Ko-fi

The mod is free and stays free. If you enjoy it, you can support the work.

Support on Ko-fi

Beta tests

See which features were tested where, and help with the Beta Tracker add-on.

Open the beta page