Valheim Performance Overhaul
A comprehensive performance optimization mod focused on reducing CPU and GPU load — especially on large bases, busy servers, and zones with many light sources.
Installation
Install via r2modman or Thunderstore Mod Manager (recommended) — everything is placed automatically.
Manual install:
- Install BepInExPack Valheim first.
- Copy
ValheimPerformanceOverhaul.dll into BepInEx/plugins/.
- Launch the game — a config file is generated automatically at
BepInEx/config/com.Skarif.ValheimPerformanceOverhaul.cfg.
What it does
🔦 Light Culling (biggest FPS impact)
- Limits active light sources to a configurable maximum (default: 15).
- Disables shadow casting beyond a set distance.
- Light LOD system: transitions lights through Full → No Shadows → Emissive → Billboard → Disabled as distance increases.
💤 Distance Culler
- Puts distant creatures and building pieces to "sleep" — pauses their Update logic.
- Physics culling for Rigidbodies beyond a set range.
- Configurable exclusions (e.g. portals, tombstones are never culled).
🏗️ Piece Optimization
WearNTear.GetSupport() results are cached with a configurable TTL.- Distant pieces skip their Update cycle entirely.
- Asynchronous WearNTear initialization — spreads load over multiple frames on scene load.
🤖 AI Throttling
- Monsters beyond 60 m update AI only every 5 seconds instead of every frame.
- LOS (line-of-sight) checks are cached per-target with a 0.5 s timeout.
- Idle tamed animals inside player bases enter a low-power mode.
🎨 Graphics Settings
- Configurable shadow distance, resolution, and cascade count.
- Bloom and screen-space reflections toggle.
- Terrain quality multiplier.
🌿 Vegetation
- Grass render distance and density control.
- Detail object distance and density.
🎵 Audio Pooling
- Reuses AudioSource components instead of creating new ones per sound effect.
♻️ Object Pooling
- Reuses
ItemDrop GameObjects to reduce instantiation overhead when loot spawns.
🧠 GC Control
- Prevents Unity's garbage collection from firing during combat or movement.
⚡ JIT Warm-up
- Pre-compiles critical game methods on spawn to eliminate the first-use stutter.
🗺️ Minimap Optimization
- Configurable texture resolution and update frequency.
Configuration
All settings are available in BepInEx/config/com.Skarif.ValheimPerformanceOverhaul.cfg.
If you have BepInEx Configuration Manager installed, press F1 in-game to adjust all settings with a GUI in real time.
Key settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
| Max Active Lights |
15 |
Max simultaneous light sources |
| Light Cull Distance |
60 m |
Beyond this distance lights turn off |
| Creature Cull Distance |
80 m |
Creatures sleep beyond this distance |
| Piece Cull Distance |
100 m |
Building pieces sleep beyond this distance |
| Support Cache Duration |
5 s |
How long structural support values are cached |
| Grass Density Multiplier |
0.7 |
1.0 = vanilla, lower = fewer grass |
| Shadow Distance |
50 m |
Maximum shadow render distance |
Performance expectations
Results depend heavily on scene complexity. Typical gains:
| Scenario |
Expected FPS gain |
| Open world, few structures |
~5–10% |
| Medium base (50–100 pieces) |
~10–20% |
| Large base (300+ pieces, 10+ light sources) |
~20–40% |
| Busy server with many players/mobs |
~15–30% |
Compatibility
- ✅ Works standalone — no other mods required.
- ✅ Compatible with most content mods (Epic Loot, Jotunn-based mods, etc.).
- ⚠️ If Object Pooling conflicts with a loot mod, disable it in config (
4. Object Pooling → Enabled = false).
- ⚠️ The mod was created in collaboration with AI. Despite the fact that I conducted test runs in various situations, the mod is in BETA. Although the mod technically cannot break the world, it is advisable to make backups.
- ❌ Does not support crossplay (Steam + Game Pass mixed sessions). Pure Steam servers are fine.
Changelog
2.6.0
- Removed NetworkManager (ZSteamSocket-only, broke crossplay)
- Removed ZDOOptimizer (potential desync risk on servers)
- Fixed LightLODManager: removed duplicate ScanForLights() on Start
- Fixed AdvancedLightManager: removed periodic FindObjectsByType scan every 5s (caused micro-freezes)
- DistanceCuller refactored: all cullers now managed by one central Update loop instead of one Update() per object
- PiecePatches: replaced ConcurrentDictionary with Dictionary (main thread only, 3–5x faster)
- AsyncWearInit: added early exit when queue is empty
2.5.1
