Seasons

Four customizable seasons.

If you experience FPS issues

If you notice FPS drops, your GPU might handle more. Try adding these launch options:

-gfx-enable-gfx-jobs -gfx-enable-native-gfx-jobs

in Valheim's launch options on Steam.

This unlocks more GPU power for the game, which might help. It is more convenient than editing the boot.config file and is safe to try.

If you use the RenderLimits mod and have the "Distance area" setting higher than 10, it may cause noticeable FPS loss in areas with many trees. This cannot be further optimized with modding tools alone.

What can be customized per season

• Environments: add new weather types, modify weather properties, or remove weather.
• Random events: adjust event frequency, remove events, or change biome restrictions.
• Lighting: control luminance, fog density for different times of day and indoors.
• Stats: modify regeneration rates, stamina usage, skill levels, skill gain speed, damage modifiers, and more.
• Seasonal settings: adjust season length, night length, production rates, and other multipliers.
• Trader items: add seasonal trader inventory to balance resource availability.

Configuring the mod

The mod uses general settings through BepInEx configuration.

Custom settings

Custom seasonal settings are defined using JSON files.

The mod creates a shudnal.Seasons directory inside the BepInEx config folder. This is where default and custom settings are stored.

Default settings

On each world load, the mod generates a Default settings folder containing files with default values.

BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Default settings

You need to launch the world at least once after installing the mod to generate these default files.

Important: Do not edit files inside the Default settings folder directly. Any changes will be overwritten the next time you load a world or update the mod.

How to create custom settings

To create custom seasonal settings:

1. Open the folder:

   BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Default settings
   

2. Copy the file you want to edit (e.g., Winter.json).
3. Paste it into the main shudnal.Seasons config folder:

   BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\
   

4. Edit the copied file as needed.

If your changes are applied, you will see this message in the BepInEx console or LogOutput.log:

[Info   :   Seasons] Settings updated: Winter

Note: Any property not defined in your custom file will default to the value in Default settings. This allows you to keep your custom file minimal, containing only the settings you want to change.

Example: Changing winter length

To make winter last 20 days instead of 10:

1. Copy Winter.json from:

   BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Default settings
   

   to:

   BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\
   

2. Open the copied file and modify:

   "daysInSeason": 10
   

   to:

   "daysInSeason": 20
   

3. Save the file. The change will apply in-game when the season system updates.

Texture recoloring

The mod does not include built-in textures; they are generated on the first launch.

You can adjust cache settings if you dislike the defaults. Cache settings are synced from the server on login.

Textures and the rules for applying them are stored in:

BepInEx\cache\shudnal.Seasons

If you experience any issue with textures or just want to rebuild cache you can safely delete the files inside this folder.

By default, cache is saved as a non-human-readable binary file for faster loading. It can also be saved as JSON and PNG files.

You can replace generated textures with your own custom textures using approach described in Custom textures. There is no need to alter files in cache folder.

The mod's main idea is to change vanilla colors without altering other object properties.

Recoloring settings

Seasonal settings

Basic seasonal settings are located in JSON files: Spring.json, Summer.json, Fall.json, Winter.json.

See the "Default settings" and customization instructions above.

Settings descriptions

• daysInSeason (integer, default 10): Season length in days. Changing this value recalculates the current day and season immediately.
• nightLength (integer, default 30): Percentage of the day that is night. 30 means 30% of the day is night.
• torchAsFiresource (bool): Makes torches provide warmth but drain durability faster.
• torchDurabilityDrain (float): Default drain is 0.0333; warm torches wear at 0.1.
• plantsGrowthMultiplier (float): Speed multiplier for plant and pickable growth.
• beehiveProductionMultiplier (float): Multiplier for beehive production speed.
• foodDrainMultiplier (float): Multiplier for food drain speed.
• staminaDrainMultiplier (float): Affects all stamina-consuming actions.
• fireplaceDrainMultiplier (float): Wood consumption multiplier for fireplaces, ovens, and baths.
• sapCollectingSpeedMultiplier (float): Multiplier for sap collection speed.
• rainProtection (bool): Prevents building pieces from weather damage.
• woodFromTreesMultiplier (float): Multiplier for wood drops from trees and bushes.
• windIntensityMultiplier (float): Multiplier for wind force (affects boats and windmills).
• restedBuffDurationMultiplier (float): Multiplier for rested buff duration.
• livestockProcreationMultiplier (float): Affects breeding speed and conditions for creatures.
• overheatIn2WarmClothes (bool): Wearing two frost-resistant armor pieces applies a "Warm" effect, reducing stamina and eitr regeneration by 20%.
• meatFromAnimalsMultiplier (float): Multiplier for meat drops from animals.
• treesRegrowthChance (float): Chance for tree stumps to leave a sapling when destroyed.

Ideas behind default settings

• Default season length of 10 days balances challenge and seasonal benefits.
• Short nights in summer and long nights in winter reflect Scandinavian cycles. White snow in winter even at night makes environment look brighter.
• Plants grow slower in fall and stop in winter but grow quickly in spring and summer.
• Bees sleep in winter but work harder in summer and fall.
• Snow in winter does no damage to buildings.
• Summer and fall are windier.
• Overheating occurs if you wear two warm clothes in summer. Change your cape or consume eyescream to not get overheat.
• You could face freezing at some moments of fall and winter. It is handy to use torch to get warm.
• You need less firewood at spring and summer but more in fall and winter
• It is harder to stay rested in winter

Seasonal environments

Default vanilla environment data is stored in:

• Default environments.json (weather list)
• Default biome environments.json (weather distribution by biome)

These files are for reference only.

Environment structure

• m_default (bool): Default weather (true for "Clear").
• m_name (string): Environment name, must be unique.
• m_isWet (bool): Characters get the Wet debuff.
• m_isFreezing (bool): Characters get the Freezing debuff.
• m_isFreezingAtNight (bool): Freezing debuff only at night.
• m_isCold (bool): Characters get the Cold debuff.
• m_isColdAtNight (bool): Cold debuff only at night.
• m_alwaysDark (bool): Darkens all colors (e.g., Swamp).
• m_psystems (string): Particle system names (mist, rain, snow, etc.). Comma separated.
• m_ambientLoop (string): Looping ambient audio (sounds of wind, snow, rain, etc).

Custom properties:

• m_cloneFrom (string): Which vanilla environment properties should be copied to custom environment

Biome environments

Biome environment files define weather distribution per biome.

Customized biome environment settings:

• m_name (string): Name of the biome settings, in most cases the biome name
• m_environments: Array of environments represented by name and weight. More weight the environment have means the weather will be like this more often.

Weather are chosed from environments list based on pseudorandom value common to all clients.

Custom environments

File Custom environments.json defines custom weather, similar to Environment properties but only listing changes.

There are seasonal variants of vanilla weather mostly.

Custom music

Place music files in:

BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Custom music

Any Unity-compatible audio file will be loaded as a music track. Create a .json file with the same name as your track to define settings.

For example track "runichills.mp3" will be loaded as "runichills" music track. It will try to find "runichills.json" settings file otherwise default settings will be used.

To set custom music track settings create file with .json extension and the same name as music track.

Example (default settings):

{
  "m_enabled": true,
  "m_volume": 1.0,
  "m_fadeInTime": 3.0,
  "m_alwaysFadeout": false,
  "m_loop": true,
  "m_resume": true,
  "m_ambientMusic": true
}

• m_enabled (bool): Music is enabled
• m_volume (float): Volume level of that track
• m_fadeInTime (float): Time in seconds where track volume will be gradually increased on track start
• m_alwaysFadeout (bool): Track will always have fade out effect no matter if it crossed with another track or not
• m_loop (bool): If enabled then track will be played continuously, if disabled it will play just once with random start interval
• m_resume (bool): Resume track playback from the moment it stopped previously
• m_ambientMusic (bool): If set to true then track will be played on loop if game setting "Continuous music" is enabled

Both music and its settings file must be shared with all clients. Otherwise the music just will not be played.

Custom biome environments

File "Custom Biome Environments.json" contains default custom environments and their distribution between seasons.

Environments set in property "add" will be added to m_environments list in vanilla Biome environments. Environments set in property "replace" will be replace set "m_environment" with the same weight in m_environments list in vanilla Biome environments. Environments set in property "remove" will be completely removed from biome environment.

Use Add to add completely new weather to the biome environment. Use Replace if you made some seasonal variant of the weather (like changing particle system from "Rain" to "Snow" in "LightRain" Meadows weather means what used to be rainy weather becomes snowy weather without other parameters to be changed) Use Remove to get rid of some weather.

Some explanations and ideas behind default settings

• Rain component of weather was replaced by snow one for winter variants
• Added summer swamp weather without wet status
• Added summer swamp darklands weather (a bit different color scheme)
• Winter weather variants have combination of freezing status (freezing at night or in the wet rain/storm)
• Added summer weather variation without cold at night
• Added more clear weather at summer
• Added more rainy weather at fall
• Spring is default weather
• Added dark variants of winter weathers (to represent cloudy days IRL)

Random events

Default vanilla randon events are saved in "Default events.json". They represent the name of the event and biome distribution. Weight value can be ignored. This file is for informational purposes only to copy event name and biomes.

Custom events

File "Custom events.json" contains default custom events and their distribution between seasons. Every other settings have no meaningful purpose in seasonal logic hence were omitted.

Event structure:

• m_name (string) - event with that name will be modified
• m_biomes (string) - comma separated biome list in which the event can be started
• m_weight (integer) - how much more likely that event will be started. 0 to never, 1 to usual probability

That parameters only counts when possible events are being selected.

Some explanations and ideas behind default settings

• in winter there could be wolves not only in mountains and plains
• there are no skeletons, blobs, trolls and surtlings in winter but increased chance of dragons and wolves raid
• there are more draugrs, blobs and skeletons in fall due to rainy weather
• in summer there are no wolves but more surtlings, bats and cackling goblins
• in spring there are more trolls, meaties and greydwarves

That way overall raids should be balanced and immersive.

Custom lightings

File "Custom lightings.json" contains default custom lighting settings and their distribution between seasons.

There are distinct luminance and fog density settings for morning, day, evening, night and indoors. "luminanceMultiplier" controls the luminance component of HSL color model of environment lightings. "fogDensityMultiplier" control how much the "air" itself will block lights.

You better test it yourself to find out how it actually looks.

Settings "lightIntensityDayMultiplier" and "lightIntensityNightMultiplier" controls how much light will come from sun and moon. Less luminanceMultiplier and more lightIntensityNightMultiplier makes nights more realistic, moonlit swamp looks terrific.

Some explanations and ideas behind default settings

• Spring is default
• Summer has more light at night
• Fall have more darker lightings
• Winter have dark nights which compensated by more moonlight and overall white surroundings reflecting more light

Custom stats

File "Custom stats.json" contains default custom stats settings and their distribution between seasons.

Current stats tooltip will be shown in almanac to see actual effect. Reopen the almanac after background stats config was changed.

Stats file structure reflects vanilla SE_Stats status effect which has properties:

• m_tickInterval (float) - time in seconds in which m_healthPerTick will apply damage or heal
• m_healthPerTickMinHealthPercentage (float) - percent of max hp you will be affected by m_healthPerTick heal/damage
• m_healthPerTick (float) - actual number HP. If m_healthPerTick > 0 you will be healed otherwise damaged
• m_healthHitType (string) - type of damage m_healthPerTick damage
• m_staminaDrainPerSec (float) - how much stamina will be drained per second
• m_runStaminaDrainModifier (float) - 1.0 for 100%, 0.1 for 10%, -0.5 for -50% means less stamina used
• m_jumpStaminaUseModifier (float) - 1.0 for 100%, 0.1 for 10%, -0.5 for -50% means less stamina used
• m_healthRegenMultiplier (float) - 1.2 for +20% regeneration, 0.8 for -20% regeneration
• m_staminaRegenMultiplier (float) - 1.2 for +20% regeneration, 0.8 for -20% regeneration
• m_eitrRegenMultiplier (float) - 1.2 for +20% regeneration, 0.8 for -20% regeneration
• m_raiseSkills (string, float) - set pairs of skill and its raise multiplier, means more/less skill point gained on action
• m_skillLevels (string, float) - set pairs of common skill and its addition, i.e. "Jump": 15.0 to get +15 to jump skill
• m_modifyAttackSkills (string, float) - set pairs of weapon skill and its addition, i.e. "Swords": 15.0 to get +15 to swords skill
• m_damageModifiers (string, string) - set pairs of damage type and damage modifiers listed below
• m_noiseModifier (float) - 0.2 for 20% more noise generated, -0.2 for 20% less noise generated
• m_stealthModifier (float) - 0.2 for 20% more effective stealth, -0.2 for 20% less effective stealth
• m_speedModifier (float) - 0.05 for 5% more movement speed, -0.05 for 5% less movement speed
• m_maxMaxFallSpeed (float) - 5 is the default value of Feather SlowFall cape
• m_fallDamageModifier (float) - fall damage modifier, 0.7 for 30% less damage from falling

Damage types

• Blunt
• Slash
• Pierce
• Chop
• Pickaxe
• Fire
• Frost
• Lightning
• Poison
• Spirit
• Physical
• Elemental

Damage modifiers

• Normal
• Resistant
• Weak
• Immune
• Ignore
• VeryResistant
• VeryWeak

Some explanations and ideas behind default settings

• there are poison resistance and slow healing in spring
• spring and summer are easier to move and get more skill from that actions
• fall and winter are focused at resource gathering and fishing
• in summer you move faster, use less stamina, make less noise and better hiding
• good weather in summer makes your health restore faster
• pessimistic thoughts in fall make your eitr restore faster
• fresh winter air makes your stamina regen faster
• you are more resistant to fire in winter
• you make more noise on the snow and worse at hiding
• snow traversal takes 5% of your movement speed
• but you take less damage from falling in the snow

Custom trader items

File "Custom trader items.json" contains default custom trader items and their distribution between seasons.

Items can be customized distinctly between seasons and traders. You can use custom traders names.

You can adapt items list from https://valheim.thunderstore.io/package/shudnal/TradersExtended/ as it shares the item structure.

Trader names

You can use different names of the same trader. Case insensitive

• original prefab name (internal ID, haldor has "Haldor")
• unlocalized name (m_name value, haldor has "$npc_haldor")
• localized name (result of translation of unlocalized name to current language, in english "$npc_haldor" becomes "Haldor")
• for vanilla Haldor and Hildir you are just fine using "haldor" and "hildir"

Trader item

The structure of the trader item reflects adapted ingame tradeable item description:

• prefab (string) - game object prefab name. Current list of items here. Wrongly set prefab names will be ignored.
• stack (int) - how much of item will be sold
• price (int) - price for stack
• requiredGlobalKey (string) - global key used to track progress in game worlds. Current list of keys here

Some explanations and ideas behind default settings

• Hildir hats are there merely to get an example of file structure. Yet it's seasonal hats why wouldn't she had it.
• Haldor stacks meat through winter to sell it to you in spring
• Haldor has some surpluses from the current harvest in fall (you may get some to prepare for winter)
• Haldor has some potentially unavailable items in winter
• Haldor has some seeds in winter because he knows you will need some in spring

Grass control

If you ever used grass tweaks mods you should be familiar with that settings.

You can set default grass settings in "Season - Grass" section in general mod config.

• Patch size (float) - size of terrain square populated with grass (sparseness or how wide a single grass "node" is across the ground). Increase to make grass more sparse and decrease to make grass more tight
• Amount scale (float) - grass density or how many grass patches created around you at once
• List of affected grass prefabs - string, comma separated - in case you have custom grass prefabs you should add it to that list

Settings change will be applied on the fly to see effect immediately.

File "Custom grass settings.json" contains distribution of grass settings between days and seasons.

Grass settings depends on day and grass settings will be interpolated between two settings.

For example if scaleMax is set 1.1 in day 1 and 1.3 in day 5 it means intermediate values will be

• day 1 - 1.1
• day 2 - 1.15
• day 3 - 1.2
• day 4 - 1.25
• day 5 - 1.3

The same logic works for other values. If value is not set it takes default value set in general settings.

Grass settings

• m_day (int)
• m_grassPatchSize (float)
• m_amountScale (float)
• m_scaleMin (float) - multiplier of minimum size of grass
• m_scaleMax (float) - multiplier of maximum size of grass. If set to 0 the grass will be completely disabled.

Some explanations and ideas behind default settings

• main goal was completely disabled grass in winter after set day. That should help greatly to performance in snow storms.
• grass size will be gradually reduced to zero in winter to make it looks like more and more snow
• grass will return in spring gradually
• in spring grass size will be decreased a little in comparison to default grass state
• in summer grass size will be increased but it will be a bit sparser to not hit performance
• in fall grass size will be a bit increase and gradually decreased and made sparser on the last day

Seasonal clutter

There is 3 new clutter prefabs:

• Meadows flowers (red and blue)
• Black forest flowers (pink)
• Swamp flowers (white)

By default that prefabs are only enabled in Spring adding some heavily needed flavor.

File "Custom clutter settings.json" contains seasonal clutter distribution settings between seasons.

You can add your own clutter using other mods and control its seasonal state through that file.

Seasonal clutter settings

• clutterName - string - clutter name as it set in ClutterSystem.m_clutter
• spring - bool - should it be enabled in spring
• summer - bool - should it be enabled in summer
• fall - bool - should it be enabled in fall
• winter - bool - should it be enabled in winter

Custom textures

Custom textures could be placed in \BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Custom textures folder.

Mod comes with some predefined default textures. It will be placed in \BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Custom textures\Defaults folder. Default textures will be overwritten after mod version change.

If you want to make changes to default textures then copy needed folder into \BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Custom textures.

Folders inside of \BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Custom textures folder should be named as texture name. If different objects use the same texture it will be replaced for all of them.

To find what texture name is you should set general config option "Test - Cache format" to "SaveBothLoadBinary" and rebuild the cache (by running console command or just deleting old one in \BepInEx\cache\shudnal.Seasons).

After that new cache folder will form with files cache.json and cache.bin and textures folder. Cache.json consists of all objects and their materials and color that will be replaced.

In that file you can find prefab and texture number which corresponds with folder in "texture" directory.

In that texture directory you can find file with name ending on ".orig.png". That is the name of texture you want to replace.

Texture numbers could be generated differently on every cache build.

Files inside of texture folder corresponds with season and variant. Naming convention is Season_Number.png. Your textures should be named accordingly.

Example

You want to replace winter texture of Beech.

Find your current cache revision folder. It's located in \BepInEx\cache\shudnal.Seasons folder and named as cache revision number. To get your current cache revision number you can enable logging and look for it in log file. Or simply delete every other folder and rebuild cache.

Most recent folder will be your current cache folder. In that example it's 2054891382. Go inside.

Open cache.json file and look for beech prefab name. You can find its name on Jotunn's prefab list or using RuntimeUnityEditor.

In that case there are three beech prefabs in cache.json.

• Beech_Sapling - small plantable version of beech
• Beech_small1 - small variant
• Beech_small2 - small variant
• Beech1 - actual big meadows tree and our current target to change texture

Beech_Sapling, Beech_small1 and Beech_small2 shares the same texture with number 112892 (your number might be different).

Beech1 have material beech_leaf and its _MainTex (main texture) with number 171264. There are also bark material and _MossTex. It should be ignored.

So we take number 171264 and go into \BepInEx\cache\shudnal.Seasons\2054891382\textures\171264 folder. There are set of seasonal files, properties.json file and beech_leaf.orig.png file. Last file is original texture used in vanilla game. Original texture file name convention is {Texture name}.orig.png so our texture name will be beech_leaf.

Now we create new folder in \BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Custom textures and name it beech_leaf.

For that example we take file Winter_1.png from \BepInEx\cache\shudnal.Seasons\2054891382\textures\171264 folder to \BepInEx\config\shudnal.Seasons\Custom textures\beech_leaf.

You can now edit that file as you wish. It will be loaded as Winter variant number 1 for Beech1 prefab in game.

Any changes done to that file will be applied on the fly.

Only textures appeared in cache.json file could be replaced.

Custom biome settings

File "Custom biome settings.json" contains settings for biome terrain color seasonal override and winter colors for minimap.

Changes made to terrain colors requires change of current season to get effect. You can simply override and change season in general config section "Season - Override".

Changes made to winter minimap colors requires world restart.

Seasonal ground colors

• biome - string - biome name, case insensitive, custom biomes supported (you can set biome name if it added properly like in Expand World Data or you can set biome numeric ID)
• spring - string - biome terrain that should be used for that biome in Spring
• summer - string - biome terrain that should be used for that biome in Summer
• fall - string - biome terrain that should be used for that biome in Fall
• winter - string - biome terrain that should be used for that biome in Winter

Winter colors

Being set as pairs "Biome": "Color Hex Code".

Vanilla winter colors made by interpolating original biome color to "#FAFAFF" preserving original alpha channel. #FAFAFF also called Ghost White and it's not just white color but has a bit snowy tint.

Some explanations and ideas behind default settings

• Ashlands, Mountain and Deep north do not change its terrain.
• All controlled biomes become mountain in Winter to get snow effect on the ground
• Meadows have Plains color in Fall to get yellowish ground color
• Black forest has Swamp color in Fall to get effect of wet dirt ground
• Plains has Meadows color in Spring to get effect of blooming surroundings

General settings

• minimap will be recolored using the seasonal colors setting
• seasonal items will be enabled in the corresponding season
• you won't die from freezing debuff if you're not in the mountains or deep north. You will stay at very low hp.
• seasonal stats will be applied only outdoors. In dungeons you won't have advantage.
• current seasonal buff can be hidden and timer format can bet set to current day or the time left to next season
• seasons are changed in the morning of first day
• seasons are changed with small fade effect which can be disabled
• seasons are changed instantly and current season can be overriden
• you can set localization strings for season names and tooltips
• due to seasonal change of honey production and plants growth there are settings to show estimates of plants and beehive production (like in BetterUI)
• seasons can be set changeable only when sleeping
• ice floes will spawn in ocean in set period of days in winter
• water will freeze in set period of days in winter
• ships can be pushed out of water when the surface is frozen
• fish will be pushed below surface when it freezes

Custom world settings for realtime seasons calculations

File "Custom world settings.json" contains example entry of custom world settings.

You can set start time in UTC timezone and the day length in seconds. Your world name should be equal the set world name in settings for them to activate.

If the world setting is set then seasons will be calculated from set datetime using current UTC time, set daylength in seconds and days in season from season settings.

That way you will not have an option to change season on the sleep. Season will change when time is come.

For example you can

• set start time as 0:00 of Monday
• set day length 86400 seconds (1 day)
• set days in season = 7

It will mean your world has week long seasons starting from set Monday.

Seasonal buff icon replacement

You can place files in the config folder to replace current buff icon (restart required):

• season_fall.png
• season_spring.png
• season_summer.png
• season_winter.png

Seasonal global key

You can enable setting of season related server wide global key. It's disabled by default. You can customize the key in case you need it.

Default seasonal keys:

• season_fall
• season_spring
• season_summer
• season_winter

Installation (manual)

extract Seasons folder to your BepInEx\Plugins\ folder

Configurating

The best way to handle configs is Configuration Manager.

Or Official BepInEx Configuration Manager.

Mirrors

Nexus

Donation

Buy Me a Coffee

Discord

Join server