On a Valheim server, nobody shares a map automatically. Each character keeps its own map of each world - what it has explored and the pins it has placed - and that map lives in the character file on the player's own machine, not on the server. The cartography table is how a group shares: one player records their exploration and pins onto the table, and everyone else reads the table to merge it into their own map. It is a manual exchange, not a live sync, so a group that wants one map has to use the table out of habit. A player who rejoins on a new character starts with a blank map, and the table is also the quickest fix for that. With -setkey nomap there is no map at all, and the table loses most of its point.
Where the map lives#
Valheim splits saved data in two. The world - terrain, buildings, chests, creatures - is stored on the server in the world's .db file. The character - inventory, skills, appearance, Forsaken power - is stored on the player's machine in a .fch file under characters_local. The explored map belongs to the character.
Inside each character file, the game keeps a separate map entry for every world that character has visited, keyed to the world's internal ID rather than its name. That entry holds the explored area (the fog of war you have cleared), your own pins, and your bed spawn point for that world. Valheim save and file locations has the full paths on Windows and Linux.
This has some consequences that surprise groups:
- Two players exploring the same world have two different maps. One player sailing the coast reveals nothing on anybody else's map.
- The server cannot reveal the map for you. There is no server setting that shares exploration in vanilla. The server never holds anyone's map.
- A character's map follows it. If the same character visits a friend's server and a single-player world, it keeps a separate map for each.
- A new world means a blank map. Generating a new world, even with the same name and seed, gives it a new ID, so every character arrives with nothing explored. Resetting a world but keeping characters covers this side of it.
There is one more storage detail worth knowing: the game also keeps a minimap cache on the player's machine. A 2024 patch fixed a bug where the minimap showed the map of a previous world with the same name, and renamed those cache files to make the difference clearer. If a player reports seeing the wrong map after a world change, updating the game is the first step.
The cartography table, step by step#
The cartography table was added in the Mistlands update and is a Bronze-age piece built with the hammer near a workbench. At the time of writing it costs fine wood, copper, bone fragments, leather scraps and raspberries; check the hammer's build menu for the exact amounts on your version.
Cartography table (Workbench): Fine wood x10, Copper x10, Bone fragments x10, Leather scraps x5, Raspberries x4The table has two interactions, one on each side.
| Side | Action | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Writing tools | Record | Adds your explored area and pins to the table |
| Large map | Read | Adds the table's explored area and pins to your map |
Both actions add; neither erases. Recording merges your map into whatever the table already holds, and reading merges the table into your map. A table that four players have recorded at holds the union of all four maps. A player who reads it gets everything any of them has seen.
The everyday routine that works:
- Come home, record. After any trip that explored new ground, write your map to the table before you log off.
- Before a trip, read. Pull everyone else's exploration into your map, so you know where they found that crypt.
- New players read on arrival. The first thing a late joiner does is read the table, which gives them the group's whole map in one action.
Because the exchange is manual, the table is only as good as the group's habit. A table nobody records at is just furniture. Build it beside the portal hub or the beds, where everyone passes on the way out and back, so the habit is easy.
Pins on a shared map#
Recording a map to the table also records your pins - the markers you place with the map open. When others read the table, your pins appear on their map alongside their own. Patches have adjusted how these shared pins behave and display, including a 2024 fix for the table not working correctly when you read back your own pins, so details vary with version. Depending on the version, pins read from the table may be displayed differently from the ones you placed yourself.
Pins are the most useful thing the table shares, and also the first thing to get messy. Ten players each pinning every copper deposit produces a map nobody can read. A short convention fixes it.
Prefix Use for--------- -----------------------------------------------Base: Player bases - "Base: Asha", "Base: Rolf"Portal: Portal huts - "Portal: swamp crypt N"Ore: Resources worth returning to - "Ore: silver x3"Boss: Boss altars from vegvisirsDanger: Hazards - "Danger: abomination", "Danger: lox herd"Pick one icon per prefix. Delete pins for things you have finished.Vegvisirs are a good example of why pins matter. Reading a vegvisir puts a boss marker on that character's map only. One player reading the Swamp vegvisir does not reveal Bonemass for anyone else - but after they record to the table, everyone who reads it gets the marker. The same goes for Haldor and Hildir: finding a trader puts them on one map; the table spreads it. The traders on a server covers trader locations in more detail.
Pins cannot be pushed to another player's map without that player reading the table. If someone keeps asking where the base is, the answer is the table, not a screenshot.
Players joining on a new character#
A player who loses their character file, starts fresh by choice, or joins a world late arrives at the sacrificial stones with a blank map. Their bed spawn is gone too, because that is stored in the same per-world entry.
On a server with a cartography table, recovering is short:
- Find their way to the base, or have someone bring them there by portal from the stones.
- Read the cartography table. The group's whole explored map and pins appear.
- Claim a bed and sleep in it to set a new spawn point.
That is the most important reason to build a table early. Without one, a new character has no map and no idea where the base is, and every old player has to describe the route. With one, the map is part of the world. Onboarding late joiners covers the rest of what a new player needs on a late-game world.
The same applies when a player moves to a new PC without copying their character. The fix for a lost map is either restoring the character file from the old machine or reading the table. Characters are the player's responsibility; the server does not back them up, because it never has them.
nomap: playing without a map#
-setkey nomap is a world switch that turns off the map and minimap for everyone. No fog of war to clear, no pins, no marker for where you died. Navigation becomes coastlines, landmarks, roads, the sun and your own memory.
# Add to the server's launch arguments-setkey nomapThe switch is stored as a world key, so it applies to every player on that world. Global keys and setkey explains how world keys are stored and removed, and world modifiers and presets covers the rest of the switches.
In a vanilla nomap world the cartography table still exists as a piece, but with no map to write to or read into, it is not much use. Mods change that - for example, mods that turn a table read in nomap mode into a simplified printed map, or that show the full map while standing at the table. Those are gameplay mods that need installing on the clients, with the usual caveats.
Who nomap suits: groups who want Valheim to feel larger and more dangerous, hardcore and roleplay servers, and players who have already seen everything with a map. Who it does not suit: casual groups, new players, and anyone whose friends log in once a week and need to find the base. Agree on it before the world starts - turning it on later takes away something everyone was relying on. Hardcore and permadeath servers discusses nomap alongside the other hard settings.
Admin tools and mods for maps#
With devcommands available - on a dedicated server that means the ServerDevcommands mod - admins have these map-related commands:
| Command | Effect | Note |
|---|---|---|
exploremap | Reveals the entire map for your character | Affects only you |
resetmap | Clears your explored map | Affects only you |
pos | Prints your current position | Useful for describing where something is |
These act on the admin's own character only. But they interact with the table: recording after exploremap writes the entire world to the table, and every player who reads it afterwards gets the full map. That spoils exploration for the group, and since reading only adds, nobody can undo it except with resetmap on their own character, which also throws away their genuine exploration. Never record at the table after revealing the map.
Mods that share maps continuously, instead of through the table, exist and come and go with game versions; the old Valheim Plus had an option for it, and forks carry similar settings. Any map-sharing mod has to run on the server and every client. If you only want "everyone sees everything", the table plus a habit does most of that without a mod. Quality-of-life mods for groups covers the mods groups commonly use.
Protecting the shared map#
The table's contents are part of the world, stored with the table piece in the world file. That has two consequences.
- Destroying the table destroys its map. A raid that breaks the table, a griefer with a hammer or an accidental deconstruct removes everything recorded on it. Players' own maps are untouched, but the shared copy is gone, and rebuilding it means everyone recording again.
- World backups include the table. A restore brings back the table and everything on it, as of the backup.
Two simple protections help. Build the table inside the base's ward and walls, so raids and strangers do not reach it. And keep a second table somewhere else, recorded occasionally by whoever explores most - a cheap copy in case the first one goes.
On RE:NODE, the table travels with the world file, so it is covered by the backup slots included with every Valheim plan. The Schedules tab can take a backup every night, and restoring one is a button. The players' own maps are a separate matter - they live in each character file on each player's machine, and no server backup can bring those back.
Troubleshooting maps on a server#
My map is blank after joining. Either this is a new world (a new internal ID, so a fresh map), or you are on a different character, or the character file on this PC is not the one you played on before. Check the character name on the start screen first. If it is right and the world is new, read the cartography table.
I read the table but nothing appeared. Nobody has recorded to it yet, or the people who explored that area never recorded after their trip. Ask whoever went there to record next time they pass the table.
Pins appear twice. Several players placed their own pins on the same spot and all recorded them. Agree who pins shared landmarks, and delete duplicates from your own map; the table keeps what was recorded, so ask the group to tidy their pins before the next record.
The whole map suddenly appeared for everyone. Someone recorded after exploremap, or after a mod revealed the map. Reading only adds, so the only ways back are resetmap on each affected character or restoring a world backup from before the record, which rolls back the table along with everything else in the world.
The table is gone. A raid, a griefer or an accidental deconstruct. Rebuild it and have everyone record again, or restore a backup if the shared map mattered more than the progress since. Rolling a world back after griefing covers that trade-off.
FAQ#
Why can my friend not see what I explored?
Maps belong to each character, not the server. Record your map at a cartography table and have your friend read it - that is the only way to share exploration in vanilla Valheim.
Does the cartography table update automatically?
No. Recording and reading are manual actions. The table holds whatever was last recorded to it, so it is only as current as the group's habit of recording after every trip.
If I read the table, do I lose my own pins?
No. Reading adds the table's explored area and pins to your map without removing anything you already had. Recording works the same way in the other direction.
Will a server wipe delete our maps?
A new world has a new internal ID, so every character starts with a blank map there. The old maps are still in each character file, filed under the old world, and come back if the old world is ever loaded again.
Can an admin give everyone the full map?
Not directly. exploremap reveals the map for the admin only. Recording it to a table would let everyone read it, but that cannot be undone for the people who do, so ask the group first.
