Valheim chat, emotes and player commands on a server

On a Valheim server, any player can use the chat box and a small set of console commands without being admin and without cheats. Press Enter to chat: plain text is heard by players near you, /s shouts to everyone on the server, and /w whispers to whoever is right beside you. Emotes such as /wave, /sit, /point and /cheer play animations. Press F5 for the console, once it is enabled, and help, ping, info, lodbias and a handful of settings and key-bind commands work for everyone. Admin commands need your ID in adminlist.txt, and the cheat set behind devcommands is refused on a vanilla dedicated server whoever you are.

This guide is the player-side reference: what each chat mode reaches, the full emote set, the console commands that are safe for anyone, the two that can cost you your gear, and how groups actually use them on a shared world.

Chat and console are two different boxes#

Valheim has two places to type, and most confusion comes from mixing them up.

The chat box is always available. Messages you type there go to other players, and lines that start with a slash are treated as chat commands. The console is a developer-style command line that ships disabled; it talks to your own client, which forwards admin commands to the server.

To enable the console on Steam, either switch it on in the game's settings, where recent versions have a toggle, or add -console to Valheim's launch options:

-console

On Xbox there is no console. On the PC Game Pass and Microsoft Store edition, use the in-game setting if your version has it. Press F5 again to close the console. F2 is not the console - it opens a network statistics overlay that is handy when somebody says the game is lagging, as the admin console commands reference explains.

Talking, shouting and whispering#

The chat box has three ways to speak, and they reach very different audiences.

Anyone want to go to the swamp?/s BOAR PEN GATE IS OPEN/w I have the spare bronze

Things to know about each:

• Talk is local. Normal messages reach players within a short range and appear above your character's head. Someone at the other end of the base may not see it. If nobody answered, they probably did not read it.
• Shout is server-wide. Everyone online sees a shout in their chat window, whatever the distance, and it marks where you are for other players. That makes it the right tool for "boss summon in five minutes" or "I am stuck in the Mountains, can someone come", and the wrong one for idle conversation. Shouted text is forced to capitals.
• Whisper is closer still. It is a quieter local message, not a private message to a named player. Some third-party guides describe it as a direct message; in vanilla it is about distance, so check with a friend standing next to you if you rely on it. Whispered text is forced to lower case.

There is no vanilla private message to a player who is not near you, and no team or party channel. Groups that want either use Discord. Chat mods on Thunderstore add global channels, configurable ranges and other conveniences; some need the mod on every client, which keeps Xbox players out of a crossplay server, so read the page before you install one.

Map pings

Pinging a spot on the large map (middle-click in the default bindings) places a short-lived marker that the other players see. It is how a group says "meet here" or "the troll cave is there" without describing landmarks. A ping is not saved and does not add a pin to anyone's map; it fades after a few seconds. Pins you place yourself stay on your own map only, unless the group shares maps through a cartography table - maps are per character covers that.

Emotes#

Emotes are chat commands that play an animation on your character. Everyone nearby sees it; nothing changes in the world. They work for any player, need no console, and do nothing to the server beyond telling other clients to play the animation.

The original set:

A later update added a second batch, including /bow, /kneel, /laugh, /shrug, /flex, /cry, /cower, /despair, /headbang, /roar, /blowkiss and /comehere. Iron Gate has added emotes in more than one patch, so the exact set depends on your version. help in the console lists every command your build accepts, emotes included, and is the authority over any list online, this one included.

/sit is the useful one. Sitting by a fire under a roof is a quick way to become Rested without a bed, which matters on a server where the group cannot always sleep together - sleep and day-night on servers explains why that takes the pressure off night skips. /point does real work too: a player pointing at a cave entrance is clearer than any amount of typing.

Console commands any player can use#

These commands work for every player with the console open. They change your own game - your view, your settings, your binds - not the world. The list below is the stable core; help shows your build's full set.

The diagnostic ones: ping and info

ping is the quickest check when someone reports lag. If their ping is normal and an area still stutters, the cause is usually zone ownership - the player who entered the area first simulates it, and a bad connection on their side makes it rubber-band for everyone. Valheim server performance and lag explains how to spot it.

info prints the game version, among other things. When a player gets "Incompatible version", ask them to run info and read the version out. It settles in seconds whether the client or the server is behind - Valheim updates and version mismatch covers the fix.

The comfort ones: lodbias, fov, maxfps

These change only your own client and are worth knowing on a busy server.

• `lodbias` takes 1 to 5. Lower values switch distant objects to simpler models sooner, which helps a weak PC in a heavily built base. If your game struggles around the main hall and nobody else's does, try a lower value before blaming the server.
• `fov` changes the camera's field of view. Wider is easier on some players, costs a little performance, and does not affect anyone else.
• `maxfps` caps frames. A laptop running at an uncapped frame rate in the menu or in a quiet base gets hot for no benefit.

Binds

bind attaches a console command to a key, which is how players put emotes or settings on spare mouse buttons:

bind mouse4 cheerprintbindsunbind mouse4

Binds are stored in your game's settings, not your character or the world, so they follow you between servers. Which commands a bind accepts has changed between versions - if one does nothing, check printbinds and the console output when you press the key.

Two commands that cost you something#

Two player commands change your character's state and are easy to type without thinking:

• `die` kills your character on the spot. It exists to get you out of being stuck in geometry, and it is a real death: a tombstone with your inventory where you stood, the death penalty on your skills, and a corpse run. Empty your inventory into a chest first if you can.
• `resetspawn` forgets your bed. Your next death sends you to the world spawn, which on a mature server may be a long way from anything. Claim a bed again afterwards.

Other commands that turn up in help on recent builds - tutorial switches, a command to hide the beta-version text, sorting options for the crafting list - are harmless. When a command is unfamiliar, check what it does before running it rather than after.

What needs admin, and what needs cheats#

Everything above works for any player. Two further groups do not:

An admin command typed by a normal player is simply refused. The cheat set is refused for everyone on a vanilla dedicated server, admins included; the usual route there is a mod, covered in Valheim devcommands explained.

The practical upshot for players: if you are not admin, nothing you can type in chat or the console changes the world for anyone else. Emotes, shouts and binds are social and cosmetic. That is worth saying to new players who worry they will break something by experimenting with help.

Using chat well on a shared server#

Valheim's chat is minimal, so most groups add a few conventions:

1. Shout for things everyone needs. Boss summons, raids at the base, someone stuck or dying far away, a portal you are about to rename. Keep it short.
2. Talk for everything else. Talking to people beside you does not clutter everyone's screen.
3. Say it before you do it. "Removing the old dock", "summoning Moder", "going to sleep" - most shared-world arguments start with something done without a word.
4. Use Discord for anything that must be read later. Chat is not stored anywhere players can scroll back to after logging in, and there is no message of the day in vanilla. Rules, event times and long explanations go in Discord.
5. Admins announce from the game, not the server. There is no vanilla way to broadcast from the server process; an admin in game shouts. A mod can bridge chat and Discord - Discord bots for game server admin covers the options, and the Valheim-specific one is the Discord Connector mod.

For a public server, chat behaviour belongs in the rules document; writing rules for a Valheim server covers that, and events where shouting does the organising, like boss nights and sailing races, are in community event ideas.

On RE:NODE the panel console shows the server's live log, which records players connecting and disconnecting, so an admin can see who is online without being in game. It does not carry the in-game chat, and like any Valheim server it does not accept typed admin commands from the server side - those still come from an admin's game client.

Troubleshooting chat and commands#

`F5` does nothing. The console is disabled. Turn it on in the game's settings or add -console to the launch options, then restart the game. Some laptops need Fn with F5.

A command prints nothing or "unknown command". It is either a cheat command, which needs devcommands and is refused on a vanilla dedicated server, or it does not exist in your version. Run help and look for it.

An emote typed in the console does nothing. Emotes belong in the chat box, opened with Enter, with a leading slash. Try /wave there before assuming the emote is missing.

Nobody answers in chat. You were talking, not shouting, and nobody was in range. Use /s for anything the whole server should see.

A shout appears for some players but not others. Check whether the missing players are on Xbox with restricted communication settings, or running a chat mod that filters or reroutes messages.

`kick` or `ban` is refused. Your ID is not in adminlist.txt, or not in the form the server expects - a plain SteamID64 on a Steam-only server, a platform-prefixed one on a crossplay server. adminlist, bannedlist and permittedlist covers the format.

FAQ#

How do I send a message to everyone on a Valheim server?

Shout with /s followed by your message. Every player online sees it in chat, regardless of distance, in capitals. Plain messages only reach players near you.

Can I private message another player in Valheim?

Not in vanilla. /w whispers to players standing right next to you; there is no message to a named player elsewhere on the map. Use Discord or another voice or text app for private conversations.

Why do the emotes not work?

Emotes are typed in the chat box, opened with Enter, with a leading slash - /wave, not wave in the console. If a newer emote does nothing, your version may not have it; help lists what your build accepts.

Do I need to be admin to use the console?

No. Enable it in the game's settings or with -console in Steam's launch options, then press F5. Commands such as help, ping, info and lodbias work for anyone. Only kick, ban, save and similar need admin.

Can players use devcommands if the server allows it?

Not on a vanilla dedicated server, which refuses the cheat set for everyone. A server running the Server Devcommands mod lets the admins it allows use them; normal players still cannot.