Valheim quality-of-life mods for groups and servers

The quality-of-life mods a Valheim group actually keeps after the first week are a short list: crafting straight from nearby chests, quick-stacking and sorting, letting several players use one chest at once, and better map pins. The question that decides how much trouble they cause is where each one has to be installed. Craft-from-containers and shared-chest mods must be on the server and every client, and the server will kick players who lack them; quick-stack mods are partly server-synced; map-pin mods are usually client-only and can be left to each player. This guide goes through each category, names the mods most groups use, and shows how to build a set that does not fight itself.

Where a QoL mod has to be installed#

Every Valheim mod falls into one of three installs, and for quality-of-life mods the answer is less obvious than for content mods:

A mod is "both" whenever it changes something other players can see or that the world stores: what is in a chest, who has a chest open, which resources a build consumes. Container mods are the classic case. If one player's game pulls iron from a chest to craft and the server does not know the rules, two players can spend the same bars, or a chest can disagree with itself between two screens.

The short rule: if a mod moves items in containers, put it on the server. If it only changes what one player sees or how they control their own character, leave it client side. The fuller explanation of the three types is in Valheim mods with BepInEx on a server.

Two practical notes before any mod names. Xbox players cannot install mods, so any both-sides mod on a crossplay world either excludes them or leaves them unable to join; client-only QoL mods are the only kind a mixed group can use freely. And QoL mods change hands often. Authors move on, packages are deprecated, forks appear. Check the Thunderstore page and its last update before committing a group to one, and pin the version in the shared profile once you have.

Crafting and building from nearby chests#

This is the mod that ends the most common trip in Valheim: walking from the workbench to the chest and back for the twentieth time. Craft-from-containers mods let the crafting station, the build hammer and the smelters draw from chests within range.

The usual choice is AzuCraftyBoxes by Azumatt. Its behaviour, from its Thunderstore page:

• Crafting and building pull resources from containers within range. The Container Range setting defaults to 20.
• Leave One Item (on by default) leaves one of each item in a chest so that the chest keeps its sorting.
• Restrictions live in a YAML file, Azumatt.AzuCraftyBoxes.yml in BepInEx/config, with item groups and per-container exclude and includeOverride lists. Containers not listed allow everything. Station entries, such as forges and cooking stations, are checked before containers and override container rules.
• A hotkey toggles pulling for a player, and a modifier key fills fuel or ore from chests at a smelter.
• It uses ServerSync. If it is installed on the server, clients that do not have it are kicked, and Lock Configuration is on by default so only admins change the synced settings.

So it is firmly a both-sides mod. The useful server-side setting is the range: 20 metres covers a normal crafting room, while a much larger value lets a player craft from the whole base and makes chest layout irrelevant, which some groups want and some find removes too much. The YAML file is the right place to keep a few things manual - for example excluding the ship's cargo, or keeping a shared "treasury" chest from being drained by anyone's crafting.

A craft-from-containers mod also changes what a shared storage and crafting base should look like: chests can ring the crafting room instead of sitting in a separate storeroom, and labelling matters less because the station finds things for you.

Quick stack, sorting, storing and trash#

The second most requested group of features is inventory handling: dump everything that matches a chest's contents into it, sort the chest, take back food and arrows, throw away the stone. Quick Stack - Store - Sort - Trash - Restock by Goldenrevolver covers all of these in one mod. From its page:

• Quick stack to the open chest or to nearby chests, restock food and ammo from them, store all, sort inventory and containers, and trash, including quick trash for items flagged as trash.
• Favouriting: hold the favourite key (Alt by default) and click an item, or right-click to favourite a slot. Favourited items are never stacked, stored, sorted or trashed - this is what stops a quick stack from putting your sword in the weapons chest.
• Server sync: the area stacking and restocking settings sync from the server, but not every player needs the mod installed.
• Multiplayer safety: players cannot stack into or restock from a chest another player has open. Area stacking and restocking in multiplayer are off by default unless you also run MultiUserChest, or set AllowAreaStackingInMultiplayerWithoutMUC. The ship's container is excluded from area stacking.

It lists Trash Items as incompatible, because it already includes trashing, and notes that its interface does not work with Project AUGA (the hotkeys still do). It also says stacks with custom item data from some crafting mods are not merged by sorting or restocking.

For a group, the important setting is that multiplayer default. Area stacking into chests nobody has open is what the mod is for, and leaving it off on a server makes the mod half as useful. The safe way to turn it on is with MultiUserChest; the other is the AllowAreaStackingInMultiplayerWithoutMUC setting, which the author leaves off for a reason. Install it on the server so that the area settings are the same for everyone, and put it in the shared profile so nobody is the odd one out.

Shared chests: MultiUserChest#

Vanilla Valheim lets only one player open a chest at a time; everyone else gets "in use". On a group server, at the end of a trip, that queue at the storeroom is a real annoyance. MultiUserChest by MSchmoecker lets several players use one chest simultaneously.

What its page says, and why it matters:

• It must be installed on the server and on every client. A missing or mismatched install blocks the connection.
• It requires BepInEx and Jotunn, so the server needs Jotunn too - see the Jotunn library explained for what that brings.
• Items cannot be duplicated: if two players move the same item at the same instant, only one move is accepted.
• It is incompatible with QuickStore, QuickStack and SimpleSort, which cause desyncs and will not start alongside it, and it recommends Quick Stack Store Sort Trash Restock. Other inventory mods it lists as compatible include SmartContainers, QuickDeposit, DepositAnywhere and Valheim Simple Auto Sort.

That incompatibility list is the main thing to know. Pick MultiUserChest plus Goldenrevolver's quick stack mod and you have the most common pairing for group servers; add an older quick-stack mod and you get the desyncs those two mods were designed to avoid. When you combine any container mods, check each page's compatibility notes against the others - mod conflicts and dependencies explains why two mods doing the same job is the hardest conflict to spot.

Map pins and shared exploration#

Vanilla maps are per character. Each player sees only what they explored, plus what they read from a cartography table. The table itself is the vanilla answer to sharing a map: one player records their map onto it, others read it and gain the explored area and the shared pins. Before installing a map mod, check whether the group has simply not built one - many have not.

Map pin mods mostly improve the pins themselves:

• Pinnacle by ComfyMods is listed as client-side. It adds a key to drop a pin at your position, an add-map-pin command, pin colours, sizes and icons set through tags in the pin name (for example [#ff0000] or [150%]), and panels for editing, listing and filtering pins. Icon customisations are only visible to players who also have Pinnacle; others see the default icon. Its map-teleport feature needs devcommands and works only in single player or when hosting locally, so on a dedicated server it does nothing for ordinary players.
• AutoMapPins scans around the player and creates pins automatically for ores, berries, dungeons and the like, with most of its settings in YAML files. The original FixItFelix package is now marked deprecated, and a maintenance fork for current game versions has been published separately on Thunderstore. Check which one is current before installing, and expect a cluttered map if you enable every category.

Because these are client-side, each player can choose. The thing to watch is pins shared through the cartography table: custom icons set with Pinnacle tags only show for players who also run Pinnacle, so a colour-coded scheme means nothing to the rest of the group. Agree on whether everyone uses the same pin mod, or keep the shared pins to plain names.

A server that uses the nomap world switch disables the map altogether, and a map mod will not bring it back in a way that fits the spirit of that choice. Cartography tables and shared maps covers the vanilla side in detail.

Building a QoL set for a group#

A compact set that most groups are happy with, and where each piece goes:

The process for adding them:

1. Build one r2modman profile with the both-sides mods and the libraries, at pinned versions, as in Thunderstore and r2modman for groups.
2. Install the same files on the server: the .dll files in BepInEx/plugins, then a first start to generate configs.
3. Set the server values: AzuCraftyBoxes range and YAML exclusions, the quick-stack area settings, any locks.
4. Share the profile code with the group; players add their own client-only mods on top.
5. Test with two players in the storeroom at once before declaring it done.

Configuration Manager by the BepInEx team is worth including in the profile. It adds an in-game settings menu (opened with F1 by default) that edits mods' configs, and for synced settings an admin can change values for everyone without opening a file. The Configuration Manager on servers explains which edits sync and which stay local.

On RE:NODE the mods go in through the file manager or SFTP - there is no mod whitelist and no one-click mod installer, so the server's BepInEx/plugins is yours to fill - and the configs and YAML files can be edited in the browser editor. See files for the editor and SFTP.

What not to install, and what to avoid combining#

Some QoL choices cause more friction than they remove:

• Two mods for one job. Two quick-stack mods, two inventory-size mods, two craft-from-chest mods. Each works alone; together they double actions or fight over the same buttons. Pick one per job.
• All-in-one mods plus focused ones. The Valheim Plus forks and similar packages include crafting from chests, map sharing, stack sizes and more. If your group runs one, check its features before adding any focused QoL mod, and disable the overlapping feature in one of them.
• QoL that changes balance. Bigger stack sizes, lighter ore and no carry weight are often grouped with QoL, but they change the game's logistics, especially the sailing and carting that ore logistics with ships and carts is about. Treat them as balance changes and agree on them as a group.
• Server-wide mods for one player's preference. If only one player wants a feature and it can be client only, keep it off the server. Every both-sides mod is one more thing that has to match after every patch.

The last point matters on patch day. Each both-sides mod is a reason a player may be refused when the game updates and one mod has not. A group with three both-sides QoL mods has a short wait after each patch; a group with fifteen has a long one. What to do when a mod update breaks covers how to handle that wait.

FAQ#

Which Valheim QoL mods need to be installed on the server?

Anything that moves items in containers or decides what a build consumes: craft-from-containers mods such as AzuCraftyBoxes, and shared-chest mods such as MultiUserChest. Quick-stack mods sync some settings from the server. Map pin and interface mods are usually client only.

Can players use quick stack on a server without the mod on the server?

Goldenrevolver's quick-stack mod works per player, but area stacking and restocking in multiplayer are off by default. Running MultiUserChest on the server, or enabling AllowAreaStackingInMultiplayerWithoutMUC, turns them on, and installing the mod on the server keeps those settings the same for everyone.

Why does AzuCraftyBoxes kick players?

Because when it is installed on the server, its page states that clients without it are kicked. That protects the server from players crafting under different rules. Add it to the group's shared profile so every player has the same version.

Is there a way to share one map between players without mods?

Yes. Build a cartography table: one player records their map on it, and anyone who reads it gains the recorded exploration and pins. Repeat as the group explores. Mods only make pins nicer or more automatic.

Can Xbox players join a server with QoL mods?

Only if every mod on the server is server-side only or tolerates clients without it. Mods that kick clients without them, such as AzuCraftyBoxes and MultiUserChest, lock console players out, because they cannot install anything.