Tool stack
The Valheim modding and building toolkit
The six tools that improve a Valheim playthrough — mod manager, base framework, base planning, and exploration. The stack to play modded and build seriously.
Valheim shines in co-op and building, but the base game falls short on quality of life, and its large bases are tedious to raise block by block. The community solved both with mods and external tools. This six-tool stack covers the base of a modded setup plus the building and exploration utilities most groups end up using.
The modded base
The entry point is r2modman: a profile-based manager that installs, updates, and isolates your mods without dirtying the game folder, ideal because you can keep a separate profile per server. It downloads everything from Thunderstore, Valheim's main mod repository. And underneath, BepInEx is the framework nearly every mod requires: without it, nothing loads.
Building and exploration
With the base ready, two tools elevate the game. PlanBuild lets you design complex builds and paste them into the world, turning an hours-long base into something manageable. And Valheim World Generator previews your seed before you start: where the biomes, bosses, and points of interest are, so you can plan where to sail.
Rounding it out, the Valheim Wiki is the encyclopedia: recipes, materials, bosses, and mechanics, so you don't farm blindly or waste time guessing what you need.
Why these six
They cover both sides of "improved" Valheim:
- Modded base → r2modman + Thunderstore + BepInEx
- Building → PlanBuild
- Exploration → Valheim World Generator
- Reference → Valheim Wiki
You don't need mods to enjoy Valheim, but this set is what most long-term groups use. Each tool has its full analysis in the codex.
What's in this stack
- r2modmanFree
The profile-based mod manager: installs, updates, and isolates your mods without touching the game folder.
Open-source mod manager with profiles — the Valheim community standard for installing and isolating modlists
- Thunderstore (Valheim)Free
The main Valheim mod repository, where r2modman downloads everything from.
Valheim's primary mod repository — 10,000+ packages, native integration with r2modman/Gale/TMM, automatic dependency resolution
- BepInExPack ValheimFree
The base framework nearly every mod requires; without it nothing loads.
Plugin loader framework for Unity adapted to Valheim — the mandatory base every other mod runs on top of
- PlanBuildFree
Tool to design complex builds and paste them into the world, ideal for large bases.
Building mod that adds the Plan Hammer and Blueprint Rune — plan whole bases before gathering wood, copy structures, and share them
- Valheim World GeneratorFree
Preview your seed and plan exploration: biome, boss, and point-of-interest locations.
Valheim's canonical seed viewer — paste your seed and see the full map with bosses, traders, crypts, and biomes without generating the world in-game
- Valheim Wiki (Fandom)Free
The encyclopedia: recipes, materials, bosses, and mechanics so you don't farm blindly.
Iron Gate-endorsed community wiki — Valheim's canonical database of items, recipes, bosses, biomes, and mechanics
