Valheim Plus (Grantapher fork)

What it is

Valheim Plus was originally a project by nx 0.30 (its developer), released in 2021, that bundled hundreds of quality-of-life and balance changes into a single configurable mod. It covered inventory weight, build snapping, multiplayer slot count, durability, crafting times, and dozens more.

The project was abandoned in late 2022. To avoid losing years of work, Grantapher forked it and kept it alive under the ValheimPlus_Grantapher_Temporary name. The "Temporary" in the name became ironic — the fork has been active longer than the original. Today it's the V+ in use and the only one receiving updates for new Iron Gate patches.

What it solves

When Valheim was new (2021), many design choices felt restrictive: stamina too tight, inventory too small, build snapping too rigid, server cap at 10, etc. The community asked for changes and V+ delivered them all together: one valheim_plus.cfg with dozens of sections.

For someone wanting to start modding without philosophy, V+ was the answer: install, flip 5-10 toggles, game improved. For servers, even simpler — the mod shipped to clients/server with the same config.

In 2026, many of V+'s changes are now in vanilla (food slots, food balance, smelter levels, etc.) or are better served by focused atomic mods. V+ is still useful but its role changed: it's no longer the universal answer, it's one option among many.

Differentiation

Vs. modern atomic mods (Smoothbrain mods, Azumatt suite, etc.):

• V+ is one mod with many features; atomics are one mod per feature.
• V+ takes fewer clicks to install 50 changes; with atomics you pick exactly what you want.
• If a V+ toggle clashes with another mod, debugging is harder because V+ is monolithic; atomics are isolatable.
• The veteran community in 2026 prefers atomics for flexibility. New players ramp up faster with V+.

Vs. vanilla: vanilla in 2026 already incorporates many QoLs V+ pioneered. But V+ still adds non-vanilla things: advanced build snapping, server slot expansion, XP modifiers, etc.

What people use it for

Single-player with coherent changes — someone who wants a preset of toggleable QoLs without picking 15 atomic mods.

Friend group server admin — one .cfg to share, one mod per client. Easier to maintain than 20 synced atomic mods.

Group-specific configs — V+'s .cfg lets you push player cap past 10 (with caveats), tune damage scaling with player count, modify stamina drain, etc. For co-op groups with specific preferences, V+ is fast to configure.

Players joining existing V+ servers — entire Valheim communities ran on V+ for years. Joining one means installing V+.

Backup for mechanics vanilla changed. Iron Gate rebalances every patch. If you liked behavior vanilla dropped (e.g., 0.215.x stamina drain), V+ can emulate it.

Who this tool is not for

If you want fine control over each change: V+ is monolithic. Despite hundreds of toggles, many are bundled — disabling one may not be possible without disabling related features. Atomic mods give granularity.

If your modlist already has many atomic mods: V+ can clash. Every atomic-community player will tell you "drop V+ and pick the mods you actually want".

If the "Temporary" in the name bothers you: the fork's been active for years and Grantapher is transparent about the maintenance commitment. But some people aren't comfortable with a "temporary" fork as a core dependency.

If you play public vanilla multiplayer: V+ is a mandatory client-server mod. You can't connect to a vanilla server with V+ enabled, and vice versa.

How it works in practice

1. Install via r2modman/Gale/TMM. Search for "ValheimPlus Grantapher" in the catalog.
2. The mod manager auto-installs BepInEx + V+.
3. Launch Valheim once to generate valheim_plus.cfg in BepInEx/config/.
4. Close the game. Open the .cfg with any text editor.
5. Each section has [Section] headers plus toggles and configurable numbers. # comments explain what each does.
6. Tune what you want (e.g., inventory.maximumSlots = 10 per row, multiplayer.maxPlayers = 16).
7. Save. Launch the game.
8. For shared servers: the config must match between clients and server. If not, V+ refuses to connect with a clear error.

Honest limitations

Partial applicability. Some V+ toggles are outdated by vanilla changes. The fork's docs try to stay current but some .cfg entries no longer do anything or behave differently than expected.

Community fork. Grantapher is solo. If he loses interest or time, the fork can pause. It's active today but there's no guarantee of continuity.

Conflicts with modern mods. Popular atomic mods (Therzie's, Smoothbrain, etc.) assume V+ isn't there. When both modify the same mechanic, results are unpredictable.

Not an 'install and forget' mod. The .cfg has hundreds of lines. While defaults are reasonable, if you don't read what each toggle does, you'll have subtle changes you don't understand.

Requires client-server matching. In multiplayer, if your server runs V+ with one config and a client has another, they don't connect. Not a problem for small groups; overhead for public servers.

Getting started

1. Install r2modman, Gale, or TMM.
2. Search "ValheimPlus_Grantapher_Temporary" in the catalog and download.
3. Launch Valheim once with V+ enabled to generate the config.
4. Close. Open BepInEx/config/valheim_plus.cfg.
5. Start with small changes: increase inventory rows to 6, enable better build snapping, tune stamina drain to taste. Each toggle is commented with its effect.
6. Launch again and test.
7. For servers: the server's .cfg must match what clients load.

For guides on what to toggle first, the fork's GitHub (github.com/Grantapher/ValheimPlus) and the original project's wiki cover the classic cases.