Install with Gale
ChilledCultivator
First release, feedback welcome! This is the first mod we have published (that isn't just a temporary fix for something). We built it mainly for our own dedicated server, so it is tuned to the way we play. You are very welcome to try it and tell us what you think: bugs, ideas and balance feedback all help.
ChilledCultivator adds new cultivators made from the metals you find on your journey, and every step up lets you plant a bigger grid than the one before. The vanilla cultivator from the base game stays as it is and plants a single plant, the new ones continue from there: Iron and beyond. Farming grows with your progress, and on a dedicated server the admin decides how fast.
Why this was made
We used Plant Easily by Advize before, and it's honestly a great mod. But we felt that it allows too much too easily: planting huge grids on command feels a bit cheaty, and the way Plant Easily worked, you couldn't really limit that on a server. We know that Advize recently released a new version with some server controls, but we were already working on this mod, and since it became its own approach to the idea during development, we feel that releasing it adds a useful alternative for those who seek a more immersive experience.
What you get
- Plant a whole patch at once. Hold a cultivator and you see a preview of the plants. One click and the whole patch is sown. Spots where a plant would not fit are simply left out.
- Cultivators that grow with you. Every tier plants a bigger grid than the last, so a better cultivator is something to look forward to.
- Fields that look alive. If you like, the plants get a small scatter so your field does not look like a chessboard.
- You choose the spacing. Plant tightly or give your crops more room.
- Made for servers. The admin of a dedicated server controls everything: which cultivators exist, what they cost, and how big their grids may be. Players get these settings automatically.
What you don't get
- No automatic grid snapping. Plant Easily and similar mods let you snap new plants right next to existing ones. This mod deliberately does not offer that. Since the goal is immersion, we feel that perfectly aligned grids look too artificial.
- No automatic harvesting and no other convenience features. This mod does not harvest for you and does not let you plant pickables like berry bushes. The aim is to stay as close to the vanilla experience as possible.
How to use it
Craft one of the new cultivators in-game and use it just like you normally would. Two shortcuts are available while planting with the new cultivators to adjust grid size and spacing:
| Keyboard | Gamepad | |
|---|---|---|
| More or fewer rows and columns | Hold Left Ctrl and turn the mouse wheel | Hold the left bumper and use the d-pad |
| Wider or tighter spacing | Hold Left Shift and turn the mouse wheel | Hold the right bumper and use the d-pad up/down |
A hint on screen reminds you of the keys.
Make it your own
Everything can be changed in the config, for example with an in-game configuration manager mod. We recommend ConfigurationManager by shudnal. You can change the allowed grid size of every tier, the recipes, the crafting stations, the spacing and the scatter. You can also switch off single cultivators.
Requirements and Compatibility
- Does not work together with Plant Easily, because both change how the cultivator plants. Use one or the other.
- Needs Conditional Config Sync, which is installed automatically with your mod manager.
- On a server, install the mod on the server and on all clients.
How this mod was made
For transparency: most of the code was written with the help of an AI (Claude Code by Anthropic). "We" are two developers with more than 35 years of professional experience combined, and we could have built this mod without an AI. It would just have taken a lot longer. The AI did much of the typing, while we decided what the mod does, how it is structured and which rules the code follows. We go through the changes and test everything in the game ourselves on our own server. It can still contain mistakes, so please tell us if something does not work as expected.
Credits
- Advize: for the basic idea behind Plant Easily, and for the code that helped us understand the ghost placement. This mod started as a patch for Plant Easily, but it became so different that we wrote our own implementation. Thank you!
- Jotunn: its JotunnModExample helped us find our way into Valheim modding.
- Azumatt and Randy Knapp: their repositories on GitHub gave us inspiration for how to structure a Valheim mod.
The source code will be available on GitHub soon.