CreatureManager

Add 32 combat modifiers and launch live boss hunt events across dungeons and the open world. Clone and configure creatures, attacks, AI, equipment, appearances, and textures; inspect resistances and scale difficulty by biome, distance, or preset.

Showcase

Combat Modifiers

Creatures roll modifiers independently and display their active effects beneath their nameplates. CM shows three or more stars as a star followed by the star count. With compatible Path of Valheiman installed, CM combines PoV and CM effect icons into right-aligned rows of four and keeps its own star display.

Offense

Icon	Modifier	Effect with generated Global defaults
	Enraged	Deals 15% more damage.
	Fire	Adds Fire damage equal to 20% of the original hit.
	Frost	Adds Frost damage equal to 10% of the original hit.
	Lightning	Adds Lightning damage equal to 10% of the original hit.
	Spirit	Adds Spirit damage equal to 5% of the original hit. Against players, its Spirit damage over time bypasses armor and resistance.
	Armor Piercing	Ignores 30% of player body armor.
	Staggering	Adds 60% normal-hit and block-stagger buildup.
	Undodgeable	Ignores player dodge invulnerability but deals 25% less damage. Blocking and parrying still work.

Defense

Icon	Modifier	Effect with generated Global defaults
	Armored	Takes 30% less damage.
	Deathward	Cancels lethal damage and restores 20% of max health. Has a 10s cooldown and up to 3 activations.
	Regenerating	Heals a configurable share of max health per second, capped at 20 health per second by default. Rate defaults are 1% for Global creatures, 0.2% for bosses, and 0.5% for Enforcers.
	Reflection	Has a 50% chance on a direct melee hit to reflect 10% of the health actually lost, bypassing defense and resistance. Capped at 25 health per activation by default.
	Vortex	Has a 50% chance to negate projectile damage, push, stagger, and status effects.
	Adaptive	Remembers the dominant hit type for 5s and reduces matching damage by 50%.
	Unflinching	Immune to normal-hit and perfect-parry stagger.
	Chameleon	While alerted, gains one rotating damage-type immunity and switches it every 10s.

Affliction

Icon	Modifier	Effect with generated Global defaults
	Exposed	Has a 50% chance to make the player take 20% more damage for 5s.
	Weakened	Has a 50% chance to make the player deal 20% less damage for 5s.
	Withered	Has a 50% chance to reduce healing received by 50% for 5s.
	Crippling	Has a 50% chance to reduce movement speed and jump force by 50% for 5s.
	Disruptive	Has a 50% chance to reduce stamina and Eitr recovery by 50% for 5s.
	Adrenaline Drain	Has a 50% chance to remove 50% of current adrenaline and reduce adrenaline gain by 50% for 5s.
	Corrosive	Has a 50% chance to increase durability loss to equipped gear by 50% for 5s.
	Toxic Aura	While alive and untamed, applies poison every second to hostile players within its body radius + 3m. Default poison strength is 10% of the player's max health before resistance; this is not immediate damage per second. Walls and floors block it.

Special

Icon	Modifier	Effect with generated Global defaults
	Swift	Increases movement speed, acceleration, and turning speed by 40%.
	Attack Speed	Increases animation speed by 30%; attack intervals become 76.92% of normal.
	Vampiric	Heals for 30% of health removed by direct hits; delayed damage over time is excluded.
	Reaping	Absorbs actual deaths within 24m, including players, tamed creatures and PlayerSpawned summons, regardless of killer or damage source. Each death can grant healing and configured stat growth once per surviving Reaping creature, within the existing limits. No new size is gained in dungeons.
	Blink	Teleports near its player target within 16m every 6s. By default, Blink and its extended attack range unlock 3s after the creature becomes alerted, even if no attack could start during that time.
	Omen	Can force an Enforcer check when killed directly by a player or by a lethal poison, fire, or spirit tick with a confirmed player contribution. Mixed damage qualifies; summon-only and unknown-only damage do not. Cooldown blocking follows the server setting.
	Juggernaut	Player hits have at least 150 push force. An actual push starts a 5s cooldown, and the creature is immune to attack push.
	Blamer	Below 75% health, flees and adds 0.5 Karma per second up to 45 lifetime Karma. When exhausted, the modifier, icon, and flee behavior end.

Modifier icons appear on creature and boss HUDs. The Valheim Compendium contains a CreatureManager page with modifier names, icons, and descriptions using the active global values.

When using WackyEpicMMOSystem, 1 - General → Adjust EpicMMO LevelBar Position is a server-synchronized switch, On by default. It places regular creature level labels at (70, -15), including recreated labels, without editing EpicMMO's configuration. This displayed position takes priority over EpicMMO's configured coordinates. Off restores the position recorded before adjustment. Boss, player, and mount HUDs are unchanged. The switch applies live and works independently of CreatureManager's level and modifier settings; clients without EpicMMO and dedicated servers do not adjust UI.

Toxic Aura replaces Toxic Death. Use toxicAura: chance, maxHealthPoison, for example toxicAura: 10, 0.1. Existing toxicDeath entries in levels.yml and karma.yml are accepted as an alias: chance and power are preserved, while old radius/effect values are ignored. In the same modifier block, explicit toxicAura wins regardless of order and the two entries are never merged. New toxicAura entries accept only chance and optional power. A compatibility notice is logged once per session; existing files are not rewritten or populated automatically. The radius is the larger XZ extent of the live body collider plus 3m, so creature scaling is included. Poison is reapplied once per second through vanilla poison/resistance rules, without additional attacker damage multipliers; it does not stack as direct damage per second. Only the creature's network owner applies damage. Each client maintains a local particle-only visual extracted from blob_aoe, with no Aoe, ZNetView or repeated effect RPCs. Death, taming, disabled effects and scene teardown stop it; there is no death burst or lingering pool.

Upgrading from Toxic Death: the new default poison strength is 0.1, but an existing YAML value of 0.3 is preserved and may feel much stronger as a recurring aura. Review the applicable modifier blocks in both levels.yml and karma.yml, including per-creature and Enforcer overrides. To use the new default strength, change the second tuple value to 0.1 while keeping your chance, for example toxicDeath: 10, 0.1, 4, blob_aoe, or replace it with toxicAura: 10, 0.1. Existing saved Toxic Death flags also become Toxic Aura; old per-creature power/radius/effect fields are not migrated, and a missing new aura power uses 0.1.

In-game Tools

The in-game Compendium documents defensive modifiers and their exact behavior.

Affliction details are available in the same localized Compendium without leaving the game.

While sneaking, inspect a creature to view its effective resistances, weaknesses, and immunities beneath the target's nameplate.

Combat Modifiers gifs

Offense and Defense

Spirit adds Spirit damage to the creature's attacks; against players, its damage over time bypasses armor and resistance.

Undodgeable attacks ignore dodge invulnerability, while blocking and parrying remain effective.

Deathward cancels a lethal hit and restores part of the creature's maximum health.

Reflection returns part of the creature's actual health loss to a direct melee attacker.

Vortex can negate a projectile hit together with its damage and secondary effects.

Unflinching prevents stagger from normal hits and perfect parries.

Afflictions

Timed Afflictions use distinct icons and counters so their remaining duration stays readable in combat.

Special

Blink teleports the creature near its target to close distance quickly. Blink Alert Grace Period (s) delays Blink and its extended attack range for 3 seconds after the creature becomes alerted by default; the timer still expires when no attack can start.

Blink always uses the built-in fx_Adrenaline1 effect. Configure blink: chance, cooldown, maxRange in levels.yml or karma.yml. An existing fourth tuple value (including none) is accepted but ignored; stored creature effect names are also ignored. Existing YAML files are not rewritten. This prevents custom effect prefabs from creating unintended network or gameplay objects; Blink's chance, cooldown and range remain configurable.

Omen can request an Enforcer encounter when the affected creature is killed directly by a player or by a lethal poison, fire, or spirit tick with a confirmed player contribution, including mixed damage.

Karma/Omen DoT rewards use the damage pool that actually killed the creature, not unrelated active effects or a recent-hit timeout. Karma accepts confirmed player/tamed/PlayerSpawned contributors; Omen still requires a real player. Within each pool the first confirmed player takes precedence over a tame/summon. Simultaneous fire/spirit ticks also prefer a real player, then use the fire candidate if both are equally eligible. This selects a reward representative, not the largest damage contributor. The server still validates that source, ownership and duplicate deaths; a disconnected/unverifiable selected source is not replaced with a nearby player.

Reaping is independent of this contributor policy: all creature and player deaths within 24m count, including tamed creatures, PlayerSpawned summons, mixed DoT, monster combat and environmental deaths. A death can benefit each nearby surviving Reaping creature once, not the dead creature itself. Despawns, unloads and deletion without a confirmed death do not count. Owner, distance, duplicate-death and growth-limit checks remain in place; a confirmed player respawn allows that player's next death to count again. Summon-heavy fights and repeated player deaths can reach the existing growth caps faster.

Juggernaut turns successful hits into heavy knockback while resisting attack push.

Blamer flees and raises regional Karma once its health drops below the trigger threshold, then expires when its Karma budget is exhausted.

Live Enforcer Hunts

Killing creatures raises regional Karma, which can strengthen future spawns and trigger Enforcer encounters.

Karma accumulates faster in dungeons, so stay alert.

Outdoor and dungeon Enforcer encounters can be configured separately in karma.yml, including guaranteed bonus loot.

Enforcers spawn at higher levels, are more likely to carry modifiers, and may bring minions that hunt players down.

Creature Cloning and Customization

Existing creatures can be modified or cloned. For advanced examples, install MonsterLabZ and see creatures.sample.yml and attacks.sample.yml.

The following custom bosses were created with CreatureManager and MonsterLabZ.

Bonebeard is a melee boss who infuses every attack with poison.

Vincent the Cunning is a ranged boss who fires a variety of projectiles.

Root Witch is a spellcaster boss who casts a variety of spells.

Highlights

• Clone or edit vanilla and modded creature prefabs.
• Configure selected Character and Humanoid fields, equipment, appearance, scale, and textures.
• Clone and tune monster attack prefabs, including damage, animation, projectile, AI range, and attack status effects.
• Clone projectile prefabs and override Projectile.m_spawnOnHit, weighted random on-hit spawns, or SpawnAbility.m_spawnPrefab without duplicating their remaining component state.
• Build reusable BaseAI and MonsterAI presets, or borrow AI directly from another creature prefab.
• Optionally diversify combat targets for monsters, bosses and Enforcers with synchronized AI settings.
• Add and edit factions without mirroring unrelated game systems.
• Define weighted levels for global, boss, biome, group, and individual prefab rules.
• Scale health, damage, modifier chance, and visuals by level or world distance.
• Roll 32 combat modifiers across Offense, Defense, Affliction, and Special groups.
• Add regional Karma progression and configurable Enforcer encounters.
• Inspect loaded creatures, attacks, AI, loadouts, projectiles, textures, and level visuals through generated references.
• Hot-reload YAML and server-owned PNG textures; connected clients cache and apply the authoritative files automatically.

Getting Started

1. Open BepInEx/config/CreatureManager after the first launch.
2. Find the target prefab in a generated reference file.
3. Copy the relevant entry or name into the matching active YAML file.
4. Change only the fields you need.
5. Save the file. Most YAML and texture changes reload automatically.

Saving an active YAML file updates synchronized templates and global rules without a restart. Already loaded creatures keep their creature fields, AI, equipped attack data, and completed level and modifier state; existing Enforcers keep their identity, level, loot, and modifiers. Creature GameObjects instantiated after the reload use the current templates; this includes persistent creatures loaded again after a zone unload. Projectiles and ragdolls are separate runtime objects, so ones created after the reload also use current templates even when their source creature already existed. Faction relationships, Karma economy and encounter checks, server localization, and shared texture visuals are live global or visual exceptions. Changing clonedFrom for an already registered clone requires a restart.

The generated YAML headers are the schema reference. This README intentionally does not duplicate their field-by-field examples.

Every modifier tuple requires chance first. Later values form an optional trailing suffix: stop after the last value you want to override. Omitted values inherit through the normal rule chain and otherwise use runtime defaults. Explicit 0 is a supplied value subject to normal field validation, while empty interior slots such as 10, , 5 are invalid.

Configuration Files

Browse all seven default YAML files, generated from the same code used on first launch. The reference currently documents 1.3.11; these links track current source, so check the version notice before copying. Existing user files are not automatically updated: merge only the entries you need rather than replacing your configuration wholesale.

The creature, attack, projectile, AI, and level domains load both .yml and .yaml base or split files, such as creatures.yml, creatures.yaml, and creatures_*.yaml. The generated creatures.sample.yml and attacks.sample.yml names do not match those active patterns, so the examples remain inactive. Copy selected entries into the active files, or install MonsterLabZ and rename them to creatures_sample.yml and attacks_sample.yml to activate the complete sample set. Bonebeard, Vincent, and Root Witch require MonsterLabZ. Vitrfell uses the packaged cm_boar2.png texture. Faction and Karma configuration intentionally accept only the single canonical files factions.yml and karma.yml.

Install the package's BepInEx folder too, including on dedicated servers that supply referenced PNGs to clients. DLL-only Debug updates do not install sample PNGs. Give personal texture replacements a separate filename, because package updates can replace bundled files. Existing configuration and sample YAML files are not rewritten: when adopting the renamed PNGs, update old texture references such as boar2 to cm_boar2, or retain the matching old PNGs.

Generated References

References refresh automatically after Valheim's prefab databases are ready and only rewrite when their generated content changes. Treat them as discovery output rather than active configuration.

Core Systems

Creatures, Attacks, and AI

Creature definitions can modify an existing prefab or clone one with clonedFrom. An AI definition named after a loaded MonsterAI or AnimalAI creature applies directly to that prefab; a unique AI name remains a reusable preset and can use copyFrom for its baseline. A creature-level ai: assignment is only needed to select a reusable preset or borrow another creature prefab's AI, and takes priority over same-name direct application. Clones can also use cloned attacks, custom factions, humanoid equipment, and local texture overrides.

The supported surface is intentionally narrower than a full prefab database dump. It concentrates on fields useful for monsters and customizable NPCs while leaving drop-table editing, spawn tables, player prefabs, and large effect graphs to other domains or mods.

The synchronized 7 - AI settings add optional combat target switching, independently of levels and modifiers:

When enabled, an alerted, untamed MonsterAI creature (including bosses and Enforcers) can choose a sensed, hostile player other than its current target, with a path check before switching. One player is sufficient when an animal is currently tanking. Attempts wait the configured interval and use normal target-search ticks. Valid selections are retained for the configured hold duration, released on the next search tick; attacks are not interrupted and normal pursuit abandonment remains active. Death, lost sensing or a blocked path can end a hold early. A hold duration of 0 disables holding; switching attempts still follow the configured interval. An active hold takes precedence over the switch interval, so it is not interrupted by another switching attempt. Failed rolls, missing candidates and unreachable selections consume the interval. Changing any of these settings clears pending attempts and holds and restarts the attempt interval; Off returns to normal selection on the next search.

Tamed creatures and FrozenKing phase 2 are excluded. This feature does not identify ranged attackers or override ability-specific targeting (such as independently targeted meteors). Decisions run only on the creature's network owner, including in dedicated-server games.

Levels and Progression

Level rules can target broad defaults or narrow content: global rules, bosses, biomes, named groups, and individual prefabs. Built-in biome presets provide a starting point, while explicit YAML rules replace only the values you choose.

The synchronized [2 - Levels] option Enable Level System accepts:

Biome Level Preset is used only in Full mode:

Newly generated levels.yml files end with commented biome distributions for all four built-in presets, generated from the same weights used at runtime, plus an explanation of None. Copy or uncomment only the biome blocks you want to override, merging with existing blocks to avoid duplicate keys. Existing YAML files are preserved.

Full + None lets YAML choose which creatures receive CM level rolls. New defaults leave Global.level commented out (since 1.3.4; 1.3.3 generated an active [80, 20] rule). If enabled, including in an existing file, Global.level: [80, 20] supplies a base roll of 80% zero-star / 20% one-star wherever no more specific YAML level rule or built-in biome preset applies. Global is the last fallback, not an override of prefab/group/biome rules. To keep game/other-mod levels except selected targets, use Full + None, leave broad level weights disabled, and add weights to the desired prefab/group/biome. Leave other fields in place to retain their independent stat and modifier rules. A creature with no matching weights keeps its assigned level only if no Karma/Enforcer level bonus applies. Weights specify the base roll, not a final star cap; even level: [100] can receive bonus levels. Disable Karma level bonuses separately when a strict normal-spawn distribution is wanted.

With None, Bosses Follow Biome Level Preset has no built-in distribution to use. Regular bosses still accept explicit Boss/group/prefab level rules in Full, and never inherit Global. None controls only built-in level weights; stat, size, and modifier rules remain independent. The default remains Full + Easy, and existing YAML files are not rewritten.

Existing Off config values remain valid. The former On selection (including numeric 1) is read as Full, and Vanilla (including numeric 2) is read as ExceptLevel; both are saved under their new names. With ExceptLevel, Biome Level Preset, Bosses Follow Biome Level Preset, and YAML level weights do not assign levels. Biome/group/prefab health, damage, per-level and distance multipliers, visual scale, and modifiers still follow the normal rule and spawn-source restrictions; the three modifier switches remain independent. Karma tracking and Enforcer encounters follow Karma System Mode, but their level bonuses are skipped. Loot settings remain independent. Explicit command levels (including cm:spawn) still work. Switching modes does not reroll or reset completed level/stat/modifier state on existing creatures; test automatic level assignment with new spawns.

ExceptLevel only excludes CreatureManager's automatic level assignment. In a new default levels.yml, change Global.damagePerLevel from 0.25 to 0.5 to match vanilla per-star damage growth for regular creatures. Default health growth already matches vanilla, and omitted Global scalePerLevel preserves the prefab's original level sizes in this mode. Other matching rules and modifiers still apply; Karma, Enforcer encounters, and loot remain independently configured. Boss rules are separate and still apply if another mod or an explicit command gives a boss extra levels.

In both Full and ExceptLevel, if no matching rule supplies scalePerLevel, creatures use their prefab's original level sizes, including in dungeons and on saddle-able creatures (extended to Full in 1.3.5). This applies with any biome preset. Omission means no value is inherited from any applicable Global/Boss, biome, group, or prefab rule. Level one and levels without a prefab size entry leave the current size alone; no growth is extrapolated beyond the prefab's table. An explicit 0 keeps the original size without star growth; a positive value uses CM's existing size formula and dungeon/saddle restrictions. Color-state cycling remains enabled. Prefabs without level-size setups receive no automatic CM size adjustment when the rule is omitted.

New default YAML files leave Global scalePerLevel: 0.1 as a commented example and keep Boss scalePerLevel: 0.1 active. Uncomment the Global example to enable CM star growth, or set it to 0 to disable star growth where no more specific rule overrides it. Published 1.3.4 treated an omitted scale rule as no star-size increase in Full; the new native-size fallback changes that behavior without rewriting YAML. Existing explicit values remain overrides. This does not migrate stored modifier sizes or guarantee that removing a rule immediately restores every loaded creature's previous size; original level-size behavior is applied when its visuals are processed again.

Levels can control weighted star distribution, health, damage, movement speed, visual scale, distance scaling, and modifier selection. damagePerLevel replaces vanilla's 50% monster damage growth per level: for example, damage: 1 and damagePerLevel: 0.2 make a level 6 creature deal 2x level-1 damage to character targets before distance, multiplayer, and modifier scaling. Vanilla level visual states rotate when a creature exceeds the visual states supplied by its prefab.

speed and speedPerLevel multiply walking, running, flying, swimming, acceleration, and turning by speed * (1 + (level - 1) * speedPerLevel). For example, speed: 1.2 and speedPerLevel: 0.1 give 1.2x / 1.32x / 1.44x at zero / one / two stars. Each field inherits independently through the usual level-rule priority; with no matching value, defaults are 1 and 0. speed must be finite and greater than zero (values below 1 slow movement); speedPerLevel must be finite and nonnegative, and explicit 0 overrides inherited star growth. The generated YAML leaves both as commented examples. These rules work in Full and ExceptLevel, including with modifiers disabled, and stop applying in Off. They multiply with Swift and other movement adjustments; they do not change attack animation speed, attack intervals, or distanceScaling. Unlike the absolute creatures.yml character speed tuple, these are additional multipliers.

The owner stores the resolved speed multiplier alongside each creature's level stats. Completed creatures retain that value on configuration reload and owner changes; older creatures without a speed value remain at 1x. Supported later level changes recalculate it without rerolling modifiers, while growth/restore transitions inherit stored stats. No speed rules are searched every frame, and original speed fields are not overwritten or repeatedly multiplied.

CreatureManager is spawn-aware. Natural hostile spawns receive the complete matching rule, while breeding, eggs, grow-up transitions, tamed restores, Blood Magic summons, and explicit console spawns preserve or restrict values according to their lifecycle instead of blindly rerolling every creature initialization.

FrozenKing_p2 is protected because its health drives the seven-Aspect encounter. CreatureManager skips level/stat scaling, the creature health override (including regeneration time), and all modifiers for this exact prefab, and leaves incoming encounter damage unchanged. cm:spawn accepts it only at level 1 without modifiers; modifier inheritance and snapshot restore reject it. Phase 1, phase 3, and the Aspects retain their normal rules. This prevents interference in new encounters; it does not repair previously altered health or recover a stalled fight. Other mods and direct game commands can still alter the encounter.

Star Loot Scaling

The synchronized [6 - Loot] settings in BepInEx/config/sighsorry.CreatureManager.cfg work independently of Enable Level System:

CalculateChance keeps an eligible item's base drop chance and scales its successful amount by 1 + stars * percentage / 100. Only the fractional remainder is rolled: with a base amount of 1 and 50%, one star gives 1 or 2 items, two stars give 2, and three stars give 2 or 3. This changes loot balance: vanilla increases both drop chance and amount by stars. Zero percent keeps the base chance and amount. The game's resource modifiers and 100-item per-entry cap still apply.

Only non-trophy items whose drop entry enables levelMultiplier are eligible. One-per-player rewards, non-item drops, player drops, and explicit Enforcer bonus loot retain their existing behavior. Ordinary Enforcer drops use the game's boss classification. Calculation happens on the creature's network owner; the existing death, ragdoll and item-spawn paths remain responsible for delivery. Settings affect newly generated loot, not loot already stored in ragdolls.

The default applies to new or missing settings. An existing saved Vanilla selection or custom percentage is preserved; change it explicitly to opt into the new defaults.

When DropNSpawn is loaded, CreatureManager automatically leaves loot scaling to DropNSpawn and logs a notice when CalculateChance is first used. Drop That alone does not disable CreatureManager's calculation: its configured items, conditions and base quantities remain in use, and CreatureManager replaces star scaling only on eligible entries with ScaleByLevel=true. Entries with ScaleByLevel=false are excluded. Drop That's quantity-limit postprocessing, stacking and ragdoll metadata paths remain in place. If your Drop That tables already set the complete reward for each level, set ScaleByLevel=false on those entries or select Vanilla in CreatureManager.

With Path of Valheiman, CM checks the required interoperability contracts at startup instead of requiring one exact PoV version. Final-health, live level-ownership, star-loot and boss-modifier integration are checked separately; an incompatible contract disables the affected integration with a warning. CM prevents Reaping's already-scaled maximum HP and explicit health restoration from being scaled again. PoV reads CM's current Full / ExceptLevel / Off level ownership instead of keeping its first cached result. PoV's separate star-drop replacement yields when CM's CalculateChance is active or DropNSpawn is loaded; rarity bonuses and additional loot remain independent. Vanilla without DropNSpawn preserves PoV's existing loot policy.

In Full, newly created boss prefabs can receive PoV modifiers using their final CM star count and PoV's Boss modifiers per star setting, whether spawned by an altar, CreatureSpawner, a command or another direct creation path. PoV's boss/rarity switches, first-kill restriction and boss modifier exclusions still apply. Normal presets use 0 modifiers per star; set this to 1 if desired. Saved bosses, preserved creature restores and bosses already carrying PoV modifiers are not rerolled. CM's modifier settings remain independent: turn them off separately if you want only PoV modifiers.

With compatible PoV, Full adds Rune of the Blood Challenge stars to CM's normal boss stars, including applicable Karma bonuses: CM three stars plus two runes produces five stars. The altar's five-rune limit caps the added stars, not the combined total. The rune contribution is recorded per creature and applied once; loading the creature or transferring ownership does not add it again, and supported boss phases inherit the completed result. PoV modifiers use separate budgets for CM's ordinary boss grant and the actual runes, so CM's base stars do not receive the rune's minimum-one-modifier bonus. ExceptLevel and Off retain PoV's normal rune behavior. See blood-rune integration.

For new automatic modifier rolls, CM avoids overlapping effects already active through PoV, including Mirror → Reflection and Rotten or Reeking → Toxic Aura. CM Blink remains eligible in dungeons, where PoV Blink cannot land. This applies to ordinary creatures, bosses and Enforcers, including YAML chances of 100%; existing rolls and explicit admin-forced modifiers are preserved. Remaining candidates keep CM's group probability rules and maximum count, so excluded effects are not guaranteed a replacement. Later PoV changes such as Heir inheritance do not remove existing CM effects. See the complete overlap policy.

When compatible PoV is installed, CM automatically controls the shared enemy display: PoV modifier icons first, then CM icons, packed into right-aligned rows of four. Up to four effects use one row, five to eight use two, and nine to twelve use three; there is no six-icon cutoff. Stars use CM's own style. PoV's Modifier display setting does not hide or replace these shared icons/stars, and CM's Modifier HUD Icon Layout applies only outside this integration. PoV still controls modifier effects and optional names. Its visible status/ailment icons use the same size and right alignment in separate rows of four below the modifier block, with CM resistance text below them. PoV status visibility is retained; CM controls the shared icon size and placement. No config file is rewritten. This is client presentation only and is independent of CM's level-assignment mode. Missing PoV, another recognized star provider or a rejected HUD contract retains the existing display. See scope, limitations and verification.

CreatureManager does not rewrite the selected setting or the other mod's configuration. Install the same gameplay mods on the server and all clients so ownership changes do not change which drop system is active.

Karma and Enforcers

Karma is a regional pressure system based on a sliding 3x3 neighborhood of vanilla zones. Outdoor and dungeon neighborhoods track independent Karma, levels, decay, and Enforcer cooldowns while sharing the configured thresholds and gain rules. Kills of untamed, non-player creatures by a player, a tamed creature, or another player-side creature raise Karma in the current neighborhood; runtime-summoned creatures, including Enforcers and their minions, do not. Higher thresholds can add levels to future natural spawns, and idle regions decay over time.

Enforcers turn high Karma into encounters. A biome or dungeon table can choose an Enforcer, minions, modifiers, level bonus, bonus loot, and location restrictions. Nearby overlapping player regions are evaluated as one connected check region to avoid duplicate rolls for the same group.

New default karma.yml files include three DeepNorth encounters: Barka alone outdoors, ElakingMole with one Elaking in TheHole01, and JotunWarrior with one BlobMork in MorkBorg. Each uses [40, 30, 2] for required Karma, consumed Karma, and additional level bonus, inherits the Enforcer modifier rules, and grants its Enforcer's trophy plus two Silver Necklaces as bonus loot. The level bonus is not a final star cap. Dungeon entries match the location prefab names, not the dungeon generator names. Existing karma.yml files are preserved; add a DeepNorth section manually to enable these encounters in an existing configuration.

Enforcer behavior can be used together with Karma levels or independently through BepInEx configuration. Current Karma appears near the minimap, and Enforcer events use localized center-screen messages.

DropNSpawn's optional periodic dungeon spawner can consult CreatureManager.CreatureManagerSpawnApi.CanSpawn(GameObject prefab, Vector3 position) to honor the existing boss/Enforcer ordinary-spawn blocking settings. Call this API on Unity's main thread immediately before creation using the registered prefab and final world position. It evaluates current settings/state; it does not reserve a spawn or apply Enforcer/Karma summon behavior. Use the updated builds of both mods for this integration.

Dungeon Enforcer location matching covers the registered interior zone, including rooms outside the entrance's location radius. Placement stays in that same zone. Loaded-scene placement accounts for the prefab capsule's bottom when positioning it on the floor; navigation still targets the floor, and a warned reservation keeps its selected position. These rules do not add support for relocated or multi-zone custom interiors.

For troubleshooting, enable 3 - Karma → Dungeon Enforcer Diagnostics on the server or host (default Off, local and not synchronized). [DungeonEnforcerDiag] reports counts by reason every 30 seconds, with at most three short prefab/location and coordinate samples per reason. Counts describe candidate checks and outcomes, not spawn probabilities. Toggle changes, world reset and a successful karma.yml reload clear the observations. No report is emitted for an empty window.

UnloadedAnchorFallback means the server used an existing spawner ZDO because dungeon geometry was not loaded locally; it does not confirm free space around that point. FloorMissing, CapsuleBlocked, PathAndLineBlocked, InvalidDungeonZone, MinionPositionMissing and ReservationCanceled help distinguish placement failures. Dedicated-server client-assisted geometry validation is not implemented by this change: the existing anchor fallback, server authority, encounter costs and minion policy remain unchanged.

Common Workflows

Tune an existing creature

Find it in creatures.reference.yml, copy its identity into creatures.yml, and add only the fields being changed.

Build a customizable humanoid NPC or creature

Generated references compact repeated prefab entries into this weighted notation while preserving their first-occurrence order. The generated usedByAttacks field is informational and is ignored in active configuration. Component blocks already identify their kind, so no type field is generated or accepted.

Install MonsterlabZ and refer to samples in creatures.sample.yml and attacks.sample.yml. Change those files name into creatures_sample.yml and attacks_sample.yml, respectively.

Create world progression

Use levels.yml for biome, group, prefab, boss, distance, and modifier rules. Keep broad defaults near the top and add narrow overrides only where needed.

Create regional encounters

Use karma.yml to tune Karma gain and decay, then assign outdoor or dungeon Enforcer tables by biome and optional location.

Reskin a creature

Inspect textures.reference.txt, place a PNG directly in the server's textures directory when needed, and reference it from the creature's texture slots. Rooted paths, subdirectories, traversal names, links, and non-PNG local files are rejected. The synchronized manifest is content-addressed, so clients request only missing hashes and keep the previous complete texture generation if a transfer or validation fails. CreatureManager creates a target-specific ragdoll prefab for configured scale, textures, or appearance instead of changing the shared source ragdoll. Texture entries are also attempted on matching ragdoll renderer names/paths; a ragdoll without a matching renderer logs a warning and leaves that slot unchanged. Existing EffectData scale flags run unchanged during creation, after which CreatureManager restores the exact configured scale on its target-specific ragdoll. Runtime texture property blocks keep configured body textures authoritative when appearance.modelIndex updates the ragdoll model.

Console Commands

The spawn command supports prefab and comma-separated modifier completion. It is intended for testing and does not perform a normal level or modifier roll. cm:spawn and cm:karma are available to the local listen-server host and connected dedicated-server administrators; a dedicated-server console has no player position to target.

Git

https://github.com/sighsorry1029/CreatureManager