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HUD Tracker and Codex

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Taeguk edited this page Jun 8, 2026 · 2 revisions

HUD Tracker & Codex

HUD Tracker

The HUD tracker is an on-screen widget that shows active guide chains and their current progress. It appears in the corner of the screen while the player has active quests, so they always know what to do next.

Default Behaviour

  • Appears in the top-right corner by default (below the minimap).
  • Shows up to 3 active chains by default. Additional chains collapse into a +N more label.
  • Each row shows the chain's current step message.
  • Counter steps show a progress bar: Trophies: 2 / 5.
  • When a chain completes, the row flashes gold and a level-up VFX plays on the player, then the row fades out.
  • The tracker auto-hides after 5 seconds of no new progress (configurable). It reappears when progress is made.

Toggle Hotkey

Press F10 (default) to show or hide the tracker panel. The hotkey is configurable in the BepInEx config (TrackerHotkey) or in guidance.yaml under the tracker: section.

Badge

A small corner hint badge ([F10] Quests (2)) stays visible even when the tracker panel is hidden, showing how many active chains there are. Disable it with badge_enabled: false.

Configuring the Tracker

The tracker can be configured in two places:

1. BepInEx config (com.valheimserverguide.cfg) — applies at startup:

Config Key Default Description
TrackerEnabled true Show or hide the tracker entirely
TrackerPosition TopRight Corner anchor
TrackerMaxVisible 3 Max chains shown before "+N more"
TrackerHotkey F10 Toggle hotkey
TrackerBadgeEnabled true Show corner badge when panel is hidden

2. YAML tracker: section — applies live on YAML reload (wins over BepInEx config):

tracker:
  enabled: true
  anchor: TopRight              # TopRight | TopLeft | BottomRight | BottomLeft
  hotkey: F10
  badge_enabled: true
  offset_x: 46                  # pixels from corner, horizontal
  offset_y: 320                 # pixels from corner, vertical
  width: 210                    # panel width in pixels
  font_size: 15
  auto_hide_delay: 5            # 0 = never auto-hide
  fade_duration: 1
  highlight_duration: 3         # seconds a newly updated row stays gold
  completion_vfx_enabled: true

Changes to the YAML tracker: section take effect immediately on save — no server restart or reconnect needed.

Step Tooltips

When hovering a tracker row, the step's description field is shown as a tooltip:

steps:
  - trigger: { type: kill, creature: Troll }
    message: "Hunt Trolls in the Black Forest."
    description: >
      Trolls roam the Black Forest at night.
      They drop Troll Hide and Troll Trophy on death.
      Bring a fire arrow bow for ranged advantage.

Codex

The Codex is an in-game guide browser. It shows all guidance entries organised by category, with their titles, descriptions, and completion status.

Opening the Codex

Press F3 (default) to open the Codex. Press F3 again or Escape to close it. The hotkey is configurable in the BepInEx config (CodexKey).

Layout

The Codex panel has two sections:

  • Left panel — Category list. Click a category to filter entries.
  • Right panel — Entry list for the selected category. Each entry shows its title, description, and a completion indicator.

Entries marked category: "Crafting" in YAML are grouped under "Crafting" in the Codex. Entries without a category appear in a default group.

Disabling the Codex

Set CodexEnabled: false in the BepInEx config to disable the Codex and its hotkey entirely.

Making Entries Appear in the Codex

Any entry with a title appears in the Codex. Entries without a title are functional but invisible in the Codex browser.

- id: forge_bronze
  title: "The Bronze Age"       # shown in Codex
  category: "Progression"       # Codex group
  steps:
    ...

Codex Body Text — description, message, and summary

The body panel in the Codex right panel shows different text depending on the entry state. Priority order (highest first):

Chain state What is shown
Complete — summary: is set summary — a "Quest Complete" header followed by the recap text
Complete — no summary: Last step's message (the text that fired when the final step completed)
In progress — current step description (falls back to message if description is absent)

Use description to tell the player what to do to advance the current step. Use message for the text that fires when the trigger fires (reward, lore, follow-up tip). Use summary on the entry (not a step) for a short recap shown after the quest is done.

- id: ward_chain
  title: "Protective Ward"
  category: Building
  summary: >
    You placed a ward and learned about passive repair, raid blocking, and
    the Valkyrie taxi system. Your base is now protected.
  steps:
    - trigger:
        type: build
        piece: guard_stone
      display:
        mode: rune
        topic: "Protective Ward"
      description: >
        Build a Protective Ward to claim your base.
        Open your hammer's building menu, find the ward under Misc,
        and place it inside your base perimeter.
        Required: 5 Fine Wood, 5 Greydwarf Eye, 1 Surtling Core.
      message: "Your ward is active. ProtectiveWards adds passive repair, raid blocking, and rain protection inside the radius."

While the player is on this step the Codex body shows the description (build instructions). Once the chain is complete, the Codex body shows the entry-level summary if one is set, otherwise it falls back to the final step's message.

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