SlimBeams

SlimBeams

Version 0.1.0 - initial beta by SmeagsMods.

Slim Beams adds seven slim wooden building pieces to the Hammer. Straight beams and posts are 10 cm thick instead of 40 cm. Each piece retains its original length, wood appearance, recipe, workbench requirement, damage health, and weather behavior.

Structural capacity is 25, compared with normal wood's 100. The normal collapse threshold and distance-based support losses remain in effect. This does not mean exactly one-quarter tower height or span. Damage health remains 400 before normal world modifiers.

Pieces

• Slim wood beam 1 m and 2 m
• Slim wood post 1 m and 2 m
• Slim wood beam 26 degrees, 45 degrees and 67 degrees

Angled pieces keep their original diagonal lengths. Their cross-section dimensions are each reduced to one quarter; the 26/45-degree beams are approximately 10 × 15 cm. The 67-degree source has a shaped body and keeps that shape at quarter thickness. The 67-degree variant retains the source's Deep North build category; the other six use the workbench building category.

Install and find the pieces

1. Install with a Valheim mod manager, or import the package ZIP into a separate test profile. BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2351 is the declared dependency.
2. For manual installation, copy plugins/SlimBeams/SlimBeams.dll into your BepInEx/plugins/SlimBeams/ directory. Install the DLL once only. Back up worlds before testing custom building pieces.
3. Start Valheim and select the Hammer. Find the pieces by their Slim wood… names in their original build categories. This build reuses vanilla menu icons.

All players and the server need the same mod version for worlds containing these custom pieces. Multiplayer has not yet been verified. This package contains only the production plugin, documentation, and icon; no development test harness is included.

Snapping controls

Use the normal Hammer placement and rotation controls. While placing a piece, Q / E cycle the selected snap point with default keyboard bindings. Rebound controls use Valheim's previous/next snap bindings. Controller users can use the normal previous/next snap actions.

The first choices are End A, End B, and Centre. Face choices follow at both ends and the centre. These provide flush parallel joins and beam-to-post attachment points. The final choices are labelled vanilla post side or vanilla beam face; these place the end against a normal 40 cm timber's side. Straight and 45-degree pieces have 17 points. The 26/67-degree pieces have 19 because post-side and beam-face adapters need different offsets.

Automatic snapping chooses the nearest points. Cycle explicitly when several nearby faces compete. End-centre joins intentionally retain vanilla-style intersecting centreline joints. Face/adaptor joins serve a different purpose. Angled timber end cuts are preserved; this mod does not add custom mitred cuts for every joint angle.

Save compatibility and removal

Pieces have separate persistent prefab identities (SlimBeams_wood_beam_1, SlimBeams_wood_beam, SlimBeams_wood_pole, SlimBeams_wood_pole2, SlimBeams_wood_beam_26, SlimBeams_wood_beam_45, and SlimBeams_wood_beam_67). Vanilla prefabs are unchanged.

Keep Slim Beams installed when loading worlds containing its pieces. To remove the mod safely, dismantle its pieces while the mod is installed, save, then remove its DLL. Loading and saving a world without the custom prefabs can lose those pieces.

Testing status

Isolated native-game checks covered geometry, collisions, wear visuals, structural support and collapse, snapping in both directions, health, and save/reload. Actual mouse placement and dismantling verified source-matching wood costs and full refunds for all seven pieces. Repeated placements and the remaining inventory survived a fresh-process reload.

Hands-on keyboard snap cycling/cancel and multiplayer remain unverified. The keyboard-input tool did not produce observed key actions in the isolated test session, including Escape; this is not a confirmed plugin defect. The standard control bindings above are Valheim's native controls.

License

MIT License. Copyright (c) 2026 SmeagsMods. See LICENSE and THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt. Valheim assets remain the property of their owners and are referenced from the game at runtime, not distributed in this package.