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Valheim testing a Unity upgrade with lots of optimizations

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Iron Gate announced a new public test release Beta of Valheim, which brings with it a Unity game engine upgrade that includes multiple performance enhancements to improve the game. So time to get testing.

In the announcement they note that worlds used in this update are not backwards compatible, so if you plan to test perhaps don't do it on a main world.

Nice to see the performance work, as while it can run really well, once you get a big castle area with lots of building work done the framerate can be reduced quite a lot (especially so on Steam Deck). So once this upgrade rolls out to the stable version of the game, perhaps it might be better.

Here's all that's in the patch:

  • Jack-o-turnip enabled. Spooky season!
  • New seasonal item: Pointy hat.
  • Added a new “Render scale” graphics setting that enables the main camera to be rendered at a lower resolution than the viewport and UI.
  • Improved automatic input switching so that connected gamepads with stick drift no longer take over control when .playing with keyboard and mouse.
  • Optimized code that determines which objects in the world to instantiate, lowering the baseline CPU time by up to 5%.
  • Optimized structural integrity calculations, massively decreasing CPU time in areas with large builds.
  • Optimized enemy AI.
  • Optimized underwater logic.
  • Re-enabled objects to have more than 255 KVPs of arbitrary data of the same value type (important for some mods).
  • Fixed a bug that could cause traps to trigger multiple times in multiplayer depending on how many players were near it
  • Engine upgraded to Unity 2022.
  • Upgraded Steamworks.NET and PlayFab Party libraries to newer versions.
  • Engine-side optimizations for dedicated servers.
  • Tweaked boss spawning to prevent them from occasionally getting stuck when spawning.
  • Fixed a bug that caused clicking sounds when selecting building pieces via controller.

The developers also recently showed off some of the new weapons coming in the Ashlands update, which they're now internally testing so it's slowly getting closer to release. It also really looks like somewhere that's going to be quite difficult due to all the lava…

Valheim has Native Linux support and it's Steam Deck Verified you can buy it on Humble Store or Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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11 comments
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Sparhawk Oct 27, 2023
Still my number one game for the moment. Love these updates.
Koopacabras Oct 27, 2023
hmm so they are doubling down on Unity.. because some people were assuming that they might change engines.
Might be a good move, switching lanes when you have a winning horse, is unwise.
It makes more sense for an indie game that's not such a blockbuster.
Purple Library Guy Oct 27, 2023
Quoting: Koopacabrashmm so they are doubling down on Unity.. because some people were assuming that they might change engines.
Might be a good move, switching lanes when you have a winning horse, is unwise.
It makes more sense for an indie game that's not such a blockbuster.
Yeah, seems a little late for a switch at this point. If and when they do another game, maybe they'll look at other possibilities.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 27 October 2023 at 9:33 pm UTC
ssj17vegeta Oct 28, 2023
Performance updates are always welcome, glad they deliver !
bakgwailo Oct 28, 2023
I hope this fixes the Linux multi-monitor mouse focus issues (which I think was pending a unity update). As for switching engines - I don't see how that would be in any realistic universe given the game's stage of environment, unless they want to Duke Nukem Forever it and speed the next decade+ developing it.
grumpytoad Oct 28, 2023
It annoys me that these early access games are supposedly amazing when opened on kickstarter, but by the time they actually get released (if ever) they are so behind the curve graphically that it doesn't make sense to get them if you're someone that doesn't buy into early access. It's almost like the developer realising that a complete polished game is too much to handle in the race for an up-to-date looking game, that they force the end user to consume a half game while it still looks ok.
aparthy Oct 28, 2023
Quoting: bakgwailoI hope this fixes the Linux multi-monitor mouse focus issues
Looking forward to this fix as well. Runnning the game through Gamescope in fullsceen is a workaround for now.

QuoteAdded a new “Render scale” graphics setting that enables the main camera to be rendered at a lower resolution than the viewport and UI.
Would be nice if they add fsr / dlss.
Liam Dawe Oct 28, 2023
Quoting: grumpytoadIt annoys me that these early access games are supposedly amazing when opened on kickstarter, but by the time they actually get released (if ever) they are so behind the curve graphically that it doesn't make sense to get them if you're someone that doesn't buy into early access. It's almost like the developer realising that a complete polished game is too much to handle in the race for an up-to-date looking game, that they force the end user to consume a half game while it still looks ok.
Not sure what that has to do with Valheim? It never did a Kickstarter and their graphic style is very specific.
nwildner Oct 28, 2023
Valheim has an annoying bug that when playing in any higher than 1080p resolution, it produces some weird inventory location errors, and mouse is misaligned with the inventory. Worst case mouse will not be able to reach your inventory because it expects your pointer to be way inside the right border of the monitor.

https://valheimbugs.featureupvote.com/suggestions/436152/cursor-not-properly-captured-on-linux-multimonitor-after-0214300-patch

Forcing Proton solves this, and on Steam Deck which has a lower resolution it doesn't reproduce...


Last edited by nwildner on 28 October 2023 at 3:04 pm UTC
Drakker Oct 30, 2023
Quoting: nwildnerValheim has an annoying bug that when playing in any higher than 1080p resolution, it produces some weird inventory location errors, and mouse is misaligned with the inventory. Worst case mouse will not be able to reach your inventory because it expects your pointer to be way inside the right border of the monitor.

It happened to my son, its related to alt-tabbing and switching from windowed to full screen. It keeps the windowed resolution for pointing and everything is off, go in the graphics configuration and set the resolution to the real one. It fixed it for him instantly.
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