How to Change Valheim World Modifiers

Change your Valheim world modifiers (combat difficulty, resource rates, raid frequency, portal rules) either by setting modifier flags on the Server Options page or by running the modifier commands in-game as an admin. Both work on a stock server with no mods.

The part most guides get wrong: you do not need devcommands, and you do not need the Server Devcommands mod. Stock devcommands is blocked on a dedicated server, but setworldmodifier, setworldpreset, setkey, and removekey are admin commands in their own right. Being on the server’s admin list is all they need. The mod is only for the wider cheat set like spawn and fly, covered in Enable Valheim Cheats.

Option 1: Set Modifiers in Server Options (Recommended)

We recommend this route because the flags go straight into your startup command, so the server comes up with those settings every time and nobody has to remember to re-apply them. The trade-off is that it needs a restart, and the syntax is unforgiving.

1. In the Game Panel, go to Server Options
2. Find the [ADVANCED] Server Modifiers field
3. Enter the modifier flags you want to append to the startup command, for example -modifier combat hard -modifier resources more
4. Leave the field blank for default settings
5. Click Save
6. Restart the server to apply the change

When Modifiers Do Not Apply

Valheim discards a malformed flag without logging an error. Nothing appears in the console and nothing appears in the panel, so a typo looks exactly like a setting that does not work. If a modifier is not taking effect, check the flag string before you change anything else.

These are the mistakes that actually come through support, taken from real Server Modifiers fields:

A Setkey Will Not Apply to a World That Already Exists

This is not a syntax problem, so it survives every check in the list above. A -setkey flag is only read when the world is created. Point the server at a world that already exists and it loads the save as-is, ignoring the flag without comment.

The value based -modifier flags do not behave this way. Those apply to an existing world and take effect on the next start.

So if -modifier combat hard works but -setkey nobuildcost seems to do nothing on the same server, nothing is broken. Set the key from the console instead, covered in Option 2 below.

A Preset After Your Modifiers Wipes Them

This one is not a typo, so it survives every spelling check you do. The server reads the flags in the order you wrote them, and a preset overwrites every modifier set before it. So this silently throws away both modifiers:

-modifier combat hard -modifier resources more -preset casual

Put the preset first and the individual modifiers after it, so they layer on top:

-preset casual -modifier combat hard -modifier resources more

If you are not using a preset at all, this cannot bite you. Order the flags however you like.

The [ADVANCED] Server Modifiers field lists every valid modifier, value, and setkey in its own description, so check your spelling against that as well as against Common Modifiers below. Unrecognised names are dropped in exactly the same silent way as bad punctuation.

Once the syntax and the order are both right and a modifier still reads as default, see The Reset Caveat below: normal is not a settable value, so an attempt to undo a change that way looks like a stuck setting.

Option 2: Change Modifiers In-Game (Admin Console)

Use this route to change a modifier on a world that is already running, without a restart. It needs no mods. The modifier commands are admin commands, so being on the server’s admin list is the only requirement.

1. Add your Valheim player ID to the server’s adminlist.txt and restart the server once. See Become an Admin
2. Add -console to your Steam launch options, then join your server
3. Press F5 to open the console
4. Run your modifier command, for example setworldmodifier portals casual

There is no devcommands step. Typing devcommands on a dedicated server does nothing, and the modifier commands do not need it.

Common Modifiers

These are the modifiers and keys themselves. They are the same either way you set them, so this section applies to both routes above.

In the console the format is setworldmodifier followed by a category and a value, for example setworldmodifier Combat hard. In the [ADVANCED] Server Modifiers field it is -modifier followed by the same category and value in lowercase, for example -modifier combat hard. Don’t type the words “category” or “value”, use the actual entries from the table:

Resources and Raids as Multipliers

The game’s own world settings screen only shows the words, so here is what they mean. Resources is a straight multiplier on drop and gather amounts: muchless is 0.5x, less is 0.75x, there is no 1.25x, more is 1.5x, muchmore is 2x, and most is 3x. Valheim rounds each drop to a whole number and never below 1, so a single-item drop at 1.5x comes out as 2, and a few drop types are never scaled.

Raids is stored as an event rate where 100 is the default and a higher number means a longer wait between raids: muchless is 200, less is 150, more is 60, muchmore is 30, and none turns raids off. There is no value that maps to “1.5x raids”, so pick the word for how much calmer or busier you want the server.

So the common request of 1.5x resources on hard difficulty is:

-modifier combat hard -modifier resources more

Put that in the [ADVANCED] Server Modifiers field and restart, or run setworldmodifier Combat hard and setworldmodifier Resources more in the F5 console. Both apply to a world you are already playing.

Toggle keys use setkey followed by a key name to enable it, and removekey followed by the same key name to disable it, for example setkey nomap to disable the map. As a startup flag it is -setkey nomap, lowercase, one flag per key. Use the actual key name from the table below, not the word “key” itself:

The Reset Caveat

normal is not a value you can set on an individual modifier. Running setworldmodifier portals normal does nothing, which makes it look like the setting is stuck.

To put a modifier back to default, reset the whole preset instead:

setworldpreset normal

Setting a preset overwrites every modifier currently on the world, including the ones you wanted to keep, so anything else you had tuned goes back to default at the same time. Re-apply the ones you want to keep afterward with setworldmodifier. This is a Valheim quirk rather than a server limitation.

Checking Active Modifiers

Press F2 in-game at any time to see the live modifier list. Any player can view this screen, no admin status required, so it’s the quickest way to verify a change took effect.

Next Steps

• Connect to your Valheim server
• Install Valheim mods