Valheim patch fixes portal exploit, makes deathsquitos more cuddly

(Image credit: Iron Gate Studios)

Many Valheim players probably had the same moment of dreadful realization the first time they built a pair of portals, one at their base and one at some far flung, resource-rich location. After mining a bunch of ore, they tried to step through the magic circle to return home and... couldn't. You can't take ore through portals. Dang.

But some clever Vikings found a little exploit that involved stepping through the portal and clicking on a cart or chest at the same time, sneakily adding the metals to their pockets just as they blip away through the magic doorway. Hooray!

Well, the Valheim patch released today sounds like it puts an end to the little "teleport ore chest hack," as it's described by the devs, so you'll need to find another way to cheese the portal/ore challenge or resign yourself to transporting your metals by cart and ship. (Though there is another way, actually, sorta.)

The patch, version 0.143.5, also lowers damage on deathsquitos, those flying menaces from the Plains. Though, it sounds like damage might not have been the real problem but the fact that the 'squitos are so good at buzzing up behind players unnoticed they do massive backstab damage with their proboscises. Maybe the volume of their buzzing needs to be increased, too? We'll see if that happens in the future.

Another little resource duplication exploit has been fixed, some AI tweaks have been deployed, and an "enemy awareness indicator" has been added to enemy huds.

Here are the full Valheim patch notes:

Ragdoll destruction network fix
Dedicated server ugly file-flag shutdown system removed (Use CTRL-C or SIGINT instead)
Updated reference server start scripts (Please update local copies)
World & character save improvements
Teleport ore chest hack fix
Remove structure resource dupe bug fix
Server map set to server name to make it filterable in steam server-browser
Localization fixes
Added enemy awareness indicator to enemy huds
Sneak tweaks
Added save directory override to dedicated servers (-savedir)
AI fixes
Lower dmg on deathsquitos
Fixed text-msg icon
Updated server manual PDF
More serverlist improvements (removed initial serverlist request to lower network trafic)
Carts detach when teleporting

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.