Fix Terraforming Heavy FPS Impact

4.2K votes

Based on investigation here: https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/lqcr88/reason_behind_low_fps_and_huge_instance_numbers/

It would seem (and can easily be verified in game by grabbing a hoe) that terraforming the world with tools like the hoe slowly and permanently degrades performance heavily in that area. For myself, with a group of 4 in a small village, we notice this getting to unplayable levels after having flattened a small area of 5-6 viking house sized structures (5-15 fps).

Continous development Suggested by: Hummy (24 Feb, '21) • Upvoted: yesterday • Comments: 6

Comments: 6

24 Feb, '21
Mattias
Have had same issues with some friends, we thought it was portals doing it (as the base I was in had a connection hub tower)... but soon we started to wonder if it was because we flatten the ground alot and made roads etc. Came to a point where we just demolished the whole place and relocated to a new island to get away from all the lag. Even tho one built bigger and more it does not lag as much as before when we used terraforming more. Big issue to the game since it's not nice going from 70+ to 5-10fps after you get a place as you want it. We also had same thinking if it was something like this causing it, this post just makes us certain that it is the case.
28 Feb, '21
James
Can confirm. After digging a hole around our building the fps in that area dropped to around 30fps from 100+ fps. That is on a high end computer. My friends cant even normally go to the base anymore due to 10fps
28 Feb, '21
Jimyt
Happening to our server as well. Terraformed a decently large spot, we have around 5 bigger buildings and it can drop to less than 5 fps. Seems that the game is keeping the old terrain info stored and has to reload your changes every time. Now sometimes when I come back from an adventure and run into town too fast all our buildings and terrain changes are gone. I can walk around on old hills that shouldn't exist and buildings are gone. Usually takes less than a minute and everything will slowly load again. Once loaded it's still laggy. Using the hoe immediately drops fps hard.
01 Mar, '21
Chad
So could this same issue cause crashes? My buddy has limited internet and hase been having connection issues since terraforming. Like he suddenly doesnt doesnt have the bandwith to run at time
01 Mar, '21
Fastlikecheetah
Was having similar issues at our original base and eventually, it drove me crazy to the point of tearing down the entire base to try and figure out the cause. Turns out the entire area, with nothing on it, still has horrible FPS (40+ less than other areas of the game, including sizable bases that had very minimal terrain manipulation). Removing those items helped a little but running into a new biome next door is night and day. The area was heavily modified with the hoe, pickaxe, cultivator, etc.

I am glad I now know this but hope this can be fixed/optimized in the future!
01 Mar, '21
bulli
This is the same issue, but more comments and less upvotes :)
https://valheimbugs.featureupvote.com/suggestions/159300/stabilize-mass-flattening-of-land