Before you set sail towards the Ashlands update there are a couple of things we recommend that you keep in mind. For the sake of convenience, we have compiled them here for you!
Public Test Branch Recommendations
First of all, if you’re playing the Ashlands update during the Public Test, the usual recommendations are still in place. For example, remember to make backups of your worlds and characters if you want to be able to use them in the non-PTB version of the game in the meantime, as they might not be backwards compatible with older versions. If you’re playing on a server, or with friends, everyone must be on the PTB, otherwise you will not be able to connect. All the PTB information are available here as always.
Terrain Generation and New Content
As always, new content will only be generated properly in previously unexplored areas of the game. Therefore, if you have already explored a lot of the Ashlands, the update will not generate properly in that world and we recommend that you start a new one. If you haven’t explored the Ashlands, you should get the new content, but we always recommend that you start a new world for the best possible experience. You can of course start a new world with an older character, if you don’t want to play through the whole game again before being able to conquer the Ashlands.
Additionally, the Ashlands update features some significant changes to the terrain generation around the Ashlands. The Ashlands will only be accessible by ship, and the terrain around it has been lowered and turned to ocean. This also affects any buildings you might have in that area – if they are built on terrain that gets altered, they will collapse. The images below illustrate what happens to a spawned location versus what happens to a player built structure. As you can see, even if the spawned building remains intact, it will be rather difficult to reach it, as the terrain around it is vastly lower.
Preparation and Difficulty
Before you travel to the Ashlands, you should first make sure that you have defeated The Queen in the Mistlands. If you have done so on an earlier playthrough, remember that her dropped item is no longer a placeholder. Just like Eikthyr’s antler lets you craft a pickaxe needed in the Black Forest, and just like The Elder drops a crypt key for the Swamps, the item from The Queen will be useful in the Ashlands! If you have the item already, you might need to toss it out of your inventory and pick it up again, for new recipes to trigger properly.
We also want to remind everyone that Valheim is meant to be a difficult game, and that it’s meant to be more difficult the further you progress – and the Ashlands is the penultimate biome of the game. If you’re confident in your skills, by all means, go forth! But if you haven’t played for a while or if you’re feeling a bit rusty, we recommend a bit of practice to get back into it, or that you adjust the difficulty in the World Modifiers menu.
Mods
Like every time when we update the game, it will take some time for mods to catch up and be playable again. If you’re using mods, it’s therefore recommended that you disable them before you download the Ashlands update, otherwise the game will most likely not launch properly. To disable mods you will also need to remove BepInEx or any other mod loader, as they might try to load regardless.
If you don’t want to play without mods, you will most likely have to wait a couple of days until the mod creator has updated their mod to be compatible with Valheim again.
