I am just happy we can alter the terrain at all. In many games that have a robust building mechanic it is not even an option (Ark and Satisfactory are two examples).

Could it be better? Yep. Is it functional now? Yep. Might things change in the future? Who is to say.

play the game for like 200 hours and you will get good (or at least okay) at leveling ground

Originally posted by Eightball:

I am just happy we can alter the terrain at all. In many games that have a robust building mechanic it is not even an option (Ark and Satisfactory are two examples).

Could it be better? Yep. Is it functional now? Yep. Might things change in the future? Who is to say.

to be fair, arks biggest servers are PvP and it would be busted if people could perfectly plan out their bases like that

Its based on where ever you are standing and will only go up or down a maximum of 1 meter.

You can shift click and the hoe will go with what ever the adjacent terrain is. You can combine click with shift click (and the occasional pick strike) to get a more gradual smoothing of the terrain but it takes practice and a single missed click or shift click can mess it all up.

If there is bedrock underneath what you're trying to level you won't be able to level the ground. If you use a pick-axe to dig out some of the bedrock you should then be able to level it to the elevation you want. Also keep in mind that the elevation of the ground you're trying to level is determined by the level of the ground you're standing on.

It works very well IF you understand the mechanics.. I would recommend watching a video.. it has limitations.

The mechanics aren't super-intuitive. But once you understand how it works, well, then it works fairly decently.

Its awful and needs changing, sometimes you have to pick down, sometimes you have to add material and then level terrain, its one of the worst features of this game, level should just level, make it use resources but make it work properly without the obtuse nonsense that I stated at the start

First thing to do when using the hoe to level land is to zoom out to maximum even before equipping it.

By doing that, you will be able to lower your vision to almost horizontal, giving you the perfect angle to check if the ground is in fact flat.

Also, keep in mind you're actually moving dirt from one spot to another. Sometimes it may be a good idea to increase the height of the land a bit, before going to level it.
That way, you create the "dirt" required to fill up the holes elsewhere.

Thorin :)

Originally posted by Kruxed:

Its awful and needs changing, sometimes you have to pick down, sometimes you have to add material and then level terrain, its one of the worst features of this game, level should just level, make it use resources but make it work properly without the obtuse nonsense that I stated at the start

It used to be a lot more dynamic and useable. But one of the earliest patches made it really inconvenient, I believe because terrain deformation could cause performance issues..

If you've played Minecraft, think of it like this. Minecraft has blocks, but they also have things like carpets. The terrain elevations in Valheim are like minecraft blocks with varying levels of carpets to create more smoothly rolling terrain. One block height might be equivalent to 6 carpet heights so you get X, X+1, x+2, ... X+5, 2X, 2X+1, etc. (Obviously Valiem renders terrain with connected polygons where Minecraft just renders blocks and carpet layers.

The spot you are standing on might be 4X + 4, and the spot you are hoeing might be 4X+2, so the Hoe can raise that to 4x+4... If the spot was 4X+5. it could lower it to 4X+4. However, if the spot was 5X+1, the hoe is limited to adding or removing "carpet" layers so it can only reduce it to 5X leaving a noticeable bump. This is the limit of the Hoe's "free" adjustment. If you step on the bump and try raising your old terrain, it can only raise to 4X+5, not 5X. You need to use the Pickaxe to +1 or -1 X, which can then be leveled with the matching terrain. So depending on where you are standing, some terrain might be a different "block" than you that needs to first be matched, then the Hoe can level it out with the rest.

I thought the hoe did an amazing job for being free to use minus stamina. It's not perfect but considering the cost I am good with the rare times I have to raise ground or use a pick. I mean..its just a simple hoe... leveling ground with a hoe the way it does in this game is pretty much godly.

My Hoe does a great job and it doesn't cost much either.

Short version is there's a max limit it can adjust up/down from current starting level.
It's real janky system and you're gonna need pickaxe and raise terrain.
Or just find a place that's already flat.
Or floor it and make it level that way.
Or just don't give a duck.

-It's based off whatever you're standing on.
-If you don't build up areas with the hoe, or dig them down with the pickaxe, it won't go any further.
-You're extremely limited with how far up/down you can go without a heighmap mod.