I have found using a ladder or 2 helps get you above the wall and it snaps a bit easier. Of course HIGH walls I fall and die when I forget to eat

Gotta have a pick axe first, though. ;)

Op killed the first boss, he should have it.

For double height walls, Build a full wall piece down, then snap next to it a half wall, then aim at the top of the full wall, while standing on the half wall, and snap in place. Or, build stairs so you can aim ''above the snap point'' of the first full wall. (if that makes sense) Probably better to just check out a few guides on building. There are some really talented builders out there, use them for your own inspiration.

Another thing I recommend that is easy as pie to make is a pit house, just dig a hole in the ground (preferably higher up, away from water) and simply slap a roof on top of it. Very easy to build & affordable, & cuts down on building materials needed to be gathered to construct at the same time, as the earth itself are the walls.

if you hold SHIFT while placing a piece, you get a lot more fluid control over where it goes.. that mode ignores all lock points, so the only thing that matters is the location of your cursor.. this allows you to tuck pieces in odd places..

Originally posted by GhostOokami:

Scenario, I'm trying to place 1 wall on top of the other, my cursor has to be perfectly on the top few pixels of the first wall or the snap point just goes wherever it pleases. The is even worse when I'm trying to build something in front of me while I'm trailing behind, like a platform in the air or above water

Scaffolding. Build stairs and platforms to give yourself better vantage points.
In the first scenario you illustrate, for example, the solution is to build some stairs to give yourself a higher vantage point to place the piece.
Building above water? Build yourself a raft so you can "stand" on water. And so on.

It often helps to use other, similarly sized pieces to provide easier snap points from another direction. For your problem example, try snapping a vertical beam to the end of the wall, another on top of that, then the second layer wall onto that beam.

Wooden pieces are effectively one or two dimensional shapes as far as the build engine is concerned, but some have wider 3d meshes around that, which is the thing you're trying to aim your mouse at. The later stone pieces are fully 3d cuboids which can be a lot easier to work with (but tricky to embed into each other for curved walls) and core wood beams are confusing because the vertical ones are 1d lines like regular wood, but the horizontal beams are actually 2d panels, effectively 1/4 height walls.

Oh, also note that the small wooden door is, like stone, a full cuboid with 1/4 thickness and multiple snap points along its shortest edge. It's very useful as a guide for lining up other pieces. Four small doors face to face act as a ruler with snap points every 1/8 of a wall panel.

Yeah it sometimes feels like you need pixel perfect, def needs to be a bit more smarter with the snapping possibilities

It works fairly well if you work with it.


First you must point directly to edges or points properly.

Second is you must have the proper view angle on the area. You have to make ladders and place things from above them. This makes placement much easier and snapping work properly.

It may be different from other games but it does work well once you get used to how it works.

Frankly I think the way they do snap to position in this game allows for more freedom in design.

Originally posted by GhostOokami:

Still new to the game and only killed one boss so far and I've been focusing on trying to build a small settlement. The problem is it's a bit of a headache to line up pieces properly.

Scenario, I'm trying to place 1 wall on top of the other, my cursor has to be perfectly on the top few pixels of the first wall or the snap point just goes wherever it pleases. The is even worse when I'm trying to build something in front of me while I'm trailing behind, like a platform in the air or above water, I have to be in front of it to be able to again have my cursor on those 10 pixels in order for the snap point to connect correctly.

Am I missing something here? Surely there's a better solution to this. Ark Survival Evolved got their building mechanics on point and I'm just trying to find out if I'm missing something here.

With 6k hours in Ark, I can tell you that one of the reasons the mod S+ was so popular is due to various vanilla building issues that exist (and other reasons of course).

A few tricks I can mention with Valheim when building.

If you cant reach a low spot, sit on the ground. It often then lets you place low things.

Like Ark, you have to sometimes change positions in order to get something to snap.

While attempting to snap something, if you want it to go a little higher/lower you can also hold shift to, well, shift it.

Valheim, unlike vanilla Ark in many cases, allows for more generous clipping when placing structures in my opinion.

Watch too some vids on building and it may help give you some ideas for things. Good luck.

It can be frustrating very much so... but things mentioned above are all relevant... i will add that the position you are viewing from very much determines whether it will place or (in most cases) not ..ie if you cannot "see" the bottom of something digging a hole may help. or try and "see" the surface you wish to connect to .if you cant see it, it pretty much wont lock. i have just finished a huge round building with stone floors on two levels and realised the very bottom foundations were not ALL blue tinted well one wasnt..... which was the same area where everything was breaking two floors up!..so check out links on building heights and similar if your plans are big ones! oh edit: if you build a platform you have to "see" the leading edge..which can be dangerous if platform is high..of course!