Extra Slots on a Valheim Server: Food, Ammo and Gear Slots, Progression and Config Sync

In vanilla Valheim, food, arrows, the crypt key, coins and meads all share the inventory grid with your raw materials. Extra Slots on a Valheim server gives each item type its own cells — quick slots, food, ammo and misc slots, extra utility slots — and unlocks them gradually as you progress. Here's how the mod works, what the server syncs, how to install it and why it isn't combined with Equipment and Quick Slots.

What Extra Slots adds

The mod is made by shudnal. Unlike mods that simply add inventory rows, Extra Slots creates cells for specific item types. The maximums per the README:

• up to 6 quick slots with their own hotkey bar;
• 3 food slots and 3 ammo slots — ammo gets its own bar too;
• up to 2 misc slots: quest items, keys, fish, trophies and coins;
• up to 5 utility items equipped at the same time;
• up to 5 extra rows in the regular inventory, in case you really need a large one.

The equipment panel and hotbars are fully gamepad friendly. Since version 1.2.19, the game's radial menu (the Hotbar entry) has a Quick bars item that opens food, ammo and up to six quick slots. There's also a public API that lets other mods add up to 9 custom equipment slots on the fly. The ExtraSlotsCustomSlots add-on is built on it, with slots for backpacks, Jewelcrafting jewelry and other mods.

The mod page and downloads are on Thunderstore. More quality-of-life picks are in our roundup of the best Valheim mods.

Progression: slots don't unlock all at once

Progression is enabled by default: a slot unlocks when the character first obtains an item that fits it or kills a boss. The default scheme from the README:

• food slots with your first food (a raspberry, mushroom or cooked meat), ammo slots with your first arrows or fishing bait;
• each vanilla equipment slot when you first touch a matching item, the utility slot with your first utility item;
• the first two quick slots after killing the Elder (or touching a Crypt Key), the third after Bonemass (or touching a Wishbone);
• misc slots alongside the quick, food and ammo slots;
• the first extra utility slot after Bonemass (or a Wishbone), the second after Yagluth (or a Wisplight).

The design: by Eikthyr a character has 3–4 equipment slots, and by the Swamp two quick slots for meads plus two misc slots for the crypt key and coins. You can switch progression off so every slot is available right away, or rebuild it around your own global keys and items.

Server and clients: how config sync works

On Thunderstore the mod is tagged both client-side and server-side. Settings are synced by ConditionalConfigSync, a library by the same author that replaced ServerSync in version 1.1.19:

• options marked [Synced with Server] come from the server by default: slot counts, slot availability, progression, item eligibility, weight factors and death rules;
• UI layout, panel positions, hotkeys, colors, tooltips and logging stay client-controlled;
• admins change the sync policy in BepInEx/config/shudnal.ConditionalConfigSync/ConditionalConfigSync.SyncPolicy.cfg: prefix a setting or a whole section with + to force server control or - to make it client-controlled, and exact-setting rules beat section rules;
• General / Lock Configuration is always server-controlled.

The practical takeaway: install the mod on the server so slot rules are shared, and on every player who wants to use the slots. Per the README the sync doesn't require the mod on every connecting player, but without it a player gets neither the extra slots nor their UI. If you want client-side settings to match for everyone from day one as well, hand out a shared config. We cover keeping players on the same versions in our guide to Valheim server mods.

Xbox and Game Pass players can't install BepInEx mods, and our crossplay option exists only on the vanilla server variant, so a server with Extra Slots is for PC players.

Version, dependencies and config

Since Valheim 1.0 shipped, the mod has followed the patches: the changelog has entries for 1.0.7, 1.0.12, 1.0.14 and 1.0.15, and version 1.2.20 fixed slot backup recovery that broke after 1.0.20. The current game patch is 1.0.21 from October 28.

How to install Extra Slots on an Elysium server

1. When ordering, pick the BepInEx variant — the mod loader comes preinstalled.
2. Create a manual backup in the panel's Backups tab.
3. Using the file manager or SFTP, upload ExtraSlots.dll, ConditionalConfigSync and YamlDotNet to BepInEx/plugins. The README specifically reminds you not to forget ConditionalConfigSync on a manual install.
4. Restart the server and check the console for loading errors.
5. Ask your players to install the same versions of Extra Slots and its dependencies.

Slot backup: how not to lose items

Items in the extra slots are stored in the character data, and Valheim characters live on your players' computers. If a character is loaded and saved without Extra Slots, the extra-slot items can be lost from the regular inventory.

The safety net is the slot backup (Slots backup enabled). Each character save replaces a snapshot of the extra slots' contents, and only the latest snapshot is kept. On load, Extra Slots checks it for missing items and restores them, without handing out items that were already recovered. It's not a backup history or permanent storage for items from removed mods. Starting with 1.2.21, older pending snapshots are ignored — that's how duplicated items were fixed.

Settings: hotkeys, panels, death

• Hotkeys: ammo slots default to Left Alt + 1–3, quick slots to Left Alt + Z, X, C. They don't clash with the game: Alt + X won't make you sit, Alt + C won't toggle walking.
• Equipment panel: position via Offset, gamepad tooltip via Gamepad Tooltip Offset, dragging in the Panels - Equipment slots section (Always allow dragging, Drag key, Sticky, Sticky distance). Hotbars can't be dragged with the mouse: use Offset, Offset Anchor and Scale in each panel's section.
• Always show empty slots — separately in Panels - Quick slots, Panels - Ammo slots and Panels - Food slots, off by default. Since 1.2.17 hotbars can be hidden while their hotkeys keep working.
• Keep items on death: a config section defines which slots keep their items after death; it works alongside the DeathTweaks mod.
• Auto-equip on tombstone pickup: items that raise carry weight, everything from the equipment slots, and your last weapon and shield.

The easiest way to edit settings is a Configuration Manager — the author recommends their own version or the official BepInEx Configuration Manager.

Server load and choosing a plan

Extra Slots works on the character's inventory, not on the world: it adds no objects, creatures or buildings, and its server-side role comes down to handing out settings.

Choose a plan by player count and your whole mod list. From the Elysium plan descriptions: Pulse (4 GB) for up to 4 players and a couple of mods, Vector (6 GB) for up to 6 players and up to 5 mods, Nexus (8 GB, recommended) for up to 8 players and up to 10 mods. More in our Valheim server hosting guide.

Compatibility

What Extra Slots doesn't run with

The mod is incompatible with mods that alter the inventory in a similar way or allow multiple utility items: AzuExtendedPlayerInventory, Equipment And Quick Slots, Comfy QuickSlots, Extended Player Inventory and Equip Multiple Utility Items by aedenthorn, and EquipMultipleUtilityItems by toombe. Equipment and Quick Slots in turn declares Extra Slots incompatible, so you pick one of the two — compare with our article on Equipment and Quick Slots.

Moving over from Equipment and Quick Slots or AzuEPI

If you disable EaQS and load Extra Slots, you'll barely notice a difference: items move into the matching slots automatically. Coming from AzuExtendedPlayerInventory, some items may land in different slots. Going back is riskier: clear all extra slots first, or the items will be lost.

What works together

• Valheim Plus is supported, but its inventory part is better disabled.
• Better Archery's quiver gets disabled; you won't lose your arrows.
• Adventure Backpacks: with ExtraSlotsCustomSlots the backpack gets its own slot, so you can wear a cape and a backpack at the same time. More in our article on Adventure Backpacks.
• Epic Loot, Jewelcrafting and ServerCharacters — compatibility is maintained according to the changelog.