Sleeping on a Valheim Server: Why the Night Won't Skip and How to Fix It

What the bed needs

To sleep, the bed has to be yours: look at it and press E to claim it. Each bed belongs to one player and isn't shared; if it's someone else's, it won't let you. Claiming it also makes it your respawn point when you die.

On top of that, the game checks five things: that it's dusk or night; that there are no enemies nearby; that the bed has a roof and is well enough covered (a shed open at the sides may not count even if it looks like it should); that there's a fire nearby (a torch doesn't count: it gives no warmth); and that you're not wet. Rain and water leave you wet for a while: stand by the fire and wait.

When one fails, the game tells you with a message when you click the bed. Read it: it's almost always the roof, the fire or wet clothes.

In multiplayer, everyone has to lie down

With several players connected, sleep only starts when they're all in bed. Meanwhile, time keeps running normally for those already lying down. Sitting on a chair doesn't count.

Everyone connected counts, wherever they are: the one who's gone to another biome, the one inside a crypt or the one who left the game open and went to have dinner. On a dedicated server there's no “owner” of the game who decides: either everyone lies down or the whole night goes by.

Waiting isn't that bad either: a full Valheim day lasts about half an hour of real time, and the night about nine minutes. But more enemies come out at night and you see less, so groups almost always want to skip it.

What usually happens on a server

You lie down and nothing happens: it's almost always that another player is still awake. Ask in chat who's missing, or install a mod that tells you on its own (next section).

Someone can't lie down: it's one of the five conditions above, and only for their bed. It happens a lot with the bed in a new house, which still has no fire nearby or has a gap in the roof.

Someone is away with the game open: if they don't answer, they should leave the server or an admin can kick them with kick from the console (F5). How to make yourself admin, in Valheim server admin.

Moving the time forward by hand with the console (skiptime or tod) doesn't work on a normal dedicated server: they're devcommands cheats, and without a mod they don't work even for admins (why).

See who's missing: Bedtime

Bedtime (AugusDogus, on Thunderstore) goes only on the server and doesn't change the game's rules: everyone still has to lie down. What it does is tell everyone, at the top left, how many are in bed (“X of Y players asleep”) and who still has to lie down, every time that changes.

Since players don't need it, people without mods can join too, including console players with crossplay. If someone types zzz in normal chat (no slash in front), it repeats the message for everyone. To show only the count without the names, set ShowAwakePlayers = false in BepInEx/config/augusdogus.mods.Bedtime.cfg and restart.

It's the option for the group that wants to keep playing with the usual rules and just wants to stop asking “who's missing?”.

Make part of the group enough

If you'd rather the night skip when, for example, half of you lie down, you need a mod that changes the rule. The best known on Thunderstore are SleepSkip (Azumatt), which skips the night with the percentage you set and syncs its config from the server; LetMeSleep (Blockheim) and SkipSleep (R1NS3), with a ratio of sleeping players; and NowYouSleep (Hex_Viking), where one is enough.

Watch out for two things. SleepSkip goes on the server and on each player's PC: anyone who doesn't have it, or has a different version, gets kicked on joining, and consoles have no mods. The others say they work server-side only. And since 1.0 (9 September 2026) many mods stopped working: before installing one, check the date of its latest version on Thunderstore; SkipSleep, for example, hasn't been updated since 2021.

Don't set the ratio to 0: several warn that the game then skips days non-stop.

With NapNodes

1. Open “Mods”

   On your Valheim server, “Mods” searches Thunderstore. Type Bedtime (or the sleep mod you've chosen) and press “Install”: it downloads the mod with what it needs, and BepInEx the first time.

2. Restart

   Mods load on start: “Restart”. Before changing mods, a backup in “Backups” costs nothing.

3. Adjust what you want

   Each mod's config appears after the first start in BepInEx/config, which you open from “Files”. Change the value, save and restart.

4. If players need the mod too

   With SleepSkip and the two-sided ones, share the r2modman code the panel gives you (it's also in “Installed”): each player imports it with “Import / Update” → “Import new profile” → “From code”. With Bedtime you don't need to.

5. If something stops starting

   Remove the last mod from “Installed” and start it again. More clues in Valheim server not starting.

Frequently asked questions