Debug a native run

Find why a valheim-test run refused or failed, inspect a passing run, and clean up.

When to use this

When a run refuses or fails, a client never reaches its menu or world, or valheim-test env status lists a run. To find which mod in a set breaks a load, use Check that a mod loads.

Steps

Read the last lines

Line Means
REFUSED: ... An input or the machine was refused, usually before the game started; REFUSED.txt in the output holds the reason
REFUSED client ... The preflight refused the client; fix it, or add --server-only
PASS, SERVER_LOAD_PASS, SERVER_JOIN_PASS The run passed
FAIL, SERVER_LOAD_FAIL, SERVER_MODSET_AB_FAIL A step failed; read result.json
UNKNOWN (...), then SERVER_LOAD_FAIL, exit 3 A host operation's outcome is unknown: neither a pass nor a mod failure
ABANDONED cleanup (...), exit 3 Cleanup stopped; run env status, then env recover
CLEANUP REFUSED: ..., CLEANUP UNVERIFIED: ... start could not prove its client or character cleanup; run env status

SERVER_LOAD_FAIL with exit 3 is not necessarily a mod failure. Above these lines, the log scan prints a summary such as log scan: 4/4 logs present; failure=0 warning=2 ....

Find the failed step

Open result.json in evidence/smoke/ for start, or evidence/ for server-load. Each step has a Phase, and four flags say how far the run got:

Flag false The failure is in
PreflightPassed The inputs or the machine; the game never started
RuntimeReady Staging or startup; the mod's own code may never have run
ScenarioPassed The checks on the running game
CleanupVerified Teardown; run valheim-test env status

A failed setup is never a failed mod. Logs lists every matched log pattern with its first line (log scan).

Read the kept logs

Each owned process's logs are copied into its evidence when it stops:

Process BepInEx log Unity log
Dedicated server, boot N boot-N/game-0.log boot-N/game-1.log
Dedicated server on this Mac, boot N boot-N/game.game-0.log boot-N/game.game-1.log
Client started directly client-boot.game-0.log client-boot.game-1.log
Windows client started through its desktop task desktop-client/game-0.log desktop-client/game-1.log

Every hosted server boot keeps the process output in boot-N/stdout.log and boot-N/stderr.log (boot-N/game.stdout.log on this Mac). A client started directly keeps client-boot.stdout.log and client-boot.stderr.log. An owned client writes Unity's log to toolkit-unity.log in the run's launch folder, never to your Player.log.

Diagnose an owned game that does not reach its menu or world

Before it stops a failed owned client, the run writes client-failure-diagnostic.json into the client's evidence and prints Client diagnosis before teardown:. The file records the process state, its sessionId, window and responding state, and client-failure-bepinex-tail.log and client-failure-player-tail.log, the last 80 lines of each log. It also records one screenshot, attempted only after the client passed its strict pin check, or the reason there is none.

The window and responding facts mean something only on Windows.

The diagnosis shows Next check
exited before diagnosis The BepInEx tail for a loader or plugin exception
Windows: a window, not responding The Unity tail for the last scene it reached
Windows: no window, sessionId 0 It started outside the signed-in desktop; run from the desktop, or let start use its desktop task
macOS: any Ignore the window facts; read the Unity tail and check the console is unlocked (Mac session limits)
[Steamworks.NET] SteamAPI_Init() failed in the BepInEx tail Sign in to Steam on that desktop

Inspect a passing run

--hold keeps only a run that passed:

valheim-test start --mod /path/to/MyMod.dll --hold

It prints HELD run with the run ID and the cli command for the game. From a second terminal:

valheim-test cli --evidence RUN/evidence/smoke --phase world --command "cli_screenshot 2"

For a held server-load, use RUN/evidence (server) or RUN/evidence/client. The screenshot lands in the private evidence. When you are done:

valheim-test finish --run ID

The original runner stops the game and cleans up (cli options).

Clean up what a run left

valheim-test env status

It changes nothing. Act on each run's state:

State Do
LIVE Wait for the run, or finish it if it is held
RECOVERABLE valheim-test env recover --run ID
KEPT Inspect what it kept, then valheim-test env teardown --run ID
UNRECOVERABLE, only launches named Confirm that the named launch is gone, then valheim-test env recover --run ID --launch-gone
UNRECOVERABLE, other items Resolve the item it names by hand
UNKNOWN Check the run's machine; if it is gone for good, valheim-test env teardown --run ID --machine-gone releases its Steam leases

Recovery checks each process's ID, start time and command line before stopping it, and puts back your recent-servers list. Never edit, move or delete a journal file.

Check the result

valheim-test env status

The last line reads N runs ended and left nothing. Nothing was changed., and the command exits 0.

Problems

Observation Next check
--output must be new Choose a folder that does not exist yet
env recover exits 3 and names env teardown It kept a runtime on purpose; tear it down after inspecting it
cli refuses: no lease The game is still starting, has stopped, or runs on another machine
cli refuses: not in a verified world Use --phase menu, or wait for the world check
UNREADABLE in env status The journal file could not be read; the line names the run, file and line
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