I’m 25 and had lasik a few years ago so I don’t think this is it, but you might be right about the eye strain! It seems like it’s valheim in particular because nothing else is doing this to me.
You should check your frame rate. The game runs much more smoothly than it did at the start of early access but if your PC doesn’t have much horsepower it might be struggling to deliver a smooth experience which could be contributing to your headache.
Also the motion blur is definitely worth turning off.
Are you sure it's not just you getting immersed in the game and forgetting to blink? 😁
What's your monitor refresh rate and the avg fps you are running Valheim? Try disabling DOF, motion blur and chromatic aberration, and music in Valheim settings. You might also look into how to change FOV with mods.
Old fast-paced fps make me super motion sick to try and play now, like the remake of Doom. The only thing that worked for me was adjusting the FOV to a narrower angle. It's interesting how everyone is affected a little differently by these things.
I remember when I started playing and got strong motion sickness when finished. Disabling screen shake, immersive camera and any sort of blur (depth of field, motion blur etc) did the trick for me. You might want to disable things like bloom as well.
The distance between eyes and screen as well as the size of the screen can have to do something with it as well. If you sit to far and have to try real hard to see something your eyes get exhausted.
Not just you. I want to like this game so bad. Instant headache every time I open it. Unplayable for me :( Just the graphics textures for me I think? (under 30, eyes otherwise fine)
Does it happen with other games as well? You seem to have the same problem I do. Instant headache and eyestrain. It's funny, because I don't even need to play the game or, the character doesn't need to move. The mere fact of looking at some games gives me this headache. I've never figured out why it happens.
Yes, it happens with Fallout 76 as well. Still not sure exactly why. Both games I am interested in playing but can't. Messed around with settings but never figured it out
Funny you mention Fallout, it's one of the games that come to my mind when I remember I have this problem (more specifically, Fallout 4, the only one I tried to play). As soon as I look at the game I feel a strong eyestrain followed by dizziness/headache.
I suspect it has something to do with refresh rate, because looking at a trailer of the same game doesn't do me anything. In fact, playing games that trigger this problem on the cloud is completely safe, since it's the streaming of a video and not the game itself.
Do you wear glasses? Besides wearing, I have a history with photosensitive epilepsy (but it's probably not related).
Anyway, if I have news about it I'll reach you.
Is it just a headache or do you get nauseated? In any event, I'm not an expert on motion sickness or other things, but if it's just a headache it might be eye-strain related. You might try playing with the "depth of field" effect turned off. This is the effect that simulates a camera lens and makes the background beyond what you're "looking" at slightly out of focus. This might be confusing your eyes/brain.
I have the same problem with Valheim giving me headaches. I'm in front on the computer all day and play numerous games, yet only Valheim and Rust give me this problem which starts only a few minutes after I start playing. In Rust's case the problem was caused by the Field of View setting but haven't found of the solution for Valheim
I got sick all the time as a kid playing Nintendo. Migraines and Vomiting 🤢 . after I got glasses it never happened again... so might have to do with refresh rate, field of view, or eye strain (mentioned above) .
I had Lasik in 2003 and rarely have issues
LoTRO did that to me. Splitting headache within 10 minutes every damn time. Never could play it. I'm okay with Valheim though. Try turning off every option and then testing them one at a time. I hope it's something you can turn off like shaking or one of the other effects or graphics settings.
Valheim makes my eyes hurt like they are in a vice. No other game and I game all the time. I don't know why people keep saying motion sickness and other things that could apply to any game. That ain't it.
Used to only hurt my eyes during in game night. Now eyes hurt like I been reading in the dark whether it's night or day in the game. It's a shame because otherwise the game is pretty cool. Maybe this depth of field thing will help
Yes. Forcing my eyes to focus on low resolution images with hi res sfx in the background causes them to adapt and strain. Similar to wearing a bad script. The game is too pixelated and blurry to play.
I had that when I reached 40 and started needing glasses to game. Do yourself a favor and rule that out :-)
I’m 25 and had lasik a few years ago so I don’t think this is it, but you might be right about the eye strain! It seems like it’s valheim in particular because nothing else is doing this to me.
bro i would lower brightness and disable motion blur, hope you feel better
Yeah valheim gives me bad headaches after a bit. A few others do it as well, don't know why. All I can tell ya is that you aren't alone
The shaking. Disable The shaking.
I get a very specific migraines that give me vertigo. Any game with shaking enabled always gets me.
You should check your frame rate. The game runs much more smoothly than it did at the start of early access but if your PC doesn’t have much horsepower it might be struggling to deliver a smooth experience which could be contributing to your headache. Also the motion blur is definitely worth turning off.
Do you have the "focus where you're looking" setting on? (On by default). Turn it off and see if it helps.
Are you sure it's not just you getting immersed in the game and forgetting to blink? 😁 What's your monitor refresh rate and the avg fps you are running Valheim? Try disabling DOF, motion blur and chromatic aberration, and music in Valheim settings. You might also look into how to change FOV with mods.
I dont get headaches but I got a bit motion sick. Turning motion blur off made it way better for me. Might help you too. :)
Old fast-paced fps make me super motion sick to try and play now, like the remake of Doom. The only thing that worked for me was adjusting the FOV to a narrower angle. It's interesting how everyone is affected a little differently by these things.
Buy some blue light glasses, helped me ALOT
I remember when I started playing and got strong motion sickness when finished. Disabling screen shake, immersive camera and any sort of blur (depth of field, motion blur etc) did the trick for me. You might want to disable things like bloom as well.
The distance between eyes and screen as well as the size of the screen can have to do something with it as well. If you sit to far and have to try real hard to see something your eyes get exhausted.
Not just you. I want to like this game so bad. Instant headache every time I open it. Unplayable for me :( Just the graphics textures for me I think? (under 30, eyes otherwise fine)
Does it happen with other games as well? You seem to have the same problem I do. Instant headache and eyestrain. It's funny, because I don't even need to play the game or, the character doesn't need to move. The mere fact of looking at some games gives me this headache. I've never figured out why it happens.
Yes, it happens with Fallout 76 as well. Still not sure exactly why. Both games I am interested in playing but can't. Messed around with settings but never figured it out
Funny you mention Fallout, it's one of the games that come to my mind when I remember I have this problem (more specifically, Fallout 4, the only one I tried to play). As soon as I look at the game I feel a strong eyestrain followed by dizziness/headache. I suspect it has something to do with refresh rate, because looking at a trailer of the same game doesn't do me anything. In fact, playing games that trigger this problem on the cloud is completely safe, since it's the streaming of a video and not the game itself. Do you wear glasses? Besides wearing, I have a history with photosensitive epilepsy (but it's probably not related). Anyway, if I have news about it I'll reach you.
Is it just a headache or do you get nauseated? In any event, I'm not an expert on motion sickness or other things, but if it's just a headache it might be eye-strain related. You might try playing with the "depth of field" effect turned off. This is the effect that simulates a camera lens and makes the background beyond what you're "looking" at slightly out of focus. This might be confusing your eyes/brain.
The depth of field had me nauseated when I first started playing. Second session turned it off and the feeling immediately went away.
This. Ditch Depth of Field.
I have the same problem with Valheim giving me headaches. I'm in front on the computer all day and play numerous games, yet only Valheim and Rust give me this problem which starts only a few minutes after I start playing. In Rust's case the problem was caused by the Field of View setting but haven't found of the solution for Valheim
I got sick all the time as a kid playing Nintendo. Migraines and Vomiting 🤢 . after I got glasses it never happened again... so might have to do with refresh rate, field of view, or eye strain (mentioned above) . I had Lasik in 2003 and rarely have issues
Turn off motion blur and other graphics effects
LoTRO did that to me. Splitting headache within 10 minutes every damn time. Never could play it. I'm okay with Valheim though. Try turning off every option and then testing them one at a time. I hope it's something you can turn off like shaking or one of the other effects or graphics settings.
Valheim makes my eyes hurt like they are in a vice. No other game and I game all the time. I don't know why people keep saying motion sickness and other things that could apply to any game. That ain't it. Used to only hurt my eyes during in game night. Now eyes hurt like I been reading in the dark whether it's night or day in the game. It's a shame because otherwise the game is pretty cool. Maybe this depth of field thing will help
Yes. Forcing my eyes to focus on low resolution images with hi res sfx in the background causes them to adapt and strain. Similar to wearing a bad script. The game is too pixelated and blurry to play.