Placing a fire indoors in Valheim is a necessity for sleeping in a bed. Early on, players can just build a lean-to over a bed, throw a campfire down, and everything is fine. However, once a player has created their first house (and are one their way toward crafting their first bow), they’ll get the message, “Bed needs nearby fire.” This wouldn’t be an issue, but players can’t build campfires on wood flooring as far as we can tell.
How to build a fire indoors in Valheim
When players get the message “Bed needs nearby fire” in Valheim, it’s somewhat misleading. The issue isn’t that players actually need a fire near the bed. Instead, this is the game’s way of telling the player that it’s too cold to sleep where the bed is located. So, to fix the problem, a heat source needs to be placed close by.
Early on in Valheim, placing a heat source near a bed is easier said than done. The standing torches that can be built on wooden floors as a light source don’t give off heat. So, the solution is to fudge things a little.
Once a player has built their house, they should place their bed near one of the walls. Predictably, the “bed needs nearby fire” message will pop up when attempting to sleep at night. To fix this, players can walk outside and place a campfire near the wall the bed is resting against. Since walls don’t block heat in Valheim, players can now go and rest in their bed as usual.
So, there’s no need to build a fire indoors in Valheim. As of now, walls don’t block heat sources, so just having one near the bed, even if it’s outdoors, will meet the requirement. As players move up the tech tree (and as roadmap updates are released), better solutions to this issue will present themselves, but the instructions above will work for the short term.
