In this guide, we’ve put together the best Stardew Valley mods, which includes gameplay changes, visual changes and a few cheats.
Modding in Stardew Valley has taken off on PC, even though it has no official Steam Workshop support. Dedicated modders have been working on adding game-breaking cheats and visual changes that make Stardew Valley into a pixelated wonderland.
Please keep in mind: Stardew Valley mods don’t have any Steam Workshop support, so getting and installing mods requires you to change the game’s files internally. I highly recommend that you back up all of your files before downloading any mods, just in case.
How To Install Mods For Stardew Valley
Although it’s not too difficult, there are two separate types of mods you will come across. Mods that require “Stardew Modding API” (SMAPI for short) and XNB files in your content folder.
SMAPI
For mods that make big changes to the game itself, such as altering events, SMAPI is needed to install mods. It is a type of software thst is monitored and maintained by the Stardew Valley modding community. It allows for the installation of DLL files. SMAPI can also assist you in managing your files by checking when your mods have received a new updates, along with rewriting any installed mods when any Stardew Valley update changes any part of the game that affects your mods. Once you installed SMAPI, all you have to do is put your files in the SMAPI mod folder and you’re on your way to downloading mods!
XNB Files
Almost all Stardew Valley mods make minor changes to the game, such as changing visuals and assets. To install them, these ask you to replace the already existing XNB file with a new, modified version.
Once you’ve downloaded your XNB mod file, you will need to search for the XNB file in the Stardew Valley content folder. By default, the Stardew Valley content folder can be found here:
C:/Steam/steamapps/common/Stardew Valley/Content.
There are a few sub-folders in the content folder that contain assets. Typically villagers and animals have their own folders, which makes them easy to find. With the new cat.XNB file, you will need to go into the Animals sub-folder and replace the existing cat.xnb file with the new modded file. This will then show up in game the next time it is started.
Content Patcher
Content Patcher is a mod for SMAPI that lets you download content packs. These content packs can change the game’s aesthetics or assets like XNB mods, but it doesn’t require you to manually change the XNB files. This is a much more suitable way of installing mods than changing XNB files, as they can be automatically updated and uninstalled through SMAPI.
Now that we figured that out, let’s move onto what we came here for: the best Stardew Valley mods!
Stardew Valley Expanded
Image Credit: u/FlashShifter
Stardew Valley Expanded was created by FlashShifter. It features large amounts of extra content for free! FlashShifter listed all of the content available in the mod’s description, explaining that the mod features “ten new map locations, 38 new character events, over 400 location messages, re-imagined maps and festivals (all maps), remastered Immersive Farm 2, a new town map reflecting all changes and many miscellaneous additions!” If you’re looking for added content, then look no further.
Perks Of Being Married
Image Credit: Stardew Valley Mod
The Perks of Being Married mod was created by Trent XV on Nexus Mods. It adds useful and fun new features to Stardew Valley. You can earn perks for getting married, which vary depending on who you marry in the game. The list of perks the mod offers is long and it looks like you’ll have to pick very carefully who you try to marry. Each individual character offers something pretty unique of their own.
Pokemon Re-Textures
Picture Credit: Siliconera
There’s a huge audience for Pokemon-themed re-textures in Stardew Valley. This mod does everything from re-skinning your livestock into Miltank and Mareep, to transforming buildings into Pokemon Gyms. If you really want, you can even turn villagers into Pokemon!
Seasonal Japanese Buildings
Picture Credit: u/vanillabullet
This mod was created by sonreirblah. It replaces the game’s standard, western farmhouses with fully-animated, seasonal buildings inspired by traditional Japanese architecture. It includes shōji doors, ornate wooden roofs and paper lanterns. The buildings will transform your whole town into a Japanese village in no time!
Babies That Look Like Your Spouses
Having the ability to have biological or adopted children with your spouse is a nice feature in Stardew. This babies and toddlers mod opens up the feature by adding more personalization. Instead of having generic palettes, your child can inherits features from your spouse, like hair and color styles.
NPC Map Locations
With all of the possibilities from day to day in Stardew Valley, memorizing daily routines of the game’s characters can feel like a tough task, especially when many change depending on the weather or season. With the NPC map locations mod, you can check out where each villager is at any time and customize it to fit what you want.
Love Labels For Your Animals
It can be difficult knowing which animals you have shown love to and which ones you haven’t on your farm. There’s no way of knowing who you’ve missed, which leads to me double and triple checking all of your animals. As much as I enjoy petting the animals, jinxiewinxie’s mod Loved Labels show you which animals you have shown love to that day with a pop up heart box.
Timespeed Mod
Sometimes, in Stardew Valley, you and the clock are not friends. One of Stardew Valley’s learning curves is learning how to manage your day effectively. Rather than deal with that stress, the TimeSpeed mod allows you to adjust the amount of time you have in each day, doubling the day by default but also allowing for customized lengths of time, depending on how much you require.
All Crops All Seasons
This is a mod that defies the rules of nature. This cheat lets you grow and harvest any plant or crop, regardless of the season and prevents crops decaying when a season changes. Usually, each crop is only able to being grown in a certain season, while no crops can be grown in winter without a greenhouse. With the All Crops All Seasons mod, you’ll be able to grow all the crops you want. This mod does not change store inventory, so you will need to stock up on seeds for each season to plant.
Lookup Anything
This is a very powerful mod that brings all the knowledge of the wiki to the game. The Lookup Anything mod lets you bring up a menu that displays information on whatever item is under your cursor by pressing F1. It provides useful information on anything you want to know, like villagers and their likes and dislikes, how many days until a crop is ready for harvest and tells you why your animals are unhappy.
Easier Fishing
Fish in Stardew Valley will not allow themselves to be caught without making you put in some serious work. The easier fishing mod removes the frustration that comes with this, by making the fish movements smoother and easier to track.
Map Recolor
This Stardew Valley map recolour mod brings a more refined and lighter color palette to the world, adding new grass colors and trees to each season to create a richer environment.
Eemie’s Wildflowers
This mod takes over all the grass in the over-world. Eemie’s Wildflowers turns all regular grass patches into beautiful wildflowers that change with each season.
Redesigned Spouse Rooms
After you and your spouse get married, they will move into your house with you, bringing with them a new room for their belongings. Unfortunately, these rooms don’t feel personal to each character and are filled with generic items.
Fishing Chart
Image Credit: u/Fynzou
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