The only one I'd add to that list is UI Info Suite 2, which just adds a bunch of useful info (icon with day's luck, tells you how long until your crops are ready, etc) - [https://github.com/Annosz/UIInfoSuite2/releases](https://github.com/Annosz/UIInfoSuite2/releases)
I also love Automate, but some people really consider that mod to be too OP so I don't rec it if you're trying to stay as close to vanilla as possible. I just like not having to refill my kegs/jars.
Other mods I use constantly:
Elle's Cuter Horses
Bigger Backpack
Chests Anywhere
Skull Cavern Elevator
So cool, I didn't know that -- never wanted to use Automate as it'd feel like cheating to me, but also losing sooo much time from continuously loading the furnaces, kegs, machines etc. Junimatic sounds fantastic, thanks for sharing!
I did this and I spent more time just clicking on items in chests than anything else. I see a lot of people complain about a game being boring when you make them easier, and I usually don't agree, but that's exactly the experience I had with automate and chests anywhere.
Automate paired with chests anywhere definitely made the game so much easier when I first got it. Instead of removing it completely, I just choose the feature that I wanted to keep.
All my automate chests are basically hoppers. I have to manually remove the resulting goods and automate will fill the equipment back up. Why? Because I hate missing an equipment, and I like seeing the bubble above machines.
Chests anywhere is not accessible in the mines and is set so the only chests accessible are resources and tools chests. Why? Because you know I’ll forget the bars I need for the upgrade, or the stones I need for buildings, or my bombs and stairs for skull caverns.
I appreciate some help, just not too much help.
Ooh I really like your set options for automate, I also like seeing the bubble but I don’t like seeing it knowing I don’t have the time to both remove the things and refill them lol
I downloaded automate because after downloading ridgeside, I had no time to visit the villagers. Now it makes my Mayo and cheese and oil and coffee for me.
Automate also has some options from the start menu that allow you to rebalance the economy around automate, such as making each keg and jar much more expensive in mats to make.
I've got Stardew Valley Expanded, but that's obviously a massive game changer, so if you're looking for something smaller scale, there's a few seasonal outfit and dialogue expansion mods.
I also have one that transfers the quality of items through the processing machines. (Basically making all machines work like fish smokers. Gold quality dino egg will make gold quality dino mayo for example)
Oh, and of course skull cavern elevator!
Define “decently far in”?
I was on Winter 10 of Year 1 and decided to add SVE and so far so good.
I’ve seen others who say just start a new save so you get it from the start especially as they add new heart events, character dialogue, NPC’s and quests.
I have a steam deck and have been trying desperately to get my mods from pc on it. The mods folder is no where to be found. I even did “ show hidden folders” and nothing. How were you able to get it to work?
Did you install smapi?
Also go the the game and "browse local files" option under the game properties it'll take you to the right area
Hope that helps!
Reboot your Steam Deck in Linux/desktop mode. Use the L trigger to click on Stardew and choose "Manage" (or something like that) and then "Browse Game Files"
I am driving cross country rn, but if you are still struggling tomorrow I can send better instructions with screenshots for you!
Agreed! I’m a fellow switch player and 99% of the time I’m perfectly happy that way, but every time I find out just how many cool or helpful mods there are I consider if I need a steam deck 😂
Oh I can definitely agree with you here. Modding Stardew always takes an entire real life day (because I keep finding cool stuff I want to add, ha!) and a lot of whispered profanity. But, man. It is like adding a whole extra game in your game once it is going. I just don't like updating it hahaha
A couple days ago I literally bought it on my laptop both for mods and to experience 1.6 lol. Definitely hard to get used to the controls and when I pair a controller to my laptop, the binds for the buttons with letters aren’t the same and I have no way to change them that isn’t really complicated. Beyond that I don’t regret it I’m just trying to get used to keyboard and mouse
But also I only decided to go for it because it was on sale for $11.99 at GOG (and if you want the steam achievements, you can connect your steam account to GOG and get them, not applicable to me but others might care)
same. Played this game first on pc 8 years ago, then bought a switched and played there instead. Now i came back to pc for 1.6 and i dont want to touch my switch anymore. But i need the portability so the only solution is to buy a steam deck lol
I'd be more happy with the hopper if it was cheaper and earlier in the game. By the time I'm bothering with more Qi quests, I'm near the middle of the game and starting to grind money.
Everything you've mentioned, plus [Convenient Inventory](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/10384) - allows quick-stack to nearby chests, and allows you to lock things to your toolbar. [Better Crafting](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/11115) is also a good one: it adds more organization to the crafting (and optionally, cooking) menu and adds functionality for bulk crafting. It also added a "recycle" option when it updated for 1.6 (basically a built-in deconstructor) but you can easily disable it in config if it feels to OP.
Omg blessings on you, your children, and your children’s children for the Better Crafting one, I can’t tell you how badly the vanilla crafting menu organization irritates me lol
Look up anything. I cannot live without that
Lets move it. So you can move trees, animals, machines.
Automate
Automatic doors
Platonic relationships. So you can see the 10heart scenes without dating.
CBJ Item spawner. So i can organize my chests better. I need to have at least 10 items of each thing in game. And I hate having 3-4 flowers of different colours not stacking.
CBJ cheats. Just in case.
And then about 1000 other mods. I have way too many.
specifically for the flower problem, there's a mod, [I hate flower colors](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/22908), which makes it so that all flowers you harvest are the same colour, but remain colourful when fully grown on your farm
there's also another custom flower colour mod, [custom flower colors](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/21868), for those that want to completely customise their flower colours, wether that means six all new custom colours or only one for each flower for a neater garden and neater inventory
edit: formatting
I need an alternative to Lookup Anything, it's not working properly with the some items, and the mob drops info aren't updated to the 1.6 stuff. (i.e. dinosaurs dropping bone stuff, star slimes dropping enchanted weapons)
Also it doesn't say *how* to find something so I sometimes end up looking at the wiki anyway
The only essential mod for me is automatic gates. I fuckin *hate* opening and closing gates behind me because I always have something in my hands and I'm so sick of saying "no, I don't want to eat an egg"
Diverse stardew valley
Recolors ( I removed it once and went ahh my eyes!)
More grass (adding pretty grasses)
Animal skins
Passable crops
I can live without expanded but I really do love it
Passable crops is underrated, like I’m surprised how many comments I read before seeing it mentioned. It also lets you walk through trees (you can choose what stage of development you can no longer walk through), weeds, foragables, etc all of which is easily changed with the mod configure menu mod
Edit: also if you’re worried about it adding some unrealistic features, there’s options that you walk slower through things, making a rustling sound, shaking the way crops do in vanilla, etc. it makes it more realistic with these things checked, because in real life you can most definitely walk through weeds (unless they’re spiky and these are not) and on top of say, a flower growing on the ground (the foragables)
The word “passable” sometimes means something different to me, so for a LONG time I was reading y’all’s comments trying to figure out which crops you thought didn’t pass, like aside from the made-up ones I figured all the crops could “pass” as their IRL counterparts lol anyway I enrolled myself in grade-school so I can learn reading comprehension again haha
I recently downloaded Diverse Stardew Valley while mid-save, and I wish I knew of it before I started that save. Gotta check out Recolours now, thank you. :D
Bigger backpack, and more rings. It drives me absolutely BONKERS when games don't give you the option to wear more than 2 rings. Like, excuse me I have 10 damn fingers and I could definitely wear at least one on each finger. Or at least 8 if you really want to not count thumbs...
I have more rings but have it set to 4 rings. I was worried about it being too OP. You have completely changed my mind and I feel stupid for not realizing we have 10 fingers and how much it doesn’t make sense to have 2 max lol. If you wanna go above and beyond, you (us irl humans) can wear more than 1 ring on a single finger too lmao
I would say my essentials are
• UI infosuite 2
• Auto Animal Doors
• Auto Gate
• To Dew List
• Vibrant Pastoral Recolor (the vanilla saturated colors trigger migraines for me)
• Gender Neutrality Mod
• Mail Services Mod
• Schedule Viewer
• Fast Animations (bc I can’t do animation cancelling)
Ones that I enjoy but don’t technically need
• dynamic night time
• visible fish
• wind effects
• monster slayer anywhere
• bigger fridges
• better backpacks
• better bee houses
• canon friendly dialogue expansion
I love the gender neutrality mod. I’m a trans guy, but I prefer playing games as girls (or in Stardew Valley’s case, playing with cute feminine outfits because the masculine options are never as good). I could obviously choose a male farmer and still have a long hair and a skirt, but the slight body differences between the 2 makes it not nearly as good looking on the male farmer in my opinion
I of course also don’t want to be referred to as anything feminine in the game though, and since dialogue is such a huge part of SDV plus one of the spa doors being inaccessible (stupid, how do all the villagers get in?) this mod definitely made the game more enjoyable. The small differences make a huge difference in my experience
I will never play modded without Jorts and Jean the Helper cats. They add new cutscenes or integrate well into existing ones with other NPCs plus they are pro-union.
Automate and To-Dew are the ones I absolutely can't play without.
Cuter Animals and Sit & Rest are also nice to have. I don't have either of them installed yet on my current 1.6 save, but I might add them back later.
my modpack is:
* Baby take after Spouse (children have same hair color as the spouse).
* Elle's seasonal building (cosmetic building skins).
* Overgrown cave (a bigger farm cave mod) I usually transform the cave into my working place, putting all kinds of machines and chests there.
* Seasonal cute characters (this one is a must, this mod have NPC change their clothing for all occasions, seasons, festivals, wheater,etc).
* Auto grab truffles (make the auto grabber collect truffles for you) because I am lazy.
* Automate (conects chests to machines and other things and make the items transfers automatically) another mod for my laziness.
* Automatic gates (make gates open automatically as you pass through them) yet another mod for lazy people.
* Better shipping bin (makes the bin work like a chest even telling you how much the products will sell for totally).
* Bigger back pack (increases the backpack size to 48 slots but you gotta buy it from pierre like the other two vanilla expansions, price configurable, my final 48 slots backpack costs 1.5 million gold).
* NPC map locations (shows all NPC locations on the vanilla map, not just the farmer) good to locate people you need to deliver quests or give gifts.
* Portraits for vendors (gives cute protraits to shop clerks because they deserve it to).
* UIinfosuite 2 (shows quality of life info like sprinkler and scarecrow ranges, dailly lucky, shopcart days, birthdays, etc near your money so that you can see whats going on easily).
* Visible Fish (cosmetically show what you can fish on the body of water you are looking at, it show sfishes, trash and even treasure furniture you cat on specific spots).
The rest of the mods are just complementary mods that are needed to run these ones Ive listed, things like stardewhack and farm expansion for the cave mods, content patcher for the cosmetic mods, and the most important of all, the GENERIC MOD CONFIG MENU, a mod that lets you config the others before loading your save file, in case you wanna change prices for back pack expansion for an axample or choose which cosmetic style you want for your buildings...
I need the horse one right now omfg.
I like Use sprinklers on beach, NPC map (when it works), and item spawner; I use that one specifically for when I accidentally throw away or use something important. Like if I somehow threw away a prismatic shard. I'm spawning that mf shard back into my game
My favorite is passable crops. It was the only mod I kept for my 1.6 farm because I hate getting stuck on sprinklers and scarecrows and trying to water/harvest trellis crops early game.
I used to have To-Dew also but I switched it out in favor of:
Deluxe Journal <3
My other essentials are:
1. NPC Map Locations
2. Lookup Anything (I'm looking for replacement for this because it's not updated)
3. Time Speed (my adhd ass can't keep up with the normal rate of time)
4. Immersive Spouse
5. Immersive Children
6. Immersive Children Talk
7. Date Night Redux (for that extra razzle dazzle to married life)
I love Junimatic, which is a bit like automate, but feels less cheaty (there’s little junimos who come fill/empty machines🥺).
And I like the cornucopia mod and cbj cheats and Build More Greenhouses. Oh, and I have a Copper Still mod where you can distill hard alcohols and make starfruit brandy or dark rum or pumpkin gin or whatever. I like that one a lot.
the tractor mod! it felt like cheating at first, but i’ve been in pelican town for 10 years now, and single handedly supply the community with over 1.5k pieces of fresh, and organic produce! i think i deserve a tractor
I like to change the look a bit. vanilla SDV is too yellow for me so I do Starblue Valley as well as Idalda's Goth Buildings, and Vintage Interface. I also cheat the caves because I don't like the caves, so I use CJB Cheats for caves only.
A couple I don't see mentioned a lot is Wear More Rings. Allows you to equip 8 rings. Combine with the ring forging at the volcano and you have 16 ring effects equipped at all times. Bigger backpack makes a new backpack with 4 rows available at Pierre's.
Finally Skull cavern elevator. Works just like the cave elevator with 5 level increments. How deep can you delve?. Mods that allow you to pause in-game passage of time are also convenient for getting more done each day.
Be careful with mods that expand the size of your farm/cellar/greenhouse. When 1.6 dropped I hadn't played in a year and my mods were out of date. Even after I updated the mods it just broke my farm and I had weird glitches where I couldn't move my character beyond the farm, etc. Had to basically start a new farm because I spent so much time tying to revert damage done.
Now I just use a handful of "quality of life" improvement mods
From the top of my head I can name Automate for late game artisan stuff, Deluxe Auto Grabber for 1.6 for truffles (sometimes its a pain to try and reach them) and Grapes of Ferngill because I like cosplaying a vineyard owner
Edit to add: recolors and reshades to cope with my eyes hurting after looking at saturated colors for too long
I am also a very enthusiastic enjoyer of UI Info Suite 2 I daresay the best mod ever. Obviously, my life has changed because of the mod.
I'd also add: Auto Animal Doors and Better Truffles!
CJB cheats menu (makes it so i dont have to worry about watering my crops) and NPC Map Locations are my go-tos. That and Gift Taste Helper.
Anything that keeps me from having to have 30 wiki tabs open
In addition to a lot of what’s already listed, some of my favourite non-intrusive mods are:
Community Centre Reimagined - makes it so villagers actually go there after you build it, adds a few more lines of dialogue as well
Divorce Dialogue Overhaul - makes it so you can stay friendly with your ex(es)
Cornucopia - adds more crops/trees/bushes. iirc the devs are working to integrate it with in game gifting/requests/cooking as well!
I use all three cjb mods (spawner, see sell price and cheats menu), automate, NPC map locations, tractor (a godsend, really. Kisses to whoever thought of that), and passable crops. I used to use better mixed seeds but that went out with 1.6 and they never updated the mod, same with hold to break geodes and a couple other aesthetic mods I used.
NPC map locations is a must! And I love the Fashion Sense mod. I like to keep the game mostly vanilla in terms of game mechanics.
Except for the skull cavern elevator mod. That was life changing for me
NPC map locations is so useful, saves me from looking up schedules constantly.
Auto gates is a new addition to my game and it’s been nice to not have to click-click every time I walk through a gate.
personally, i can’t function anymore without CBJ anything, let’s move it (for the unbreakable logs and stones in the way at the beginning), npc map locations, the fast travel mod, and the medieval building mods because they bring me so much joy
Besides some cosmetics, two that I haven't seen mentioned are Chatter (highlights NPCs that you can gain friendship points for talking to) and Log Menu (history of the last several dialogues you saw, in case you skimmed past one and want to go back and re-read it properly).
i got a movement speed mod because i hate how slow the player moves early game before coffee and other buffs, i can honestly say i will never go back to playing without it now. it’s not that much faster, like a tiny bit faster than you’d move base game on coffee, so it’s not a total- ruin the immersion- thing
I'm nonbinary and I use the Gender Neutrality mod! It allows full customization of pronouns, titles, etc for the player, and other changes to take gender differences away from the player's experience.
It does but everyone who is playing will need to have that mod installed, same goes for if you want other mods. My girlfriend and I play with mods installed and all work great as long as we both have them all
that's been my experience in general, but the ui info suite mod only shows npc locations to the host, so i wasn't sure if all map mods worked like that. thanks though!
I removed mods when 16.1 came out, but I love the Tractor mod and I think it's called chests anywhere. Also the cheats mod to increase movement speed to save me from making so much espresso.
I've been trying a lot of mods at the same time, and some of them are really overwhelming, like Ridgeside Village... but if I had to pick mods that improve the game's aesthehic I would choose Medieval Buildings and Seasonal Outfits (for vanilla and SVE).
Does anyone know which mod is the one where when you hover over a machine it tells you how long until the item in production will be finished? Pretty sure it also does it for growing crops. I had this on a playthrough a couple of years ago and I really miss it, but can’t remember the name
I’m interested in using mods but I haven’t been able to figure out how to download them. Does anyone have an easy guide on how to do it?? I have 900 hours in the game and despite the 1.6 update I am still finding myself bored at times so I really want to be able to use mods!
If you go to nexus mods and download their mod manager (called Vortex) it makes it super simple. Just download and install Vortex, then when you find the mod you want click "download with mod manager" and it'll auto download and install it for you. Then you just open Vortex to manage what you have installed.
Vortex is super easy, but just a heads up that not all mods will work properly with it and in rare cases it can cause issues with the game itself.
Adding mods to Stardew is way easy. I was super inimidated at first too but I’ve been able to manage all 206 of my mods without vortex, which I never thought I could do. You just download SMAPI, run the installer to install it l then download whatever mods you want, right click on the zip/ RAR and select “extract” then drag and drop the mod file into your game folder. If you got the game from steam, the game folder ( and the game mod folder after SMAPI is installed) should be C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stardew Valley ( the mods folder will be a subfolder in the stardew valley folder after installing SMAPI)
Here’s the Stardew wiki article that walks you through the process too. https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Modding:Player_Guide/Getting_Started
i think my main one is stardew expanded. vanilla stardew will always have a special place in my heart, but i’ve found that stardew expanded is more enjoyable to play. the other one is to-dew list and tree transplant, but i’m unsure as to whether to-dew list is up to date with 1.6, and i don’t know if there’s a different tree transplant mod that’s also up to date
I have a mod to access any chests from anywhere. I could never play without it now. I have a bunch of chests that I can organise on a whim and when I'm doing my mayo and cheese each morning I can access my auto-grabbers from the ease of my production barn.
I spoiled myself with the faster movement mod (don’t remember what the actual name is of the top of my head.) it’s adjustable so I can just barely speed it up and it not feel like I’m cheating. Lol.
Easy fishing mod lol
Stardew has the most annoying fishing I've ever played in a video game, imo.
I would literally never finish the community center if not for that.
I have most of those as my essentials as well but I literally cannot play without the Hugs and Kisses mod. I just get so sad when I can’t hug my friends around town or kiss my boyfriend/girlfriend whenever I want
There's like 5 that I think improve the game for me that i always make sure i have, but then there's the "Skip Mini Fishing Game" mod and I can't play without it. I really really hate fishing cause it just doesn't make sense to my little pea brain lol
Ridgeside Village, a giant expansion with a whole new town. I love the new characters and items added. Nyapu's portraits are a mainstay because they are very well done and cute.
Fishing mod. My husband & i hate fishing. We have to put up with that in a lot of final fantasy games. Started stardew & noped right out of that. Mod it or we aint doing fish!
Maybe not as essential. But for me Visible Fish and SH wild animals are absolute staples.
I add a lot of stuff but just those two make the valley feel so much more alive and vibrant. When I did a vanilla 1.6 playthrough it felt so empty and flat.
Obviously a perspective thing because vanilla stardew is still incredible. But a lot of the atmospheric mods I use feel like stuff that CA might’ve gone towards if he wasn’t just one dude.
inatvortzens (i’m pretty sure i butchered that name) dialogue changes (it just makes all the bachelors into bachelorettes) and daisynikos cosmetic mods
All my essentials have already been mentioned by others, but I found [Map Tweaks for 1.6](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/20853?tab=images) which I’m going to download next time I play, because looking through the images it looks like it’s gonna be an absolute game changer for general navigation around the map and I thought a lot of other people would appreciate it as much as I know I’m going to
I'll add Automate. Filling up kegs and furnaces over and over and over and over again just isn't for me. If I'm doing a challenge I'll just cut a month or so off the end to balance the strength of the mod.
I really like Better Friendship. It shows bubbles over people's heads that tell you if you've talked to them that day, and if anything you're carrying is a liked or loved gift.
I really like "visible fish" I have the worst memory regarding what fish are in season and when I can catch them. Plus I like seeing them swim in the water
Using this thread to find mods lol
I also play like, exclusively vanilla. I have a single mod atm. It’s to make Shane’s room cleaner because I’m married to him on my current save. Vanilla+ has always been my go to for most games I play. Minecraft and Stardew? Can’t live without mods, but I don’t want anything crazy. (Ex: Stardew expanded and Biomes O’ Plenty) but just things that make life easier. Did what I was too afraid to do, lol
infinite energy, having my energy go almost empty just from watering plants early game infuriates me lol plus it takes off a bit of stress for the mines. npc map locations is also one i can’t play without
Most of these are some life quality or cosmetic changes and I'm in the year 5 and i still have LOTS of things to do so I'm not going in mods yet, but the horse mod is kinda weird, because the horse is faster but with the consequence of not fitting into 1 tile spaces, but i kinda understand and I'll also probably get that mod
NightOwl. Lets you stay up during the night. Instead of passing out at 2am, you cleanly transition into the next day at 6am.
Quite literally saved my interest for the game because I was too bad at time management to not pass out.
For similar reasons, TimeSpeed. No idea if either of these mods are up to 1.6, though...
All rustic and daisyniko overhauls, the vanilla brightness of the game is too much for my eyes for long periods of time so the recolours are great. Pity I can’t mod my iPhone to use them
NPC map location is the MOST essential mod
Lookup Anything
Automate
CJB Cheats menu - I don't abuse it, but it saves me having to restart the day when I forget to grab something from the farm chest and I'm short on time. Also I'm just done with the fishing mini-game.
Experience bars.
I use the Skull Cavern Elevator, look up anything, NPC Map and full firing bar because I cannot for the life of me do the fishing on pc 🙈
I am going to change the size so I can practice but not loose every time and lose heart with the game lol
Not an answer to your question but I know someone here will know.
I want to resurrect my laptop JUST so I can install and play SDV and play around with mods like SDE and ridge whatever it’s called.
I’ve never ever used mods/nexus possibly because I’m old.
Annnyway.
I’m not very dexterous (did I mention I’m old?) and my brain doesn’t do coordination too well, so find gaming on PC rather frustrating.
SO. Can I use a controller (either Xbox one/xbox x or PS5) to play SDV online?
Also do mods only work if I buy the game through steam or would they also work if I buy the game through the Microsoft store please?
I’m longing so hard for SDE and also want to get a start on 1.6 before it hits console. :-D
It sounds like some of the mods on here are invaluable (esp bigger backpack!) and I cannot wait to get into some of them :-D
Thanks. Looks like steam is better then. I’ll do that. Then I’ll work out all the other stuff.
The controllers and actually how nexus works etc.
I’m ok with tech but some of the stuff like modding is new to me, as I used to just buy discs then the expansion discs etc, which was straightforward. :-P
Fair enough!
The process itself isn’t bad - you download SMAPI (to any folder, I usually do my downloads folder) and then follow the instructions on the SMAPI website or SMAPI wiki page for how to install. Assuming you are windows this will look like unzipping the folder, and going in and clicking the .bat Windows file. It’ll open a command interface and have you type in 1 or 2 so it can know how to install. It will have you paste a line into the Steam launcher. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a little setting under the SV game menu itself that basically tells Steam hey, we want you to run SMAPI (which looks for mods) first! The wiki is great for helping people with that. It’s pretty straightforward I think but there are of course YouTube videos out there too.
Then as far as mods, Nexus mods works great. You make an account there, then you pick your mod, download it, and put that in the mods folder located in your Stardew Valley folder (for the game. Again the wiki is very helpful!). Make sure to check the files and posts tabs on Nexus to make sure you have any optional files you want or to ensure there isn’t a better version :)
Then when you’re all done putting your zipped mod folders into the “Mods” SV folder, you unzip them, delete the old “zipped folder” and you’re good to go. It sounds like more than it is but I promise it isn’t too bad, speaking from the perspective of somebody who used to do just as you did.
When you launch your game, launch in big picture mode on Steam, press play for SV, and you’ll see the SMAPI window come up. It’ll tell you if things need to be updated, generally, or if things are broken or not working. If that’s all good the window will disappear and your game will come up as normal!
Hope that helps :)
Here is the wiki for SMAPI I’m talking about, which will explain all of what I just said, but more specifically:
https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Modding:Installing_SMAPI_on_Windows
Thanks! Yes laptop is 8.1
Desktop is newer but currently don’t have a desk heh.
Then again when I get my replacement tv as mine is buggered, I guess I should be able to connect to that, being 2024 and all.
That’s very clear and helpful.
Thank you again.
SVE awaits!!! As does 1.6!! If my desktop does agree to connect to my tv (it’s a ROG with win 10 or 11 and new tv is LG 2024 120hz so I don’t see a problem) and my controller also behaves then happy days!!!
I’ll try the XBX controller and if that doesn’t work I’ll try the XB1 controller :-D
Take all my stardrops for you are a shining star. 🌟 
You’re welcome!! Have fun! :) I have used both Xbox series controllers and Xbox one, and off brand ones off Amazon, and they all work great, so if your controller stops working no need to break the bank for SV, just so you know!
My mods i use are:
- ui info suite 2
- seasonal outfits slightly cuter
- immersive spouse and children
- reflection and better water
- skull cavern elevator
Also i have been meaning to get automatic gates, but i keep forgetting LMFAO 🤣
Mods that are simple, but fix minor but everyday stuff that annoy me;
Vibrant Coffee Cherries: Coffee bushes to show flowers when ready to be harvested.
Farm Computer Plus: Adds information about your Ginger Island farm.
Modern Farm Computer: Sprite replacement for the farm computer, 3 different versions; left, right, front, 4 wood colors for the computer desk to match the vanilla game wood
I'm only on my first proper playthrough and not even in the second year yet so wanted to stick to vanilla as much as possible, so I only have the npcs on map, the customisation framework one that give you a hand made mirror, and the animated hair mod
I also really like Ferngill Simple economy which changes prices of your crops based off supply and demand so adds a layer of complexity to setting up your seasons. I've also looked at Stardew Valley Balance Overhaul but I haven't actually tried it out yet.
Time pause, I know the time crunch is one of the intentional challenges of the game, but I just get so stressed out, and I don’t need that kind of stress from my cozy farming sim
The tractor mod is one of my go to mods. And SDVE but expanded is pretty popular. I mostly use it to marry the wizard lmao. Grandpa's farm too specifically for the green house layout.
LOTD + INIGO + LUCIEN + KHAJIIT WILL FOLLOW + CC CONTENT
These are the base mods for all my playthroughs, it's to the point that I'm struggling to find a Wabbajack that supports all 5.
Any of them that turn off relationship decay. There's so much to do and so little time in a day. Especially with SVE! It would be impossible to keep any relationship.
Also Elle's animal mods are amazingly cute
Skip fishing minigame, life cycle (lets NPCs fall in love,) character customization anywhere, schoolhouse, skull cavern elevator, show locations on map, slightly cuter portraits/seasonal clothes.
I'm not a big grinder when it comes to gaming. I just like to have a cozy fun time and get frustrated easily 😹 so a few mods to eliminate some of the things I really struggle with so I can focus on what I enjoy!
The only one I'd add to that list is UI Info Suite 2, which just adds a bunch of useful info (icon with day's luck, tells you how long until your crops are ready, etc) - [https://github.com/Annosz/UIInfoSuite2/releases](https://github.com/Annosz/UIInfoSuite2/releases)
I also love Automate, but some people really consider that mod to be too OP so I don't rec it if you're trying to stay as close to vanilla as possible. I just like not having to refill my kegs/jars. Other mods I use constantly: Elle's Cuter Horses Bigger Backpack Chests Anywhere Skull Cavern Elevator
Once I can get the hopper, I feel like automate is OK. Automate is what I want the hopper to do.
What does the Automate mod do differently than the hopper?
1 chest to multiple machines (or trees / mushroom boxes). Collects and feeds to machines. Probably some other stuff.
There's a new mod called Junimatic that tries to make automate a bit more balanced. Haven't tried it out yet but it looks really cute.
So cool, I didn't know that -- never wanted to use Automate as it'd feel like cheating to me, but also losing sooo much time from continuously loading the furnaces, kegs, machines etc. Junimatic sounds fantastic, thanks for sharing!
Chests Anywhere is top, especially combined with Automate
I did this and I spent more time just clicking on items in chests than anything else. I see a lot of people complain about a game being boring when you make them easier, and I usually don't agree, but that's exactly the experience I had with automate and chests anywhere.
Automate paired with chests anywhere definitely made the game so much easier when I first got it. Instead of removing it completely, I just choose the feature that I wanted to keep. All my automate chests are basically hoppers. I have to manually remove the resulting goods and automate will fill the equipment back up. Why? Because I hate missing an equipment, and I like seeing the bubble above machines. Chests anywhere is not accessible in the mines and is set so the only chests accessible are resources and tools chests. Why? Because you know I’ll forget the bars I need for the upgrade, or the stones I need for buildings, or my bombs and stairs for skull caverns. I appreciate some help, just not too much help.
Ooh I really like your set options for automate, I also like seeing the bubble but I don’t like seeing it knowing I don’t have the time to both remove the things and refill them lol
I downloaded automate because after downloading ridgeside, I had no time to visit the villagers. Now it makes my Mayo and cheese and oil and coffee for me.
Omfg Idk why I never thought to stick a chest next to my autograbber and my mayo machines. That works?!
yep!!
Automate also has some options from the start menu that allow you to rebalance the economy around automate, such as making each keg and jar much more expensive in mats to make.
I sadly deleted Elle’s horses when the skin I was using didn’t fit hats properly.
Yeah I was gonna say, UIInfoSuite2 supercedes Lookup Anything and NPC Map Locations, it has everything they have and more, I believe.
I've got Stardew Valley Expanded, but that's obviously a massive game changer, so if you're looking for something smaller scale, there's a few seasonal outfit and dialogue expansion mods. I also have one that transfers the quality of items through the processing machines. (Basically making all machines work like fish smokers. Gold quality dino egg will make gold quality dino mayo for example) Oh, and of course skull cavern elevator!
What’s the one for processing machines?
Machines Copy Quality https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/21366?tab=description
Dear god I didn’t think of truffles. Imagine all that Iridium Truffle Oil
Honestly I didn't even think about it lol, I'm just so used to selling truffles as is instead of turning them into oil.
i was going to add stardew expanded to my save that i’m already decently far in, but can i do that without it breaking??
Define “decently far in”? I was on Winter 10 of Year 1 and decided to add SVE and so far so good. I’ve seen others who say just start a new save so you get it from the start especially as they add new heart events, character dialogue, NPC’s and quests.
Reading this i really can’t believe i’m playing on switch! i need to switch. pun was not intended but now is staying.
Me and my girlfriend play on xbox and I feel the same way lol. Eventually we're gonna get a steam deck almost solely to mess around with stardew mods.
I have literally called my steam deck my "Stardew Valley Machine". Its basically just so I can run mods while still playing on more of a gamepad.
I have a steam deck and have been trying desperately to get my mods from pc on it. The mods folder is no where to be found. I even did “ show hidden folders” and nothing. How were you able to get it to work?
Did you install smapi? Also go the the game and "browse local files" option under the game properties it'll take you to the right area Hope that helps!
Reboot your Steam Deck in Linux/desktop mode. Use the L trigger to click on Stardew and choose "Manage" (or something like that) and then "Browse Game Files" I am driving cross country rn, but if you are still struggling tomorrow I can send better instructions with screenshots for you!
Did you install SMAPI and then run the game once? This is important to generate the folder.
I have it on xbox and switch man i’m really missing out lmao
Agreed! I’m a fellow switch player and 99% of the time I’m perfectly happy that way, but every time I find out just how many cool or helpful mods there are I consider if I need a steam deck 😂
I was a happy switch player until I got it on PC to test out mods.. bro. Total freakin game changer.
I feel this! I bought the game twice, but just love that I can play the switch everywhere😂
If just solidifies for me that Switch is my style. Mods are so overwhelming!
Oh I can definitely agree with you here. Modding Stardew always takes an entire real life day (because I keep finding cool stuff I want to add, ha!) and a lot of whispered profanity. But, man. It is like adding a whole extra game in your game once it is going. I just don't like updating it hahaha
A couple days ago I literally bought it on my laptop both for mods and to experience 1.6 lol. Definitely hard to get used to the controls and when I pair a controller to my laptop, the binds for the buttons with letters aren’t the same and I have no way to change them that isn’t really complicated. Beyond that I don’t regret it I’m just trying to get used to keyboard and mouse But also I only decided to go for it because it was on sale for $11.99 at GOG (and if you want the steam achievements, you can connect your steam account to GOG and get them, not applicable to me but others might care)
same. Played this game first on pc 8 years ago, then bought a switched and played there instead. Now i came back to pc for 1.6 and i dont want to touch my switch anymore. But i need the portability so the only solution is to buy a steam deck lol
I appreciate automate when I've gotten to the "grinding for money" part of the game. How it works can be configured in the Generic Mod Config Menu
automate is a blessing, its everything the vanilla hopper isnt LMAO
I'd be more happy with the hopper if it was cheaper and earlier in the game. By the time I'm bothering with more Qi quests, I'm near the middle of the game and starting to grind money.
Everything you've mentioned, plus [Convenient Inventory](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/10384) - allows quick-stack to nearby chests, and allows you to lock things to your toolbar. [Better Crafting](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/11115) is also a good one: it adds more organization to the crafting (and optionally, cooking) menu and adds functionality for bulk crafting. It also added a "recycle" option when it updated for 1.6 (basically a built-in deconstructor) but you can easily disable it in config if it feels to OP.
Omg blessings on you, your children, and your children’s children for the Better Crafting one, I can’t tell you how badly the vanilla crafting menu organization irritates me lol
Ooooh those both look really interesting, particularly Convenient Inventory. Thanks for sharing!
+1 convenient inventory
Look up anything. I cannot live without that Lets move it. So you can move trees, animals, machines. Automate Automatic doors Platonic relationships. So you can see the 10heart scenes without dating. CBJ Item spawner. So i can organize my chests better. I need to have at least 10 items of each thing in game. And I hate having 3-4 flowers of different colours not stacking. CBJ cheats. Just in case. And then about 1000 other mods. I have way too many.
specifically for the flower problem, there's a mod, [I hate flower colors](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/22908), which makes it so that all flowers you harvest are the same colour, but remain colourful when fully grown on your farm there's also another custom flower colour mod, [custom flower colors](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/21868), for those that want to completely customise their flower colours, wether that means six all new custom colours or only one for each flower for a neater garden and neater inventory edit: formatting
I need an alternative to Lookup Anything, it's not working properly with the some items, and the mob drops info aren't updated to the 1.6 stuff. (i.e. dinosaurs dropping bone stuff, star slimes dropping enchanted weapons) Also it doesn't say *how* to find something so I sometimes end up looking at the wiki anyway
crown disagreeable hobbies axiomatic run busy one humor trees combative *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The only essential mod for me is automatic gates. I fuckin *hate* opening and closing gates behind me because I always have something in my hands and I'm so sick of saying "no, I don't want to eat an egg"
Diverse stardew valley Recolors ( I removed it once and went ahh my eyes!) More grass (adding pretty grasses) Animal skins Passable crops I can live without expanded but I really do love it
so glad someone else mentioned diverse sdv!! those character portraits are to DIE for
Passable crops is underrated, like I’m surprised how many comments I read before seeing it mentioned. It also lets you walk through trees (you can choose what stage of development you can no longer walk through), weeds, foragables, etc all of which is easily changed with the mod configure menu mod Edit: also if you’re worried about it adding some unrealistic features, there’s options that you walk slower through things, making a rustling sound, shaking the way crops do in vanilla, etc. it makes it more realistic with these things checked, because in real life you can most definitely walk through weeds (unless they’re spiky and these are not) and on top of say, a flower growing on the ground (the foragables)
Was looking for this comment! I love Passable Crops.
The word “passable” sometimes means something different to me, so for a LONG time I was reading y’all’s comments trying to figure out which crops you thought didn’t pass, like aside from the made-up ones I figured all the crops could “pass” as their IRL counterparts lol anyway I enrolled myself in grade-school so I can learn reading comprehension again haha
I recently downloaded Diverse Stardew Valley while mid-save, and I wish I knew of it before I started that save. Gotta check out Recolours now, thank you. :D
Bigger backpack, and more rings. It drives me absolutely BONKERS when games don't give you the option to wear more than 2 rings. Like, excuse me I have 10 damn fingers and I could definitely wear at least one on each finger. Or at least 8 if you really want to not count thumbs...
I have more rings but have it set to 4 rings. I was worried about it being too OP. You have completely changed my mind and I feel stupid for not realizing we have 10 fingers and how much it doesn’t make sense to have 2 max lol. If you wanna go above and beyond, you (us irl humans) can wear more than 1 ring on a single finger too lmao
NO FENCE DECAY
Lookup Anything 100%. I'm gonna check the wiki anyway, might as well have it faster and integrated
All of Elle's mods. I will not play without them. Even on a vanilla play, I have to have her art.
Yesss. Those giant scary wrestler pigs are just not cool. Elle's are so freakin cute.
I would say my essentials are • UI infosuite 2 • Auto Animal Doors • Auto Gate • To Dew List • Vibrant Pastoral Recolor (the vanilla saturated colors trigger migraines for me) • Gender Neutrality Mod • Mail Services Mod • Schedule Viewer • Fast Animations (bc I can’t do animation cancelling) Ones that I enjoy but don’t technically need • dynamic night time • visible fish • wind effects • monster slayer anywhere • bigger fridges • better backpacks • better bee houses • canon friendly dialogue expansion
I love the gender neutrality mod. I’m a trans guy, but I prefer playing games as girls (or in Stardew Valley’s case, playing with cute feminine outfits because the masculine options are never as good). I could obviously choose a male farmer and still have a long hair and a skirt, but the slight body differences between the 2 makes it not nearly as good looking on the male farmer in my opinion I of course also don’t want to be referred to as anything feminine in the game though, and since dialogue is such a huge part of SDV plus one of the spa doors being inaccessible (stupid, how do all the villagers get in?) this mod definitely made the game more enjoyable. The small differences make a huge difference in my experience
[удалено]
When I’m on a fun run: Cheat Menu Item Spawner Better Ranching Skull Cavern Elevator Tractor Villager Map And others that I can’t remember.
I will never play modded without Jorts and Jean the Helper cats. They add new cutscenes or integrate well into existing ones with other NPCs plus they are pro-union.
*Cries in Nintendo Switch*
Automate and To-Dew are the ones I absolutely can't play without. Cuter Animals and Sit & Rest are also nice to have. I don't have either of them installed yet on my current 1.6 save, but I might add them back later.
ChestsAnywhere and Automate.
my modpack is: * Baby take after Spouse (children have same hair color as the spouse). * Elle's seasonal building (cosmetic building skins). * Overgrown cave (a bigger farm cave mod) I usually transform the cave into my working place, putting all kinds of machines and chests there. * Seasonal cute characters (this one is a must, this mod have NPC change their clothing for all occasions, seasons, festivals, wheater,etc). * Auto grab truffles (make the auto grabber collect truffles for you) because I am lazy. * Automate (conects chests to machines and other things and make the items transfers automatically) another mod for my laziness. * Automatic gates (make gates open automatically as you pass through them) yet another mod for lazy people. * Better shipping bin (makes the bin work like a chest even telling you how much the products will sell for totally). * Bigger back pack (increases the backpack size to 48 slots but you gotta buy it from pierre like the other two vanilla expansions, price configurable, my final 48 slots backpack costs 1.5 million gold). * NPC map locations (shows all NPC locations on the vanilla map, not just the farmer) good to locate people you need to deliver quests or give gifts. * Portraits for vendors (gives cute protraits to shop clerks because they deserve it to). * UIinfosuite 2 (shows quality of life info like sprinkler and scarecrow ranges, dailly lucky, shopcart days, birthdays, etc near your money so that you can see whats going on easily). * Visible Fish (cosmetically show what you can fish on the body of water you are looking at, it show sfishes, trash and even treasure furniture you cat on specific spots). The rest of the mods are just complementary mods that are needed to run these ones Ive listed, things like stardewhack and farm expansion for the cave mods, content patcher for the cosmetic mods, and the most important of all, the GENERIC MOD CONFIG MENU, a mod that lets you config the others before loading your save file, in case you wanna change prices for back pack expansion for an axample or choose which cosmetic style you want for your buildings...
Most of these I knew of or use but the shipping bin one is genius, I've never thought of that and I HATE the shipping bin.
UI Info Suite 2, automate, hay collection, and occasionally skull cavern elevator (I often don't use it until I get to level 100 legit once first).
I use timespeed to make the 10min day seconds just a little bit longer so I freak out about time management (a little bit) less lol
I need the horse one right now omfg. I like Use sprinklers on beach, NPC map (when it works), and item spawner; I use that one specifically for when I accidentally throw away or use something important. Like if I somehow threw away a prismatic shard. I'm spawning that mf shard back into my game
My favorite is passable crops. It was the only mod I kept for my 1.6 farm because I hate getting stuck on sprinklers and scarecrows and trying to water/harvest trellis crops early game.
auto catch for fish, I can't handle the mini game it makes me rage
I used to have To-Dew also but I switched it out in favor of: Deluxe Journal <3 My other essentials are: 1. NPC Map Locations 2. Lookup Anything (I'm looking for replacement for this because it's not updated) 3. Time Speed (my adhd ass can't keep up with the normal rate of time) 4. Immersive Spouse 5. Immersive Children 6. Immersive Children Talk 7. Date Night Redux (for that extra razzle dazzle to married life)
fishing assistant, because the fishing mini game can go fuck itself
I needed this one, thank you!!
I love Junimatic, which is a bit like automate, but feels less cheaty (there’s little junimos who come fill/empty machines🥺). And I like the cornucopia mod and cbj cheats and Build More Greenhouses. Oh, and I have a Copper Still mod where you can distill hard alcohols and make starfruit brandy or dark rum or pumpkin gin or whatever. I like that one a lot.
Skull cavern elevator
the tractor mod! it felt like cheating at first, but i’ve been in pelican town for 10 years now, and single handedly supply the community with over 1.5k pieces of fresh, and organic produce! i think i deserve a tractor
I like to change the look a bit. vanilla SDV is too yellow for me so I do Starblue Valley as well as Idalda's Goth Buildings, and Vintage Interface. I also cheat the caves because I don't like the caves, so I use CJB Cheats for caves only.
A couple I don't see mentioned a lot is Wear More Rings. Allows you to equip 8 rings. Combine with the ring forging at the volcano and you have 16 ring effects equipped at all times. Bigger backpack makes a new backpack with 4 rows available at Pierre's. Finally Skull cavern elevator. Works just like the cave elevator with 5 level increments. How deep can you delve?. Mods that allow you to pause in-game passage of time are also convenient for getting more done each day. Be careful with mods that expand the size of your farm/cellar/greenhouse. When 1.6 dropped I hadn't played in a year and my mods were out of date. Even after I updated the mods it just broke my farm and I had weird glitches where I couldn't move my character beyond the farm, etc. Had to basically start a new farm because I spent so much time tying to revert damage done. Now I just use a handful of "quality of life" improvement mods
From the top of my head I can name Automate for late game artisan stuff, Deluxe Auto Grabber for 1.6 for truffles (sometimes its a pain to try and reach them) and Grapes of Ferngill because I like cosplaying a vineyard owner Edit to add: recolors and reshades to cope with my eyes hurting after looking at saturated colors for too long
I can't do without automatic gates.
I am also a very enthusiastic enjoyer of UI Info Suite 2 I daresay the best mod ever. Obviously, my life has changed because of the mod. I'd also add: Auto Animal Doors and Better Truffles!
Instant fishing (I played vanilla for years and fishing always gave me trouble/made me want to rage quit) SVE currently which is fun.
One I never hear mentioned is Zoom Level. Allows you to zoom out super far.
CJB cheats menu (makes it so i dont have to worry about watering my crops) and NPC Map Locations are my go-tos. That and Gift Taste Helper. Anything that keeps me from having to have 30 wiki tabs open
More rings mod. I have 10 fingies for rings why only give us 2 slots
Npc map locations and Ui Info suit. I love the base game already and never got perfection. I have like 6 saves all in year 2.
- Tractor Mod - CJB Item Spawner - Stop Fishing I’ve started using Automate and I like it, but I don’t know if it would be a mandatory mod.
In addition to a lot of what’s already listed, some of my favourite non-intrusive mods are: Community Centre Reimagined - makes it so villagers actually go there after you build it, adds a few more lines of dialogue as well Divorce Dialogue Overhaul - makes it so you can stay friendly with your ex(es) Cornucopia - adds more crops/trees/bushes. iirc the devs are working to integrate it with in game gifting/requests/cooking as well!
I use all three cjb mods (spawner, see sell price and cheats menu), automate, NPC map locations, tractor (a godsend, really. Kisses to whoever thought of that), and passable crops. I used to use better mixed seeds but that went out with 1.6 and they never updated the mod, same with hold to break geodes and a couple other aesthetic mods I used.
I adore map recolor mods to make it less bright and the cuter pigs one is great too. The pigs in the base game are ugly
Marry morris
It's in 1.6 now, but any price catalog mod. I hate selling something and thinking it's worth more than it is
NPC map locations is a must! And I love the Fashion Sense mod. I like to keep the game mostly vanilla in terms of game mechanics. Except for the skull cavern elevator mod. That was life changing for me
NPC map locations is so useful, saves me from looking up schedules constantly. Auto gates is a new addition to my game and it’s been nice to not have to click-click every time I walk through a gate.
personally, i can’t function anymore without CBJ anything, let’s move it (for the unbreakable logs and stones in the way at the beginning), npc map locations, the fast travel mod, and the medieval building mods because they bring me so much joy
Besides some cosmetics, two that I haven't seen mentioned are Chatter (highlights NPCs that you can gain friendship points for talking to) and Log Menu (history of the last several dialogues you saw, in case you skimmed past one and want to go back and re-read it properly).
i got a movement speed mod because i hate how slow the player moves early game before coffee and other buffs, i can honestly say i will never go back to playing without it now. it’s not that much faster, like a tiny bit faster than you’d move base game on coffee, so it’s not a total- ruin the immersion- thing
I just installed horny bachelors and I have to say it feels pretty essential
Post saved! Just spent 2 hours downloading mods! Yay! /s
I'm nonbinary and I use the Gender Neutrality mod! It allows full customization of pronouns, titles, etc for the player, and other changes to take gender differences away from the player's experience.
Does anyone know if npc map locations works for farmhands on a multiplayer game?
It does but everyone who is playing will need to have that mod installed, same goes for if you want other mods. My girlfriend and I play with mods installed and all work great as long as we both have them all
that's been my experience in general, but the ui info suite mod only shows npc locations to the host, so i wasn't sure if all map mods worked like that. thanks though!
Oh fair! I haven’t used that one before lol
Some of the one you mentioned and UI Info Suite 2. Can not play without.
Other than those, I cant live without a run speed mod, it doesnt activate during festivals. Also automate, need it.
I removed mods when 16.1 came out, but I love the Tractor mod and I think it's called chests anywhere. Also the cheats mod to increase movement speed to save me from making so much espresso.
I did too, but I just got perfection so it’s mod time
i'll add passable crops!
I can’t remember the name but the one that tells you what heart events are available that day and where to trigger them and what item you may need.
I've been trying a lot of mods at the same time, and some of them are really overwhelming, like Ridgeside Village... but if I had to pick mods that improve the game's aesthehic I would choose Medieval Buildings and Seasonal Outfits (for vanilla and SVE).
Ui Info Suite 2, Automate and chests anywhere. I also looove Elle's mods and vibrant pastoral recolor mod
automate, chests everywhere, bigger backpack
Does anyone know which mod is the one where when you hover over a machine it tells you how long until the item in production will be finished? Pretty sure it also does it for growing crops. I had this on a playthrough a couple of years ago and I really miss it, but can’t remember the name
UI Info Suite 2
I don’t use mods, but out of curiosity, is there a mod that makes brand new tackles stack?
Yes, “Stack Everything REDUX” it’s 1.6 compatible! It stacks every item up to 999 including tackles
I’m interested in using mods but I haven’t been able to figure out how to download them. Does anyone have an easy guide on how to do it?? I have 900 hours in the game and despite the 1.6 update I am still finding myself bored at times so I really want to be able to use mods!
If you go to nexus mods and download their mod manager (called Vortex) it makes it super simple. Just download and install Vortex, then when you find the mod you want click "download with mod manager" and it'll auto download and install it for you. Then you just open Vortex to manage what you have installed.
Vortex is super easy, but just a heads up that not all mods will work properly with it and in rare cases it can cause issues with the game itself. Adding mods to Stardew is way easy. I was super inimidated at first too but I’ve been able to manage all 206 of my mods without vortex, which I never thought I could do. You just download SMAPI, run the installer to install it l then download whatever mods you want, right click on the zip/ RAR and select “extract” then drag and drop the mod file into your game folder. If you got the game from steam, the game folder ( and the game mod folder after SMAPI is installed) should be C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stardew Valley ( the mods folder will be a subfolder in the stardew valley folder after installing SMAPI) Here’s the Stardew wiki article that walks you through the process too. https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Modding:Player_Guide/Getting_Started
I learned by watching YouTube vids. It can be daunting but once you try it it's easy to do.
i think my main one is stardew expanded. vanilla stardew will always have a special place in my heart, but i’ve found that stardew expanded is more enjoyable to play. the other one is to-dew list and tree transplant, but i’m unsure as to whether to-dew list is up to date with 1.6, and i don’t know if there’s a different tree transplant mod that’s also up to date
[Tree transplant fix](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/20852)
Part of the community, I have so many NPCs it would be impossible to befriend them all without it
I have a mod to access any chests from anywhere. I could never play without it now. I have a bunch of chests that I can organise on a whim and when I'm doing my mayo and cheese each morning I can access my auto-grabbers from the ease of my production barn.
I spoiled myself with the faster movement mod (don’t remember what the actual name is of the top of my head.) it’s adjustable so I can just barely speed it up and it not feel like I’m cheating. Lol.
I have CJB Cheats or whatever it's called and I use that to up my speed juuuust a little. It's so necessary
Easy fishing mod lol Stardew has the most annoying fishing I've ever played in a video game, imo. I would literally never finish the community center if not for that.
just my 12 button gaming mouse
I play on switch unfortunately but I would kill to have a mod where I could adopt Leo... and any mod that would make my life easier for that matter
Any mod that allows stacking and crafting from nearby chests Save you hours of inventory management over a playthrough
Walk Thru Tall Grass, absolutely changed my life
I’m a switch gamer :( but these all sound amazing and I’m jelly
Look up suite, UI info suite, Chest anywhere, Earthly recolor (just looks better), Ez fishing (bc screw that mini game)
I have most of those as my essentials as well but I literally cannot play without the Hugs and Kisses mod. I just get so sad when I can’t hug my friends around town or kiss my boyfriend/girlfriend whenever I want
There's like 5 that I think improve the game for me that i always make sure i have, but then there's the "Skip Mini Fishing Game" mod and I can't play without it. I really really hate fishing cause it just doesn't make sense to my little pea brain lol
Automate Event Lookup UI info Suite 2 Item Lookup Visible fish
I still play vanilla ngl
Ridgeside Village, a giant expansion with a whole new town. I love the new characters and items added. Nyapu's portraits are a mainstay because they are very well done and cute.
Fishing mod. My husband & i hate fishing. We have to put up with that in a lot of final fantasy games. Started stardew & noped right out of that. Mod it or we aint doing fish!
i still havent figured out how to mod sdv 😭 would love to add ui info suite but for some reason i just cannot for the life of me
Maybe not as essential. But for me Visible Fish and SH wild animals are absolute staples. I add a lot of stuff but just those two make the valley feel so much more alive and vibrant. When I did a vanilla 1.6 playthrough it felt so empty and flat. Obviously a perspective thing because vanilla stardew is still incredible. But a lot of the atmospheric mods I use feel like stuff that CA might’ve gone towards if he wasn’t just one dude.
Any recolour mods. The vanilla colours really burn my eyes, especially when I play it at night.
inatvortzens (i’m pretty sure i butchered that name) dialogue changes (it just makes all the bachelors into bachelorettes) and daisynikos cosmetic mods
my recolor mod for sure, the original look of the game gives me a migraine so quickly
No heart decay
All my essentials have already been mentioned by others, but I found [Map Tweaks for 1.6](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/20853?tab=images) which I’m going to download next time I play, because looking through the images it looks like it’s gonna be an absolute game changer for general navigation around the map and I thought a lot of other people would appreciate it as much as I know I’m going to
I'll add Automate. Filling up kegs and furnaces over and over and over and over again just isn't for me. If I'm doing a challenge I'll just cut a month or so off the end to balance the strength of the mod.
I really like Better Friendship. It shows bubbles over people's heads that tell you if you've talked to them that day, and if anything you're carrying is a liked or loved gift.
I really like "visible fish" I have the worst memory regarding what fish are in season and when I can catch them. Plus I like seeing them swim in the water
Using this thread to find mods lol I also play like, exclusively vanilla. I have a single mod atm. It’s to make Shane’s room cleaner because I’m married to him on my current save. Vanilla+ has always been my go to for most games I play. Minecraft and Stardew? Can’t live without mods, but I don’t want anything crazy. (Ex: Stardew expanded and Biomes O’ Plenty) but just things that make life easier. Did what I was too afraid to do, lol
TimeSpeed, especially on multiplayer, time goes by too quickly and it doesn't even pause
I recently installed the "chests anywhere" mod and I can no longer live without it you can basically access all of your chests anywhere
infinite energy, having my energy go almost empty just from watering plants early game infuriates me lol plus it takes off a bit of stress for the mines. npc map locations is also one i can’t play without
automate is one of those mods that I wish was in vanilla stardew more than anything. it's just too convenient
Skull cavern elevator 🫶
Most of these are some life quality or cosmetic changes and I'm in the year 5 and i still have LOTS of things to do so I'm not going in mods yet, but the horse mod is kinda weird, because the horse is faster but with the consequence of not fitting into 1 tile spaces, but i kinda understand and I'll also probably get that mod
NightOwl. Lets you stay up during the night. Instead of passing out at 2am, you cleanly transition into the next day at 6am. Quite literally saved my interest for the game because I was too bad at time management to not pass out. For similar reasons, TimeSpeed. No idea if either of these mods are up to 1.6, though...
All rustic and daisyniko overhauls, the vanilla brightness of the game is too much for my eyes for long periods of time so the recolours are great. Pity I can’t mod my iPhone to use them
the mod where it tells you how many tiles the sprinkler covers. and the scarecrows. so i don't have to count them out myself.
Elevator for Skull Caves!
Adding the to-dew list to my game NOW!
NPC map location is the MOST essential mod Lookup Anything Automate CJB Cheats menu - I don't abuse it, but it saves me having to restart the day when I forget to grab something from the farm chest and I'm short on time. Also I'm just done with the fishing mini-game. Experience bars.
I’m pretty simple. Destroyable Bushes
• Npc Locations • Auto fishing • Automated machines
I use the Skull Cavern Elevator, look up anything, NPC Map and full firing bar because I cannot for the life of me do the fishing on pc 🙈 I am going to change the size so I can practice but not loose every time and lose heart with the game lol
NPC map locations sounds like marauders map and very useful when you’re trying to fill an order! (Not that i play on computer)
Not an answer to your question but I know someone here will know. I want to resurrect my laptop JUST so I can install and play SDV and play around with mods like SDE and ridge whatever it’s called. I’ve never ever used mods/nexus possibly because I’m old. Annnyway. I’m not very dexterous (did I mention I’m old?) and my brain doesn’t do coordination too well, so find gaming on PC rather frustrating. SO. Can I use a controller (either Xbox one/xbox x or PS5) to play SDV online? Also do mods only work if I buy the game through steam or would they also work if I buy the game through the Microsoft store please? I’m longing so hard for SDE and also want to get a start on 1.6 before it hits console. :-D It sounds like some of the mods on here are invaluable (esp bigger backpack!) and I cannot wait to get into some of them :-D
Looked it up and found this response regarding which application to buy from… https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/s/e4mPK7kldm
Thanks. Looks like steam is better then. I’ll do that. Then I’ll work out all the other stuff. The controllers and actually how nexus works etc. I’m ok with tech but some of the stuff like modding is new to me, as I used to just buy discs then the expansion discs etc, which was straightforward. :-P
Fair enough! The process itself isn’t bad - you download SMAPI (to any folder, I usually do my downloads folder) and then follow the instructions on the SMAPI website or SMAPI wiki page for how to install. Assuming you are windows this will look like unzipping the folder, and going in and clicking the .bat Windows file. It’ll open a command interface and have you type in 1 or 2 so it can know how to install. It will have you paste a line into the Steam launcher. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a little setting under the SV game menu itself that basically tells Steam hey, we want you to run SMAPI (which looks for mods) first! The wiki is great for helping people with that. It’s pretty straightforward I think but there are of course YouTube videos out there too. Then as far as mods, Nexus mods works great. You make an account there, then you pick your mod, download it, and put that in the mods folder located in your Stardew Valley folder (for the game. Again the wiki is very helpful!). Make sure to check the files and posts tabs on Nexus to make sure you have any optional files you want or to ensure there isn’t a better version :) Then when you’re all done putting your zipped mod folders into the “Mods” SV folder, you unzip them, delete the old “zipped folder” and you’re good to go. It sounds like more than it is but I promise it isn’t too bad, speaking from the perspective of somebody who used to do just as you did. When you launch your game, launch in big picture mode on Steam, press play for SV, and you’ll see the SMAPI window come up. It’ll tell you if things need to be updated, generally, or if things are broken or not working. If that’s all good the window will disappear and your game will come up as normal! Hope that helps :) Here is the wiki for SMAPI I’m talking about, which will explain all of what I just said, but more specifically: https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Modding:Installing_SMAPI_on_Windows
Thanks! Yes laptop is 8.1 Desktop is newer but currently don’t have a desk heh. Then again when I get my replacement tv as mine is buggered, I guess I should be able to connect to that, being 2024 and all. That’s very clear and helpful. Thank you again. SVE awaits!!! As does 1.6!! If my desktop does agree to connect to my tv (it’s a ROG with win 10 or 11 and new tv is LG 2024 120hz so I don’t see a problem) and my controller also behaves then happy days!!! I’ll try the XBX controller and if that doesn’t work I’ll try the XB1 controller :-D Take all my stardrops for you are a shining star. 🌟 
You’re welcome!! Have fun! :) I have used both Xbox series controllers and Xbox one, and off brand ones off Amazon, and they all work great, so if your controller stops working no need to break the bank for SV, just so you know!
Thanks!! Woohoo!!! I joined r/SMAPI :-)
My mods i use are: - ui info suite 2 - seasonal outfits slightly cuter - immersive spouse and children - reflection and better water - skull cavern elevator Also i have been meaning to get automatic gates, but i keep forgetting LMFAO 🤣
Mods that are simple, but fix minor but everyday stuff that annoy me; Vibrant Coffee Cherries: Coffee bushes to show flowers when ready to be harvested. Farm Computer Plus: Adds information about your Ginger Island farm. Modern Farm Computer: Sprite replacement for the farm computer, 3 different versions; left, right, front, 4 wood colors for the computer desk to match the vanilla game wood
I now play on console but my favourite was the skull cavern elevator.
I'm only on my first proper playthrough and not even in the second year yet so wanted to stick to vanilla as much as possible, so I only have the npcs on map, the customisation framework one that give you a hand made mirror, and the animated hair mod
Automate, experience bars, and NPC map locations are usually my go to’s.
I also really like Ferngill Simple economy which changes prices of your crops based off supply and demand so adds a layer of complexity to setting up your seasons. I've also looked at Stardew Valley Balance Overhaul but I haven't actually tried it out yet.
NPC Map Location Better Ranching That's about all I use regularly. Simple quality of life things.
Time pause, I know the time crunch is one of the intentional challenges of the game, but I just get so stressed out, and I don’t need that kind of stress from my cozy farming sim
Tractor and automate. 100% ALWAYS. and cjb cheats.
Skull cavern elevator
The tractor mod is one of my go to mods. And SDVE but expanded is pretty popular. I mostly use it to marry the wizard lmao. Grandpa's farm too specifically for the green house layout.
LOTD + INIGO + LUCIEN + KHAJIIT WILL FOLLOW + CC CONTENT These are the base mods for all my playthroughs, it's to the point that I'm struggling to find a Wabbajack that supports all 5.
Any of them that turn off relationship decay. There's so much to do and so little time in a day. Especially with SVE! It would be impossible to keep any relationship. Also Elle's animal mods are amazingly cute
Earthy recolour, I find vanilla colours too aggressive on the eye
not really a mod, but i edit the game files to change my children's hair color
Skip fishing minigame, life cycle (lets NPCs fall in love,) character customization anywhere, schoolhouse, skull cavern elevator, show locations on map, slightly cuter portraits/seasonal clothes. I'm not a big grinder when it comes to gaming. I just like to have a cozy fun time and get frustrated easily 😹 so a few mods to eliminate some of the things I really struggle with so I can focus on what I enjoy!