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Stardew Valleyis a game that has grown a huge modding community. It’s thanks to that community that there are mods for almost anything. Whether you’re bored with the usual character dialogues, want some help keeping track of NPC locations, or are just looking for a pretty house, there’s something for you.
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If you want to join this growing community, this guide will help you find your footing.
Updated by Aku on June 14, 2025:The Stardew Valley modding community continues to grow. With tens to hundreds of mods released to the public each week, it’s becoming more important to make the distinction between the categories of mods you’ll find and their purpose. Asummarized explanation of the types of Stardew Valley mods that can be found on modding websites has been added.
What Platforms Support Mods?
For starters, you need to be aware of the platforms that are possible to modify Stardew Valley on. The game is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC, Android, and iOS devices. However, installing mods on gaming consoles is either impossible or very difficult,depending on the console. If you’re trying to start out modding,it’s best to do it on PC or Android.
Step 1: Install SMAPI
SMAPIis an application thatloads mods along with Stardew Valleywhenever you start the game up. It’s completely safe and does a lot to make your modding experience a convenient one, such as alerting you for mod updates and intercepting errors whenever any mods cause the game to crash. It’s basically a necessity.
Step 2: Find Mods
This step is the fun part. There are thousands of mods, so it’s more than likely that there’s one to fit your specific wants and needs. Even if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you can find a list of suggestions to fit your situation, whether you’re starting Stardew Valley for the first time or want a smoother post-game experience.
The best websites for mods arenexus.comorgamebanana.com(you may also find the SMAPI mod loader on these websites). However, there are many other websites where you can find mods to download, so don’t be afraid to look around elsewhere to find whichever website suits you best.
What Types Of Mods Are There?
An additional way to find out which mods you would like to download is to understand how they work. Mods tend to fall under a specific category, depending on how they affect your game. Visual change mods purely affect the appearance of things, like the previously mentioned houses. Efficiency mods or custom UI mods can make farm life easier by providing you with cheats, useful icons, or menu options that aren’t already present in the game. There are others as well, such as map replacements, custom items, custom NPCs, and more. Figure out which mods would be best for the experience you’re looking forward to having.
An excellent visual change mod is theFisharia Anime Portraitsmod. Created and uploaded byKareeeee, this mod gives all the character portraits an anime makeover. It retains the pixel art style that the portraits already have, so they feel completely natural in the game.
If you’d like a mod with some utility, a good choice would be theNPC Map Locationsmod created by bothBouhmandPathoschild(the latter of which is also behind the creation of SMAPI, so make sure to appreciate their invaluable contribution to Stardew Valley’s modding scene). As the name of this custom UI mod implies, it shows you the locations of all the NPCs on the map at any given time. It’s very helpful when you don’t want to waste precious time running around to find a specific character. This mod also provides you with the locations of other players during a multiplayer session.
If you want to expand your game’s content, look no further thanStardew Valley Expanded. This is a mod created byFlashShifterthat adds new NPCs, locations, items, maps, and more. It’s the perfect mod for veteran players to find new things to discover in the game. This mod also gives new playerseven more endgame content to look forward tothan the base game alone. All the previously mentioned mods and more can be found on the Nexus website.
Step 3: Unzip The Mods Into Your Game Folder
After you’ve found and downloaded your mods of choice, the next step is tofind your game folder and unzip the mods into it. The location of the game folder can be different depending on which type of PC you have (as well as if you downloaded the game from Steam or not). In any case, you caneasily find the game folder by using SMAPI. When you open the mod loader, a second window will pop up where you can type in commands. If youenter the command “show_game_files"you should be able to find the Stardew Valley game folder.
Step 4: Launch Stardew Valley
After you’ve unzipped the mods into the game folder, all that’s left to do islaunch the game. SMAPI should load whatever mods you’ve unzipped into the folder as the game loads. When it’s done, you should see the mods in effect when you start playing. That’s all there is to modding Stardew Valley.
Modding a game can seem like a daunting task at first (and in some cases, it really is). But modding Stardew Valley is much simpler than it seems. Uninstalling a mod when you’re done with it is also simple. All you need to do isremove the mod in question from the game folder(to make this easier, be sure to add and organize folders as you unzip mods into it). Make sure to try out many mods and find your own perfect way to play the game. Maybe you’ll find yourself making an essential mod list? Have fun!
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