Developed by Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, Stardew Valley is a simulation role-playing video game released in 2016.
It doesn’t have official steam workshop support however it’s modding community has bloomed since the game release. There are thousands of mods which can do everything; From changing what your animal looks like to easy fishing, from adding items to adjusting the game balance.
We have compiled the popular and favourite Stardew Valley mods. However, this video game doesn’t have any steam workshop support. So, to get the mods working, it is required to change the game’s internal files.
How to Install Stardew Valley Mods
Before installing the mods, we highly recommend to back up all your files, especially the saved files before downloading and installing any of the mods. It is because the game receives regular updates and so a future update may break any existing mods you have installed.
Adding mods to Stardew Valley isn’t too demanding even without a steam workshop. The mods are of two types: Mods which replace existing XNB files in the content folder and Mods which requires the ‘Stardew Modding API’ (SMA) to install.
- XNB Files: Majority of Stardew Valley Mods make small changes to the game which includes: Altering visuals and reskinning assets. For installing them, you need to replace the existing XNB files with the new and modified version.
Once downloaded the XNB mod file, you need to find the corresponding XNB file in the stardew content folder. The default location is: “C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Stardew Valley\Content”. The XNB you are looking for is in a subfolder within the content folder. You then have to replace the original XNB with the one you downloaded.
- Content Patcher: It is a mod for SMAPI which allows you to download content packs that can change the game’s visuals or assets like XNB Mods. However, no requirement to manually alter the XNB files.
- SMAPI: It is required for alteration when to make more significant changes to the game, such as altering events. It is an open-source piece of software maintained by the Stardew Valley community. After installing SMAPI, place your file into the SMAPI mod folder.
Best Stardew Valley Mods
There are various modes of Stardew Valley which we are going to mention below. Take a look!
- Overgrown Fairy Buildings: This mod retextures all your farm building to pink and white—also, covers with vines and flowers. The best part is that it transforms the Slime Hutch castle into a sweet little cottage with a flower garden and long grass into vibrant wildflowers.
- Perks for married life: It adds pleasure and a helpful new feature to the farming RPG, i.e. earning perks for getting married. It depends on who you enter into marital bliss within the game. You have to choose from various characters as each character will offer something unique and diverse of their own.
- Modern Gothic Interior: This mod reskins a bunch of interior furniture with stark white fabrics as well with dark woods. The Gothic Interior brings the all-new fun vibe.
- Stardew Anime Mods: The popular among all the portrait mods for Stardew, it has detailed and brilliantly coloured pixel that works excellent with vanilla Stardew valley.
- Stardew Valley expanded: This mod includes plenty of content for free. It included ten new map locations, 38 new character events and over 400 location messages. Along with them, there are many miscellaneous additions as well.
