How To Mod Stardew Valley

Enhance Your Stardew Valley Experience: A Guide to Modding

While Stardew Valley's recent update garnered significant attention, players have long leveraged the power of mods to personalize their gameplay. From enriching NPC storylines to adding cosmetic enhancements, modding unlocks a world of creative possibilities. This guide outlines the modding process for Windows users.

Modding Stardew Valley on Windows:

Step One: Secure Your Save File (Recommended)

This precautionary step safeguards your progress. While unnecessary for new games, it's crucial for established farms. Losing hours of dedicated farming and relationship-building is easily avoided.

Backing up your save is straightforward:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type %appdata% and press Enter.
3. Navigate to the Stardew Valley folder, then the Saves folder.
4. Copy the contents to a secure location on your computer.

Step Two: Install SMAPI

SMAPI is the essential mod loader, seamlessly integrating mods into your game. Download SMAPI directly from its official website.

Related: Unlocking Multiple Pets in Stardew Valley

Remember: SMAPI is a loader, not a mod itself. Extract the downloaded ZIP file to a convenient location (desktop or downloads folder are suitable), not the mods folder. Run SMAPI and select "Install on Windows," following the on-screen instructions.

Step Three: Game Client Configuration (If Necessary)

If playing Stardew Valley through Steam, GOG Galaxy, or the Xbox app, additional steps may be required to maintain playtime tracking and achievements. Refer to the SMAPI documentation for detailed instructions on configuring your specific game client.

Step Four: Installing Mods – The Fun Part!

Nexus Mods is the premier source for Stardew Valley mods, offering a vast library. Download mods (typically as ZIP files), extract them, and place the extracted contents into the automatically generated "Mods" folder. The location of this folder varies depending on your game client:

• Steam: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stardew Valley
• GOG Galaxy: C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Stardew Valley
• Xbox App: C:\XboxGames\Stardew Valley

With thousands of mods available on Nexus Mods alone, Stardew Valley players of all experience levels will find countless ways to enhance their farming adventures.

Stardew Valley is available now.