What are the best Stardew Valley mods? The mod scene for ConcernedApe’s acclaimed life sim has been thriving on PC despite having no official Steam Workshop support. Dedicated modders have been working to alter almost everything available in the game, from adding game-breaking cheats like god mode to texture overhauls that turn Stardew Valley into a pixelated fairytale.
Despite thousands of daily concurrent players enjoying the base indie game, Stardew Valley is getting on a bit, so we can’t blame you for wanting to shake things up. Thankfully, the modding community is here to help bring other IPs to the life game, along with new maps and improvements to married life. We’ve compiled our favorite Stardew Valley mods that celebrate the creativity of the modding scene. Here are our top picks that provide visual overhauls, gameplay changes, and, yes, even some cheats, making one of the best PC games even better.
The best Stardew Valley mods are:
Predict Reaction to Gifts
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how thoughtful a gift is, the person receiving it just isn’t into it. With the Predict Reaction to Gifts mod the NPC will display a little emote above their head before you give the gift so you can gauge just how well your present will go down. Perfect for those looking for love, and those looking to make a pal or two.
Experience Bars
It can be a frustrating experience when you’re trying to work on a specific skill set, but you can’t see how close you are to achieving your goals. With spacechase0’s experience bars mod, you’re able to see your progress for each of your skills at all times, making it easy to determine the best way to plan your days. This mod works in single player and multiplayer, and it can be disabled instantly using a shortcut.
Ultimate Storage System
If you’re sick and tired of constantly juggling items between storage boxes, then we’ve got the ultimate solution. The Ultimate Storage System mod features the FarmLink Terminal, a high-tech computer that aggregates items across all your storage boxes into one handy global inventory. You can search and sort through every item you own and transfer them at the press of a button, whether you want to move a huge stack or just a single item. You can even build it next to your workbench to craft and collect directly from your terminal.
Golden Hour
This small, subtle, but seriously lovely Stardew Valley mod adds three different lighting settings that change throughout the day, replacing the standard white-tinted window light in your home and other buildings during the day. There are customizable variations to choose from for the morning and evening in this Golden Hour Stardew Valley mod, including a blue moon shine, a pink sunset, and more.
Bathroom Furniture
If you feel like the Stardew Valley furniture options are rather lacking, especially when it comes to other rooms in your home, then there are plenty of fun Stardew Valley mods to choose from to add some more customization options. The Bathroom Furniture mod adds a bunch of great bathroom furniture in a range of styles so you can create the perfect serene space to relax in, whether you want a wooden cottage vibe or a clean modern vibe.
Lookup Anything
Stardew Valley is packed with hidden information to remember, from crop harvest times to monster loot drops. If you’re struggling to track it all, the Lookup Anything mod puts the answers right at the tip of your cursor. True to its name, once this mod is installed you can look up live information for just about anything in Stardew Valley by hovering over it and hitting F1. It even comes with a self-described “progression mode”, which hides puzzle solutions and villager preferences until you discover them. More advanced users can also delve into the “data mining mode” to see raw data values for map tiles and other assets. Whether you’re looking for the spawn rates of fishing tiles or what ore nodes contain before you mine them, Lookup Anything is the ideal mod for newbies and veterans alike.
Chocolate Valley
If you can’t wait for the Haunted Chocolatier release date then the Chocolate Valley mod should be able to scratch that delicious itch. This mod allows you to grow cacao and turn that into various delectable treats, including milkshakes, big slabs of chocolate, and delicate truffles.
Copia’s Valley
OK, this one’s a bit niche, but we must include this new character mod based on the band Ghost. If you’ve not heard of the band before, they’re an 80s-inspired metal band currently taking the mainstream by storm. Perhaps even more entertaining than their music, though (we said “perhaps”) is their incredible lore. Singer Tobias Forge is always the band’s frontman, but performs as different religious leaders as time passes and new ones take over the Satanic Ministry. It’s a whole thing.
Anyway, the current leader, though not for much longer, is Papa Emeritus IV, formerly known as Cardinal Copia, and that is who moves into Stardew Valley with this mod. According to comments about this mod, even players who don’t know the band are loving this new character and his unique and moving heart events. We think he looks adorable in the Stardew Valley style, and we can’t wait to meet him.
If you’re interested, this isn’t the first time Ghost have been integrated into gaming as they released a short browser game some time ago: Escape the Ministry.
Immersive Farm 2 Remastered
It’s been a few years now since zanderb, the original creator of Immersive Farm 2, stopped updating the mod, and of course, someone stepped up to fill the gap. That person was FlashShifter, who came to the aid of Immersive Farm fans and created the remastered version a few years back. The mod still receives updates to this day, with the latest release bringing the mod up to date with Stardew Valley 1.6. You must have Stardew Valley Expanded downloaded to use Immersive Farm 2 Remastered, more details are below. Once you do, you can unlock a unique new questline in your new, larger Stardew Valley map, as well as new characters, dialogue, and more.
Book Subscription
We love nothing more than a good book subscription in real life, so why not gift one to our Stardew Valley character, as well? The Stardew Valley Book Subscription mod triggers the new mechanic once you have given 15 items to the museum, at which point you can choose to receive weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, book deliveries. These books can’t be read, but they do offer XP. There is also an option to include Power Books in your subscription as well, but the selection will be random.
Nora the Herpetologist
A herpetologist, if you aren’t aware, is a specialist in adorable reptiles and amphibians, and Nora, a herpetologist herself, is a new NPC in Stardew Valley thanks to the Nora the Herpetologist mod. By adding this red-haired beauty to your town, you are also adding 14 unique events with the NPC, and you’ll be able to meet her amazing pets: Stupid the gecko and Pinkie Pie the snake!
Auto Fishing 2.0
It might feel a bit cheeky to automate a Stardew Valley mechanic, but fishing is supposed to be relaxing, right? In the Auto Fishing 2.0 mod, Tibsz carries on the work of SorryLate and the original Auto Fishing mod. This mod adds auto-casting, automatic hooking and reeling, and customization options, and it also knows when to stop your character fishing before you run out of stamina. Simply set up your requirements, sit back, and watch the catches come in.
SF Daphne’s buildable ice cream truck
The nostalgic chimes of an ice cream truck are enough to have those in warmer climates sprinting from their desks and down the road for a sweet treat. So surely our Stardew Valley characters would also appreciate some iced desserts, right? With the adorable, pastel-colored Daphne’s buildable ice cream truck mod by Stardew Valley creator Abi Wabi, new NPC Daphne and her truck will be available for all your in-game iced-treat requirements. However, she’ll only visit your town if you download it from the Buildable Ice Cream Truck mod page. This mod has yet to be updated to 1.6, but if you love it, you can downgrade to 1.5.6 in Steam to use all your old mods. The creator has also posted that they are working on updating it as soon as possible.
Always Welcome
Always Welcome is a simple but effective Stardew Valley mod, allowing players to visit NPC homes outside the usual hours, provided your friendship level is high enough. More than anything, this makes it easier to visit and gift NPCs, as you might find yourself locked out if you lose track of time – particularly frustrating on NPC birthdays.
Holiday Sales
The Holiday Sales mod allows you to dictate shop opening times. While this is only useful if you’re already using other mods with other towns, it does allow you to solve a problem within those mods. You might find your shops are shut when there’s a festival elsewhere. Keep them open, even if that stops your shop owners from enjoying themselves. This mod has yet to be updated to 1.6, but if you love it, you can downgrade to 1.5.6 in Steam to use all your old mods.
Stardew Valley Expanded
FlashShifter created this mega-mod, which includes a plethora of free content. The Stardew Valley Expanded mod lists all the content available in the description section, explaining that the mod features “ten new map locations, 38 new character events, over 400 location messages, reimagined maps and festivals (all maps), remastered Immersive Farm 2, a new town map reflecting all changes, and many miscellaneous additions!”
Tractor mod
Planting seeds, watering crops, and collecting your bountiful crop is a lot of work. But Pathoschild’s Tractor mod makes every farmer’s life easier. To get the tractor, buy the tractor garage from Robin. When she’s done building it, hop on and get to work. The tractor is all your tools built into one. It can clear twigs and rocks, fertilize dirt, plant seeds, harvest crops, and water the ground. If you dive into the config menu of the mod, you can even use your tractor to kill monsters – mow them all down!
Pokemon retextures
If GameFreak and Nintendo won’t ever officially bring Pokemon to PC then you can be damn sure we’ll try to mod it into every game possible. There’s a massive post on the Stardew Valley forums for Pokemon-themed retextures in Stardew Valley, doing everything from reskinning your livestock into Mareep and Miltank to turning buildings into Pokemon Gyms and, uh, even turning villagers into Pokemon if you so desire. If this mod doesn’t quite cut it, there are games like Pokemon on PC for you to try instead.
NPC map locations
With everything possible to do in a single day in Stardew Valley, memorizing the daily routines of the game’s many characters can feel daunting, especially when many have routines that change depending on the season or weather. With the NPC map locations mod, you can view where each villager is at any time and fully customize it to your preferences, which is handy if you’re only looking for the location of a select few characters.
Simple Crop Label
It is easy to pick Stardew Valley up after a break, venture into your farm, and wonder what you have planted in the soil on earth. A small but useful overhaul, the Simple Crop Label mod adds an option for a name tab to appear over a crop once you hover over it with your mouse.
No Fence Decay Redux
Fences are an aesthetically pleasing piece of garden decoration, besides helping keep animals and certain crops contained in one part of your farm. The downside, however, is that they decay over time, with regular wooden fences only lasting 30 days before deteriorating. The No Fence Decay Redux mod makes all fences and gates last forever by repairing them to full health every morning. No Fence Decay Redux is a new remake of the original No Fence Decay mod for 1.6, since the original hasn’t been updated and won’t work in the latest version of the game.
CJB Item Spawner
With great power comes great responsibility, so you will want to use this item spawner mod wisely, lest you wish to break all the balance in your game. This Stardew Valley Item Spawner mod allows you to conjure any item, at whatever quantity and quality, straight into your inventory. Using this mod can take you from rags to riches in no time, or you can put its creative potential to use and build your dream farm without enduring the dozens of hours it would take otherwise.
Chests Anywhere
With all those items in your inventory, you may wish to access your chests from anywhere. We have all felt the pain of being deep into a mining session only to realize your inventory is full of the item. Maybe you have been out trying to impress your favorite villager, and the gift you are looking to give them is back at home in one of your chests. Chests Anywhere, by CJBok and Pathoschild, allows you to access your chests, fridge, shipping bin, and Junimo huts from anywhere on the map, so no more pesky trips back to the farm to pick up or drop off items.
Health and Stamina Regen
Stamina is a very limited resource in Stardew Valley, and with so much to pack into a day’s work – from farming to battling your way through the mines – it can feel like you have never got enough of it. The Health and Stamina Regen mod can relieve such a setback, allowing you to regain stamina and health overtime.
Crops Anytime Anywhere
A mod that defies nature itself, this cheat allows you to grow and harvest any plant or crop regardless of the season and does not cause crops to decay when a season changes. Usually, each crop is restricted to being grown in a certain season, with no crops being able to be grown in winter without using a greenhouse. Still, with the Crops Anytime Anywhere mod, you can grow all the strawberries in the autumn that your heart desires. Note that this mod does not change store inventory, so you must stock up on seeds each season to plant them later in the year.
Horse Flute Anywhere
Turns out it is surprisingly easy to misplace a horse, so thank god this Horse Flute Anywhere mod exists. Simple in design, this mod allows you to summon your horse, regardless of where you left it, by pressing ‘H’, with the horse teleporting to your location using what we can only assume to be genuine magic.
Immersive Family
While you can settle down and have a couple of kids in Stardew Valley, they don’t really do much once they’re here. With the Immersive Family mod, your children will interact with your spouse, and the villagers, and have their own activities.
Cheats, cheats, cheats
OK, we all know what you’re really here for. As the holy grail of Stardew Valley cheat mods, CJB cheats menu provides access to every cheat under the sun and then some. They range from an unlimited watering can to infinite health and stamina. You can freeze time, adjust your relationships with the villagers, and warp to any location on the map. This might be the closest we’ll get to Stardew Valley having a sandbox mode.
Schedule Viewer
A low-impact mod, Schedule Viewer shows you what the townsfolk are up to on any given day based on the current state of the world. It’s as if we’ve been keeping an in-depth diary of people’s comings and going. Not creepy at all, and definitely not something we do in real life…
How to mod Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley does not include Steam Workshop support, so installing mods requires you to change the game’s internal files. For peace of mind, we highly recommend backing up all your files (especially your save files) before downloading and installing any mods. Stardew Valley still receives regular updates, so bear in mind that a future update may cause compatibility issues with any mods you have installed.
There are two primary mod types in Stardew Valley: mods that replace existing XNB files in the content folder and mods that require the ‘Stardew Modding API’ (or SMAPI) to install. We recommend installing the content patcher and mod manager below to help with mod installation and managemenet.
XNB Files
Most Stardew Valley mods make small changes to the game, such as altering visuals and reskinning assets. To install, you must replace the existing XNB file with a new, modified version.
Once you’ve downloaded your XNB mod file, which, for example, may be named ‘cat.XNB’, you must find the corresponding XNB file in the Stardew Valley content folder. By default, the Stardew Valley content folder is located here: C:/Steam/steamapps/common/Stardew Valley/Content.
There are several subfolders in the content folder, with most of the important assets, including animals and villagers, having their own, making them easy to find. With our new ‘cat.XNB’ file, go into the ‘Animals’ subfolder and replace the existing ‘cat.xnb’ file with our new modded file, which will appear in-game next time it is booted.
As a reminder, we recommend keeping any unmodded files backed up should you ever wish to uninstall a mod.
SMAPI
For mods that make larger changes to the game, such as altering events, SMAPI is required for installation. SMAPI is open-source software maintained by the modding community that allows for the installation of DLL files. SMAPI helps manage your files by checking when your mods have received a new update, as well as rewrite any installed mods when an official Stardew Valley update changes any part of the game that affects your mods. Once you have installed SMAPI, all you have to do is place your files into the SMAPI mod folder, and you should be ready.
Content Patcher
Content Patcher is a mod for SMAPI that allows you to download content packs, which can change the game’s visuals or assets like XNB mods, but without requiring you to alter the XNB files manually. This is a much more reliable way of installing mods than replacing XNB files, as they can be automatically updated, installed, and uninstalled through SMAPI. Most XNB file mods have content pack equivalents.
Stardew Valley Mod Manager
If you like to keep your mods neat and organized, modder Akago has created the most up-to-date Stardew Valley Mod Manager. This allows you to keep track of all your mods and manage SMAPI. Its best feature allows you to turn mods on or off without deleting the files, which is helpful if you, like us, are incredibly indecisive or have half a dozen different grass mods you want to try.
Now that we’ve sown the seeds for expanding your Stardew Valley mods, check out the Cornucopia mod series for even more tweaks. If you weren’t already plowing enough time into the farming game as it was, these best Stardew Valley mods would keep you coming back. Love it so much that you’re considering a real-life change of career? We asked a Californian farmer how realistic Stardew Valley is. If you want something similar but altogether different, browse our list of the best games like Stardew Valley instead.