This one's gonna take a while...

Welcome to my Stardew Valley directory. I like to play with a lot of mods, and for my convenience (and for anyone curious) I am going to be posting the details of whatever modpack I've bashed together here, including a full list of links to all mods, any known issues I've come across while playing, and useful information such as keybinds, tips, and gameplay changes. I'll also be linking useful sites for the game itself, modded or otherwise. The list for 2023, SDV version 1.5.6 is currently hovering around 380 mods, so I'm gonna be attempting to splitting it up by mod type (core, dependency, fluff/visuals, major content, and so on...) in case someone wants to trim it/remove an offending mod that's causing problems.

Getting started with modding SDV

SDV is a pretty easy game to mod and has great documentation for pretty much anything you might need to know. Most if not all of it is available either on SMAPI's official site (the framework that 99% of all modern mods need to run) and the Official Stardew Wiki's Modding Portal. The gist of getting started with playing a modded version of SDV is pretty much this:

1. install SMAPI, following the directions on either the wiki or SMAPI's homepage.
2. extract mods into your Mods folder.
3. run the game using SMAPI.exe.

Yeah, it's that simple. SMAPI's a great program with a very easy to read console, and it will tell you if something's breaking, where it's breaking, and when it's going to break. It shows warnings for mods using features that are soon to be depreciated, which gives both the user and developer ample time to adjust their mods/modpack if needed.

Types of Stardew Valley mods

Largely speaking, there are two types of mods: Frameworks/core mods, and content packs that are loaded in via a framework. There are also XNB mods, which used to be the only form of mod available for SDV; however, these are hugely depreciated and are likely to break things very badly as they directly alter the code of the game. There is effectively no reason to be using XNB mods in the current day, as anything an XNB mod could do, so could a Content Patcher mod. (Except in Content Patcher's case, it can do even more in addition to being noninvasive to the base game's code -- meaning you can easily remove any mod you no longer want to use without causing issues.)

What if there's an XNB mod that you really want to use, however? Generally this isn't a problem, as the SDV community is pretty good at making unofficial ports of old mods. If you see an XNB mod you like, do a quick search for it on the Modding Portal's XNB Alternatives and see if someone's made a port already; there's a good chance it's already been done. If not, and the mod is something simple like a graphical change, why not try taking a crack at porting it yourself? Content Patcher is designed to be pretty easy to use, even if you're not that familiar with coding. Alternative Textures is also an option, though it has a slightly higher learning curve. Either way, I suggest at least giving it a try!