Best Stardew Valley Mods

Highlights

• Stardew Valley is a beloved title with immersive gameplay and a passionate modding community.
• Mods like Visible Fish and Tool Smart Switch improve gameplay experience and customization.
• Stardew Valley Expanded offers a massive fan-made expansion for players wanting more content.

Stardew Valley is a great game, and considering the fact that it was made by one person only, makes it all the more special. It not only provides players with a fictional inherited farmland escape but also functions as a spiritual successor to Harvest Moon. Even now, the game is still getting updates as a testament to how much its creator cares for it. There’s a reason why so many players are expecting Haunted Chocolatier to be a masterpiece as well, given just how immersive and engaging Stardew Valley is.

Speaking of making the game better, it turns out players can also do that if they wish. Other players in the community certainly did in the form of mods. Much like its original developer, Stardew Valley‘s modding community is highly active and always ready to make the place a lovelier haven for urban-worn yuppies. The best Stardew Valley mods are free of charge — unlike Joja Corporation’s offerings — and are incredible when it comes to adding new stuff or tweaking existing mechanics.

Updated July 19, 2024 by Ritwik Mitra: Stardew Valley is a game that players can’t get enough of, with this amazing title letting players enjoy a great farming sim. From the charming suite of characters to the numerous gameplay loops, it’s easy to see why so many players find it difficult to tear themselves away.

However, despite its immense replayability, some players may have seen every card Stardew Valley has dealt. For these players, the best Stardew Valley mods can do a great job of freshening up the core gameplay loop while enhancing the suite of options at their disposal.

1 Seasonal Outfits – Slightly Cuter Aesthetic

Downloads: 2,454,943

Variety is the slice of life in any video game, and Stardew Valley is no exception here. The many townsfolk in this game may have an impeccable sense of style, but the allure of their outfits decreases after players see them wearing the same thing over and over again. This is why some of the best mods for Stardew Valley involve custom outfits that both the protagonists and the residents of the town can wear.

This mod adds a bunch of seasonal outfits to the game that make things more immersive while lending more personality to each character. It’s a simple mod but one that players will love if they feel that the lack of clothing variety for in-game NPCs is starting to get on their nerves.

2 Ridgeside Village

Downloads: 2,370,039

One of the best mods for Stardew Valley that is a must for long-time fans, Ridgeside Village is a massive addition to the game that adds a whole new area that feels just as fleshed out as the base game, which is impressive in its own way. Players will love exploring this new area and finding out the many quests that can be completed here.

Players who may find the scenery of the base game to be a bit too familiar after a point can use the Ridgeside Village mod to completely change the way they play the game. After all, it’s not like every game receives a mod that adds such an impressive level of content, but Stardew Valley boasts a passionate fanbase and then some.

3 Visible Fish

Downloads: 1,345,647

Fishing in Stardew Valley is a pretty simple task and one of the many activities players can perform in the game. While the game’s pixel art has an undeniable level of charm, some people feel that the game’s fishing can be improved by just letting players see if fish are swimming around in the water. It’s a pretty simple change to integrate, and this mod proves it.

Now, players can see the kind of fish in a water body that they have a chance of catching, with the malleable settings allowing players to control the opacity of fish. To call this one of the best Stardew Valley mods would be a stretch, but players will have a great time engaging with one of the game’s core activities with this simple change even if the mod may not be as comprehensive as other such mods.

Downloads: 5,421,930

There are many great Stardew Valley mods that players can check out to enhance the experience. However, keeping track of all these modifications can become a royal pain after a point, with most players unintentionally breaking their game to the point where simple tasks become a chore to complete. In such an instance, the best course of action to take is to download a mod that helps them manage their other mods.

The Generic Mod Config Menu is one of the most intuitive mods for Stardew Valley that is as simple as they come. Being able to access a wealth of mod settings from within the game and tweaking it to whatever value suits a player’s fancy makes it way easier to use these mods, figure out which ones players like, and tweak certain metrics to make for the most perfect playthrough of Stardew Valley imaginable.

5 UI Info Suite

Downloads: 3,036,984

The UI of Stardew Valley gets the job done and lets players figure out what is happening for the most part. However, after players clock in a ton of hours in this game, they can find this aspect of the game to be somewhat lacking if they want to perfect their playthrough and go through days as optimally as possible. If the regular UI doesn’t cut it for veterans, then they can download a simple mod that helps them understand what is going on in every facet of the series’ gameplay.

Everything from experience gain to the yield of a player’s item on the farm can be micromanaged with this mod. It’s easy to see why players experienced in how Stardew Valley works should be the only ones who try out this mod since the inflow of information can be too overwhelming for new players to deal with. Even for players who’ve spent some hours in the game, this mod can be overwhelming at first. A lot of time and effort is required to ensure that players can navigate the changes of this mod without feeling like they’re lost.

6 Skull Cavern Elevator

Downloads: 2,962,211

The Skull Cavern is a dangerous dungeon with multiple floors that players can traverse whenever they get the Skull Key and unlock the path to this unique location. It’s easy to lose HP here if players aren’t careful, leading to the loss of valuable funds that players would want to save up to invest on their farm. Each floor in the Skull Cavern has a ladder that players can use to reach the top once again, letting them escape if things look too dicey.

Most people aren’t huge fans of how they have to start from scratch every single time they wish to enter the Skull Cavern, which is why this mod is so perfect for players who want their progress to mean something. With this mod, players can unlock access to an elevator for every five levels they explore of the Skull Cavern. It’s a simple way to save a player’s progress and make these excursions mean something.

7 DaisyNiko’s Earthy Interiors

Downloads: 190,488

The visuals of Stardew Valley are certainly pretty engaging in their own right, and fans love to go through the many indoor and outdoor areas in the game to witness firsthand just how beautiful the sprite work is. However, for players who have spent hundreds of hours in this title, it’s easy to see why these visuals can get boring after a point.

For these players, a simple and subtle visual tweak can do a great job of freshening up the visuals quite a bit, especially when it comes to indoor areas. This is what DaisyNiko’s Earthy Interiors aims to accomplish, and most people would argue that it succeeds in this goal and then some.

Downloads: 100,330

Players will need to access a wealth of tools in Stardew Valley to interact with the game world and figure out ways to maximize the most of the resources that are provided to them. This makes it important to switch between tools and pick the best one to deal with a relevant situation, which enhances gameplay variety without making things too complex.

It’s a great way for most beginners to acquaint themselves with the game, but veterans may get bored of this gameplay loop after a point. Thankfully, this is where the Tool Smart Switch comes into the picture. It’s a simple mod that does a great job of streamlining the player’s experience and making each run in Stardew Valley all the most accessible.

9 Date Night

Downloads: 392,887

The characters of Stardew Valley are pretty fleshed out, and players can initiate a romance with one of the many characters in this title if they wish. The act of wooing a potential romance can be quite engrossing, but some players might feel that the romantic interactions aren’t all that diverse after getting married, which can be disappointing for many players.

Thankfully, Date Night is a mod that allows players to have meaningful interactions with their spouses after marriage in the form of well-written and cute dates. This is a great mod that helps players enjoy the romantic interactions in this game even more, making it a no-brainer for fans who want more content in this department.

10 Adventurer’s Guild Expanded

Downloads: 208,170

The Adventurer’s Guild is one of the many fun distractions that players can occupy themselves in Stardew Valley. This guild serves as a great way for players to get valuable items, hunt down monsters, and recover their items if their health depletes in a dangerous area.

Players who want more from this guild can download the Adventurer’s Guild Expanded mod, which does exactly what is stated in the title. With more quests, NPCs, locations, music, and everything else along the same lines, it’s easy to see why this mod is beloved within the community.

11 Better Crafting

Downloads: 404,066

Crafting is one of the major gameplay pillars that players will interact with in Stardew Valley time and time again. How crafting is dealt with in the game is pretty intuitive, but it’s only a matter of time before players want more depth and ingenuity in this experience.

This is where the Better Crafting mod comes into the picture, with this mod adding an entirely new UI along with several other quality-of-life improvements to make crafting a blast once again. Players who may be getting bored of the vanilla crafting system owe it to themselves to check this mod out.

12 Content Patcher

Downloads: 13,516,130

There are a ton of content packs that players can download for Stardew Valley. However, there’s a mod by Pathoschild that players need to download before that. The Content Patcher mod is critical to make installs as clean as possible. This content patcher is a must-have to install fan-made content packs without facing too many errors.

An exciting aspect about these packs is that they automatically check to make sure their content is compatible with the version of Stardew Valley that is installed, decreasing the odds that any issues will be encountered.

13 SMAPI – Stardew Modding API

Downloads: 14,674,665

Mod loaders is a term that most PC gamers invested in the modding scene are familiar with. They’re critical to ensuring that mods load in the correct order and don’t cause too many conflicts. SMAPI is quite valuable in this regard, allowing modders to go crazy without worrying about any permanent ramifications to their game.

It’s a simple and clean solution by Pathoschild to manage the sheer wealth of mods that players can potentially download for Stardew Valley.

Downloads: 6,790,859

Sometimes, there’s only so much that players can do to adhere to the rules of the game before preferring to take matters into their own hands. With the CJB Cheats Menu, this sense of control can be achieved in the blink of an eye.

True to its name, the CJB Cheats Menu adds an option for players to cheat to their heart’s content in Stardew Valley. It’s a simple yet efficient mod that changes the game’s landscape if players wish it to be the case.

15 CJB Item Spawner

Downloads: 5,310,288

There are several items that players can take to enhance their enjoyment of Stardew Valley. However, a bunch of the rare items in the game can take a while to obtain, which might not be up to everyone’s tastes. This is where the CJB Item Spawner comes into the picture.

As stated in the name, it allows players to spawn whatever item they want to make the game easier and, in certain cases, more enjoyable. Once installed, players will just need to press a single button to get access to all the items they could need.

16 Tractor Mod

Downloads: 3,823,006

Given that there’s such a major focus in Stardew Valley on farming, it’s a shame that the vanilla game doesn’t have any tractors. However, this isn’t an issue with the use of mods. The Tractor Mod is another excellent download released by Pathoschild that fulfills its exact purpose.

It allows players to use a fully functioning tractor in the game to make their farming activities all the easier and more fun. This mod also adds a tractor garage, which is welcome indeed.

17 Bigger Backpack

Downloads: 1,336,250

When players are not tending to their farm, barn, or their in-game spouse, Stardew Valley lets them do some exploring. The difficulty in this aspect of gameplay is that energy is limited in the game and can run out pretty easily. Maximizing one’s carrying capacity is a good way to make these trips more worthwhile.

The Bigger Backpack mod by spacechase0 lets players indulge their hoarder mentality without any regrets. It gives players a bag that has a whopping 48 slots, making some exploration or cave trips less of a pain. The catch is that it’s not free and costs 50,000g but hey, it’s better than a cheat mod.

18 Friends Forever

Downloads: 1,056,200

Apart from growing some plants or crops, players can also cultivate friendships (pun intended) in Stardew Valley. The player character’s relationship with the NPCs is represented by a heart meter. Sadly, the people of Stardew Valley are clingier and moodier than others because the friendship meter has a decay rate. That’s bad news for introverted roleplayers.

So, to let the player character focus more on their crops or spelunking, a mod called Friends Forever by IsaacSDev is available. This one removes the decay rate for the said friendship meter so players can introduce themselves and then forget about friends but still keep them. If only that’s how it worked in real life.

19 DeepWoods

Downloads: 525,657

Sometimes farming can get tedious and even stressful in Stardew Valley, and if players find that ironic enough, then maybe another escape from this escape is warranted. Luckily, most maps in the game have a nice forest for players to explore.

One can then expand that forest to have an even deeper exploration area thanks to a mod named DeepWoods by SVProtector. It’s a custom area added to the game that poses all kinds of late-game dangers and rewards. Don’t dare venture it early on, focus on farming first.

20 Fast Animations

Downloads: 789,926

Speaking of adventuring or farming in Stardew Valley players can only do so much before their characters drop tired from fatigue. Some in-game actions are simply too slow to maximize either time or the stamina bar, which can be pretty frustrating indeed.

Fast Animations is a mod by Pathoschild that can remedy this problem. It does what its title says: speeds up all the animations in the game, such as mining or even eating. Players can even adjust the speeds themselves to something realistic or preferable. Given how important quality-of-life changes have become in modern games, it’s easy to see why the Fast Animations mod has become one of the most popular mods for Stardew Valley.