Enhance your Stardew Valley experience with mods! This guide details how to easily add mods to your game, expanding gameplay and adding cosmetic features. Let's get started.

Modding Stardew Valley on Windows:

Step One: Backup Your Save (Recommended)

Protecting your progress is crucial. If you have an existing save file with significant playtime, back it up before proceeding. This is easily done by:

1. Pressing Win + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Typing %appdata% and pressing Enter.
3. Navigating to the Stardew Valley folder, then the Saves folder.
4. Copying the contents to a safe location on your computer. New game saves don't require this step.

Step Two: Install SMAPI

SMAPI is the essential mod loader. Download it directly from the official SMAPI website. Extract the downloaded ZIP file to a convenient location (desktop or downloads folder is fine). Important: Don't extract SMAPI into the Stardew Valley mods folder. Run the SMAPI installer 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, you might need additional steps to maintain achievement tracking and playtime recording. Refer to the SMAPI documentation for specific client configuration instructions.

Step Four: Installing Mods

Now for the fun part!

Nexus Mods offers a vast library of Stardew Valley mods. Download your chosen mods (typically as ZIP files), extract them, and place the extracted folders into the Stardew Valley Mods folder. The Mods folder location 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

That's it! With thousands of mods available, explore and customize your Stardew Valley experience.

Stardew Valley is available now.