I'm considering starting a *new* massively expanded Stardew game

[conuly]

I actually have too many expansions to add all the even more expansions I want to add, but I refuse to remove any gameplay expansions that add extra dialog or heart events or NPCs. So the only thing for it, obviously, is to make a second mod folder for this new game, and in that mod folder have only the gameplay and a few quality of life expansions and none of the expansions that just provide new crops and stuff without anything story-wise.

But what a hassle of time. Ugh. Still, if I wait too long then 1.6 will be out already and I'll be coerced into playing with Jenn on the Switch, which is great, don't get me wrong - but no expansions, it's on the Switch!

(I keep trying to convince Jenn to get a copy of the game on a computer, but so far no dice.)

Comments

[ioplokon]

What are the best mods? I keep wanting to try some, but there are so many, I get overwhelmed...

[conuly]

It depends on what you want to do!

For example, what I want to do is expand the storyline, so I have several different expansions - Ridgeside Valley, Stardew Valley Expanded, Adventurer's Guild, East Scarp - and I also have several mods that just add NPC content to the base game - Community Wednesdays, Canon Friendly Dialog Expansion, a couple of mods that expand the Dwarf and Krobus characters, mods that make Morris a real NPC (two of these, and if you download them both there's a chance of a funny cutscene where they interact with each other!) several standalone NPCs.

If all you want to do is add an expansion then I suggest you pick one to start. Of the big ones that people mostly play, Stardew Valley Expanded is the one that's mostly set in Pelican Town. The others, in order not to step on the SVE toes, are all set in different areas. The plus side is that they *don't* significantly change the base map. The downside is that their storylines can seem disconnected to the base story and it can be hard to remember to go to their towns to do their things!

Some people might like to add items of a certain sort - there are many different mods to add regular crops (foods) or special crops (ores and stuff). Those are the mods I'll be mostly jettisonning in order to do my Just Expansions game. I like them a lot... but not enough to justify keeping them with the number of expansions I'm running.

There are a lot of mods that do little more than fuss with recipes. It seems everybody wanted ConcernedApe to do more with cooking. There are two different mods I can think of that add a cooking skill, lots of mods that add recipes to the base game, add buffs to base recipes, or fix the prices of base recipes. But if you don't like to cook you don't need these.

There are mods that do nothing but change the aesthetics. I have no opinion on these other than Diverse Stardew Valley which, despite needing to be reconfigured every time I update it and also taking up a lot of memory, I will not play without. (I do have some comments on how it was made, though.)

There are mods which fix aspects of the base game that the writers think are broken, and these run the gamut - small mods that do nothing but change Abigail's guinea pig to a hamster (if you have one guinea pig apparently that's animal abuse) or edit a single line of dialog that people disapprove of (Kent gets therapy, Kent washes the dishes, Demetrius is less of a weirdo about you dating his daughter, Demetrius is less of a jerk about tomatoes, George is less ableist, George is less homophobic), there are mods which rebalance the prices of various goods, mods which fix spouse schedules so they don't just stand around your porch all day once married.

And of course, there are quality of life mods and cheats, and occasional mods to make quality of life mods slightly less cheaty. If you have a lot of *other* mods then you're definitely going to need a mod to speed up your character or to slow down the day, or perhaps both. If, like me, you're focused on talking to the NPCs you'll probably want Automate so you dont' have to spend your life moving bait into fishtraps, garbage into recycle machines, and refined quartz into your pockets.

So you tell me what you mostly want to do, and unless it's "change the look of the town" I will tell you what mods I've found best in that area. I really can't recommend any aesthetic mods.

[ioplokon]

see, so many! i think my biggest annoyance is that you fix the community center but nothing happens there, so anything that adds community center events or activities would be awesome...

[conuly]

So for that, you'll want Community Center Reimagined for sure, and probably also Community Wednesdays. The author of Community Wednesdays is obviously a Brit, so if it bugs you that the people in those cutscenes all obviously use British English then you might want to skip it.

And if you feel that strongly about the community center then you probably would also like expanded dialog after you reach max hearts or for them to say different things at festivals.

For that, minimum, you'll want Canon-Friendly Dialogue Expansion, Immersive Saloon, and Immersive Festival Dialogue, and perhaps Fourteen Hearts for All. I'd also recommend More Specific Gift Reaction - Dialogue Expansion, Emyn's Queer Dialogue Expansion, and perhaps farmerjack's Dialogue Expansions. Some of these will overwrite changes from some others, but at least conversations with NPCs won't be so boring!

If you want to expand a few specific base game NPCs, consider:

Immersive Sandy, The Last Smolanu (a Dwarf expansion), More Krobus.

[ioplokon]

These all sound amazing, thank you! ♥

(also if any of your loyal readers do have recs for aesthetic mods, I wouldn't mind things looking cuter...)

[conuly]

I do, of course, have even more recs, but since you already called it overwhelming I'm trying to keep it together. I do tend to get a little overenthused. (As proof, see the number of recent posts on birdfeeding. Don't ask me what my suet budget is looking like. I'm trying to trim it down.)

[ioplokon]

I'm happy to get more recs from you here, if you have them. This is less overwhelming than just looking online + it's good to hear from someone who's actually used them that they aren't crap.

[ioplokon]

I now understand how you have so many mods 🙀

I went to add some that you suggested, the saw they have one that adds Birding to the game, and so on...

[conuly]

I love the ornithology guild! But it's still a bit of a work in progress and so there's not much to *do* with it once you've found all the birds, which is why I didn't rec it.

[ioplokon]

I keep accidentally giving people the binoculars, so it's taking me a while. I guess I'm supporting the hobby throughout the valley?

[conuly]

That's the spirit!

Have you been talking to real NPC Kyle every day?

[ioplokon]

Not yet. I started a new game, so trying to get all the community center done, which is stressful.

[conuly]

LOL, I actually have the All Community Center Bundles mod... though I half cheat by also having the "Willy Sells CC Fish" mod, because ugh, who has the time to fish!?

(I could really really cheat by using the CJB item spawner or, if I'm hardcore about it, using the debug everythingshop command in the SMAPI window, but I think that's going a bit far.)

[ioplokon]

I'm the opposite; i don't even like to buy things from the traveling cart! I did this time tho bc with the mods, the game freezes sometimes during fishing & I needed the pufferfish in Year 1 for my peace of mind. Once I get all the buildings upgraded, I'll be less stressed (though, like a fool, I added the kitchen one 🙀)

[conuly]

Which kitchen one? Love of Cooking?

[ioplokon]

Community Kitchen, which adds a kitchen to the community center (something that just seems practical...)