Stardew Valley Mod Recs

Here's all the mods I like for Stardew Valley! j I might have gone just a little insane compiling this list... Please bear with me, this page is under heavy construction!

Key

If you're into game modding, you know the more mods you add, the more you risk your game lagging or breaking. So, sometimes you have to prioritize what's most important. Because of this, I have a ranking system in place. This is the key to it! Bear in mind my rankings are based on my personal preferences and your mileage may vary. I also enjoy themed playthroughs, so I note mods that work for a certain theme. Not every mod is going to have a noted theme if it doesn't apply or if it's generic enough to be used with any style, and sometimes a mod can work for more than one theme. There's also separate sections for specific themes, for mods I exclusively recommend for a themed save.

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Three Thumbs Up
What I can't play without. These mods may fix errors and glitches, add functions that I think should be in the vanilla game, just be an absolute fave, or make it more accessible in some way.
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Two Thumbs Up
Not necessary per se, but I deeply enjoy these mods. They might provide more immersion, be a visual improvement, add useful functions, or I just like them more than others even if they're not faves.
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One Thumb Up
I just think they're neat. These mods are mainly aesthetic tweaks, an expansion I like less than others, or are flat-out cheats (best saved for after "beating" vanilla).
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Cherries: Sweet Acres
My personal aesthetic used in the primary save I play on the most.
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Chick: Vanilla+
For an expanded, but vanilla-feeling game. Features assets that match vanilla palettes and art, lore, etc.
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Butterfly: Faeriepunk
In line with faeriepunk, with a focus on magical gameplay. Mahou Shoujo and Witchy's lovechild.
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Rose: Gothic
Dark, edgy, elegant.
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Lollipop: Land of Sweets
To transform the game world into a bright and pastel candy land! This is the most niche theme.
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Crystal Heart: Mahou Shoujo (AKA Magical Girl)
Bright, pastel, cute, with homages to the anime genre.
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Moon: Witchy
Dark and magical.

Filters

Rank:

Category:

Theme:

APIs and Frameworks

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Alternative Textures
AKA [AT]. Allows you to essentially combine different aesthetic mods by letting you mix and match assets. (Example: if you install 3 different wallpaper packs, that's triple the amount of options you have for wallpapers). I recommend using [CP] addition packs (when available) simply because they load faster; however, if those don't exist, or are only available as replacements, [AT] is a solid option. You can usually delete individual textures you don't want to help with loading times as well.
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Content Patcher
AKA [CP]. Can override vanilla game content and allows new content to be added without editing game files.
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Generic Mod Configuration Menu
Adds a UI in-game to configure mod settings. Most mods that offer different settings use this.
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SMAPI
The modding API. The vast majority of mods require this to work.

Animals

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Cuter Companions
Makes trinket companions cuter.
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Elle's Cuter Cats
You can choose custom breeds for your cats. I use solid white, striped grey, and striped silver with socks (like my IRL cats, lol).
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Elle's Cuter Dogs
You can choose custom breeds for your dogs.
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Elle's Cuter Barn Animals
You can choose what breeds your barn animals are.
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Elle's Cuter Coop Animals
You can customize and choose what your coop critters look like.
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Elle's Cuter Horses
You can choose what breed your horse is.
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Elle's Cuter Turtles
You can customize what your turtles look like.
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Secret Garden Frog Terrarium
Gives Sebastian's pet frog a nicer habitat.
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Vanilla Kittens
Lets you have kittens matching vanilla cats.

Craftables, Tools, and Weapons

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Iridium Recolors with Coordinated Crafting Bars
You can choose a recolor for certain tools and weapons, and it also comes with bars that match the size and shape of copper through gold bars.
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WKSOY
Crystal Mini Obelisk
Turns the mini obelisks into cute little crystals.
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SO
Cute Pink and White Craftables
Replaces tools and craftables with pink and white versions. Very similar to Cute Valley, but some things are different enough that I find it worth it. (Example: this provides more contrast on many craftables where Cute Valley would be monochrome.)
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Cute Valley
Replaces tools, craftables, and weapons with pink versions. (Plus so much more.) I use the lavender version and converted the craftables from the pink version to [AT]. I got permission to post it publicly when I have the time.
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WKOY
Cute Chest Buckles
Adds an adorable heart or moon buckle to chests.
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WKY
Firefly Torch
Replaces torches with fireflies.
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Mini Jukebox Record Players
Makes mini jukeboxes into cute little record players matching vanilla wood tones.
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Msaturn Floaties
Gives a ton of aesthetic options for crab pots. Note: If the latest update is still May 2024, there is an error in the file. In the texture.json file, anywhere it says "Texturewidth": 80, it should actually be "Texturewidth": 16 (including the comma). Replace those lines and save.
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Magical Craftables
Makes craftables magical girl–themed, in shades of pink and bright gold. I got permission to convert it to [AT] when I have the time.
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Magical Valley
Makes tools and certain weapons very cute, primarily pink with options for blue accents.
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uWSOY
Nano's Garden Style Craftables
Makes craftables cottagecore-themed. I use the scarecrows, the picnic basket chest outside, the luggage chest in the farmhouse, the crystalarium, the light sign, and the phone.
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Pots to Planters
Makes garden pots look like modular planters.
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Ran's Farm Decor
Replaces certain items with cuter versions. Technically, this doesn't work in 1.6, and needs to be manually updated. I recommend using a mod that replaces what you want to replace and placing the relevant images from this into that mod's folder.
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Random Cute Craftables
Adds various cute reskins of craftables to the game with many options to match vanilla. I use bee-shaped bee houses and floating crystal crystalariums.
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Shardust's Colorful and Pastel Craftables
Pick and choose what items are what color with tons of options. You can also turn some off if you have other [CP] replacements you'd like to use. A neat bonus is a seasonal floral and snow overlay for craftables left outside. I use this [CP] version for default replacements and almost everything in ash, cocoa, diamond, spinel, and steel.