What mods are the best to have? also is there a new map with all the types in?

Hello I have just started playing again after getting my pc fixed. Now I would love to add in some mods to add to the game, but wanted to know what mods people have and which are good to have to add to the game.
also love the new maps but i always find it hard to pick, as i want to play on most of them so wanted to know if anyone know any new maps which have the fishing, hill, forage items all in one map as i would love to be able to play in them all

 

It depends on what you want, really. My biggest recommendation is always Timespeed if the default timing in the game is too fast for you. Other than that, aesthetic mods are always nice to change up the look of your farm and customize it to your liking.

A couple others I'd recommend, just to make your life easier in the beginning:

2Cute Farm Cave - this comes with an underground spring you can bathe in to regenerate energy. SUPER handy in those first few months when you don't have much food and your energy bar doesn't go very high.
http://community.playstarbound.com/...so-an-underground-library-update-7-19.117897/


Stove in First House - a nice one if you prefer to be able to cook without having to upgrade to the next house size. Bear in mind though, you won't yet know many recipes or have the ingredients to make most of the stuff. But it's nice to have if you do want to cook something and have the means to do so.
http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/random-keytens-stuff-gas-stove-in-the-first-house.108551/

Those are just a couple that I use and really like, but again it depends on what you're after. There's mods to make the greenhouse bigger, mods to turn your slime hutch into a brewery, mods to add a bathroom to your house etc. There's also mods to make fishing easier, if you're having trouble with that.

As far as maps, I know I've seen one that combines all of them but I can't remember where it's at, you can look through the mods section here on the forums or at Nexus to see different maps.

 

Depends on what you're looking for (ha, I typed that before seeing what you said, @LuthienNightwolf ).

I have around 50 mods installed. My personal top 11 SMAPI mods:

• Longevity: Seasonal clothing, more crops, price balancing, etc. (all optional in the config). This mod is huge and more content is still being added. (Full disclosure, I help do NPC art for it.)
• TimeSpeed: Lets you adjust day length by changing how long 10 minutes in game takes.
• Object Time Left: Displays the number of 10-minute ticks remaining for items that process (artisan goods, tappers, lightning rods, mushroom boxes, recycling, worm bins). Switches on and off with one keypress.
• Interaction Helper: Chat bubbles appear over NPCs and farm animals that have not been interacted with yet. I can't live without this one on my truffle farm.
• NPC Map Locations: Shows where NPCs are on the map at the time of looking and also has shop hours.
• Pony Weight Loss Program: Squeeze your horse through single-tile gaps.
• Skull Cavern Elevator (plus Rope Bridge): Does what it says on the tin and is adjustable. Rope Bridge allows you to walk over ladders so you don't get stuck.
• Tree Transplant: Robin can move trees for you. No more going all the way to build something just to find out that there was one seed in the building's footprint.
• Expanded Fridge: More fridge space that can also be set to dynamically adjust with house upgrades.
• Skip Intro: Launching the game takes you directly to the save selection screen. This is a lifesaver if you work on mods and need to relaunch the game a lot for testing.

I also recommend doing a search for dialogue mods and reskins and seeing what you like. I really like 2cute Greenhouse as well, but it's huge and can be overwhelming.

 

I also second the recommended stove in starter cabin mod that @LuthienNightwolf linked. (Because I love the starter cabin and prefer cozy over McMansion.) It's really the only game-modifying mod I use; all of my other mods are just visual retextures of buildings and furnishings. Keep in mind that most of the mods that actually modify gameplay will require a mod loader such as SMAPI to run, and there is always a risk of breaking your save file when using mods that change how the game functions. I suggest starting slow and trying only one or two mods at a time, so that if there are any problems you can troubleshoot easily. Visual mods are usually pretty safe and there are a lot of really nice ones that can give you different themes for your farm or your livestock.

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/1150/?

I think that this is the best UI mod. It shows which animals need love, sell price of anything on your tool bar, can track npc on map and show your progress with them with more depth, it shows you how long until crops (and almost anything that takes time to be prepared) are ready and which crops you planted and it shows your progress with diffrent skills and a lot more.
Much recommended

 

Btw speaking of skipping the intro, I found out if you hit Esc while it's starting up it'll take you straight to the menu. No mod required.

 

Oh, good to know! I think I'll just leave the mod installed, though, for grandmaster-level laziness.

 

Yup. When I figured this out it was so nice!

 

I don't know the names of them all (and can't check since I'm not at home), but the mods I have are/do the following:
- TimeSpeed (don't play without it!!!)
- Easy Fishing (because, darn it, I don't play to be frustrated!)
- Horse Whistle (brings my horse to me wherever I am when I press V - even in some buildings! - Sorry about those steaming piles, Pierre...)
- Automate ??? - Collects everything for me into chests if they are connected by specified types of path materials. I think this one also automatically loves all my animals as well.
- Chests Anywhere/Everywhere (not sure what it's called) - it lets me access all my chests no matter where I am. Particularily handy when making huge mine runs as I can empty my inventory as I go without having to leave the mines and go home, or when I want to spend a whole day fishing.
- Another mod that shows me how much things in my inventory will sell for.
- NPC Map - where the ^%@#$* is Clint!!! (after finishing the Community Centre).
- One that shows me if my animals need some lovin'.
- One that shows me when my crops will be ready to harvest (may be part of the Automate mod, not sure).
- Skull Cavern Elevator - becuase there's more iridium the further down you go!
- One that let's you hover your cursor over an NPC and press F1 and it will tell you all about that NPC, including Loved/Liked gifts, relationship level, how many points until the next level and more. Could be part of the NPC Map mod.

I think that's about it. Pretty much stuff that automates most things and makes life generally easier. I should check out that Pony Weight Loss mod... that's so annoying getting stuck trying go certain places! I particularily like the combo of being able to check the loved gifts of the NPC I'm talking to, then using the Chests Anywhere mod to grab their loved gift from my house while I'm talking to them. So handy!

 

OmniFarm is a map that incorporates all aspects of the different farm maps, I believe. It spawns monsters at night on the southern part, you can fish on it, there's respawnable stumps and a large quarry. It is REALLY big though, so be prepared to take on the large map.

 

In my opinion there are two smapi mods that everyone should use or at least try out:
- Look up anything
http://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/541/?

- NPC map locations
http://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/239/?

If you use those two, you can get every information you need at once and ingame. I almost never needed to tab out for the wiki afterwards.

 

I've never used NPC map locations, though it sounds interesting. But I'd strongly second Lookup Anything. It just makes matters so much easier than having to alt+tab out of SDV, check out the wiki or your notes, then alt+tab all the time. It's also very well implemented, and regularly updated for changes to SMAPI and the game.

Also, consider Durable Fences. I've seen comments that it no longer works, but I've had it in my current play-through since I started, and I'm in the middle of the second year. None of my fences have eroded. Fence erosion is one money sink I could easily do without, since it doesn't bring with it any fresh advantage, but only forces you to pay again for what you've already purchased. So Durable Fences is something I always use.

 

My Durable Fences seems to be working as well. I am concerned about the upcoming SMAPI 2.0, though.

I don't necessarily mind fence erosion as a concept, but... I've built fences IRL, and we certainly didn't need to replace them every year, even with heavy snow and storms.

 

The NPC Locations mod is very useful when you want to find villagers for gifting or quests. Before I got this mod I would have to look at the villagers shedule on the wiki. Look up anything isn't very good in this regard.

 

Does anyone else here have most of the info memorized? I used to take tons of notes but I've found the last couple playthroughs I haven't had to write anything down. (Aside from maybe prices for things I need to buy.)

 

In general I know the best gifts for NPCs (but not so much the liked ones), hours that buildings are open, where NPCs are likely to be, a handful of common crafting recipes, and tool upgrade costs. I also know where to find most of the fish, although I'm fuzzy on the seasons.

I've been doing less looking up of stuff in my latest playthroughs, but I'll usually double-check stuff like building materials that Robin needs to make sure that a) I have enough, and b) I don't forget something and have to make two trips.

 

Ok, I finally remembered to look at my Mods folder. Here's my list:
AutoGate (because I'm lazy)
Chests Anywhere
CJB Show Item Sell Price
Farm Automation.Item Collector
Horse Whistle
Lookup Anything
Loved Labels
Map Image Exporter
NPC Map Locations
Skull Cave Saver
SMAPI Health Bar Mod
Time Speed (don't leave home without it!)
Trainer Mod (I can't remember what this one does... or if I even use it, but it's there)

 

That's a cheat mod, if I recall correctly. It will generate items for you. Might do more, but I've only seen it, never used it. I think it used to be up on Nexus, but if so, it isn't there now. I just checked.

 

Actually it comes from SMAPI when you download it. No idea what it does though, so I just leave it there.

 

It comes packaged inside SMAPI? Interesting. I wasn't aware of that. I've never had a SMAPI download that included it.