Do you guys like to customize your game experience, or do you prefer the vanilla version? I logged about 500 hours with the vanilla, and have only just started exploring modding options. Do you guys have any recommendations? So far I really love the reskins that just change how things look, like turning the horse into a direwolf or changing the buildings' colors.
I'm not opposed to mods, but I'd use them sparingly and introduce them one at a time so as not to overwhelm the core game. I only use about four or five myself and all but one of them are just graphics tweaks-- a different look for silos, nicer hats, that sort of thing. The one and only 'gameplay' mod I use does nothing but add a stove to the starter cabin so you can cook without having to upgrade your entire house. When I was /just/ starting the game I used easier fishing to get used to the minigame, but I long since went back to the core fishing game and have no problems with it any longer.
Me personally don't use mods, but there are a lot of really good out there, and I'm not opposed to people using them. I just really like the vanilla game, and don't really care to use mods at this point in time, but who knows maybe one day I'll try some out. But if you want to mod I say go for it! There are a lot of cool mods out there. Like lilli said tho, maybe only do a few at a time as to not overwhelm yourself.
Mod, but not a lot of them. I don't do a bunch but added a few that enhance the gameplay a bit. @LuthienNightwolf introduced me to jumino pets. I have mods for easier fishing and making sure I watered the crops, and a few cosmetic changes to the NPCs (in the case of the wizard, it's turning the wizard female...). I essentially like the vanilla game, but think some tweaks are good. (Keep contemplating *clock doesn't move when in cave* but don't know if I NEED SNAPI for that...the mods I have installed are standalones).
I like to mod it visually, I've reskinned several different things to my liking. I especially love the "A less yellow Stardew" mod, quality soil is not yellow Gameplay wise I did once mod the CC bundle requirements to add more stuff to them, but I've since gone back to vanilla. And that's all I've tried when it comes to gamplay and such, I like the game vanilla. At least for now. So I definitely don't mind mods and I might try out some gameplay and/or game feature mods in the future. But for now I'm content with vanilla.
I personally love the visual mods best, and I use quite a few of them. I played the game all the way through to mid-year 3 and had the CC completed before I put anything other than mods that change the look of things, so I feel like I had the experience of playing the game as CA intended before I started messing with too much. But now I'm having fun personalizing it. Gameplay-wise, I use a timespeed mod cuz' I HATE being rushed through everything, and I added Advize's farm extension so I'd have more room to work with. All the rest of the mods I use change the look of things - reskins for the different animals (including the cat-to-junimo one that musical74 mentioned), new buildings, new furniture, removing the crib and kid's beds from the second house expansion, and a couple that change the greenhouse and farm cave interior so you have more space. The farm cave interior one also puts a little hotspring in it that works just like the spa, which *might* be considered a little cheaty for a beginner but I don't care. I did my time in my first playthrough and this was too pretty to pass up. lol I would say though it's totally up to you, just be careful and make sure you back up your saves when you start messing with stuff. As Lilli said, one at a time so you can make sure they're working properly, and if something goes wrong you know which one to undo. Edit: I always forget, I also use the stove-in-first-house mod. I haven't used it much yet though, either I'm missing ingredients for the recipes I actually know, or I haven't made friends with the right people yet to get the recipes I could actually make. >u<
I played a lot of hours on vanilla (mid year 6). Now I doing a few, mostly skins.. Changed a cow, horse, dog and one that changed the look of Harvey. It's your game, and right now, single player. Try the ones you like, keep them, don't keep them. It's totally to your taste.
Vanilla fo lyfe. I think it's cool that people have done so many mods, a lot of them useful, but i dunno, i just don't feel like i'm getting the "right" gameplay experience. at least, it's not the gameplay experience i want. i get a little irked when i say i would like to see something in the game and someone is like, "there's a mod for that." chances are i'm 100% aware there's a mod but i just don't like messing with the game, and i would prefer to see things in CA's vision. that being said, what's out there is pretty dang cool. the work that's gone into those mods are crazy and amazing, and mad props. i really love looking at the visual mods and their ideas. people should do what they want to get their desired gameplay experience, but i tend to tell people to give the original a chance before diving into the serious game-changing mods
I have the timespeed mod as Luthien mentioned, a few recolors and stuff but nothing that changes the core of the game. The best part about trying out mods is that you can always uninstall them if you decide not to use them anymore.
General consensus seems to be using them sparingly, and for minor tweaks. The biggest change from a mod was changing the farm layout to make it all covered in grass, adding a river, bridges, fountains...basically it removed those poorly placed ponds and makes it look way prettier, like a meadow. Ah, and the greenhouse mod to plant trees again. Dunno why CA removed that but it used to be there.
I have a portrait mod that I like to use because I like how it looks and I do use a fishing mod to make fishing a bit less intensive cause after a couple wrist surgeries, I find that intense clicking rapid fire causes too much pain. And while I accept I will never beat prairie king for the same reason...that's a side optional achievement thing...where as I didn't want to be incapable of doing the fishing aspect of the game entirely.
I decide that it's time to add mods into any game when i feel that i explored it thoroughly and i know what's the deal with it. After that point, i feel comfortable enough to screw around with the game as i please.
Exactly, that's why I quoted the hours I've put in lol. I've played through the 2 year mark on 3 or 4 different saves, so I feel like it's safe to experiment a little.
To be fair, modding or being a "purist" so to speak, is something that you don't really have to ask permission for or show your credentials about said game to gain approval. In the end, modding or not modding is up to you and the kind of experience you want to achieve for your own enjoyment, if you feel that it's time to pump in some mods that might look cool into the game, then just go for it.
I mostly use portrait mods and some other visual mods (recolors and sprite changes and such) since vanilla stardew valley felt a little too vibrant for me. In fact, the freedom to customize how the game looked for me, as well as the freedom to change the visuals at whim is one of the reason I spend 100+ hours on Stardew Valley.
I came from Minecraft originally. In fact, I came from the modded minecraft community. I still do maintain a mod pack which has releases for 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, and I'm working on 1.10 as we speak (skipped 1.8 and 1.9 because they went by so blazingly fast to the modded community) so I really am in the camp of 'mods are cool'. Having said that, I've played the vanilla game multiple times on multiple saves going multiple routes. There's nothing wrong with the Vanilla game, or I would never have purchased it. However, I prefer game mechanic changes mods that aren't effectively cheats. For example, let's look at the minecraft mod Thermal Dynamics. Just about everyone who does modded minecraft is probably familiar with this mod, it's done originally by KingLemming and development has since been continued by the entire CoFH crew. This mod adds pipes for transportation and automated inserting and removal of, items and fluids within the game. However, it adds new ores to be discovered which are used in making these pipes, making them less than trivial in the early game, and you can see the items zipping through them or the fluids flowing through them (and liquids that give off light will actually glow!). This is a fairly balanced mod. It doesn't give you things, it just automates what you have more efficiently. And it isn't free, you have to have an investment to make it. The closest in SDV we have to that would be the one Farm Automation mod, but it just uses existing tiles (configurable). Now, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with this, particularly from a development ease perspective. And if I were to use that mod, I'd probably use the crystaline paths to use to automate with. This way, there's a cost. It costs one refined quartz per square moved, and you have to purchase that particular path to begin with, so it isn't something you can do day one. You have to work up to it. However, if there was an enhancement to be able to MAKE, for example, actual conveyor belts, and maybe robotic arms (think Factorio), THAT would be an amazing mod to have in this game. You could either steampunk it or you could do the whole industrial thing (JojaCorp!). Maybe even bring in a whole new power mechanic needed to run the dang things. I also had an idea for an irrigation mod designed to replace current sprinkler systems, which are a bit too easy. You'd have a pump at one of the two ponds (the smaller one can provide less water than the bigger one, but is more immediately accessible) and water troughs moving the water to your crops for them to be watered. You can also have elevated ones that you can walk under, for the price of the iron scaffolding needed to keep it up. Again, you're looking at resources and an interesting new mechanic to play with, in addition to everything you find in SDV. Of course, these are the types of mods that are the hardest to create, because you are inventing whole new mechanics the game was never designed to work with, so you're basically starting off whole cloth, rather than simply modifying what is already there. This post brought to you by Wall O' Text Inc. and Viewers Like You!
This post nailed it. I agree completely. Also, FarmAutomation mod is by far my favorite mod, it's just so convenient to have. (Not to be confused with CJB's Automation mod, which is also very good, but less involved than FarmAutomation.) http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/beta-farmautomation-mods-for-smapi-0-39-6.111931/
I think it's up to anyone who plays. Use a lot, or sparingly, or not at all. It's how you want to play the game. And don't let anyone make you justify the changes you want, according to how you'd like to play.
mods need the mods especially the portrait mods that makes the game look nice and don't forget that music mod. sadly to say I've tried vanilla and I went straight back to the mods but I know people like vanilla free games.
I had reached over 800 hours of vanilla gameplay before I decided I was ready to mod (previously, I had a mod, but it was only to reskin the scarcrows, so I don't really count that, since it doesn't modify mechanics). then I modded the house, and was pleased. So then I added another, More Crops Mod (not Even More... that once kinda felt cheaty to me). And I only just added the farm expansion. I say it's up to the player, but in my experience, what I recommend is playing vanilla until you ... get your money out of it. I didn't wanna say get bored, cause I don't think any of us are there yet. But wait until you're familiar with the process and ready to step up the game a bit. But to each their own.
