Hold on to your turnips, because the apocalypse has descended on the pastoral land of Stardew Valley.
No, it's not a game-breaking bug or new content. Rather, it is something that is highly anticipated Stardew Valley update 1.6 introduced changes that improved the back end and rendered some of its most popular mods completely useless. While mod compatibility may not be top of mind for every fan, it is important in the larger context. Stardew Valley community, where a single mod can be more than 10 million downloads. Now, the 1.6 update has launched a mad scramble among its passionate creators to fix their content and minimize the impact of what people in the community are calling the “modpocalypse.”
But it's not all bad news. The 1.6 update could be one of the biggest swings for modding in the game's history and will make it easier to add new content, like characters and music. Previously, certain changes required technical programming knowledge, but thanks to improvements made in version 1.6, creating mods is easier than ever. Polygon spoke to the creators behind some of the biggest mods, and while they mentioned the challenges that come with all the current dormant mods, in their opinion Stardew Valley expands The creator has moved on Stardew Valley developer Devin Hedegaard, these changes will “make the modding community stronger than ever.”
According to Hedegaard, also known as FlashShifter, the game is developed in such a way that you “need to be a programmer” to edit and add things behind the scenes. Content patcher, a popular program for moderators, makes adding content much easier but has limitations on its intended uses. Moderators can now use it to edit and add even more elements to the game, like animals and music, which you couldn't do before. “With Content Patcher, you don't need to be a programmer, you just need to be able to read data and think logically. And now you can add things very easily. […] It used to be easy, but now it's even easier,” Hedegaard said via Discord voice chat.
Developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone makes his debut Stardew Valley in 2016 and it was sold out 30 million copies hitherto. That enduring popularity can largely be explained by Barone's constant updates, but also by the passionate community of modders who continue to create new content and expand the game's world. play. Players can explore new areas, meet fan-made characters, or change the art direction thanks to these mods. According to Nexus Mods representatives, there have been more than 336 million downloads across approximately 15,300 Stardew Valley mod for the past eight years, making it the fifth largest gaming community on the site.
Instead of controlling modders with DMCA takedowns, Barone has worked tirelessly to promote collaboration. Before being released, Mr patch 1.6 description as a “modification-focused” update and even released an alpha version showing off the code before the official release. Additionally, Barone hired the creator of SMAPI, the most popular software used for downloading Stardew Valley mod, to work on the 1.6 update and make the game more mod-friendly.
The creator of SMAPI and Content Patcher is Pathoschild, and everyone Polygon spoke to mentioned his important role and how he served as a consistent line of communication between Barone and Stardewcommunity of. LemurKat, creator of the popular East Scarp mod, told Polygon via Discord that Pathoschild “keeps great documentation of the aspects that are open for us to work on.”
DestyNova, another active modder in the East Scarp community, agrees with those sentiments. “[Pathoschild and Barone] teamed up to make sure that modders like me have every tool you can think of until the last second,” DestyNova said via Discord voice chat. “And Pathoschild tried to accommodate the changes as best they could, like until [two nights prior to release].”
In addition to structural changes in the code, the new update also brings new content for moderators to work with. DestyNova previously created a mod that added a non-binary NPC Stardew Valleyand now they will have more work to do.
“It's like expanding your artistic palette. Not every moderator will also be an artist, so every time there is an update from the game, people can consume more content. There is more content that people can work with,” DestyNova said.
However, with big changes come growing pains. pathogens Maintain a database where players can check if mods work with 1.6 and a quick look will reveal dozens of mods that are now defunct, which leads to a lot of work for modders. Hedegaard described a grueling schedule in the days following the update's release. “I sleep as much as I can, then I wake up and work all day. Like, definitely more than 12 hours a day minimum,” he said.
“There is a lot of regression in some places. But there were some parts of my mod that worked fine for about two years and now with this update, it's broken and I have to fix it,” Hedegaard continued. “But that was only for a short time. In my opinion, in the long run with these changes, it will make the modding community stronger than ever and that's a good change. And that's something the modding community really needs.”
While the patch introduced many new issues, like bugs and version compatibility issues, at least these moderators weren't alone. The same communities that helped bring previous content to life can now provide support throughout the troubleshooting process. The area around East Scarp, in particular, has earned a reputation as a welcoming place to study and a haven for LGBTQ-friendly people. Stardew Valley Content.
“That's important to me as a gay writer. I think everyone sees it [the East Scarp] NPCs and people see themselves and it becomes important to them. […] 'Oh, hey! This is a non-binary NPC. I love them so much. Here you go, my friend who is also non-binary.' Then we accidentally developed a community of people who wanted to create gay NPCs, and I loved that,” DestyNova said.
And at the end of the day, the communities surrounding these mods can be as meaningful as the content they add. The tutorials and active Discord servers both serve as pillars of support.
“It will get easier eventually, but many of us more veteran modders are also having to relearn the process and adapt to the new mechanics. [in the game],” said LemurKat. “This leads to less of a teaching environment and more of a sharing, 'Hey, look at this cool feature I just found.' This is quite exciting because I have been modding for almost 5 years and still have a lot to learn.”
If you are a fan of these mods and want to support the creators, sometimes a simple “thank you” can do wonders.
“For most of us, this is a part-time hobby, and we want to experience new content as much as you do,” says LemurKat. “If you find your game has bugs, I recommend you learn how to analyze and read your SMAPI logs, as there are some bugs you can fix yourself. If you can't find a solution there, let the mod author know about it by posting a clear description of the problem and a link to the SMAPI log on the Nexus Mods page. […] And please, provide supportive comments too! I love finding a 'Thanks for your hard work' post buried amid a screen of 'This is broken, please fix' comments.”
