Summary
- Stardew Valley's modding community has made significant improvements to the game's UI, adding features that enhance gameplay and make it easier for players to navigate and enjoy the farming simulator.
- UI mods like "Loved Labels" and "Experience Bars" offer practical tools for players, such as tracking petting animals and visualizing skill progression, which contribute to a more immersive and rewarding gaming experience.
- Other UI mods, such as "Chests Anywhere" and "NPC Map Locations," address convenience issues by allowing instant access to storage chests and providing real-time locations of important characters, saving players time and frustration.
Over the years, Stardew Valley has improved in numerous ways, from fresh content to new mechanics, to entirely new areas. UI has not seen too much change, though occasionally there would be minor upgrades here and there.
The mod-making community, however, has been improving the quality of life of players from the very beginning, collectively adding features that would perhaps take too long for one person. While custom characters, expansions, and mechanical additions are quite popular overall, UI mods can help fans navigate the beloved farming simulator. After all, any time not spent looking things up can be spent to fully enjoy the relaxing atmosphere of the game.
1 Loved Labels
Endorsements: 16,188
- Link to the Mod
- Created by Advize and Jinxiewinxie
Everybody deserves some love, and farming animals are no exception. Aside from the sheer cuteness of petting animals, players actually get better produce once they raise their animals’ heart levels to the max.
The problem is that once players get too many animals, it might become challenging to keep track of who they did and didn’t pet that day. This mod allows players to see exactly who has already gotten their pets, and who could still use a hug. Overall, it’s a great way to keep a great morale in the barn.
2 Experience Bars
Endorsements: 23,508
- Link to the Mod
- Created by spacechase0
There are 5 different skills that a player can master: Farming, Mining, Foraging, Fishing, and Combat. Whenever a player does something that gives them experience for that particular skill, they slowly increase the invisible progress bar, giving them passive bonuses and special profession perks that they can choose.
It’s a fun and engaging system, though it can be frustrating to not know exactly how much a player still needs to do to level that skill up. This mod fixes exactly that, by making the experience bar visible, so that players can track their progress in real-time.
3 Better Artisan Good Icons
Endorsements: 27,823
- Link to the Mod
- Created by Cat
Making Honey, Wine, and Jelly are great ways to make money in the game, as well as some other artisan items. Though it can be somewhat disappointing to find out that whatever the players use for them, the image for it remains the same. There is visually no difference between Grape and Starfruit wine, even if the price is vastly different.
This mod neatly adds a unique image for every artisanal item, making it much more engaging to experiment with different types of fruits and vegetables when fermenting or pickling.
4 Chests Anywhere
Endorsements: 32,816
- Link to the Mod
- Created by Pathoschild
It isn’t exactly fun to walk all the way back to the farm, once a player realizes that they’re missing one key item that they needed, whether it’s a gift, a mission requirement, or something else entirely. Aside from that, inventory management can get overwhelming at times, especially during the later stages of a game, once players have hundreds of items at their disposal.
This mod allows players to instantly access any chest that they have, as well as other storage, to either take or place items there as they please. The mod also has a more balanced setting, for those who see this as a little overpowered.
5 Show Item Sell Price
Endorsements: 41,917
- Link to the Mod
- Created by CJBok and Pathoschild
Money and planning are key to the game. Whatever activity the players enjoy, they will inevitably need to sell something. It can be somewhat tricky to plan ahead, without knowing exactly how much an item will sell for. Certain players enjoy making entire spreadsheets to manage their finances, but that path isn’t for everyone.
With this mod, players can immediately know exactly how much an item is worth, and on top of that know how much a full stack of an item will bring them, relieving them of any need to do the calculations themselves.
6 Gift Taste Helper
Endorsements: 57,094
- Link to the Mod
- Created by Tyler
Any new player will quickly realize just how picky certain villagers can be, and how unpredictably they might be offended by some items. Giving a beloved NPC an expensive gift, only for them to berate a player in return is no fun, and experimenting with every item for every character might take too long.
This mod makes it easy to check the list of beloved gifts for each NPC for them to reliably appreciate the players’ efforts. However, it is still unclear as to why Abigail insists on eating all the Quartz a player can give her.
7 UI Info Suite
Endorsements: 63,359
- Link to the Mod
- Created by Cdaragorn
This mod adds a lot of useful displays to help players understand the game much more at a simple glance. From sprinkler ranges to more detailed NPC heart levels, to whether or not an animal has produce to harvest. It makes planning out a farm so much easier, with no more wasted space or continual restructuring.
It’s also great to know exactly when a crop will be harvestable, allowing players to plan their seasons in a far more relaxed manner. It’s a great overall mod that does a fantastic job of improving the game’s UI.
8 Lookup Anything
Endorsements: 80,569
- Link to the Mod
- Created by Pathoschild
Players who begin to dig into the game will soon find themselves opening dozens of Wiki tabs, trying to keep up with the massive library of information that the game has. From fish types and catching times to recipes and item locations, there will almost always be at least something to look up.
This mod allows players to instantly look up almost any information by simply hovering over their object of curiosity. It can save players a lot of micromanaging and multitasking, and make things much more straightforward.
9 NPC Map Locations
Endorsements: 142,654
- Link to the Mod
- Created by Bouhm and Pathoschild
It’s not at all surprising that this is the most Endorsed UI mod for the game, given how important NPCs are to the story, mechanics, and everything in between. It can be incredibly annoying to walk to the mountains, only to find that Robin is nowhere near her shop.
This mod allows players to instantly see where someone is, and directly go and meet whoever it is they want to talk to. Whether players are trying to befriend, romance, or even simply talk to someone, they no longer need to agonize over schedules and pointless searches.
Stardew Valley
- Released
- February 26, 2016
