Stardew Valley modders on the pressures and positives of the 1.6 update: "So many things which once required complex code patches are now simple"

The Stardew Valley 1.6 update changed the game in dozens of ways, big and small. For most players on PC, they were able to dive in immediately and check out all of the new features. But for those who use mods, the update often meant making major rewrites, adding a lot of work for their creators. Thanks to advanced warning and a beta provided to modders, some managed to have their mods ready on day one, but for those still working, there's pressure to fit their hobby around their other obligations.

Although most people are polite, many mod creators have had to urge users to understand that they are working in their free time and can't get everything up to date immediately. Even for those modders who had advanced information, like Stardew Valley Expanded's creator FlashShifter, who worked on the 1.6 update alongside Barone and had Expanded updated on day one, it was a huge amount of work. "Most of [Stardew Valley Expanded] had to be completely rewritten internally," says FlashShifter.

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OhoDavi, creator of the anime portraits mod that has over 1 million downloads, is one creator who hasn't yet updated their mod at the time of writing. "Right now I need to prioritize my main work," they say, "so I can only update this mod in my little free time." Stardew Valley's 1.6 update added winter portraits for the town's NPCs, which isn't accounted for in OhoDavi's mod, meaning they switch back to normal styles when the cold weather draws in.

"Most people were super supportive and sweet and patient because the Stardew community is wonderful, but there were definitely a few comments that came off as impatient," says DaisyNiko, creator of multiple mods which change the map and color palette of ConcernedApe's pixelated world. She says she got a lot of bug reports about the situation until she worked out how to turn them off. "There was definitely pressure to update," she says.

Of course, some modders have moved on from Stardew Valley entirely, and with beloved mods being potentially left incompatible forever, others have stepped in to create their own versions. That was what motivated ApryllForever to release PolyamorySweet, which allows players to have multiple spouses and/or roommates. She had previously been a fan of Free Love, a similar mod, but learned that the modder behind it had gone on hiatus, allowing others to use her code if they wanted to build something similar.

With Free Love and other polyamory mods depreciating, ApryllForever decided that "the most effective way to bring this joy of polyamory to everyone," was to combine them into one new mod, while adding her own new content like the Áine Flower, used to choose a primary spouse. FlashShifter, she says that "the changes in 1.6 base game code required considerable re-writing of the mod code."

But FlashShifter says that this is "for the better in the long run." While it may have caused disruption in the short term, 1.6 added a framework for modding which allows a lot more freedom and doesn’t require modders to use third-party tools that were necessary until this point. "I'm personally very excited to add new machines, wild trees, farm buildings, and farm animals to the game," says FlashShifter.

Like FlashShifter, ApryllForever says that the 1.6 update ultimately means the modding community has a bright future. "So many things which once required complex code patches are now simple, and can even be added in Content Patcher now, which makes everything so much easier," she says. "This new update opens up a whole brand new world of creation, putting the tools of creation in easily accessible reach for so many more people. I am super excited to see in the next coming months and years what will be made with these amazing new tools!"

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