How ConcernedApe helped tailor the game to its many modders
How to prepare your mods for Stardew Valley 1.6
Hold on to your parsnips, because an apocalypse has befallen the pastoral lands of Stardew Valley.
No, it wasn't a game-breaking bug or new content. Rather, the highly anticipated Stardew Valley 1.6 update introduced changes that overhauled the backend and rendered several of its most popular mods completely useless. While mod compatibility may not be top of mind for all fans, it is paramount in the larger Stardew Valley community, where a single mod can have more than 10 million downloads. Now, the 1.6 update has started a frantic effort among its enthusiastic creators to fix their content and mitigate the effects of what people in the community are calling the "modpocalypse."
But it's not all bad news. Update 1.6 could be one of the biggest turning points for modding in the history of the game and will make it easier to add new content, like characters and music. Previously, some mods required technical programming skills, but thanks to improvements made in 1.6, creating mods is easier than ever. Polygon spoke to creators behind some of the biggest mods, and while they mentioned the challenges that came with all the current dysfunctional mods, in Stardew Valley's view, according to Stardew Valley Expanded creator turned Stardew Valley developer Devin Hedegaard, the changes will "make the modding community stronger than ever before."
