True story: I bought Stardew Valley in 2017 and finally started playing it this past weekend. Why did I wait almost eight years before planting my first parsnip? Honestly, I was afraid it would become too much of a timesink. Judging from the 12 hours I played in the past three days on my Steam Deck, I was correct.
Point is, this bit of news is especially pertinent to me but also other Stardew players, Steam Deck owners, and mod-likers: Nexus Mods has started alpha testing its new app, and the only game it works with at the moment is Stardew Valley.
"We're delighted to announce the alpha release of the Nexus Mods app—our next-generation mod manager," senior community manager Pickysaurus announced. "This is a very early build with limited features and only supports Stardew Valley (more games are coming later), but it's the perfect time for pioneers like you to help shape its future."
Not only that, but the alpha version of the app is available for both Windows and Linux, which means Stardew players can test it on Steam Deck. Much as I'm digging the 'Dew so far, I've been thinking about trying out a few mods, like one that makes time move a bit slower in the mines. Now I don't have to Google a bunch of guides on how to get mods working on Steam Deck, I can just try the new app. See, this is why I didn't want to play it in the first place. Now I'm gonna be sucked down a rabbit hole of the best Stardew Valley mods.
The app has been in the works for a while, and will eventually succeed the site's current mod manager, Vortex, which has been around since 2018. The new app won't 100% replace Vortex, but "eventually the app will become the primary mod manager and Vortex will no longer be updated officially," Pickysaurus said in response to a user comment, noting that "We're a long way from that."
As for what you can do with the Nexus Mods app in the alpha:
- Install mods for Stardew Valley on Steam and GOG (Xbox Game Pass support is coming later).
- Log in to your Nexus Mods account and download mods directly from the website.
- Cleanly enable and disable mods in your loadout.
- Easily roll your game to a non-modded state by un-managing the game or uninstalling the app.
- Get diagnostic information about common issues in your load order, including: missing dependencies, SMAPI or game version issues, potentially dangerous mod installed (XNB edits)
- In-app editing of config files (e.g. config.json)
The latest build of the Nexus Mods app can be downloaded here or from Github. It's recommended, but not required, that you have a free Nexus Mods account to test the alpha.
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Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor
Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.
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