Do you need a new save to start expansion mod?

[Hypnos]

Hi, I want to try the famous expansion mod that you are all playing, but I'm afraid it might corrupt my save or something.
Does that work on old saves? If yes, will it mess up my ability to get further achievements in it? Thanks in advance.

[LuckySara]

Yes it works on any save. (Just keep a backup of your current one without the mod just incase)

And it shouldn't mess with the achievements.

[Ryika]

You can continue with your current farm, with some limitations:

If you're starting a new save (recommended), you're done! You can skip this section. Follow these steps if adding the mod with an existing save file.

Install Reset Terrain Features. See the mod description for instructions on opening the menu. Reset all trees and bushes using the mod. If you skip this step, bushes will be all over the place and won't make sense.
You may need a no clip mod such as Passable Objects to reach anything remaining that is otherwise inaccessible.

Known issue: grass will never spawn outside the farm on existing saves. There's currently no fix for this, but you can use Time Freeze and CJB Item Spawner to place grass manually. If you don't mind grass not spawning outside the farm, you can just ignore this.

https://github.com/FlashShifter/StardewValleyExpanded/wiki/Install-guide#prepare-an-existing-save

Personally, I would strongly recommend a new farm though. Starting anew will give you a MUCH more immersive and cohesive experience where all of the new features just flow seamlessly into the old features.

[I Kinda Fail]

Figured I'd ask here rather than make my own post.

Does SVE let you use the different farm types? Like is there an expanded Riverlands, an expanded Wilderness farm, etc. or does SVE only have one default farm type?

I've been thinking about modding the game soon. I know some of the new farm maps modders make simply replace the files of other farms, like Riverlands, so I'm wondering if I can just use SVE for one save file, but not for all of them? Or if I'd have to uninstall the save file whenever I do something on a non-SVE file?

[BCD]

I've been wondering the same exact thing. I'd like to ask something else too though, albeit I feel it might be a really stupid question. If you uninstall SVE after having played a save with it, will that save be screwed over? If you just install SVE again will the save work, or will you have to do some major file editing?
My assumption is that it will work just fine, but I'm quite the philistine when it comes to modding and such.

[I Kinda Fail]

My God. I've been hearing for years how easy it is to download mods and I've been working on this for 20 minutes now and I'm still nowhere near being done. I finally understand why people want a Steam workshop. Nexus Mods does not explain modding very clearly at all. >_>

[Ryika]

Eh, installing most mods is pretty simple at this point. Back when mods only worked by overriding things, and multiple mods tried to override the same files, that's when you often had to figure out how to set things up properly and what to prioritize.

Right now, the one somewhat complicated thing is to install SMAPI, but how to do it is described very clearly on the wiki[stardewvalleywiki.com].

Then in 99% of all cases, it's just download, extract, and drop into the mods folder inside of the Stardew Valley folder. You'll often have to download dependencies as well which the nexus will notify you about, but most mods use the same ~10 utility mods, so once you've got those setup, adding more and more mods is even easier.

[max]

I can't answer the second question because I honestly have no idea, but you can use any farm with SVE! Immersive Farm 2 is just recommended. Your choice of farm doesn't change anything. Just know that if you install IF2, you won't be able to use the standard farm map. IF2 overwrites it.

You also can't use SVE for one save file and not use it for another. Once the mod is installed, every save will use it. You'll need to completely uninstall it if you want to play a save without it.

As for installing mods, here's a quick tutorial.

First, download SMAPI. You'll get a zip file. Unzip it with WinRar/7Zip and drag it to your desktop or any other folder. Run the file depending on your operating system and follow the instructions. That will install SMAPI in your Stardew directory.

Now you can start adding mods!

Almost all mods are installed the same, unless they're XNB mods. Though, those have been being phased out over the past year or so in favor of Content Patcher and other .manifest mods. The difference is that XNB mods overwrite the actual game files, while .manifest mods overwrite them while you're playing. I hope that makes sense.

In the case of SVE, download the main file from the Nexus page and unzip it. Drag the folders into Steam\steamapps\common\Stardew Valley\Mods. Leave them as is or they won't work. You do the same with every other mod required for SVE.

Next is possibly the most complicated part: launching the game through SMAPI.

Right click on Stardew in your game library, then go to Properties. From there, click Set Launch Options and type this into the box:
"C:\Program Files x86\Steam\steamapps\common\Stardew Valley\StardewModdingAPI.exe" %command%
It's VERY important that you format it exactly like that quotes and all, or it won't work. Replace the file directory with your own if it's different.

...and that's it! Now you can play Stardew modded! I hope that helps!!

[Ryika]

Originally posted by max:

You also can't use SVE for one save file and not use it for another. Once the mod is installed, every save will use it. You'll need to completely uninstall it if you want to play a save without it.

However, this can be worked around by having multiple, copy-pasted mod folders that differ only by the mods that you want on some characters but not others, and swapping them out depending on which character you want to play. That's really all that one needs to do.

Not that important if it's only a difference of one mod, but if you have multiple "mod packs" that you enjoy playing with, this is very helpful. One just has to make sure to not accidentally save while having the wrong mod pack active, as items will vanish if the mod that added them is deactivated and, I think, won't show up again even if it gets reactivated later.

[Dwarfy2k]

If people want an easier time on the mods installing you should download Vortex, means you can turn on/off mods at will without affecting the game install files. Vortex is the main mod manager from Nexus.

It'll also deal with SMAPI and all that when those are installed into Vortex

[BCD]

I downloaded vortex, but it isn't making that much of a difference as far as I can tell. Some mods (SVE included) don't have the vortex download button, and if there's a way to have vortex manage these mods outside of this button then I'm too stupid to know.

[Dwarfy2k]

Originally posted by BCD:

-snip

It doesn't need a vortex button you can also use the mod manager download button on the files screen at Nexus

[Dwarfy2k]

I'm running vortex for my highly modded Stardew Valley save. Make sure when you install the mods your also elevating as it requests otherwise the mods won't activate

[BCD]

I'll try to figure it out, thanks

[Dwarfy2k]

Originally posted by BCD:

I'll try to figure it out, thanks

I wont lie, took me a little to get it working but once I did was worth it. I had SVE installed then decided I didn't wanna play it after like a week so I just disabled it and had no issues lol

[max]

I don't use Vortex for Stardew. I go through and manually edit some of my mods to better fit my game, and I find it easier to install everything manually anyway. I do use it for Fallout 4, though, so I have an understanding of how it works.

If the mod doesn't have a "Mod Manager Download" button, download the mod manually and drop the provided zip file into the downloads section of Vortex. That will install the mod through Vortex. You can also just paste the mod's Nexus URL into the box. It's straight forward from there.