Modding Progress So Far

[Cantorsdust]

ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO JUMP ON #stardewvalley-mods ?

(you are, come join us)



DOWNLOADS
APIs
Stardew Modding API (SMAPI)[github.com] by Zoryn4163. Also check out Zoryn4163's Modding API thread[community.playstarbound.com] for a glimpse of the future?!?

NB: The trainer commands were taken out of SMAPI and split off into their own mod! This is located in the Mods folder of the zip. Unzip that next to your save games, at %appdata%\Stardew Valley. That is, the path to TrainerMod.dll should be %appdata%\Stardew Valley\Mods\TrainerMod.dll.
Mod Managers

SDVMM[www.dropbox.com] by yuukiw[community.playstarbound.com]. Simple mod manager that can install SMAPI from its zip and SMAPI DLL Mods.

Tools
XNB Node[mega.nz] (0.1.2) by Draivin[community.playstarbound.com]. RECOMMENDED FOR XNB PACKING, UNPACKING (now packs/unpacks PNG and text (YAML) data).

XNB Parser 0.7[dl.dropbox.com] RECOMMENDED ONLY FOR DECOMPRESSING XNBs FOR USE WITH XNBDemapper. (unpacks PNG data, unpacks text as XML, but the XML file cannot be repacked!)

SimpleXNBDemapper[github.com] (1.1) by Pinkishu / Inari-Whitebear[community.playstarbound.com]. RECOMMENDED. Map / level editor.

Notepad++[notepad-plus-plus.org] RECOMMENDED(editing text files)

XNB Builder[sourceforge.net] NOT RECOMMENDED, HERE FOR POSTERITY(packs PNG data)


Guides
Modder's Guide by Alpha_Omegasis[docs.google.com]

Step by Step Guide with Pictures for Unpacking and Repacking Mods[imgur.com] by cantorsdust[community.playstarbound.com]

Audio Editing Guide by Drogean[community.playstarbound.com]

Map Editing Video How to by Pinkishu / Inari-Whitebear. See also the instructions on the github.[github.com]

Font Editing Guide[docs.google.com] by Chrisblue[community.playstarbound.com]


Mods

General disclaimers: As always, be wary of random EXEs downloaded from the internet. I have scanned the two EXE mods below and not found any viruses, but please be safe. For all mods, be sure to backup your files and back up your savegame, located at %APPDATA%/StardewValley/Saves. If your files become corrupted, you can redownload them by going under Steam, Game Properties, Verify Game Cache.


Content Mods
Game Data:

NB: I'm getting inconsistent reports of all my text-based XNB tweaks not working. I'm testing on my own machine, but I would appreciate any user reports--whether things are working or not working.

NB: Further testing has shown that while All Fish All Seasons All Times All Weathers does enable catching fish at any time and in any weather, the seasons did not stick. Fish can still only be caught in their usual seasons. I don't know why, mea culpa. I will leave the files up for those who want the times/weather mod, at least.

All Crops All Seasons[community.playstarbound.com] by cantorsdust[community.playstarbound.com]. Edits Content\Data\Crops.xnb to allow all crops to grow in all seasons. [S]Confirmed working.[/s] I have also received reports that planting the special spring pack seeds you get as a reward in other seasons will result in those seasons' seed pack plants growing. CROPS STILL DIE IN WINTER. Nothing in these damn XNBs is straightforward. You would think /spring summer fall winter/ meant spring, summer, fall, and winter.

[S]All Fish All Seasons by cantorsdust[mega.nz]. Edits Content\Data\Fish.xnb to allow all fish to be caught in all seasons. Preserves the requirements for time of day and whether, as opposed to...[/s]

All Fish [S]All Seasons[/s] All Times All Weathers[mega.nz] by cantorsdust[community.playstarbound.com]. Edits Content\Data\Fish.xnb to allow all fish to be caught basically all the time.

Easy Fishing[drive.google.com] by Zippy199522[community.playstarbound.com]. Edits Content\Data\Fish.xnb to make fish easier to catch--they don't dart around so much. CURRENTLY CONFLICTS WITH ALL FISH ALL SEASONS ETC. There can only be one edited XNB at a time. I'll make a compatibility patch soon.

Penny No Rocks[mega.nz] by cantorsdust[community.playstarbound.com]. Edits the Bus Stop map to clear 3 rocks along the bottom of the path potentially blocking her route.


Graphics:

{リンクが削除されました}Bearish Harvey by Quart de Carton[community.playstarbound.com]. For those who like em big and bearded.
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2016/09/1456828895-harvey-content.png http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2016/09/1456828889-harvey-content.png

{リンクが削除されました}Black Cat Replacement by Exodus13[community.playstarbound.com]. Replaces the original cat with a black one.
http://i.imgur.com/EklV5O4.jpg

{リンクが削除されました}Cane Corso Dog Mod by Mr. Teatime[community.playstarbound.com]. Replaces the dog sprite with a black one.
http://i.imgur.com/cHB1Jk9.png http://i.imgur.com/dECvFAW.png

Cute Portraits[community.playstarbound.com] by vstoto[community.playstarbound.com]. Modifies character portraits to look cute, starting with Abigail.
http://community.playstarbound.com/attachments/t-pe-budrxdh4-qc-3p1n97-jpg.142856/ http://community.playstarbound.com/attachments/abigail-png.142858/

Harvey Bearded[www.dropbox.com] by kurona_bright[forums.somethingawful.com] For those who prefer a beard to a moustache, but not the full bear. (author's link is to SA, probably not work safe, first link is direct download).
http://i.imgur.com/z6MVRNW.png

Harvey No Longer Looks Like a Pedophile[mega.nz] by Glloyd. Removes the 'stache.

James009's Sprite Shack.[community.playstarbound.com] Grey cats and Abigail resprites!
http://i.imgur.com/RRTDxrH.png
http://i.imgur.com/mJiPEmf.png
http://i.imgur.com/rdljouB.png

Maru Resprite[mega.nz] by Galebourn[community.playstarbound.com]. Replaces Maru with an earlier portrait and sprite.
http://i.imgur.com/lt1X5kv.png http://i.imgur.com/4Zpb3XD.png

Mod Portraits Anime Style[mega.nz] by toonyoza[community.playstarbound.com]. Mods sprites to look more like anime.
http://upic.me/i/cg/preview.png

Overhauled Marriage Candidates[mega.nz] (1.2) by Rupert484 and GIANTDIX[community.playstarbound.com]. Replaces the bachelors and bachelorettes' portraits and sprites with versions from earlier development.
http://i.imgur.com/kAXXYvX.jpg

Round Female Farmer Face[www.dropbox.com] by Beret[community.playstarbound.com]. Makes the female farmer sprite have a rounder chin, not a flat one.


Sound:

{リンクが削除されました}Ambient Music with Rain by Drogean[community.playstarbound.com]. Adds some moody music over the rain audio.
{リンクが削除されました}Ambient Music with Rain 2 by Drogean[community.playstarbound.com]. Adds Undertale soundtrack music to the rain.


DLL Mods
Require the SMAPI above. All of these are installed to %appdata%\Stardew Valley\Mods. Alternatively, as of SMAPI v0.3 and higher, you can place them in your main Stardew Valley installation folder under Stardew Valley\Mods.

Zoryn's own SMAPI Mods:[github.com]

Instant Fishing Catch[github.com]: Catch fish instantly upon starting the minigame.
Less Fishing Loss[github.com]: Overshooting the fish in the minigame does not lose fishing progress as quickly.
Stardew Test Mod[github.com]: Only a test, will crash your game if used.


All Recipes[dl.dropboxusercontent.com] by redteam[community.playstarbound.com]. Adds the command player_addrecipes to the API console which adds all recipes to the player.

Auto Speed Mod[github.com] by zippy199522[community.playstarbound.com] (aka Alpha Omegasis). Auto-loads your chosen player_setspeed command from a text file every time you start the game. Convenient!

FreezeInside Mod[github.com] by cantorsdust[community.playstarbound.com]. Freezes time while inside, unfreezes when you go back out, like Harvest Moon.

Handsome Matt's Mods[community.playstarbound.com]:

Junimo Deposit Anywhere[dl.dropboxusercontent.com] Allows players to drop off materials for the Junimo / Community Center quests anywhere. Handy!
Calendar Anywhere[dl.dropboxusercontent.com] Quick mod that allows you to open the calendar from anywhere, simply click the date in the top right.
Durable Fences[dl.dropboxusercontent.com] With this mod fences will never break.

{リンクが削除されました}Variable Grass Growth by dantheman999[community.playstarbound.com]. 3 options for increasing and 1 for decreasing grass growth speed.


EXEs

NB--1.02 updated the EXE, these mods below may be out of date.
NB--Messing with movement may interfere with doors and NPC cutscenes.

Stardew Injector[github.com] by boomer678[community.playstarbound.com]. Edits the EXE to allow for a wide range of options.

Edited EXEs for increased run speed, slower game time[forums.somethingawful.com]. By deathrat on something awful. PLEASE NOTE THAT SOMETHINGAWFUL.COM IS PROBABLY NOT WORK SAFE. DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK HERE[urcraft.com].


Trainers
CheatHappens: Health, Stamina, Water, Items, Freeze Time, Add Money, Super Speed, Super Skills, Super Damage, Quick Crop Growth FREE (Surprisingly)[www.cheathappens.com]

{リンクが削除されました}http://mrantifun.net/index.php?threads/stardew-valley-trainer.7294/



INTRO

I joined the forums to report on my progress modding Stardew Valley so far. I hope that this will stimulate further discussion and progress.

Stardew Valley has a simple file structure. All data is under the Stardew Valley\Content folder. Unfortunately, all data (except for sounds) is stored as .xnb (XNB ) files, which are not the easiest to mod. XNB files are binary containers for Microsoft's XNA game development platform[en.wikipedia.org]. XNB files are compressed versions of ordinary game data such as pictures, text files, etc. To my knowledge, Editing them in straightforward programs like Notepad++ etc is not possible.

All graphical data in the game is can be extracted as .png (PNG) files within XNB files within the folders Content and the subfolders Content\Animals, Buildings, Characters, LooseSprites, Maps, mines, Minigames, Portraits, TerrainFeatures, and TileSheets.

All fonts in the game are extracted as a PNG file paired with a text (as of v0.1.0 of XNB Node, a YAML, but previously JSON and XML) file within XNB files within the subfolder Content\Fonts. The text file appears to note which pixels in the PNG correspond to which symbol.

All game data / tweaking values can be extracted as text within XNB files within the subfolder Content\Data. The data within are stored as text strings of unlabeled values, making modding these values likely trial and error until we get better descriptions of what each value does. Fortunately,

Sounds are stored within Content\XACT under Wave Bank.xwb (XWB ). This is the only content not stored in XNB files.

Fortunately, 3rd party programs have been developed to unpack data from XNB files and repack data back into XNB files. There are also 3rd party programs to extract sound files from XWB, although I haven't played with those myself yet. I have succeeded in making a simple proof of concept mod that changes the title screen picture. I'll describe the steps below.



MODDING

1. Unpack XNB files.

To unpack graphics and game data:
This is done with an XNB unpacker. [S]The one I have found to work with PNG files is one which appears to have been made to unpack files for the game Fez, but works generically. Link here[forum.xentax.com]. Version 0.7 appears to be most recent, although 0.5 worked just fine for me as well. Unzip the .zip to a convenient folder. Within you will find .bat and .py files. The .py files are python scripts requiring you to install Python 2.7.3 on your machine. Fortunately, under the bin\python folder in the zip, you will find python_mcp.exe. Run that to install python.

Then to decompress XNB files, drag and drop them over read_xnb.bat. They will output as the base files (.png and .xml) in the same directory as the original XNB file. Instead of dragging and dropping, you can also use the command line "read_xnb.bat [File Name]". Do note that if the file is not in the local directory you would need to specify the full file path. You can decompress entire folders by using read_xnb_dir.bat. The command line there is "read_xnb_dir.bat [File Directory] [Output Directory]".

Note that some files will error and not output correctly with this. You can try using other XNB unpackers and see if they successfully output. I tried GXView and could not get it to work with this, but you may have better luck.

One simple way to extract everything to look through would be to copy and paste your Stardew Valley\Content folder to the folder where read_xnb_dir.bat is located. Then start cmd.exe and cd over to where read_xnb_dir.bat is located. Run the command "read_xnb_dir.bat Content ContentUnpacked" to unpack all XNB files possible to the ContentUnpacked subfolder in the same directory as the .bat file.[/s]


Draivin's XNB Node version 0.0.2 and up now supports packing and unpacking both graphics and text.

Use Draivin's XNB Node as posted earlier in this thread. Mad props to Draivin! Unzip the file so that xnb_node.cmd is in the same directory as your Stardew Valley.exe. Again, use the utility with the command line. Start cmd.exe, cd over to the Stardew Valley folder.

Unpack files by using "xnb_node.cmd extract [input directory] [output directory].

Do note that xnb_node creates an associated YAML file for each PNG file it extracts. These YAML files are associated with the PNG and should be kept with it. It will need the YAML with the PNG when you repack the file. THE PACKER WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT THE YAML WITH THE PNG.


Now that you have extracted files, it is time to edit them.


2. Edit your files.
Open up ContentUnpacked\Minigames\TitleButtons.png in your graphic editor of choice. Scribble across the Stardew Valley title. Congratulations, you have edited the file. Be sure to save your work under the same name, TitleButtons.png

For YAML, many good text editors exist. I recommend Notepad++[notepad-plus-plus.org].


3. Repack your loose, edited files into .xnb files.

To pack PNG and YAML files
[S]I have been using the program XNB Builder to create files. Download here[sourceforge.net]. Run XNAFormatter.exe. Select your source file(s). Select your output directory (default to wherever you installed xnb builder\Content). Leave the target platform as Windows and the target profile as Reach. Check the Compress Output? button, and feel free to check the Log Output? button. Click convert. If successful, it will say Build Completed in the bottom right hand corner, otherwise, Build Failed.[/s]

Draivin's XNB Node now supports packing YAML and PNG.

Pack files by using "xnb_node.cmd pack [input directory or file] [output directory] from the command line. To pack PNGs, make sure the associated YAML is with them in the same directory. THE PACKER WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT THE YAML WITH THE PNG.

Take your new XNB, make sure it is the same name of the file you are trying to mod, and replace it in the original file's location in Stardew Valley\Content. It would be wise to keep a backup of the original file, but I'm a post, not a cop.


4. Start your game and confirm your changes.



PROOF OF CONCEPT

Below is a sample file of TitleButtons.xnb which should show the word MOD written in black over the title on Stardew Valley's start screen. It is a basic proof of concept. Place it in Stardew Valley\Content\Minigames. Be sure to back up the original!

{リンクが削除されました}http://www.mediafire.com/download/x5gr39cf4l22d4w/TitleButtons.xnb



CURRENT PROGRESS

1. Can unpack most XNB files. Some files, notably those in Characters and Maps appear to have additional file types not supported by unpacking software. Check the error messages for more info.
2. Can repack PNG files.
3. Can repack YAML files.
4. Can modify the EXE at runtime using Stardew Modding API and Stardew Injector
5. Can add custom items with custom graphics to game using SMAPI, but cannot save them.



CURRENT HANGUPS

[S]1. Cannot repack XML files. Gives a BUILD FAILED error. The logfile reports "XML is not in the XNA intermediate format. Missing XnaContent root element." Googling for the problem shows that when XML files are turned into XNB files, they require an XNA Content root element that specifies the type of the data being saved. See here[msdn.microsoft.com]. In short, XML files require an <XnaContent> tag at the beginning, followed by a <Asset Type="whatever the type is"> tag. The XML files in Stardew Valley's XNB files lack these tags. Further reading noted that this tag is part of an automatic creation process for XML to XNB creation added later on in the XNA timeline. Earlier projects had to create a custom content pipeline to convert XML to XNB files. I suspect Stardew Valley was started early enough to require such a pipeline. If so, it may be difficult to ever create XNB files from XML files without developer support.[/s]

SOLVED THANKS TO DRAIVIN'S XNB NODE!

2. Cannot unpack special file types within XNB files. These appear to be file types not handled by the XNB Parser program I posted above. As the program must write a handler for each specific file type, someone would have to manually write one for each currently unsupported file type. I lack the programming ability to do that, but someone out there should be able to. This currently prevents modding any XNB containing those file types. Even if the other files are output successfully from such an XNB, they would not be able to be repacked within a new functional XNB while the other files that we cannot yet unpack are missing.

PARTIALLY SOLVED--XNB Node 0.1.0 and up support unpacking/packing font files. Along with SimpleXNBDemapper for map files and 3rd party programs for sound files, most if not all files of interest can be accessed.

3. The XNB data format allows edits to data currently stored within XNB files, but does not allow execution of new code. Modding XNB files would only allow for tweaks to existing game mechanics and graphics.

IN PROGRESS--SMAPI in development

4. Item Creation. The XNB data format is limiting--only one person can make edits at a time to the same file. API modding would allow for more flexibility, adding items on the fly from multiple people.

IN PROGRESS--SMAPI can create items, but cannot save them. An extension to saving must be attempted.

5. Creating new NPCs. Again theoretically possible but impractical with XNB modding. Would require creation of a portrait, sprite, schedule, dialogue, and insertion into existing locations, events, and festivals.

THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE, CURRENTLY UNATTEMPTED

6. Modifying existing NPC dialogue, making other NPCs marriagable. More research required as to the requirements for marriage and whether anything is hardcoded as a requirement. Presumably API modding will make this practically easier.

MORE RESEARCH REQUIRED

7. Modifying existing maps. Success by Pinkishu into editing and adding onto existing maps. Adding to the right and down would be most practical for now--there are coordinates that count from the upper left corner of the screen required for moving between areas, NPC positioning, and likely other things.

SIMPLE MODS COMPLETED. See Penny No Rocks.

8. Adding new maps. Theoretically possible by creating a new .tide file with existing spritesheets and packing it into XNB with SimpleXNBDemapper. There are many hardcoded scripts for each area, however, and it's not clear how functional new areas would be yet.

THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE, MORE RESEARCH REQUIRED

9. Translation projects. Most text is located in Content\Characters\Dialogue, Content\Characters\schedules, Content\Data\Events, Content\Data\Festivals, and Content\Data\TV. Item descriptions are scattered through the files of Content\Data. There is some text that is hardcoded by the game. The biggest barrier to translation projects, however, are the font files. They are only in English characters, and no accented or unusual characters included. So any translation not using Latin characters is not possible until fonts are created. I font XNB files can now be packed and unpacked by XNB Node 0.1.0, so creation of a font is now theoretically possible.

The second barrier would be loading new font graphics into the game. Font characters are defined using an associated text file with a list of glyphs corresponding to each letter. You would have to edit the font graphic, then define each character in a list of glyphs. This would then have to be repacked and successfully loaded by the game. To date this has not been achieved, but it is not known whether it is not currently possible.

BEGUN! Apparently it's not too bad to add fonts, unlike items. See Chrisblue's post[community.playstarbound.com].

10. Editing existing game functions and adding new features. Becoming more and more possible through APIs, but only for those with C# programming experience.

PARTIALLY SOLVED


CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I'd like to thank ConcernedApe for a fantastic game. The modding community would be greatly benefitted if he would help in the following ways:

[S]1. Find a way to allow edited XML files into the game. He could either allow loading of loose XML files to take precedence over XNB files or release some way to repack XML files into XNB files. This hopefully would not require the creation of a full modding API and would allow reasonable gameplay modding to begin relatively quickly.[/s]
2. Clarify the values defined by each XML file so that we are not editing numbers entirely blindly.
3. Clarify what "special files" are not getting successfully unpacked by XNB Parser, allowing more talented individuals than myself to possibly extend the program to cover those kinds.
4. In the future, once Stardew Valley is patched up and a good stopping point is reached, work on adding a full modding API allowing modification of game code.


Let me know if you guys get farther than me on the XML problem, have any ideas, new mods, etc. There's some good data for the wiki in those XML files, I think, once what numbers mean what becomes more clear.

edited to make (XN:cool: into (XNB ) :)
edited to update people on Draivin's progress
edited to update with first edited exes for speed
continuing edits to add mods and updates to tools/modding guides

[Отиум]

Is there a mod that removes the friendship heart decay? Losing hearts is the worst.

[.Loug]

AriaNiko の投稿を引用：

I want a mod that makes it so that you can marry anyone, I know it's unethical, but whatever. :p

I want a mod that allow me to poison Demetrius food so I can marry with Robin.

[Kurt1220]

Can someone who knows what they are doing make a mod for bigger chests? I'm having a hard time keeping track of my 15 full chests...

[Kaynos]

Easier Fishing and TimeSpeed mod solve the 2 most annoying problems i had with this game. I really enjoy the game now with day lasting twice as long. I hate feeling being rushed in a game. With timespeed i can play the game and having the day last twice the time as normal seems just perfect to me.

[Sentai Brad]

I made a mod that is adding Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask music and sound to the game. It's a WIP, but if it sounds like your type of mod enjoy!

http://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/201

[Poesmij]

Kaynos の投稿を引用：

Easier Fishing and TimeSpeed mod solve the 2 most annoying problems i had with this game. I really enjoy the game now with day lasting twice as long. I hate feeling being rushed in a game. With timespeed i can play the game and having the day last twice the time as normal seems just perfect to me.

I cant seem to get these mods running :(

[prometheus but gayer]

Marcelo Sampaio の投稿を引用：

I've seen gameplay videos. I've noticed that every 6 (or so) seconds means 10 minutes in the game. I think that's too fast FOR ME.

I totally understand. I thought it would be rushed and stressful, but it's been easier to use time well than it seemed in other player's videos. I don't feel rushed at all actually, even when I have something I need to do, but I think it's more about having adapted to the in-game time than the time not being short.

TLDR; It looked super fast and stressful to me in videos, too, but after playing I now find the gameplay relaxing and stress-free.

[Zenofire]

Is there a place where we can request Mods?

[Blank]

Can someone tell me if the game is going to allow MOD without Storm os SMAPI? Because I can't configure themand I really want the FreezeInside mod but no success

[Braxarchy]

I love mods and i love games with console commands i personaly want mods

[nsmellowyellow]

Wouldn't it be cool if someone made a mod where everyone in the game was a youtuber? And you can marry any of them? Or add a bunch of new characters as youtubers?

[Cherigosa]

Is there an easy guide to installing this stuff? I downloaded SMAPI, don't have any idea where to put it, then downloaded SDVMM to fix that but hit a wall because SDVMM says it doesn't know where my game is and asks if it's installed.

The problem is that I have Windows installed on C: which is a normal HDD, but my Steam + games installed on F: which is an SSD.

[Zef]

Sherrigosa の投稿を引用：

Is there an easy guide to installing this stuff? I downloaded SMAPI, don't have any idea where to put it, then downloaded SDVMM to fix that but hit a wall because SDVMM says it doesn't know where my game is and asks if it's installed.

The problem is that I have Windows installed on C: which is a normal HDD, but my Steam + games installed on F: which is an SSD.

Forget SDVMM, all of this info here is outdated, just go to stardewvalleynexus to get the latest smapi and mods. Smapi folder extracts to your game directory, all other mods go inside the (newly made) mod folder.

This ain't rocket science

[Cherigosa]

Caelistas の投稿を引用：

Sherrigosa の投稿を引用：

Is there an easy guide to installing this stuff? I downloaded SMAPI, don't have any idea where to put it, then downloaded SDVMM to fix that but hit a wall because SDVMM says it doesn't know where my game is and asks if it's installed.

The problem is that I have Windows installed on C: which is a normal HDD, but my Steam + games installed on F: which is an SSD.

Forget SDVMM, all of this info here is outdated, just go to stardewvalleynexus to get the latest smapi and mods. Smapi folder extracts to your game directory, all other mods go inside the (newly made) mod folder.

This ain't rocket science

Somebody actually posted a guide to it on the reddit for SDV. I saw it a few hours after making this post. It's weird because my save files are still on my C: drive but my game is on F:, but it ends up not mattering since all I need is the game folder. Link for anyone who also wants to find the guide:

https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/comments/4dkvkd/a_write_up_on_the_current_mods_for_stardew_valley/

[Sentai Brad]

Sherrigosa の投稿を引用：

Caelistas の投稿を引用：

Forget SDVMM, all of this info here is outdated, just go to stardewvalleynexus to get the latest smapi and mods. Smapi folder extracts to your game directory, all other mods go inside the (newly made) mod folder.

This ain't rocket science

Somebody actually posted a guide to it on the reddit for SDV. I saw it a few hours after making this post. It's weird because my save files are still on my C: drive but my game is on F:, but it ends up not mattering since all I need is the game folder. Link for anyone who also wants to find the guide:

https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/comments/4dkvkd/a_write_up_on_the_current_mods_for_stardew_valley/

It's not weird actually, games put game files and saves specific to users in Documents or AppData all the time. It's actually extremely common, no matter where your game is installed.