How to mod Stardew Valley on Steam Deck

❘ Published: 2024-04-02T15:04:48

Screenshot of a Japanese building mod for Stardew Valley.

ConcernedApe

Downloading Stardew Valley mods can give your farm a well-needed makeover, and we’ve got all you need to know about how to mod your farm on Steam Deck.

With the latest major content update finally here, there’s never been a better time to delve back into Stardew Valley on Steam Deck. The beloved farming sim has cemented itself as one of the most-played Steam Deck games, and now there’s plenty of new content to play through on the go.

Despite the vast amount of new content, nothing quite transforms your farm like one of the best Stardew Valley mods. Mods can take your farm to new heights, giving it a unique look tailored to your tastes, or some vital quality-of-life updates. Plus, you can download Stardew Valley mods directly on the Steam Deck.

Running Stardew Valley mods on Steam Deck involves several steps, but we’ve put together this handy guide so you can start adding mods to your farm on the handheld with ease.

How to download SMAPI on Steam Deck

A screenshot of the SMAPI website running on desktop mode on the Steam Deck, on a blurred image from Stardew Valley.

Go to desktop mode
Navigate to ‘All Applications’
Open Chromium web browser
Go to SMAPI website
Download SMAPI .zip files

Before you get started, make sure Stardew Valley is installed on your Steam Deck and has been played at least once. This will generate folders on your handheld needed to download and run mods.

Next, switch to desktop mode to access a web browser, which is needed to download the Stardew Valley mod loader. If you haven’t accessed a web browser on the handheld before, click on the Steam Deck logo on the bottom left corner of the toolbar, and navigate to ‘All Applications’. Here, double-click on ‘Chromium’ (or your chosen browser) an open-source web browser, to start accessing the internet.

With Chromium open, use the built-in Steam Deck keyboard to enter, ‘https://smapi.io/’ in the address bar to go to the website. Here, click the large green button labeled ‘Download SMAPI 4.0.4’ and select, ‘download from GitHub’ from the dropdown menu.

From the GitHub page, find the file entitled, ‘SMAPRI-4.0.4-installer.zip’ and download the zip file to your handheld.

How to install SMAPI on Steam Deck

Screenshot of desktop mode on the Steam Deck, with a blurred image from Stardew Valley as the background.

Open SMAPI .zip files with ARK
Extract to ‘My Documents’
Open extracted folder
Right-click on ‘Install on Linux.sh’
Select ‘Run In Konsole’
Press 2, 1 & 1

To install SMAPI, find the downloaded .zip files within the download history of the Chromium browser, and double-click to open the file. Afterward, a dialog box will open, asking you to select your preferred software required to open up the .zip files.

Select ‘ARK’ from the list to open the SMAPI .zip files. Once ARK has loaded up, select ‘Extract to’ and choose ‘Documents’ to extract the SMAPI installation files to your Steam Deck’s Document folder.

You can extract these anywhere, but make sure it’s in an easy-to-find location.

To finish installing SMAPI, go to your Documents, open the SMAPI4.0.4 installer folder, and find the file entitled ‘Install on Linux.sh.’ Right-click this file by pressing the L2 trigger button, and select ‘Run in Konsole.’

Once the Konsole terminal has appeared, you’ll be presented with a few options. To get through it quickly, use the keyboard to enter the following numbers: 2, 1, 1.

Use the R2 button to enter each number when prompted. The SMAPI Stardew Valley mod launcher will be installed on your Steam Deck.

How to install Stardew Valley mods on Steam Deck

Switch to desktop mode
Find mod
Install files from Nexus M ods or ModDrop
Extract mod files
Copy extracted folder to Mods folder
Return to gaming mode
Run Stardew Valley

Once you’ve successfully downloaded SMAPI to your Steam Deck, you will now have a Mods folder within the Stardew Valley files on your handheld.

The easiest way to access your Stardew Valley mods folder is to open up Steam in desktop mode and find Stardew Valley in your Steam Library. From here, right-click the game using the L2 trigger button, navigate to ‘Manage’, and then click ‘Browse game files.’

This will automatically bring up your Stardew Valley game folders on your Steam Deck, including the mods folder.

If you’re having trouble finding your Stardew Valley mods folder, the folder may be hidden. To view hidden folders, open Dolphin File Explorer and click the options button in the top right corner, represented by three lines. Here, scroll down to ‘Show Hidden Files’ and ensure the box is ticked.

From here on out, you can install Stardew Valley mods on the Steam Deck by downloading the mod of your choice from Nexus Mods, or ModDrop, and extracting the .zip files to your ‘Stardew Valley Mods’ folder.

How to troubleshoot Stardew Valley mods on Steam Deck

With SMAPI installed you will see a log displayed the next time you load up Stardew Valley. This log will confirm any mods you have downloaded and will alert you to any known issues.

Remember, each mod that you download will have its own requirements needed for it to run properly. Some mods even require other mods to be downloaded already on your Steam Deck to function properly.

If you’re getting a red warning in your display log when booting up Stardew Valley, double-check the requirements of the mods you have downloaded to ensure nothing is missing.