Calling Stardew Valley testers - Nexus Mods app

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Get ready, gamers! We're delighted to announce the alpha release of the Nexus Mods app - our next-generation mod manager. 

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. In this post, we'll give you a little update on the project and provide the juicy details on how you can join the alpha.


Project update

Over the last few months, the team have been busy undertaking the daunting task of getting the foundational technologies in place before the application is useful for specific games. You can see a snapshot of this work in the video we shared earlier this year. In March, Luke joined us as the Product Manager for the app and has been working with the team to define the minimum set of features required to get the app in front of users.

It's important to us that we make building the new app a journey in which we walk with the community and engage with you for feedback at every step. We want to make sure we're building tools that make modding easier for everyone and, while we have a lot of experience and expertise in building mod managers within our team, there's no substitute for hearing what our users most want directly from the source.

Part of this methodology means that before we add a game to the app, we'll be consulting users in that community, and then making changes to the app based on what they tell us. We've been talking to prominent Stardew Valley community members and now we want to hear from anyone willing to give the app a try. We're also starting to engage with Cyberpunk 2077 modders as this will be the next game we work on.

We're planning to release an update to the app every 3 weeks going forward - so you'll be able to see our progress in real-time as the app evolves.



Why doesn't the app support Skyrim/Fallout 4/etc yet?

Perhaps one of the biggest questions we've seen since we started talking about that app is why it doesn't support many of the most popular games on the website. It's a good question and we understand why you might find this confusing.

The build we're sharing today is a very, very early iteration of the app and lacks key features users have come to expect from mod managers. The Bethesda modding community already has several good choices for mod managers that offer a wide array of useful features. As we continue adding more games to the app, we'll build more features such as load order support, file conflict management and more. Each of these features will be designed in such a way that they are compatible with both existing games and upcoming games - where it makes sense to do so. The goal is to have a much more mature feature set in place before we start tackling Bethesda games, so we can offer a great experience when the time comes.

Fear not, Bethesda games will be supported eventually! Check the roadmap to see what's next. 


Join the alpha today!

We're excited to invite Stardew Valley modders to test the alpha version of the app. This is your chance to be a part of something big and help shape the future of modding. 

We don't recommend using the app as your primary mod manager yet and you should be prepared to clear everything and rebuild your mod list periodically as we refine and improve the software.

The alpha version of the app is available on Windows or Linux (Including Steam Deck). Support for macOS is planned.

You must have a copy of Stardew Valley from Steam or GOG to manage your mods with the current build. Xbox Game Pass (PC) support is planned for a future release.

Join the alpha today, provide your valuable feedback, and together, let's build the ultimate modding tool!

Get Started | More Info

54 comments

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  1. Pickysaurus
    Pickysaurus
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    This comment section is now closed. Join us on the forums or Discord to continue the conversation. 
  2. TheLoneWolf449
    TheLoneWolf449
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    Just curious, but does it support linux. I currently have Bazzite installed on my ROG Ally, which is what I use for games like Stardew Valley.
    1. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
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      From the article 
      The alpha version of the app is available on Windows or Linux (Including Steam Deck). Support for macOS is planned.
    2. TheLoneWolf449
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      Guess I missed that, Thank you!
  3. PainfulLxve
    PainfulLxve
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    Very nice to use so far, only issue is that not long after using it, I opened Vortex to play Baldur's Gate 3 and now all nexus mod downloads go straight to NMM and not NMA anymore. After looking around a little bit I can't find anyway to associate them with NMA again so at a loss on how to fix that.
    1. PainfulLxve
      PainfulLxve
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      FIgured out a way, just had to log out from the app and log in again.
    2. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
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      Glad you worked it out. This has been added to the FAQ
  4. Kraynic
    Kraynic
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    I'm very interested in how this progresses. I don't have (and am not interested in) Stardew Valley, but will give it a shot when you progress to Cyberpunk 2077 and Bethesda games.  Good luck with the dev work!
  5. Darkdude7800
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    Hey, Nexus team!  I just want to say that I installed a Windows partition on my Steam Deck JUST so I could use some Steam Deck specific Collections for Oblivion and Skyrim.  I won't be able to test this Stardew Valley for you, but I am so excited at the prospect of nuking Windows and going fully Linux with this project!  You guys have done so much work that deserves more praise!  Thank you for all that you do!  :)
  6. HorrorMortar
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    I hope to see some design choices that grind away some of the fancy coats of paint and make it feel similar to Mod Organizer 2's UX.

    The only way I'd see myself switching to Nexus Mods App is if both the left and right panels from Mo2 are replicated. (And their respective uses remain the same)

    Otherwise I'd still drag myself through the mud getting Mo2 on Linux to work.
    1. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
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      You'll love the workspaces system then. You can create up to 4 panels and have whatever you want inside them. Plus each panel can have multiple tabs. With this, you can effectively copy MO2/Vortex/NMM/whatever other app's layout. 
  7. Togglebutton
    Togglebutton
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    Any chance at Android? I know Stardew Valley can theoretically be modded there, but it's not as easy as PC.
    1. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
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      We don't have any plans to support Android at the moment. Creating apps for Android is a whole different ecosystem but maybe in a few years it might be something we can investigate. The focus right now is to get the desktop experience complete and polished. 
  8. Kokumotsu
    Kokumotsu
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    Let's GOOO!
    we love to see a native linux mod manager
    But please for the sake of EVERYONE; please dont have it verify game files the way vortex does.
    Ive spent hours downloading a collection, have it finish everything and when it went to deploy, it reports that every mod was externally changed and forces to either delete everything or just not deploy the mod.
    We do NOT need an "external changes" check
    1. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
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      If you were using Vortex on Linux that is very unsupported so I'm not entirely surprised you're having issues.
      The external changes window is intended to protect your mods from your outside editing. If you accept when Vortex asks "Are you sure you want to delete all these files?" then there isn't too much it can do to undo that. 
  9. rabidrivas
    rabidrivas
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    I will buy stardew just to test this. Is the intention to make it work with a virtual file system similar to MO2?
    1. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
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      The app doesn't use a VFS. You can read our documentation below which covers the options we considered and why we chose what we have. 
      https://nexus-mods.github.io/NexusMods.App/developers/ModWithConfidence/#simple-data
  10. madwolf2006
    madwolf2006
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    hi one of my biggest complaints about the Nexus Mods app is when adding a game there is no user feedback for what is happening just a spinning circle

    edit
    It is not useful for Stardew Valley but for Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Fallout 4 I have the Steam version and the GOG version installed having the option to select the GOG or the Steam version will be useful

    edit2
    do you have an idea how to deal with case-sensitive file systems at the moment I am using a Python script to convert file and folder names from upper case to lower case

    for those that do not know what the problem is on case-sensitive file systems for example EXT4  File.txt file.txt are treated as different files having two files with the same name in the game data folder can cause problems at best case the game loads the older version then the new version but if the game load the new latest version then the older version any mod that needs the new version of the mod mays stop working



    1. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
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      I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about regarding games since the app only supports Stardew Valley. If you've enabled unsupported games and those games aren't working correctly, you should disable them and not use them until they are supported. 

      Feel free to post on the forums if you have more specific feedback or need more help :) 
    2. madwolf2006
      madwolf2006
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      I have tested different builds of the Nexus Mods app  one of my biggest complaints about the Nexus Mods app is when adding a game in this example Stardew Valley the Nexus Mods app has no user feedback for what is happening just a spinning circle the Nexus Mods app does not seem to catch errors when adding Stardew Valley I have had to delete the setting folder for Nexus Mods app if I did not the app was stuck adding Stardew Valley 
    3. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
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      Hmm, sounds like you didn't clear your state between builds (or you're trying to manage the Xbox Game Pass version). 

      Follow the advice below to completely reset the app and try again.

      https://nexus-mods.github.io/NexusMods.App/users/Uninstall/

      If that doesn't work, please make a post on the forums or join Discord and we'll have a closer look at your logs.