If you’ve unlocked Ginger Island in Stardew Valley, you’ve got a whole new bunch of fish waiting to be caught. These fish can be found all over the island and, like those in the Valley, come with time and weather restrictions, but they each have their uses. 

One of these new fish is the Stingray, which may not be used in many quests or recipes, but it does serve an incredibly useful purpose. There’s an Island Trader who will sell you Mahogany Seeds for one Stingray each, and, in case you don’t know, Mahogany Trees drop Hardwood when chopped down. 

How to catch a Stingray in Stardew Valley

To catch a Stingray, you’ll need to head to the Pirate Cove area of Ginger Island. Thankfully, Stingrays can be caught at any time and in any weather, so you shouldn’t have too much of a hard time finding them. 

When hooked, Stingrays will dart around the fishing minigame a bit, so you may find it difficult to keep the green section on them. To make this easier, you can use a Cork or Trap Bobber. If you want to see what you’ve hooked before reeling it in, you can use a Sonar Bobber.

How to use a Stingray in Stardew Valley

If you’re not planning to stock up on Mahogany Seeds using your newly caught Stingrays, there are still a few things that you can use them for. Predominantly, they actually sell for a relatively high price. Each Stingray will sell for at least 180 Gold, with this price rising to 540 Gold depending on the quality of the Stingray and whether you have the Fisher or Angler profession. 

Crafting

Stingrays can be used in the following recipes:

• Maki Roll
  • 1 of any Fish
  • 1 Seaweed
  • 1 Rice

• Quality Fertilizer
  • 4 Sap
  • 1 of any Fish

• Sashimi
  • 1 of any Fish

Tailoring

When a Stingray is used in the spool of a Sewing Machine, you’ll be able to create the dyeable Sailor Shirt. As well as this, a Stingray can be used in the dye pots at Emily and Haley’s house to create an orange dye. 

Quests

The only quest which will require you to catch Stingrays is one of Willy’s Special Orders called ‘Tropical Fish’. This will only become available to complete once you’ve unlocked Ginger Island, and you’ll need to provide five Stingrays.

Fish Pond

When placed in a Fish Pond, Stingrays will reproduce every four days. A Stingray pond is capable of producing the following items on any day:

• 1 Roe
• 1 Magma Cap
• 2-5 Cinder Shards
• 1 Dragon Tooth
• 1 Battery Pack

The post How to catch a Stingray in Stardew Valley appeared first on Destructoid.

There are a lot of things to find in Stardew Valley. Unfortunately, many of these things are time-restricted, and if you don’t get them in the right season, you need to wait an entire year for the chance to get them again. 

Rainbow Shells are one such forageable item in Stardew Valley. While these pretty little shells aren’t used for many quests or crafting, they’re a solid bet to be given as a gift to most villagers as a gift and can be used inside Fish Tanks as a decoration. 

How to get Rainbow Shells in Stardew Valley

The foremost place to get Rainbow Shells is through foraging on the beach in the Summer. If you’re playing on a Beach Farm, you may find them on the ground at any time of the year. 

Thankfully, there are a few other ways to find them outside of Summer:

• In the mines, after activating the Shrine of Challenge
• In the mines during the ‘Danger in the Deep’ quest
• As a gift from Jas, Vincent, or Leo during the Feast of the Winter Star
• As a gift from Demetrius, received via mail 
• 2% chance of a Rainbow Trout Fish Pond producing 1 Rainbow Shell daily if the population reaches 9
• As a gift from a pet Turtle with maximum friendship
• May appear in the Traveling Cart for between 900 and 1,500 Gold 

How to use a Rainbow Shell in Stardew Valley

Most villagers will like getting a Rainbow Shell as a gift. The only exceptions to this are Elliot, who feels neutral about it, or Harvey, who hates them. 

Quests

The Mysterious QI quest, which will eventually open up the back door inside the Oasis and allow you access to the Casino, requires one Rainbow Shell to be placed inside the box at the train station. 

If you have a Blobfish Pond, they may request a Rainbow Shell in order to increase the capacity of the pond from 7 to 10. 

Tailoring

In order to create a dyeable Bikini Top, you can place a Rainbow Shell in the spool of a Sewing Machine. Otherwise, you can use a Rainbow Shell with the Sewing Machine to open up the dye menu, allowing you to dye an item any color using sliders. 

The post How to get a Rainbow Shell in Stardew Valley appeared first on Destructoid.

Once you’ve restored the Greenhouse by completing the Pantry bundles in Stardew Valley, you’re able to plant anything you like inside the Greenhouse without seasons restricting you. Depending on what you want to grow, you may want to think about your layout. 

There are a few different layout options for the Greenhouse, and which one is best for you will depend on what you’re hoping to grow. Regardless of your intended crops, let’s go through the best layouts. 

Best layouts for sprinklers in the Greenhouse

Sprinklers are, in my opinion, vital to the successful growth of crops inside the Greenhouse. Once you’ve placed down Sprinklers, you only need to water any crop once, and then the Sprinklers will do all of the work for you, saving you both time and energy. 

Where you put Sprinklers will depend on which type of Sprinklers you want to use, and which upgrades you have available to you. It’s likely that, by the time you’ve unlocked the Greenhouse, you’ll at least have Quality Sprinklers available to you, and you’ll need 16 of these in order to fully water every square of the Greenhouses available space, leaving room for 108 plants. 

However, if you have Iridium Sprinklers, you only need six in order to cover this space. This leaves room for 116 plants. Upgrading your Iridium Sprinklers to have Pressure Nozzles will allow you to only take up one space with a Sprinkler, but this only frees up three additional crop spaces.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to worry about Sprinklers at all, you can use Deluxe Retaining Soil to negate the need for watering entirely. This Soil has a 100% chance of retaining water overnight and after only a single watering, will retain water until you physically remove the crop. 

Best layout for Fruit Trees in the Greenhouse

Fruit Trees can be grown in the greenhouse in any of the spaces outside of the middle planting area. You don’t need a Garden Pot to do this, simply plant the Tree Sapling in the ground. 

The best layout for this will allow you to have 18 Fruit Trees inside the greenhouse, with two spaces between each to allow for proper growth.

You don’t need to worry about watering the trees, they’ll grow in their own time and eventually provide you with all the fruit you need or could dream of. 

Best layout for trellis plants in the Greenhouse

Unlike other crops, anything that grows on a trellis (Grapes, Hops, or Green Beans) cannot be walked through. If you want to plant these in your Greenhouse, you’ll need to leave space between each crop to allow for harvesting. 

Although this does leave a lot of empty space and creates a few dead ends, you can fill the space with other crops. This is definitely more adaptable to personal preference and depends on which sprinklers you’re using, but as long as you leave space to walk between your crops, you’re golden. The above image is my preferred trellis layout when using Deluxe Retaining Soil, with other crops, such as Ancient Fruit, filling out the empty space.

The post The best greenhouse layouts for all crop options and trees in Stardew Valley appeared first on Destructoid.

On June 21, 2024, X (Twitter) user nightshademagia released a Hardcore Mode mod for Stardew Valley that’ll delete your save file if you open up the Wiki for the game. This was based off a joke article from Hard Drive.

You can find the source code via Github here. There’s also a clip showing how it works. In the clip, they load up their file as per usual. Then, in another window, they open up the Stardew Valley Wiki. As soon as they do so, the game forces them back to the title screen and when they try to load up a game, their save file is gone.

The original article was from satire website Hard Drive, stating that the new default Hardcore Mode erases your save file if you open the official wiki. The article includes false quotes from players expressing their outrage, including a fake quote from ConcernedApe, the creator of Stardew Valley. Some players tend to use the Wiki to help them optimize their farm or game. For example, you can look up what gifts certain characters prefer or how to catch certain fish.

Stardew Valley is readily available for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC, macOS, and mobile devices. It is one of the best-selling games of all time, selling over 30 million copies by February 2024.

The post Stardew Valley Hardcore Mode Mod Is Real appeared first on Siliconera.

A cookbook featuring over 50 recipes inspired by Stardew Valley is now available.

The recipe guide – which includes step-by-step instructions for delectable delights like Strange Bun and Seafoam Pudding – is written in collaboration with Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone and features "photos, appearances from Stardew Valley’s characters, and delightful illustrations".

"Welcome to Stardew Valley, where each season brings a new crop of bountiful food to make for friends and family," teases the blurb. "From farm staples like veggies, fruit, milk, and eggs to foraged mushrooms and berries to fresh fish, there's always something delicious to put on the table.

Read more

Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone says he's "not too concerned with the pressure" of releasing Haunted Chocolatier, saying, "it's better to have a delayed game that's actually good than a bad game that's on time".

In an interview about his plans for Stardew Valley's following its recent 1.6 update, Barone said that he doesn't feel pressured to create a follow-up game, stating: "It's a game that I'm deciding to make. I don't need to make it".

"[Fan expectation] definitely puts pressure on me," Barone told Aftermath. "But it's better to have a delayed game that's actually good than a bad game that's on time. When it's ready, that's when I'll release it. I'm not too concerned with the pressure. I don't feel like I owe anyone anything when it comes to Haunted Chocolatier. It's a game that I'm deciding to make. I don't need to make it.

Read more

There are a lot of fish in Stardew Valley and most of them are fairly simple to find. However, the Ghostfish only spawns in a very specific location and while there is an alternative way to get your hands on one, that way isn’t exactly guaranteed either. 

While the Ghostfish isn’t the most valuable fish, even when a high quality one is smoked, you do need one for a few different things and they can give some particularly useful items when in a Fish Pond, but more on that later. 

How to get a Ghostfish in Stardew Valley

If you’re after a Ghostfish in Stardew Valley, I’m afraid you have little choice but to head into the Mines. Once inside, if you want to actually catch the fish, you’ll need to head down to either floor 20 or floor 60 in order to fish there. 

If you’re wanting to test your mettle, or hoping to avoid Fishing, you can battle some Ghosts between floors 51 and 79 of the Mines. They have an 8% chance to drop a Ghostfish when defeated.

There’s a small chance that the Traveling Cart will stock a Ghostfish at any time, as they’re part of the vendor's rotating stock. If a Ghostfish does show up, it will cost between 135 and 1,000 Gold to purchase. 

How to use a Ghostfish in Stardew Valley

The main use for a Ghostfish in Stardew Valley is as part of the Fish Tank Bundle in the Community Center. There are no Villagers who like or love to receive Ghostfish as a gift, though they are a hated gift for Evelyn, Haley, and Pierre.

After this, the most efficient way to use a Ghostfish is by putting it into a Fish Pond. A Ghostfish will reproduce every 2 days, providing that you’ve got the capacity, and can possibly provide the following items:

A Ghostfish can be used in the spool of a Sewing Machine to create a Dyeable Fish Shirt, and in order to expand other Fish Pond's capacity from 7-10, two Ghostfish can be requested by Dorado, Lingcod, or Pike. 

If all else fails, you can always simply sell your excess Ghostfish. They sell for between 54 and 135 Gold before smoking, depending on whether you have the Fisher and Angler professions chosen.

The post How to get a Ghostfish in Stardew Valley appeared first on Destructoid.

Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has pushed out another update for Stardew Valley.

Update 1.6.6 addresses a number of bugs and some balance, gameplay, and translation issues, including restoring the ability to give your spouse crap flowers – the cornerstone of every healthy relationship, of course – and resolving an evaporating raccoon.

The patch also now means bee houses work with flowers in garden pots, the "Minecart depot" alternative layout now only appears in the upper or lava mine areas, and you can now turn the gold clock off and on.

Read more

Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has marked the 8th birthday of his farming sim phenomenon baby (also called Stardew Valley) by announcing the impending release of update 1.6. The PC version - the one we care about - is arriving on the 19th of March, and consoles and mobile as soon as possible after that. The actual content of update 1.6 is largely a mystery, but Barone has teased a few things here and there, including that it's "mostly changers for modders" that'll make it "easier and more powerful to mod".

Read more