SMAPI/docs/README.md

SMAPI is an open-source modding framework and API for Stardew Valley that lets you play the game with mods. It's safely installed alongside the game's executable, and doesn't change any of your game files. It serves seven main purposes:

1. Load mods into the game.
   SMAPI loads mods when the game is starting up so they can interact with it. (Code mods aren't possible without SMAPI to load them.)

2. Provide APIs and events for mods.
   SMAPI provides APIs and events which let mods interact with the game in ways they otherwise couldn't.

3. Rewrite mods for compatibility.
   SMAPI rewrites mods' compiled code before loading them so they work on Linux/macOS/Windows without the mods needing to handle differences between the Linux/macOS and Windows versions of the game. In some cases it also rewrites code broken by a game update so the mod doesn't break.

4. Intercept errors and automatically fix saves.
   SMAPI intercepts errors, shows the error info in the SMAPI console, and in most cases automatically recovers the game. That prevents mods from crashing the game, and makes it possible to troubleshoot errors in the game itself that would otherwise show a generic 'program has stopped working' type of message.

   SMAPI also automatically fixes save data in some cases when a load would crash, e.g. due to a custom location or NPC mod that was removed.

5. Provide update checks.
   SMAPI automatically checks for new versions of your installed mods, and notifies you when any are available.

6. Provide compatibility checks.
   SMAPI automatically detects outdated or broken code in mods, and safely disables them before they cause problems.

7. Back up your save files.
   SMAPI automatically creates a daily backup of your saves and keeps ten backups (via the bundled Save Backup mod), in case something goes wrong.

Documentation

Have questions? Come ask the community to get help from SMAPI developers and other modders!

For players

• Player guide

For modders

• Modding documentation
• Mod build configuration
• Release notes

For SMAPI developers

• Technical docs

Translating SMAPI

SMAPI rarely shows text in-game, so it only has a few translations. Contributions are welcome! See Modding:Translations on the wiki for help contributing translations.

locale	status
default	✓ fully translated
Chinese	✓ fully translated
French	✓ fully translated
German	✓ fully translated
Hungarian	✓ fully translated
Italian	✓ fully translated
Japanese	✓ fully translated
Korean	✓ fully translated
Polish¹	✓ fully translated
Portuguese	✓ fully translated
Russian	✓ fully translated
Spanish	✓ fully translated
Thai¹	✓ fully translated
Turkish	✓ fully translated

¹ This is a custom language provided by a mod (see Polish and Thai).