The new cross-platform and open source Nexus Mods App is coming along with their team now formally announcing the Stardew Valley Preview. With support for Linux / Steam Deck baked right in.
I've been tracking it for a while, regularly reporting on it and testing it out and it has come a long way. Exciting, because modding has often been a sore spot for players on Linux platforms including the Steam Deck with Valve's SteamOS Linux. A properly supported app like this is simply a must-have.
Now, they really think it's ready for Stardew Valley fans to jump in and get modding, and give them some feedback on it. Other games will be supported with Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur's Gate 3 or Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord in progress (locked behind an experimental option). Going by their roadmap they do plan to expand it onto various Bethesda games like the Fallout series, Skyrim and more.
Highlights:
- Easy and Reliable Mod Installation – The app ensures a smoother installation process for most mods.
- Collections – Easily turn them on and off, allowing you to experiment with using mods in conjunction with collections so that you can configure your perfect setup. Premium users will also have the extra benefit of super-fast collection installs.
- Loadout Management – It offers loadouts and loadout switching, with separate configs per loadout, and fast loadout creation and cloning. This means you can easily swap between different sets of mods, perfect for switching between single-player and multiplayer setups.
- Health Check – This feature will give you guidance on possible issues in your setup and how to fix them.
- Workspace System – View and use every feature side by side with panels, with the ability to open 4 panels side-by-side for seamless multitasking, on demand. So you can cross-reference with ease and quickly compare information across pages, manage mods, and check details without losing your flow.
- Faster Than Vortex – Experience up to 10x faster collection installation compared to Vortex.
Since I last covered it they also put up a quick bug-fix release. The one after the latest release should also hopefully speed up the loading time on Linux, which can be a problem right now.
See more in their announcement.
The question is, does it properly understand the concept of Wine like e.g. Heroic does? Can we use it as a native Linux app to handle Windows games in multiple Wine prefixes? Like it or not, that's the status quo for gaming on Linux nowadays. I have no use for it if it must be run inside each separate Wine prefix as a Windows app.
It's a native application, hence the "cross-platform" label. It works by scanning your Steam directory for prefixes belonging to supported games, and it adds them to a library within the app itself. I used it to mod Skyrim SE before they temporarily disabled support for it, and it worked perfectly fine. Also, if you don't want to use this, LIMO exists as an alternative.
Going by their roadmap they do plan to expand it onto various Bethesda games like the Fallout series, Skyrim and more.This will be a gamechanger for me!
This will be a gamechanger for me!Yes, literally.
Also, if you don't want to use this, LIMO exists as an alternative.For those of you having a lot of trouble with the search engines on this one, here is the link:
https://github.com/limo-app/limo
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