Stardew Valley patch 1.6.4 adds fish frenzies and more Raccoon questing rewards

Concerned Ape is pumping out the PC patches for Stardew Valley and while we should be used to expansive updates by this point, it never fails to delight when new content heads to the farm. Patch 1.6.4 is no different, with lots of additions, tweaks, and even lots of improvements specifically for the modding community. 

Sadly, we’re still not sure when these updates will arrive for players on console or mobile, but it shouldn’t be too long before all Stardew Valley players can enjoy the long list of new features added post 1.6. Either way, perhaps you just look at this as a list of things to dive into now, or something you’ll at least jump into later when it arrives on other platforms.

Stardew adds cutscenes and rewards to the raccoon household

Have you ever wanted to see Raccoon children performing a musical number while their parents partake in a little bit of synchronised dancing? Well, now’s your chance. The newly added cutscene, which plays once you’ve completed all of Mr. Raccoon’s requests, is utterly adorable. Thankfully, it plays even if you’ve completed the quests before this patch, and all you need to do to see it is head down to Cindersap Forest. 

Mine Layouts, Fish Frenzies, and more in Patch 1.6.4

• 20 new ‘alternate’ mine layouts, which have a chance to appear during visits after you’ve reached the bottom of the mines
• 20 new volcano mine layouts, which can appear after you’ve unlocked the shortcut between the caldera and the volcano entrance
• Fish frenzies
• Four new fairy styles
• Eight additional non-fish items can now be added to fish tanks
• Mrs. Raccoon’s shop now includes new items to be purchased:
  • Golden Mystery Box in exchange for three regular Mystery Boxes
  • Magic Rock Candy in exchange for 20 Golden Mystery Boxes
• Vinegar can now be poured onto trees to prevent them from ever-growing moss
• Shaving enhancement now causes tree-specific drops
  • Ferns drop Fiddlehead Fern
  • Mushrooms drop Red Mushrooms
  • Mahogany drops Hardwood

Balance changes headed to Stardew Valley

• Loading a game through Steam will now reward achievements that have been earned while playing offline
• Mini-shipping bin as expensive Qi Gem shop purchase
• Life Elixir now only restores health, while Energy Tonic only restores energy
• Wild seed spots are rarer, but will produce more seeds when dug
• Iridium is now twice as likely to be dropped by Iridium Golems
• Monsters in volcano entry level are randomized daily
• Treasure totems can no longer be used indoors
• Descending a level in the Mines now makes you invulnerable for one second
• Farming experience now contributes to mastery experience at 50%
• Sardines have been removed from the Summer quest pool, and Red Snappers have been removed from the Winter quest pool
• Golden Mystery Boxes can now possibly drop an Auto Petter
• Slightly reduced chance to find Mystery Boxes

Quality of life tweaks and gameplay fixes

• After dropping an item, there will now be a 1.2 second delay before it’s picked up by the player who dropped it
• Napalm Ring are now non-destructive while on the farm, but will damage monsters 
• Ctrl + Right Click will now drop the selected item on the toolbar
• Special notifications such as first catch will no longer cancel actions such as eating or warping
• Prize Ticket Machine will now use up Prize Ticket when an item is in your inventory, rather than when you press the button
• Monster Compendium will now actually double loot dropped from monsters
• Weapons forged before 1.6 no longer have reduced stats
• End tables can now be rotated

Improvements for the Stardew modding community

There are several tweaks to modding in Stardew Valley in 1.6.4, including improved debug commands. The full patch notes, including all of the modding updates, can be found on the Stardew Valley changelog, but here are the fixes:

• Fixed some wallpapers and flooring not appearing in mod item lists
• Fixed pre-1.6 farm maps having broken warps to the bus stop
• Fixed errors and crashes due to mods adding items without a name
• Fixed softlock when a warp leads to an invalid location
• Fixed crash when playing events that use the ‘replaceWithClones’ command
• Fixed crash if an NPC has invalid temporary dialogue
• Fixed world map showing a glitched texture for custom farm types which don’t override it
• Fixed another case of NPC duplication involving the movie theater
• Fixed crash when loading a save if a farm Junimo wasn’t properly removed before saving
• Fixed crash if the lost and found contains null items.
• Fixed disconnect for Steam players when using mods that send messages before a farmhand has been approved.
• Fixed crash on save if shipping bin has empty slots.
• Fixed riding the bus to the desert instantly warping you back if mods added warps on the desert road.
• Fixed multiplayer crash if some players don’t have the same NPC textures