Tutorial: Making a UI Recolor

Last edited by AtlasVBot on 2025-09-13 18:57:51

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Last edited by AtlasVBot on 2025-09-13 18:57:51.

UI recolors are one of the top ways that players can customize their game. There are many options out there, but perhaps you haven't been able to find one that perfectly clicks with your aesthetic. Making your own UI recolor can be a fulfilling experience, allowing you to achieve the exact vision you want for your game. But you may have noticed that there are a lot of UI elements in this game, and it may be difficult to know where to get started, especially if you are new to modding.

This is not a tutorial for the art aspect of making a recolor, but instead one focused on giving general advice on how to approach the endeavor of making a UI mod from a planning standpoint.

Step 1: Unpacking the content folder

Obviously, you will need to have access to UI assets to be able to recolor them. The main wiki already has a perfectly serviceable tutorial for how to unpack and access the assets so I will just direct you to that. Once you have the Content (Unpacked) in your game folder, come back here!

Step 2: Locating the files you want to edit

As you may now be able to see, Stardew Valley has lots of UI elements, and they're not exactly organized in the most intuitive way. All the assets that you may want to change are located throughout several folders and it's not always obvious what this random box is or where this scroll gets used. Here's a breakdown of everything that should be on your radar, folder by folder. Keep in mind that you are by no means required to edit every single one of these files, especially if they may already fit with your desired aesthetic!

Folder	Asset	Function
LooseSprites	Billboard and all its language variants	Daily request board and calendar.
LooseSprites	buildingPlacementTiles	Footprint of a farm building when placing/moving them at Robin's shop.
LooseSprites	BundleSprites	Icons for remixed Community Center bundles. The icons for the standard bundles can be found in LooseSprites/JunimoNote.
LooseSprites	chatBox	Chat menu for multiplayer.
LooseSprites	ControllerMaps and all its language variants	Button layouts for various controllers.
LooseSprites	Cursors and all its language variants	A lot of UI elements. This asset will get its own section breaking down all the elements in it.
LooseSprites	Cursors_1_6	UI elements added in the 1.6 update, among other stuff. Includes assets for Mastery, the Sonar Bobber, the new animal and power tabs, and the new stats in the farmer tab.
LooseSprites	Cursors2	UI elements added by the 1.5 update (and possibly others), among other stuff. Includes assets for the Golden Walnut counter, the screenshot button, and dresser tabs.
LooseSprites	daybg	The backdrop the farmer stands on in the farmer tab (for daytime).
LooseSprites	dialogboxgreen
LooseSprites	dye_bench	The dye pot menu.
LooseSprites	emojis	Emojis that can be used in the multiplayer chat.
LooseSprites	EmoteMenu	UI for the popup menu for using farmer reactions (bound to Y by default).
LooseSprites	FieldOfficeDonationMenu	Donation menu for Professor Snail's field office at Ginger Island
LooseSprites	font_bold	Font used by the game in most situations.
LooseSprites	font_colored
LooseSprites	ForgeMenu	The Ginger Island volcano forge menu.
LooseSprites	hoverBox
LooseSprites	JojaCDForm and all its language variants	Menu for the Joja community development form.
LooseSprites	junimo_background_blank
LooseSprites	JunimoNote and all its language variants	Community Center bundle menu, including the icons for standard bundles. If you're looking for the remixed bundles, check out LooseSprites/BundleSprites!
LooseSprites	JunimoNoteMobile	Presumably, the background for the Community Center menu on mobile versions.
LooseSprites	JunimoNoteMobileRaccoon	Presumably, the background for the raccoon bundle menu on mobile versions.
LooseSprites	LanguageButtons	Buttons for selecting your language from the title screen.
LooseSprites	letterBG	Backgrounds for the letters that NPCs send to you.
LooseSprites	logo	Game logo. Possibly unused, as the logo seen in the title screen is a different asset located at Minigames/TitleButtons.
LooseSprites	MobileAtlas and its language variants	Presumably, UI elements used by mobile versions of the game.
LooseSprites	mute_voice_icon
LooseSprites	nightbg	The backdrop the farmer stands on in the farmer tab (for nighttime).
LooseSprites	PlayerStatusList	Icons for multiplayer that show what other players are doing after you've gone to bed.
LooseSprites	PrizeTicketMenu	Menu for the prize ticket machine in Lewis's house.
LooseSprites	raccoon_bundle_menu	Menu for bundles from the raccoon neighbor in Cindersap Forest.
LooseSprites	skillTiles	Seemingly unused.
LooseSprites	SpecialOrdersBoard	Backgrounds for the special orders boards (regular, Ginger Island-themed, and Mr. Qi)
LooseSprites	squidFestLetterBG
LooseSprites	tailoring	Menu for the sewing machine.
LooseSprites	textBox
LooseSprites	troutDerbyLetterBG
LooseSprites	yellowLettersLogo
Maps	MenuTiles	Some of the assets for the pause menu, including the clothing slots.
Minigames	TitleButtons and all its language variants	Assets for the title menu, including ConcernedApe's logo and some of the easter eggs.
Minigames	Xb1ProfileButton and all its language variants
TerrainFeatures	BuffsIcons	Icons for various status effects and buffs. Possibly unused; a more complete spritesheet can be found at TileSheets/BuffsIcons.
TileSheets	BuffsIcons	Icons for various status effects and buffs.
TileSheets	emotes	Over-the-head emotes that are used during events.

Cursors

Most of your time spent making a UI mod will probably be in this file. It's huge, it's messy, and it contains the majority of UI assets that you'll need to recolor. Here's a breakdown of the major zones of UI interspersed among other sprites:
TODO.

Examples

If you're looking for a few UI elements with the different parts they're made from labeled, look no further.

Dialogue Box

Number	Description	Folder	Asset	Coordinates (where applicable)
1	The wooden frame around the dialogue box. Note that the corners are always displayed in full and only certain parts are stretched to fit the screen. For more details, see below (for now).	LooseSprites	Cursors	704 2256
2	The gradient background behind the text. The square in Cursors is stretched to fill the entire box.	LooseSprites	Cursors	306 320
3	The indicator that you can either advance to the next text box (triangular) or close the current one (square).	LooseSprites	Cursors	232 347
4	The portrait background. Includes the wooden boards, the scroll, the paper-like area behind the portrait and the frame around it.	LooseSprites	Cursors	704 2256

The following parts of the dialogue borders get stretched:

Top and bottom borders: X 274 and 289

Left border: Y 325

Right border and separator between dialogue box and portrait: Y 324

Inventory

Number	Description	Folder	Asset	Coordinates (where applicable)
1	The border around the inventory screen.	Maps	MenuTiles	16 12
2	The gradient background behind the items, text and images. The square in MenuTiles is stretched to fill the entire box.	Maps	MenuTiles	64 128
3	The tabs for inventory, player info etc.	LooseSprites	Cursors	0 368
4	The animal tab that was added in 1.6.	LooseSprites	Cursors_1_6	257 246
5	The special powers tab that was added in 1.6.	LooseSprites	Cursors_1_6	216 494
6	The exit menu button.	LooseSprites	Cursors	338 494
7	The Community Center/bundle button (if unlocked).	LooseSprites	Cursors	331 374
8	The sort inventory button.	LooseSprites	Cursors	162 440
9	The equipment slots for rings, boots and hats.	Maps	MenuTiles	0 640
10	The equipment slots for shirts, pants and trinkets (if unlocked).	Maps	MenuTiles	0 1088
11	The background behind the farmer. Which one is used depends on the in-game time.	LooseSprites	daybg or nightbg
12	The "cells" behind items.	Maps	MenuTiles	128 128

Mod Related Textures

Here you can find a list of the target paths required to replace various elements of C# Mods, and their path in the mod folder.
This list will be easier to use if the sections for each mod are layed out in alphabetical order.

Bigger Backpack

UniqueID: spacechase0.BiggerBackpack
Author: spacechase0 and bcmpinc
Mod Links: Nexus Mods

Asset Path	Target Path
BiggerBackPack/JunimoNote.png	LooseSprites/JunimoNote

Convenient Inventory

UniqueID: gaussfire.ConvenientInventory
Author: gaussfire
Mod Links: Nexus Mods

Asset Path	Target Path
ConventientInventory/assets/autoOrganizeIcon.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/autoOrganizeIcon
ConventientInventory/assets/quickStackIcon.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/quickStackIcon
ConventientInventory/assets/favoriteCursor.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/favoriteCursor
ConventientInventory/assets/favoriteBorder.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/favoriteBorder
ConventientInventory/assets/favoriteHighlight_0.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/favoriteHighlight_0
ConventientInventory/assets/favoriteHighlight_1.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/favoriteHighlight_1
ConventientInventory/assets/favoriteHighlight_2.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/favoriteHighlight_2
ConventientInventory/assets/favoriteHighlight_3.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/favoriteHighlight_3
ConventientInventory/assets/favoriteHighlight_4.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/favoriteHighlight_4
ConventientInventory/assets/favoriteHighlight_5.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/favoriteHighlight_5
ConventientInventory/assets/favoriteHighlight_6.png	Mods/gaussfire.ConvenientInventory/favoriteHighlight_6

Event Lookup

UniqueID: shekurika.EventLookup
Author: shekurika
Mod Links: Nexus Mods

Asset Path	Target Path
EventLookup/assets/button.png	Mods/shekurika.EventLookup/button
EventLookup/assets/statusCover.png	Mods/shekurika.EventLookup/statusCover

Font Settings

UniqueID: Becks723.FontSettings
Author: shekurika
Mod Links: Nexus Mods

Asset Path	Target Path
FontSettings/assets/export.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/export
FontSettings/assets/font-button.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/font-button
FontSettings/assets/font-preview-compare.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/font-preview-compare
FontSettings/assets/font-preview-normal.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/font-preview-normal
FontSettings/assets/font-tab.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/font-tab
FontSettings/assets/icon-for-toolbar-icons.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/icon-for-toolbar-icons
FontSettings/assets/refresh.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/refresh
FontSettings/assets/save.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/save
FontSettings/assets/section-box.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/section-box
FontSettings/assets/spanner.png	Mods/Becks723.FontSettings/spanner

Generic Mod Config Menu

UniqueID: spacechase0.GenericModConfigMenu
Author: spacechase0
Mod Links: Nexus Mods

Asset Path	Target Path
GenericModConfigMenu/assets/ConfigButton.png	Mods/GenericModConfigMenu/ConfigButton
GenericModConfigMenu/assets/KeyboardButton.png	Mods/GenericModConfigMenu/KeyboardButton

Happy Home Designer

UniqueID: tlitookilakin.HappyHomeDesigner
Author: tlitookilakin
Mod Links: Nexus Mods

Asset Path	Target Path
HappyHomeDesigner/assets/ui.png	Mods/tlitookilakin.HappyHomeDesigner/UI
HappyHomeDesigner/assets/mail.png	Mods/tlitookilakin.HappyHomeDesigner/Mail
HappyHomeDesigner/assets/catalogue.png	Mods/tlitookilakin.HappyHomeDesigner/Catalogue
HappyHomeDesigner/assets/overlay.png	Mods/tlitookilakin.HappyHomeDesigner/Overlay

Smart Building

UniqueID: DecidedlyHuman.SmartBuilding
Author: DecidedlyHuman
Mod Links: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/11158 Nexus Mods]

Asset Path	Target Path
SmartBuilding/assets/Buttons.png	Mods/SmartBuilding/ToolButtons

Swim Mod

UniqueID: FlyingTNT.Swim
Author: aedenthorn and FlyingTNT
Mod Links: Nexus Mods

Asset Path	Target Path
FlyingTNT.Swim/assets/OxygenBar.png	FlyingTNT.Swim/OxygenBar

Vanilla Plus Professions

UniqueID: KediDili.VanillaPlusProfessions
Author: KediDili and Airyn
Mod Links: Nexus Mods

Asset Path	Target Path
VanillaPlusProfessions/assets/TalentBG.png	VanillaPlusProfessions/TalentBG
VanillaPlusProfessions/assets/TalentSchema.png	VanillaPlusProfessions/TalentSchema
VanillaPlusProfessions/assets/skillbars.png	VanillaPlusProfessions/SkillBars
VanillaPlusProfessions/assets/ProfessionIcons.png	VanillaPlusProfessions/ProfessionIcons
VanillaPlusProfessions/assets/BundleIcons.png	VanillaPlusProfessions/BundleIcons