Stardew Valley Patch Notes - Update 1.5 Adds New Region, Beach Farm and More

Stardew Valley’s Update 1.5 is now live, its patch notes revealing the addition of a new region, beach farm and more. Ginger Island comes with its own new NPCs, a volcano dungeon that changes every time you delve through it alongside a resort which, once opened, sees villagers visiting the island.

The beach farm introduced in Update 1.5 makes for a neat little change of scenery when planting crops but also comes with a caveat. Much like Anakin Skywalker, Stardew Valley’s sprinklers aren’t big fans of sand, so you won’t be able to rely on them to grow your crops there.

You also have access to a set of advanced game options that let you randomize mine chests, community center bundle while also making it possible to complete the latter during your first year. Split-screen is also available in local co-op with Stardew Valley’s Update 1.5 going live. You’ll find all the changes and additions below, as detailed in the official patch notes:

New world area

1.5 adds an entire new region of the world, Ginger Island (part of the Fern Islands):

• Added new locations, dialogue, events, minigames, puzzles, and a quest line involving multiple NPCs.
• Added Leo, a new NPC with his own backstory, plot line, events, etc.
• Added new secondary NPCs: Birdie, Gourmand Frog, and Professor Snail.
• Added a volcano dungeon which changes each time you visit it similar to the mines.
• Added Qi challenges which unlock rare or unique items.
• Added an unlockable island farm and farmhouse area, where you can plant crops in any season but can’t construct buildings.
• Added an unlockable resort you can open to let villagers visit the islands, including new beach attire and schedules.
• Added hidden pages of a lost sailor’s journal to uncover his story and learn about the islands.
• Added Golden Walnuts hidden throughout the islands, which can be used to unlock new areas and content.
• Added Golden Coconuts, which Clint can crack open to find rare island items.
• Added gem birds which spawn in a random island area when it rains, and drop gems when approached.
• Added secrets and puzzles to discover around the island.
• Added new enemies:
• Dwarvish Sentry;
• False Magma Cap;
• Hot Head;
• Lava Lurk;
• Magma Sprite;
• Magma Sparker;
• Magma Duggy;
• Spiker;
• Stick Bug;
• Tiger Slime.
• Added new cosmetic critters: crabs, caldera monkeys, overhead parrots, marsupial, and tropical butterflies.
• Added new Island Obelisk building.

New farm features

• Added a new beach farm layout.
• Added ostrich as a farm animal.
• The immovable dressers found in Farmhands’ cabins have been removed.
• Added home renovations, which let you further expand and adjust the farmhouse after it’s fully upgraded.
• Beds are now normal furniture you can pick up, move around, and replace.
• You can even have a house with no bed, but your spouse might have something to say about that.
• Once unlocked, the greenhouse can now be moved at Robin’s shop.
• The default shipping bin can now be moved or demolished at Robin’s shop.
• Added Advanced Game Options, which can be used to customize a new game:
• Set seed value used in randomization;
• Choose default vs randomized community center bundles;
• Choose default vs randomized mine chests;
• Can make Red Cabbage Seeds guaranteed to sell at least once at the travelling cart in year one, so it’s always possible to finish the community center in the first year.
• Can access the profit margins and cabin related options that were previously inaccessible when creating a single player farm.
• Can toggle monsters spawning
• You can now apply cosmetic paints to the farmhouse and buildings.
• Ducks can now swim in water, and certain coop animals will now follow adults around.
• Slimes now drink from slime hutch troughs in random order.

Other new content and features

• Added Dwarvish forge and weapon enchanting.
• Added the ability to combine two rings into one.
• Added Special Orders, more dynamic late-game quests which let you help villagers with their personal projects through a special orders board in town. These can include more varied goals and rewards, temporary world changes, permanent changes (e.g. new shop inventory), and post-completion events.
• Added a second Community Upgrade to Robin’s shop.
• Added a more difficult version of the mines and skull caves. These can be accessed late game, and can optionally be toggled permanently using the Shrine of Challenge:
• The following new monsters appear in the more difficult mines:
• Shadow Sniper;
• Skeleton Mage;
• Spider (jumps, often found near webs that can trap players and dust sprites);
• Putrid Ghost (causes nauseated debuff);
• Blue Squid;
• Royal Serpent;
• Slime Stack.
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• Added new fishing TV channel (not available until certain conditions are met).
• Added new crops and trees:
• Mahogany Tree (drops hardwood);
• Fiber Seeds;
• Ginger (forage);
• Banana;
• Mango;
• Pineapple;
• Taro Root (paddy crop);
• New palm tree variant;
• Qi Fruit (available during Qi special quest).
• Festival changes:
• Added year 2 dialogues for Egg Festival.
• Added shops to the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies, Feast of the Winter Star, Festival of Ice, and Luau.
• Added new items to various festival shops.
• You can now change your name and gender in the Wizard’s basement shrine.
• You now have a perfection rating which tracks the percentage of game content you’ve completed. Reaching full completion lets you buy Golden Chickens, adds a random Golden Witch event, unlocks access to The Summit with a new event, adds new bird critters, and unlocks various items.
• You can now further customize sprinklers with attachments:
• Enricher automatically applies loaded fertilizer while planting seeds nearby;
• Pressure Nozzle increases watering range.
• Added new craftable items and machines:
• Bone Mill turns bone items into fertilizer;
• Coffee Maker brews a fresh cup every morning;
• Cookout Kit lets you cook on the go;
• Dark Sign displays an item without consuming it;
• Deconstructor destroys crafted items, but salvages their most valuable material;
• Farm Computer scans the farm and displays useful information;
• Geode Crusher consumes coal to break open geodes.
• Heavy Tapper works twice as fast as a normal tapper;
• Hopper auto-loads items placed inside into the machine in front of it;
• Junimo Chests are linked to a global shared stash;
• Mini-Obelisks let you warp between two obelisks when placed on the farm;
• Mini-Shipping Bin is a smaller shipping bin that can be placed outside the farm;
• Ostrich Incubator when placed in a barn, hatches ostrich eggs into baby ostriches;
• Solar Panel slowly generates batteries when left in the sun;
• Statue of True Perfection produces a prismatic shard each day;
• Stone Chest is a variant of chest crafted with stone instead of wood;
• Telephone calls stores to check hours and inventory, and occasionally receive random phone calls (no effect on gameplay);
• Warp Totem: Island warps to the Fern Islands.
• Added new food items:
• Bug Steak;
• Banana Pudding;
• Ginger;
• Ginger Ale;
• Ginger Beer;
• Mango Sticky Rice;
• Piña Colada;
• Poi;
• Taro Root;
• Tropical Curry;
• Squid Ink Ravioli (temporarily prevents debuffs).
• Add new fertilizers:
• Deluxe Fertilizer increases chance of higher-quality crops;
• Deluxe Retaining Soil always keeps soil watered overnight;
• Hyper Speed-Gro increases growth rate by at least 33%.
• Added new items:
  • Bone Fragment;
  • Fossilized Skull, Spine, Tail, Legs, and Ribs and Snake Skull, Snake Vertebrae;
  • Cinder Shard;
  • Dragon Tooth;
  • Tiger Slime Egg;
  • Fairy Dust can used on a machine to have it finish processing;
  • Golden Walnut;
  • Magma Cap;
  • Monster Musk causes more monsters to spawn;
  • Mummified Bat and Mummified Frog;
  • Ostrich Egg;
  • Qi Gem;
  • Qi Seasoning increases quality of cooked recipes;
  • Radioactive Ore and Radioactive Bar;
  • Taro Tuber;
  • Horse Flute summons your horse when outside;
  • Mushroom Tree Seed.
  • Auto-Petter… a late-game Joja route item, but also obtainable very rarely by other means

• Added new fishing tackle:
• Curiosity Lure increases the chance to catch rare fish;
• Quality Bobber increases fish quality;
• Magic Bait catches fish from any season/time/weather for a given location.
• Added new quest items:
• Advanced TV Remote;
• Arctic Shard;
• Ectoplasm;
• Gourmet Tomato Salt;
• Pierre’s Missing Stocklist;
• Pirate’s Locket;
• Prismatic Jelly;
• Stardew Valley Rose;
• War Memento;
• Wriggling Worm.
• Added new rings:
• Glowstone Ring provides both light and increased item collection radius;
• Hot Java Ring increases your chance to find coffee drinks when slaying monsters;
• Immunity Band reduces chance of status debuffs by 40%;
• Phoenix Ring restores some health after being knocked out once per day.
• Protection Ring keeps you invincible longer after taking damage;
• Soul Sapper Ring restores a bit of energy after slaying a monster;
• Thorns Ring damages enemies when they attack you.
• Added new hats:
• ???;
• Dark Cowboy Hat;
• Deluxe Pirate Hat;
• Forager’s Hat;
• Goggles;
• Golden Helmet;
• Mr. Qi’s Hat;
• Pink Bow;
• Qi Mask (secret);
• Radioactive Goggles;
• Star Helmet;
• Sunglasses;
• Swashbuckler Hat;
• Tiger Hat;
• Warrior Helmet.
• Added new clothing:
• Banana Shirt;
• Ginger Overalls;
• Hot Pink Shirt;
• Magenta Shirt;
• Tropical Sunrise Shirt;
• Yellow Suit.
• Added new shoes:
• Cinderclown Shoes;
• Mermaid Boots;
• Dragonscale Boots;
• Crystal Shoes;
• Added new weapons:
• Dwarf Sword, Dwarf Hammer, and Dwarf Dagger;
• Dragontooth Cutlass, Dragontooth Club, and Dragontooth Shiv;
• Infinity Blade, Infinity Dagger, and Infinity Gavel;
• Iridium Needle;
• Ossified Blade;
• some previously inaccessible items have also been made accessible.

Added new fish:

• Stingray;
• Lionfish;
• Blue Discus;
• Legendary fish:
• Glacierfish Jr.;
• Legend II;
• Ms. Angler;
• Radioactive Carp;
• Son of Crimsonfish.
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• Added new furniture:
• 35 paintings (many only found in festival shops or while fishing certain locations);
• 14 bed variants;
• ten rugs:
• Blossom Rug;
• Funky Rug;
• Icy Rug;
• Large Cottage Rug;
• Large Green Rug;
• Large Red Rug;
• Light Green Rug;
• Modern Rug;
• Oceanic Rug;
• Old World Rug;
• eight ‘floor divider’ rugs that can be placed between rooms to join visually different floor types;
• five fish tanks you can put fish in;
• Decorative Trash Can;
• Gourmand Statue;
• Iridium Krobus;
• Large Brown Couch;
• Plain Torch and Stump Torch;
• Squirrel Figurine;
• Tropical Chair.
• Added a new ‘sconce’ furniture type with seven options.
• Added new flooring:
• Rustic Plank Floor;
• Stone Walkway Floor.
• Added new debuffs from enemies:
• Darkness (dims lighting, making it harder to see in caves);
• Nauseated (prevents you from eating anything);
• Weakness (-20 Attack).
• Added 15 new hair styles.
• Added mail from Krobus with his own stationary.
• Added new decorations and tweaks to many maps.
• Added new easter egg on the title screen.
• Added easter egg when you change your name at the The Shrine of Illusions to include item spawn codes.
• Emily now visits Sandy on her birthday.
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Quality of life changes

• Added lost & found box in Mayor Lewis’ house. This can be used to retrieve items donated to failed special orders, lost quest items and tools, items from offline players, hats from children that have been turned into doves, and items left behind in the Stardew Valley Fair grange display.
• You can now sit on chairs (both placed furniture and chairs that are part of the map).
• You can now place most furniture outside.
• You can now talk to people while mounted on a horse.
• You can now donate items of different qualities for the same community bundle ingredient.
• You can no longer plant fruit trees on tiles they won’t be able to grow on.
• Improved game menus and HUD:
• The social tab now shows whether you talked to an NPC today.
• The cooking tab now shows the recipe for an item when you hover over it.
• The cooking tab now fades icons for recipes you know but haven’t made yet.
• The cooking/crafting tooltips now show the number produced.
• The inventory menu’s organize button now combines partial item stacks.
• The inventory menu for a chest chest now shows the Community Center button.
• The shipment screen now shows the unit price of shipped items instead of displaying the shipped quantity twice.
• The quest log now shows an arrow in the morning when you have pending completed quests.
• Buff icons now subtly pulse when they’re close to expiring.
• Added a notification when you enter a farm building if an incubator is ready but the building is at max capacity.
• The “infestation” indicator in the mines is now drawn alongside the floor number, rather than replacing it.
• Improved shop menus:
• You can now press ESC or controller B to move the held item to your inventory (or drop it if you have no more inventory room).
• While holding a purchase, the inventory now highlights items you can stack it with.
• Improved sprinklers:
• Sprinklers can now water Slime Hutch troughs.
• Hoes no longer remove sprinklers.
• Improved Journey of the Prairie King:
• Progress can now be saved and resumed, so it can be completed in multiple sessions.
• You now also replay the original difficulty even if you’ve already completed it. (Previously it would increase difficulty automatically, which is now a New Game+ mode.)
• Improved game options:
• added option to choose between multiple fish-bite chime sounds;
• added option to mute farm animals and pets;
• you can now scale the UI independently of the view zoom;
• increased maximum zoom from 120% to 200%.
• Improved various items:
• The jukebox now has a “Random” setting.
• Removing a crystalarium that isn’t ready for harvest will now drop the gem that was placed in it.
• You can now push chests containing items by holding the interact button on them with no tool equipped (the same way you could previously remove empty chests without using a tool).
• Improved inventory sorting:
• no longer changes tool order;
• now sorts by quality too;
• now sorts names in alphabetical instead of reverse alphabetical order.
• Improved museum donation interactions:
• Clicking an item now grabs one instead of the whole stack.
• Pressing back while placing an item now returns to the inventory instead of closing the whole UI.
• Other minor improvements.
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The list of Stardew Valley Update 1.5 changes goes on, as it's a pretty significant update. You can check out everything in the article linked above.

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