Sprite size (First time modding SV)

[Seyin]

I'm trying to make my first mod, and started with sprites. How large are sprites ingame? After checking some mods It seems it's a 16X16 pixels size for items. If such is the case, is there a way to have a larger resolution? My pixel art is awfull at this size, my sprites are 64X64 pixels.

 

[mouse]

I always recommend beginning by unpacking the game files. This will let you get at all the vanilla game assets, with spritesheets in PNG form, so you can see what you're working with (and always have the latest assets matching your own game version).

Stardew sprites are (mostly) 16x16 yes, with things like an NPC overworld sprite being 16x32, or individual portrait frames being 64x64. It's technically possible to use higher resolution (see this guide to using PyTK for this) but keep in mind that unless you're planning a sweeping overhaul of vanilla assets, random high-res textures tend to stick out a lot. (It's still satisfying to see your own work on-screen, though!)

I'm also not sure if the experimental 64bit compatibility issues noted for ScaleUp apply to PyTK as well, or only the standalone mod which was deprecated and should not really be used anymore anyway. This is not an immediate concern (and you might not care at all if you're not even planning on release), but something you might check on at some point if you decide to go ahead with that route :)

 

[Seyin]

Thanks for the quick reply, I converted my sprites to 16X16 to fit vanilla. I'm making new items from scratch so the vanilla sprites aren't of much use. I need to see the sprites ingame to compare with vanilla. If it's too bad for my taste I will probably use at least 32X32 sprites with PyTK as you said.

 

[mouse]

I'm making new items from scratch so the vanilla sprites aren't of much use.

They function the same in terms of how the game uses them, though, and are added into game the same way. Just as an example, the game will expect an NPC's spritesheet to be of a certain width with particular sized frames, the portraits to be set up like so (with conventions for certain emotions to be in certain positions to be used with portrait commands in dialogue), and those are loaded to specific folder paths to match how a vanilla NPC is organized. Becoming acquainted with the vanilla files is just an easy way to get familiar with how the game uses those files and where they are, even if you decide to break the rules later :)

If you're creating brand new objects though, make sure you check out JSON Assets to keep compatibility with other mods that also add new objects! It handles all the ID assignment for you, and has an API so you can use it even if you're making your own SMAPI (C#) mod vs a content pack for an existing framework. Good luck!