• Individual experiences: I tested these methods and they worked, however, due to Starbound's weird code, it might differ for people.
  
• Steam Workshop mods: Optimization mods found on the Steam Workshop usually have very mixed reports on whether they work or not. The best option is to just try for yourself.
  
• Xbox limitations: It's very hard/not possible to modify the files of the Xbox version of Starbound.

VSync - A thing that differs for most people. Many people report having increased FPS when having it turned off. I personally didn't get more FPS and it caused my game to become choppy.

1. Right-click Starbound on Steam > Manage > Browse local files.
   
2. Go into the "storage" folder.
   
3. Open the "starbound.config" file with any notepad app.
   
4. Press CTRL+F at the same time, type in "vsync" without the quotation marks and press enter.
   
5. Set "vsync" : true to false.

Zoom Level - Lowering it causes less things to be rendered, improving FPS.

OpenStarbound

[github.com]
Probably the most important one out of all of the mods. This project is basically a community-driven continuation of Starbound and a fork of the StarExtensions mod. You can freely switch between it and default Starbound, and it's also fully compatible with mods. How to install:

1. Go to the website (click the name) and grab the latest release from the description.
   
2. Right-click Starbound on Steam > Manage > Browse local files.
   
3. Extract the "assets" and "win" folders into Starbound's folder.
   
4. Move the contents of the "win" folder into "win64" and replace all files.

My experience: I'm currently using a personal collection. Using OpenStarbound fixes all freezes for me, reduces stutters and drastically improves performance.

StarExtensions

[github.com]

StarExtensions can cause crashes! Not recommended unless you are familiar with logs.

As mentioned above, OpenStarbound contains almost everything StarExtensions does, but at the moment, not everything, including special compatibility with some mods. StarExtensions optimizes visual lag (e.g. block placement) only, so I don't recommend it. So, you can choose to use this or OpenStarbound. Modifies a single file called "SDL2.dll". You can technically use this alongside OpenStarbound, but since OpenStarbound essentially creates another Starbound executable, this mod will only work if you launch the default game. How to install:

1. Go to the website (click the name) and grab the latest release from the description. Make sure you downlaod the correct win version. For most people, this will be win64.
   
2. Right-click Starbound on Steam > Manage > Browse local files.
   
3. Extract the "SDL2.dll" and "StarExtensions.dll" files into the win32 or win64 folder, depending on which one you downloaded.
   
4. You can launch the game the same way you used to.

Extra: 

Futara's Dragon Pixel Fullbright Shader

This is not an optimization mod, rather a lighting overhaul mod. Both OpenStarbound and Fullbright Shader mess with lighting. This doesn't break the game or anything, but everything will be really bright. To fix this, you can disable OpenStarbound's new lighting system in-game in the options. Apart from providing better visuals with no performance hit, many mods are designed to use this light engine. How to install:

1. Go to the website (click the name) and follow the installation steps, or get the file instantly by clicking here[futaradragon.info]
   
2. Right-click Starbound on Steam > Manage > Browse local files.
   
3. Drag the .pak file into the "mods" folder and rename it to something.
   
4. You can launch the game the same way you used to, or from OpenStarbound's "win" folder.

• Note 1: Most of the listed mods are client-side only. What this means is that you can use it on a server that doesn't have the mod installed. Usually they don't even work when installed on a server too.
  
• Note 2: Check out this guide by GGriddy if you want to install mods on the Xbox version. This guide is old though and may be outdated by now.
  
• Note 3: Mods have a very limited ability to change files that might change the way the game runs, this is why there are so few that actually might work.

• Any mods that remove certain particles - These are highly situational, but adding a lot of them will reduce that. Reports on whether they work or not are mixed. In my experience, there was no change.
  
• Freeze That Gate! - When you open the big portal behind Esther, it can cause a lot of lag when loaded. This mod freezes the texture. Reports on whether it works or not are mixed. In my experience, it worked.
  
• Optimizebound - Compresses pretty much all .png files in the game's assets. People have reported invisible mech legs when used with Frackin' Universe, though. Reports on whether it works or not are mixed.
  
• Parallax Compression (FPS Improvement) - Compresses the game's moving backgrounds, a.k.a parallaxes, to half their size. A better alternative FPS-wise to this would be Parallax Removal if the backgrounds are not important for you. Reports on whether it works or not are mixed. In my experience, there was no change.

• Any "More threads" mods - While they technically work and really do add more usable threads to the game, most operations on Starbound are still ran on only one thread (around 99%). Check out this Reddit comment by ws-ilazki for a detailed explanation. Still, adding them won't really hurt your experience.

This might not make much sense at first, but since Starbound only utilises a single thread for most of its actions, playing on a server (be it hosted or running for free on your own device) will spread used resources out a bit more. How to start a server on your device:

• Right-click Starbound on Steam > Manage > Browse local files.
  
• Go into "win32" or "win64" (preferably 64) and start the "starbound_server.exe" file.
  
• You can connect with your own IP.

These are just some workshop mods that... well, fix issues Chucklefish didn't address. Perfect for both vanilla and modded.

• Starbound Patch Project - fixes tons of inconsistencies and errors.
  
• Scorched City Parallax Fix - removes a black pixel.

There's a Guide that suggests an app called Lossless Scaling. In layman's terms, this uses AI to give you more frames. For more detail, check out the guide here. Note that this is not mine and I have permission to post it here.

TL;DR: There's not. I can't shorten various differing points into one sentence.

Please feel free to comment if you have a question or suggestion for this guide.
I'd also appreciate reports on what worked for you and what didn't!