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What are the best Starfield mods? Mod support is an important part of many PC games, especially RPG games. Skyrim has endured all these years partly because it’s a great game, partly because Bethesda keeps releasing it on hitherto unknown gaming platforms, but also because it’s powered by a vibrant and creative modding community.
Thankfully, Starfield mod support has technically been available since before the Starfield release date rolled around thanks to early access. If you’re playing Starfield Game Pass, you may experience some difficulty installing all of the mods we’ve listed below. For maximum compatibility, you’re going to want the Steam version of the game.
The best mods for Starfield are:
Call your Ship
Tired of walking all the way back to where you landed each time you explore a new planet or complete some quests? The Call your Ship mod is the lazy spaceman’s mod, allowing you to call your spaceship to your current location. When you’re ready to head home, simply open the console, ask your ship to come meet you, and it takes off, landing right in front of you. Your feet will thank you.
StarUI
If you could only download one single mod from this list, it should be StarUI from m8r98a4f2. It’s okay to admit it, Starfield has a major problem with its menu system. There’s a lot of wasted space, it’s not very intuitive, and it features a number of animations that waste a lot of time. StarUI compresses your lists together to display more information at a glance, and you now use your keyboard to seamlessly pick and choose the items you’re after.
Unless you’re actively putting skill points into weightlifting, you’re going to have to deal with encumbrance sooner rather than later. Fortunately, StarUI shows you which categories are taking up the most space in your inventory without needing to jump through menus, making it easy to go to a vendor and sell off your unwanted junk.
Starfield Upscaler
When PC users heard the news that Starfield wasn’t going to feature support for Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology, players wanted to know if modders could bring this highly requested feature to the game. On Starfield’s early access launch, Nexus Mods user PureDark uploaded Starfield Upscaler – Replacing FSR2 with DLSS or XESS. This mod does exactly what users were begging for, replacing AMD’s upscaling tech with Intel’s and Nvidia’s, depending on what GPU you’re using.
We can’t think of a reason not to use this mod if you own an RTX GPU from Nvidia or one of Intel’s Arc graphics cards. Not only can you expect a performance boost in terms of additional frame rate, but there’s also the added benefit of superior anti-aliasing thanks to DLSS.
FOV Changer
One of the big complaints about the PC port of Starfield is the lack of any field-of-view settings, forcing players to use the stock values. Starfield FOV from Hellstorm102 on Nexus Mods lets you tweak the FOV for both first and third person, allowing you to see more or less depending on your preference. We recommend turning this value up to 120 in order to zoom the perspective out when playing in first person as the default values are too close for our liking.
Skip Launch Video
An oldie, but a goodie. Bethesda loves to remind players that they’re playing a Bethesda Game Studios title every time they boot up one of their games, but if you already know this and you want to move on, download Aetherpoint’s Skip Launch Video mod. Instead of sitting through the five-second intro, the video will instantly skip after one black frame. Do you know how much time that’s going to save you over the course of your Starfield playthrough? So much time.
Dualsense PS5 Icons
Starfield might be an Xbox exclusive, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the game using your favorite PS5 controller (on PC). Using EASKATER’s Dualsense icons mod, you can swap out those Xbox prompts with Dualsense icons to ensure you never miss a beat.
Achievement Enabler
Bethesda seems to think if you’re playing with mods that you don’t deserve to unlock achievements on Steam or the Microsoft Store. Using the Achievement Enabler mod from brunph, you can have your cake and eat it. All you need to do is drag a few files into a few Starfield folders to regain the ability to unlock achievements.
It’s also worth pointing out that Achievement Enabler also works if you legitimately are using mods and Starfield console commands to cheat. If you’re coming to this mod after you’ve already used cheats, you have to replay the game to unlock your missing achievements. Be warned that an update to Starfield may break the mod from working, so keep an eye on the mod page for any patches.
120fps Smooth UI
Some of you probably bought brand new computers to eek every drop of Starfield performance possible. If you purchased a gaming monitor, you may have noticed there are a number of menus in Starfield that don’t run as smoothly as the rest of the game. When flying in your ship, it’s very easy to notice your aiming reticle moving at a considerably lower frame rate compared to the rest of the screen. Use the 120fps Smooth UI mod from alexbull_uk to sort out this problem and more.
Though we appreciate Starfield’s ability to support high refresh rates, even if most people struggle to hit them, it’s clear the menus were designed with the Xbox Series’ 30fps cap in mind. Remove this limit entirely using the Smooth UI mod to make every menu in Starfield feel silky smooth. This mod will disable achievements, fortunately, Achievement Enabler addresses that issue.
Less Spongy Enemies
Are you sick of the enemies with multiple health bars? If you want to get rid of the bullet sponge enemies, the Less Spongy Enemies mod from Zzyxzz levels the playing field by drastically reducing the enemy’s health bonuses. Zzyxzz has included multiple versions of the mod, giving you the choice to adjust exactly how much extra health enemies are allowed to have.
Enhanced Player Health Bar
Starfield’s minimal UI might look great while exploring new planets, but it can be frustrating in the heat of combat when your health is being drained by multiple targets and your only indicator is a depleting white bar. The Enhanced Player Health Bar by SilverEzredes fixes this glaring issue by color-coding the health bar, letting the player know at a glance how much health they have. Once your health hits the orange mark, it’s probably a good time to start using a medkit.
Responsive Grabbing
When it comes to stealing from NPCs in Bethesda games, the ol’ bucket trick usually works best among humans. If you don’t know what we’re referring to, it’s when you place an item, usually a bucket or something decidedly bucket-shaped, on top of an NPC’s head. As long as you can block the NPC’s line of sight, they won’t be able to see a thing. Fortunately for us, the NPCs don’t know how to remove the helmet on their heads, giving us plenty of time to steal whatever isn’t being glued down.
This is where Seb263’s Responsive Grabbing mod comes in. There’s a slight delay when picking up items, a delay that didn’t exist in the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. However, Seb263’s mod fixes this issue by adjusting the amount of delay from one second down to 0.3 seconds for interactive objects, and 0.15 seconds for basic objects.
Ship Builder Tolerance Tweaks
Building your own custom Starfield ship is one of the moments Starfield players have fantasized about since the game was first announced. Unfortunately, there are a number of restrictions that can make the process slightly more complicated than it needs to be. Nexus Mods user keanuWheeze has created the Ship Builder Tolerance Tweaks mod to fix some of the issues players have been running into while building their dream ship.
Visible Skill Descriptions
It’s always fun to read through a long skill tree list and see what abilities you can expect to unlock as you progress through the game. Starfield makes this process awkward by forcing players to spend X amount of points before they can view each skill’s description. Mod creator, TheLastPioneer, removed this odd limitation with their Visible Skill Descriptions so you can plan your perfect build accordingly.
Dark Mode for Terminals
In the world of Starfield, it appears that the dark mode memo didn’t reach every part of the universe after all. The Terminals in Starfield will hurt your eyes if you’re not careful, especially when playing at night. Animandan fixed this massive problem by creating Dark Mode for Terminals, making it easy to use the in-game computers while you play on your real-life computer.
Native HDR and Color Banding Fix
Bethesda has made the unique decision to release Starfield with broken HDR support, a feature that people with high-end televisions and monitors come to expect these days. Ersh has identified what needed to be changed in order to create a working HDR effect, and the result is fantastic using the Native HDR and Color Banding Fix mod. This mod does require the user to go through a bunch of steps to get this working but trust us, the end result is more than worth it.
Photo Mode Tweaks
Starfield’s photo mode is excellent, but johnson, a known Cyberpunk 2077 modder, has taken this mode even further with their Photo Mode Tweaks mod. This mod gives you greater control over the field of view on the camera, increases the camera range by four, and stops any characters from disappearing when you get too close to them. There’s no reason not to download this mod as it only enhances the stock photo mode, giving you the freedom to take beautiful screenshots.
Ship Skip – Instant Station Docking
Watching your ship land for the first time is an epic experience, but it’s not as awesome when you’ve watched it happen for the 100th time. Bub’s Ship Skip mod reduces the amount of time spent watching cutscenes of your ship by removing them entirely.
No longer does the player have to wait until their ship undocks from a docking station, now you can simply fly away. Likewise, taking off from a planet has never been faster now that the animation is gone. This is definitely one of the more controversial mods as some people really appreciate the immersion of seeing their ship in these cutscenes, however, if you really don’t care, this mod is practically essential as it will save you plenty of time.
Realistic Water
The team behind the realistic water mods for Skyrim and Fallout 4 has been hard at work creating something similar to Starfield. Despite all of the modding tools not being available right now, TechAngel85 and the rest of their team created Realistic Water, improving the water texture with life-like wave patterns. While the current mod does a great job improving the water, the team has left a message on Nexus Mods stating that they plan on taking this mod much further when the tools become available.
Icon Sorting Tags
Unless you’ve played for hundreds of hours, it can be difficult to know exactly what items you’re actually picking up until you’ve had a chance to look at them in your inventory. Thankfully, McGuffin, a popular Fallout 76 modder, has brought their iconic Icon Sorting Tags to Starfield to make the item filtering process significantly easier. It’s important to note that this mod is being updated every few days, so you may want to keep an eye on the page as more icons are added to the game.
Richer Merchants
Are you sick of the merchants seemingly running out of credits whenever you have things to sell Starfield items? There’s no worse feeling than lugging around heavy items only to find that your favorite vendor doesn’t have any credits for your goods. JustAnOrdinaryGuy has created the Richer Merchants mod to drastically increase the amount of credits each merchant has on them. Once you activate the mod, go to sleep for two in-game days and every merchant should have refreshed their stock and will now have a lot more credits on hand.
All The Materials
It’s finally time for you to finish up all of those research lab projects you’ve been putting off, but when you get down to it, you find that you’re missing a bunch of materials. With over 1,000 different planets to explore, you could play for hundreds of hours before finding everything you need.
This is where v2461’s All The Materials mod comes in handy. Simply activate this mode, type ‘bat mats’ into the console and you will instantly receive every Starfield material needed to complete every research lab project, in addition to every weapon and suit modification. Bear in mind that you will have to deal with excess materials once you’re finished, so plan ahead by finding a storage space that’ll fit all your materials.
Easy Digipick (Lockpick)
When it comes to immersion-breaking moments, nothing tops finding a locked safe that you can open using a Digipick. The only problem is that you were just in the middle of a high-octane fight, and to top things off, you’re completely over the little Starfield lockpicking minigame which you have to play every time you open a safe. This is where Ixion XVII’s mod, Easy Digipick (Lockpick) comes into play, allowing you to skip these minigames every time you break open a lock. Be warned, you still have to unlock the digipicking skills if you want to break into harder locks.
Easy Speech
You’re supposed to be one of the more persuasive people on the planet, and yet the persuasion system can still fail you at times through no fault of your own. Easy Speech by Ixion XVII ensures every time you press an NPC for the truth, they’re not going to be able to wriggle their way out of your questioning. This mod makes it so you have a 100% chance to pass all speech checks, but you do have to acquire the speech perks to talk to tricky NPCs.
Instant Scan
So you’re telling me in the future, everyone happens to own spaceships and we can do all this magical, futuristic stuff, yet scanning items takes over a second? This mod from JustAnOrdinaryGuy would’ve worked well in-game as an upgrade to the scanner, but we’ll take the Instant Scan mod instead. Surveying planets already takes a lot of time, however, this mod will save you plenty of time as you speed run your surveying duties.
Lazy Cheats (Credits, Digipicks, XP)
Sure, you could easily rely on console commands to get your fix of credits, digipicks, and experience points, but that method is going to take you a while. RockJB’s Lazy Cheats mod makes things much easier by shortening the length of the important console commands, making it simple to get exactly what you want. Want to buy an expensive ship? Type into the console ‘money100’ to grant yourself 100,000,000 credits. Need a digipick? Enter ‘digi100’ to instantly acquire 1,000 digipicks.
Real Flashlight
The flashlight in Starfield works great when you’re in a dark environment, but it doesn’t behave like a real flashlight. What kind of flashlight have you seen that brightly illuminates the middle area and not the entire circle? DoubleYou has corrected this mistake with their Real Flashlight mod, removing the banding artifacts to make your spacesuit’s flashlight look better in-game.
Burden Me Not – Clutter Begone
If you’re still playing Starfield with a weight limit, you will learn to hate all of the clutter that spawns seemingly everywhere. The Burden Me Not mod highlights the clutter in a different color, or if you’d prefer you can simply remove all clutter from the game entirely, so you never have to worry about stocking your inventory with junk.
Undelayed Menus
Starfield’s menus can be frustrating, to say the least. Enter the Undelayed Menus mod. It’s designed to improve menus by increasing the responsiveness and efficiency of Starfield menus. It’ll remove those long, slow fading effects you see when opening and closing menus, making the process swifter and smoother. It’ll also ensure in-game menus run at a seamless 60 FPS, doubling the default Finally, all press to exit buttons now execute twice as fast and remove the animation, making your menu browsing even faster.
Ultra-Anim – Faster Interaction Animations
There are a number of ship-related animations that take quite a lot of time to play out, but you can change this in an instant with the Ultra-Anim mod. From airlocks, workbenches, ladders, and sitting in your pilot seat, you can change the speed of these animations to save yourself a considerable amount of time.
Cleanfield
Somewhat similar to Undelayed Menus, Cleanfield also aims to tidy up the user experience so your traversal through space is as seamless as possible. It’ll remove the epilepsy and seizure warning as well as the Bethesda logo video and logo itself. Optional additional removals include the message of the day and the Starfield logo. As a nice bonus, it supports 30, 60, and 120fps.
Craftable Ammo and Utilities
In a universe filled with a variety of weapons, utilities, and ammo, there are going to be moments where you’re going to need something specific that you just don’t have. Whether it’s ammo to use that legendary weapon you found, or a digipick to break into a nearby safe, it’s a shame you can’t just craft what you need in these moments. That’s where the Craftable Ammo and Utilities mod comes in handy, giving your crafting skills another layer of depth by creating new craftable items.
The Eyes of Beauty
This mod might be purely aesthetics, but sometimes they’re the most fun. The Eyes of Beauty mod adds new textures for character eyes which replace the standard ones. Since its release, the creator has added the texture from the banner on the page stating it’s “not realistic, but it will likely bring joy”. I don’t know about you, but I do want to walk around the Settled Systems with literal stars in my eyes, thank you.
Increase Ship Transfer Distance
If you aren’t willing to raise your character’s weight limit, the Increase Ship Transfer Distance mod is probably the next best thing. You can send items to your ship’s cargo as long as you are within 250m from it, but this mod increases that distance to an incredible 2500m. This means you shouldn’t have any issues handing your items to your ship whenever you find yourself over-encumbered.
EXE – Effect Textures Enhanced
The EXE mod has remade and improved every single visual effect in Starfield. Every. Single. One. This includes but certainly isn’t limited to, explosions, weapon effects, gore, storms, fires, fog, dust, wisps, auras, smoke, water visuals, and much more. The mod is currently incomplete with the creator adding more effects with each huge update, so this is definitely one to keep on your radar.
New Atlantis – Billboard Map
Considering how large New Atlantis is, it seems strange that the devs never considered adding maps to Starfield to help players find key locations in each city. In the case of New Atlantis, a modder has created the Billboard Map that adds a mall-like guide to the city. Simply head over to the map and you won’t find yourself lost in the big city ever again.
Compact Mission UI
This handy Compact Mission UI mod will adjust the mission menu to enable you to see 50% more missions at once. Alongside that, it lowers the opacity of missions you’ve completed, making them more distinguishable from the ones in progress. If that doesn’t help your space adventure go more smoothly, what will?
High-Res Hair and Beards
We understand the need to look your best on every occasion which is why it’s important to download the High-Res Hair and Beards mod to look your very best. There’s something about the hair and beards in Starfield that just doesn’t cut it, but this mod fixes everything by adding high-resolution hair to the game to give your character the hairdo they deserve.
Scanner Encumbrance Display With Time
We’ve written quite a lot about encumbrance in Starfield as it’s one of the most controversial aspects of the space game. Of course, no astronaut is capable of carrying an unlimited amount of items, but dealing with this weight limit is an incredibly frustrating experience because it usually interrupts your game. With the Scanner Encumbrance Display With Time mod, you can keep your weight limit on your wrist to stop you from picking up too much.
Turn Quick Saves into Normal Saves
The only difference between a quick save and a regular save is that regular saves stick around in the save menu forever, whereas quick saves disappear after some time. If you’re the type of person who wants to relive precious moments repeatedly, you may want to download the Quick Full Saves mod to fill up your saves menu with an endless amount of saves to go back to.
Perk Up – Better Experience
Starfield is the type of game that you’re supposed to spend hundreds of hours playing and that is made clear by the leveling system. Not only must players reach a specific level, but you have to prove you’re worthy of the upgrade you want by performing a challenge beforehand. If you simply don’t have time to jump through these hoops, download Perk Up – Better Experience to get the skills you want.
Slow Motion During Ship Power Management
You’re always going to have a bad time when you’re surrounded by numerous enemy ships out there in space, but these moments can be made worse when you aren’t ready to manage your ship’s power. The Slow Motion During Ship Power Management mod slows down time whenever you’re messing around with your power options just to give yourself a breather.
Better Visible Magazines
There are plenty of stat-boosting magazines to collect out there in the wide universe, but the only problem is that they’re easily missed. The Better Visible Magazines mod highlights every magazine with a green outline, giving you a clearer indication of where you can find these important items when you’re on your journey.
Less NPC Headtracking
Sick of everyone staring at you on a regular basis? No matter where you are, if there are NPCs around, they’ll make their presence felt by constantly staring at you. The Less NPC Headtracking mod stops NPCs from looking at you so intently unless you’re right up close to them. We already know we’re the main character, we don’t need the entire universe reminding us of that fact.
Improved 4K Blood
Bethesda games usually aren’t filled with blood and gore, and while the Improved 4K Blood mod doesn’t suddenly transform Starfield into Doom, it does add a more realistic blood effect to the game. Now it’s obvious to say we aren’t qualified to give games age ratings, but if we had to guess we’d say the age rating jumps from a 12 to a 15 at the very least. By adding a bit of violence to the combat, you might reconsider taking on so many fights to avoid any bloodshed.
8K planets
When you take a close look at the planets in Starfield, you may notice things aren’t as clear as they possibly could be. Now, this won’t be an issue for most people, but if you’re using bleeding-edge technology like the best graphics cards and 8K displays, you might find that the images of the planets just aren’t up to snuff. Fortunately, the 8K planets mod uses images sourced from NASA and utilizes AI upscaling to create the finest planet images you’ve ever seen.
Height Randomizer
You know those things people point out where, once you see it, you can’t unsee it? It appears the humans in Starfield all share similar DNA as every NPC in the game is the exact same height. That’s right, the idea of short and tall people doesn’t exist in the world of Starfield. Fortunately, you can change this using the Height Randomizer mod to provide some variation to the game’s NPCs.
Bottles Labels Overhaul
Are you tired of doing the same thing every single day? Is working for the man getting you down? You should follow your dreams, throw off the shackles of that 9-5, and finally become the sommelier you were meant to be. The Bottles Labels Overhaul mod adds super detailed labels to your bottles, it’s as easy as that. It’s a simple mod, but one that, for someone in your line of work, is essential. How can you suggest a cheeky little number, one with a robust nose and a fruity aftertaste, if you can’t even read the label? Get on it, wine friends.
Easy Read Dark UI
The staff at PCGN, Batman, and the mole people of Jarvin VIII. What do they all have in common? They all have their devices in dark mode, of course. With the Easy Read Dark UI mod, you too can join the elite ranks of dark mode users and in turn, make all of the terminals in Starfield an absolute joy to read.
Zero Weight
Picking up every single object you see has its disadvantages, namely, the fact that after about five minutes of doing so, you’re unable to move, burdened by your new-found riches. The Zero Weight mod is exceptionally simple, but oh so good – it sets your weight, and your ship weight, to zero. This means you can horde anything and everything and you’ll never be bogged down by success.
Immersive New Atlantis City Map
You know what’s annoying? Being lost. You’re in the car for ages, one person says it’s left, the other right, and no matter who wins, we all lose. New Atlantis is a reasonably large city, and a reasonable amount of stuff inside of it, and it can make for a pretty frustrating experience wandering from vendor to vendor without a clue where you’re going. Thankfully, the Immersive New Atlantis City Map mod plants very helpful maps around the place, allowing you to check where you’re going, without breaking the immersion.
Increased Starmap Zoom for More Precise Landings
Not the snappiest of titles, but the Increased Starmap Zoom for More Precise Landings mod allows you a clearer, more zoomed picture of a planet when you’re deciding where to land. If you’re looking for the perfect spot to set up your colony, this mod is essential, as it allows you to fine-tune your landing area – if you’ve ever wanted a home base that straddles several different biomes, this mod is a must.
Star Trek Starfleet uniforms
Let’s face it: there are many similarities between Starfield and Star Trek when it comes to exploring strange new worlds and going where no man has gone before. So why not look the part? The Star Trek Starfleet uniforms mod retextures the three ECS uniforms you can find: Captain (red), Officer (blue), and Worker (yellow), respectively. You’ll also find a Starfleet badge on all three uniforms, which is a lovely touch.
Star Wars Inspired Retextures
Perhaps the Starfleet uniforms aren’t your cup of tea, and you’re more into Star Wars? If so, there are a handful of mods out there to change your appearance to some iconic looks from the Star Wars universe. This one adds five different looks: Han Solo’s iconic jacket and jeans, several Jedi outfits based on Rey’s and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s garments, and even a set of Sith robes if you fancy representing the Dark Side of the Force.
Halloween Special
The spooky season, for us, at least, is year-round. So why not celebrate with the Halloween Special mod? This gives you access to a Bloody Axe melee weapon, a Pumpkinhead outfit that replaces the Starborn Locus, and three additional creepy plushies.
Fast Planet Trait Discovery
Are you tired of not knowing what you can find on any given planet? The Fast Planet Trait Discovery mod only requires you to install it and then type in the command on the mod page to activate it. This will scan all planets for data on flora and fauna you can find on the planet without ever needing to leave your ship. Handy if you’re on the hunt for particularly dangerous beasties.
Boston Dynamics robots
This nice, simple Boston Dynamic Robot Dogs mod turns the Model S robot dogs you can find across the universe into something similar to the Boston Dynamics Spot robot. It’s not a one-for-one recreation, as the real-life version doesn’t have mounted machine guns, but it at least moves in a similar way.
Ultimate Booster
Tired of walking everywhere? We are. Install the Ultimate Booster mod to move at incredible speeds, at whichever height you’re comfortable with. Really takes the sting out of those long space commutes.
Starfield mod collections
Don’t forget, via NexusMods there is also the option to download mod collections. Amongst the Starfield mod collections is Constellation by v2 which includes more than 80 mods and boasts being the “largest and most comprehensive” list of mods for Bethesda’s space game. Along with collections like Starfield Enhanced and the Ultimate Modpack, these collections promise to completely overhaul your Starfield experience.
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That’s all the best Starfield mods, but we expect more to come. If you want more insights into this space game, then we’ve put together guides on everything we know about the Starfield cities you can explore and the Starfield factions you can join on your adventure. Give our Starfield review a read to find out what we thought about Bethesda’s latest epic after 60 hours of gameplay.
Still looking for more? While a good Starfield wiki can be a handy source of information, our new Starfield Database goes further, offering you daily news, updates on the Starfield PS5 edition, searchable databanks, and even interactive tools.
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