Starfield,Bethesda’s first new IP in a very long time, released to a generally positive but somewhat mixed reception. But, almost a year on, after steady updates — including a land vehicle, a first for any Bethesda game —Starfieldis still going strong. One of the great strengths of Bethesda’s world-famous and insanely popularFalloutandElder Scrollsfranchises is the vibrant and creative modding scene, enabled by the Creation Kit modding tool supplied by Bethesda Game Studios.
The modding scene forStarfieldis growing by the day. Although it’s still quite far from theheights reached bySkyrim,or even the number ofgreat mods forFallout 4,modders have taken to the space-age RPG to provide it with a whole slew of mods, from backend tinkering to new ship parts, new vehicle types, and so much more. Here are the most popularStarfieldmods on the modding site, Nexus Mods, by number of downloads (at the time of writing).
10Cleanfield - A No Intro And Clean Menu Fix
Downloads: 245,015
For fans of many games across many genres,the intro videos and screens when booting up a gamecan feel like a unique kind of torture after the first time. Not only do they add precious time to the opening of the game, but they can become very boring to hear and see after the first few watches.
ButCleanfield - A No Intro and Clean Menu Fixhas got this covered. By removing all these annoying things from game start-up, it’s faster, and it removes the annoying ‘message of the day’ and other menus too. A necessity for the impatient gamer.
9Undelayed Menus
Downloads: 463,458
Undelayed Menusis a really simple mod that aims to reduce time spent waiting around for menus to open or close. Although this might not sound all that frustrating, some of the menus inStarfieldtake what feels like an agonizingly long amount of time to get where they need to be.
This mod solves the frustration by reducing the time spent on unnecessary fading effects, or by reducing the amount of time buttons need to remain pressed. The end result is much less frustration when it comes to closing andopening menus.
8Constellation Overhaul
Downloads: 492,284
The biggest and most popular of any of the overhaul mods yet to appear in theStarfieldmodding scene, theConstellation Overhaulmod is a large overhaul that tweaks many different values to enhance or modify gameplay. These little gameplay enhancements add up, and the mod authors have big plans to go further.
Over the course of the lifetime of games like these, overhaul mods become increasingly popular as people want to tweak aspects of the game to better suit how they want to be played, whether for greater challenge orbetter immersion. But, the Constellation Overhaul’s got in early, and with nearly half a million users, it looks set to stick around.
7Plugins.txt Enabler
Downloads: 514,727
Starfieldin its base, unmodded form changed how mods and other plugins (including official Bethesda content) work. Before, players could manage mod load orders using the plugins.txt file. Many fans didn’t appreciate the change, so mod author Nuken created a fix.
It might not seem a big deal, but to more than half a million modders, this was a fix worth downloading. Nukem’sPlugin.txt Enablermod reverts things to how they were in previous games.
6Starfield Performance Optimizations
Downloads: 609,677
AlthoughStarfieldruns very well, for many fans there are still further optimizations that could be made to really enhance gameplay by reducing lag or stutters, or by increasing FPS. This mod aims to do exactly that.
Through the wizardry of modding,Starfield Performance Optimizationsallows users to squeeze the most out of their CPUs and GPUs, providing a number of options for players to use — all easily selected by using the normal in-game graphics quality options.
5Neutral Color LUTs - No Color Filters
Downloads: 636,248
Although many fans praise the visuals inStarfield,others find certain aspects of the game distracting or unhelpful. For players who dislike some of the color filters used inStarfield,Neutral Color LUTs - No Color Filtersis the answer. This mod changes certain values to produce a more neutral color palette in certain areas of the game to help players see better.
The creator has also included optional tweaks to dark color values to enable a muchdarker space experience. Although this mod is quite basic in comparison to what’s available inFallout 4orSkyrim,it’s still early days in the modding scene and is a sure sign of things to come.
4Address Library For SFSE Plugins
Downloads: 760,970
Address Library for SFSE Pluginsis an incredibly useful mod for any player using the Starfield Script Extender — and the mods created using its functions. This is essentially a database that allows mods to be version independent. This might not sound like a big deal, but it’s essential for a game still receiving regular new content and updates likeStarfield.
It’s not flashy, but it is incredibly popular, as many fans just don’t want to wait for mods to update before playing new content or on new patches.
3Baka Achievement Enabler (SFSE)
Downloads: 967,205
Many fans absolutelylove getting achievements or trophiesin the games they play, and it’s easy to see why. Achievements can help provide a sense of structure to a game, or give the player concrete goals to work toward. Unfortunately, most mods disable achievements inStarfield.
But, for fans who don’t like that, there are options. The most popular option is theBaka Achievement Enablermod. This is a mod that works with the Starfield Script Extender to enable players using mods — along with official Creations — to get achievements.
2StarUI Inventory
Downloads: 1,601,179
StarUI Inventoryoverhauls the default user interface, offering players dozens of new ways to sort, display, and interact with items in their inventory. While this might not seem like a big deal to those who find the basic user interface perfectly fine, with more than 1.5 million downloads, it’s an incredibly popular option.
For players who want better searchability, more information, and a different way to display it all, StarUI Inventory is a must-have mod. The sorting options are amazing, giving the player unprecedented control of what’s displayed and how.
1Starfield Script Extender
Downloads: 1,860,606
TheStarfield Script Extenderis a mod that legions of fans have been waiting for, and that shows from its download numbers — it’s approaching two million downloads! Not a mod in the traditional sense, the Starfield Script Extender, like itsFalloutandElder Scrollscounterparts — extends the number of script functions available for use by mod authors.
Many of the most complex mods fromFalloutandElder Scrolls(especiallySkyrim)depend on their respective Script Extenders. For many, the existence of the Starfield Script Extender is a sure sign that some fantastic mods are on the way, and it’s already seen use by other backend mods despite theStarfieldmodding scene being in its infancy.
