A hot potato: The abandonment of Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology was one of the most controversial topics surrounding the launch of Starfield. However, the PC version’s lack of other basic features also confused many users. In a small update, Bethesda has released a vague roadmap detailing its plans to fix some of the game’s biggest problems.
A small Starfield hotfix from this week includes Bethesda’s promise to eventually add DLSS, an FOV slider, an HDR calibration menu, 32:9 ultrawide monitor support, and more. Although the number of mods for Starfield began to multiply within hours of its release, the developer also mentioned that it would be adding mod support early next year.
Starfield currently only offers native FSR2 upscaling, which supports Xbox and current graphics cards from all providers. Although DLSS only works on recent Nvidia GPUs, it will be a welcome addition for owners of compatible cards as it offers higher image quality than FRS2, especially in motion and at lower resolutions. Bethesda made no mention of plans to add Intel’s XeSS solution.
The game’s initial support for FSR2 makes adding the other upscaling technologies a relatively easy task, as evidenced by the third-party mods that enable them. Bethesda hasn’t said whether its official DLSS implementation includes DLSS3 frame generation (only compatible with RTX 4000 cards), but a Mod This function has also recently become free. The mod’s original creator, PureDark, initially locked it behind DRM for Patreon subscriptions.
Other mods add features like HDR adjustment, FOV adjustmentand ultrawide resolutions. Many PC users would consider these features standard requirements for modern, big-budget releases and their absence in Starfield a colossal flaw. Notably, HDR doesn’t work properly in the PC game even though it works on the Xbox.
Unsurprisingly, official mod support in Starfield will work similarly to Skyrim and Fallout 4. Early next year, Bethesda will add Starfield to its Creation Club, where Xbox and PC users can find a curated selection of mods. In the meantime, modders can still use Nexus Mods, where a Starfield script extender already exists laying essential foundations for future work.
This week’s hotfix should result in fewer crashes and higher frame rates. Bethesda says it is continually working with Nvidia, AMD and Intel to improve Starfield’s performance on all graphics cards – a comment likely made to allay suspicions that the partnership with AMD has led to this Company prefers this company’s hardware.
Starfield currently runs around 20 percent worse on Nvidia GPUs than on corresponding AMD cards and initial analyzes showed that hyperthreading did not work correctly on Intel CPUs. Nvidia has since released a small over-the-air update that should slightly improve performance for users with Resizable BAR enabled (navigate to Help > System Information in the Nvidia Control Panel to check).
Another accessibility feature Bethesda is looking to introduce is a map for cities. Difficulty navigating settlements like New Atlantis is one of the most common complaints from Starfield players. Lastly, Bethesda promises to add a feature that will allow players to immediately eat food lying around instead of picking it up and eating it from the inventory.