These days, modders can do some truly bonkers things to newly released games. Turn the big bad villain into Thomas the Tank Engine? Pfft, easy-peasy! Uproot the entirety of London and relocate it into Fallout 4’s post-apocalyptic landscape? Mere child’s play, good sir! Take an old title from years ago and make it look and play like a game that came out last week? Wait… They can actually do that? Crikey.
And so, for your reading pleasure, we’ve decided to whip together a list of the top 11 best Starfield mods you can download and play right now. Let’s get straight into it, folks!
Performance Optimisations
While the Xbox Series X|S versions of Bethesda Game Studios’ cosmic RPG feature a locked 30 frames-per-second, you’ll be able to reach the upper echelons of the performance gamut over on PC. But, if that’s not enough for you, Erok’s useful mod helps to eke out even more frames from your setup.
Take the image above for instance. On the left, you’ve got Starfield running on Ultra settings without the mod, and it reaches 80FPS. But with the mod? You’ll manage to net yourself an extra five frames, which is a nice bump of around four percent. Plus, if you’ve got an older machine like yours truly, you’ll likely yield even better results.
Download Starfield Performance Optimizations here!
Star Wars Bounty Hunter Jetpack Sounds
That galaxy far, far away has a lot to thank for a multitude of iconic audio cues. From the roar of a TIE Fighter’s engines to the thunderous bellow of a seismic charge exploding to that signature whoosh as a lightsaber ignites, Star Wars’ sonic vibes are top-tier.
So, if you’re on the bounty hunt for those recognizable whirrs and squeals from Boba Fett’s emblematic boostpack, then this mod from Jediah is an easy recommendation. Now if we can just get those seismic charges in there somewhere…
Download Star Wars Bounty Hunter Jetpack Sounds here!
Better HUD
Bethesda RPGs are renowned for how deeply immersive they are, but one of the more distracting elements in Starfield is arguably the way a lot of the HUD works. With this mod, not only has the XP Indicator and Location Text been moved from the center of the screen, but it’s now much smaller and more discreet.
Alongside this, you’ll net a bunch of smaller, customisable quality-of-life improvements that you can turn on or off at your convenience. Over and above that, if you have any personal recommendations to how you’d like your HUD to look, the mod’s creator — KhaoMaat — is open to further suggestions, which is always a welcome endeavour.
Download Starfield Better HUD here!
Cleanfield
If you’re anything like us, you likely feel that time is a valuable commodity. I mean, time is money and all that jazz! So, if you’re playing a lot of Starfield, you’re probably getting a little tired of seeing the same old messages cropping up again and again.
Thankfully, Gametism has created a mod that rips out all the incessant warnings, splash screens, and logos that eat into your gaming time. Really, the figures speak for themselves: the Vanilla version takes around 12 second to boot up, while this mod condenses the opening down to just around two seconds. Pretty impressive, no?
Achievement Enabler
One of the biggest things that bums us out about mods is the fact that when you mod a game, it’ll know what you’re up to and disable achievements in the backend. Sneaky! But what if we were… even sneakier? *twirls one’s moustache*
Well, with this mod installed, you’ll be able to circumvent those pesky machines and unlock yourself some ‘cheevos to add to your collection. We fear you have underestimated our sneakiness, sir!
Download Achievement Enabler mod here!
Improved UI and Inventory Management
While the User Interface in Starfield is functional and does the job nicely, it’s safe to say it’s not perfect. With this mod from creator m8r98a4f2, you’ll be able to snag yourself a bunch of quality-of-life fixes that’ll make interacting with the menus an absolute snap.
All of the new additions are customizable and you can sort the items into their own categories. Ultimately, it gives players some freedom to organize their menus how they see fit.
Download StarUI Inventory mod here!
Easy Digipicking
Even though the digipicking in Starfield is cleverly designed and quite fun to engage with, there are times when you simply want to move the goalposts a little closer to make things a bit more stress-free. Seriously, some of the more tricky locks can really bamboozle our ol’ noggin!
Luckily, with this mod installed, you’ll be able to bypass locks at the press of a button to get your mitts on the treasure inside. You’ll still need to invest points into the Security Skill to unlock higher level locks, but it’ll be far easier than playing the vanilla version of the game.
Download the Easy Digipick (Lockpicking) mod here!
Eyes of Beauty
They say eyes are the windows to the soul, and with this mod, you’ll really give those windows some extra shine and polish.
After all, not only does this mod from creator LogRaam add a handful of new textures for characters’ eyes, but each and every one is lovingly hand-crafted. I mean, just look how hi-res and shiny they are!
Download the Eyes of Beauty mod here!
Undelayed Menus
Snappy in-game menus are an absolute must in this day and age, and while Starfield’s UI is well-designed, it can definitely benefit from a wee responsiveness update.
Fortunately, Seb263 has put together a mod that takes aim at the game’s slow-moving menus and has come up with a solution to enhance the snappiness of the overall experience. Really, with how much time you spend in menus in Starfield, this is an absolutely essential download.
Download Undelayed Menus here!
Easy Speech
One of the lesser-known changes that Bethesda has implemented this time around is a more dynamic and RNG-based persuasion system compared to its predecessors. Each persuasion attempt is essentially a dice roll now. As a result of this, persuading characters can be a little volatile.
So, if you’re looking to make your journey across the stars a whole lot easier, this mod is a perfect candidate, as it means you can 100% succeed persuasion attempts every single time. Boy, a real life version of this would be handy, no?
Download the Easy Speech mod here!
Quantum Reshade
Starfield is a game that is vaunted for its true to life immersion, but what if you could add an extra layer of realism? Enter: HelloImCrimson’s terrific imaging and reshading mod that brings the entire experience one step closer to lifelike photo-realism.
Not only do the colors really pop with vibrancy, but the overall visual tone of the game boasts a more cinematic look and authentic feel. If you’re after a more natural and realistic color palette, this is it.
Download Quantum Reshade here!
