When you have a game which has been heavily modded, each new update must be viewed with trepidation. In Starfield (even though it’s only just received official modding support), that definitely holds true. After an update you have to check your mods, see what’s broken, disable things, move things around, and finally – if you’re lucky – you’ll be able to play. In today’s patch it seems that mods aren’t too badly affected, but there’s a couple of updates that could potentially cause some issues for the game.
The first is a small change tucked away half way down the patch notes. It states that Bethesda has “Improved Credits purchase flow when using the Steam Store”. This just means it’s easier to make real money purchases in Starfield on PC and would normally go without comment – but this isn’t a normal time for the RPG. Fan sentiment is still struggling following the launch of paid mods for the game, with some of those mods still requiring some work to resolve ongoing issues. Releasing a hotfix that makes spending money in-game easier seems poorly timed, given the continuing sour feeling among the community. If nothing else, the accusation of misplaced priorities can now be easily made – something you would expect Bethesda to try to avoid.
In addition to making spending cash simpler, there’s another large change that could potentially alter how mods work. “We are also removing the ability to upload Creations with altered ini files, since some altered ini files are resulting in more negative effects than the benefits for allowing this functionality, such as audio corruption on the Xbox,” the patch notes read. “Removing this functionality will bring Creations in line with how they work on Skyrim. We are investigating ways to address active Starfield Creations from creators that alter ini files.”
It’s yet to be seen how much this restriction will affect future Starfield mods, though Skyrim’s modding scene continues to thrive under similar conditions. If nothing else, it may clear up some of the sound issues that have been repeatedly reported in recent weeks in the game’s subreddit and on social media, which can only be a positive step forward.
You can check out the full Starfield patch notes here, and while it consists of hotfixes I definitely recommend checking through and testing your installed mods, just as a precaution.
Why not also take a peek at our guide to the best Starfield mods you can download, as well as our guide to getting the most out of Starfield outposts.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.