What are the Best Starfield Mods? We sat down and downloaded a bunch of them to answer that question for you.
Starfield might be one of the biggest games of 2023. In a year filled with Game of the Year contenders it manages to stand apart from all the rest, thanks to being a Bethesda game. Their mega RPGs are more than happy to sit back and let their players exist in their vast universes.
And while Starfield is the most complete and polished title Bethesda has ever released, little things here and there need improvement. Good that those games enjoy a massive community of modders and the Creation Engine is very accessible.
It starts minor, little UI improvements here, and some visual overhauls or gameplay fixes there. And eventually, years down the line we’ll see some of those gigantic total conversion standalone conversions. We’re excited to see what Starfield’s future holds. To get you started, we’ve explored the depths of the Starfield Nexusmod library for some recommendations.
Starfield Mods to Make Your Game Better
1. Experimental Combat and Stealth AI Overhauls
Let’s be real, Starfields AI is a little wonky at best and sometimes you’re wondering if it’s even functional at worth. Luckily NickMillion pulled through and created the Experimental AI Overhaul. Enemies will now instantly jump for cover and will no longer forget your existence the moment you leave their field of view.
Link: Nexusmods
2. NaturaLUTs
A personal favorite is the NaturaLUTs mod by TheDragonWithinMe. It’s a very simple visual mod that removes the weird hazy shaders and shimmer of Starfield’s default look while keeping the original colorgrading and visual style. There are many shaders and LUTs out there already, but NaturaLUTs is the best of both works.
Link: Nexusmods
3. StarUI
We dream of the day Bethesda finally figures out how to make a non-clunky inventory system for PC users. Until that day finally arrives, we have StarUI by m8r98a4f2. It’s continuing the proud tradition of Skyrims SkyUI by being just really good, functional, and readable with no extra fuzz. So if you check out any mod on this list, it should be this one.
Link: Nexusmods
4. Achievement Enabler
You know what really sucks? Not being able to get achievements when playing a modded version of Starfield. Sure some mods can break the game and make it extremely easy to get the rarer ones, but others are just harmless Quality of Life improvements. So check out the Achievement Enabler by brunph to avoid getting scammed out of your Gamerscore.
Link: Nexusmods
5. BetterHUD
KhaoMaat, SilverEzredes, and Yoddle asked the question, what if Starfields HUD was a little more useful? Now your clock actually tells the local time as well as the universal time, the mass you’re currently carrying, and color codes your health and boost meter.
Link: Nexusmods
6. Compact Ship Builder UI
Shipbuilding is one of the more fun features of Starfield and the menu on its own is already pretty good, but it could be better. That’s where Stentorious’ Compact Ship Builder UI comes in. By simply scaling down the list of items by 33%, it becomes much more usable without any sweeping changes. Great isn’t it?
Link: Nexusmods
7. Lower Ship Registration Fee
You’d think you should be able to make an honest living in Starfield by stealing people’s ships and selling them for a bunch of credits. It’s never that easy though, by default you are asked to register a new ship for a horrendous fee at a spaceport before you’re allowed to upgrade/sell it. This mod by Grannex changes that and we highly recommend it.
Link: Nexusmods
8. Richer Merchants
Nothing worse than coming back from a long expedition into space only to realize you’ll have to hit at least 5 different merchants to turn a profit. Richer Merchants by JustAnOrdinaryGuy is a godsend, it gives merchants way more credits to spend on either your trash or gives them more for you to steal.
Link: Nexusmods
9. Responsive Grabbing
One of Starfield’s most fun features is its gravity and physics engine. You can grab anything that isn’t nailed to the geometry of the world and throw it around to your heart’s content. Unlike previous Bethesda games, this interaction takes a while to get going. Unless you install Rensponsive Grabbing by Seb263 which significantly decreases the time it takes to grab something.
Link: Nexusmods
10. No XP Kill Steal
Another one of those “I wish this was in the game”-Mods. The No XP Kill Steal mod simply tunes that weird little kink of Starfields engine, which requires you to deal at least 25% damage to claim the EXP for a kill. Now you only have to deal any amount of damage (sub 1%) to claim the Experience Points. Zzyxzz is a hero for making this mod.
Link: Nexusmods
Check out our other guides on Starfield such as How to Assign Crew to Outposts, How to find the Shielded Cargo Container, and The Best Early Ships.
