[STEAM] Starfield Modder is Trying to Make The Game's Spaceship Take-Offs as Seamless as Possible, But Admits Landings 'Probably Won't Ever Happen'

[Steam 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

A talented

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

modder is working to improve one of the game's most disappointing features — its disjointed spaceship take-off and flight sequence.

While Starfield has its fans, the long-awaited Bethesda space RPG has long suffered from feeling like a game divided up by loading screens. This is particularly true when taking off from a planet and heading out of the atmosphere — and the same again upon landing.

Of course, there are technical reasons why the game works this way — which fans say is a result of the game being built on the studio's existing engine. Bethesda itself has also improved the game's spaceflight experience to some extent, too, more recently allowing players to actually fly between planets in the same solar system.

But fans have, since day one, wanted more. Specifically, they have wanted the experience you get in other games, such as No Man's Sky, where you can seamlessly take off from one planet, head to space, and fly all the way to the other end of the galaxy to land somewhere else without a loading screen. And now, thanks to the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

mod, you can get something that feels far more akin to this (thanks,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

).

Since Starfield launched, one of the biggest requests from some players has been the ability to take off from a planet and fly seamlessly into space without a loading screen.

Personally, it has never bothered me much, but for others it has been near the top of the wish list…

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

— Jay Dook (@JayDook)

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

"This mod aims to remove the loading screen when taking off from a planet, and spawns your ship above the landing site for a seamless experience," states the mod's creator, 0xBobby. "The mod is currently in beta, so expect bugs. The seamlessness of the transition will depend on the atmosphere and weather of the planet, I am working on making the transition even smoother."

Footage of the mod in action shows the normal third-person view of your ship taking off replaced by a first-person in-cockpit camera angle. While there's still a transition moment between Starfield's on-planet environment and the orbit area, it is disguised pretty well by the mod spawning your ship in the correct place, and replicating the view to hide the switch as much as possible.

While still something of a quick fix, it provides an experience that feels far less disjointed than the base game. However, a similar fix for seamless landings sounds a lot more difficult — and not something that 0xBobby thinks he can achieve.

"It probably won't ever happen, at least not from me," 0xBobby wrote. "Yes, I know of all of the tricks I could use, hiding the loading through clouds or entry flames etc, but even that would be way more complex than what this mod or seamless grav jumps do. Plus they don't really appeal to me, if I want seamless landings, I want the full thing, No Man's Sky style. I may attempt that, but the chances of it happening are pretty much zero."

While the bulk of Bethesda is now busy building The Elder Scrolls 6, with early work also underway on Fallout 5, the company said last week that Starfield "remains an important part of our future," teasing the game's long-awaited Starborn DLC, now coming in 2027.

Following the recent announcement of Xbox layoffs — with job losses also impacting Bethesda's teams —

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. Starfield largely failed to meet fan expectations upon its 2023 launch, and its subsequent sporadic updates and expansions have been far slower to arrive than anticipated.

"STARFIELD CONTINUES," Bethesda boss Todd Howard trumpeted last week, seemingly in response to fan concern that the franchise was being put on the back burner. "With over 17 million players logging almost a billion hours to date, Starfield remains an important part of our future. As we enter Year 3, we'll continue expanding the Settled Systems with new stories, targeted gameplay improvements, and additional updates, while preparing for the launch of new Starborn content next year. More than 40% of players already customize their experience through Creations, and we'll continue investing in creators and giving players new ways to make Starfield their own."

Will Starfield 2 ever materialize, with seamless ground to space gameplay built in? That remains to be seen. Until then, modders are trying their best.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up