If you're just now diving into Bethesda's newest game, there's a chance you've witnessed some Starfield performance issues. Hopefully you haven't encountered anything as serious as Starfield crashing, but other minor issues can certainly impact your playing experience.
In this guide, we'll provide a few solutions when it comes to these Starfield performance issues. Hopefully, they'll help you to find a way around them, so you can go back to enjoying the epic space RPG as intended.
For even more on the game, check out the best Starfield weapons, plus details on how to remove bounties. We've also got a look at the Starfield PC requirements, so you can see whether your rig is up to the task.
How do I fix Starfield performance issues?
If you've encountered stuttering, lag, or frame rate drops when playing Starfield, we've got a few suggestions on what you can do to remedy it.
Lower your settings
If it's inconsistent frame rates you're struggling with when playing Starfield, the best option you have is to lower your in-game settings to match your PC's capabilities. Whether that's toggling the frame rate - locking it to 30 FPS like the Xbox version - or lowering the graphics settings towards the lower end of the spectrum, you're bound to see an uplift in stability once a few back-end changes have been made.
Ensure you've got the newest update
This one seems obvious, but for a game as new as Starfield, the day-one build is bound to ship with a few unavoidable performance hitches. Double-checking that you've updated to the latest version of the game, including the launch patch, is the best way to ensure none of the problems you're facing have already been remedied by Bethesda.
Of course, you'll likely have a hard time loading into Starfield on your PC or Xbox if the game isn't updated to the latest software version, but there's never any harm in checking.
Verify your game files
Lastly - and this one only applies to PC players - give the Steam version of Starfield a run through the file verification process. This is a really handy tool for ironing out problems and clearing any cache issues, so it can quietly fix performance hitches too. This is how to do it:
- From your Steam library, select Starfield.
- Then choose Properties, followed by Local Files.
- From here, click on Verify Integrity of Game Files.
Then leave Steam to work its magic and cross-reference your game files to ensure everything's as optimised as possible. Following that brief wait, your game should run much more smoothly once you next boot it up.
We hope these tips will help fix those pesky Starfield performance issues! If you're still having trouble, pass the time waiting for a patch by checking out the best tank build, plus details on whether Starfield has dismemberment.