Game Crashing at Startup

I recommend looking at the Self-Help section first for this but if you just installed the modlist and it’s crashing as soon as you start it, there are really only 4 possible reasons:

  • You are missing the paid Shattered Space DLC
  • Your documents folder was not setup correctly. Follow the steps here
  • You have non-genesis mods installed directly on Starfield
  • You have BitDefender or some other 3rd party Antivirus that is blocking the modlist. Refer to this
  • Your page file is not set to 80 GB
  • You have a PC under the minimum specs of Star Wars Genesis. Specifically, under 16 GB RAM and/or under 8 GB VRAM.

Note: If you can’t figure it out, just join the Discord and use the !pic command in the Help channel. It’ll give you instructions to post a pic and @ me. I’ll usually instantly know what the problem is.

Long Loading Times (not Infinite)

If you are spending minutes on load screens, then I’m sorry to break the news to you that either:

  • Your SSD is dying
  • You used an external SSD, which is not meant for gaming
  • You installed everything on an HDD, which doesn’t even meet the minimum requirements for vanilla Starfield.
  • To verify either, download the application called Crystal Disk and check. If you see any mention of RPM, you have an HDD. If you see a red temperature or health screen, then your hard drive is dying.

Game Randomly Crashing or Infinite Loading

Assuming you have no additional mods:

  • Make sure page file is set to 80 GB+
  • Make sure sure both DLSS/FSR and Frame-gen are both turned off
  • Try setting all your graphics to low and seeing if you still crash
  • Uninstall HD Overhaul if you installed it
  • Try shutting off OBS if you have it running
  • If you are crashing in space, try using a different ship
  • Follow the steps here
  • Double check that vanilla Starfield doesn’t crash after playing it for 5-10 minutes. If it does, that is a PC/Game issue that I can’t really help with.
  • If you have added extra mods onto Genesis or you’re playing an existing save that had extra mods, I can’t offer much help.

Ship Missing in Alternate Start

Just talk to the technician and briefly enter the build menu and it should spawn. Can also try fast traveling somewhere else

Failed to Save Game

  1. Disable Steam Cloud Save
  2. Check Documents\My Games\Starfield\Saves. If any of these folders don’t exist, create them in that order.
  3. Under Virus and Threat Protection Settings (Windows Security), go to “Manage Controlled Folder Access” whitelist the Starfield folder in both /Documents/My Games/Starfield and /steamapps/common/Starfield.
  4. Disable OneDrive Sync as a last resort

Bugged Jetpack Flames or Floating Jetpack

Briefly enter the character edit menu and then leave it. Use this console command:

  • showlooksmenu player 2

Planets/Dialogue not changed

Make sure your language for Starfield is set to English on Steam. Just be aware that you will still hear vanilla voicelines with mis-matching subtitles often as this is a WIP. The main focus has been on the main quest and faction quests if you want a fully converted experience.

Quest NPC Keeps Attacking or are Hostile

This is a vanilla Bethesda bug. It has 2 solutions.

  1. Sleep/Wait 48 hours at some bed/chair/furniture
  2. If that doesn’t work and you’re in some stealth mission, use the tdetect console command to make yourself invisible to NPCs until you reach the next objective. Then use it again to turn it off.

Settings not Saving

If settings are not saving after a restart of the game, then the problem is that Windows Defender (or some other antivirus) is restricting access to your Documents folder and not letting Starfield itself edit it. In the Windows Defender protection history screen, allow Starfield.exe to access the files.

Stuck Walking Bug

This is going to sound weird, but do this:

  • Open the controls menu
  • Set the “Toggle Always Run” button to something random you’ll never accidently click, like ‘
  • Set the “Hold to Run” key to Caps Lock.

This will set your Caps Lock key as your toggle walk key and everything else will function as normal.

Can’t Open Lodge Door or Any Door

Common vanilla Bethesda bug. Just restart game or reload save.

Can’t Fast Travel

This is a vanilla Bethesda bug that is pretty easy to fix.
1. Open the Console and type ‘DumpInputEnableLayers’ then hit Enter.
2. You should see a list of three or four numbered Layers, find the Layer that has Fast Travel listed.
3. Type ‘ResetInputEnableLayer NUMBER’ with the number of the layer where it says NUMBER, then hit Enter.

Missing Planet Materials

This a vanilla Bethesda bug that occurs when you run the game for the first time or after updating your drivers. The cause of it is when the game builds shaders in the main menu. A simple restart should fix it, but if it doesn’t, you can try resetting your shader cache with this tool here. If that doesn’t work, then you’re kinda out of luck. I’ve had a user say doing a clean reinstall of their GPU drivers fixed it for them, others have said doing a clean reinstall of the game fixed it for them. I’ve read online that someone said it fixed itself after a couple days. Who knows.

Everything is Invisible/Grey/Purple

The only real time I’ve seen this happen is when a Creation Kit mod author forgot to rename their Materials folder back to bMaterials (or anything but Materials) in their Data folder for Starfield