Starfield, despite its large, continuous playercounts, has not had all that many patches and updates since launch, other than an expected slate of bug fixes. But now a new patch is looking to add some key features that have been missing since launch.
No, this is not actual, physical new content for the game or QoL updates. Rather, Bethesda is adding Nvidia DLSS support with frame generation, along with other optimizations and improvements. It will also put in HDR controls for systems that support it. While the DLSS is for Nvidia PC players, they are also working on AMD FSR3 support for later.
The patch is not going fully live into the main game, however, when it’s added next week. Rather, Bethesda is putting it into the Steam Beta which you can opt into to try out the new visual additions. They want to get feedback on how it looks and feels and to catch any issues before it goes into the live game. But you’re welcome to try it for yourself when it hits.
These additions are ones that players were surprised were not in the game at launch, and much of it was thanks to the fact that AMD was the “exclusive PC partner” for Starfield at launch. I’m not sure if the result of that was some sort of mandate that Nvidia DLSS would not be supported right at launch compared to AMD options, but perhaps some sort of statute has expired two months after launch here, as we’re pretty much to the day at that point. Still, I think the game suffered from the lack of these options at release, certainly.
As for more substantive additions to Starfield, I would expect those are still a ways out. I still fundamentally believe there will be content additions that are smaller both before and after the Shattered Space expansion, which is the only announced additional content for Starfield, albeit without a release date yet. I would hope some QoL changes come soon, however.
While it’s a “live” game, we can look at Bethesda last offering, Fallout 76, which included a number of big and small updates to the game after they tried to fix a number of initial issues with it. The first major update, Wild Appalachia, was about four and a half months after the release of the game, but after that, updates become more frequent. I probably would not expect anything of significance to be added to Starfield before that length of time, though I also expect if something is added, it will not be on the scale of Wild Appalachia. I’m picturing smaller additions like more ship parts and base options, perhaps the space station builder which was recently discovered in the game’s code. Then Shattered Space will be the real meaty addition. Either way, looking forward to whatever’s next, even seeing how DLSS will change the game.
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