10 Essential Starfield Xbox Mods Your Next Playthrough Shouldn't Be Without (2024)

If Bethesda games, like Starfield, are known for anything other than their massive worlds, it would be their modding communities. Thanks to the Creation Kit modding tool that has been supplied with most of Bethesda's projects, very few titles have had the capacity for modding that the company's games do. The capacity for modding is so great that these mods have even made it to consoles, with Starfield supporting player-made content for the Xbox Series X/S.

Mods can greatly change the experience of a game. Provided that mod authors have made it, anything can be added to a game, from lightsabers to replacing dragons with Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends in Skyrim. Starfield is no exception, and many of the most popular mods for Xbox objectively improve the gaming experience. These can include bug fixes, AI improvements, and new skills.

10 The Community Patch Fixes Starfield Bugs

Owned By The Community

Bethesda games aren't exactly known for being the smoothest, bug-free experiences. Starfield is no exception, suffering from the typical bugs that many players have jokingly referred to as "features." With the Community Patch, players can now experience a relatively smooth game that has had hundreds of bugs fixed from the base game. The Community Patch is an effort by numerous mod authors and is meant to be owned and for the game's community.

Fixes included in this patch are also meant to correct errors from the base game, not just bugs. This mod includes fixes for misplaced objects, script errors, faulty missions, spelling errors, and much, much more. The mod does not include new content or balancing and is purely meant to refine the base game. It should be placed as high in the load order as possible and is compatible with almost any mod.

9 Unofficial Starfield Patch Uses The Creation Kit To Patch The Game

The Author Has Also Worked On Other Bethesda Titles

Although the Community Patch acts as a community-owned and contributed mod to fix the errors of the base game, the Unofficial Starfield Patch is an alternative by one individual. This comes from the maker of the Unofficial Patch series, which has been done for both The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Fallout 4. Like with both these Unofficial Patch mods, the Starfield version is considered to be a must-have if players don't want to use the Community Patch for whatever reason.

The mod is designed to be as compatible with other mods as possible and should be put as high up on the load order as possible. It features hundreds of fixes and does not have any unsafe changes, such as the deletion of stock objects. These fixes include changes to gameplay, quests, NPCs, objects, text, and placement bugs, delivering a more polished experience for the players on Xbox.

8 Improved Follower Behavior Improves Companion AI

& Stops Followers From Ruining Stealth

Bethesda NPCs have never been the most intelligent around. As entertaining as this can be, it can also be incredibly frustrating, such as when players want to exit a door and get stuck because of a follower or their stealth is ruined because a companion is a little too trigger-happy. Thankfully, Improved Follower Behavior features many fixes to follower AI, making them both more intelligent and more useful.

Some of these AI improvements include followers no longer staying as far away from the player, only attacking once a player is detected to prevent companions from ruining stealth, and matching a player's movement speed when they are close to them. There is much more in this mod, and these subtle fixes help the companions both act more like actual people and make them more competent. Both are incredibly useful.

7 Fast Start New Game Is Brilliant On Subsequent Playthroughs

Save Hours By Skipping The Intro

Like all other Bethesda titles, Starfield is a title that is meant to be replayed to eventually experience everything that the game has to offer. Although a game's intro is important to setting the tone of the title, as first impressions are vital, they can often be slow and a drag on subsequent playthroughs. Thankfully, the Fast Start New Game fixes this, allowing players to skip the game's intro and get right into the meat of the game.

This mod works very similarly to the Alternate Start — Live Another Life mod for Skyrim. It allows players to choose where they want their game to start, such as Lodge or Neon City, and what loadout they start with. It is perfect for players with a pre-existing idea of who their character was before the game starts and is a good option for roleplayers. It also gives players the option of whether they want to join Constellation or not.

6 Better Dynamic Weather Improves Starfield's Weather Cycles

Bring More Immersion To The Game

One of the things that players may not think about on their starfaring adventures is the weather of the planets that they visit. Yet, when visiting these planets, dynamic weather is always a nice touch to add to the immersion of the setting. Unfortunately, the base game's weather system is a little underwhelming. Thankfully, Better Dynamic Weather addresses this and helps the worlds of Starfield feel more vibrant.

Better Dynamic Weather is a lightweight mod that keeps things simple in its improvements. It speeds up the vanilla weather cycles to make the game feel more alive without cluttering the game up with dozens of GB worth of content. For those looking for a greater change, Custom Dynamic Weather Cycles by the same author (AinsyMods) is an awesome alternative and is also available for Xbox. It is compatible with Better Dynamic Weather, too.

5 Amazing Companion Tweaks Make Followers More Useful

Helps Companions Carry More

Companions can feel a little underwhelming at times. Starfield is a game with variable difficulty, and not everyone wants their followers to carry them through their playthrough, but having a more useful companion, in general, is usually not a bad thing. The Amazing Companion Tweaks mod buffs followers and their stats. These only apply to named companions, not the unnamed crew members that players can have on their ship.

These buffs include more health, oxygen, and Star Power, which are all increased by 50%. Followers also become undetectable when sneaking (meaning that they won't ruin stealth) and can carry an extra 30kg. Companion affinity also increases 20% faster, allowing them to become a friend or lover quicker. In general, followers become more useful, but since their damage output remains largely the same, they won't kill everything before a player has the chance to shoot their gun.

4 Better NPCs Make AI More Realistic

Less Robotic Responses & Interactions

Starfield leaves much to be desired when it comes to the many NPCs that populate its vast collective of worlds. Many come across as robotic, and their behavior has been the punchline of many jokes, but the Better NPCs mod comes in to save the day. It features dozens of behavior changes and tweaks to make NPCs feel more alive and immersive, removing some features that make them feel unrealistic.

The mod authors list every single fix on the mod's page on Bethesda.net. Some of the biggest include timing fixes that allow NPCs to act more realistically, such as less pausing between sentences, spending more time talking to each other, and idle animations triggering sooner after an interaction. Animations have been tweaked so that NPCs blink more, move their head in dialogue more and maintain better eye contact. For an immersive experience, this mod is probably one of the most important to install.

3 Non-Lethal Framework Lets Players Capture Foes

Begin A Pacifist Run

For a game with as much content as Starfield, it is a little odd that the title doesn't offer players ways of restraining foes who have been non-lethally incapacitated. Luckily, the Non-Lethal Framework fixes this issue, offering players more options with foes that they haven't blasted into ragdolls. This is the perfect mod for those who want to roleplay as a pacifist or someone who doesn't want to kill every enemy they meet.

This added dynamic is simple yet effective. It adds the ability to restrain hostile, humanoid NPCs with handcuffs. These handcuffs can be crafted, and when applied to a knocked-out enemy, it will disarm them and allow players to then kill or release them later. Released and killed NPCs will return the handcuffs, so they aren't consumed permanently. Released NPCs will return to their normal behavior after leaving the area.

2 Immersive Sabers Add A Chunk Of Star Wars Into Starfield

This Mod Is Lore Accurate

There seems to be an unwritten rule in the various modding communities of numerous titles. If a Star Wars-style lightsaber can be added to a game, then it will be added. Starfield is no exception, but it has the added benefit of being at least somewhat lore-friendly with the Immersive Sabers mod. Frankly, lightsabers are too cool not to have in a sci-fi RPG, and even if there isn't the Force, that doesn't mean the player shouldn't have some Jedi fun.

The Immersive Sabers mod adds lightsabers of various colors. Although one of the designs is very much inspired by Luke Skywalker's green lightsaber, the others look in line with Starfield's aesthetic, making them more in place than they would otherwise be. The mod also adds a new perk tree for the lightsabers, as well as the ability to deflect with them so that players can feel like a Jedi or Sith (or something in between).

1 Shade's Added Skills Is A Must-Have Mod

Shadedness Is A Premier Mod Creator

Shadedness is one of those mod authors that is on a quest to improve as many aspects of Starfield as possible. Of all Shadedness' mods, the most vital is Shade's Added Skills, which adds more skills for characters to acquire and use. These new skills have been made to be as balanced as possible while not changing any pre-existing skills. It improves stats like movement speed, critical hit chance against humans, and gun-bashing damage.

Outside the Added Skills mod, which is highly advised, Shadeness also has mods for more immersive looting, stealth takedowns, and better Boost Packs. All of these mods can be installed for the Xbox version of the game. Starfield is massively improved by any of this mod author's works, but the Added Skills mod is the biggest of the bunch and will give players more to look into while they level up, improving the character progression of the base game.

Source: Bethesda.net (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11)

Starfield

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

September 6, 2023

Developer(s)

Bethesda

Publisher(s)

Bethesda

Genre(s)

Action , RPG

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Strong Language, Violence