New Starfield update “fixes” Creations store mods, upsets fans

Normally, a Starfield update is cause for celebration as it involves a number of hotfixes or new content. Unfortunately, this Starfield update may have just limited the scope of numerous Starfield mods present and future by preventing ini file alterations, including for performance mods and rebalancing mods.

What’s an “ini” file? The Starfield ini file is essentially a set of rules and logic that lurks out of sight but drastically affects how the game runs. It hosts a number of Starfield settings such as your graphics setting, screen resolution, animation data and so forth. Editing the ini file can have profound effects on your game in both positive and negative ways. If someone gets it wrong, it can catastrophically corrupt save data or disrupt the game’s overall stability.

In light of this negative possibility, Bethesda has made the decision to prevent all new Creations mods from altering ini files, stating “some altered ini files are resulting in more negative effects than the benefits for allowing this functionality, such as audio corruption on the Xbox.” 

For Xbox players, this could see a number of Starfield mods never making it onto the Creations store from Nexus Mods. PC players, however, will still be able to use the Starfield Script Extender to bypass Bethesda’s new ini restriction.

Well, they could if the latest Starfield update didn’t also cause issues for the current version of the Starfield Script Extender. Fortunately, Nexus Mods user cblan1224 found that reverting the game back to update 1.32 fixed the issue, though some legwork was needed. 

Fans reacted to the announcement with widespread criticism, with several responders wondering what would happen to pre-existing Creations mods which alter ini files. 

To this, Bethesda has stated that it is “investigating ways to address active Starfield Creations from creators that alter ini files.” Unfortunately, no timescale has been given.

Bethesda’s goal seems to be ensuring a stable gameplay experience for Starfield regardless of how many Starfield mods you install by limiting what modders can and can’t tweak. How this pans out for mods moving forward remains to be seen. Hopefully, modders will find a workaround to this, finding solutions that don’t rely on ini file manipulation (though there are many settings locked away in the ini file which will limit the scope of numerous mods).

If nothing else, players will, hopefully, encounter fewer major bugs and glitches as a result of installing a mod from the Creations store.

What do you think of Bethesda’s decision? Let us know over in the Starfield forum, and be sure to follow Starfield Db on Google News for all the latest updates and announcements.