If you were disappointed with the performance of Starfield on Xbox Series S, then I have good news. Although the game launched with a 30fps cap on the platform, the recent introduction of mod support has paved the way for doubling or even quadrupling that number.
In a recent analysis of a handful of Starfield Mods from Digital Foundry have shown that players can easily increase framerate by installing community-created performance enhancements. A prominent example is the “1280×720 Resolution” mod by user “GarBusGarBear”, which removes the game’s framerate cap and limits the internal image quality to 720p.
With this mod enabled, some smaller internal environments were able to hit an astonishing 120 fps – though this dropped to around 100 fps during intense combat scenes. Some of the busiest areas of the game were just above 40 fps, albeit with some visible dips here and there, which is still a slight improvement over the original version.
However, switching from the standard internal resolution of 900p to 720p does have a noticeable impact on the overall image quality. Everything appears noticeably blurrier, which may be just about acceptable when gaming on a small 1080p monitor, but will no doubt look quite unpleasant on a higher resolution TV screen.
However, this is just one of the mods on offer; there are countless others designed to improve performance without such obvious drawbacks. This includes one that simply removes the 30 fps framerate cap, allowing the game to run at around 40 fps. Assuming you already own a copy of Starfield On the Xbox Series S, there’s little reason not to spend a bit of time playing around with everything on offer to see what performance you can get.
These mods are also available on Xbox Series X and could be a great way to squeeze out a few extra frames. However, keep in mind that using mods will create a new set of saves with your ability to earn in-game achievements disabled.