Game Discussions Bethesda Softworks Starfield Space RPG

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Tech Post: https://wccftech.com/starfield-engi...sue-stuttering-noticed-on-high-end-gen5-ssds/

This is interesting. Not that i've played it that much (just shoot me, i can't stop playing jwe2) but i've noticed the freeze on movement disappear over time. Specifically, its stopped occuring in places it used to. Without doing too much science on it, i have to account it to a combination of using process lasso, the shader compilation step being a woeful summary and in fact there is quite a bit more of it to do (sf6 takes 10 mins plus on the same machine, and consoles come with precompiled shaders), or over time all the tweaks i've applied to my low end system made enough headroom so that it could do whatever it needs to on the fly.

Anyway, interesting to see it might be a problem for modern hardware as well.

Being inherently skeptical as well, i wouldn't be surprised if there is a bit of a conspiracy reason.. the result of the partnerships with gpu vendors is more a a blanket inefficiency so that everyone sells new hardware. I wouldn't have any reason to think this if it wasn't for amd going around and pointing at their flyer of recommended upgrades for starfield.. as if they were preparing you for needing one... I don't imagine nvidia are that upset with shadows being incorrectly configured on their cards either.

 

[Christopher Roberto]

I just blew 8k of my precious bingbux on renting2notown this thing via PC lamepass, eagerly awaiting a calm, cathartic rage and to be able to vent on-topic. Wish me luck, bros.

 

[Morbad]

So i turned down my shadows.. but at the same time.. i saw something that triggered such a "finally" of joy in starfield.. for the past x years, stupid internet people have been prasing how high resolution they can get shadows at. Maybe it was correlated to hardware ability to have them? But immediately this is junk. Go outside on a sunny day, and put your hand 30 cm above the ground. Now move it up a meter, and look at the shadows. It doesn't look a thing like the status quo ultra shadows that have been prasied by even professionals for years.

To my immense relief.. finally... at least its the first time i've seen it. Sorry morbad for also showing off your haze.

View attachment 366811

Shadow map resolution dictates how detailed the shadows can be, but there is a lot more to good shadows than jacking up resolution. It does look like Starfield is applying a larger filter radius to shadows cast by more distant objects, but that may just be a fortunate artifact of using lower resolution shadow maps (which need more filtering to not be aliased) for them. And yes, a lot of high resolution shadow maps are expensive.

As good as Starfield's shadows are for conventional CSMs, there are plenty of cases where they behave unrealistically, but this is as much a fault of the lighting system as anything.

Being inherently skeptical as well, i wouldn't be surprised if there is a bit of a conspiracy reason.. the result of the partnerships with gpu vendors is more a a blanket inefficiency so that everyone sells new hardware. I wouldn't have any reason to think this if it wasn't for amd going around and pointing at their flyer of recommended upgrades for starfield.. as if they were preparing you for needing one... I don't imagine nvidia are that upset with shadows being incorrectly configured on their cards either.

There is certainly no incentive to make it run too well, but I don't think there is much to the AMD partnership beyond the standard 'here's a crapton of money and some free tech support...make sure it works on our stuff, don't mention the other guy, and we get to bundle it with all our new parts'. The rest feels like the consequence of meeting delivery deadlines with a port built around an old engine that was only intended to do 30 fps on consoles.

 

[Christopher Roberto]

I just blew 8k of my precious bingbux on renting2notown this thing via PC lamepass, eagerly awaiting a calm, cathartic rage and to be able to vent on-topic. Wish me luck, bros.

Yep, this will be a Bethesda game.

 

[RooksBailey]

nVidia is probably laughing themselves silly:

Starfield Is Seemingly Missing Entire Stars When Running On AMD Radeon GPUs

The issue is that the dayside of any planetary body or moon needs a source of light that gets it all lit up. That source is the star and on any non-AMD GPU, you will see the star/sun in the sky box which will be illuminating light on the surface. But with AMD cards, the star/sun just isn't there while the planet/moon remains illuminated without any light source.

Speaking of such oddities, I wonder when the first patch is due?

 

[Ralph Vargr]

I have to admit, I'm getting the best reviews of this game by just reading this thread.

Watching old duck drool over some of the activities has got to be some of the best review material out there.

Ducky's hooked. The Microsoft Account comes next...

 

[Morbad]

nVidia is probably laughing themselves silly:

Starfield Is Seemingly Missing Entire Stars When Running On AMD Radeon GPUs

This bug is not limited to AMD GPUs. I've encountered more than a few situations like that on my RTX 4090 with current drivers.

 

[rootsrat]

Hahaha! Lovely bug!
I was in Akila recently and all of a sudden this naked female guard (well, she did have underwear) comes at me from behind the corner, sees me, stops and goes in a very filrty way "Oh my, nice ship you have there" or something to that effect. I kept running into her since then, but then never saw her again after leaving the city.

I'm scared she might be hiding in my cargo hold now.

 

[Far Beyond Driven]

I ignored all thief stuff this playthrough, but went with persuasion. I read that building is initiated via scanner. Easy to forget that. Crew management is via ship. It's messy.
Most skills are ad hoc decusions, pilgrim bg chosen pretty much the character idea of culinAry explorer.
I havent done much on the culinary side. It doesnt seem like doing any spectacular. It's more a side thing. I remember quite good recipes in Fallout.

For storage I came up with solution. Instead of crates I can use bedroom safe and besement crates for now. In Constellation basement I put all the ressources and aid, in bedroom equipment.
Next I'm gonma strip down except ammo and build up with essential.

I didn't even think of this. Are there any spots near the crafting machines in The Den basement that persistently keep resources around? I know the infinite safe in the bedroom is safe but havnt tested random containers.

 

[Far Beyond Driven]

Meanwhile I'm starting to do coping math, like "If I ate canned chicken salad for two weeks, I could technically afford this game.."

The one thing that might give me strength to wait until Black Friday is that Fall is my favorite time of year to be outdoors. On the other hand, Black Friday is SO FAR AWAY! Also, there's no guarantee that a new game like Starfield will be on sale.

I live very frugal and humble and believe me I understand. If there was ever a game worth buying at full price this is it. I'm one of those people who can sit out years waiting for a steam discount. I hate shilling for a game and blowing it out of proportion.

There is never harm in waiting for polish and mods or discounts though.

It's kind of like how RDR2 made an authentic world you could loose yourself in. I feel like this is the closest a Space game has come to the RDR2 treatment which is a high water mark in gaming for me.


It's going to save me money in the same way Elite saved me money. This is very potentially years of entertainment.

 

[Astaran]

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours playing with my dollhouse Outpost management

Spoiler

Procuring decorative items from a abandoned facility

Airlock and work place

Crew quarters with kitchen and little robot (that yellow thingydibob)

Kitchen area of the crew quarters

View from the "living room". two cargo links, storage containers and local wildlife

PS: I'm somewhat tempted to troll the Elite mods and sneak the first screenshot into the Elite screenshot thread

 

[rootsrat]

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours playing with my dollhouse Outpost management

Spoiler

Procuring decorative items from a abandoned facility

Airlock and work place

Crew quarters with kitchen and little robot (that yellow thingydibob)

Kitchen area of the crew quarters

View from the "living room". two cargo links, storage containers and local wildlife

PS: I'm somewhat tempted to troll the Elite mods and sneak the first screenshot into the Elite screenshot thread

Do the decorative items, like jars and food and stuff stay in place oncee you put them on tables and shelves? Creation Engine always had issues with item physics and I've already seen some signs on that in Starfield too.

 

[Cosmo]

This mod Supercruise and EVA Spacewalk adds sub-light speed supercruise and EVA to Starfield. The supercruise requires console commands to activate and there's nothing to do outside the ship. The planets are hollow so you can fly through them. It's very cool though.

If you want to level up your piloting skill you can use the flight simulator of the Vanguard. Each virtual ship destroyed counts towards the piloting skill.

 

[Astaran]

Do the decorative items, like jars and food and stuff stay in place oncee you put them on tables and shelves? Creation Engine always had issues with item physics and I've already seen some signs on that in Starfield too.

So far, the items stay where I placed them. That being said, if someone runs into them, they tend to get knocked over

 

[Darkfyre99]

Thing's I've done since Sunday afternoon:

• Finished clearing out the familiar underground facility
  • Much to my disappointment, there was an exactly the same encounter with a quadrupedal guard robot. The first time, thanks to an early death to one, and having watched the FOX “The War of the Worlds” series, this was a very tense encounter. The second time? Not so much, especially since it hadn't increased in level, and I had.
  • I also figured out why these opponents were so bullet spongy, despite being a much higher level than I was:
    Spoiler: This Feels Like Power Armor

    
  • I did level up, and picked up Piloting 2
• Returned to New Atlantis
  • Went to Vanguard’s Flight Sim, and unlocked the prerequisites for Piloting 3
  • Discovered and completed a few missions there
  • Discovered a few more out of system missions
  • Sold the remaining “dead weight” aboard Frontier
• Quickly surveyed two other lifeless moons in the Narion system
• Returned to base and sorted a few things out there
• Determined a standard “exploration starting kit.”

Next up: Exploring my second world with actual ecosystems… and copper. I need a reliable source of copper.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Four crashes on Gagarin compared to 1 crash over the whole binge week end. Maybe it has to do with the flora and fauna? And a building in the midst? Wasn't running hot either.
I found the lock on mechanism with ships now. I think I never had the reticle long enough over enemy. Struggling hard vs multiple enemies in space. Frontier just can't take it. And I spent a lot of creds on equipment and quests. Really blowing money at those people in need. Barret has been a money sink too. Time to cash in again, but I don't see a new ship anytime soon.

 

[Codger]

Yes, there are zero-G places where combat happens.

I laughed out loud when I fired my shotgun and the recoil sent me flying backwards across the area. I had to switch to laser weapons!

Anyway, what I was saying about no longer being a newbie is true.

I started a new character, and on the very first mission where you're supposed to confront some rascals who want to take away your newbie ship, I landed at the designated place and exited my ship. At that point I saw another, unrelated pirate ship land nearby (just one of those random events). I raced over to it, killed the crew, and stole the ship. So I had 2 ships already, haha. The game handled it ok, too.

My second run-through has so far gone completely differently than my first. That bodes well for the future. I love replayability.

Someone was asking about Targeting mode in your ship. It's kind of like VATS was in the old games -- it slows time a bit and lets you focus fire on specific parts of the enemy ship (and if you're careful you can disable them and board them). It's not explained well, but it works fairly well.

I think this character will focus a lot more on the illegal side of things. See how that goes.

PS Stealth in this game is excellent once you level it up a bit. I did the entire Red Mile run without even being detected, haha! And I really enjoy sneaking about in bases, stealing stuff while the enemy is jabbering away to each other. Then bang.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I didn't even think of this. Are there any spots near the crafting machines in The Den basement that persistently keep resources around? I know the infinite safe in the bedroom is safe but havnt tested random containers.

Persistently? I don't know. Many containers in Fallout are supposed to reset after like 30 ingame days. I don't know when this would trigger. After starting a new game or using that container. I heavily guess the bedroom safe is a secure container. The ones in the basement might - I'm taking that risk. Containers in the world? Don't think so. In cities? I wouldn't count on it.
I cut down my personal storage to 80 / 170 after doing the cleanup. Turned out I had ship parts which are "aid" items that I never noticed and they come 10 kg a piece, lol.
I did a mission and was full with trash again. I suspected an item duplication bug but the inventory had different items. I tried to commandeer a storyline ship and might have pulled the items that way. So I had to clean up twice. Looks like a clean way to rid yourself from item clutter, but is not convenient for research and crafting. The basement boxes in Constellation are right next to all the machines though.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Yes, there are zero-G places where combat happens.

I laughed out loud when I fired my shotgun and the recoil sent me flying backwards across the area. I had to switch to laser weapons!

Anyway, what I was saying about no longer being a newbie is true.

I started a new character, and on the very first mission where you're supposed to confront some rascals who want to take away your newbie ship, I landed at the designated place and exited my ship. At that point I saw another, unrelated pirate ship land nearby (just one of those random events). I raced over to it, killed the crew, and stole the ship. So I had 2 ships already, haha. The game handled it ok, too.

My second run-through has so far gone completely differently than my first. That bodes well for the future. I love replayability.

Someone was asking about Targeting mode in your ship. It's kind of like VATS was in the old games -- it slows time a bit and lets you focus fire on specific parts of the enemy ship (and if you're careful you can disable them and board them). It's not explained well, but it works fairly well.

I think this character will focus a lot more on the illegal side of things. See how that goes.

PS Stealth in this game is excellent once you level it up a bit. I did the entire Red Mile run without even being detected, haha! And I really enjoy sneaking about in bases, stealing stuff while the enemy is jabbering away to each other. Then bang.

I will never forget Mirri, my masterful Khajit thief character in Skyrim. Stealth in games quite never reached the quality of the Thief series imo, but Fallout and Skyrim did kinda OK. Just takes longer but I'm impatient for that at the moment. Bang, boom, clang is the motto.

 

[Codger]

Stealth in games quite never reached the quality of the Thief series imo

The Dishonored series came closest. That's another of my favorites. But I'll never forget when Thief came out -- it was a revelation at the time. I've tried re-playing those old games, but I'm too spoiled by graphics and UI now, heh. Still, in my memory the Thief games will shine forever.