Like every Bethesda game, Starfield is prime territory for community additions. Even early in its lifecycle, there are already hundreds of different mods to choose from, and many of them improve the game. From UI tweaks to visual upgrades, quality-of-life additions, and modder resources, there are already tons of choices to choose from. These are the Top 20 best Starfield mods to install right now.
The Top 20 Best Starfield Mods to Install Right Now
Some mods you’ll find on Starfield‘s Nexus page do essentially the same thing. Others are unique enough that they’re worth installing. While you can install Starfield mods through their Vortex launcher, several high-profile choices require additional files or structures to function properly.
Always follow the directions on the mod page. I recommend manually installing any remotely complex Starfield. Additionally, enable Archive Invalidation, as many mods require it.
- Better Dialog Controls
- Compact Mission UI
- Compact Ship Builder UI
- Dark Mode for Terminals
- DECENT ReShade
- Enhanced Player Boostbar
- Enemy Friendly Fire
- EXE — Effect Textures Enhanced
- Faster Workbenches
- Quick and Clean Main Menu
- Real Flashlight
- Responsive Grabbing
- Spicy Clean Ship HUD
- Starfield FoV
- Starfield Performance Optimizations
- Starfield Performance Texture Pack
- Starfield Script Extender
- Star UI Inventory
- Starfield Upscaler
- Undelayed Menus
Better Dialogue Controls
Starfield‘s dialog controls aren’t great on PC. Better Dialogue Controls makes them easier to use overall, letting you use the number keys and altering the confirmation delay for quicker selection.
Compact Mission UI
Something that probably bugs a good portion of PC players is how chunky some menus are. The mission menu has a lot of unnecessary space, and Compact Mission UI cuts that down significantly, greying out completed quests for more clarity.
Compact Ship Builder UI
Compact Ship Builder UI makes our list of best Starfield mods because it’s a simple mod that makes the ship builder UI less clunky. It doesn’t address other mechanics, but it makes it easier to use.
Dark Mode for Terminals
Tired of every computer terminal in Starfield being a flashbang? Dark Mode for Terminals fixes that problem, allowing you to turn the white into black and save your eyes no matter when you’re playing.
DECENT ReShade
Though there are different ReShade presets available, I find DECENT ReShade — Natural and Performance Friendly to be the best overall. It cuts through some of the odd tinting and gives a deeper, less washed-out tone to everything.
Enhanced Player Boostbar
One of the smallest Starfield mods on the list, Enhanced Player Boostbar is still worth installing. It makes your boost bar easier to parse by turning it a nice shade of blue and makes the bar flash a brighter cyan when it’s full.
Enemy Friendly Fire
No enemy friendly-fire is criminal, especially when you can hit your companions with any stray bullet. Enemy Friendly Fire (SFSE) changes that. With the mod installed (which requires Starfield Script Extender), NPCs everywhere can hit everyone else.
EXE — Effect Textures Enhanced
Starfield‘s effect textures don’t look bad on their own, but EXE — Effect Textures Enhanced goes above and beyond to make them better. It makes most incidental textures better, including higher resolutions, additional depth, and improved overall aesthetic.
Faster Workbenches
You’ll spend a lot of time at workbenches, and Faster Workbenches makes activating and deactivating their menus less of a chore, shortening the animation time without losing much immersion.
Quick and Clean Main Menu
A classic style of mod, Quick and Clean Main Menu removes the opening health and Bethesda logo splash screens, putting you directly to the main menu. It also removes the “Welcome to Starfield” pop-up, which was just an eyesore.
Real Flashlight
This Starfield mod is for immersion lovers. Real Flashlight makes the diffuse, silly-looking default torch texture more realistic. There are several different options for how the light shines, but all of them are better than the base version.
Responsive Grabbing
Another quality-of-life Starfield mod, Responsive Grabbing removes the need to hold down the grab button for a full second grab something. It doesn’t do much more, but that benefit alone is worth it.
Spicy Clean Ship HUD
Ship HUDs are busier than they needs to be. Spicy Clean Ship HUD gives you options to tone down the clutter or remove it entirely. It doesn’t make piloting easier, but it does make it easier to see what’s going on through the cockpit windows.
Related: Starfield Ship Combat Guide
Starfield FoV
This Starfield mod is a simple settings adjustment, letting you change the ugly default field-of-view. Starfield FoV is as simple to install as its effects are beneficial, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Starfield Performance Optimizations
It takes a beefy PC to run Starfield at high settings, and Starfield Performance Optimizations is here to give your rig a bit of a boost. While you won’t go from 30-60 FPS, I saw about a 5-10% improvement across the board on high settings.
Related: How to Fix Stuttering in Starfield
Starfield Performance Texture Pack
If your rig is older or less powerful, check out the Starfield Performance Texture Pack. It downgrades many of the more complex textures without sacrificing too much visual fidelity. Like the Performance Optimizations mod, don’t expect the biggest FPS boost, but it can help.
Starfield Script Extender
The literal holy grail of Starfield modding, Starfield Script Extender (SFSE) is less mod and more mod enabler. It opens the possibility for tons of additional and more complex mods down the road. SFSE is the only must-install mod in all of Starfield. Without it, many of the mods you get down the line are liable to use it.
StarUI Inventory
For those familiar with SkyUI from Skyrim, StarUI Inventory should be one of the most welcome additions to your Starfield mods list. This mod makes the clunky, obtuse inventory menu easier to use and more informative. Things are a bit visually busy with all the info available, from weight to damage and item type, but it’s still better than vanilla.
Starfield Upscaler
It seems Starfield was built with AMD GPUs in mind, as the game supports neither Nvidia’s DLSS nor Intel’s XeSS’. It seems to run better on them. Starfield Upscaler — Replacing FSR2 with DLSS or XeSS lets you use modded-in DLSS and XeSS for a similar, if not better, performance boost. Note you’ll also need UpscalerBasePlugin for this mod to work.
Undelayed Menus
Don’t ask me why you have to wait several seconds to open menus, but Undelayed Menus removes most of that issue altogether.
Those are our picks for the Top 20 best Starfield mods to install right now. I fully expect thousands of additional high-quality mods to come around in the months and years to come. For now, check out our other Starfield content, including our Akila city guide, how to solve the Temple Eta puzzle, and more in our guides hub for the game.
