Added bAlwaysActive=1 to the [General] section in the Starfield.ini file - this allows the game to continue running even when tabbed out.
Wasn't able to access other windows on the same monitor as the game. Needed to move windows to a second monitor in order to access them during gameplay.
Noticed the game crashes only when changing the graphics quality preset in the settings.
Tested the game primarily on the Proton version provided by the CachyOS gaming package, but did briefly test on Proton 9.0-4. No noticeable differences between the two versions.
Also tested the game with the ultra, high, and medium graphic presets, motion blur disabled, DLSS Ultra Performance, and frame generation enabled to try and improve performance. No improvement or differences were spotted - the game consistently ran at around 88-100fps around Akila City at 4K with the above presets.
gamemoderun %command%
Very rare but sometimes the face of some Characters is gone and the eyes and inner mouth are visible still. Maybe just a Bethesda Bug because I had this on Windows in Skyrim as well.
Game did not launch for me without GE Proton
Game runs well out of the box if you want vanilla. My launch options will let you open SFSE through Steam.
gamemoderun bash -c 'exec "${@/Starfield.exe/sfse_loader.exe}"' -- %command%
Modding can be done via SMM, which is a terminal tool for modding Starfield. Developer provides setup instructions on his website that (mostly) work. You will need to use it exclusively through Terminal as the shortcut icon does not work.
Mods you install through it will be symlinked as-is from your mod directory to your Starfield installed directory verbatim - If the mod contains 3 .esm files in the root directory that are supposed to be in /Starfield/Data, go to the mod's folder and make a "Data" folder and dump those .esm files in there, then you can activate the mod; Just follow that logic, follow standard load order rules (things at the bottom overwrite mods at the top), and the game should run flawlessly.
You have to have a lot of patience and a lot of time, to really allow yourself to adjust to 24 FPS.
I limited the FPS to 24 and halved the tdp to 7 and GPU clock speed to 8 and it roughly gives me around an hour and 50 minutes.
But I switched to bigger text mode in accessibility
I do not mean to be rude but it is a Steam Deck trying to play the newest Bethesda Game Studios. Totally expected
I do not mean to be rude but it is a Steam Deck trying to play the newest Bethesda Game Studios. Totally expected
Probably but I just kind of ignored it cuz again, it's to be expected
No sacrifice, no victory!!
Schon alles sehr klein und schwer zu lesen bzw. erkennen
with the zen kernel, the game only launches with proton-ge
Work perfectly, better that Windows 11
Overall the game has worked with no tinkering. their is an odd crash when opening menus ive noticed later on in the game. havent tried mods
their is the odd bit of artifacting arround turrets lasers,
sometimes will crash when open a menu, seems to be related to things saving and has gotten worse the longer i have gone into the game
crashes way too often to be playable. Even removing mods doesn't stop the crash and i'm on latest mesa drivers for my distro.
bash -c 'exec "${@/Starfield.exe/sfse_loader.exe}"' -- %command%
crashes every 30minutes-1hour
6 months ago this never crashed for me. Now it's unplayable. Might be a Fedora issue, last time I had this running without crashes was on a void linux system.
Outside of specifically driving a vehicle near large bodies of water, the game runs quite well!
Proton Experimental
I noticed any time I was using a vehicle in an oceanic/shoreline biome I will experience MASSIVE hangs of 6-7 seconds. I have installed several mods, but nothing visual. Need to test without them. Also framerate is fairly low considering what hardware I'm running/what I get on windows. (usually around 45 fps with middling settings)
Just turn the settings down slightly. The impact to visual fidelity is low, but the boost in frames can be substantial.
Surprisingly one click install and no real issues post launch
some minor artifacting post initial load however fine since then
im ok with a playable game but you do lose out on the graphics. So i won't assume anyone else will like it.
Check out Cryobite33's videos on Youtube! He has one for Starfield and one a tool he created to boost performance in general. Between those fixes and maxing fps at 30, New Atlantis is pretty stable barring an occasional stutter.
See notes on Cryobite33'a vids
Main issue i have is with audio
If you just want to play SF on Steam deck this seems to be the way to do it fight now! Will try to update if it proves to get worse
Don't listen to the commentators from below. There is no stable 30 fps in the game, no matter how hard you try. Save your money!
The interface text is too small and pixelated
Your ears will enjoy the constant crackling. I have not found a solution to this problem.
There is no stable 30 fps. Even at the lowest graphics settings with fsr 3.0 with a screen resolution of 50%, fps does not rise above 26 even on empty planets. In big cities, you will experience hellish pain and irritation in the eyes from the magnificent 13 fps. Add to this the potato graphics and the terrible blurring of the picture.
Often the game crashes at random moments.
Until the last patch, the game worked stably at 30 fps with fsr 2.1 and 80% resolution scaling. Now, even with fsr 3.0 and scaling of 50%, you will not achieve a stable 30 frames. The terrible potato graphics with unbearable blurring are complemented by disgusting crackling right into your ears, which cannot be removed in any way. Just forget about the starfield on the steam deck.
Game doesnt launch
DRI_PRIME=1 STRANGLE_VSYNC=0 PROTON_LOG=1 %command%
I have tried with the launch options, without them, I have tried GE-Proton9-13,20,21, as well as Proton-Experimental, 9, 8, 7, Hotfix, I just cannot get it to launch for the life of me, I played for like 10 hours when I first got this laptop and it ran flawlessly, and now I cant get it to run at all
With Starfield i decided to use the Liquorix kernel, that results to +10FPS here.
Just works
- No tinkering necessary, works just fine with performance similar to Windows (if that's your benchmark). Played for over an hour without any issues, even tabbing in and out.
- Key binding for ingame console key can be weird on Windows and even weirder in Linux, ended up being SHIFT + ^ on my system.
- If you want to install mods, game files are in ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Starfield/
-vulkan -hidenvgpu +fps_max 0
Very rarely it happens for few seconds in loading screen.
Do not try open up Application over the Game. Leads to Graphical Errors.
The FPS drops in Atlantis City.
Weapon workbench clips trough the ground. Console fix cheat: player.placeatme 2b6a63
In-Game Display Options:
Dynamic Resolution: ON
Dynamic Resolution: 50 %
VSync: OFF
Anisotropic Filtering: x4
Upscaling: FSR3
Sharpening: 80%
Enable VRS: ON
Film Grain Intensity: 0.0
Enable Depth of Field: ON
Every other Option on Low.
Runs great on nvidia with 565 drivers
It's a very CPU intensive game, upgrading my CPU solved my stuttering issues
I was only able to open a save file after selecting Proton 8.0-5. If I just ran Starfield without setting that and tried opening a save file the game would just crash halfway through loading. Now the game runs flawlessly, everything on Ultra, FSR3 + Frame Gen at 100+fps and no issues.
gamemoderun %command%
I had no clue what the gamemoderun %command% tinker steps were. After doing some research I came across this guide that was incredibly helpful and most of my games are running much better. Starfield literally wouldn't load until I went through this, and now it's working just fine.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1787799592
gamemoderun %command%
update kernel and mesa from debian backports , then i modify some parameters of mod organizer 2 linux install script ( https://github.com/rockerbacon/modorganizer2-linux-installer ) .
1- in /mo2installer-5.0.3/gamesinfo/ edit starfield.sh and changed those lines :
#game_scriptextender_url="https://sfse.silverlock.org/download/sfse_0_2_15.7z"
# "sfse_0_2_15/sfse_1_14_70.dll"
# "sfse_0_2_15/sfse_loader.exe"
this give you the lastest version of starfield script extender.
2- in /mo2installer-5.0.3/step/ edit download_external_resources.sh and changed that line :
mo2_url='https://github.com/ModOrganizer2/modorganizer/releases/download/v2.5.2/Mod.Organizer-2.5.2.7z'
this will directly install the lastest version of MO2
game run slower than on windows 10 but it is perfectly acceptable
As all Bethesda games like fallout serie , skyrim etc ... it really worth the small pain to tinker a little .
Heavy stuttering in most outdoor areas when using Nvidia graphics.
I can't find a way to make this run smoothly on Nvidia. It's fine on AMD.
Crash on newgame or trying to load a save
gamemoderun %command%
I tried proton 8,9,experimental and GE . 8 did not launch the game at all . I am using MO2 for mods , i try with and without mods for each proton version that can launch the game, same results .
I tried every single recommendation on this list and
I still cannot get past the main menu. I even deleted all the creation content I had installed. . .
With some easy to apply tweaks, Starfield runs great on the Deck! The main issues concerning performance are in New Atlantis and Akila City.
Some changes to the graphic settings preset .ini's, as well as some graphical tweaks in the StarfieldCustom.ini file.
There's a new setting at time of making this report that states when it's toggled, it will enable one to seemlessly use both controller and M&K inputs at the same time. This would be a useful feature for setting the right trackpad to mouse or any other assortment of keybinds to the Deck's buttons, but all this setting does from my testing is stop controls from working at all. This forced me to force-quit the game and re-toggle the setting from the main start screen.
Recent updates have made Starfield run quite a bit better on Deck through the use of upscaling tech and much needed optimizations to the game on Bethesda's end. To further increase performance (30-50 FPS on ANY planet/dungeon), one can lower the graphics seetings to bare minimum and set render resolution to 50% (Which looks better than one would expect thanks to AMD's FSR 3.0).
Another thing to DRASTICALLY improve performance is to install the Steam Deck Essentials .ini files off of Nexus Mods. I chose the "Balanced" preset and get a fairly consistent 45-60 FPS, excluding New Atlantis and Akilla City, unfortunately.
Though the game is playable out of the box, Deck users should consider looking for ways to bypass its poor optimization by either installing Steam Deck specific tweaks or editing the .ini files themselves. 50 FPS is what I run on average, but even with the tweaks applied, major cities and some POI's exteriors can cause dips down to 30 FPS.
Overall, not a bad way to play Starfield at all.
