Starfield modders are having their fun with Bethesda’s space role-playing game, making some weird and wonderful concoctions as well as some really useful, quality-of-life improvements. Now, modders are turning their attention to Star Wars.
23.08.2023 - 16:47 / destructoid.com
Since Starfield is being optimized for AMD hardware, it’s likely the game won’t support any competing upscaling technologies by default. These, of course, being Nvidia’s DLSS and Intel’s XeSS. Historically, AMD-sponsored video games are usually limited purely to FSR 1.0/2.0, which puts modder PureDark in a unique position.
For context, PureDark is responsible for unofficial implementations of Nvidia DLSS into games that don’t support this upscaler by default. This is a huge boon for Nvidia graphics cards owners due to better performance and image quality compared to FSR. The tricky bit, however, is that PureDark has started locking their mods behind a $5 Patreon subscription, and it would seem that they’ve taken things a step further than ever before by setting up Patreon-based DRM for their modded files.
Looks like PureDark has implemented an authentication system for his RDR 2 Frame Gen mod, where you need to first authenticate yourself as a Patreon sub of his in order to use it. So if you obtain the mod by "sailing the high seas", it won't work until you sub to his Patreon. pic.twitter.com/csXSRR98ya
— Sebastian Castellanos (@Sebasti66855537) August 21, 2023
PureDark previously announced that they’d have DLSS’s frame generation and image upscaling functionality ready for Starfield as soon as possible. Their decision to set up a Patreon authentication system for mods is, therefore, suspiciously timely ahead of Starfield‘s launch. Given that Starfield‘s system requirements are reasonably hefty, Nvidia RTX GPU users would naturally hope to leverage DLSS in the game. And searching for this would eventually lead them to PureDark’s mods.
There’s definitely an argument for crediting modders for their hard work. Comprehensive and valuable feature-level additions like PureDark’s DLSS injectors can make a world of difference for players. It’s also easy to see why the community might feel rubbed the wrong way by actual DRM in mods. Some reports claim that it’s a one-time payment, so PureDark’s DLSS mods may not require a persistent subscription.
No sub once and you're good… $5 for all his work.
— rdmetz (@rdmetz) August 21, 2023
However, others claim this is not the case at all, and that game patches – which often come in rapid succession – break PureDark’s mods on a regular basis. According to Reddit user jackyflc, “everytime a game update releases, the mod breaks and you will have to pay another $5 to resub and download the updated mod.”
It’s going to be interesting to see whether Nvidia reacts to PureDark’s entrepreneurship, of course. While the company appears to have taken a more hands-off approach to DLSS integrations, allowing devs to do it for free, it’s possible that PureDark may have stepped on its
Starfield modders are having their fun with Bethesda’s space role-playing game, making some weird and wonderful concoctions as well as some really useful, quality-of-life improvements. Now, modders are turning their attention to Star Wars.
Cursed ship designs were always an inevitability with Starfield, and after two full days in the wild, players have already made some wildly funky and plainly cool ships. Scrolling through social media channels, you’ll find that players have hammered away at their own unique designs while also creatively remaking other iconic vessels from Mass Effect, Star Wars, Halo and, of course, our friend Thomas The Tank Engine. There’s also been a shocking lack of, uhm, male organ-shaped spacecraft which makes putting this post together much less hard. But for now, onward! Let’s admire some cool ships.
A Starfield fan known for creating miniature stop-motion-style animations has done exactly that and is giving fans a glimpse into the RPG's everyday world.
Videogame trailers can be predictable nowadays. Bursts of Hans Zimmer-esque synthesised brass. Rapid-fire edits timed to thudding percussion. Dreadful down-tempo cover versions of classic songs. So it’s all the more exciting when you find one that really makes you sit up and take notice. At last year’s Summer Game Fest, The Plucky Squire stood apart, capturing hearts and minds alike from the moment storybook protagonist Jot physically leapt from the page and became three-dimensional. This ingenious idea deserves special treatment, which is why it’s vividly depicted on Edge 389’s exclusive fold-out cover.
Unless you want to wind up single in space, do remember not to commit acts of terrorism in front of your Starfield spouse. I bring you this dire warning courtesy of fellow PC Gamer writer Chris Livingston who managed to wreck his marriage with Andreja over the very tiny mistake of throwing a grenade down a hallway of innocent people possibly on purpose. Andreja disliked that.
A dedicated Starfield player has built a digital LEGO model of New Atlantis from 6,000 individual pieces, with some social media users joking that they might use the reconstruction to help navigate the city in the absence of an actual mini-map.
Annapurna is turning indie hit Stray into a film.
Before most players are even into Starfield, the classic Bethesda physics gags are going strong. Last week we got a peek at the space future of Hoarders and this week it's all coming up spuds.
Don't worry you can install a few other faces on your flashlight if you want.
In 2008, Rockstar brought its full line-up of PC games to Steam, and players quickly discovered that several of those titles were distributed with illegal cracks made by pirate groups. 15 years later, that fact is still having unintended consequences for legitimate players of the GTA dev's classics.
By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.
I come bearing good mews: Stray, the a-paw-able 2022 stealth adventure which sees you play as a stray cat, is being turned into an animated movie.