mods to transform Starfield into Star Wars.

Mods, of course, have their limits: they're often subject to bugs, and may disturb the balance of or create unusual interactions with the base game. They also don't always play nice with each other, since the modding community is huge, and most creators simply can't consider all the other custom content a player might have installed when making their own mods.

Players who rely on custom content are well aware of the risks, though, and are willing either to sacrifice certain mods in order to make others work, or experiment endlessly with load order until everything works. What's frustrating is when games impose (seemingly) arbitrary limits on the number of mods players can install, and that's what Starfield is getting rid of with its latest update.

Starfield's Shattered Space Update Increases The Mod Limit

Players Can Now Have Up To 255 Mods Installed

The patch notes for the 1.14.70 update released alongside Starfield's Shattered Space DLC, as posted to Reddit by BethesdaGameStudios_, reveals that players can now have more than 255 "loaded creations" at any given time. Although many believed this was an intentional limitation, the patch notes claim it was caused by a technical issue that's been fixed in the most recent version of Starfield.

The originally intended mod limit, a whopping 4,500, has since been restored, which should be more than enough to install any amount of custom content a player desires. The right ten mods would be enough to fundamentally change the nature of the game; the right 4,500 are enough to make it nearly unrecognizable.

Starfield ran into problems with its previous mod limit, which many found lacking. Although players were (and still are) allotted up to 100 GB of disk space in which to install their mods, Starfield previously limited them to 255 mods total installed at any given time. With certain mods requiring plugins and other additional files, it was all too easy to hit this limit. Some complained that they could only use a fraction of the available storage, hitting the limit with less than ten GB of custom content installed across less than 100 mods.

Although released alongside Shattered Space, players don't have to purchase the DLC to reap the benefits of this update - it's available to all players at no additional cost.

Of course, most players are not likely to have more than 200 actual mods installed at the same time. Those who do mostly have smaller, simpler mods - things that add new weapons, or new ship parts to Starfield. However, as commenter Aggravating-Dot132 points out in the comments, some mods take up multiple slots. A complicated, gameplay-altering mod might rely on several different plugins - they may require players to install things like script extenders, or other additional tools that increase the overall count.

What Else Did Shattered Space's Update Change In Starfield?

Bug Fixes Galore

Other than the increased mod limit, the majority of the Shattered Space update focuses on bug fixes, along with graphical and performance improvements. It's not the most earth-shattering update, but a series of major, long-standing issues appear to have been resolved in the update. Perhaps most prominently, flip merging, a common ship building trick used to make compact builds, has now been made an official mechanic.

Missing and low-quality textures, collision issues, and other location issues have been resolved. Several bugged quests, like "Brownout," "Due in Full," and "Legacy's End have been fixed, and should allow players to progress normally. Lighting has also been improved throughout the entire game.

Gameplay fixes mostly focus on weapons. For example, the Annihilator Particle Beam will no longer do damage over time to companions, and mechanical enemies will take proper damage from electromagnetic weapons. The Boom Pop! Dynamite crafting recipe has also been repaired, and crowd AI in The Well will behave normally when combat begins in the area.

Other annoying little issues, like the camera's jostling when the player jumps, or health bars disappearing while players are riding in the Rev-8, have also been addressed in the update. Mostly, though, it's intended to pave the way for the DLC - however, the update left many players unable to load their saves, start Shattered Space, or see the textures of the planets on which it's set in the earliest hours of the DLC's launch.

So, while the update itself was a mixed bag, it's worth the time just to unlock the greatly expanded mod limit. Without an arbitrary cap on the number of custom files players can install, Starfield modding is about to get bigger and better than ever.

Sources: BethesdaGameStudios_/Reddit, Aggravating-Dot132/Reddit