Starfield offers an unmatched space experience to players, and it has also set the bar higher when it comes to PC system requirements. Even if you satisfy the minimum hardware requirements for Starfield, you may need to tweak your settings for a smooth gameplay experience.
While Xbox players will have less to worry about in terms of optimizing their gameplay, PC players will need to juggle between various settings to achieve a sustainable frame rate. Depending on your hardware, however, even using the lowest settings possible may not be enough to average 30-60 frames in Starfield, which could be seen as a sign to upgrade your system.
Best PC settings for Starfield
We adjusted the best Starfield settings for PC to maximize the performance of our mid-tier gaming rig in Starfield. Though we started our space journey with higher settings, the Starfield audio cutting out error forced our hand to lower them further.
| Setting name | Configuration |
| Dynamic Resolution | Off |
| Render Resolution | 75 percent |
| Graphics Preset | Custom |
| Shadow Quality | Low |
| Indirect Lighting | Medium |
| Reflections | Medium |
| Particle Quality | Low |
| Volumetric Lighting | Low |
| Crowd Density | Low |
| Motion Blur | Off |
| GTAO Quality | Medium |
| Grass Quality | Medium |
| Contact Shadows | Low |
| VSync | Off |
| Upscaling | FSR2 |
| Enable VRS | Off |
| Depth of Field | On |
Starfield is the most detailed Bethesda game since Skyrim. The title even puts the latest hardware to work, so it relies on upscaling to make up for lower render resolutions. We also had VRS enabled at the start of our playthrough, an option that should grant older systems a few extra frames. We had to turn VRS off due to audio bugs, so that’s a setting we will revisit in the future.
The configurations above have been the best Starfield settings on PC for us as they delivered a decent mix between quality and performance. The best settings will heavily depend on your hardware, so we recommend customizing the settings above based on your hardware.
Best Xbox settings for Starfield
Though Xbox players will have less graphical settings to adjust in Starfield, they can still customize their experience through various gameplay settings like the following.
Gameplay settings
- Save on Rest: On
- Save on Wait: On
- Save on Travel: On
- Save on Pause: Five Minutes
Display settings
- Film Grain Intensity: Zero
- Enable Motion Blur: Off
- Enable Depth of Field: On
Interface settings
- Crosshair: On
- Show Floating Markers: On
- Show Item Information in HUD: On
- HUD Opacity: Personal preference
Controller settings
Controller settings highly depend on personal preferences. If the general sensitivity settings don’t do it for you, you can fine tune them in controller settings.
Bindings settings
The default bindings of Starfield will cover a wide range of combinations. If you have additional buttons only for your controller, you can assign them controls through the bindings menu.
Audio settings
The most essential settings inside the audio configurations will be “Footsteps.” We recommend lowering the volume of your own steps, so you can hear others better, preventing sneak attacks in the future.
Accessibility settings
- General subtitles: On
- Dialogue subtitles: On
- Toggle ironsights: On
