We all know that Starfield is the game of the year, with the permission of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, of course. But when it comes to highly anticipated games, Starfield is one of those titles we’ve been waiting for for over 10 years. It’s Bethesda’s first new IP in 25 years.
For this reason we don’t stop writing about the game. First, because it is a game that arouses a lot of interest among readers and, second, because it is giving us headlines every day that passes. By the way, this week we will bring you a review of Starfield, which I have been playing for something since day 1.
What we were going for. Starfield has come out without a key feature of all modern games: DLSS. This Nvidia rescaling technology makes games run better than ever without sacrificing graphical quality and, for some reason, Bethesda has decided not to introduce it in Starfield. Luckily a modder has achieved it in a few days, as you will remember.
Paying for DLSS 3, DLSS 2 is free
Starfield hasn’t even left early access yet, but one of its mods has already stirred controversy in the community. The mod in question adds compatibility with Nvidia’s DLSS 3 upscaling technology, which Bethesda omitted in favor of its rival, AMD’s FSR 2, in Starfield.
The issue here is that this mod comes at a cost if you want to enjoy the latest version of the upscaling technology. The free version of the mod is only compatible with DLSS 2, which isn’t as advanced as its newer counterpart.
Charging users for mods is a contentious issue, as Bethesda and Valve found out when they teamed up to allow modders to charge for their Skyrim mods through Steam back in 2015.
The move was so controversial that Valve withdrew the feature just a few days later, and Alden Kroll from Valve admitted that the company had “really missed the mark” with its decision to introduce the feature.
PureDark’s decision to add DRM to the DLSS 3 Starfield mod to prevent non-Patreon subscribers from accessing it has been particularly contentious. Of course, modders need to make a living too.
For what it’s worth, the free DLSS 2 mod works well. Tests show that it matches or even slightly outperforms the game’s official AMD FSR 2 support, with slightly better image quality. That’s how you can install it on your computer.
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