Starfield Engine Fixes – SFSE v6.2
Collection of a few engine fixes I made for Starfield.
List of fixes:
1) Player Facial Expression fix:
Fixes a bug that can cause the player character to lose their facial expression animation set (i.e. “emotionless” face) after fast traveling and when their spacesuit gets hidden.
2) NPC Headtracking & Makeup fix:
Fixes a bug that can cause NPCs to lose their facial forms, tattos, dermaesthetic, etc. after reloading a save game.
Fixes a bug that can cause NPCs’ eyes to look forward without any eye movements during conversations.
3) Papyrus IsInDialogueWithPlayer fix:
Fixes a bug that causes native Papyrus function ObjectReference.IsInDialogueWithPlayer() to return False while the DialogueMenu is already open with an NPC and the menu is waiting for player input. (Behavior now matches Console function IsInDialogueWithPlayer and Papyrus Game.IsPlayerInDialogue()).
4) Papyrus UnequipAll fix:
Fixes a bug that prevents 3D of the NPC Actor.UnequipAll() was called on to get updated. In vanilla, UnequipAll() doesn’t trigger 3D update (unlike Papyrus UnequipItem() and Console UnequipItem and UnequipObject). Without 3D update, only the NPC’s inventory gets modified but the NPC would continue to wear all previously equipped items.
5) SetScale & Player Scale fix:
Fixes a bug that prevents Console and Papyrus SetScale() from working on the player. The player’s scale can be changed just like any other NPC’s. Note: altered player scale is cleared by the code when a new save game is loaded (so changes are not baked into saves). Added in v1.1.
6) Spacesuit Helmet Flashlight Turns Off fix:
Fixes a bug that causes the player’s spacesuit helmet flashlight to turn off if the player equips/unequips something (anything) while the spacesuit is “hidden” (equipped but not rendered) and when their spacesuit gets hidden in third person mode. Note: the bug could also occur when the player opened/closed the Handscanner menu with a Cutter in their inventory (as it gets auto-equipped) in third person mode. The plugin has a delayed toggle flashlight check. Added in v1.1.
7) Photo Mode Model Facial Expression fix:
Fixes a bug that causes the facial expressions of the player and all nearby “Photo Mode eligible” NPCs to get completely removed upon opening Photo Mode. This bug existed in the Photo Mode since v1.10.31, it came with the Expressions feature. In the v1.10.32 hotfix (few days later) the developers fixed the other, “body animation reset” bug that caused all currently running body animations to proceed and finish normally (instead of getting frozen instantly) but they forgot about the facial expressions. Added in v1.2. From v3.6, the plugin can interpret all facial morphs which makes it possible to restore the initial facial expression on an actor when navigating back to “None” in the Expressions tab (instead of the vanilla “zero out all morphs” behavior).
8) Menu Model Spacesuit fix:
Fixes a bug that renders the player’s hidden spacesuit on the player character’s menu model when exiting back to the Data Menu from one of its submenus. Added in v1.3.
9) Companion Teleports in the Player’s View fix:
Fixes a bug that can cause companions to teleport “inside” the player’s view if the player stands on a non navmeshed ground/object at the time when the game wants to teleport the companion to the player (due to its built-in distance check: companions is too far, or the player walked through a load door, etc.). Added in v2.0.
10) DuplicateAllItems fix:
Fixes a bug in the console command DuplicateAllItems that could cause the items’ instance data and if the target inventory owner was an Actor reference, their equipped items state to get broken. Added in v3.0.
11) Companion Facial Expression fix:
Fixes a bug that could cause companions to lose their facial expressions (“emotionless face”), usually after equipping/unequipping a spacesuit on them or when the vanilla spacesuit code changes their worn spacesuits’ visibility state. Added in v3.7.
12) Companion Auto Spacesuit Equip fix:
Fixes a bug (oversight) in the vanilla spacesuit code that forgets to “auto equip” the worn spacesuit’s helmet and backpack on companions when it starts rendering the suit, causing only the suit to become visible (even on uninhabitable planets). Added in v3.7.
13) Companion Eye Tracking fix:
Fixes a bug that causes companions’ eye tracking to turn off after fast traveling, loading a save game or walking through a load door. Added in v3.9 (beta), v5.3 (release).
List of features:
– These features are off by default, unlike the actual engine fixes.
– They are mostly based on requests and can be enabled in StarfieldEngineFixes.ini.
1) Disable Wetness Shaders:
Disables wetness shaders globally. Most notably the skin wetness seen when raining. Added in v1.6.
2) Disable Fast Travel Restrictions:
Disables the cannot fast travel when “enemies are nearby, during combat” etc. restrictions. It doesn’t disable Grav Jump requirements (e.g. max jump distance, spaceship fuel). Added in v1.6.
3) Disable Logging of Background Console Call Duplicates:
When the console command is executed but the console menu is not opened, the console prints the called command in the console log (e.g. “59A9.MoveTo Player”) but also does it again starting with “Command: ” (e.g. “Command: 14.MoveTo 59A9”) which only means the command was executed “in the background”. This feature can disable the duplicated line (the one that starts with “Command: “) for convenience. Added in v2.0.
4) Draw Force-Holstered Weapon On Dialogue Exit:
Draws the force-holstered weapon when the player exits the dialogue menu. Added in v2.1.
5) Companion Weapon State Change Delay:
Adds a delay to companions’ “match the player’s weapon state” behavior. (When the player draws/holsters their weapon, companions would wait a bit before doing the same). The delays and optionally a “wait until dialogues are finished” setting can also be changed. Added in v2.4.
6) Dump Form Data:
Utility to dump basic form data, including memoryAddress, sourcePlugin, mapped load order indexes, overridePlugin, EditorID, TESFullName, etc. See Articles section for details. Added in v2.5.
7) Deep Scan Load Order:
A feature that can process all non runtime created forms that the engine considers as defined in/overwritten in an active plugin. “Defined in” if the record used to initialize the form lives in the plugin and “overwritten in” if the form is considered as living the plugin due load order/record conflict resolution. Deep Scan analyzes the forms and the plugins and prints the full scan result to a file. Added in v2.9.
8) StarfieldEngineFixesCustom.ini:
Similarly to Starfield.ini and StarfieldCustom.ini; settings can be optionally defined in the “Custom ini” which has higher priority than the default ini. Added in v2.9.
9) Highest Mod Index Feedback:
Shows the Highest Mod Index on certain (selectable) events in the forms of message boxes. (It replaced the High Mod Index Warning feature which was originally designed due to the Mod Index limit prior to Game version 1.14.70). Added in v5.0.
10) Photo Mode Allow Non-Companions:
Allows any nearby non companion human NPC to be editable in Photo Mode. Optional max distance setting is also available. Added in v3.6.
11) NPC Hello & Greeting Requires Awareness & Eye Contact:
This feature can optionally restrict NPCs’ random Hello and Greeting dialogue lines by selectable conditions such as:
I. Player Eye Contact ( NPCs greet the player if the player actually looks at the NPC )
II. NPC Awareness ( the player didn’t approach the NPC from behind so the NPC is supposed to “aware of” the player )
III. Sprinting ( simply turn off random Hellos/Greetings if the player is sprinting )
IV. Running ( turn them off while the player is running )
INI settings are also available to personalize this feature’s settings (e.g. by changing the heading angles the eye contact / awareness calculation is based on). Added in v4.2.
12) Can Use Any Furniture in Zero Gravity:
Allows the player to use any furniture in Zero Gravity. In vanilla, most furnitures can’t be used in Zero G and upon attempting to use them the HUD would display “You cannot use this while in zero gravity.”. Added in v4.2.
13) Recalculate Location Level Always:
Prevents Location Level Scaling to get “player level locked” by recalculating the location level every time the player returns. (It practically allows leveled NPCs to have higher difficulty after the player levels up then revisits the location). In vanilla, this calculation is only performed once. Important: this feature implicitly affects save game data because the calculated location level is stored in save games by vanilla engine design (which means if it gets enabled, the previously “locked level” cannot be restored). Added in v4.2.
14) Keep Vanilla Spaceship Decoration:
Restores the “legacy” (pre 2024 May update) design that allows the player to keep vanilla and mod placed spaceship decoration items that come with ship habs. It can optionally transfer all decoration items to the inventory of the current companion instead of the cargo upon modifying the homeship. Please check out the article I wrote about this feature before enabling it if you’re interested. Important: vanilla decoration items are stored in save games so enabling this feature affects save game data. Added in v4.6.
15) Engine Load Optimizations:
Various code optimizations to reduce stuttering due to inefficient engine load. E.g., fixes an oversight in the background actor process that causes recurring lags in dense areas such as Hyla II, Swamp biome; usually seen when looking around. Eliminates unnecessary CPU load while using the Handscanner; ensures the LOD manager doesn’t “cycle” objects unreasonably while traveling on a planet to reduce the “traversal stutter”. Compatibility Mode (from v5.5) disables certain optimizations to overcome dialogue overlapping which appear to be caused by mod conflicts. AI Update Patch (from v5.7) can reduce stuttering and overall latency in dense areas (note: this option may not work with all AI mods). Notes: it is not an fps booster and does not affect gameplay or graphics. Added in v5.1.
16) Use Any Weapon In Handscanner:
Allows the player to use their equipped weapon in the Handscanner menu. It is highly configurable: settings are available to rebind the Reload and Melee Attack keys (to resolve possible conflicts with the Handscanner’s input layer), to allow breaking up deposits with any gun, and to disable the vanilla forced holster/draw weapon behavior. From v5.9, the Handscanner menu weapon stutter fix is incorporated in this feature. Added in v5.5.
Spoiler: Show
17) Papyrus No Array Limit:
Removes the 128 size limit of Papyrus arrays. Added in v5.6.
18) Disable LOD Swap:
Increases the visual appearance of nearby loaded objects by requesting the game to always render them with their maximum LOD. It doesn’t affect distant LOD objects which technically aren’t 3D loaded only their surface/terrain LOD objects (e.g. Galbank tower seen from the Lodge entrance). Note: slightly increases GPU load. Added in v5.7.
19) Selective Handscanner Menu Sounds:
Allows disabling separately most Handscanner menu feedback sounds, e.g. FocusNPC, ZoomIn, Open, Close, FocusMapMarker (mostly these are the sounds played when someone/something enters the crosshair). Added in v5.8.
20) Silent Menus:
Turns off all menu feedback sounds, e.g. the different kinds of “clicks”. Added in v5.8.
21) Game Date and Planet Timescale In DataMenu:
Shows the Game Date and Planet Timescale in the DataMenu. Optionally, it can also be configured to show the Planet Timescale, either in UT hour per Local Hour (as seen in the SleepWaitMenu, e.g. an hour on Jemison is 2:05 UT hours) or UT hour per Local Day (24 Earth, 50 Jemison, 5832 Venus, etc.). Added in v5.9.
22) NPC Makeup Fix For Mod Edited NPCs:
Technically a bug fix exclusive to mod added NPCs and mod edited vanilla NPCs. If enabled, it can prevent NPCs edited or overwritten by .esm mods from occasionally “losing” their makeup. Note: it doesn’t work with “texture overwrite mods” (mods that only come with textures (.dds) files (i.e. no .esm) to overwrite appearance; NPCs edited with CharGen Menu don’t count as “edited by .esm mods” (they are not affected by this bug). Added in v6.2.
23) Restored Mods Are Uninstalled Warning:
Fixes a bug that could cause the warning about uninstalled mods not to appear in certain cases. (I.e. when mod data is present in the save but not present in the current load order. Loading a save without all dependent mods often results in save corruption). Even though this feature is technically a bug fix, it is disabled by default and is treated as a feature because it directly overwrites the vanilla warnings and the save loader code. Note: the new (Fallout style) warning also reports whether the unavailable mod is missing from the load order or inactive. Added in v6.2.
Spoiler: Show
24) Disable Save Mod Mark:
Saves’ names created while mods are active are no longer preceeded by “[C]” in the menus. Added in v6.2.
25) Acrylic Message Box Menu:
Adds acrylic effect (blurred background) to the Message Box Menu. Added in v6.2.
Spoiler: Show
26) Test Commands:
Experimental test commands based on requests. Do not use these if you’re unsure what they do. See Articles if you’re interested.
Requirements:
– Starfield Script Extender
– Address Library for SFSE Plugins
