Starfield Releases Major Update Version 1.14.68 Benefits and Enhancements

Starfield Releases Major Update Version 1.14.68: Benefits and Enhancements

Bethesda Game Studios has rolled out a significant update for their sci-fi RPG, Starfield, marked as version 1.14.68. This update, available to select players on September 17, 2024, brings a plethora of bug fixes, gameplay tweaks, and UI improvements, enhancing the overall player experience.

Key Features and Fixes

1. Gameplay Tweaks and Bug Fixes:

   • The Annihilator Particle Beam damage-over-time effect has been adjusted to no longer affect companions, ensuring smoother gameplay interactions.
   • Robots and turrets are now vulnerable to damage from EM weapons, adding more strategic depth to combat.
   • An issue with the Boom Pop Dynamite recipe in crafting has been resolved, and Autumn Macmillan no longer repeats herself when asked about her sister, improving quest interactions.

2. UI and Performance Enhancements:

   • General performance and stability improvements have been implemented to enhance the game's overall smoothness.
   • Lighting changes and enhancements have been made throughout the game, improving visual quality.
   • Visual improvements and bug fixes for weapon models have been addressed, ensuring better aesthetics and functionality.
   • Player headtracking has been improved when exiting dialogue, reducing camera jostling when jumping.

3. Modding and Ship Building:

• The Creation Kit now includes an automated process for creating distant level-of-detail (LOD) models, a feature highly beneficial for mod creators.
• The flip merge action, a previously removed feature used by ship builders to slot ship parts into place despite collisions, has been officially reinstated. This allows players to build ships with more flexibility without needing mods.

4. Quality of Life Improvements:

   • The mod limit has been raised from 255, allowing players to load more creations without hitting the previous cap.
   • Several visual improvements and bug fixes for locations have been made, focusing on texture updates and collision detection issues.
   • An issue that caused a debug string to appear when uploading saves to customer service on Xbox has been resolved, and the frame rate target setting under Xbox Display Settings now works correctly.

5. Additional Settings and Fixes:

   • A new option has been added to the settings that allows players to toggle the flip merge action behavior in the Ship Builder.
   • Nine REV-8-specific fixes have been included, addressing various issues related to the land vehicle introduced in the previous update.

Availability and Future Plans

The 1.14.68 update is currently available to Starfield PC players who own the game through Steam and are willing to switch to the beta branch. Historically, Bethesda has taken between one and two weeks to bring beta updates to the stable channel, making them available to non-Steam PC players and Xbox Series X/S users. This suggests that the 1.14.68 update is likely to hit the stable channel around late September 2024, just ahead of the Shattered Space expansion release on September 30.

This update marks another step in Bethesda's ongoing efforts to enhance and stabilize Starfield, addressing various player concerns and improving the game's overall quality.