Modders have already got around Starfield's biggest controversy, but it might still crash your game

Starfield gameplay trailer vista
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield mods have already found a way around Starfield's biggest controversy, but it's far from a perfect solution.

With a near-endless supply of planets and systems, one of the most thrilling aspects of Starfield is the level of freedom it offers players. That being said, you can't endlessly explore the planets you visit. Venture far enough from a landing spot, and eventually, you'll be met with an invisible wall and the message: "Boundary Reached: Open the map to explore another region, or return to your ship."

Being suddenly stopped in your tracks can be rather immersion-breaking, and if it's something that particularly bothers you, the good news is that modders have already come up with ways to tackle the issue. 

Firstly, there's the Remove Planetary Tile Boundary mod created by Draspian, which "disables the boundary at the border of planetary tiles," allowing you to explore beyond the intended limits of a planet. Also upping your potential for exploration is a mod by NexusGuy999, which lets you increase the number of custom landing sites available.

That then brings us to the bad news. Unfortunately, removing the boundaries of a plant can make the game pretty unstable. As Twitter user @videotechx points out, in the mod's description, its creator says that "after a certain point the game just crashes." They add: I've tried going slower a couple of times but still every time the game freezes and crashes."

Equally, the information section for NexusGuy999's mod suggests you could also run into issues. Written in bold red letters is the following warning: "I have not thoroughly tested this mod, especially the higher versions. Use at your own risk."

Updates to these existing mods, or entirely new ones, may come along in the future, making exploring further less risky. But, at the moment, with game crashes likely to break the immersion just as much, if not more so than the planet boundaries, it hardly seems worth it.

Starfield has only been out for five days, and already, there are a plethora of mods available, including one that makes the inventory menus more user-friendly. There's also a mod that lets you adjust the FOV, or should you wish, you can also make essential NPCs killable.

From Skyrim to Starfield, here's our rundown of the best Bethesda openings.

Anne-Marie Ostler
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.

Read more
Starfield
Bethesda breaks silence as Starfield fans hope for an update: "We have a lot of exciting things planned for the game this year"
Starfield
10 best games like Starfield to get swept up in when you're ready to leave Constellation
Starfield space combat, with a distant vessel exploding
Former Starfield dev says the space RPG "could have existed without those" surplus loading screens, with many added after he left production
Skyrim
Skyrim fan completes personal quest to yeet the entire RPG's map into Unreal Engine 5
Skyrim
Vanilla Skyrim reaches a whopping 2 billion mod downloads, surpassed only by Skyrim: Special Edition's 6.2 billion record
Skywind
After 12 years, the modders merging Morrowind and Skyrim say their project would "come out faster" if "we were all working with Bethesda," but it would be "much worse"
Latest in RPG
Atomfall screenshot
Fallout: New Vegas is a big inspiration for Atomfall, which is why you’ll be able to kill every NPC in post-apocalyptic Cumbria
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows' transmog looks set to combine the best of Odyssey and Vahalla to make changing my drip easier than ever
Stardew Valley Baldur's Gate 3 mod Baldur's Village
Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke gives his official approval to the Stardew Valley mod that brings the D&D RPG to Pelican Town
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
The Blood of Dawnwalker: A screenshot of the vampire Brencis holding up a crown during the trailer for the upcoming game.
The Witcher 3 devs created a Jekyll & Hyde-style character for their new vampire RPG "because nobody yet has done that"
Latest in News
Mio and Zoe holding a dragon during the trailer for Split Fiction.
Split Fiction blows It Takes Two out of the water by selling 1 million copies in 2 days, becoming Hazelight's fastest selling game ever
Death Stranding 2
Hideo Kojima says he'll "apologize beforehand" for Death Stranding 2 moments with Troy Baker's Higgs which are "so ridiculous" that "you'll probably throw the controller"
a stone giant walks on a field near a cliff
Erenshor, the 'MMORPG' with fake players that's not actually an MMO at all, gets an imminent release date
Michael Bay
Michael Bay and James Cameron had a call to commiserate over the state of the movie industry: "No one can greenlight anything anymore"
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero expert finally annihilates world record 200% speedrun of the game's hardest song after trying and failing 50,000 times
Atomfall
Atomfall devs don't mind Fallout comparisons "because it's got that post-apocalyptic quarantine zone atmosphere," just like Bethesda's RPGs do