Starfield's space travel isn't exactly satisfying: no matter how much the music swells and the engines roar, travel itself is just a series of short cinematic sequences and loading screens. No one was expecting Starfield to be a sim like Elite Dangerous or a seamless experience like No Man's Sky, but I think a lot of players agree Starfield's travel system is just a little… meh. You never feel like you're really flying anywhere.
A new Starfield mod addresses this issue, sorta, and fixes it, kinda. At the very least, it gives you a different way to fly your ship. As spotted by PCGamesN, the mod is called Slower Than Light - Fly in a Star System. Essentially if you're in orbit around one planet or moon in a star system, you can now fly directly to another planet or moon in the same system. Seamlessly. No cinematics or loading screens at all. It's pretty cool.
The possibility of traveling like this was actually put to the test by writer and streamer Alanah Pearce back when Starfield first launched, when she spent seven hours flying to Pluto's surface from orbit under her ship's normal engine power. The game will actually let you do this, though when she finally reached the dwarf planet's crust she found it to be a cursed orb she couldn't land on.
- Bethesda intended Starfield to be more violent, including 'meat caps' for beheaded astronauts, but the gore was toned down for technical reasons and because it 'didn't fit thematically'
- Elite Dangerous just implemented an entire system colonisation mechanic, in case you really want to get off this planet
The Slower Than Light mod uses the existing Starfield planetary system but lets you power up your engines enough so you're traveling "hundreds of times the speed of light." Now you can speed from planet to planet within the same system.
Below is a video the modder made showing it off. Note: The ship they're flying is something of a spoiler if you haven't gotten too far into the game yet:
In the video you can see the modder orbiting a ringed planet, flying so close to it they're actually within the planet's rings, then speeding away toward several of the planet's moons. I have to say, it does look like a much more satisfying way to get around in a planet's solar system because it really does feel like you're actually traveling. As you might guess, you can't seamlessly land on a planet or moon—the game simply isn't built like that. If you get too close to a planet you'll just pass right through it.
There are a few issues with the mod, however, like the ship completely bugging out about two minutes into the video. The modder, 105gun, recognizes the problems, too. "The implementation of this mod is rather crude. I'm afraid it's hard to do perfectly until the Creation Kit is released," they write on the mod's page at Nexus. "I'm hoping it will be a temporary alternative for those looking for an immersive or flying experience."
Slower Than Light requires both the Starfield Script Extended and the Console Output to File mod. Also note, some players who have installed the mod have had difficulties with the in-game camera while using it. Uninstalling the mod also requires a few extra steps, so make sure you read all the instructions on the mod's page first.
