Starfield Mod Fixes One Frustratingly Big Time Sink

A recently debuted Starfield mod streamlines material farming by allowing players to filter planets based on their natural resources. Called Smart Captain’s Planet Resource Database, this add-on further extends the list of high-quality Starfield mods that are currently available for download.

Bethesda’s newest RPG is an absolutely massive game in most respects. The complete map of Starfield contains over 1,000 planets, all of which are full of procedurally generated points of interest and resources. And while gathering materials is a necessary step for completing various research upgrades, crafting equipment, and building outpost structures, the actual process of discovering them is fairly cumbersome. Namely, the game doesn’t offer any kind of a resource overview, thus requiring players to spend time checking individual planets on the star map whenever they need to procure another batch of materials.

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Starfield Mod Fixes One of the Game’s Most Annoying Aspects

A newly released Starfield mod makes a well-thought-out attempt at fixing one of the most annoying aspects of Bethesda’s latest game.

Alternatively, it is now possible to filter planets by their natural resources, all thanks to the Smart Captain’s Planet Resource Database mod. Developed by Nexus Mods user LarannKiar, this Starfield extension adds the titular planet resource database to all spacecraft cockpits and navigation consoles in the game. By default, the directory can also be brought up by pressing R.

Smart Captain’s Planet Resource Database Features

• Filtering planets by their resources.
• Categorization of organic resource procurement requirements:
  • [F] resources can only be harvested from flora and/or fauna.
  • [O] resources can be produced in an outpost without a production chain.
  • [O+] resources can be produced in an outpost with a production chain.
• 8 user-selectable database themes with unique wallpapers and sounds.
• Simple settings allowing users to reset the mod and toggle its UI button prompt.
• Debug mode.

Apart from allowing players to easily find whatever materials they are after, the database also reveals which organic resources can only be harvested from natural sources, and which can also be produced in an outpost. It further splits the latter group into materials that require a production chain to create and those that don’t, denoting them with an [O+] and [O], respectively. In doing so, this helpful mod eliminates the need to randomly click around the Starfield star map whenever the player decides to look for more resources.

The full planet material database is available from the get-go, allowing players to immediately locate the rarest resources in Starfield as soon as they install the mod. As an added bonus, Smart Captain’s Planet Resource Database comes with eight diverse themes, as well as a few extra settings, like the one allowing users to toggle its directory button prompt.

The most straightforward way to install this extension is to do so via a dedicated mod manager such as Nexus Mods’ Vortex. The add-on requires the Plugins.txt Enabler, which itself depends on the Starfield Script Extender. Due to that dependency tree, Smart Captain’s Planet Resource Database currently only works with the Starfield Steam executable. The PC Game Pass version of the RPG is expected to receive a wider selection of mods in the coming months, once the Starfield Creation Kit is out. However, there’s no guarantee that this particular extension will ever support non-Steam versions of the game.

Starfield

Developed by Bethesda Game Studios, Starfield is a sci-fi Action role-playing game where players interact with multiple factions, engage in combat, customize their main character and ship, as well as explore a universe that features over 100 systems and 1,000 planets.

Released

September 6, 2023

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Strong Language, Violence

How Long To Beat

20 Hours

X|S Enhanced

Yes

File Size Xbox Series

101 GB (November 2023)

Metascore

86