True to his word, renowned modder Halk Hogan only took two weeks to release the first version of Starfield HD Reworked Project after announcing it.

　　Like the mods for CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield HD Reworked Project aims to improve the game's textures without impacting performance. Indeed, the modder reckons any graphics card with 6GB or more VRAM shouldn't really lose any frame rate. The download is lightweight, too, weighing less than 600 megabytes.

　　This initial release is focused on various environment textures in cities and beyond (some rocks, walls, floors, terrain, and more), the crowd of non-player characters, and some fire effects. As you can see in the video comparison below, the difference can be staggering at times.

　　Needless to say, the mod will be updated to enhance even more of the game's textures in the future.

　　The only downside is that Halk Hogan didn't compress the textures in .ba2 format yet, potentially opening to occasional loading hiccups. The modder says a .ba2 version will be available at a later date.

　　To install Starfield HD Reworked Project manually, follow these simple instructions:

　　1. Download the main file, unpack it, and move the Data folder into C:\Users\%userprofile%\Documents\My Games\Starfield\ and override it.

　　2. Enable Archive Invalidation by adding the following lines to your StarfieldCustom.ini file:

　　[Archive]

　　bInvalidateOlderFiles=1

　　sResourceDataDirsFinal=

　　You can also install the mod with a Mod Manager like Vortex.

　　Halk Hogan's Starfield HD Reworked Project is the latest proof of the thriving modding community that Bethesda's new sci-fi RPG enjoys. In just two weeks, nearly 15 million mods were downloaded via Nexus, surpassing the total mod downloads of FromSoftware's Elden Ring, which launched a year and a half ago. That's without even the official mod tools, which Bethesda will release to the public at some point in early 2024.

　　For more great Starfield mods and tweaks, check out this best-of list.