Latest Starfield update adds PC DLSS support and the ability to swallow food as soon as you find it

Bethesda has released a new patch for Starfield, which adds DLSS support for those on PC, as well as the ability to ingest food when found in the environment. This means players will be able to “enjoy these tracks immediately or save them for later.” Mmmm.

This update was previously available as part of a Steam beta, but is now available to all players.

In addition to the much-requested DLSS support for Starfield players with compatible graphics cards, this update also covers a variety of other fixes and features across the board.

Starfield update version 1.8.86, to give it its full name, will improve stealth by making it “a little more forgiving.” It will also address the times when Andreja’s head would remain permanently hidden.

With this in-game update, users should no longer lose the original ship. This is certainly a fairly rare phenomenon, but certainly rather annoying for those affected.

You can read Bethesda’s full patch notes below. Please note that some quest-based updates are included, so beware of spoilers:

Performance and stability

• Fixed a number of memory-related issues and leaks.
• Added some GPU performance optimizations, which will have more impact on high-end cards.
• Improved rendering thread model, improving CPU utilization, especially on high-end systems.
• Various stability and performance improvements.

Gameplay

• Added the ability to eat food placed in the world.
• Stealth adjusted to be a little more forgiving.
• Fixed an issue where Andreja’s head remained permanently hidden.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent players from firing their weapons.
• Fixed issues where some NPCs could be seen not wearing clothes (Note: this issue may resolve over time).
• Fixed an issue where skill challenges already in progress could stop progressing after reaching Unity and starting a new game.
• Fixed an issue that could temporarily prevent the inventory from opening or saving after entering Unity.
• PC: Fixed an issue where mouse movements could be jerky.
• Fixed a rare issue that could result in loss of the original ship.
• Fixed an issue where the Ship Services Technician could be missing.
• Fixed an issue where the camera could sometimes shake incorrectly during travel, gravitational jump, docking, or landing transitions.

Chart

• Fixed an issue where ambient occlusion could appear in ultra-wide resolutions.
• Optimized initial shader compilation that occurs at startup.
• Added the ability to adjust brightness and contrast in the Display Settings menu.
• Added the ability to adjust HDR brightness provided the system supports it. (Xbox and Windows 11 only).
• Fixed a number of materials that could sometimes exhibit an unexpected pattern under certain conditions.
• Fixed various visual issues with the new FOV slider options.
• Improved the appearance of crowd character eyes.
• Fixed a number of minor visual issues related to lighting, shadows, terrain and vegetation.
• PC: Fixed additional visual issues related to DLSS.

Quests

• All Money Can Buy: Fixed a rare issue where players were unable to sit while negotiating with Musgrove.
• Blast Zone: Fixed an issue where hard rocks that need to be cleared by players would not appear on the Ngodup Tate terrain.
• Echoes of the Past: Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented Queen Grylloba from being contactable during the “Secure the Shuttle Bay” objective.
• Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where player quest progress could be blocked due to a missing docking prompt.
• Grunt Work: Fixed an issue where progression could appear blocked if “Supra and Ultra” were completed when returning to the Lodge during “High Price to Pay”.
• No Sudden Movements: Fixed an issue that could prevent the front door of the Scow ship from being opened again.
• Operation Starseed: Fixed an issue where the key needed to exit the facility could sometimes not be present.
• Sabotage: Fixed an issue that potentially prevented David Barron from being found by players.
• Myopic: Fixed an issue where players could rarely get stuck when speaking with Vladimir.
• The Heart of Mars: Fixed an issue that prevented players from farming the “Heart of Mars”.

Starfield released just over two months ago, becoming the “biggest Bethesda game launch” of all time.

However, after its strong launch, things have slowed down somewhat since then. In fact, recently, more players have jumped back into Bethesda’s previous RPG, Skyrim, on Steam than into Starfield.