Last Updated on September 11, 2023 by Jake
Starfield PC port isn’t a terrible one but it isn’t a great one either. The game has performance issues with Nvidia GPUs and Intel CPUs while it favors AMD hardware. On top of that, Starfield PC launched without DLSS or XESS support and only features FSR upscaling. FSR isn’t a bad upscaler by any means, but DLSS and XESS are better alternatives that should’ve been included in the game at launch for Nvidia RTX GPU owners. But that doesn’t mean we can’t use DLSS or XESS in Starfield, we just have to mod it into the game. In this Starfield guide, I will help PC users with how to enable or install DLSS and XESS.
How To Enable DLSS
There is more than one mod to enable DLSS in Starfield and we are going to use the LukeFZ DLSS and XESS mod. First, download the DLSS mod files.
Also, check my Starfield PC Optimization Guide if you want to play the game at 60 FPS without compromising image quality.
After downloading the mod, extract the DLSS mod file in Starfield’s folder. For Gamepass users, open the Xbox app > right-click Starfield > Manage > Files > click Browse. A new window will open, Go to Starfield > Content and extract or paste the DLSS Mod files here.
For Steam users, right-click Starfield in your Steam library > Manage > Browse local files. A new window will open containing Starfield game files. Open the Content folder and extract or paste the DLSS Mod files here.
After extracting the mod files in the Starfield folder, download the DLSS dll file. You’ll find multiple versions of the dll to download, I recommend you download v3.5.0 or v2.5.1 as these two provide the best image quality. Download the dll and paste it into the same folder where you extracted the mod.
Launch Starfield and to enable DLSS, you have to enable FSR from the in-game graphics menu. Since we have replaced the FSR file with DLSS files, enabling FSR will enable DLSS in Starfield. Furthermore, there are no presets like Quality, Balanced, and Performance. You have to adjust the Render Resolution Scale to adjust the quality of DLSS.
Below are the Starfield comparison shots for FSR and DLSS. The first image is FSR at 60% Render Resolution Scale, while the second image is Starfield running with DLSS at 60% Render Resolution Scale.
Note: DLSS will only work if you have an Nvidia RTX 20 series or 30 series GPU installed on your PC.
How To Enable XESS
XESS is Intel’s version of upscaling, it supports both Hardware-accelerated upscaling and software upscaling. Hardware-accelerated XESS only works with Intel ARC GPUs. If you are using a non-Intel ARC GPU, XESS will be software-based but it produces better results compared to FSR. XESS can be enabled for every GPU like FSR. Installing the XESS mod in Starfield is the same process as installing the DLSS with just different files. First, download the DLSS mod files.
Open the Xbox app > right-click Starfield > Manage > Files > click Browse. A new window will open, Navigate to Starfield > Content and extract or paste the XESS Mod files here.
For Steam users, right-click Starfield in your Steam library > Manage > Browse local files. A new window will open containing Starfield game files. Open the Content folder and extract or paste the XESS Mod files here.
Now download the XESS dll file that will actually enable XESS in Starfield and place the dll in the same folder where you installed the mod.
Launch Starfield and enable FSR2 to enable XESS in the game. As we have replaced FSR files with XESS, enabling FSR will actually enable XESS upscaling. Since Starfield has no quality presets like Performance, Balanced, or Quality for upscaling, you have to adjust the Render Resolution Scale to adjust the quality of XESS.
How To Enable DLSS Frame Generation In Starfield
DLSS Frame Generation or DLSS 3 is exclusive to RTX 40 series GPUs. Obviously, Starfield doesn’t support it but we can mod it into the game, and here is how. Download the DLSS Frame Generation mod for Starfield. There are two separate downloads, one is for the PC users who own the game on Steam and the other is for the PC users who are playing Starfield through Gamepass or have bought it through Microsoft Store.
Note: Installing this mod enables both DLSS Frame Generation and Super Resolution. So if you have an RTX 20 or 30 series GPU, you’ll be able to use DLSS Super Resolution but not Frame Generation. Also, if you have already installed the DLSS Super Resolution mod, uninstall it as it interferes with this mod and causes a black screen issue.
Extract the mod files in the game folder, For Gamepass or Xbox PC users, open the Xbox app > right-click Starfield > Manage > Files > click Browse. A new window will open, Go to Starfield > Content and extract or paste the DLSS Mod files here.
If you own Starfield on Steam, right-click the game in your Steam library > Manage > Browse local files. A new window will open containing Starfield game files. Open the Content folder and extract or paste the DLSS Mod files here.
After extracting the mod, you need to download two dll files, one for DLSS Super Resolution and the other for DLSS Frame Generation. Download the dll files and place them in the same folder where you extracted the Frame Generation mod. Download version 3.5.0 dll for DLSS Super Resolution and version 3.5.0 dll for DLSS Frame Generation, at the time of writing v 3.5.0 provides the best image quality. Download the zip files, open them, copy both nvngx_dlss.dll and nvngx_dlssg.dll files, and paste them into the same folder where you installed the mod.
Now launch Starfield and enable FSR from the graphics menu to enable DLSS and DLSS Frame Generation. However, there are no quality presets like Performance, Balanced, or Qualuty in Starfield. Players have to adjust the quality of DLSS by adjusting the Render Resolution Scale option.
That is all for our Starfield guide with tips on how to enable DLSS Super Resolution, XESS, or DLSS Frame Generation in the game. Also, see our hub for commonly occurring PC errors and their fixes if you are experiencing errors with other PC video games or PCs.