Starfield Performance Issues: Fix Stuttering & Freezing

Starfield is a recently launched game that requires high system specifications if you wish to play without any issues. However, despite having a high-specification system, Starfield may still freeze or crash. Since it is a newly launched game, it’s not yet optimized to deliver the best gaming experience. Therefore, in this article, we provide solutions and tips to address lagging, crashing, and freezing issues in Starfield.

Firstly, Starfield necessitates high system specifications; therefore, your system should meet the minimum game requirements if you wish to play it without any issues. Thus, before proceeding to the following methods, ensure that you fulfill the minimum game requirements. Otherwise, you may be disappointed after implementing the subsequent methods.

1. Move the game to SSD or NVME

If you have Starfield downloaded onto a HDD (Hard disk drive), you should transfer it to an SSD (Solid state drive). Starfield requires SSD to provide smooth gameplay.

SSDs are much faster compared to HDDs because they use flash memory chips to write/read data, which makes the Starfield load fast. While HDDs use a rotating platter, which slows down the read/write process, resulting in a slower performance compared to SSDs.

So, if you don’t have an SSD or NVME on your computer, you should consider purchasing one. Otherwise, you might constantly face crashing, freezing, or lagging issues in Starfield.

Follow the instructions to move the game into NVME or SSD.

1. Open Steam, and go to the Library.
2. Right-click the Starfield and select Properties.
   
3. Then, go to Installed Files and click Move Install Folder.
   
4. Then, select SSD or NVME and click Move.
   
5. Once the game is moved, launch it to see if the problem is resolved or not.

2. Reduce Graphics Settings

If you have high graphics settings, you can try reducing the graphics settings in order to fix lagging, freezing, or crashing issues. Reducing the graphics settings includes reducing the resolution, render scale, and other graphics effects. So, regardless of having high specifications, try reducing the graphics settings to see whether the issue is resolved or not.

3. Reinstall GPU drivers

Having corrupted or outdated drivers also leads to crashing and freezing issues. So, in this step, we will perform a clean installation of the graphics driver to ensure the driver is not causing the issue. When it comes to reinstalling the drivers, we recommend DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller). It is an application that is known to remove the drivers along with the registry files. To reinstall the driver, follow the steps:

1. Download the Display Driver Uninstaller application from the link.
2. Then, you need to extract the DDU zip folder using WinRar or 7zip.
   
3. Once you have extracted the DDU folder, open it and run the DDU 7zip file.
4. Click Extract and navigate to the folder.
   
5. Here, run the Display Driver Uninstaller application.
6. Then, select the GPU and GPU vendor from the right pane.
7. Once done, click Clean and restart to remove the driver.
8. Once it is removed, proceed to download the GPU driver from the official website.
   
9. Then, see if this worked or not.

4. Disable Steam overlay

Steam provides an overlay that allows users to access the store, chats, and many more things. However, overlays consume a significant amount of system resources, which often leads to crashing or freezing issues. Therefore, if the overlay feature is enabled, try disabling it by following the steps:

1. Open Steam and head to the Library.
2. Right-click the Starfield and go to Properties.
   
3. You will see a button: Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game. Toggle it to disable.
   
4. Once done, launch the game and see if it’s still lagging or freezing.

5. Verify the game files

Having corruption in the game files also causes crashing or freezing issues, So in this method, we recommended verifying the game files to ensure that there are no corrupted files in the extracted game files of Starfield causing this issue. Follow the steps to verify the game files:

1. Open Steam and navigate to Library.
2. Right-click the Starfield and select Properties.
   
3. Go to Installed files from the left and click Verify the integrity of game files. A verification process will start. Wait for it to be completed.
   
4. Then, launch the game to verify if the problem persists or not.

6. Reinstall the game

In case you are still facing this issue after following all the above methods, then consider reinstalling the game to fix this issue. Reinstalling the game will fix the corrupted files causing this issue. To do so, follow the steps:

1. Open Steam, right-click the Starfield and, hover Manage, click Uninstall.
   
2. Once again, click Uninstall to remove the game.
   
3. Once done, install the game again and see if the problem persists or not.

All the solutions that have been provided in this guide worked for several affected users. However, if the problem persists in your case, make sure you are not using irrelevant background applications because they consume a significant amount of system resources, which often causes crashing or freezing issues due to a lack of system memory or other resources.

You can also follow other methods that are known to fix crashing or freezing issues.

1. Perform a clean boot
2. Run the game as an administrator
3. Disable Windows Firewall