Welcome to our gaming guide for protecting your game, Starfield, from updates. This guide will provide you with the necessary steps to safeguard your game until you are ready to update it. Please note that modding is always a risk, so it is important to follow the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of your game. Let’s dive in and learn how to protect your Starfield game from updates.
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Forward
Although it’s considered too early to mod Starfield as the official tools have not yet been released by Bethesda some are modding their game. Since Bethesda is updating the base game more often than usual (approximately every 6 weeks) this will cause issues with the Starfield Script Extender (SFSE) while users wait for that mod and any mod that depends on it to update so they can then update their game and those mods.
Important
Updates do not break Starfield per se. But if you are using the Starfield Script Extender (SFSE) you are modifying the base game and in doing so any official update will cause your modified game to not launch. Fortunately there are steps we can take to protect our game.
This guide covers two different methods for protecting your game from updates. You can use one or the other, some use both methods at the same time.
Method 1
You’ll of course need to have the Script extender (SFSE) installed so you can launch from it.
Method 1: The Old-fashioned way
Change Starfield’s update settings in your Steam Library to “only update this game when I launch it”. Then – Never launch Starfield via Steam, only launch via the sfse_loader and only while Steam is running in the background.
To accomplish this:
1. From the LH side of your Steam Library Go to: Starfield / right click / Properties / Updates
Under Automatic Updates use the dropdown & select “Only update this game when I launch it”
And make sure you are signed into Steam (Steam must be running in the background)
You can make a shortcut in your mod manager’s Dashboard under “Tools” & launch from there and it is important that Steam is running in the background!
That’s it. Now you can update your game whenever you are ready which would be after SFSE and the mods that depend on it are updated. Many people never update their game as they are happy with the load order they have created so that’s also an option.
*See an alternate more effective method in the next section in the next section of this guide.
(some use a combination of both methods)
Method 2: App ID
Step 1 – Find your steamapps folder:
Generally on Windows it will be located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps
Or if it’s not on your C Drive then check whatever drive you have Steam installed to.
Step 2 – Find the appmanifest_1716740.acf file within your steamapps folder:
Inside your steamapps folder you’ll see multiple different appmanifest files. The one you’re looking for is 489830 which is the app ID for Starfield.
Step 3 – Make the appmanifest_1716740.acf file Read-only:
Right click your appmanifest_1716740.acf file and select Properties. Then click the checkbox for Read-only down towards the bottom so that it becomes marked and hit Apply.
Final statements:
Once you’ve followed all the steps above Steam will be unable to update Starfield until you uncheck the Read-only for the manifest file. However, you of course won’t launch Starfiled through Steam launcher anymore but trying to do so will cause it to attempt an update and display an error due to being unable to update. So make sure you always launch thru SFSE
If you ever want to make it so Steam can update Starfield again simply just uncheck the Read-only box mentioned above and hit Apply. Don’t forget to re-check it after you update your game.
My other Guides
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3199872428
Some of my guides for Skyrim Special Edition:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1977191236 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2820697176 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872091273 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2743619856
And that wraps up our share on Starfield: Protect Starfield from Updates. If you have any additional insights or tips to contribute, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. For a more in-depth read, you can refer to the original article here by Vlad 254, who deserves all the credit. Happy gaming!