Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield is an incredibly impressive game, giving players an entire universe to explore, but the game’s sprawling galaxy is split up into countless loading zones. With an overhauled Creation Engine, as tools like Unreal weren’t suited to Bethesda’s games, there was a hope that these loading zones would be eliminated.

In an interview on an upcoming episode of the VideoGamer Podcast, ex-Starfield developer Nate Purkeypile—who departed the team in 2021—revealed he was surprised by the sheer number of loading zones added to the game, specifically in Neon. During early development, before tools like the lighting engine were finished, there were significantly less loading zones, but the game eventually launched with an overabundance of them.

Starfield didn’t have all those pesky loading zones​

Purkeypile, who joined Bethesda in 2007, left the studio during Starfield’s development due to the number of developers working on a single project, the number of meetings that resulted in, and simply not enjoying the use of procedural generation in the RPG. Since then, the developer has created The Axis Unseen, a gorgeous indie game that takes lessons learned from Skyrim to create a more focused experience.

Looking back on his time working on Starfield, the developer explained that there was a time where there were significantly less loading areas in the game. On release, the segmentation of Neon—a city he worked extensively on—left him surprised.

“It could have existed without those [loading zones].” the developer explained. “Like, some of those were not there when I had been working on it and so it was a surprise to me that there was as many as there were.”

Creation Engine’s big limit​

Purkeypile explained that some of the heavy segmentation is “inherent to the Creation Engine and the way it works”. However, anyone who has played Starfield knows that there are ways of getting around major locations such as Neon without triggering countless loading zones, causing the older design of the RPG’s cities to expose itself.

“A lot of it is gating stuff off for performance in Neon,” Purkeypile explained. However, when it came to New Atlantis, the city was designed around its transit system, an in-game train that can be used to quickly take players across the city. Instead of sitting on the train, as many players might actually enjoy, Starfield instead cuts to a loading screen to hide the journey.

“For New Atlantis, I think it’s just to make it so you don’t have to sit there for the entire train ride,” he laughed.

Despite it’s flaws, Bethesda Game Studios has not given up on Starfield. Since release, the game has received numerous updates, bringing mod support to consoles, adding in vehicles to drive across its sparsely populated planets and even adding its first expansion: Shattered Space.

Veteran Starfield developer surprised by sheer number of loading screens added late in development – “it could have existed without those”

Veteran Bethesda developer Nate Purkeypile revealed his surprise at the large number of loading zones in Starfield on launch.

www.videogamer.com

 

[SportsFan581]

Strange thing to add in. I guess they figured players would enjoy it for the nostalgia.

 

[Punished Miku]

Yeah, you can figure this out on your own if you're testing the limits. I was able to leave the starport and jetpack over the walls. Then run around the outside of the city and scale a mountain and you can drop into any of the other districts. It's all loaded in at once. In game you can't get anywhere from the starport without the train load screen.

I assumed it's for performance or reducing crashing / bugs. The game actually loads the whole huge city, and the whole giant outdoors tile all at once.

 

[SportsFan581]

I'm not even going to ask about that tag @ Punished Miku

 

[cjp]

Purkeypile?

 

[GymWolf]

The gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Sooner]

Starfield is one of the biggest disappointments in gaming in a long time. It felt like a game that would have been released ten years before it did.

It's killed my hype for Elder Scrolls VI. Other developers have long surpasses Bethesda in open-world quality. If anything, we have too many games like this and a lot of them are doing it much better than Bethesda.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Amazing game.

said no one ever.

 

[Saber]

What you mean, it's an intended mechanic. Retains the artistic choice.

 

[Gonzito]

I still cant believe Todd said we need better hardware because its a next gen.

What a joke

 

[Plague Doctor]

16 times the loading screens.

 

[Ribi]

Theres a mod that takes away the loading screen so it does exist without those... lol lmao even

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

WTF?

 

[Astray]

Theres a mod that takes away the loading screen so it does exist without those... lol lmao even

Does that add any new issues?

If not then its very weird that Bethesda just won't patch the game.

 

[justiceiro]

Does that add any new issues?

If not then its very weird that Bethesda just won't patch the game.

Remember that this game had a mod that added rtx 6 months before Bethesda themselves added Rtx. This thing was nowhere close to ready when launched, but Bethesda thinks they can patch everything post launch, no matter how long it takes.

 

[JackMcGunns]

Starfield is one of the biggest disappointments in gaming in a long time. It felt like a game that would have been released ten years before it did.

It's killed my hype for Elder Scrolls VI. Other developers have long surpasses Bethesda in open-world quality. If anything, we have too many games like this and a lot of them are doing it much better than Bethesda.

Do we know if they’re using the same creation engine for ESVI?

 

[sainraja]

Starfield is one of the biggest disappointments in gaming in a long time. It felt like a game that would have been released ten years before it did.

It's killed my hype for Elder Scrolls VI. Other developers have long surpasses Bethesda in open-world quality. If anything, we have too many games like this and a lot of them are doing it much better than Bethesda.

Yeah, there are just too many open world games and people keep wanting more so it won't stop lol. Being open world isn't a problem so don't get me wrong and I feel like the Arkham games handled it in an interesting way. You have this big world but if you take a mission, it sort of becomes a more focused linear type of game. Need more of that in my opinion.

 

[chakadave]

Didn’t we already know this after watching some elevator mod. They removed the loading screens or something.

 

[Astray]

Remember that this game had a mod that added rtx 6 months before Bethesda themselves added Rtx. This thing was nowhere close to ready when launched, but Bethesda thinks they can patch everything post launch, no matter how long it takes.

I think you mean DLSS.

That was almost assuredly because Bethesda signed a deal with AMD to highlight FSR. I haven't checked, but I think they did the same thing with Indiana Jones, but with Nvidia this go-round.

 

[mitch1971]

I was going to reply with a long post to this but was afraid it might have a loading screen half way through.

 

[phant0m]

they really need to move on from that engine if BGS wants to play in the big leagues again.

I know GAF loves to hate on Starfield but as a concept it's really not bad but was left with a paltry single nomination at TGA last year and took home nothing after an 8 year development cycle.

That engine made it feel so dated with constant loading screen and vastly empty hub worlds compared to open world RPGs from almost any other AAA studio.

 

[DeepEnigma]

"See that loading screen? You can go there, a lot."

 

[semiconscious]

i'm incredibly tolerant about shit like this, but starfield even managed to tick me off with this loading screen thing. to call it 'excessive' is an understatement...

 

[Seomel]

I stopped reading at "starfield is incredibly impressive game"
As some poor sot who had preordered premium ed and was there at 0 hour launch(,yes, I deserve the shit). Game was absolute shit to say it kindly. If this is the kind of shit we can expect from next ES, we are cooked

 

[Oppoi]

I remember Starfield like the last time I was really sick.

 

[Codeblew]

Maybe the Series S needed loading screens due to less memory and they didn't want the SX to look weaker than other platforms.

 

[gunslikewhoa]

I refuse to believe that Purkeypile is a real name.

 

[mckmas8808]

I refuse to believe that Purkeypile is a real name.

LOL!!! Yeah why even call yourself that.

 

[March Climber]

Do we know if they’re using the same creation engine for ESVI?

80% chance yes, but you don't have to worry about loading screens as much because you don't fly to different planets in Elder Scrolls. It's one of the multiple reasons why Skyrim is aging better than Starfield.

This engine isn't meant for a full-fledged space game and I hope they don't make a sequel to Starfield unless they use an entirely different engine.

 

[Oppoi]

Did the Veteran Starfield developer know about the Series S?