In this guide, I will use console commands to construct a NG+ save from which you can complete the rest of the game. Namely you will be able to have all crew members at once. I will explain why this is a problem using spoilers in the body of the guide. The process is very efficient, it’s actually much faster to do this than to play through the tutorial of a regular New Game!
Starfield attempts more choice and consequence than any BGS title since Morrowind. That sounds great, unless you’re a completionist!
The New Game+ system gives us a choice of mutually exclusive world states. What if I want to only have one playthrough, but still access it all? Do we really want to spend 200+ hours only to reset it, or be forced to grind the main quest 10 times just so we aren’t ever tempted? Even then, there are things that we can only access in some NG+ variants but not others.
BEWARE: This will not make sense without spoiling the main quest! This guide will provide context on the relevant aspects of the main story and how New Game+ works. If you don’t care about spoilers, read on.
Why Rush NG+?
When you enter NG+ an entirely new save is created, and certain details are carried over to the new save. As far as I can tell this is *exactly* what’s carried over:
- Character name and appearance
- Character level and attributes (e.g. max health)
- Character perks (e.g. backgrounds, traits, skills, powers)
- Character stats (information tracked in the Status screen)
- Research and research progress
- Number of times we have entered NG+ (this is incremented)
That means absolutely anything to do with the state of the world is completely wiped away. You don’t get to take companions with you, you don’t get to take money or items with you, you don’t get to take your ship with you.
So why bother completing the entire main quest and entering NG+ if you’re just throwing away all the time you spent in the world so far? You don’t even get to re-invent your character, so you might as well just start an entirely new game.
Let’s break down the reasons (that I am aware of) to play in NG+ rather than merely New Game.
I will split them up based on if we can emulate them in NG with commands or if it really is something we should be in NG+ for.
We can emulate in NG using commands:
- Level up your powers
- Starborn spacesuits
- Barrett “Parallel Self” companion quest
- Extra dialogue options
- Avoid the death of a companion during the main quest.
- Variant crew member (called “You?”)
- Increased difficulty modifier
- Ensure everything (such as quest rewards) generate at their highest levelled list form
We can’t emulate in NG using commands:
- Avoid the tutorial entirely/Freedom from the start of the game
- Spawn the player’s Starborn ship (a specific one)
- Unique random encounters (such as a legendary trader in space)
- Any unknown consequences of NG+
For a lot of people the benefits of NG+ are quite important. This has lead to many people suggesting that you should just rush NG+ 10 times, collecting all the powers throughout, and only then settling down for a playthrough, to avoid wasting time in worlds you’re just going to reset anyway. But this feels terrible, and many people have said as much.
Now it does look like the list of things we can’t emulate in NG is quite small, trust me I have been trying my hardest to make absolutely everything accessible to a pure NG run, and I would love nothing more than to have a continuous run that never has to NG+. I just think we’re on the safer side if we go into NG+ proper, besides it is faster if we do this.
By the way we can always hijack existing Starborn ships that the game randomly generates using some combination of TrySetPlayerHomeSpaceShip and Unlock and CallFunction”ObjectReference.BlockActivation” False False.
But I specifically mean the one the game reserves for the player which as a special REFR (reference ID) and GBFM (spaceship ID) so it’s a unique ship compared to those (though you couldn’t tell from in-game without using the console).
I have tried very hard to properly spawn this ship in NG but it always gets randomised to something completely different than what we get when we spawn in it from NG+ and I find this deeply unsatisfying.
NG+ Variants Break Your Game
You may have noticed that when you go into NG+ and go to the lodge, something different might happen to the usual situation. All variants of NG+ are documented on YouTube and there is a way to consistently decide which one you get using console commands. They are decided during the credits, not at the unity or before entering the lodge so always check the lodge to make sure which variant you’re in (or if you’re not in a variant at all).
The problem is every single NG+ variant forces you to skip the main quest. Now that might not seem like a bad thing at first but the game is actually incredibly buggy in this state. You lose access to multiple crew members and some side quests, the unique loot from the main quests, and the services of Noelle and Vladimir. Also, most of the variants also remove most of the constellation members from the game (meaning you don’t get to have them as companions), and even if not they will only appear after you’ve collected a large amount of artifacts instead of being with you the whole time.
Ok, so just don’t get a NG+ variant and don’t select [Skip Main Quest]? For most people, that’s OK, but there’s a unique crew member that you can only get in one specific NG+ variant. This crew member is called “You?” in-game, internally called “OtherPlayer”. They copy your character’s name and appearance.
At first I tried to enable this character using their reference ID, but they are not loaded until their quest starts, and when their quest starts this skips the main story.
The Solution
So, we need to address three problems:
- 1. Getting the full benefits of NG+ (called NG+ 10), with the previous ranks of every power, and so we maximise the levelled lists without going too far
- 2. [Optional] Getting to NG+ efficiently by skipping the intro and tutorial, but still being able to customise our character
- 3. Getting the NG+ variant crew member (You?) without breaking quests
Here’s how to solve them (do them in order):
- Step 1:
- Set the NG+ counter to a high enough number (player.setav PlayerUnityTimesEntered 9)
- [Optional] Set our level to a high enough number (player.setlevel 115)
- [Optional] Freeze our level there by needing an absurd amount of experience to increase it further (player.modav experience -29581703168)
- If so, give ourselves the skill points we’d need to get every skill eventually (CGF “Game.AddPerkPoints” 214)
- There are a total of 328 skills to invest in, and we don’t start off with any if we skipped choosing a background through the UI
- You still need to do the challenges to be able to invest in skills, I like it this way, but you can find bat files online to give yourself every skill immediately if that’s what you want.
- [Optional] Use the console to give ourselves any backgrounds and traits and powers we like at any time before we enter the Unity.
- I’d recommend giving yourself level 9 powers so there’s still something to unlock by doing the temples (the max level of powers is level 10).
- The traits Kid Stuff, Hero Worshipped, and Dream Home unlock unique content, and the religious traits allow us to access extra randomised loot and quest rewards.
- All traits and backgrounds add some sort of unique dialogue options at various points in the game.
- Step 2. [Optional]
- Teleport to the end of the game (player.moveto 214c7d) and talk to the NPC, if we are starborn we can skip the dialogue (player.addperk 1d7053), then walk into the Unity.
- You can do this from any point in the game including the opening sequence or even the main menu, but do not do this during a cutscene.
- [Optional] At any point we can do slm player 2 to customise our appearance as if we went to cosmetic surgery in-game (or slm player 1 for full control but this has annoying interactions with backgrounds and traits)
- I am not sure exactly at which point it decides what your parents will look like if you have the Kid Stuff trait, but 99% of the time they look bizarre so just use a command to customise them too (slm <their RefID> 2).
- Or if that doesn’t work, take your variant self with you, you can copy the parent’s appearance to you (player.copyappearance <their RefID>), then customise yourself, then copy your appearance to them (<their RefID>.copyappearance player), then copy the appearance from your variant self to you (before going through any loading zones) (player.copyappearance 1a9054)
- Step 3:
- The variant crew member actually has a second quest besides the variant of the main quest. Every crew member has a quest that controls recruiting them (internally called “EliteCrew”) and this quest happens to spawn the variant in properly (setstage 187431 1).
- Just be sure to set the stage to 1 rather than 0, as 0 also completes their main story quest which skips the main story.
- They will spawn in the lodge, ready to be talked to in order to recruit at your leisure.
- If you change your appearance, just go through a few load zones and they will update to copy yours. They will always instantly copy your character’s name without needing to be reloaded.
Take a look at the bat files included below. Feel free to customise them to your liking.
There’s some extra bats as well which make the Starborn ship we get more useful.
Here’s what I like to do:
- use bat steps_before from the main menu
- or I I feel like it, I’ll play the tutorial on a new game first for pretend continuity.
- go up to the NPC and use the Starborn dialogue to skip the chat
- walk into the Unity
- skip the credits ASAP
- use bat step5_you
- set up the extras on the ship
- make a save
- go to the Lodge to check I didn’t get a variant
- reload my save and use this as a fresh start save in the future
- customise my character
- make sure to rename it to something other than “Player” so it appears differently in the saves list
I have not included customising your character in the bat files as that’s pretty easy to remember for any BGS engine game. Also, please let me know if anyone releases a mod that allows for importing and exporting character appearances!
If there are any choices among the side quests in the game people want me to look at unifying, feel free to comment them but try not to spoil everything. I have not played that much of the side content in the game as I had been focused on developing this method.
Process Batch Files
Bats (batches of console commands) representing the segments of process:
steps_before.txt (bat steps_before)
Everything that should run before we go to NG+
bat step1_skip
bat step2_level
bat step3_perks
bat step4_powers
step1_skip.txt (bat step1_skip)
Warp to Unity as NG+9, also Starborn perk skips chat
epc 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
player.removeperk 1d7053
player.addperk 1d7053
player.setav PlayerUnityTimesEntered 9
player.moveto 214c7d
epc 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
step2_level.txt (bat step2_level)
Set our final level
player.setlevel 115
CGF “Game.AddPerkPoints” 214
player.modav experience -29581703168
step3_perks.txt (bat step3_perks)
All backgrounds and traits
;Beast Hunter
player.addperk 0022EC76
;Bouncer
player.addperk 0022EC81
;Bounty Hunter
player.addperk 0022EC80
;Chef
player.addperk 0022EC7F
;Combat Medic
player.addperk 0022EC7E
;Cyber Runner
player.addperk 0022EC7D
;Cyberneticist
player.addperk 0022EC7C
;Diplomat
player.addperk 0022EC7B
;Explorer
player.addperk 0022EC79
;Gangster
player.addperk 0022EC78
;Homesteader
player.addperk 0022EC77
;Industrialist
player.addperk 0022EC7A
;Long Hauler
player.addperk 0022EC75
;Pilgrim
player.addperk 0022EC73
;Professor
player.addperk 0022EC72
;Ronin
player.addperk 0022EC74
;Sculptor
player.addperk 0022EC71
;Soldier
player.addperk 0022EC70
;Space Scoundrel
player.addperk 0022EC6F
;Xenobiologist
player.addperk 0022EC6E
;[FILE NOT FOUND]
player.addperk 002DFD1A
;Alien DNA
player.addperk 00227FDA
;Dream Home
player.addperk 00227FDF
;Empath
player.addperk 00227FD6
;Extrovert
player.addperk 00227FD7
;Freestar Collective Settler
player.addperk 00227FD5
;Hero Worshipped
player.addperk 00227FD9
;Introvert
player.addperk 00227FD8
;Kid Stuff
player.addperk 00227FDE
;Neon Street Rat
player.addperk 00227FD3
;Raised Enlightened
player.addperk 00227FD2
;Raised Universal
player.addperk 00227FD1
;Serpent’s Embrace
player.addperk 00227FD0
;Spaced
player.addperk 00227FE2
;Taskmaster
player.addperk 00227FE0
;Terra Firma
player.addperk 00227FE1
;United Colonies Native
player.addperk 00227FD4
;Wanted
player.addperk 00227FDD
step4_powers.txt (bat step4_powers)
All level 9 powers
;Anti-Gravity Field
player.addspell 2BACBA
player.addperk 25E19C
player.addperk 25E19C
player.addperk 25E19C
player.addperk 25E19C
player.addperk 25E19C
player.addperk 25E19C
player.addperk 25E19C
player.addperk 25E19C
player.addperk 25E19C
;Create Vacuum
player.addspell 2C5390
player.addperk 25E19B
player.addperk 25E19B
player.addperk 25E19B
player.addperk 25E19B
player.addperk 25E19B
player.addperk 25E19B
player.addperk 25E19B
player.addperk 25E19B
player.addperk 25E19B
;Creators’ Peace
player.addspell 2C538D
player.addperk 25E19A
player.addperk 25E19A
player.addperk 25E19A
player.addperk 25E19A
player.addperk 25E19A
player.addperk 25E19A
player.addperk 25E19A
player.addperk 25E19A
player.addperk 25E19A
;Earthbound
player.addspell 2BACB5
player.addperk 25E199
player.addperk 25E199
player.addperk 25E199
player.addperk 25E199
player.addperk 25E199
player.addperk 25E199
player.addperk 25E199
player.addperk 25E199
player.addperk 25E199
;Elemental Pull
player.addspell 2C5391
player.addperk 25E198
player.addperk 25E198
player.addperk 25E198
player.addperk 25E198
player.addperk 25E198
player.addperk 25E198
player.addperk 25E198
player.addperk 25E198
player.addperk 25E198
;Alien Reanimation
player.addspell 2C538F
player.addperk 25E19D
player.addperk 25E19D
player.addperk 25E19D
player.addperk 25E19D
player.addperk 25E19D
player.addperk 25E19D
player.addperk 25E19D
player.addperk 25E19D
player.addperk 25E19D
;Eternal Harvest
player.addspell 2BACB4
player.addperk 25E197
player.addperk 25E197
player.addperk 25E197
player.addperk 25E197
player.addperk 25E197
player.addperk 25E197
player.addperk 25E197
player.addperk 25E197
player.addperk 25E197
;Grav Dash
player.addspell 2C538C
player.addperk 25E196
player.addperk 25E196
player.addperk 25E196
player.addperk 25E196
player.addperk 25E196
player.addperk 25E196
player.addperk 25E196
player.addperk 25E196
player.addperk 25E196
;Gravity Wave
player.addspell 2BACB7
player.addperk 25E195
player.addperk 25E195
player.addperk 25E195
player.addperk 25E195
player.addperk 25E195
player.addperk 25E195
player.addperk 25E195
player.addperk 25E195
player.addperk 25E195
;Gravity Well
player.addspell 2C5A62
player.addperk 25E193
player.addperk 25E193
player.addperk 25E193
player.addperk 25E193
player.addperk 25E193
player.addperk 25E193
player.addperk 25E193
player.addperk 25E193
player.addperk 25E193
;Inner Demon
player.addspell 2C5399
player.addperk 25E192
player.addperk 25E192
player.addperk 25E192
player.addperk 25E192
player.addperk 25E192
player.addperk 25E192
player.addperk 25E192
player.addperk 25E192
player.addperk 25E192
;Life Forced
player.addspell 2C538B
player.addperk 25E191
player.addperk 25E191
player.addperk 25E191
player.addperk 25E191
player.addperk 25E191
player.addperk 25E191
player.addperk 25E191
player.addperk 25E191
player.addperk 25E191
;Moon Form
player.addspell 2C5A4E
player.addperk 25E190
player.addperk 25E190
player.addperk 25E190
player.addperk 25E190
player.addperk 25E190
player.addperk 25E190
player.addperk 25E190
player.addperk 25E190
player.addperk 25E190
;Parallel Self
player.addspell 2C5A67
player.addperk 25E18E
player.addperk 25E18E
player.addperk 25E18E
player.addperk 25E18E
player.addperk 25E18E
player.addperk 25E18E
player.addperk 25E18E
player.addperk 25E18E
player.addperk 25E18E
;Particle Beam
player.addspell 2C5A66
player.addperk 25E18D
player.addperk 25E18D
player.addperk 25E18D
player.addperk 25E18D
player.addperk 25E18D
player.addperk 25E18D
player.addperk 25E18D
player.addperk 25E18D
player.addperk 25E18D
;Personal Atmosphere
player.addspell 2C5389
player.addperk 25E18C
player.addperk 25E18C
player.addperk 25E18C
player.addperk 25E18C
player.addperk 25E18C
player.addperk 25E18C
player.addperk 25E18C
player.addperk 25E18C
player.addperk 25E18C
;Phased Time
player.addspell 2C5A63
player.addperk 25E18B
player.addperk 25E18B
player.addperk 25E18B
player.addperk 25E18B
player.addperk 25E18B
player.addperk 25E18B
player.addperk 25E18B
player.addperk 25E18B
player.addperk 25E18B
;Precognition
player.addspell 2C538A
player.addperk 25E18F
player.addperk 25E18F
player.addperk 25E18F
player.addperk 25E18F
player.addperk 25E18F
player.addperk 25E18F
player.addperk 25E18F
player.addperk 25E18F
player.addperk 25E18F
;Reactive Shield
player.addspell 2BACB6
player.addperk 25E19E
player.addperk 25E19E
player.addperk 25E19E
player.addperk 25E19E
player.addperk 25E19E
player.addperk 25E19E
player.addperk 25E19E
player.addperk 25E19E
player.addperk 25E19E
;Sense Star Stuff
player.addspell 2C5A54
player.addperk 25E18A
player.addperk 25E18A
player.addperk 25E18A
player.addperk 25E18A
player.addperk 25E18A
player.addperk 25E18A
player.addperk 25E18A
player.addperk 25E18A
player.addperk 25E18A
;Solar Flare
player.addspell 2C5A59
player.addperk 25E189
player.addperk 25E189
player.addperk 25E189
player.addperk 25E189
player.addperk 25E189
player.addperk 25E189
player.addperk 25E189
player.addperk 25E189
player.addperk 25E189
;Sunless Space
player.addspell 2C5388
player.addperk 25E188
player.addperk 25E188
player.addperk 25E188
player.addperk 25E188
player.addperk 25E188
player.addperk 25E188
player.addperk 25E188
player.addperk 25E188
;Supernova
player.addspell 2C5387
player.addperk 25E187
player.addperk 25E187
player.addperk 25E187
player.addperk 25E187
player.addperk 25E187
player.addperk 25E187
player.addperk 25E187
player.addperk 25E187
player.addperk 25E187
;Void Form
player.addspell 2C5A53
player.addperk 25E186
player.addperk 25E186
player.addperk 25E186
player.addperk 25E186
player.addperk 25E186
player.addperk 25E186
player.addperk 25E186
player.addperk 25E186
player.addperk 25E186
step5_you.txt (bat step5_you)
Spawn You?
setstage 187431 1
Extra Batch Files
Increase the crew slots of the player’s Starborn ship so all crew members can be on it
180f16.modav SpaceshipCrewRating 20
180f16.modav SpaceshipCrewSlots 20
player.modav 160030 20
Spawn an infinite storage container and an interior decorator (jump first so they’re above the ground)
player.placeatme 266e84
player.placeatme 24dc7
Move the decorator into a nice spot in the Starborn ship (select it with console first)
setpos x -8.35
setpos y 2.14
setpos z 0.5
setangle z -144
Move the storage into a nice spot in the Starborn ship (select it with console first)
setpos x -8.25
setpos y 2.28
setpos z -1
setangle z -144
Give all the different Starborn spacesuits
;Starborn Spacesuit Astra
player.additem 0012E187 1
;Starborn Spacesuit Avitus
player.additem 001CBA52 1
;Starborn Spacesuit Bellum
player.additem 001CBA4E 1
;Starborn Spacesuit Gravitas
player.additem 0021C77E 1
;Starborn Spacesuit Locus
player.additem 001CBA4A 1
;Starborn Spacesuit Materia
player.additem 001CBA49 1
;Starborn Spacesuit Solis
player.additem 002D7365 1
;Starborn Spacesuit Tempus
player.additem 002D7346 1
;Starborn Spacesuit Tenebris
player.additem 001CBA4D 1
;Starborn Spacesuit Venator
player.additem 0021C77F 1
Bonus: How do level badges work?
If you want to choose your level based on which level badge looks the best, here’s my current understanding of how the game decides how it will look:
- Every level (looping every 10) determines the pattern of stars on the badge
- Every 10 levels (looping every 100) determines the red banner pattern behind the stars
- Every 100 levels (looping every 500) determines the shape of the badge in the background
- Every 500 levels (up to but not including 1500) determines the colour of the badge in the background
- The 1500s are bugged with no badge and the loading screens are blank
- Everything after 1600 has a fourth badge colour and it loops every 1500 (unsure about this)
I chose 115 because it’s not too large a number but large enough to maximise the levelled lists. Some enemies will copy your level and other enemies will be given a level based on the levelled list they came from and the area/quest difficulty. I found it jarring seeing a few enemies have a very large and specific level (such as 500) amongst all the randomly distributed levels that were around 100 or less.
