Seamless Landing mod looks set to bring Starfield another step closer to No Man's Sky

A mod developer has created a Seamless Landing mod for Starfield that aims to bring the game closer to No Man's Sky. Currently, when players arrive at a planet in Starfield, they must choose a landing spot and endure loading screens and animations. However, this new mod eliminates the need for those interruptions.

In the video demonstration of the mod, a planetary approach is shown, including heating effects on the ship during atmospheric entry, a moment of white as the ship hits a layer of clouds, and then the ship lands seamlessly. According to the mod developer, Frederik Wessberg, the clouds are not covering loading screens; instead, they help create a minimal seam during the final cell switch, ensuring lighting, exposure, and terrain color remain consistent.

For airless moons and planets, the switch is made without any veil, as lighting and exposure changes are minimal between cells. However, extra exposure matching is done for those instances. The mod replaces floating textures with actual 3D models of planets and moons, reimplementing Starfield's planet rendering in space.

Wessberg leveraged Starfield's impressive physical accuracy and true space simulation aspects for the mod. The planet rendering is based on Starfield's biome data, exact surface maps, climate data, atmospheric composition, and considers factors like orbital phase, distance to the sun, moonlight, and more. The finished version of the mod, available on Nexus Mods, will allow players to fly manually in low orbit or use autopilot to descend and land anywhere, including water surfaces.