Craft Weapons, Armor & Apparel. Upgrade Legendaries, Quality, Linings & more. New UNRIVALED Quality tier!
DarkStar Manufacturing
This mod is extensive, so please read everything before installing or uninstalling. That warning doesn’t mean it’s harmful to your save, but when any mod does extreme overhauls and customization of loot, you should know what you’re getting into.
Six New Workbenches
Toolboxes, actually. I wanted to be kind to your space at your outpost, so I made custom “workbenches” that use the toolbox version of the Utility Cart you can normally find in the Decoration tab of your outpost build menu. This means they take up 1/3 of the space, and I made them still function like the Industrial Workbench.
These were made as separate benches SPECIFICALLY to keep inventories separated. Otherwise your industrial workbench would lag you out. Badly.
If you factor in every single piece of apparel, spacesuits, helmets, cyberware, hats, backpacks, and every single weapon… 976 total recipes added by this mod. Couple that with the Industrial workbench’s existing inventory selection, and… that’s a big nope. I didn’t want to scroll through that, and I’m sure you don’t either.
So, for your sanity and mine, yes there are 6 new “workbenches”.
Craft Armor!
Spacesuits, Helmets and Backpacks are now craftable at the Armor Crafting toolbox.
If you installed with DarkStar Astrodynamics, they are also PURCHASABLE at DarkStar’s vending kiosks (outpost/the lodge).
Crafting them gives you the Bethesda version of the item, and is considered 1 optional path to fully upgrading your gear. It is not a final step. You can also obtain them in any normal way, including Looting or Purchasing them.
No Bethesda armor was harmed in the creation of this mod (IE: it doesn’t change them at all).
If the Bethesda-created item comes with a Legendary slot, you will be able to swap that Legendary at the Spacesuit workbench WITHOUT using the Enhancement step.
Quality is NOT upgradeable on Bethesda version of any Armor. You must Enhance them.
Linings are NOT upgradable on Bethesda Spacesuits & Helmets, as they don’t exist on those items. You must Enhance them first.
This includes special quest armors, like the Monster Costume.
Craft Apparel!
Every single wearable Apparel, Hat, and Cyberware in the game is now craftable at the Apparel Crafting toolbox.
If you installed with DarkStar Astrodynamics, they are also PURCHASABLE at DarkStar’s vending kiosks (outpost/the lodge).
Crafting them gives you the Bethesda version of the item, and is considered 1 optional path to fully upgrading your gear. It is not a final step.
Lining should be swappable on any item that already comes with a Lining installed: such as the Operative Suit.
Legendaries are NOT available on any Bethesda apparel. You must Enhance them.
Quality is NOT upgradeable without Enhancing the apparel item to create a new version.
Craft Weapons!
Every single Weapon in game can be crafted at the Weapon Crafting toolbox. Melee, Ranged, doesn’t matter.
If you installed with DarkStar Astrodynamics, they are also PURCHASABLE at DarkStar’s vending kiosks (outpost/the lodge).
Crafting them gives you the Bethesda version of the item, and is considered 1 optional path to fully upgrading your gear. It is not a final step.
If the Bethesda-created item comes with a Legendary slot, you will be able to swap that Legendary at the Spacesuit workbench WITHOUT using the Enhancement step.
Quality is NOT upgradeable on Bethesda version of any Armor. You must Enhance them.
If a Bethesda version of a weapon HAS AN IN-GAME RARE SKIN, you can swap that skin at the weapon workbench without Enhancing.
All crafting recipes for Crafting benches were made as realistic as I could make them based upon my interpretation of the items.
Enhance Armor, Apparel & Weapons to unlock full upgrades!
Use an Apparel, Armor or Weapon Enhancement toolbox to trade a piece of Bethesda gear, plus a DarkStar Quantum Harness, for a custom version of that same item made by DarkStar.
These “enhanced” items unlock FULL upgradeability, adding Legendary slots to items that don’t normally have them.
Most “enhanced” items also have added Linings (all apparel, hats, cyberware, helmets & spacesuits).
All “enhanced” items benefit from GREATLY EXTENDED Quality scaling. Go beyond what Bethesda gave you access to. You’ve earned it.
Quality Tiers:
Standard, Calibrated & Refined Qualities are basically the same as Bethesda gave us, but the power curve has been smoothed a bit. Worry not, this new curve ONLY affects the new “enhanced” items, not the base-game versions.
Advanced is still present for anything that had it, and has been added to gear that was missing it.
Superior is still present for anything that had it, and has been added to TONS of gear that was missing it.
NEW Unrivaled Quality tier created from scratch and made available on EVERY ITEM you can enhance.
Check the mod images to see when quality tiers unlock per item. I followed Bethesda’s scaling formula.
New Resource: DarkStar Quantum Harness
It is craftable at the Industrial Workbench. It’s an Exotic item, and requires Special Projects 4.
It is also Purchasable at the TA Kiosk in your outpost, if you run both DarkStar mods.
It is also Purchasable at the Starborn Services Terminal, if you run both DarkStar mods and have passed through the Unity.
Finally, it is also now a drop from EVERY boss/boss-chest in the game.
* * * Note: any other mod that alters Boss or Boss Chest leveled lists will conflict with, and/or overwrite this feature.
* * * Side effect: Since I had to edit boss/chest leveled loot lists… I went ahead and made the chests always drop a garaunteed legendary. I figured, why not? Especially considering potential mod conflicts with this one feature.
Yes, this means you can in fact craft a full legendary Unrivaled Ember (solstice with skin).
You can also craft a full legendary Unrivaled Monster Costume… for your trips to the ECS Constant, or whatever.
Now the real WARNING:
The Crafting benches only cost resources. The Enhancement benches, however, cost ITEMS plus one DarkStar Quantum Harness. This means you need to be careful what’s in your inventory when you go to Enhance something. If you are wearing an Akila hat, craft another Akila hat, and go to enhance an Akila hat… whichever one is first in your inventory is the one the game will take and consume to make the new version. This cannot be controlled without extensive scripting, not in the way this mod was built to work. So, if you have gear you REALLY don’t want to lose, make sure you put that gear in a chest before using these new toys. However, don’t worry… once enhanced, the item has a new ID entirely, and cannot be consumed by the Enhancement benches.
In short, stash what you don’t want to lose, and craft a full set of gear at max level, and enjoy.
Notices:
No, I will not make a list of all of the enhanced items. Its literally several hundred item IDs. If someone else wants to pull that data out of the mod or use Console to cobble together a list, more power to them. I’ve made it fairly easy to acquire these items as is.
Leaving the new Workbenches will leave you in 3rd Person view. There is no way to fix this currently without reverting the models of each to the Industrial Workbench, and that is Outpost clutter I don’t think we want to suffer. It’s a very, very minor annoyance. Just scroll up when you leave the bench and you’ll be back in 1st Person.
No-Stat modifications, such as the Handstitched Lining, show up as enchantments on some class of items, turning the inventory window for that item light blue, as if it were Rare. The same happens with empty Legendary enchantments. I could not find a way to resolve this, and will keep investigating. However, this is an extremely minor visual quirk that does not affect the way the items, or the mod, function. So, I didn’t feel like it was a big enough deal to delay release. If I can find a solution before CK’s release, it will come in an update. If not, I hope to resolve this with the CK.
For those that always ask: Yes. This and all of my mods will be coming to Console just as soon as they let us do that.
Additional Features:
All vanilla Armor, Apparel & Weapons are purchasable at the DarkStar Trade Authority Kiosk IF you install the version of DarkStar Manufacturing that depends on DarkStar Astrodynamics, as that mod provides the Kiosk at your Outpost.
All Enhanced Armor, Apparel & Weapons are purchasable at the DarkStar Starborn Services Terminal IF you install the version of DarkStar Manufacturing that depends on DarkStar Astrodynamics, as that mod provides the Terminal at your Outpost, and in the basement of The Lodge.
If you have both DarkStar mods installed, you can also find details about DarkStar Manufacturing in the DarkStar Instruction Manual slate sold in both the TA Kiosk and Starborn terminal provided by DarkStar Astrodynamics.
Check the HELP section in game to find a DarkStar Manufacturing Help File entry.
Mod Compatibility
This mod CAN work alongside Legendary Module Recycler… to a point. They will overlap in some areas, and you may experience issues with one or both mods. I, therefor, do not recommend you use both at the same time. If you are disabling one to move to the other, I highly recommend you equip your character with default equipment available in the base game, stash everything else in a chest somewhere and make a hard save you can roll back to. Then, no matter which mod you’re moving to, be prepared to craft or buy a whole new set of equipment using that mod. Note: swapping mods like this mid-save should NOT corrupt your save, but it’s better to have a backup just in case. There is a lot that this mod does that Recycler does not do. However, this mod isn’t for everyone. We do things in different ways, so test both and come to your own conclusions.
This mod CAN work alongside SF Extended Crafting – Upgradeable Quality. However, there are points where the two mods will overlap. Most notably around anything that the mods override. Specifically, this could cause Quality upgrades to not function properly in whichever mod was loaded first in your load order. However, as this mod does much more than the other, and takes Quality beyond what the base game provides, it’s up to you to decide which version you’d prefer. Note: This mod does NOT override any vanilla wearable equipment of any type. SF Extended Crafting does. So, if you run both… things may get weird.
Motivation / Reasoning
I tried most of the equipment crafting mods on Nexus over the last few months. Most I turned off after a day or two, because I wasn’t happy with how they behaved. That isn’t to say they’re bad mods… they are, in fact, good mods. They just weren’t what I was looking for.
Couple that with the fact that to accomplish what DarkStar Manufacturing provides you would need to install half a dozen mods, or likely more, and that brings up my other motivation. I don’t like flooding my load order with a countless mods that I’ve cobbled together to accomplish one task: making equipment. So, I tossed the idea around for a while of doing it my way and combining all these various features into a singular mod… and here we are.
This mod was made from scratch with the intent of making equipment crafting more fun, and more rewarding, and to help players with the RNG-fest. Anything that reduces the need to save-scum is a benefit, in my eyes.
Install Instructions
I have tested this MOD on both GAMEPASS and STEAM. It works exactly the same on both! Yes, you can run this on PC Gamepass. 🙂
Download the FOMOD file using Vortex, MO2 or Manual.
Follow the FOMOD prompts in Vortex or MO2 if using a mod loader.
If installing manually, open the compressed file and select 1 ESM from any of the folders it contains.
Steam Players, you can use SFSE + ASILoader + PluginsTxtEnabler. OR you can use UltimateASILoader + PluginsTxtEnabler. I actually recommend using both at the same time. This will allow you to avoid SFSE launch whenever SFSE needs an update, or if you begin crashing during the Credits scene in the Unity. When that happens, if you run SFSE it is most likely SFSE or an SFSE mod that is causing the issue. The typical solution is disabling SFSE before you grav-jump to the Unity, and launching the game through your Steam client directly. Then re-loading after the Unity to turn your SFSE+mods back on. By using UltimateASILoader you can still run MOST mods when SFSE is disabled, giving you options.
SFSE Instructions (Steam):
Install SFSE.
Install Plugins.Txt Enabler (follow its instructions).
Install this mod using any mod loader, or continue to step 4+ if doing it manually.
Download the version & optional files you want.
Place the .esm files in the same folder as your Starfield.esm.
Add the full .esm file names of everything you downloaded to your Plugins.txt file, created by step 6 (with a * in front of the name).
Make sure the core mod is loaded before any optional patches.
UltimateASILoader Instructions (GamePass – OR – Steam):
Download “bink2w64.dll” from github.
Open your Starfield install directory.
Rename the current bink2w64.dll file to bink2w64Hooked.dll.
Copy the downloaded bink2w64.dll file into your Starfield install directory.
Note: You will need to repeat steps 3 & 4 if you ever patch, redownload or Verify your game files using Steam/XBox App.
Install Plugins.Txt Enabler (follow its instructions).
I recommend you install Achievement Enabler whether or not you plan to use the Baka version with SFSE. This allows Achievements even when SFSE isn’t running. If you care about achievements, anyway.
Install this mod using any mod loader, or continue to step 9+ if doing it manually.
Download the version & optional files you want.
Place the .esm files in the same folder as your Starfield.esm.
Add the full .esm file names of everything you downloaded to your Plugins.txt file, created by step 6 (with a * in front of the name)..
Make sure the core mod is loaded before any optional patches.
Credits:
WykkydGaming
Download mod
| File | File size |
|---|---|
DarkStar Manufacturing FOMOD-1-0
|
2 MB |
|
Mod-Authors-xEdit-Patch-Script-0-1
|
3 KB |
