The Best ‘No Man’s Sky’ Mods Currently Available

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Games
Games

When No Man’s Sky released just over two weeks ago, it wasn’t quite the experience that some players were expecting. Patches are coming to continue fixing the game’s outstanding problems, and content updates are on the way as well. However, some dedicated players aren’t waiting for Hello Games, and are improving the game on their own through modding on the PC version. Due to the fact that the PC version of No Man’s Sky hasn’t been out for that long, large mods are mostly nonexistent. Most that are available right now are utilities that improve specific and small aspects of the game. Regardless, thousands of people have downloaded them, and more are on the way. To help enhance your experience in right now, here’s a list of the best No Man’s Sky mods currently available.

Fast Actions

Download: No Man’s Sky Mods / Nexus Mods

The user interface in No Man’s Sky has annoyed many PC players, mostly due to how long it takes to do anything. The biggest issue is the delay in menu actions. You currently have to hold a button down in order to confirm an action. One modder fixed this problem by developing Fast Actions. This makes all menu actions — options, crafting, item transfer, dialogue, etc. — instantaneous. No more waiting for the tiny circle to fill up!

Among other small mods, we may see instant menu actions in a future official patch for No Man’s Sky. Until then, Fast Actions is pretty much a must-have.

Better Graphics

Chromatic Remover Download: No Man’s Sky ModsNexus Mods
Instagram Remover Download: No Man’s Sky Mods

These are actually two cosmetic mods that work beautifully together: Chromatic Aberration + Vignetting + Scan Lines Removal and Instagram Filter Remover. Each one works fine on its own. Installing both, however, gives the best result.

The first mod removes all chromatic aberration (bluriness from colors not focusing properly), vignetting (outer edges of an image are darker), and scan lines (miniscule horizontal lines from old CRT screens) from the game. That may all sound like technical jargon, but this really does result in a sharper and clearer image in the game.

The second mod removes what the modder calls the “Instagram filter,” or the high color saturation apparent in the game. You may have seen the deep reds and purples on some planets. Using this mod will restore colors to natural shades, similar to what you’d see in real life. This results in a “higher-definition” image.

These mods may cause your game to crash the first time after installing them. This happens because of how the game handles its caching. After that first time, you should experience no more crashes. Plus, you’ll have a more visually impressive No Man’s Sky.

LowFlight

Behold - taking your starship underwater!

Download: No Man’s Sky Mods / Nexus Mods

You can’t exactly fly “anywhere you want” in No Man’s Sky; your starship will automatically maneuver to avoid crashing into the ground if you get too close. Your ship also does not double as a submarine. How dare they ignore extremely important submersible capabilities!

LowFlight removes the restrictions on flying too close to planet surfaces, and also allows you to fly your starship underwater. There are some obvious caveats with this, though. You cannot land underwater, and your ship will take damage if it comes in contact with the ground. While using this mod, your ship’s size and shape will become much more important. In other words, make sure you’re not piloting a large trader into a ravine.

Clean Icons

Download: No Man’s Sky Mods

Clean Icons is another cosmetic mod that makes the game more visually impressive. The mod replaces the default building and resource icons with more modern icons that better fit the game’s theme.

Fallout 4 Cash Register

Download: No Man’s Sky Mods

This is the most important mod available for No Man’s Sky. Units Received = Fallout 4 Cash Register does what the name says; it replaces the “Units Received” message with the cash register sound effect from Fallout 4 that occurs when earning experience. Your game is incomplete without this mod.

Hopefully, we’ll see fixes similar to these mods make their way into the game through official patches. Even with a hundred patches, though, modders will always find something to improve or change. Once modders unpack and analyze more files in No Man’s Sky, it’s only a matter of time before we see some massive game-changing mods. Maybe some of these will even put a dent in this list of promised features that never made it into the game.

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