Nvidia owners rejoice: Starfield's DLSS update will start beta testing on Steam next week

When Bethesda announced back in June that it was partnering with AMD on Starfield, eager fans were not happy. There was almost immediate speculation that the deal meant Starfield would launch without support for Nvidia's DLSS tech—and for once, the internet was right.

Modders brought DLSS and frame generation to Starfield in relatively short order, and Bethesda eventually promised that official support—which quite frankly is the kind of support I want when it comes to under-the-hood technomagic—was on the way, although no time frame was provided.

We're finally about to see some real action on that front. Bethesda announced today that an update featuring "Nvidia DLSS support with frame generation, display and HDR controls for supported systems" is headed to a beta build on Steam next week.

Details on how to access the build will presumably be released when the beta is rolled out, but presumably it will work in the usual way: Right-click on Starfield in your Steam library and then select "properties," then hit the "betas" tab, and choose your preferred option from the "Beta Participation" dropdown menu. Once you've selected the build, you'll have to download an update of some indeterminate size, after which you'll have the opportunity to see what Bethesda has cooked up, and report any bugs you run into.

There's understandable excitement from Starfield players. Roughly three-quarters of PC gamers have Nvidia cards in their rigs, and withholding what has become an almost essential bit of technology from such a large percentage of the playerbase struck me as a baffling decision, especially since AMD said ahead of release that Bethesda was free to add DLSS support anytime it wanted. Better late than never, I suppose.

For those uncertain, Bethesda clarified that the DLSS update is for Nvidia users only. Support for AMD's FSR3 technology is planned for a future update.