Starfield ship bug launches player into space without most of their ship

Starfield ship with flared thrusters in space — (Image credit: Tyler C. / Bethesda)

A recently discovered Starfield bug makes the argument that a spaceship can be anything, even a cockpit with nothing else attached to it.

When Reddit user Denubtheredditor flipped the switch to launch their ship into space, Starfield decided to tweak a few things before liftoff. The ship's UI confirms that all systems are ready to go and the engines burn bright, but most of Denubtheredditor's ship stays behind as the cockpit lifts up into the air and floats toward space. It's as if they smashed the eject button by accident.

The short clip ends before the loading screen that sends you to space, so it's unclear what happens to Denubtheredditor once they break through the planet's atmosphere. In the comments, Dieser paints a picture of their experience: "I naturally couldn't move anywhere, but I also found out that the cockpit itself doesn't have a hitbox as the enemy ship kept hitting me but doing no damage. I could also activate boost and shoot weapons, but only the sounds would play and would not actually do anything."

Kieranjames2 added that the bug also prevents you from moving at all. "You literally cannot move in space as your thrusters are still on the ground, so I hope you've got some fast travel points," they said.

"That should save on gas. 😃👍," SpiritiedTie7645 said, trying to identify the positives in this tragic situation.

Nobody in the comments has any clue what causes Starfield to detach the entire ship from the cockpit, or what looks like the interior of the ship with nothing attached to it. It's likely a bug related to the ship builder. You can't actually make a ship out of a cockpit and nothing else on purpose, though.

Cockpit took off without the rest of my ship from r/Starfield

Both GamingWildman and GodLovesCanada say they encountered the bug and one way to fix it is to close and restart the game. Iziama794 theorizes that the bug happens after modifying your ship because Starfield didn't properly remove the old parts. They say you can set a new ship as your home ship and then go back to your old one to fix it.

So, if you're diving into Starfield's ship customization, be careful and save often or you might find yourself stranded in space like an unfortunate Kerbal. You also might want to avoid stuffing your ship full of potatoes—you know, just to be safe.

Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.