The much-anticipated update 1.8.88 to the popular Starfield game has finally addressed an issue that's been frustrating players since the game's launch. This problem was intriguingly referred to as the 'pet rock' asteroid bug.
Not long after Starfield made its debut on PC and Xbox, players started noticing a peculiar glitch involving asteroids. In certain circumstances, a small asteroid would bind itself to a player's orbit and tail their spaceship throughout the cosmos.
This unusual occurrence was so quirky that players coined it as their 'pet rock'. There were some players who mentioned that this spontaneous pet rock trailed their spaceship's movements for over 30 hours. While others stated they had unintentionally befriended two or three pet rocks.
Despite its comic element, this bug was quite annoying as nothing seemed to make the asteroids disappear. No matter if players switched ships, encountered loading screens, or even restarted the game, nothing seemed to work.
Resolving 'Pet Rock' Glitch
The game developers, Bethesda, have finally managed to rectify this issue in the latest update of Starfield. On December 11, Bethesda released Starfield's 1.8.88 update. This small fix addressed crashing errors and issues related to outpost weapon cases, along with the 'pet rock' bug.
The most thrilling part of this update for the Starfield players is that this update finally rectifies the glitch where debris from space randomly tracks them. Now, pieces of space junk will no longer haunt the players throughout their gaming journey.
Here's a closer look at the patch notes for 1.8.88 to get a better understanding of the updates made:
Key Improvements and Fixes
According to the official patch notes for 1.8.88, the gameplay has seen some significant improvements. These include a resolution to an issue that would cause space matter to cling to a player’s ship during their voyage. Loading a saved game will effectively remove these clingy space remnants. A warning was also added that this update does not solve issues where player ships have New Atlantis attached.
In terms of outpost improvements, an issue that prevented random guns from spawning in a newly crafted Weapon Case after loading a save has been addressed. This will significantly improve the user experience in the outpost section of the game.
Also, under Save/Load improvements, an issue where players tended to experience game crashes during long gameplay without going through Unity has been resolved. This move will ensure a smoother and more enjoyable experience for the players.
This fix addressing the pet rock comes several weeks after the game's first major update 1.8.86, which introduced DLSS support and much-awaited changes to the food system in the game. Future updates from the development team are eagerly awaited by the Starfield gamer community.