Pause Menu Lag Fix v1.1
Fixes the bug where pausing/unpausing will spike VRAM usage to 100% permanently lagging the game.
Required:
Starfield Script Extender (SFSE)
Description
This mod fixes the menu lag that will cause your FPS to crater in dense areas after closing the Pause Menu
Installation instructions
1. Install with your favorite mod manager
2. Enjoy Menu Lag Fix
So what was the issue?
Starfield decides texture and mesh detail with a state machine called ScreenSizeBasedLOD. Each cycle it measures how much screen space every material covers and checks the result against available VRAM, then promotes or demotes mip levels to fit with the available memory.
This state machine does not stop when you open the pause menu and your VRAM suddenly frees up. CheckBudget classifies VRAM pressure into four levels. At the lowest-pressure level it sets an internal “refresh everything” flag, which forces mip 0, the highest resolution, on every material. This queued full-resolution texture upload can overpower available memory when you unpause the menu and your VRAM suddenly becomes pressured again, causing the driver to start thrashing.
The fix
This mod forces the controller to not execute any state that increases detail levels when the game is paused by redirecting those functions to the engine’s own internal reset, making sure the engine performs zero LOD promotion while the Pause Menu is open.
