Customizing Your Starfield Ship: A Painting Guide

how do i paint my ship in starfield

Customization is a big part of the Starfield experience, with players able to customize their characters and their ships. Players can decide the parts, layout, and color of their ships. To paint your ship, head to any major city with a starport and find a Ship Service Technician. Talk to the technician and select I'd like to view and modify my ships to open the ships menu. From here, select the ship you want to modify and enter the Ship Builder. Highlight the part of the ship you want to paint and select the button in the bottom-right corner to open the color wheel. Use the color wheel to select a color and adjust the hue, brightness, and saturation to your liking. You can also change the accent colors by toggling between Colors 1-3. Confirm your color selection to save your changes.

Characteristics Values
Customization options Players can customize their ships' parts, layout, and color
Color options A wide range of colors is available, including the ability to adjust hue, brightness, and saturation
Ship modification Visit a Ship Technician or a large landing pad shipbuilder at a Starfield outpost or a major city with a starport
Ship selection Choose the ship you want to modify by selecting "I'd like to view and modify my ships" or "View and modify ships"
Ship Builder access Use the button in the bottom-right corner of the screen to enter the Ship Builder
Ship part selection Highlight the specific ship part you want to paint or double-click/double-tap to select the entire ship
Color selection Use the color wheel or the color button at the bottom of the screen to choose a color

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Finding a Ship Service Technician

In the vast universe of Starfield, your ship is your trusty companion, and keeping it in top shape is a priority. That's where Ship Services Technicians come in. These NPCs are your go-to for anything ship-related, from repairs to modifications and even buying or selling. With 15 of them scattered across the galaxy, here's a guide to finding these essential merchants:

New Atlantis

The first technician is a smooth operator, often found leaning against the Trade Authority kiosk with a sassy pose. Exit your ship and head to the off-ramp, and there they'll be, ready to offer you a fair selection of parts.

Akila City

As you approach the front gate of Akila City on the planet Cheyenne, veer right. You'll spot a small building with a "Ship Services" sign above the door. Step inside, and you'll find a technician who bears a striking resemblance to his New Atlantis colleague.

Cydonia, Mars

When you reach the entrance airlock to Cydonia on Mars, don't go in just yet. Look to your left, and you'll spot the Ship Services building. The technician is just outside, and while they might be a bit tricky to find, they're well worth seeking out.

Hopetown, Valo System

Upon landing in Hopetown, located on the Polvo planet within the Valo system, look for the HopeTech building. You can't miss the Ship Services Technician here—they're donning an orange suit, standing right across from your ship's landing spot.

The Eleos Retreat, Ixyll System

The Eleos Retreat is a hidden gem in the vastness of space. To find it, navigate to the Ixyll II planet within the Ixyll system. Once you land, keep an eye out for a small building on the right side of the settlement, complete with a Trade Authority kiosk. There, you'll discover a technician ready to assist you.

The Key, Kryx System

The Key is a challenging location to access, as it's under the control of the Crimson Fleet. Finish the Deep Cover Faction Quest first to ensure a smoother journey. Once you've braved the dangers and reached The Key, you'll find Jazz, a Ship Services Technician, awaiting your arrival at the base of the Crimson Fleet.

Red Mile, Porrima System

After landing on the Porrima III planet in the Porrima system, make your way to the Red Mile Hotel. There, you'll meet Lon Anderssen, a technician who has seen it all. He's inside the hotel, behind a desk to your right as you enter.

Deimos Staryard, Sol System

Located near Mars in the Sol system, Deimos Staryard is a showroom for exclusive ships. Dock at the station and meet Nikau, who stands before a ship model, offering a selection of ships and modules that will catch your eye.

Stroud-Eckland Staryard, Narion System

Your final destination is the Stroud-Eckland Staryard station, orbiting the Dalvik moon in the Narion system. Here, you'll find Havershaw, seated in a cubicle. They're your go-to for premier Stroud-Eckland ships and modules, concluding your galaxy-wide search for Ship Services Technicians.

Remember, each technician has a unique inventory of parts, so visit multiple locations to gather the best upgrades for your ship!

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Opening the modify ship menu

To open the modify ship menu in Starfield, you must first talk to a ship services technician NPC. From there, you can select "I'd like to view and modify my ships." You can then use LB and RB to select from the ships that you already own or have captured. Once you have selected your desired ship, you can press the A button to open the upgrade screen or the X button to open the Ship Builder screen.

It is important to note that to access the build menu, your cursor/crosshair must be pointed away from your ship components. Once your cursor is pointed away, you can press A/X to open the build menu.

The upgrade screen will allow you to change the engines, shield generator, grav drives, reactor, and three weapon systems. The Ship Builder screen will show an overview of your ship, including important stats such as Hull, Reactor Class, and Crew Capacity.

After making your desired modifications, you can press the start button to finalize your changes.

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Selecting a ship part

To select a single part, you simply click on it. However, if you are playing on an Xbox, it seems that you will need to click twice on a ship part to select it. This process will need to be repeated for each part of the ship you wish to paint.

Alternatively, you can select your entire ship to paint all at once. This is done by double-clicking on any part of the ship. This will highlight the entire ship, and you can then change its colour. This method is much faster than selecting individual parts, especially for larger ships.

The colour options are entirely up to you, and you can take inspiration from anywhere you like, such as other ships in science fiction or anime.

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Choosing a colour

If you're looking to paint your entire ship one colour, you'll need to select that option in the modify ship menu. To do this, head to any major city with a starport and find a Ship Service Technician. Talk to them and select "I'd like to view and modify my ships" to open the ships menu. From here, select the ship you want to modify and choose the "Paint" option. You can then select your colour of choice and adjust the hue, saturation, and brightness to your liking.

If you're feeling more creative, you can use various colours on different sections of your ship. In the painting menu, you'll have options for Colours 1, 2, 3, Hue, Saturation, Brightness, and Recent. Each colour option corresponds to a different section of the selected part, while the Hue determines the actual colour. The Saturation will determine how visible that colour is over the ship's regular colour. To make the ship one colour, you'll need to max out the saturation.

You can also change the entire colour of your ship at once by double-clicking on PC or double-tapping RB on your controller when hovering over a part of your ship. This will highlight all parts of the ship in red, and you can then select your colour of choice.

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Adjusting hue, saturation and brightness

When it comes to painting your ship in Starfield, the colour scheme is entirely up to you. You can draw inspiration from other ships in science fiction movies or shows, or even cool things from anime.

Now, if you want to adjust the hue, saturation, and brightness of your ship's colour, there are a few things you can do. Unfortunately, Starfield does not currently have any brightness adjustment settings, gamma settings, or options to adjust contrast in-game. However, there are a few workarounds you can use to adjust the brightness and lighting of your game, which will impact the overall appearance of your ship's colour.

For PC players with an NVIDIA graphics card, you can adjust the brightness and contrast by following these steps:

  • Press Win + S to open the Search box.
  • Type "NVIDIA Control Panel" into the search box and click on the relevant result.
  • Open the app and navigate to "Adjust Desktop Colour Settings" in the left pane.
  • From there, you can adjust the Brightness, Contrast, and Gamma settings according to your preferences.

If you do not see the Display settings option in your NVIDIA Control Panel, try updating your drivers. This can be done through the OEM Website, Device Manager, or Advanced Driver Updater.

For Xbox players, adjusting the brightness is a bit more complex. One approach is to adjust the brightness of your TV directly using your remote control, if that function is available. Alternatively, you can adjust the brightness on the Xbox itself by following these steps:

  • Press the Xbox Button to open Xbox Settings, then navigate to Profile and System.
  • Select “Settings” from the options available.
  • Scroll down to “Accessibility” and choose “Night Mode”.
  • Activate Night Mode, then select “Display” to adjust the brightness according to your preference.

Bethesda, the developers of Starfield, have announced that they will be adding brightness settings in upcoming updates, so keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, you can also adjust certain aspects of lighting and contrast in Starfield's Display settings, including Shadow Quality, Indirect Lighting, Volumetric Lighting, and Reflections. These options can be used to enhance the appearance of your ship's colour.

Frequently asked questions

Head to any major city with a starport and find a Ship Service Technician. Talk to them and select the option "I'd like to view and modify my ships". This will open up the ships menu where you can select the ship you want to modify. From here, select the "Paint" option and choose the colours you want. You can paint your entire ship one colour or get creative and use various colours on different sections.

Yes, you can either double-click on PC or double-tap RB on your controller when hovering over a part of your ship. This will highlight all parts of the ship in red. From there, press the colour button at the bottom of your screen and change the colour of all ship parts.

Yes, you can change the colours piece by piece for deeper customisation. You can also add accents by changing individual colours on certain parts of your ship.

The colour of your ship is entirely up to you. You can take inspiration from other ships in science fiction shows or movies, or cool things from anime.

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