A Starfield bug prevents players from being able to shoot

Bethesda and bugs go hand in hand, whether it's flying horses in Skyrim or NPCs floating in the air in Fallout 4. Starfield is no exception.

As reported by Eurogamer, some players have encountered an issue where their weapon suddenly stops working. It's neither blocked, jammed, nor broken—there are no repair hammers in space—it's just faulty. Interestingly, this is not a new problem, as it has already occurred in Fallout 4 before. The same old engine, the same old glitches.

Since the bug is old and already known, the solution is also known. You need to customize your character to get the weapon working again. I won't pretend to understand how a character customizer fixes a broken weapon, but it works. On PC, you can either change your gender using console commands or open the customization screen by typing 'showlooksmenu player 2'. Ironically, for console players, there is no console, so you have to visit an Enhance Clinic and spend 500 credits. However, you don't need to change your appearance, you just need to open the menu.

Unfortunately, this bug was never fixed in Fallout 4 after an impressive eight years, so it's unclear whether Bethesda will finally iron it out in Starfield. Admittedly, I myself encountered a version of this bug in Skyrim, a game that is now 12 years old. There's a possibility that your bow won't fire despite having arrows loaded. The fix for this issue is somewhat simpler: just rapidly press the holster button multiple times until everything resets. Another bug that people reported in Skyrim was that while bows were fired, the arrow immediately dropped limp to the ground. Interestingly, changing your perspective or unequipping clothing would fix this issue... which some players claim also resolves the Starfield bug. Why? Who knows.

As mentioned, Bethesda and bugs go hand in hand, and sometimes that means your weapons may occasionally experience performance issues. What exactly causes this in Starfield, if you want to prevent it and avoid being caught unprepared in a firefight, one player says it happened after they jumped from space onto a planet while the AI was scanning their ship. Others have confirmed this in the comments, so be cautious when undergoing an illegal possession check.

If you encounter the bug and find yourself in a situation where you need to fight before finding a clinic, some commenters claim that melee weapons still work. So always keep an axe handy or, in case of emergency, use your fists to protect yourself and find safety.