This guide (hopefully) resolves the famous Starbound issue where Starbound is locked to 1 core.
 

Starbound ???????? why? ?

Anyone who has played Starbound longer than 15 minutes, regardless if mods are installed, will have experienced some level of lag/fps slowdown/freeze. It could be as simple as picking up an item from a broken chest or the game freezing for a few second. This is not the best way to play the game. It can lead to immersion breaks and it is just not fun to be fighting while the game freezes, unfreezes, and then the fight is over. Below are some factors that I believe can cause any game to freeze or slow down. There are also details that can be fixed.
 
 
The Game Has Its Problems
 
 

• Starbound is entirely run on your CPU. (This is the CPU's handling of all graphical computation. This will be important for understanding).
   
   
  FIX: No, you can't. Simply put, this was how the game came to be.
• VSync is disabled by default – So this one is another "unless they're looking for them" kinda issue. Starbound uses the CPU for all its processes. V-Sync makes the CPU do a lot more work, which can cause a slowdown.
   
   
  FIX: enter your storage folder for your Starbound, typically located (storage with steam games on it)/Steam/steamapps/common/Starbound/storage/ Inside there is your starbound config file, open that up, scroll to the bottom where you will find "vsync" : true ,Switch that to "vsync" : false .
• 64 Bit Starbound has an known memory leak. I don't understand why this hasn't been addressed yet. It is a known issue that affects Lua scripts. In instances where Starbound shouldnt be using more memory than 1 GB, it can spike to your entire RAM load in a matter of seconds and then go back to normal in the next. Or just sit there for the rest of the session.
   
   
  FIX:You won't be able to, according to my current understanding. This is a problem that requires a patch or update to the game. To fix this, you can boot the game in 64-bit to complete the 32-bit version of the issue. Once you're done, you can switch back to 32-bit.
• This was the original game that was created on Linux. I don't mean to criticize Linux users or the operating systems, but Starbound was written on Linux and runs better than Windows. Most people run Windows or MacOs so you will have a less optimized and more problematic experience than someone who runs the game on Linux.
   
   
  FIX: The game can be run on linux or on your regular operating systems. Let's hope they fix the issues one day, as mods don't have access to the engine.
• The more you zoom out, the more the game needs to draw on the screen. More things to draw on the screen = more things for your cpu = more lag, etc.
   
   
  FIX: Turn on the zoom in the settings.

 
 
Issues that could be caused by the player
 
 
Starbound's "Starbound has a slow loading" issues are largely due to Starbound's design. However, some situations and sources could be caused by actions that the player takes. Here are some possible causes for your game to slow down. The simple answer to the majority is to stop doing X, X being whatever is outlined below.
 
 

• Too many quests Starbound checks the status of all quests. This includes fetch quests. Starbound runs scripts that check if each quest is complete. While this is minimal for smaller numbers, such as 5-10, it becomes much more noticeable when you accept more than 25.
• Filling chests containing items with complex buildscripts Starbound has a variety of ways to handle how items are represented within chests. Resources, for example, are used to fill chests. While blocks, liquids and crafting materials have simple buildscripts (codex entries, codex entries etc), weapons, armor and mech pieces, as well as saplings, require more complex buildscripts in order to be recognized in the inventory. These items can cause lag in modded storage, mass storage, large boxes.
• Large numbers or NPCs, farm animals, enemies, and tethered Npcs/pets can cause a game to slow down. It is fine to have 10 npcs but 100 is excessive. I'll discuss a method that may allow you to have more Npcs/mobs on your screen at the same time later, but it depends on each case.
• Rails – Like all of em, you'll know what to expect. You can find many mods that try to fix this issue. Feel free to peruse them at your leisure.
• Broken/Outdated Mods: This one is on you, if you use broken or outdated mods, you could run into issues that are clearly not the intended function or outcome. In mild cases, something can't be craftable or a quest can't be turned in. Worst-case scenario? Worst case scenario?
• Too Many mods/Script heavy Mods Your game will lag if you use 150+ mods and many script heavy mods. Period. You should read guides and look at videos if you are new to modding games. It is important to understand what you are doing and why it is important. If you rush to modify a game, you might end up with game corruption, missing/inaccessible material, or the game not starting.

 
It's also worth noting that any mods that claim to "Increase FPS" and "Unlock Thread/Cores", are either completely fraudulent or lying. Starbound Mods DO NOT do not have the engine access required to perform feats such as these mods claim. It doesn't matter how plausible they make it sound, or how much jargon and mumbo jumbo you hear about them, their mod is incorrect or lying.
 
 
 

1 Core CPU FIX ??????? ?

Starbound only runs on CPU. However, that's not all Starbound has to offer. Starbound only runs with the first core of your CPU. There have been many mods that claim their mod is the key to unlocking other cores. But, as I said earlier, these claims were false. This is a game that has been unchanged for many years. Although it seems like a 2D game, Starbound runs on your CPU. However, all computations that the GPU would normally handle are handled by the CPU. All scripts, mods and their respective scripts are also handled by the CPU. Eventually, the game will hit a hard limit and lag. Although a change to Starbound may be coming one day, i was not prepared to wait. I began looking for ways to give Starbound the extra CPU speed it needs.
 
 
Starbound can be tricked to use as many cores you want by going into task manger and changing core affinity.
 
 
This can be done by opening up Starbound in either 32 or 64 Bit.
 
 

• Open your task manager and click on the details tab
• Right click on Starbound.exe, and you will find it.
• Click on the set affinity button and then open that
• Uncheck your core (. Usually core 0-, and any additional processors you may want to use. (It is important to not uncheck all processors as the OK option will become unavailable)).
• Next, press OK to go back into the set affinity. Re-check your cores and press OK again.
• Results.

 
 

 

 
I have been using it for the past few days and have noticed a decrease in stutters, freezes and lag. It is running much smoother than before setting up core affinity. While I am not sure if this is a permanent fix, you might still experience lag in the worst of cases. However, this is not the magic bullet that Starbound needs. Best of luck to all!

 
 

 
 
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