Latest update 1.12.32 update definitely broke the game.

[Rusty Shackleford]

The audio cuts out, textures pop in and talking to some NPCs becomes impossible. I tried deleting old saves, disabled Creations (I only had the free Observatory) and tried the Disk Cache Enabler mod (ASI version since SFSE version is obsolete) and the game still stutters and cuts out audio like crazy. Seems to happen when walking around on planets/moons and my ship. Flying my ship as far as I can tell is unaffected. Before anyone asks, yes I'm on an SSD. I have a 4070 Ti, 16gb of RAM and an i9-9900K CPU so the game ran perfectly well before this last update even with my 200+ mods installed.

Edit: Solved. Ended up deleting some unneeded mods and moved around some stuff in my load order, reloaded the save I was having trouble with and now the game works fine again. So it was definitely one of the mods on my end.

[Ellorien]

Update broke the game? You sure it was not your 200 mods?

[Skumboni]

I hate to be the one that informs you of this, but it is your mods breaking the game. All those mods need to be updated. After you update all your mods, if there is still a problem then maybe some one can help. When you have a heavily modded game that works NEVER update the game or any mods.

[smr1957]

I posted this over in the Nexus forum in response to a question concerning CTDs when using a pre-existing build, and it is worth repeating here:

"The best bet for anyone, is to simply get rid of any mods containing plugins that were created and uploaded before the Creation Kit was released, as they were inherently improperly constructed due to not being made with the proper tools. Once a person has done that, they should start fresh and only use mods which have been created using the new CK and other properly constructed tools based upon it. Also, make sure that none of the plugins are .esp files - Starfield does not use .esp files and using them WILL break your game. See: Regarding Mods and Plugin Types (from PINNED TOPIC Helpful Links, References, and News[forums.nexusmods.com], Section 4 - Modding the Game).

Good luck!"

[townsgr]

Ship builder is broken and while trying to edit any ship = crash to desktop and Bethesda developers are lying about it too. And it has nothing to do with any mods either "fools on Steam"! Bug has been reported to Bethesda anyway.

[LeBurns]

Running about five mods right now, but before I even added them I've noticed some issues after this patch. Several times I hear NPC's talking, but their mouths are not moving yet. Several times I've seen placed items on planets just floating above the ground, in fact I see this on every landing site it seems now, but NEVER saw this before the patch. The jetpack explosion now has a 50% chance of exploding before the enemy goes flying off like they use to (don't know if this is a new bug or an adjustment they made to the feature).

These and other minor things. Note not game breaking, but noticeable.

[HeyYou]

Originally posted by LeBurns:

Running about five mods right now, but before I even added them I've noticed some issues after this patch. Several times I hear NPC's talking, but their mouths are not moving yet. Several times I've seen placed items on planets just floating above the ground, in fact I see this on every landing site it seems now, but NEVER saw this before the patch. The jetpack explosion now has a 50% chance of exploding before the enemy goes flying off like they use to (don't know if this is a new bug or an adjustment they made to the feature).

These and other minor things. Note not game breaking, but noticeable.

What always annoyed me was, hitting an enemies pack, and having them jet off to parts unknown on low gravity worlds...... They may drop their weapon, but, anything else they have is gone over the horizon.... I watched one guy launch into space...... Even with the scanner, fully zoomed out, I was unable to track him. :D

[LeBurns]

Originally posted by HeyYou:

What always annoyed me was, hitting an enemies pack, and having them jet off to parts unknown on low gravity worlds...... They may drop their weapon, but, anything else they have is gone over the horizon.... I watched one guy launch into space...... Even with the scanner, fully zoomed out, I was unable to track him. :D

LOL. Been there, done that. While I think it's a cool feature (especially when it sticks their heads into the ceiling leaving them hanging there) it's sad to see the loot just launch off into space.

[Falaris]

Originally posted by HeyYou:

What always annoyed me was, hitting an enemies pack, and having them jet off to parts unknown on low gravity worlds...... They may drop their weapon, but, anything else they have is gone over the horizon.... I watched one guy launch into space...... Even with the scanner, fully zoomed out, I was unable to track him. :D

I usually has a good giggle when that happens, I find it a bit funny. :)

I've never seen one disappear from the planet though, they always land somewhere. There seems to be a 'ceiling' and when they hit it they drop to the ground. Although, I've seen a few fall through the ground.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Originally posted by Ellorien:

Update broke the game? You sure it was not your 200 mods?

Game ran fine before the update with all my mods installed. I disabled some that I had installed on the day the update came out and used some older saves to test and the game lags, stutters and cuts audio in and out no matter what. I've even seen people talk about these issues with zero mods installed but for those people it could also be a hardware issue.

[veer]

Broke your game maybe, Didn't break Mine :)

[Vlad 254]

Updates will often cause issues on modded games that are not protected. This is nothing new. This is why we protect our games from updates until we are ready. Been that way for a very long time.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3200826503

[Mountain Man]

Originally posted by Rusty Shackleford:

...so the game ran perfectly well before this last update even with my 200+ mods installed.

Basic troubleshooting is to uninstall every mod, and then add them back one at a time until you figure which one(s) broke the game. Good luck.

[Ellorien]

Originally posted by Rusty Shackleford:

Originally posted by Ellorien:

Update broke the game? You sure it was not your 200 mods?

Game ran fine before the update with all my mods installed. I disabled some that I had installed on the day the update came out and used some older saves to test and the game lags, stutters and cuts audio in and out no matter what. I've even seen people talk about these issues with zero mods installed but for those people it could also be a hardware issue.

That’s exactly what 200 mods do after each update, in every game, every time — they break your game. Remember: YOU USE MODS AT YOUR OWN RISK. No one forced you to install mods.

It is preposterous to expect Bethesda or any other developer to coordinate their regular updates with thousands of modders (99.99999999900% of whom are incompetent) across the globe, and ensure the mountains of crap people habitually pollute their games with will not break their game. Mod authors are responsible for updating their mods as needed. And you for using these mods (at your own risk). Not the developer whose software is being altered and modified by random amateurs.

Sometimes official updates introduce new bugs or revive the old ones, sure, but when the players with 200 mods suddenly have severe issues after updates while the players who play vanilla (like me) don’t experience any issues at all then the answer is clear: 200 mods have something to do with it.

[SilverX95]

Originally posted by Rusty Shackleford:

The audio cuts out, textures pop in and talking to some NPCs becomes impossible. I tried deleting old saves, disabled Creations (I only had the free Observatory) and tried the Disk Cache Enabler mod (ASI version since SFSE version is obsolete) and the game still stutters and cuts out audio like crazy. Seems to happen when walking around on planets/moons and my ship. Flying my ship as far as I can tell is unaffected. Before anyone asks, yes I'm on an SSD. I have a 4070 Ti, 16gb of RAM and an i9-9900K CPU so the game ran perfectly well before this last update even with my 200+ mods installed.

Edit: Solved. Ended up deleting some unneeded mods and moved around some stuff in my load order, reloaded the save I was having trouble with and now the game works fine again. So it was definitely one of the mods on my end.

maybe you should just do a fresh-install of windows and make sure all the drivers are up to date.
in my cases my realtek audio drivers were a few months out of date.