If you’re finding yourself constantly encumbered in Starfield, here are some tips to help clear your inventory of some of that extra carry weight.

Being encumbered in a Bethesda game is a rite of passage, but it’s also a real pain to deal with your inventory in Starfield.

Picking up everything with the hopes of selling it later will result in you quickly being encumbered. Here’s what that means and how you can avoid it:

What Does Encumbered Mean in Starfield?

Being encumbered in Starfield means that you’re carrying too much Mass in your inventory, as you’ve picked up too many items.

When you’re encumbered, you’ll suffer from the following effects:

• Moving faster than a walk will lead to losing Oxygen fast, and eventually taking damage
• You will be unable to fast travel

A message will pop up in the corner of the screen, informing you that ‘Running While Encumbered Will Quickly Drain Your Oxygen!’

How to Fix Being Encumbered in Starfield

To stop being encumbered in Starfield, you need to remove some items from your inventory by using them, dropping them, or storing them somewhere else.

When you’ve shifted sufficient weight from your inventory and you’re once again below your given Mass limit, you’ll stop being encumbered.

But to avoid this issue in the future, here are some tips to help you avoid ever becoming encumbered again in Starfield!

How to Stop Being Encumbered in Starfield

Sell Regularly & Don’t Forget Contraband!

Every time you return to a major port in Starfield, be sure to sell off all the items you don’t need.

This can be done at Trade Authority Kiosks, which are available near where you park your ship, outside the game’s biggest cities such as New Atlantis.

But bear in mind that the Kiosks don’t allow you to sell Contraband, or stolen items. In fact, these items don’t show up on the sell list whatsoever.

To sell off those stolen goods that are weighing you down, you’ll need to instead head to one of these Trade Authority store locations! We recommend The Den in the Wolf star system, as it’ll help you avoid getting scanned by the authorities along the way.

Also, don’t hold onto your food, sell it whenever possible. Although you may consider holding onto it for its health restoration benefits, food is usually not worth the extra weight when medicine is so effective in Starfield.

Sort Your Inventory By Weight

Not sure why you’re carrying so much Mass? Try sorting your inventory by weight and you’ll soon have your answer.

Bring up your inventory, and then press the Left Stick in or hit Z to change its sort method. Sorting by WT (Weight) will result in the heaviest items appearing at the top of the list.

For the most part, you’ll find that weapons and spacesuits take up more Mass than expected. But watch out for Ship Parts which each weigh a whopping 10kg each.

As for where you should store your more essential items, here are a few options:

Using Ship Storage

Did you know that your ship contains some additional storage for you to utilize? While close to your ship, simply open the menu, select the ship screen in the bottom left, and press X / F to open your Cargo Hold.

If you’re close by, you’ll be able to take and store items here freely. You can also store items in your ship storage from an onboard Cargo Hold screen, or put items in your Captain’s Locker in the cockpit.

Of course, bear in mind that your ship only has a limited amount of storage too!

But by modifying it at a Ship Services Technician (found near the landing pad of many major cities), you can add additional cargo and increase that storage space.

Offloading on Companions

No, we’re not talking about venting your frustrations with being encumbered here – you can actually offload your extra weight onto your traveling companions.

Simply interact with any of your companions to get them to follow you, where they’ll act as a walking, talking storage container.

By talking to them while out and about, you can ask to trade with them. And by doing so, you can dump your heavier items into their waiting arms.

Just don’t forget to take it back when it’s time to sell!

Don’t Neglect Your Skills

Put some points into the Weight Lifting Skill and you’ll be able to raise your total carrying capacity by up to 100kg!

You’ll need to use 4 Skill Points to get that strong, however, and each one will require you to complete a challenge (sprinting while holding sufficient weight) before unlocking the ability to purchase the next rank.

It’s not just Skills that can help out either. Certain clothing items can also increase your carry capacity, so long as you continue to wear them.

Companions can also have Skills to help out with storage issues. For example, the Adoring Fan has two ranks in Weight Lifting, giving him more storage space in his inventory for you to dump items into!

Infinite Storage Box

Finally, we come to our friend the infinite storage box. This handy little container is waiting for you in the basement of The Lodge (AKA Constellation HQ) and it will never run out of space.

We find it’s best to offload all your Resources here, as it’s right next to every kind of crafting or research station in the game. That way you can pick up everything in the storage box all at once, and dump it back in – all with a single button press.

Interact with the container, switch to Inventory, and then select Resources and press RB / T to ‘Store All Resources’.

When you’re ready to use them to craft, simply return to the box, hit X then X again (or R then R) to open it and Take All items.

Now that you’re a master of avoiding becoming encumbered in Starfield, get out there are explore the galaxy with a load off your mind (and back)!