During the Heart of Mars quest, you may encounter a bug where the Heart of Mars quest item glitches underneath a boulder that you can’t see to mine with your Cutter no matter what you do.
This can be frustrating because you can’t finish the Heart of Mars quest without getting the Heart.
Remember that this isn’t an issue with your specific Cutter, and you don’t need to find an upgrade for it. Unfortunately, this appears to be bugged for most players as they report the issue on social media. Here’s how to Fix the Heart of Mars Bug in Starfield so you can get the Heart and finish the quest.
Related: Starfield Cutter Upgrade: How to Get a Better Cutter in Starfield
How to Extract the Heart of Mars in Starfield
Here’s how to fix the Heart of Mars bug in Starfield:
- Press the Tilde key (~) to open the console
- Type tcl to disable collision
- Clip through the floor
- Mine the boulder with your Cutter (you must get super close)
- Type tcl enable collision
This workaround can effectively solve the Heart of Mars bug while we await an official fix from Bethesda. You’ll need to be able to use console commands to perform this fix. This usually only works on PC, but if you’re only on console, you can plug a keyboard into your Xbox and input console commands.
Note: This guide’s featured image shows the bug, while the secondary image shows what it looks like if your game isn’t bugged.
The problem happens because the Heart glitches underneath the floor, and you must destroy the boulder to get to it. You can accomplish this using the tcl console command, which disables collision. This allows you to clip into the floor and then mine the boulder. Based on successful reports from other players, it appears best if you are either underneath the boulder or inside the boulder.
However, when you open the command console you will be given a warning that the use of certain commands will disable achievements. There is no list of which commands break achievements so keep this in mind if you want to proceed before the bug is patched.
Related: Full Starfield Console Commands List
However, if you don’t want to mess with the console, there may be another way you can fix the Heart of Mars bug in Starfield. One Reddit poster said that they had to find the perfect angle with their Cutter, and they could mine the boulder.
From what they said, they could aim their Cutter’s reticle on the boulder, slightly to the left side. However, it appears you won’t get the standard mining prompt that makes your target red, but you will still be able to mine it.
Hopefully, Bethesda fixes this Heart of Mars bug soon, but to make progress now, you’ll need to use console commands or find the perfect angle just as the Reddit user did. Good luck!
How to Fix the Heart of Mars Bug in Starfield on Xbox
If you don’t have a keyboard, your only solution is to load the game to an older save file and start the quest again. Doing so may result in the quest sending you to a different location, significantly increasing the chances of not dealing with this bug.
Aside from that, as already mentioned above, you can also plug a keyboard into your Xbox and use the solution above. Unfortunately, these are the only two known methods to fix the issue. It’s wise to save before starting the mission to make sure you won’t lose any progress if the bug happens again. That said, this event is highly unlikely to occur twice consecutively.
Author’s Note: I wrote this guide while playing Starfield on Xbox Series S.
