Bethesda addresses Skyrim issues plaguing some PS3 users

Bethesda says that, despite releasing an update to fix issues, it is aware some PS3 gamers are still experiencing problems with its recently released title The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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In an update to its original blog post dated December 1, developer Bethesda has said it is aware some Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim players on PlayStation 3 are still experiencing "long-term play issues" despite the release of update 1.2, which was meant to alleviate those problems.

According to the update, Bethesda is "reaching out" to a number of users that use multiple save files in order to detect the exact problem. "Right now we know it's not one thing, but a combination of smaller ones that some folks are seeing, but others are not."

According to the update, some of the issues may include problems with the PlayStation 3 version autosaving, "SPU AI updates," and Skyrim's "dynamic system memory allocation." Fixes for these issues "are not in the current 1.3 update that is in final testing," the blog reveals; however, they "will be in future ones."

The update goes on to say the developer understands how frustrating it can be for the game to be giving some users issues and thanks gamers for their continued feedback and patience. "Rest assured we take your gameplay experience seriously and will continue working on this until it's resolved," the post added.

Earlier this week, Fallout: New Vegas developer Joshua Sawyer blamed PS3's restrictive RAM for "engine-level" issues that cause performance lag in Bethesda games.

Xav de Matos was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    December 6, 2011 11:15 AM

    Xav de Matos posted a new article, Bethesda addresses Skyrim issues plaguing some PS3 users.

    Bethesda says that, despite releasing an update to fix issues, it is aware some PS3 gamers are still experiencing problems with its recently released title The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

    • reply
      December 6, 2011 11:34 AM

      Awesome, a "Technical Issues" tag. Bugs happen in video games, so it's nice to scan back to previous issues and compare how studios handle them.

      Good to see Bethesda being classier about their PS3 release's issues; then again, they released last month, while Obsidian released New Vegas in October 2010, and so they're basically (but not officially) end-of-lifing the game (aside from DLC sales) so they can concentrate on their next project.

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      December 6, 2011 11:57 AM

      I wish this was the old Shacknews, the one where you guys would ask them some questions. The 360 is plagued by issues. The one I have is easily googled, rescue mission 360 bug. Cannot continue until it's fixed and it has been there since day 1.

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        December 6, 2011 12:00 PM

        Shacknews is dead! Long Live Shacknews!

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        December 6, 2011 12:04 PM

        If you submit a concern to us, we will investigate. We don't know what is happening in your particular game.

        I can't speak to "the old Shacknews" but we always look into situations when our readers send us word of concerns, but we need to know your concerns.

        Examples:
        http://www.shacknews.com/article/71404/ea-online-passes-do-not-expire-as-long-as-game
        http://www.shacknews.com/article/70847/batman-arkham-city-save-files-disappearing-for-some-users

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          December 6, 2011 12:17 PM

          Ask them if they ever will turn on LAA (large address aware) for the PC executable, and if not why.
          This one is pretty much a no-brainer, yet they never enable it.

          You use to be able to enable in the executable by editing the .exe, but they updated it so that Steam checks the exe for consistency and that no longer works. Now there's a mod/hack that enables it, but why should we have to jump through a bunch of hoops when they could just compile it into the executable.

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            December 6, 2011 12:27 PM

            ^^^^ Seriously.

            The one major problem that seems to affect most PC users across the board and they haven't even publicly recognized the issue.

            Now I know why the Shack recommends buying Bethsoft games 3 months after release. I've learned my lesson. Still, I love this fucking game.

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            December 6, 2011 12:58 PM

            I have a nagging feeling the answer is "recompiling for LAA would force us to go through another QA cycle, and we don't want to do that." Surr, the flag switch was easy, but it wasn't tested.

            Remember back when Crytek would put out an x64 executable for Crysis? Too bad that didn't become a trend for PC games, especially for games that use larger assets in the PC version, or whose code leaks and crashes under more restrictive environments.

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              December 6, 2011 2:30 PM

              but it wasn't tested.

              Just like the rest of the game apparently.

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          December 8, 2011 11:22 AM

          I had to turn all the auto save optioins off or else the game would lock up. Now its an exercise in frustration as I continually lose progress. Low frame rate was preferrable to this.....should have got it on the PC. :(

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        December 6, 2011 12:19 PM

        That's pretty bad, but the the people encountering the PS3 Skyrim "huge saves slow down the game" problem were far louder.

        Also, old old Shacknews was 95% reposts from other news sites, and 5% Evening Reading. Things aren't quite that bad, but pale to the halcyon days of 2007 to 2009.

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        December 6, 2011 1:29 PM

        luckily i've yet to run into any show stopping 360 issues. a few console hard locks but nothing that's a regular occurence. i haven't installed 1.2 though and am waiting for 1.3

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      December 6, 2011 12:28 PM

      The lag issues are annoying, but the biggest problem by far for me is that there are several quests I cannot complete because the quest giver or receiver will not go into dialog. They just keep spouting the same line over and over again.

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      December 6, 2011 5:08 PM

      Mr. Sawyer is professional in his field so I won't argue with him (especially since my coding days ended with ProDOS), but it seems to me an excuse rather than dealing with the engine and making it work for its intended platform.

      Yes the PS3 has odd memory allocation, yes the XBOX has no mandatory HDD requirement and the PC has hundreds of configurations that can cause bugs and bad performance. You go into developing a game knowing this and you do what you need to do to get the game out on time and up to snuff. Bethesda does not seem to have this down yet.

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        December 7, 2011 12:47 PM

        I agree with you completely at the end of the day you were hired to do a job and that job needs to be done. Some one had to known that the PS3 memory allocation was odd and could cause a problem there should have been some kind word put or at least discussion " Hey guys the PS3 we know has an odd memory configuration so lets keep a look out for any problems that may cause that are exclusive to system."

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