The game-killing lag experienced by some PS3 Skyrim players isn't tied to large save files, according to game director Todd Howard.
"But for certain users it literally depends on how they play the game, varied over a hundred hours and literally what spells they use. Did they go in this building? [And so on.]
"It's literally the things you've done in what order and what's running," he added. "Some of the things are literally what spells do you have hot-keyed? Because, as you switch to them, they handle memory differently."
Howard admitted his development team were aware PS3 was going to run into a "bad memory situation" that might affect "a small percentage" of players, but says Bethesda did everything it could to try to prevent that from happening. "We did a ton more testing this time around, so the game is definitely our most solid release regardless of platform."
Speaking on the day Skyrim's 1.4 patch released, Howard said the work carried out for the game's most recent update was based on data from PS3 gamers' save files submitted to Bethesda throughout December. He expected the patch to address PS3 issues for many players, but was aware it wouldn't eliminate the problems for all of them.
"Now that we've been through this, we're not naïve enough to say, 'We have seen everything,' because we have to assume we haven't. There are still going to be some people who have to come back to us and say, 'Ok, my situation is this.' [Our response is:] 'OK, send us your saved game.'
"We literally need to look at what you have running. We tried doing it through e-mail. We need to open the saved game comes up and look at it. We've got one guy who has seven dragons on the other side of the world, and a siege about to happen in this city and another 20 quests running. And, ok, this is what the game is trying to do and it's having a hard time running that."
Comments
40 comments so far...
tedmaul on 16 Feb '12 said:
I have the 360 version,and even though it is a fine example of just how good video games can be,it is just too frustrating to play.
I have now racked up 150+hours and only have the civil war quests to do.Unfortunately it is broken and refuses to let me progress.
Think I might trade it in for Soul Calibur and wait for the GOTY edition.
dicky1993 on 16 Feb '12 said:
excuses excuses
slick loose on 16 Feb '12 said:
Yet it was still released, shocking really.
Ali_ on 16 Feb '12 said:
The PS3 isn't coping, or your engine isn't properly optimised for PS3?
tmten on 16 Feb '12 said:
It's down to poor coding, plain and simple. And yeah, given that it was a known problem, it shouldn't have been released.
Nitramuse on 16 Feb '12 said:
I don't know. It might be a case of head-in-the-sand. "Oh, customers will buy Skyrim whatever the state." But the world of Skyrim is huge, and everything you can do is huge. Skyrim remembers the bodies you've left out in the woods, it remembers the weapons you've stored/dropped, all those skills, all those (local) maps, all those NPC's.... I can imagine that the PS3 with its 256MB VRAM has a problem coping with it.
I mean, it's all down to the memory right? The X360 had 3 cores, and the PS3 had 7 of 'em. It can't be the CPU, right?
drpunk on 16 Feb '12 said:
Two things jump out at me from that article.
1. Badly designed.
2. Due to number 1, impossible to fully fix.
Windowlicker79 on 16 Feb '12 said:
Todd, stop saying "literally".
FixBeatGames on 16 Feb '12 said:
this X 1,000,000
STEVONYMO on 16 Feb '12 said:
So you released a faulty product. Thank F you don't make pace makers!
Soviet1918 on 16 Feb '12 said:
The game-killing lag experienced by some PS3 Skyrim players isn't tied to large save files, according to game director Todd Howard.
Well Todd bet yer £5 it is. "talk about easy money id feel guilty taking it",
Now if the PS3 had a 7200rpm hard drive it wouldnt be a problem.
corkscru74 on 16 Feb '12 said:
Can't be that frustrating then
But seriously, although I can't condone any studio releasing a buggy game that needs fixing via the internet (because what if some poor sap doesn't have access?!) I'd still rather a studio was ambitious and over-reached than played it safe and delivered a mediocre experience.
I started gaming in the 80s with the Commodore Pet and Commodore 64, Skyrim constantly causes me to look back and be in awe of how far game design has come. I can't remember any other game that's made me do that...ok, maybe HL2
Dralel on 16 Feb '12 said:
Obviously, this problem will never be 100% fixed mainly because of the shared physical and logical RAM the PS3 decides to have implemented.
The Bossman on 16 Feb '12 said:
The massive combination of choices you can do and make, of course it'll be near impossible to code every single input into the game. Some things will mess the game up, just be careful and vigilant with your save games. I saved every 5 mins on the Fallout games because I knew they kept freezing the PS3, but at least Skyrim runs a lot smoother at this juncture.
MPH on 16 Feb '12 said:
Literally this, literally.
BenThomasFoster on 16 Feb '12 said:
Well it's either p**s off "small percentage of ps3 users" for not delaying the game or p**sing off every Xbox, PC and working ps3 versions for delaying the game. Either way it's not bethesdas fault ps3 is up to scratch.
Mmmmgrolsch on 16 Feb '12 said:
He admits he's a c**t for selling a faulty product? He should offer everyone a full refund for misleading PS3 gamers into believing they were buying a finished product.
If he knew about the game having a serious fault then he should have put a warning on the box "buy at your own risk as we haven't finished this game and it has serious faults. It may or may not work as intended"
KK-Headcharge78 on 16 Feb '12 said:
I can't help but think that if Skyrim was an EA or Activision game we would hear far more about it's problems. A game needing patches and a game that is broken are very different things and even if it is just one PS3 user who has a knacked game I personally don't feel the publisher is doing anywhere near enough especially considering how well the game has sold.
drpunk on 16 Feb '12 said:
Really?
Graphics have come a long way but game design hasn't. Most RPG games are the same as the old text based games, just with a graphical representation. So instead of typing "walk over there and pick that up" you hold a joystick in a direction and press a button to pick it up. Underneath the graphics they're pretty much the same.
nb_nmare2 on 16 Feb '12 said:
Joystick? What decade are you living in?
vitorfernandes83 on 16 Feb '12 said:
This is the reason why I pirate games, because 95% of games are just not good, and the other 5% good ones like Skyrim are not finished. Come next generation, I'd like to buy the games, unless they continue to make crap. The only game this generation that I'd pay full price is Mario Galaxy 2, lots of variety, originallity, fun, no bugs, no updates or DLC required, no loadings bigger than a couple seconds. Games such call of duty and clones, are not even worth my free time, let alone pay for them.
tedmaul on 17 Feb '12 said:
Wow!Why don't people such as yourself just admit that you are thieves.Skyrim may be bug ridden and broken,but it is the result of many years of hard work by a large bunch of people.
Would you break into and rob somebody's house because the decorating was not to your taste?Would you mug a pensioner because she wasn't dressed in a way that pleases you?You are a thief and therefore a scumbag.
Please do not come on a video game site and try to justify your scumbaggery.(is that a word?If not,then why not)
It is because of vile scum like you that people have to pay silly amounts for games.
You are not a pirate,you are a thief.
Imaduck on 17 Feb '12 said:
The PC actually has similar probs with some cards etc. I'm pretty positive the problem comes down to this - the game is failing to clear some sort of cache. It just piles info up sometimes, so you get slowdown after a while of play, though on the PC restarting the game fixes this. It could be a memory leak, but personally I think the game needs a "purge cell buffer" type device added to keep it all clean.
vitorfernandes83 on 17 Feb '12 said:
It's not robbing, because I'd never buy a broken game, in fact I don't even pirate it, my time is too precious to waste it in broken Skyrim, I have 2 jobs to attend to. An example, battlefield 3 I played for like 30min before I got bored and never plaed it again. It's more like a demo to me, if you play a demo your not stealing. And believe me, I payed for games just until a couple months ago, when I reallized I was being ripped off by paying to crap games all the time.
The Bossman on 19 Feb '12 said:
^ You're a total knobhead. You are stealing, you're stealing the work and effort the developers have spent years making, just so your fat hands can play the game for 30 mins then EH IM BORD OF DIS NOW and move onto another illegal download. You're pathetic.
Windowlicker79 on 19 Feb '12 said:
Just read his post. The guy is clearly an uneducated miscreant and probably doesn't even understand the problem that he's contributing to.
slick loose on 19 Feb '12 said:
He has been reported and he did receive a warning, any more talk like that and he won't be posting here again.
DON'Y PLAY PIRATED GAMES KIDS!
Flamestrike on 19 Feb '12 said:
Oh get off your high horse you moron.
And please, will people like you stop comparing piracy to muggin old ladies, it's not the same by any stretch of the imagination.
I bet every single person here is guilty of piracy at one point or another in their lives. Such a bunch of hypocrites.
slick loose on 19 Feb '12 said:
Yes but the difference is that he his boasting about it publicly in the article comments. He's also just admitted not paying for ANY game this generation because he feels they are not worth buying. Yet they are worth downloading....
Flamestrike on 19 Feb '12 said:
So its okay to pirate as long as you don't boast about it is basically what you're saying? Bit of an odd stance, Slick.
I'm also curious to know whether all those hurling abuse his way have NEVER pirated anything in their entire lives. I bet my left b*****k they have, even if just the odd MP3. I know for a fact that anyone in their mid to late 30's updwards recorded radio 1 on a Sunday tea time when the chart countdown was on.
On topic, never had any issues with Skyrim on ps3. Got lucky I guess.
slick loose on 19 Feb '12 said:
It's not OK but what we don't know, won't annoy us. I don't care if you beat old ladies in your spare time, just don't boast about it on here.
Windowlicker79 on 19 Feb '12 said:
So you now only download these "crap" games? And you don't ever like any of them? Then why do you even bother? Why not find another interest?
Flamestrike on 19 Feb '12 said:
Do you or ever have pirated music, films or games, Slick?
slick loose on 19 Feb '12 said:
When I was a teen I pirated a Hell of a lot! But then I realized how scummy it was when I moved out of my mums house and became a man! These days I torrent American TV shows Supernatural, Grimm and The Walking Dead, but that is down to how long it can take for UK broadcasters to show them. And yes I have seasons 1-6 of Supernatural on DVD, I'm waiting for Grimm to be released on DVD and I have The Walking Dead season 1 on Blu-ray. I don't download anything unless I intend to buy it and those are the only 3 things I download.
People who just download with no intention of buying the product are thieves, plain and simple. I get it if you're a teenager, you just don't give a s**t, but you should really grow out of it at some point.
That's just my opinion, mind.
Izo on 19 Feb '12 said:
Just to let people know boasting about piracy is not welcomed, some of you may see it as harmless and think it's an overreaction on our part but on many sites such things get an instant ban. The topic of committing piracy is one sites want to avoid due to not attracting attention of not only the people into that activity but the attention of various other parties, if you do it then that's down to you but don't go boasting about it on here.
slick loose on 19 Feb '12 said:
Damn, Izo! That's how I wanted to sound...I am still young at this mod game
vitorfernandes83 on 20 Feb '12 said:
I never say I didnt buy any game this generation like someone said, I indeed bought all my games until a couple months ago when I realised gaming is getting worse, just like music. And yes indeed I have other hobbies, I spend around 15 hours per week reading books, and more watching TV, I have been playing about 2 hours per week and decreasing. As I said I only try the games, I have bought recently Dead space 2, Mass effect 2, Uncharted 3, Mario Galaxy and Pikmin 2, all from ebay. I intend to buy the Wii U and buy all my games from Nintendo.
To all the people that rent games, your stealing as well, trying games without buying them. To all the people that watch a movie on tv, you're stealing, you didnt buy the DVD. Now that I think about it, everyone I knew was recording tv, that's stealing, you're getting it for free.
I am sure 99% of the commenters here have pirated music or tv shows/movies, despite what they say.
slick loose on 20 Feb '12 said:
Watching a film on TV isn't stealing, they get money from the channel showing it. Otherwise they wouldn't sell their films to the channels in the first place.
vitorfernandes83 on 21 Feb '12 said:
I completely understand that, but then again, everyone has a box with HDD and are recording the movies, isnt that piracy? Owning a collection of movies they didnt pay for? Either way, I try the games, the ones I really like I buy, everyone knows pirated games are not as good as real ones, first of all you cant play online with pirated, just like a torrent of a movie doesnt have the same quality as a Bluray, either video and sound. Still, nobody's innocent, even if you claim to be an adult paying, I bet your children get stuff free from the internet. Have you ever recorded a disc with a selection of your songs, but then you lend to your friends? Even libraries for example, people read books for free, they're not stealing, me at least I buy the books I like, a wonderfull feature on the Kindle that lets you try the book before you decide to buy. I know I could download demos, unfortunatly I dont have internet at home, so my only option would be to download the demos from the internet, if I could.
vitorfernandes83 on 21 Feb '12 said:
Despite all said, I'm really considering adering to Lovefilm, I think it would be a good way of trying the games before buying. Come next generation I really hope they would implement strong anti-piracy measures, or at least let the real disc have advantages, be it better graphics or online play.