The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

THE BUZZ: Lag issues in the PlayStation 3 version of Skyrim are ruining the game for players, and so far Bethesda has yet to find a solution. Obsidian’s Josh Sawyer claimed that the problem was at an engine level and would take a long time to fix, but Bethesda has rubbished these claims.

Sawyer claimed that the problem was, ”an engine-level issue with how the save game data is stored,” adding, “We’re talking about how the engine fundamentally saves off and references data at run time. Restructuring how that works would require a large time commitment.”

Bethesda’s Pete Hines has come out on Twitter to rubbish these claims saying, ”No, it isn’t true. He brings up issues we solved long ago. Josh Sawyer did not work on Skyrim nor this engine and his comments don’t reflect how the current tech works.”

Hines has also offered some ways of alleviating the lag on the official Bethesda forums:

As we continue to work on updates for PS3 (as well as Xbox 360 and PC), here are some helpful pointers that can help the game’s performance.

Turn off auto saves. This can cause temporary stuttering since the PS3 saves these files in the background. This is most noticeable with large saves when fast traveling to a new area or entering a new area that auto saves.

Clear space on your hard drive. Skyrim makes heavy use of the hard drive, and freeing up space on here seems to help many people. Hard drive speeds also differ in PS3 models. Some users have reported increase performance by upgrading their drives.

Waiting for time to pass. Many things are running in the world depending on what quests you’ve done or places you have visited. Using Wait or Rest options, passing time will clear up some of these. It depends how long you wait, it may take up to 30 days for some items. Saving, resetting, and loading after this will have the largest effect.

EGM’s TAKE: It appears that Bethesda either has no idea of how to fix this issue or they know that a lot of time will be needed to provide a proper fix. Whichever the answer, it’s not looking good for PlayStation 3 owners.

Do you feel Bethesda should offer some form of compensation for the PlayStation 3 issues? Leave your thoughts below.

Source: Twitter