This is so simple I can't believe it STILL hasn't been fixed, even with the PC 1.4 update.

At present, Weapons/Shields dropped by dying NPCs are NEVER cleaned up, and contribute to savegame bloating (not to mention being a serious eyesore over time for long-term players).

The fix? Set the GMST 'iDeathDropWeaponChance' to '0'. It's that simple!

NPCs will still drop their weapons/shields on death, but placing the cursor over them will access the dead NPCs inventory instead of the weapon itself. This is already the behaviour on NPCs killed in stealth or killed via script, and the items in question will be cleaned up along with the corpses if the player chooses not to pick them up. Believe it or not, we're not all compulsive trash collectors.

With this change made, savegame bloat is reduced, game behaviour becomes more consistent and we don't have to play 'Garbage Collector of Skyrim' all the freakin' time. There are NO negative consequences to doing this (weapons still fall to the ground as usual and it doesn't affect scripting), and it's already tested & confirmed as working on PC. We had a whole thread about it until Beth deleted the beta forum.

Bethesda, I beg you, change the GMST for us poor console users who can't do it ourselves. At least make it an option. I honestly can't face playing the game until this is sorted... I spend more time in the menu sifting through draugh junk than actually exploring.

Yes.

i agree

+ 1

I'm with you.

Bump +1

I agree, Bethesda needs to see this.

I hope they see this.. It would be so simple for them to add aswell..

I endorse this message.

If it does not get added I will personally make Tod Howard cry. Don't make me come down there.

Sorry for my noobish question, is this in the SkyrimPrefs.ini and do I have to add it under a particular title Eg: [DISPLAY] or is it in Skyrim_default.ini in the install directory?. I want to give it a go.

Ah yes, even when I drop items they stay there, causing big save files. I also would like the dead bodies to disappear or respawn because them staying also causes huge svae file growth. I agree.

I don't do the cleanup thing in the game. Its not what I recognise as the problem with it. So for those that don't like the idea of having to do so, then know that you don't have to. I've always wondered whether this ordeal with playing garbage collector only seems to benifit people with really bugged gamesaves or not. It doesn't seem to make any difference to my game.

My entire game has everything right where it always was unless we're talking about the first 60hrs of the game where I collected everything and sold it for cash to build up the smithing/enchanting/alchemy. Its also useful when I run outta ammo sometimes lol as I didn't choose the perk that lets me recover twice as many arrows as I normally would. Anyone know if that perk actually works btw?

This was a problem even back in Morrowind for Xbox. If you didn't "dispose of corpse" all the time the game would eventually freeze, and you wouldn't know why.

where do i enter it, i suspect it needs to be modded in, and are there any disadvantages?

You don't enter anything if you have the ps3-version.

The trash weapons have been proven to increase save game size (not that this needed proving, anyone with any experience in the TESCS could tell you this). Bugs in the game can occur due to a huge variety of factors, but bloated save files are a known, common culprit and any effort to eliminate bloating is a positive step.

If you don't use fast travel (and indeed, many people don't) you encounter the same re-spawns more frequently, and can build up an incredible amount of junk in certain areas. Add in the fact that the game can only track X amount of objects in any given cell before it explodes, and you have a problem. And of course, there's the aesthetic/continuity argument - most people seem to want that junk gone.


GMSTs can be altered via mods or via the console, but only on the PC version. There's one great mod already out that fixes ideathdropweaponchance while also addressing the nirnroot bug and ash pile problem. Something Bethesda have somehow failed to manage. I forget the name of the mod since Bethesda deleted the beta forum, but I'll ask around - I'm sure someone remembers!

There are absolutely NO disadvantages to adjusting this value to zero, if anything it makes the game's appearance more cohesive as well as making it more stable.



It would literally take them all of five seconds. No kidding!

The thing I find interesting is the fact that no matter where you are in the game world. Its alive an kicking. This means agro beasts are attacking guards at villages. Forts are being fought over. Stormcloaks and Imperials are meeting up and having a good ole howdown. Scavengers are then looting. Its interesting. I left one scavenger to its devices, simply because he didn't attack me or even realise I was there. Turns out there were in fact 3 of them and then a Dragon came by and killed the lot, but not before the scavengers looted every dead soldier. I wonder if thats part of the cleanup, the scavengers I mean?

Its like when you go to the highest point of Skyrim and look around. You can see Dragons in the far off distance attacking some town. You can see a Stormcloak encampment being attacked and Giants fighting off wouldbe adventurers. If what you say is true then there really isn't much you can do about it when the entire land is working against you. Thats why it seems strange. The only way it could work would be if the game cleans up after itself but not the PC. Which just makes no sense.

I like to go off and wander and indeed its fun sometimes just following NPC's and watching what they do. I use fast travel alot though when I am on a quest to get it out of the way; and because I need to drop stuff off and sell it regularily. All that I've written isn't to say that what you say isn't true. Like I said, its been said before and from what I can gather its only seemed to help those with really bad saves. Someone has left thier PS3 on overnight and came back to be pleasantly supprised that when they saved the entire file went back down to 1/10th of its original size, yet waiting out 30 days or more did nothing at all. Anyway, food for thought.

I'm smugetsu, and I approve of this message.

It does help. I think that it adds around 30% likelihood of recovering arrows. It never really made too much difference to me personally since arrows don't weigh anything, so I would always stock up whenever I was around anyone who was selling some decent arrows.

Bump

Keep bumping until official comment.

Bump, this is so simple, that I doubt Bethesda will do it, but hope I am wrong!

Yah it just that I spend more than 15hrs out in the wilds before I bother to go to a City, town or villiage and that usually just to drop stuff off. They need to make some more unique gear as well. Once you can smith and enchant, it pretty much cancels out anything you are likely to get from NPCs or quest rewards. Though even though the gear I can make is much better. I am currently enjoying the Nightingale armour.

It does seem that it could help. Too bad Beths is busy nerfing down stats. to care about this...

If it really is that easy then I just don't understand why its not already part of the code, surely something so obvious couldn't be missed by so many people.......anyway this is my bump.