Skyrim is by far the best game I have ever played in my entire life. But I have encountered many freezes that ruin my playing experience. It all started when I killed my first Dragon outside of Whiterun. I had absorbed the Dragon soul and decided to equip my first shout to see what it was like, so I opened my magic menu and that froze my system. So I rebooted my console and tried again, same results. I figured that it would keep freezing no matter how many times I reloaded my save. I figured out that by loading up a previous autosave I could bypass this glitch, but now, every time I access my magic menu i have about a 40% chance of freezing my console. I searched this freezing glitch when opening the magic menu and it seems as others had encountered the same issue. I have tried clearing the system cache and re-downloading the update but that doesn't help, I have decided to put away this masterpiece of a game until I can play without these constant freezes, I am aware that this glitch might take a little while to patch but thats okay. Great job on an another amazing game Bethesda, keep up the good work!

If anybody has a solution to these freezes please tell me!

I dont know if this is pure luck or a solution but as I played hours into the game the weekend I was bombarded with many lockups freezing even from clearing the cache. Was about to give up until another patch could fix this but yesterday I placed my Xbox upright and played the game for ages with no freezing or lags in the menu. Give it a go anyhow to see, but if thats the case I still think there should be a fix to this.

A lot of game freezes happen from overheating. I have the 360 S, and this is the second game that has froze the console from overheating, the first being BF3. I am not sure that standing it up would have made a difference unless you moved the 360 from a cabinet or TV stand in order to do it.

I have one of those http://www.target.com/OpenZoomLayer?template=scene7-image&image=Target/13300479_is&swCellSpacing=10,10&swHighlightThickness=1&swBorderThickness=0&itemTitle=XBOX%20360%20Intercooler%20STS%20%28XBOX%20360%29 on my 360 S and have not had any freezes 27 hours into the game (knock on wood). I wonder if it would be worth it investing the $20-25 to see if it helps?

I had moved it away from the tv stand yesterday out on the floor, guess it maybe got more circulation that way rather than being in a confined space. Hopefully later today when I go home today that it works again. It is one of the older black xboxes.

Heat can be a problem, especially if you're running the game from disc and are using an 'original' version of the X360. I have the black slim 'quiet' model, and have loaded the game on to a usb stick. After 40 hours I've ony had one freeze.

i get this freeze to on the menus when i fast travel and in game aswell iv been on the game about 12-15 hours and now i cant do anything

I've just tried the opposite Layman!

I've been having intermittent crashes with my 250 GB Black Xbox in the vertical position so laid it flat, reason being heat rises and perhaps not venting all heat from the case. Just have to give it a while to see if it makes a difference, I've been playing long periods, in excess of six hours so the console gets taxed in the heat department.

This is the only complaint I have with the game so far, visuals are stunning and gameplay superb, light years ahead of Oblivion in most respects.

I started freezing today after four days of perfect performance. Froze up three times, oddly enough in Markarth every time. Not sure what it is, but I seriously doubt my issue has anything to do with overheating.

I've only frozen on loading screens and when I'm in the NM's Coffin.

My game started freezing about 4 days in as well, after flawless performance. It froze 5 times tonight in about 30 minutes, after about only 30 minutes of play I've decided to invest in the cooler recommended above. I do have my xbox 360 in a slightly narrow space... Hopefully that will solve the problem! Kinda pulls you out of the atmosphere with all of the freezing. The most frustrating was when I was trying to save, thinking it would freeze soon and it froze just as i was trying to save! *sigh*

But will try cooler and see if that helps!

Same here - had no issues fri-mon. Last night it took forever to load the transition into Dusman's Cairn but then seemed fine - about an hour later while in the Keep in Riften I was just walking by a guard and the game locked up the xbox and went black. If it were a heat issue I would have seen this sooner - I played for about 10 hours on Saturday. Last night was maybe 1.5 before it crashed. Having Morrowind flashbacks

I have a problem similar to this, though the game doesn't freeze permanently; it goes back to running normal after about 15 seconds, however these freezes occur almost every minute without fail, so my game is literally unplayable now. I've tried changing my xbox's positioning, and also installing/uninstalling the game, though nothing works.

Very similar experience tonight. I now can't play for longer than about 1.5 hours before it starts freezing... Yeah first few days I did the marathon as well... and my Xbox really isn't that old... under a year... Now I wonder if I should buy this game for the PS3...

First visit the PS3 forums and check out the game-breaking lag issue that seems to effect almost everyone who has played the game for 30+ hours (including me).

I was wondering if the 360 version had any similar issues and this freezing problem sounds comparable, although not quite as bad or widespread yet judging from the buzz. In any case, do not under any circumstances buy the PS3 version until the lag is (hopefully) patched.

I've played now for a few days with the machine on its side and I'm getting nowhere near as many crashes on the loading screens. So far I've only had one lock-up while playing and that was while in a pretty heavy magic laden firefight on a road, lots of magic being thrown around.

I've had a few stutters while the game loads new sections on roaming the countryside but nowhere near the Oblivion pauses you used to get, as for textures I don't believe I'm suffering at all, if I'm getting them then I can't tell much difference. The only thing I've noticed is when lock picking the graphic blurs for a second before becoming clear, that's about it.

In all I'd have to say laying my machine down flat has alivated most of my crash issues, all in I've played far more buggy games, New Vegas for one.