Hi all,
I'm new to the forum but no stranger to skyrim.

After browsing the many threads on here i feel i have learnt a lot about getting the best performance out of the game/PS3 (thanks to all you contributors, you know who you are, give yourself a pat on the back).

I have recently started to encounter issues (I'm at lvl 49 approx 9500kb save file). I'm doing the heart of Dibella quest and karthwasten is a ghost town, no NPCs to interact with. I have a feeling they have been killed earlier in my travels and now i cant progress with the forementioned quest. Now if theres a solution to this then great (but i doubt it).

So this problem coupled with the fact i have not been playing a tidy game (janitor) leaves me thinking i should start over from scratch ?? (gutted). However with patch 1.8 pending i am stalling untill its release (and maybe dragonborn).

Is there a correct way to manage patch/updates ? Do i need to delete anything old first then install new patch ? Sorry if i'm being a noob, just want to get things correct this time round then begin the slog of getting back to the lvl i'm currently considering scrapping (sick feeling in pit of stomach).

Also whens this damn 1.8 patch coming ? monday ? tues ? I'm getting withdrawl symptoms waiting to get going again