So the first time i installed the game it ran great, i didn't get to the high numbers that everyone reports, i had like 20+ hours of gameplay and my save file was still under 4mb. The game ran like butter, no lag, no stutter, no texture issues, no audio problems, nothing. I have since reinstalled the game 3 times (don't ask ) , deleted all saves and game data. Now on my third reinstall i started noticing problems right from the start!

- Skipping audio or delayed audio. For example the sound for the dragon breath had always a cut in the middle, and some times i would shoot an arrow and the sound would play 1 second later. The sound would also pop from time to time (rare)

- Textures issues galore. Now i noticed the texture bug on my first playthrough but that was only on the inventory, now i was seeing world textures (terrain, doors, walls) stream before my eyes, this never happened on the first playthrough. Items also took longer to load when i scrolled through them in the inventory and i started to see many texture bugs like disappearing items and weather effects.

- CONSTANT LAG AND STUTTER. From the minute i exited the tutorial area i noticed this. Where the game ran great before it now had constant stutter (1-2 second freezes), and more frame rate dips. Some times the game would straight up freeze when it was streaming distant terrain textures.

- 1-2 sometimes 5 second freezes when switching weapons with hot keys.This never happened on my first playthrough and was a constant on this install. They always took a while to actually draw the weapon when you switched but they never froze the game like they are doing now. It's like the game is having a harder time loading the items.

- Even though i got to whiterun at like level 5, all the merchants were selling Orcish weapons. Is this normal? I don't remember them having those weapons till i was much higher, it's as if the game remember me being higher even though it deleted all the data...

I played this save files for about 15 hours and did basically the same quests and exploration that i did my first time, the only difference is that my character was different (same race different body features).

So what's the deal? Some people say the game starts lagging at 4mb, others at 6, others at 12. So maybe the save file has nothing to do with it. The PS3 HDD doesn't get fragmented correct?


Sorry if this post is all over the place, I'm tired...

Actually the PS3 can get fragmented but you can correct this via the Recovery Console by choosing Restore Database.

Fragmentation on a PS3 is not really the same a what you'd experience on a PC but over time there are residual orphan files which require cleaning up. This OS fragmentation tends to occur whenever a PS3 locks up and required a hard/soft reboot, for example when a game crashes or when the browser freezes.

Sounds logical but I'm not quite convinced with that.

1. The extreme growth of the save isn't normal and far beyond accepable
2. The fact that ppl reporting diffrent bytes together with diffrend bugs just shows how big the world is and that everyone is somewhere at a diffrent time of play

For example: Atm I'm at 7,1 MB and like 3 hrs of playtime ago the game slowly started lagging ( I didn't realize it at first). Then the soundtrack started to get mixed up and now the next step will be bugged quests. That's why I stop playining until Bethesda finally get their asses up.

My PS3 is 1 month old, it only locked up once so far. I only had like 5 demos on it which i have since deleted, Oblivion and a save file installed, which i use just for some tv tests and SKYRIM which like i said, i reinstalled 3 times...maybe 4 . So how can my system be so messed up to the point of needing to restore database? I had a fat 60gb PS3 since launch and i never restored the database once. Is SKYRIM that messed up that it's leaving files all over my HDD even though i deleted all game data? Like i said it was as if the game remembered me being a higher level and i have seen another topic on this issue posted here.

It seems that the game does fragment parts of the harddrive because if you rebuild the Database on the PS3 you get the game running smooth again no matter what size the save file. Just run the Database rebuild until hopefully the patch sorts it once and for all, it does seem to fragment over time again but you can just run the Rebuild again to put things back in order

I read that thread, some people say it works other say it doesn't. I'm not sure I'm convinced, it seams like a pretty extreme step just to play one game, especially since my system practically new. It's a slim 160gb btw

Well you just run the" Rebuild the Database" by itself and it smooths the game out take 4 minutes and then just put you display back to hdmi /sound back to optical cable (well if you use these which i do)

Whole process done in 5 minutes

How many games do you know of that require fiddling with the service menu? Rebuilding the database is not something you should casually do, it's hidden for a reason...

Just this one but that not really a reason not to do it just a fact about this game

Don't talk about piracy in this forum..

As per my thread, I have maintained my file size in the 4mbs for 40 hours (was 35 hours yesterday morning, have since played more) after reducing the actions/places I allowed myself to do/go and I have not problem with the game. The problem is verifiably the file size being so large that the PS3's RAM can't handle it (not a knock against PS3's, any machine would eventually not be able to handle that amount of information all at one time) or my PS3 would surely be having problems 40 hours in.

But i just said that one my games had problems right from the start...

It's the same issue PC owners are having. Bethesda didn't allow the game to flush the RAM often enough, so the more stuff the game has to take into account, the worse the game will run. This is why simply restarting your PS3 seems to alleviate the issues for a few hours. Restarting your PS3 flushes the RAM. It can be fixed with a patch, though it will make the load times slightly longer.

Still... I'll take longer load times over an unplayable game anytime.

That's called memory leaks, i used to think this was the case too, but after my last botched game I'm not sure anymore. Restarting the PS3 did nothing for me, it always lagged and stuttered. I'm pretty sure there are still a crapload of memory leaks in the code, but now i think there are other things that are fundamentally wrong with the game.

Restarting my ps3 doesn't always help.

7.4mb save, level 22, 44 hours in. fat80 ps3. no real problems apart from a bit of lag when first entering a town then it smooths out. i've played for 8 hours straight a couple of times and had no significant probs. also the hdd has around 35 gigs free.

well, iv read about hdd's, that when you delete stuff off them, it doesnt actually really remove it right away, and only actually starts to delete data when it gets full and needs more space.
so if this is right, then all the installs you deleted are really still on your hdd(untill it reachs full capacity, then it will remove when needed)

so if youv install/deleted and re-installed again, and again, and again, and...., its really filling up your hdd

Yes, this indicates a secondary issue. Environmental. Reformatting your ps3 is most likely in order (read up on it to see what is lost, like your inbox stuff and settings).

Oh snap, I did not know that. My PS3 is only a couple of months old, but thanks to the [censored] browser it locked up on me, *think* ... uh, well over 50 times. Sounds like a defragmentation is in order. Thanks for the heads up.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1284052-i-can-verify-the-problem-and-a-temporary-solution/

That thread explains why file size is the problem. There's also a couple other possibilities for any outliers (individuals whose problem is related to the system and not the file size). The unit could be faulty, rare but possible or the unit has been damaged (these people that are stressing the system by playing for an hour at a time until the PS3 overheats and can no longer handle the game are slowly ruining the console itself).

REFORMATING my 1 month old barely used PS3?

LOL you people are a riot.

The alternative is that your machine is faulty or damaged.

There could also be some sort of environment thing that the developers didn't account for. But the majority of users aren't experiencing that. Do you use your ps3 to browse the internet a lot?

You have done multiple installations of the game remember, it worked fine on a few games then had issues from the start. It's possible that some game files have corrupted on installation or that data has been read to a sector on the HDD that is faulty, just something to consider.

...

Or maybe...and stay with me cause this is complicated...

maybe...




The [censored] game is the problem!


Seriously, it's getting ridiculous in these forums. People buying SSDs, formating PS3s, rebuilding databases...The game is a bugged mess okay people? It's not you, it's not your PS3, it's not your HDD, IT'S THE GAME. I started this thread to see if we could find out what the problem with the game was, not to buy sugar pills or snake oil. You all are so desperate you are grasping at straws.

Agreed!