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Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:18 am
by Nathan Barker
First off sorry if this has already been posted, I don't come on here (or play the game) much anymore and I couldn't find it with a search.


http://kotaku.com/5885358/why-skyrim-didnt-play-nice-with-the-ps3


The key part being "Howard said his developers knew that the PS3 was going to run into a "bad memory situation" and tried to tweak their code to prevent it from happening. He believes only "a small percentage" of gamers would run into this issues, but it was enough for Bethesda to want to fix things post-release."


That to me indicates the game should not have been released, at all.


I wish I hadn't lost my receipt (stupid I know) I'd print this off a go argue about a full refund with the game shop.


Bethesda, I hate you, with a passion. I shall never buy your piece of [censored] broken ass games again.


Also, Kotaku should title it "Why Skyrim doesn't play nice with Ps3."

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 4:03 am
by Donatus Uwasomba
I knew this... but now that it's confirmed, this is something terrible, shame on you Bethesda / Todd. :down:

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 1:01 am
by Scarlet Devil
Of course they knew, it's the same engine. Therefore, it is only logical that the same problems occur. A few tweaks here and there do not fix the problems! The statement about the "small percentage" is most likely due to the assumption that most players don't play more than 20h ... maybe this assumption is right. Nonetheless, the game should have never been released since it was (and still is) not fully functional!

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 2:05 pm
by rheanna bruining
YAAWWWWWNNNNNN..... don't admit it... fix it!!!!

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 10:45 pm
by Mariana
"Small percentage of PS3 users" may be the understatement of 2012. Whatever the percentage actually was, they were certainly vocal, and it appears to have paid off.

I do appreciate the work they continue to do, but not fully exploring the potential problems seems quite "head-in-the-sand" to me.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 1:12 am
by J.P loves
Of course they knew, it's the same engine. Therefore, it is only logical that the same problems occur. A few tweaks here and there do not fix the problems! The statement about the "small percentage" is most likely due to the assumption that most players don't play more than 20h ... maybe this assumption is right. Nonetheless, the game should have never been released since it was (and still is) not fully functional!

Absolutely of course they knew, I'm not saying I'm suprised by this, just putting it out there for everyone to see.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 1:27 am
by Abi Emily
Maybe if the lead QA tester spent less time http://blip.tv/day9tv/kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-w-guest-felicia-day-part-1-5941735and more time, ya know, actually testing the game they wouldn't need to ask for save files after the fact.

Perhaps moving to an actual all-new engine instead of perpetuating a lie would allow for dynamic data collection from all players instead of kinda maybe asking a small select few for their busted saves. (sure helped Felicia though...wonderful use of time while the PS3 port wallowed)

If you're an adorable internet celebrity then you get your problem sorted in mere hours but paying PS3 customers not so much.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 8:45 pm
by Ron
YAAWWWWWNNNNNN..... don't admit it... fix it!!!!

+1...Amen! Can't close the door after the horse has escaped the barn. Just fix what needs to be fixed.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 2:46 am
by Bryanna Vacchiano
i knew it but it still makes me sick to my stomach....

1.4 did ADDRESS the framerate problems... started new gm lvl 24, 40 hrs, 5mb.... the lag has gotten better with 1.4, but i can tell its not fixed....so those "vital fixes" bethesda speaks of better include more framerate issues, i still get split second pauses when doing destruction magic & certain areas still studder, skip or seem sluggish...mostly the skipping outside is due to the landscape loading & im still early in the gm so im wondering will 1.4 keep this better framerate at 12mb once i get there?... idk...

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 1:09 am
by Laura Mclean
It's literally the things you've done in what order and what's running. Some of the things are literally what spells do you have hot-keyed? Because, as you switch to them, they handle memory differently
For My last character I used no magic (purist) and had no hot keys applied, and still froze and lagged.?????

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 2:08 pm
by Janeth Valenzuela Castelo
All 1.4 did in terms of optimization was tweak garbage collection and shrink the LOD bubble. (get on a horse and ride and the engine absolutely falls apart...still)

Many can't even tell that the IQ is getting worse and that the same texture streaming issues which still persist on the 360 are present on PS3 and PC. Skyrim is wholly developed for a platform with shared RAM and it's at the expense of the other two platforms with dedicated memory pools.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 1:17 pm
by Sunnii Bebiieh
All 1.4 did in terms of optimization was tweak garbage collection and shrink the LOD bubble. (get on a horse and ride and the engine absolutely falls apart...still)

Many can't even tell that the IQ is getting worse and that the same texture streaming issues which still persist on the 360 are present on PS3 and PC. Skyrim is wholly developed for a platform with shared RAM and it's at the expense of the other two platforms with dedicated memory pools.

My save file keeps getting bigger and bigger. I'm at 12mb now. Should I expect lag to hit? Also, my load times have tripled since 1.4

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 5:48 pm
by Mark Churchman
For My last character I used no magic (purist) and had no hot keys applied, and still froze and lagged.?????

He said "some of the things". There are loads of things that cause these problems, magic and hot keys are just a couple of them.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:39 am
by Josh Trembly
well if the ps3 did suffer issues and they know it, i rather them not releasing it for the ps3. Better save your $80+ than to waste it on skyrim on ps3 and find that u get 1fps.
Did the xbox get the same issues too?

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:42 am
by leigh stewart
When do they also admit it almost never runs at the claimed 30 fps and, in fact, is generally a poor port all-around in not just lack of memory-related consideration, but rendering hardware consideration (proper allocation of graphical and geometry rendering + proper setting tuning for the PS3's CPU and GPU) resulting in a fluctuating, sub-standard framerate even aside from eventual, game-breaking issues?

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 7:41 pm
by Jennifer Munroe
The key part being "Howard said his developers knew that the PS3 was going to run into a "bad memory situation" and tried to tweak their code to prevent it from happening. He believes only "a small percentage" of gamers would run into this issues, but it was enough for Bethesda to want to fix things post-release."


In advance of the game's release, we spent a lot of time implementing code to resolve memory concerns we had before release and were confident it would work. Based on feedback we received from players, we've put a lot of effort into optimizing the game, including the 1.4 update released last week.

We appreciate all the assistance and support you've provided. We'll continue to do everything we can do support you guys.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 10:38 pm
by Charity Hughes
Thank you Gstaff, but the damage is already done :( , as consumer I feel cheated.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 1:23 pm
by Kayleigh Mcneil
In advance of the game's release, we spent a lot of time implementing code to resolve memory concerns we had before release and were confident it would work. Based on feedback we received from players, we've put a lot of effort into optimizing the game, including the 1.4 update released last week.

We appreciate all the assistance and support you've provided. We'll continue to do everything we can do support you guys.
Note: Gstaff isn't even a developer at Bethesda Game Studios (the development studio), let alone a programmer, he's the fall guy and mouthpiece for Bethesda Softworks, ZeniMax's publishing branch. Truth be told, he probably doesn't have more than a basic idea about what the PS3 version's even doing technically. In the time I've been here, I believe I've seen Gstaff even claim, back near Skyrim's announcement, that the PS3 version was running well and memory complications aside, that's not even true with its sub-par average fps and performance. He also was around when Fallout 3's crappy PS3 GOTY edition and DLC hit and I remember asking about certain issues, from him, with nothing ever materializing from it. He doesn't have that much influence on what Bethesda Game Studios can do or what's happening with their games. He only relays what we say to Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks and vice-versa.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 9:18 pm
by jesse villaneda
In advance of the game's release, we spent a lot of time implementing code to resolve memory concerns we had before release and were confident it would work. Based on feedback we received from players, we've put a lot of effort into optimizing the game, including the 1.4 update released last week.

We appreciate all the assistance and support you've provided. We'll continue to do everything we can do support you guys.

You were "confident" it would work? You obviously did not test it enough because this happened to A LOT of people. You should not have released the game in that state and you damn well know it. I'm sorry but this is pathetic. You screwed over your own customers and there is no excuse for that.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 2:40 am
by Pat RiMsey
Thank you Gstaff, but the damage is already done :( , as consumer I feel cheated.
Yeah don't bother patching and fixing things now because "the damage is done". :shakehead:

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2012 3:27 am
by Nina Mccormick
The damage is done. The going sentiment from many long-time Bethesda fans is that Skyrim on PS3 was the last straw. It may have taken http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VdIpzwPlqY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCQ8Mt4y8kY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaeU3DvW5-o&noredirect=1 in a row but many have simply had it with Bethesda's ship it now and let the community fix it later approach to development.

Outside of firing the high-ups that let this stuff happen and actually moving to a new engine the problem is going to persist regardless of platform. It's ingrained, it's systemic, and it's pathetic.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=463267 the GAF thread about the article.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 8:35 pm
by Rachel Tyson
To be fair, the average "gamer" doesnt play a game for 150+ hours in the first month of its release. Im sure they assumed they had much more time then they did to write some better code and fix memory leaks. it just happened that the small minority (us) have a loud mouth and are forcing them to fix it prematurely.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 4:55 pm
by Ilona Neumann
Yeah don't bother patching and fixing things now because "the damage is done". :shakehead:

I think he probably meant the months of bugs and FPS issues and his personal view of the reputation of Bethesda :shakehead:

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 3:11 pm
by Sun of Sammy
Delete the game saves, the patch, the game data, rebuild the database, let Skyrim install itself along with the 1.4 patch and the framerate will still be pathetic in the very opening sequence of the game.

While I agree that many don't play for hours on end there's no mistaking that on 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 the game runs like crap from the get-go. Just riding along in the cart it sputters and hitches and stuff pops-in all over the place.

Bethesda admit to knowing the game was broken before release

PostPosted: Tue May 22, 2012 8:23 pm
by Ben sutton
I think he probably meant the months of bugs and FPS issues and his personal view of the reputation of Bethesda :shakehead:

Yeah obviously I know that, I just don't want his "don't bother doing anything because I don't care anymore" attitude to get taken to be representative of how everyone feels or there'd be no incentive for Bethesda to bother fixing anything ever again.