Dev explains why Skyrim lag wont get fixed.

[Lug100]

I have to say i find this whole PS3 problem a bit weird, as the PS3 has more advanced hardware;

Now before everyone starts up the whole turf war about which is better etc., http://uk.ign.com/articles/2010/08/26/xbox-360-vs-playstation-3-the-hardware-throwdown
Okay just read this, I know some people don't like IGN and may choose to ignore etc., but the point it makes is true, overall the PS3 has more capable hardware, including in the RAM's ability. Can we just accept that and move on? (it's not a case of which is better overall, or what uses its hardware best overall)

However as this thread says, for some reason, Bethesda have decided to release a game, which they know from previous games, has a huge problem when it comes to RAM usage. Not so much a problem for PC users like myself, but for console that's a huge one. The PS3's RAM setup is very good for pretty much everything but fails when playing these games which use far too much RAM for the system than is necessary. The Xbox is okay as it can use its entire RAM for system if necessary, however surly that we reduce other parts of the game e.g. graphics? (idk I haven't got an Xbox, but if lots of RAM is being used elsewhere, surely that means less for everything else?

So overall it's not the consoles fault that there is this lag issue, Bethesda really need to update and fix there engine.


TL;DR - Not PS3's fault, Bethesda need to fix there damn game.

 

[Rook]

God damn it. The only reason I bought Skyrim for the ps3 was because My Xbox is broken and I have to buy a new one. I couldn't wait for two months to play it on the xbox and now I guess I have to pay, one frame at a time.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

No I think like me you just got lucky there, in fact I had no idea there was a fallout problem until people started to compare it to this.

Oh. Cool. ^^ Here's hoping I continue to be lucky with Skyrim.

Also: Mental note, when playing Skyrim, don't move around unnecessary random objects. The less I touch, the smaller the save file will stay (as I understand the problem as explained above).

 

[Windcaler]

Well that sucks for the console guys. Bethesda really shouldnt have ported the game if they knew these problems were going to come up but it may be possible that they didnt realize the problem was there or didnt think it was going to be nearly this bad. Either way they should pull the PS3 port at the very least and give a full refund to anyone that wants one.

I play Skyrim on PC and with my huge ram I havnt run into any issues so I think this might just be another sign that its time for the next generation in consoles

 

[Weslebear]

Ha ha! 8 GB of RAM on my PC. Try and lag me now, sucker! Or, at least try when I get Skyrim for Christmas...

Internet-five!

Gratuitous amounts of RAM feels good, loving my 8GB.

 

[FamoFunk]

I'm not a fan of Skyrim (I did try Oblivion) if it fucked up and lagged on my PS3, it be straight back in the shop. Why sell something you won't fix? Jesus.

 

[The Lunatic]

The consoles have rather pathetically low RAM, and have done even since release.

512MB is just an awfully low amount, especially in this day and age.

 

[Deathninja19]

No I think like me you just got lucky there, in fact I had no idea there was a fallout problem until people started to compare it to this.

Oh. Cool. ^^ Here's hoping I continue to be lucky with Skyrim.

Also: Mental note, when playing Skyrim, don't move around unnecessary random objects. The less I touch, the smaller the save file will stay (as I understand the problem as explained above).

Yeah I hope so too, people deserve to play the game they bought. Also I've kind of noticed the amount of dragons you kill affects the memory since the bones never disappear so maybe only kill what you need.

 

[craftomega]

Ha ha! 8 GB of RAM on my PC. Try and lag me now, sucker! Or, at least try when I get Skyrim for Christmas...

Lol you do know that skyrim is limited to 2gigs of ram. Although there is a patch that brings its up to 4gigs so congrats for extra ram.

 

[kaizen2468]

I'm glad I'm playing on PC. logged 160 hours so far and no crashes. Weird bugs galore, but no crashes at least lol

 

[Waaghpowa]

Yeah but how well would a 6 year old computer handle Skyrim? So unless you have the money to upgrade/update your computer every year that argument doesn't really hold much water.

The minimum system requirements for skyrim are incredibly low. The PC I built almost 10 years ago can play it.

Spoiler

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
Processor: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
Memory: 2GB System RAM
Hard Disk Space: 6GB free HDD Space
Video Card: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512 MB of RAM
Sound: DirectX compatible sound card

I've even seen cheap laptops with integrated graphics play it. Please get out of the mindset that you need to constantly upgrade a computer to play current gen games.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

Why wouldn't they just have the game load things in the cells around the player and not the whole world. Thank god I have 8 gigs of ram and planning on upgrading soon.

 

[Swyftstar]

While I'm not excusing Bethesda, I don't think Sony should get a pass on this one either. Not having enough RAM is just silly. Not having cross game chat is annoying and this isn't the first game to exhibit issues because of it. DC Universe Online used to crash religiously because of the low memory problem. Also, when I'm online on my PS3, it will occasionally freeze or tell me there isn't enough memory so the web page is being replaced with a blank screen.
For Bethesda's part, releasing this game when there is a known issue, without at least a warning is shady.

LOL, what?

Blame Sony because Bethesda can't make their games work well on the PS3? Sony may share some of the blame, they should have told Bethesda to fix it before they allowed it on the PS3 but Bethesda's incompetence is not Sony's fault.

If you tried to make a game for the Wii and it lagged really bad, would you really blame Nintendo?

First, don't start a post with "LOL, what?" It makes you sound either goofy or insulting, neither of which are conducive to a discussion. Second, I'm not blaming them for the games issue per se, I am saying that they have a memory problem, that has caused issues across a few games and applications, that has annoyed me in the past and probably will again in the future. And who the hell buys games for the Wii?

 

[somonels]

Wow, memory handling with what amounts to dynamic arrays >_> nice one.

 

[Jimijab]

I'm going to trade my PS3 copy in for PC version, it seems a wise option.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Damn it Obsidian made New Vegas, I actually know that one.

It's not lag unless it deal with network speeds what your referring to is just regular old slow frame rate due to what I would consider a memory leak. (although its not). Gamebryo is ridiculously broken and stupid but I can see why they don't want to redesign the sucker. Nobody wants to make a new engine since it takes forever and in the end you wind up with something that cost a ton and to players looks almost identical.

 

[LightningBanks]

snip

So is it worth it getting it on ps3? its the only format I can get it on (pc probably wont run it well anyway) :/

 

[Exius Xavarus]

The only lag I'm really concerned with is when I bring up the menu and my controls suddenly go dead for about 3 seconds and I can't select anything. It's annoying as hell and it happens whenever I bring up the menu.

I bet it's a console thing, too...

If you look in the top left corner, it'll say "Autosaving..." which is what is actually causing your controls to die for a few seconds. It's not a glitch, bug, or anything of the sort.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

So basically, it's really, really, really bad memory management.

But yeah, it's either this or loading screens. I don't think developers these days have the time and resources to make a efficient file scream mechanism, especially for such a big game.

I'd rather have load screens than this setup. I live with transitions in Zelda games, and I lived with loading with Morrowind (and I love that game more than Skyrim) so I could have lived with this game having loading too.

So either make a good data streaming system already, or go back to loading screens for each main area of the world like in Morrowind. I understand the game is big, but I also understand it already made a fat stinky wad of limburger in its first month. For me, some things aren't worth the trouble, and having everything loaded for the sake of a sense of "realism" that my mind already filled in for me is not worth the bugs, lag, etc. that so many are experiencing, myself included.

Take a break from the franchise you must, but take some money and write a brand new engine already. I'm no programmer but surely at this stage in the console cycle we know the ins and outs of how to optimize everything, right?

If you're making console games, it should be double priority to make sure they're as stable as possible right out the gate. We don't get the luxury of modders fixing everything and we don't all have immediate access to a PC to play the "master race version" on (I for one have a netbook for school and that it. Runs Duke Nukem 3D at a whopping 15 FPS...)

 

[Sjakie]

man there is so much wrong with this topic and with that article the OP posted.
An Obsidan dev talking about bugs in a Bethesda engine is not really something i will take at face value after FO:NV.
If he knows the engine so well: why was NV such a buggy piece of crap?
Also i dont think you can compare the engine version they used for NV with the one used for TESV that easily, plus, the guy did not work on Skyrim.