Rumor: Skyrim Lag Starting To Show Up On The Xbox 360

Unconfirmed reports of freezing and framerate slowdown are surfacing from Xbox 360 users with long play times.

[PirateThom]

It's not a PS3 issue, the RAM on the PS3 just caused it to manifest sooner. Any changes in the world are saved in the save file, when that is loaded, it has to reload all the data to the RAM, hence, any platform is potentially at risk.

[DonaldBeck]

spot on

@dark360 interesting, my friend owns the 360 version and it lags, wonder why you had no issues.

[fluffydelusions]

I finished the 360 main quest along with some others and no issues. Around 60+ hours last I checked. Now I'm playing PC version and no issues either.

[DarkBlood]

im curious beside the controller experince

why do u have 2 versions? :P

[CandyCaptain]

Donald the way it works is depending on how you play. If you mess around with a lot of things. I.E moving objects around, or just killing people will do this over time. Anyways the point being is that the games tracks everything you do and saves it just like that. Overtime it adds up, and eventually you get a huge save. It's been like that in FO3, FONV, and now Skyrim. When it gets to the ridiculous size of like 12-18 mb you are gonna experience crazy issues on ps3. I don't know exactly how big the file would have to be for the 360. But I know they must have been playing quite a bit to reach that point. I play it at my friend's house on his 360 and his file is at 14mb. It's working just fine on it. @_@

[fluffydelusions]

@DarkBlood recently got a laptop capable of gaming so picked up skyrim on it cause I loved 360 version so much :)

[EVILDEAD360]

LOL @ there being unconfirmed issues at 170+ hours..We all knew it was big..but at 170+ hours this game is simply gargantuan..

It's clear that I won't even come close to having an issue if it takes that long for someone to find one.

None on my 360..either way..Skyrim is gaming bliss

Evil

[malol]

thank GOD the PC version runs GREAT !!!

[Computersaysno]

Well this illustrates the tight tight memory constraints on console. Too big a save, maybe only a dozen or so more megabytes trying to load into RAM crushes performance.

It is said to be difficult to patch, but maybe Bethesda will have to seriously consider downgrading some areas graphically. Talk has been made about restructuring the engine which would be complex, but the simplest way would be to reduce the memory load to allow for bigger saves and that means.......cutting down a few assets in worse areas. Turning down the filtering. reducing a few textures here and there. Cutting out a couple non essential NPCs in the busiest areas where it appears to suffer worst.

Maybe they can squeeze off 5-10mb without hurting the look of the game too much, and adding maybe another 50 hours of playtime on the game before it struggles to this point and just admit thats the best that can be done.

[maxbox99]

Never had any issues with my 360 except giants sending me in the sky and that quest from the college of winterhold that no one is able to finish on console, and I must be around 50hours

[JaredH]

I think they should rename the rumor bar on this site. I'm pretty sure no one is "hopeful" it's on 360 too. It would just make sense if it was.

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

well, Ive already finished the game on 360 and had no lag at all.

I started a new game after tho so mine never got to 180 hours or whatever this guy claims.

[Focus]

Yeah sorry you guys, looks like this rumour is just that, a rumour. This ps3 exclusive is staying on ps3. Power of the Cell I guess

[PirateThom]

And it's nothing to do with the processors, it's RAM.

[kaveti6616]

Yup, the issue transcends platform, though I would argue that PC gamers probably won't have a major problem with this. Assuming you have a gig to spare you can play Skyrim for hundreds of hours without the issue affecting you.

I'm confident the community will find a fix for this for the PC version. Sucks for anyone who purchased the console version.

Edit: Now that I've read more about this, I have to say, this is not a bug.

This is reality. The game tracks all the changes you make so it can reload it later on. That's not a bug, that's amazing! The fact that consoles don't have enough RAM to account for this game's characteristic is not even the fault of the game or the engine. Having a large amount of RAM is something that is necessary for this game.

Wow, and to think, all these people were blaming Bethesda when it's not even their fault. The trademark characteristic of this game is that it accounts for all the changes you make, for the people you kill and so on. It's not like a game made for consoles, where enemies you just killed seem to disintegrate a la God of War. The save file grows because the more changes you make throughout play, the more data is added. This is only a problem for consoles because they are capped at less than 512 megabytes (32 megs for OS on 360, 48 megs for OS on PS3). It's not a memory leak of any kind.

[Bigpappy]

You do realize that this is a RUMOR, right?

There is no lag with the 360 version of Skyrim.

This is a problem exclusive to the PS3, because of the split RAM and the size of the Skyrim map, with all of the info it has to keep updating as you cause kaos across the land.

[Dark360]

100+ Hours played so far and no lag.

[Wedge1082]

The guys complaining on the forum are coming in at 170+ hours.

[Drekken]

No console is safe from Bugthesdas bugs.

[BX81]

I haven't had any lag on the 360 version but It has frozen up a couple of times.

[ScubaSteve1]

i notice couple of lag issues on my 360. but so far no freezes. but i didnt update it yet

[arnyftw]

I get random freezes, but its nothing compared to those youtube vids.

[BattleTorn]

yeah, I have 90+hrs and have never encountered the type of shuttering lag that i've seen on youtube.

at least the 360 will have it fix'd as soon as the PS3 (which I assume will be promptly, despite some reports saying it's impossible)

we all have heard the term 'game-breaking bug', yet I've never heard of a bug that could break a game indefinitely.

[Mikeyy]

Never seen a game breaking bug? Google bloodgrass glitch. Shame that never got patched. I think that qualifys

[BattleTorn]

edit: apparently I double posted... so to avoid anyone reading my previous comment twice....

HHii Arny!

[arnyftw]

Hey

[Gamer-Z]

Why is this problem so hard to fix? This wasn't an issue in Oblivion. Honestly all they have to do is make it so the world refreshes faster this way there are not all these dead bodies and objects lying around. I just revisited a dungeon that i cleared out in the beginning of the game and everything is still there exactly the way i left it.

[Captain Qwark 9]

new engine, new problems. simple as that. doubtful anybody could get it perfect the first time around.

with that said, i like how everything stays how i left it.

[christheredhead]

Your last sentence sentence explains the root of the problem, which is also tied to the engine. A lead dev stated they would have to redo the entire system of saving in order to truly fix the problem. There might be work arounds, but factor in the limited console ram and it just adds more constraint.

Getting rid of the dead enemies, item drops, etc would definitely help though. Its kinda cool how everything stays put. The issue that is causes is not so cool though.

[Eu]

So much for the best game of the year.....with such a crippling game error like this one on the three platforms (this are also occurring on PCs....to a minor dregree because we all have 4+GB of ram...but its coming sooner rather than later for some)...I do hope Bethesda resolve this...if they can.

[AMD_CROSSFIRE_FTW]

NOz NOz NOz...My XbuXz Nevez getz problumz

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

well I have it on 360 and it worked perfectly. I finished it with no lag at all. but I would expect this damage control on N4g from ps3 fanboys pretending like the 360 version is nearly as crap as the ps3 version.

Ps3 version has worse visuals and lags like crazy way earlier than what this guy claims his does.

forum post is news?? lol probably just a ps3 fanboy. 360 version is fine, ps3 version sucks bad. Get over it.

If the 360 version really has this problem where are all the videos??? I see a bunch of ps3 lag videos but none for 360...I wonder why.

HAHAAHHA look at the rumor counter at the top...it SAYS HOPEFULLY.. LOL nothing says it better than that, the ps3 fanboys are desperatley hoping that the 360 version is nearly as broken as the PS3 one. HAAHHAHAA yeah one forum post is bull. This is not true, but if ps3 fanboys feel better about not being able to even finish the main quest whatever LOL.

[moosehound]

Well, thanks for bringing "Flame-Boy" to the party... what we needed was a totally "relevant" interjection by someone waving the "My console rulez yz Sukz!" banner so bravo! Feel proud in your contribution to the discussion my friend :)

[Raider69]

Well on 215hours of SKyrim on the xbox 360 playing from an elite jasper (latest patch) game install to a usb 16gb pen and i havent had any freezes or lag what so ever!The only problem that actually was not correct on patch 1.2 was the texture streaming problems that still persist but not so severe,and the the fact the patch made the magic resistance bug,after the patch 1.2 i played for about 10hours more and only stop playing at the moment due to the magic resistances problem,but in does ten hours prior to the patch i never had dragons flying backwards or any kind of lag in my total count play of 215h.Waiting to this week patch to continue my quest.

[moosehound]

I've put in around 30 or more hours on the PS3 and apart from a brief spell BEFORE the 1.2 patch I never have had slow down. Crashes yes... slowdown? Not as much :D

Awesome game regardless so I hope this can be averted by manipulating the memory used to store world events (this seems the most likely place for issues after long play).

[jack who]

lies

[ZippyZapper]

Yeah right says my 120 hour game save.

[firelogic]

My PS3 skyrim save is 11MB and I've had no lag issues. Been playing for 65hrs.

[kaveti6616]

Okay, keep playing. If you happen to continue on that save file for another 100 hours, you'll probably drain so much RAM that the console won't be able to run the game.

It's a sad state of affairs for consoles.

There's so little RAM as it is that a bug like this can truly be devastating.

[firelogic]

I've never played any game for 165hrs so that won't be a problem. My boredom will far outpace the game breaking.

[Mikeyy]

I had a character with 400 hours played on oblivion. You guys are chumps if you think 170 hours is big. Yeah the game gets laggy, but never unplayable.. I did the final quest for oblivion with my ps3 chugging at like 1 fps. You have no idea of pain you pansys.

[Hassassin]

At last a true warrior, not some whining pussy. lolz

[MilkEmHard]

This has actually happened to my cousin on his ps3 verison as well we were playing skyrim then we saved the game and that is when the patch was released so when we got back on we downloaded the patch and loaded the game and now this happened http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[baboom223]

I've played close to 100 hours and no lag at all for me. And yes I have the 360 version.

[fucadastates]

well the problem is on both xbox and ps3.
i got the game first on ps3, whent 57+ hours in, before the game had the "lag" problem. then traded the game in for an xbox version.. i am now at 95+ hours, and its JUStT now, it gets the lag problem..

[Gam3rSinceBiRTH]

Over 100 hours and nothing. Must be damage control from butt hurt fanboys.

[BDSE]

You think by now that bethesda would sort their Q&A out.