The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Save File Size Affects PS3 Playability

Reports are coming in from many PlayStation 3 owners who claim that Skyrim becomes virtually unplayable once their savegame file size reaches around 6MB and above.

[Resistance_lord]

Mine is at 8 and everything is fine :0

[Blackdeath_663]

yeah same my copy is fine so lol at ppl haveing issues with the game

[Echo307]

You're a jerk.

[lastdual]

But what's your savefile size? How many hours in are you?

I started getting frame drops around 6mb (25 hours), now at 9mb and the game becomes barely playable after 1-2 hours.

I've turned off PS3 background processes and disabled autosaving, but the improvements were only temporary. Game runs alright for the first hour, but things get really choppy after that.

I haven't experienced the "things are so bad you can no longer interact with NPCs and objects" problems yet, but without a patch the game is looking pretty broken.

It's a little discouraging to keep playing if I know my game might end up like this: http://youtu.be/6P5W1n2gJeY

[KwietStorm_BLM]

What a mature stance.

[FanboyPunisher]

I have 11Mb and the game is broken for me.
Sold it in craigslist and bought steam version.

[funkykerbunkle]

Oh right sure. Just like every PS3 fanboy had at least 3 RROD's.

[360ICE]

Yeah, that is so true. I have 20.000Mb and everytime I start the game planet earth is engulfed in an all-consuming fire inferno and I have to restart the system and play other games. After 15 whole seconds of patience I decided to auction my game away to the highest bidder and bought myself a high end gaming PC, Skyrim for PC and a million other cool PC games that actually exist on PC and not on console for the money I earned from selling Skyrim.

But then one day I found out that my super intelligent PC, that costs way less than a PS3 or 360 was playing the game for itself, since it's smarter than human kind of course, and I got like mad angry as hell and broke up with the PC and bought a Mac. Now I'm playing an illegal flash version of minesweeper and loving it.

[HardCover]

Yeesh you guys really this hardpressed to believe that a problem discussed in the article is relevant to someone in the comments on that article?

So he sold his PS3 version because of a bug that affected his game play, and bought the PC version instead.... SO ****ING WHAT?

[Fylus]

Still don't own Skyrim yet but I watched my buddy play it the other day. His save was at 10mb and everything was running perfectly.

[funkykerbunkle]

Oh right sure. The other day I watched my buddy's save files and remembered the size too. I mean nothing better to do.

[360ICE]

And here's your extended story:
In those days that Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world I thought of the most fantastic idea. Why don't I go over to my friend's house to see if he has Skyrim so I can watch him play and make extensive notes regarding the size of his saved data utility? I journey far into the realms of Narnia to find his humble castle, when suddenly I saw his flat screen brightening up the skies as if it was an LED TV. His Skyrim related saved data utility took up a total space of 10,485,760 bytes, I took notes, but as I watched the game unfold on the night sky I was as if starstrucken - the game was rendering every beautiful frame perfectly, with an infinite number on frames per seconds. No tearing, no frame drops, no lag. And then I realized that consoles are in fact not driven by their processors and graphics cards, but by the spirit of its many fans, and we all danced till sunrise. That was the day I entered the ranks of the adults and became a man.

[MysticStrummer]

I assume the other two people that replied to you think they're being funny. I pay attention to file sizes because of limited space on my HDD, so I can see how you would notice. OT - My save file is around 8.5 mb and I have no problem as long as I save, quit, and reload every so often. Glad they're working on a patch though.

[Fylus]

@Mystic, yeah, I don't really see their problem. I mean, my friend called me up, told me he got Skyrim, I rushed to his house to check it out. I don't know about these guys but I absolutely love even watching other people play games. Should there be a problem with that? I watch my girlfriend's brother play Battlefield 3 all the time. I help him spot enemies and explain tactical strategies as he plays. I find that perfectly entertaining.

[Redlogic]

Out of curiosity, what type of ps3 (slim or fat) do those of you whose game is working fine have? I have a fat 120gb but don't think I've reached the 6mb threshold yet but I do wonder if that has anything to do with it.

[Resistance_lord]

250Gb Slim.

[Anon1974]

I understand that if the game starts to bog down, all you have to do is stop, save and restart. It might be annoying, but at least there's an option until this problem is patched. It's not like this is a game breaker.

[OllieBoy]

I had this issue with New Vegas.

When the save file reached 11MB, the game would crash all the time. Hope they fix it.

[Clown13]

Yeah me too, around 13Mb everything would lag until it froze. Same thing with Fallout 3.

[kneon]

Given the wide range of files sizes people are listing here and elsewhere I suspect it's not a matter of file size but rather that the file eventually just gets corrupted in some way.

[MrDead]

I have this problem with Fallout 3 and New Vegas, get over 14mb save and it gets unbearable to play. It never affected Oblivion though

[nycredude]

I never had a problem with fallout 3 and am playing Skyrim on pc so it shouldn't be a problem.

At least the save file is not 500mb like Africa! LOL

[NukaCola]

lol, i remember that. My wife love photography os I got her Afrika. I never got why the game saved such a huge file.

[fluffydelusions]

Apparently a lot of people over at neogaf have this problem with skyrim so I guess it's true =\

[marioPSUC]

I really hope they fix that, havent had he issue on the 360 yet but its making me scared to play it.

My friends complained about this same issue on PS3 for Fallout 3 and New Vegas and its like they just completely ignored the issue, I would really be upset if this happened

[fluffydelusions]

It only affects PS3 not 360 but ya hope they fix it. Was it ever fixed with New Vegas? If not, I'd be worried.

[MasterCornholio]

They have to fix this. Bethesda has no right to release a game like this with this type of bug. It essentially is game breaking given enough time.

[e-p-ayeaH]

why im not surprised.

[dead_eye]

As if so many people keep a track of the save file size.

[user7792788]

When you save your game in Skyrim (ps3) it shows you how big the file size is

[pangitkqb]

uh...EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU SAVE it shows the file size. It's hard not to notice. I'm approaching 6 megs. Get back under your bridge.

[dead_eye]

how about you stick your head up your arse and breath in. I only asked a question.

[Ch1d0r1]

Fallout 3 GOTY same thing, i remember it being an issue when you had an oversize inventory. PS3 version.

[Perjoss]

I can see how this would SO happen to me if I played it on ps3. I travel back to my in game house really often to unload tons of junk.

[Orion]

After 80 hours, my game became completely unplayable... NV was a bit more stable, but still had problems. I thought they would fix this in Skyrim... looks like they haven't...

Bethesda is banned from my PS3 from now on.

[Ch1d0r1]

<--- Wishes he had an awesome PC that could handle Skyrim.

[user7792788]

Well my save is over 6mb and the only problems i can see is FPS drop when i ride a horse.

[D3mons0ul]

Same thing happened with Fallout 3, same with NV. God dammit Bethesda.

Each time the game saves, your file size increases.

[Ch1d0r1]

They should learn how to save on the fly like Dark Souls/Demons Souls... With out a hiccup.

[wolokowoh]

The further I get the more often it freezes but I'm playing patchless. Hope they get the second one out soon so when I go to my friends I can get that one as well.

[Neo Nugget]

Aren't they prepping a patch for Skyrim?

Hopefully it addresses this problem.

[Vortex3D]

If Bethesda can truly fix this bug, that will be a surprise because it's the same problem with Fallout 3 GOTY/New Vegas and they were never fixed.

[Hozi]

Wow..maybe it's good that I wasn't able to get the game on day one. I can't wait to play it but, maybe I should wait until all of this dust settles. I'm not looking forward to buy a game that will not let me play past a certain point.

[Vortex3D]

This sounds like Fallout 3 GOTY on PS3. Did Bethesda test Skyrim/Fallout 3 in small segments and never let the save game file grew really large by completing everything in the same playthrough?

With the history of Bethesda ignoring to fix this kind of bug on Fallout 3/New Vegas, this bug could become a feature.

[JoelT]

Mine is at 9mb, this story is BS.

[knifefight]

Yeah because if it doesn't happen to me, it doesn't happen to anyone!

[Pintheshadows]

Mine is at 12 and the game only becomes choppy after about 3hrs with alot of fast travelling. Reloading fixes it. I've played for 52hrs and I have loved every second.

[Perjoss]

52 hours! I'm curious as to whether you're playing all that time on the same character or started multiple characters to try out different play styles.

[Grip]

why in hell he play multiple characters in his first walkthrough.. the game will be very boring if he does that!

[Pintheshadows]

No, one character. If you don't believe me i'll pm you spoilers to some of the biggest questlines. I kid of course i'd never do that.

It's now 57 hrs. I don't have a job.

[Perjoss]

Oh I totally believe you, I'm at 37 hours myself I just think I've had less time to play than you have, had to help a family member with some stuff and my friends dragged me out to watch a football match the other day too.

[bozebo]

Morrowind on Xbox eventually became nearly unplayable :P

Especially considering how often that game crashed and made you wait 50 trillion years to load again lol. (actually something like 15 minutes after 200+ hours playtime but.... that is an insane loading time in itself so it deserves such a degree of exaggeration). Also consider that the world has about 3x as much content as Skyrim and that the only fundamental differences in the engine are rendering, physics and animation - 3 things that barely, if at all, affect save file sizes. File was probably upwards of 50MB lol.

Oblivion somehow avoided it though. I think it's probably RAM related (console games are usually designed to only leave about 10-20MB of ram unused for spikes in system activity). Wasn't there a problem in blops if you had a huge friends list? Could be a similar issue.

[Gamer-Z]

Its a ram issue, the problem is the game world doesn't refresh or reset like in Oblivion so all that junk just piles up making the game load every single object you have moved and NPC you have killed.

[Neo Nugget]

So, is there a way to clear it up or something? Even temporarily?

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Reload your saved game.
File size won't change, but the world is 'refreshed' since you started the game again.

[WetN00dle69]

The same can be said about the 360 version!
Yesterday i had some problems performing the shouts while being attacked by 3 marauders. I pressed the button a few times and nothing. I was dual wielding by the way.

[Grip]

i had this problem with PC version and this issues had nothing to do with the Save file.

[Ren_]

Switch off the PS3, switch it back on and load your game and that fixes the problem.

Holding onto too much information I think when people play it for more than a couple of hours at a time.

[Ren_]

Think about it: The position of dropped items, bodies etc., what you have sold to people, mini-maps of explored caves and dungeons etc. All that stuff is being stored in memory and not being released.

Most of these framerate issues arise after playing the game for more than 2 or 3 hours straight. Switching off the game and the ps3 will clear this memory and free it up again.

Fast-travelling frequently will cause the memory to fill up faster also I have heard...

[Orion]

I don't think it's memory, but the game save file. I tried rebooting the game, the PS3, even uninstalling the whole Fallout 3 GOTY. Always keeping the same game file. Nothing worked.... extreme lag and freezing... :(

[Ren_]

Not sure about FNV GOTY. I only ever played std. ed but it worked ok for me if I forget about the occassional console freeze :(

So far on Skyrim, my save is 10.5MB but it works alright if I switch the PS3 off when it starts acting up and then reload it.

[Elite-uk]

Had the same issue with vegas, but not with oblivion (both on ps3)and waited ages for it to be fixed..... in the end,i just gave up and got rid of the game.

I really hope the same thing don't happen here, approaching 6mb. And currently only had a couple of random crashes & a few frame drops. fingers crossed, cos i'm loving skyrim!.

[CultOfPersonality]

mine works absolutely fine! iv'e not experienced any of the problems on ps3! my save is a t 11mb and perfectly fine.

[Bladesfist]

My save is perfect so its all your faults. Learn to save your games properly noobs /s

[XeoZin]

They never fixed it in fallout 3. On the forums they were jerks and never answered 1 post regarding the issue and just let it slide...it was the reason i didnt buy new vegas. Im sad to hear skyrim have this problem too.

[Logan832]

Unfortunately this is true. I am 8mb in, and every time I kill a dragon the game freezes when it combusts. Bethesda will just sweep this under the radar because it is not effecting all ps3's.

[JTX]

Yesterday mine was so choppy it was nearly unplayable (ps3 250g fatboy). I had 5 different save files so I deleted 4 and kept 1....turned off autosave and now it's back to running smooth again. Now I'm afraid everytime I save because the file size keeps growing.

[Yukicore]

The solution is quite simple, i am not sure they can pull it off with a patch, but why not?

Game caches every item or dead person you move or leave and every location you have registered (registered counts as if you have been there and touched the item/person), they could just set a limit and auto-delete for the history actions, except for your house and some item chests and make bodies disappear when the limit is reached, but for the areas not set for enemies to re-spawn, they don't.

It could make loadings slower, because it's the only place where that can be done without slowing down the game, but i don't really mind that some things disappear if game performance is damaged by that.

[TripleZero]

I don't even have room for another saved game, gotta either upgrade my drive or get an external.

[barb_wire]

I don't have 'Skyrim' yet - but when I had my fat 60GB, Oblivion and Fallout 3 would just freeze like crazy once I got past the 13mb file size.. Fallout New Vegas (have 120GB slim now) it would do the same after getting to and beyond 11mb..

The only solutions that I've used.. in the game options, turn off saving on resting/sleeping. After playing the game for 4hrs or more.. save your game (always save in a new slot, never use the same save game file) turn off your PS3 for at least 2mins, reboot and load the game. Also delete any old and unimportant save game files..

[SAE]

my ps3 freezed alot on new vegas but that doesn't effict on the fun to me , i just restart the ps3 soit won't effict the fun in skyrim too ...

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I've said the same exact thing about Fallout. I've had a theory about why Bethesda's games crash so much on PS3, and I think it's related in some way to the save file. In most games, your save file writes over itself, since a loaded save doesn't actually hold all of your previous progress, rather it literally tells the game a starting point, items included. However, Fallout's save files continue to grow the longer you play. I think my save in Fallout 3 is close to 30MB, when all was said and done. I think the problem may be that Bethesda is not dumping the cache properly, instead having it continue to build on itself, just like the save file, which explains all the slow down, and would explain why so many people have said that after a reset, the game works better for them, at least for a while, but we shouldn't have to do that. You would think after all this time, Bethesda would have fixed the SAME or similar bugs, and they can't get away with the large, open world excuse over and over.