Fallout:New Vegas developer comments on PS3 Skyrim lag issues

An explanation of the lag problem for Skyrim on the PS3 comes from Fallout: New Vegas developer Joshua E. Sawyer

[christheredhead]

That was actually really interesting to read. They gave really good insight into how the system for fallout and TES function.

Also, it sort of confirms my fears that the issue is more related to the engine more than anything. Well not so much directly the engine. Its the engine combined with the split memory of the ps3 that's really the root of the problem.

The extended play lag did go away after the latest ps3 patch though, at least for me. Hopefully they can still make forward adjustments, performance wise.

[xCaptainAmazing]

is implement/alter the system which decides which things to "forget" on the PS3 version (which I have).

A lot of people will disagree with this, understandably, as they maybe feel a measure like this isn't acceptable. But, if they have a way of tracking when you did a particular action (kill a guy, or whatever) they can hopefully come up with a relatively useful scheme for ditching these objects based on how long ago it was (or shorten it from what it already was).

It's admittedly not perfect, but the issue is being caused by one of the greatest known drawbacks to the PS3 (restrictive RAM). Many games don't have this problem because they aren't asking for RAM the system doesn't have (remember disappearing bullet holes anyone?).

Based on this description, this issue is inevitable regardless of platform. Although, the 360 has a lot more to play with and PCs are off the chart in terms of RAM, so it may never crop up in the time you spend with it.

Honestly, I'd be happy with a solution as I've described (if it's even possible). It's a small price to pay to overcome a pretty hefty technical hurdle, in my opinion.

I'm not going to say Bethesda made the greatest decision... but they designed a game that needed X amount of RAM available to work properly and the PS3 has Y. Call it whatever you will, but without crippling the game on all platforms they really couldn't have done much better. If it doesn't have enough, it doesn't have enough. They need a more creative solution.

Edit: This also explains why people see the issue reduce noticeably when using an SSD on the PS3. If it can't fit everything in memory it's going to be constantly fetching pages from disk which is slow as hell. An SSD will greatly reduce these read times.

[MasterCornholio]

If Betheadas knew that the PS3 version was going to be broken if they made it due to the ram issue. Then they should have not released it. No one likes playing a game that with time becomes unplayable.

Anyways I blame the devs not Sony's console because they knew what they were doing.

XperiaRay

[Furesis]

yup i'm kind of mad if they would have told this before the game came out i would have not bought it for the ps3 but then again they would have not gotten my money and that's what they wanted

[Nerdmaster]

And people still have the guts to say that we don't need a new generation of consoles.

[Astargatis]

Well if they optimized the engine for PS3,they would have better results and the game would run really fine but they never did.The problem continues because they rush and never really looked in.It's not PS3 fault.Bethesda could do the same on PS4,if it doesn't optimize its game for it.

[MizTv]

i got the plat in f3 but new vegas sucked ahole

[Scottyabanks]

Yeah, I agree, me too. I have the plat in F3, and yes NV really does suck. I only have 3 hours invested in it and haven't played it in about 10 months.

[Scottyabanks]

As far as LAG is concerned, many PS3 gamers complain about experiencing LAG due to large file sizes, but I have 1300 hours in Oblivion with a file size of 23mb, and have had no LAG except for the once in a while crash. I have 30 hours in Skyrim, file size of 13mb, no LAG and only 2 crashes. Fallout 3, I have 300 hours, 11mb size and only the DLC has had bad LAG and crash issues while the regular game had only the once in a while crash. New vegas, however was an atrocity, and unplayable in my opinion, on both consoles, as I've bought it for the 360, hoping it wouldn't have the same issues as on PS3, well it did.

[titans9999]

I have the ps3,and xbox 360. I prefer the PS3 because it runs quiet, and I love the controller better. I have had no issues with the PS3 versions of both Skyrim, nor Fallout NV. I have racked up at least 300 hours on each, and still no problems....what is all the fuss about??

[Astargatis]

Well you are a really lucky guy.Me along with the people who already mentioned,had game breaking problems in New Vegas and in Skyrim.I though Obsidian was the one to blame for New Vegas but Skyrim proved me that's not the case...

[titans9999]

Astargatis, sorry you are having so many problems. Hopefully they will fix it soon...

[Ulf]

Comments from an Obsidian *designer* (NOT an engineer), who worked with, not on (there's a big difference), the Fallout 3 engine...

This Skyrim dev's friends's brother's dog's cousin's coworker quote has almost nothing to do with Skyrim, and the PS3 architecture explanation for why the same issue doesn't happen on the 360 is 100% pure BS, straight from the ignorant mouth of what sounds a lot like a fanboy.

I apologize to those whose ears are hurt by the fact that this is half-truthed rag-journalism, at its finest.

Also.. does this guy also confess that F:NV has the same issue on PS3 then? Or that Fallout 3 does? First I've heard of it...

[leemo19]

Its plain a simple Bethesda
http://youtu.be/m5RtlpXsl8k