The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PlayStation 3 Post-v1.4 Patch Performance Analysis

After criticizing the minor performance improvements for patch v1.2, the folks at Digital Foundry have gone back to analyze The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s PlayStation 3 performance after the release of patch v1.4, and it looks like this time the situation may have been significantly improved for Sony’s console owners. Here are a couple of snips from their findings:

It’s clear from these tests that Skyrim’s lag issue has been reduced considerably. Where playthroughs on previous patches show wild fluctuations in frame-rate, patch 2.03 offers far greater consistency in performance and can diminish instances of stuttering outright in certain cases. Passing through Riverwood village, for example, gives us a reading that holds much closer to the game’s target 30FPS, with the worst stutter bringing it down to 22FPS for a brief spell. Compared to the previous patch, where passing by the same spot forces the game to come crashing down to 0FPS for a few seconds, this is a giant and much-welcomed leap forward.

…

Generally speaking, it’s apparent that the root cause of the problem has been addressed in such a way that its effects are diminished to a tolerable level rather than solved outright. Sadly, this also further cements the theory that the bug is characteristic of how Skyrim’s engine handles the caching of saved data over time, and will likely always remain unresolved to some extent. That being said, the game is now ostensibly in fully playable state for long-term PS3 players, which is cause for celebration for those affected.

…

The silver lining to this debacle is that Bethesda may well be spurred on to make a significant change to its quality assurance policies, because clearly a highly vocal fanbase will be subjecting future Bethesda games based on this engine with an extreme level of scrutiny. The success of Skyrim remains an astonishing commercial breakthrough for both the company and Elder Scrolls franchise, but it’s fair to say there are some who won’t be so quick to forget their early experiences with the game.