Thirteen1

Following crippling lag problems encountered by numerous players with large save games, Bethesda released a PS3 Skyrim patch on Monday in part designed to improve the “occasional performance issues resulting from long term play”.

Having previously complained at length about the problem, ex-Official PlayStation Magazine editor Tim Clark was initially delighted with the patch, which seemed to offer a vast improvement to gameplay.

However, it wasn’t long before his game started to resemble a Nordic slideshow once more, and he now says he’d again struggle to recommend the PS3 version of the RPG stunner in its current state.

“Initially, I was startled by how buttery smooth the framerate seemed having installed the patch,” Tim wrote. “It even held up fine when going into problem areas crowded with NPCs, such as Whiterun, or engaging in large scale scraps with multiple enemies out in the wild. I was a happy Sabre Cat.

“However, extended play later last night – and we’re talking a three hour session – saw the choppiness creep back in, until eventually it became unplayable again.”

While the lag issue doesn’t affect all players – older machines with rammed HDDs seem particularly susceptible – and the patch may have cleared it up for some, Tim’s girlfriend and colleague also ran into crippling lag again a few hours after installing the 92mb PS3 Band-Aid.

[Souce:CVG]