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Major Skyrim patch released for Xbox 360, PS3, PC

by Steven Williamson on 30 November 2011, 15:28

Tags: Bethesda Softworks

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Bethesda has released the second in a series of patches for its bug-ridden RPG adventure, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Available to download from immediate effect on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC platforms, update 1.2 fixes a number of major issues, including game crashes, animation bugs and mouse sensitivity problems.

On Xbox 360, Bethesda has now fixed the problem with poor textures that occurred as a result of installing the game to the hard-drive, while PS3 players will benefit from the patching up of the game-breaking save bug. A large number of fixes and improvements have been applied to the PC version, which can be viewed below.



Update 1.2:
  •     Improved occasional performance issues resulting from long term play (PlayStation 3)
  •     Fixed issue where textures would not properly upgrade when installed to drive (Xbox 360)
  •     Fixed crash on startup when audio is set to sample rate other than 44100Hz (PC)
  •     Fixed issue where projectiles did not properly fade away
  •     Fixed occasional issue where a guest would arrive to the player's wedding dead
  •     Dragon corpses now clean up properly
  •     Fixed rare issue where dragons would not attack
  •     Fixed rare NPC sleeping animation bug
  •     Fixed rare issue with dead corpses being cleared up prematurely
  •     Skeleton Key will now work properly if player has no lock-picks in their inventory
  •     Fixed rare issue with renaming enchanted weapons and armour
  •     Fixed rare issue with dragons not properly giving souls after death
  •     ESC button can now be used to exit menus (PC)
  •     Fixed occasional mouse sensitivity issues (PC)
  •     General functionality fixes related to remapping buttons and controls (PC)

It looks like PC gamers got the rough end of the stick yet again. The PC versions of RAGE and Batman: Arkham City were plagued with technical issues too. Is it too much to ask that developers get their games in tip-top shape before launch?



HEXUS Forums :: 25 Comments

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Is it too much to ask that developers get their games in tip-top shape before launch?

Apparently so! Although to be fair, we have been heading in this general direction for years now. I think the final nail in the coffin was XBox360 and PS3 having game patch storage and online features.

Of course, there is still one company bucking the trend and they are probably one of the most successful in recent years: Blizzard…..but you can normally count how many titles they release in a year on 2-3 fingers :P
Part of the problem is the pressure to get games out for a specific date or week. Skyrim had the silly gimmick 11/11/11 release date for ages before hand. Apparently this patch is causing some dragons to fly backwards…
“Is it too much to ask that developers get their games in tip-top shape before launch?”

Compared to any previous TES game, this one is very well polished indeed! Given it's also got the most content, that's quite an achievement IMHO. To get much better you have to either spend three times as long on development, so it costs way more and looks outdated when released (hello Blizzard) or you cut down on features massively (hello Bioware). Given we've got examples of those, I'll take my sprawling, ambitious, beautiful epic, especially when it's such good value for money, even if it does contain a few mistakes.

By the way, I don't think the PC patch is out yet.
In-game mistakes I can deal with, but lack of stability really winds me up. Some game studios seem to have no problem delivering a stable game on the first release. In my experience of past Bethesda games, such as Fallout 3, Bethesda can't deliver a stable game at all - even with patches. I've avoided them since, which is a shame, because the games themselves are great.
They're getting better. Skyrim is more stable than Oblivion, which was much more stable than Morrowind, which was a billion times more stable than Daggerfall, which was a little less stable than Arena, but no-one really played Arena long enough for a valid comparison :p

But yes I can see it's annoying if you have a system that doesn't play ball. I've been incredibly lucky in that respect. The computer to my left is already less stable in Skyrim than mine.