There are many owners that have found the latest Skyrim patch has finally sorted the serious lag issue on the console, but unfortunately there are still some that are still having difficulties. Now according to an article over at VG24/7 developer Bethesda has taken to the official forums offering some further advice to PS3 owners to try and fix any remaining problems.

They have said that the patch includes a number of performance improvements for the game on the PS3, but point out a few important things to be aware of. To start with owners are advised that after downloading the patch they should create a new manual save, before restarting the console and continuing to play.

The advice then goes on to state that if users notice any strange actions after applying the patch that it is only the Skyrim scripts correcting themselves, and will only be temporary. Once the correction has been completed a new save is needed ahead of a restart of the system.

Owners are then advised that if this still doesn’t help they should comment about it on the forums or other channels as Bethesda keeps an eye on these for feedback. Hopefully this will help matters as some users are getting excited about future DLC releases for the game. Recently we had some nice Skyrim DLC concept ideas for you to look at that could make the game even better. Below is a video of the patch working for one PS3 owner.

Has the latest Skyrim patch fixed all the problems for you?

More About: Bethesda, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Sony PS3

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Let’s start with Steam’s Elder Scrolls discount, you can now buy Morrowind Game of the Year Edition, Oblivion Game of the Year Edition and Skyrim for $49.99 in total (would usually cost just shy of $100). Alternatively you can buy Morrowind for $9.99, Oblivion for $9.99 and Skyrim for $39.99, usually Morrowind and Oblivion GOTY Editions are priced at $19.99 each on Steam. As for Skyrim this will go back up to $59.99 on Thursday, which means it’s a 33% saving. If you are in Great Britain you can get Skyrim for £23.29, usually it costs £34.99.

As you probably already know by now the Skyrim Creation kit is now live and so is the Steam Workshop – so you can finally begin creating your mods and sharing them with the community. If you’re struggling to come to terms by the CK’s vastness you should check out this YouTube playlist and bookmark it, here you can watch videos created by Bethesda Softworks which introduce you to the kit and teach you the basics, needless to say more videos will be added to the playlist as time goes on. (We have embedded episodes 1,2 and 3 at the bottom of this page).

Finally we can tell you that the high-resolution texture pack is available for download for free, the DLC is pretty self-explanatory and should make Skyrim look even more beautiful than it already does – you can download it here.

Now that you have the Skyrim Creation kit, Steam Workshop and high-resolution texture pack please test it all out and come back to tell us whether or not you’re impressed. Does Skyrim look much better with the improved textures? Is the Steam Workshop as seamless as promised? Is the creation kit complicated to use? These are the questions we want answered!

More About: Bethesda Softworks, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Skyrim Creation Kit, steam

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Sadly the video (which has been embedded at the end of this post) does not go too in-depth in regards to features, but it does at least give us an overview of what’s coming our way. In this article we will highlight a few of the most-exciting features we spotted, don’t get too excited just yet as Bethesda still hasn’t told us when it will become available, all we know is that it’s “coming soon”

The video confirms that in many ways Skyrim’s creation kit will be similar to Fallout 3′s Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K), therefore you should expect a similar interface and general layout (see below), also what’s great is that this creation kit features the same tools which Bethesda’s developers used when making the game and they have put together plenty of readme documentation to help you out.

Below we have embedded a screenshot which gives us a glimpse of one of the creation kit’s many brand new and powerful features, this is the scene editor and it allows you to create complex interactions with NPCs.

Some mod creators will want to create their very own story-driven quests, to make these quests gripping you can utilize the new dialogue view, this allows you to change the direction of a question depending on what you choose your character to say – neat eh? You can see a glimpse of this new feature below.

Obviously designing environments is key to certain mods, therefore you’ll be glad to hear that there are visual gizmos which allow you mainipulate objects on 3D spaces whilst seeing dynamic realtime shadows – see below for an idea of what to expect:

The video then goes on to talk about a new scripting language called either ‘Pyrus’ or ‘Papyrus’, we can’t quite hear what it’s called, but they are our best guesses – the video doesn’t tell us a great deal about this though. Finally we get a glimpse of the seamless integration between the Skyrim creation kit and the Steam Workshop – uploading your mods to the workshop is simple, just go to ‘File’ and select ‘Upload plugin and Archive to Steam’ you can then name your mod, add a description, add tags and choose screenshots – one click on the Upload button then means it’s ready for others to download and a webpage is automatically generated for other players to check out.

When people check out the auto-generated webpage there will be a subscribe button, clicking on this will ensure that the mod is applied next time they run the game. We love just how seamless the integration sounds and can’t wait to get up close and personal with the Skyrim Creation Kit and Steam Workshop – can you?

Don’t forget to check out the video below for more details, what other features would you like to see added?

More About: Bethesda Softworks, elder scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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You can find out everything you’ll ever need to know about this mod and download it here, in our article we will tell you all the exciting details and why over 150,000 people over at Skyrim Nexus have downloaded it already – we’ve also added a video at the bottom of this post which gives you a real taster of what to expect.

Installing this mod will result in much tougher dragon fights, without the mod dragons are often a pushover and 3-4 bandits can take down a dragon with ease, however this will soon change once the mod is running! Only the dragonborn will dare to take on Skyrim’s dragons and all your wit, determination and skill will be utilized with each dragon you face – dragons will boast better powers and throughout your Skyrim journey this mod will reveal new dragons which boast different shouts and improved textures.

When compared to normal dragons the mod will bring double health to all dragons by default, there will be resistance to physical attacks thanks to armor and “theme appropriate resistances” have been added – the dragons look much better too – below we have embedded an image showing the new swamp dragon and black dragon:

You can find out a great deal about this mod, how to install it and a fully detailed breakdown of the resistances, abilities and hardcore abilities it brings to dragons by checking out this text document – there’s also some optional plugins which may interest you.

Have you installed this mod? If so, would you recommend it? What’s your favorite change which this mod brings?

More About: Bethesda Softworks, elder scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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According to this page the following mods are the most endorsed files in the last two weeks – so let’s get started.

The most endorsed mod this fortnight is called Dovakiin Hideout, you can see a fully descriptive video showing off this mod here. Basically it gives every house in Skyrim a hideout called the Dovakiin’s Hideout which is accessible via a basement door, this hideout is shared between all houses and once in here there are loads of neat things to check out. Firstly it acts as a hub so you can teleport from the hideout to any house (5 to choose from), also there’s plenty of weapon racks, display cases, mannequins, chests, satchels, plaques where you can store items and weaponry etc – you can also carry out crafting, smithing and smelting etc here. To install the mod check out this link, here you can see full instructions and locate all the files you need.

Next up is a mod by IcePenguin called ‘A Quality World Map – With Roads’, no prized for guessing what this mod does! Basically IcePenguin has hand drawn all of the roads in the game, without this, navigating around can often be awkward as you can’t always see the quickest /easiest root to a village. You can see a video highlighting this great mode here, to install it check out this link for everything you need to know. You can see a glimpse of the map with roads below.

Last but by no means least is the ‘Wars in Skyrim IV – Dark Rainbow is back’ mod by Alexandrox. This mod makes Skyrim a more dangerous place as its likely you will come across groups of enemies on your travels, you could face 5 dragons at once, or 2 factions at a time – it really is unpredictable and gets the adrenaline going. Below we have embedded a video which introduces you to the mod, check out this link for full details and installation instructions.

We would love to hear from you if you’ve discovered a Skyrim mod recently which you think our readers should know about, if so leave us a comment below. Have you used any of the mods mentioned in this post? If so, are they as good as we are led to believe?

More About: Bethesda Softworks, elder scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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We recently told you that the latest patch had reached the beta stage for the game for PC users. This should mean it won’t be long before it reaches the PS3 and Xbox 360, which will be good news for the owners of the PS3, as it is supposed to finally fix the serious lag issues they have been experiencing.

Those gamers who are getting frustrated waiting for the release of the Skyrim DLC would have undoubtedly have already put in hundreds of hours into the game, but we are pretty sure they have not really scratched the surface of the game yet.

One pattern we have noticed from some of our readers is that some that play the game on a console tend to be the more impatient over the wait for the DLC. This could be because they lack the many mods that PC owners have access too.

Some of these include the comical Macho Man mod or the recent one that turns your dragons into My Little Pony. We have also seen mods that improve the frame rate for the game. Many have wondered what the DLC content will bring, and some of the previous titles may provide the answer. Users of the game have wondered about the bridges you come across, but your access is blocked.

In the map below of the continent of Tamriel you can see the various regions that include Skyrim. It also has areas from previous Elder Scrolls games, and an article here is wondering if these will feature in future DLC downloads. When the Skyrim DLC finally does arrive it would be nice if console owners managed to get access to some of the mods that PC owners have been enjoying.

Are you a console owner frustrated seeing so many mods on the PC version, although you may never dream of buying the game for PC, and cannot wait for Skyrim DLC for PS3 or Xbox 360?

More About: Bethesda, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Skyrim DLC

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Before we start talking negatively about the update we must point out that on the whole people seem pretty happy with the patch, one change which we have seen very positive feedback for is the jump in framerate which some people have reported. The official patch notes suggested that there would be better performance due to optimizations, well this turned out to be quite an understatement as people commenting on this thread over at the BethSoft forums are reporting massive framerate increases, especially in cities like Whiterun and inside buildings.

The bad news is that there are some reports of issues, firstly there’s reports of graphics ‘hitching’ post update (never occurred playing Skyrim 1.3) whilst another gamer says that since installing the update his game as crashed to the desktop (CTD) multiple times with no real pattern – this could be a fault specific to his hardware setup and configuration, however there are three reports of similar problems here. This thread over at the forums has 18 replies in regards to patch 1.4 BSOD and CTD problems, the people commenting are very knowledgeable so it may serve as a useful resource if you come across similar issues.

The final problem we will talk about is sound-related, apparently the game’s wind sound effect is sometimes very loud which is a nuisance, you can see all reports of the issue here and as you can see there’s three pages of replies, many say that the there is no pattern as to when the loud noise occurs, but most say it occurs when viewing the world map.

As this is a beta update we won’t worry about these issues too much as we expect them to be squashed by the time the update is rolled-out officially, you can leave your own feedback on the patch in this thread and reports minor beta bugs and changes which weren’t in the changelog here, for now why don’t you tell us of any problems you have experience with the beta patch in the comments section below.

Are you happy with the beta version of patch 1.4? Did your framerate increase significantly? Let us know!

More About: Bethesda Softworks, elder scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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Bethesda say that you should only apply this patch if you are experiencing issues which are listed in the changelog, you can see this here, there’s tons of fixes and improvements which this patch will bring to the game so chances are it should nullify most of the common problems which people have been experiencing.

Before applying the beta update you should ensure that you back up your game saves just in case as they may inadvertently get overwritten, one thing worth knowing is that your game saves will still work with patch 1.3 if you have to roll back to this version of the game.

If you want access to the Skyrim 1.4 beta you need to open up Steam, click on Steam in the upper menu, then click setting, select the account tab and then click change in the Beta participation section, now simply select ‘Skyrim Beta’ from the drop down menu and select OK, Steam will now restart and then download the latest beta.

As this is a beta you must understand that it may be unstable, therefore don’t be too surprised if you encounter issues. Bethesda has clearly stated that you should only install this beta if you are experiencing the problem noted in the list of changes. Most of the fixes relate to minor bugs which occur during specific quests, however we are also promised memory and performance optimizations and less lag when game save filesize becomes large – the latter of these issues is what should put an end to the PS3 lag problems which have been affecting millions of people for the last few months.

Are you experiencing a problem which is not mentioned in the changelog? If so, be sure to leave us a comment below.

More About: Bethesda Softworks, elder scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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Skyrim has arguably some of the best graphics coupled with the deepest game play of any game currently available. We have already brought you a variety of mods that can further heighten your enjoyment of the game. Most recently we gave you the Macho Man mod, which made your dragons look like Randy Savage of WWF and WCW fame.

The latest one we have for you is for owners of the PC version of the game, and comes courtesy of Skyrim nexus user ’zdzichorowerzysta’. If you are old enough to remember My Little Pony from years ago, or have kids now you would have heard of the toy.

Now by using this mod your dragons are replaced by My Little Pony figures soaring around the world of Skyrim terrorizing everyone. The mod has been downloaded 427 times already and below you can see a couple of videos with the mod in action. Head over to Skyrim nexus to find out more and to download the mod.

What is your favorite Skyrim mod so far?

More About: Bethesda, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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Quite surprisingly the information came to light when someone called Thomas Burt tweeted the Bethblog this message: @Bethblog Wondering when we can expect to see the 1.4 update. Thanks. We’re sure that this isn’t the first question which has asked for such information, however it is the first which we have seen that got a respone, here’s what the official Bethesda Softworks Twitter account said in reply: @ThomasBurt should have some more info to share very soon. You can see the tweets for yourself here.

As you can see Bethesda say that information regarding the 1.4 update for Skyrim is going to be shared very soon, therefore we think it’s fair to say that the update should arrive ‘very soon’ as well. It has now been over a month since patch 1.3 hit Xbox Live, PSN and Steam, therefore we believe that Bethesda’s team of developers have been very hard at work on a substantial patch which will make the game better than it already is – perhaps it will prepare the PC version of the game for the Skyrim creation kit and launch simultaneously with it – we sure hope so!

We don’t yet have a full breakdown of changes which this update will bring, however we have been told that the lag which occurs on the PS3 version of the game should be eradicated. Some PS3 gamers remain understandably skeptical, and we don’t blame them as this isn’t the first time that an update has been release to fix this particular issue – we shouldn’t have to wait too long to see if people’s skepticism is correct.

For now all we know is that info regarding patch 1.4 will be coming very soon, but to us it sounds like it is almost ready to go live, we will have to tell you more when we hear more on the matter.

Do you think that patch 1.4 is less than a week away?

More About: Bethesda Softworks, elder scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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