We have been closely monitoring the performance of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim since its launch. Today, Bethesda has released Update 1.3 for the PC version via Steam, with the patch currently in the submission process for Sony and Microsoft consoles. Based on our hands-on testing, this update addresses several critical stability issues that have impacted gameplay consistency.
Below are the official release notes for the 1.3 update, which apply to all platforms unless otherwise noted:
Skyrim Update 1.3 Technical Improvements
- General stability improvements: Targeted fixes to reduce crash frequency during extended play sessions.
- Optimize performance for Core 2 Duo CPUs (PC): Significant backend adjustments to improve frame pacing and CPU utilization for these specific processors.
- Fixed Radiant Story incorrectly filling certain roles: Corrects logic errors in the quest generation system to ensure NPCs behave as intended.
- Fixed magic resistances not calculating properly: Resolves a critical bug where players were not receiving the correct defensive bonuses from gear and spells.
- Fixed issue with placing books on bookshelves inside player purchased homes: Addresses item clipping and placement errors in player housing.
- Fixed dragon animation issues with saving and loading: Prevents state-related glitches that previously caused dragon models to hang or animate incorrectly after reloading a save.
- Fixed Y-look input to scale correctly with framerate: Ensures consistent vertical mouse sensitivity regardless of current FPS.
For our PC audience, please note that Bethesda has confirmed plans to roll out support for 4-Gigabyte Tuning (Large Address Aware) next week. This is a highly anticipated technical update that should allow the game to better utilize system memory, potentially improving stability for those running high-resolution texture mods or complex save files.
