Ps3 – Crippling load times and framerate drop in the PS3 version

Since I don't know too many people who buy a $60 game for both XBox and PS3, I decided to compare load times using youtube vidoes.

Summary Table of Average Load Times (in seconds)
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Console  New Game  Saved Game  Dungeon  House  Outside  City  Fast Travel
XBox     47        10*         21       9      22       20    28
PS3      22*       33*         17       7*     17       18    36*

*Low sample size (< 3)

Loading a new game:

• Xbox
  • 0:58
  • 0:58
  • 0:25
• PS3
  • 0:23
  • 0:21

Loading a new area (dungeon):

• Xbox
  • 0:30
  • 0:20
  • 0:15
  • 0:20
  • 0:21
• PS3
  • 0:15
  • 0:19
  • 0:18

Loading a new area (house):

• Xbox
  • 0:09
  • 0:08
  • 0:08
  • 0:10
  • 0:08
  • 0:12 (larger house)
  • 0:17 (castle)
  • 0:17 (castle)
• PS3
  • 0:07
  • 0:06
  • 0:14 (castle)

Loading a new area (outside):

• Xbox
  • 0:19
  • 0:21
  • 0:28
  • 0:22
  • 0:21
  • 0:05 (from house)
  • 0:05 (from house)
  • 0:05 (from house)
  • 0:07 (from house)
  • 0:25 (from larger house)
  • 0:24 (fast travel)
  • 0:30 (fast travel)
• PS3
  • 0:21
  • 0:12
  • 0:19
  • 0:05 (from house)
  • 0:05 (from house)
  • 0:29 (fast travel)
  • 0:42 (fast travel)

Loading a new area (city):

• XBox
  • 0:18
  • 0:20
  • 0:21
  • 0:20
  • 0:21
  • 0:30 (fast travel)
• PS3
  • 0:19
  • 0:20
  • 0:16

Loading a saved game:

• XBox
  • 0:10
• PS3
  • 0:32 (after death)
  • 0:33 (after death)

I have this same issue now, to where I can not play almost at all unless I am in a dungon. If I load into a city, fast travel, or have a dragon spawn, it freezes in the same way you describe. I have to turn off my PS3 all the way and when it comes back on it says that my hard disk may be corrupt and does a 15-minute check.

I have over 100 hours play time and this issue has me really down, but here is what I have found suggested around the net:

1. Wait 30 in-game days so that all the dungeons and dead bodies everywhere will ether re-spawn or de-spawn from the game world, which is said to lower the size of the save file. (I can't use this one because if I wait I freeze right after.)

2. Turn off auto save and any other type of save that you have not done your self. (I know it's a life saver, but just make yourself save every 15 minutes or before you think you're about to have a big battle.)

3. Check all of your saves from the PS3 save utility for any saves that say "corrupt" on them and remove them. Also, remove all the really old saves.

4. Hope that there will be a patch for this soon. :)

Let me know if this works for you, and good luck!