Do missed arrows harm the save-game file? I'm on PS3 with a level 51 character and Skyrim already starts freezing every now and then. And I'd really like to keep this character. I already regret that I made him on the PS3 instead of the PC.

I know explosive attacks are dangerous because it raises the save game size really quickly. But what about arrows? I miss sometimes and then when I start looking for them they seem to have dissapeared.

Arrows are cleaned up after a certain amount of time. Possibly when the cell is unloaded. You don't have to worry about them bloating saves.

I fired arrows into trees and stuff to see how long it takes them to clean up and it's usually within 30 seconds or so before they vanish on my game.

Thanks guys!

ashan, I hope you don't mind me adding a related question to your thread since yours has been answered.

More or less the same question for weapons and shields dropped on the ground by dead foes. It seems sometimes when I return to an area where I've killed the baddies, their bodies have disappeared, but sometimes a stray weapon or two is still lying around. To be cautious, I've adopted the rather annoying practice of picking up any weapons or shields I see that foes have dropped and putting them in the dead foes's inventory to make sure they get cleaned up when the 'body sweeper' comes along.

Am I being overly cautious? I don't want a bunch of weapons and shields as perma-decor bloating up my game.

I think that caution is in order. I usually "hover" the viewpoint over any weapons that I see on the ground. Anything that is part of the dead guy's inventory will show up as "Search Bandit," while something that was dropped might be "Iron Shield." The loose stuff gets picked up and given to the corpse.

When my character is overencumbered, and I have to get rid of something to carry that new "better item," I will dispose of the excess stuff in a corpse, unless I'm sure I'm coming back to get it.

Thanks, glargg. Most of what I've been picking up is visible on the ground but reads 'Search bandit' instead of an actual loose item. So I'm guessing now that even though I see it on the ground (sometimes a good distance away from the corpse) - I've found that those items are 'equipped' by the dead guy and, since I could see them on the ground, was worried they might stay there. I think I'll try your suggestion to try leaving that stuff that actually has a corpse associated with it and hope the body sweepers will pick it up along with the corpse.

Keeping the Save clean by manually cleaning after a Battle is almost a requirement for a PS3 User.

An X-Box User has a little more give in Thier Saves. An Unmodded PC Player has the same problem with Gear left behind as an X-Box Player.

A USKP User has the benefit of the Hard Work of the USKP Team editing the Game to tie the dropped Weapons and Shields to the Bodies that dropped the items.

this.

I remember when I played on the PS3, after the battle for Whiterun. There was floating swords left behind but no bodies. I would take and sell them so my save file didn't get bloated. I do remember seeing this when I got Skyrim on the PC but after installing the unofficial patch it ceased to be an issue.

Now I'll come across a sword named bandit and if I click on it I can view the bandit's inventory. The body was somewhere in the environment.

Okay, that's a helpful explanation of the situation. I've never played without the unofficial patch.

Thanks very much for the help! I guess I recall long left over swords and such from when I first played - before installing USKP. I do have SKSP now though and the info provided above is very helpful. Thanks all for the help and thanks ashan for letting me hijack your thread a bit.

yeah before I installed the unofficial patches, I was using Warzones mod which adds many more enemies to battles and such. There was always a lot of weapons left over. Sure never ran out of steel arrows lol

You can move the save to PC

Yep, it's always good to keep extra saves of your character at different stages of their development.

How?