I have several questions regarding save files.

1- Do you keep multiple save files and if so how many.

2- Does keeping multiple files in turn help to keep your MB down?

3- When do you overwrite those files.

1- I do during a session. It can range anywhere from 10-35 save files. I save every 5-10 minutes, before/during/after dungeons, before accepting quests, kewl battles, and some other things.

2- I find that it does. I once had a level 40ish with a 9-10MB save file.

3- I never overwrite. I always make a new manual save each time. When my playtime is done, I have my character face the TV, smile, and save. Afterwards in the XMB, I delete all the saves except the last one. Or depending where I am, I keep the previous saves as a precaution. I normally set goals when I play and try to make ssure I don't leave things unfinished.

Multiple save slots are a requirement to play this game. Reason, a quest may glitch, and the best way to resolve it is to load a save from before you started (not accepted, but started) and play it again.

Now, that being said, this game is not as bad with slot overwrites as before, but don't push that too far as eventually with enough overwrites a slot will go wonky on you.

Some have said that cleaning up after yourself (putting swords that are laying around after a battle into a corpses inventory, closing doors you open, things like that can help keep your save file size smaller. I don't know how much space that saves, but it might help.

Personally, and I am on the PC, I make a new slot almost every time I save the game. I might overwrite a slot as I am traveling to place, but make new slots once I am there or in the middle of the dungeon or quest. I can always delete excess slots later.

I use 3 files that I rotate saves on. It's worked pretty well for me so far, saving my main character from 2 game breaking bugs. I simply make 3 saves, and whenever I need to save my game, I save it on the lowest save file. I also keep Autosave on.

Autosaves is all you need. Want to keep mb down? Stay in Riverwood.

I played on the PS3 for a little over a month. When I did, I turned off all the auto saves, for they mess up the game and cause it to freeze. I keep 5 saves, and when I am finished playing I then copy those saves to a usb thumb drive. Next time I go to play, I keep the last save and delete the rest. Again, the next time I quit playing, I again copy 5 more saves to the thumb drive. This way if the game freezes, glitches, bugs out, whatever, I have plenty of saves to go back to. I since sold the PS3, and still play on the xbox. Hope this helps.

The longer you play, the more places you unlock, the bigger your save file size gets. No way to avoid it, I'm sorry to say.

I turn off autosaves(which has pretty much eliminated all my infinite load screen crashes btw) and keep 2 save files per character plus 1 "prisoner" save. I play DiD so any time a character dies I delete their files.

I have yet to level a character past 50, so I can't really comment too much on save file sizes. They usually don't get over 10mb for me, but I don't do every quest on every character.

I think the only thing that I havent done that all if you do is keep multiple saves. Shame on me I know. Im probably gonna start a new character and try what you all suggested. Thanks

Wait, there's still people playing this game on PS3. Man I pity those fans that have to deal with a terrible product due to the PS3 having memory issues at higher file sizes and Bethesda not properly optimizing the game for the PS3.

Turn off auto saves, have more then one save and have a backup save at a location that's outside of a city. Also you may want to avoid using Serana after the Dawnguard questling or only using her when you absolutely need her, that will keep the file low. Picking up weapons/shields off of enemy corpses is another required thing and keep a low amount of items in storage at your house, only store what you really need.

The only thing I havent done that you stated is the multiple saves, which Im going to do as soon as I start a new game.

I keep 3-5 save files, I find the more file I have, the slower the game loads, keep autosaves off, they cause crashes and longer loading times. Turning off the music tends to help a bit.

Save file do bloat really fast for some reason (400 hours in Oblivion and the file's still at 4megs, but another company ported Oblivion to the Ps3, so that's another story). Always do clean ups, pick up everything and stuff it on a corpse.

Like Shadow said, never overwrite, they tend to become glitchy, when you save, make a new file, I have playstation plus, so I send my saves over cloud as backup and delete them in my system.

My longest playthrough was 200 hours 12mb and it ran good with all dlc. It doesn't run flawless at 200 hours, some hiccups etc while riding a horse loaded with loot, follower loaded with loot, but playable 200 hours in. Vast improvement compared to the original non patched release that's for sure.

Keep 5 or 6 saves, and when you end for the night, copy all your saves to a thumb drive. When you go to play again, keep only the last save, delete the others, and start another 5 or 6 saves, and then at the end of your play, copy them. That way you will have many saves on a thumb drive, not taking up room on your console, but many saves if you ever need to go back and re-load. I do that on the xbox also. When I save, I make sure it is a picture of something that tells me where I am. Like before entering a dungeon, the name shows up, so that is my save.

Instead of copying to a flash drive, why not just load the most recent save the next time you go to play then delete the rest?
I always go to 3rd person and face the camera when I save.

You could do that, but what if something bugs out or glitches while you are playing?? I always have several saves on a thumb drive pus the 5 I am working on. Reason? Once I did this quest, then went on about my business. 3 playing hours later, I realized that the quest should not have been done till after I did this other quest. I was so glad that I had that earlier save.

I know this isnt directed to me (pc player) but have only one save per character. I pick the one I want to play with, use quicksave until I'm done with said character and want to play a new one, at this point I make a manual save and delete old and quicksaved ones. My biggest save has 13mb, smallest 5mb and all others 8~10mb

The reason I say this is because I wanna ask: is anything wrong with what I'm doing? what's the problem with big saves?

As far as I know there is no problem with big saves. I ply on the xbox so it may be different than playing on the pc. Skyrim is very "buggy" if the autosaves are on, cause it causes it to freeze, especially on loading screens. In a game like Skyrim, it is best to have several saves, "just in case." A save file can become corrupted, anything. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

I have not had any problems with these settings : PS3

Auto Save ON - Rest,Wait,save on menu 30 mins.(I use wait as a quicksave,before entering a dungeon or starting a quest)

Auto Save on travel - OFF

I would overwrite the same manual save as many times as needed...and then what I would do is create a new manual save when I am quitting the game,exit and delete all three autosaves and the old manual save.So the next time I played it was with fresh saves.

With these settings and manual saving method I have never had any save file corruption,and never had to reinstall the game data,patches,or the add-ons...When the game froze,after a soft reset of the console,I would use the PS3 safe mode and do a Restore File System.Also shutting down the PS3 will clear the cache.

I started a character on patch 1.5 and finished with this character on patch 1.9...275 hours,did everything there is to do on a single character,save file size 17Mb...Only lag I had was when entering areas added by add-ons or when fast traveling into a city when vampires spawned,aswell as some spots in Solstheim,and the lag only lasted a few seconds.Had occasional game freezes,only when playing four or more hours at a time.No save corruption.

Cleaning up weapons,sheilds and other objects does not make any difference I have seen,there is nothing that can be done about the save file size increasing...that is just how it works,Oblivion,Fallout 3/New Vegas and Skyrim save file size increased as you play....Just play the game and enjoy it...if you get a bug,you get a bug...no big deal...reload a previous save...

Refer to this for bug/glitch solutions : http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skyrim

A question for my fellow PS3 users. Do any of you guys get severe framerate drops in forts or dungeons with heavy smoke/fog? Examples like inside Helgen, forts, and that one vampire den in Whiterun Hold?

No.