If the freezing and slow downs are getting especially bad its a good idea to boot your ps3 in safe mode.
First how do you activate safe mode
Activating Safe Mode



You should see a list of six options, the only ones you want to touch are the first option that simply restarts the ps3 and the third option. Restore File System which attempts to repair the area where files are saved and it clears corrupted data, its basically like defragging your hard drive. This can greatly improve the performance for sometime, if possible when you experience an extreme slow down save at that moment before going off to restore the file system. Now the other options will delete save data however restoring the file system will only delete data that can't be recovered.[in which case it have been useless to you anyway]. This is not a permanent fix but I've had it take an area that had slowed to a snails pace and bring it back to normal speed.

Tip number #2.
Delete your gamedata[not saved data] and decline to install patch 1.01. That alone should do more for your freezing issues than anything.

Why is this game running on a old engine?

Because its cheaper and easier to produce on. Which means faster release and more money in the pocket.
I guess they don't want to invest in a brand new engine.

Ya...and we're paying for it! $60 for a totally broken game...Bethesda should recall it and refund us all if they don't plan to fix these problems soon.

So did any of you even try what I suggested or are you content to *&)*%)% everyday instead of actually doing something?

Yes.
With all due respect, several of us have tried this "tip" weeks ago without success. Here is a paste of one of my posts in http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1131463-bugs-glitches-and-other-mishaps-can-go-here/ where a bunch of us were trying to pin down possible causes:



Subsequently, I also took the extreme step of reformatting my PS3 and trying again ... again with no luck.

Strangely, my boyfriend bought us a 160GB Slim two weeks ago and I have since been able to finish one play through and started a second, while he's almost to the end of first. We have both had the normal (if that's the right word) graphical and scripting bugs and glitches but very little freezing. Of course, we're also both rotating saves, deleting old saves, playing off line and waiting a few seconds after changing areas for the loading to finish.
Our old 60GB Fat still will not (mysteriously and frustratingly) run FO:NV but operates fine with everything else.

I realize that you're trying to be helpful with your OP but getting snarky like in your last post has the opposite effect.
Just saying.

I have the old school 60GB and well I have some freezing issues it no where near the level a lot of people here are reporting, And when it gets real bad, I try and save the game in the very location where the FPS drops to next to nothing and restore the file system. Low and behold its corrupt and in need of mending. Your explanation of the 120GB slim could mean that the older model ps3's simply can't handle the newer games like this, either because the new systems have better hardware or the old machines are simply starting to break down.

And if they test the game on the newest models... that could explain why they appeared so clueless about how it works on the older machines

When they reply to the topic with snarky comments about the engine it sounds like they completely ignored the post and just used it as another topic to complain in its irritating, the least they could do is say "it didn't work for me"

I did try your advice and thanks, I never knew about the safe mode, but to no avail, same crashes and glitches.

I have a 60 gig PS3 and I don't believe the hardware is at fault at all. I have most of the latest releases and they work fine on my machine. I'm not trying to be confrontational but newer games like this can't really apply to New Vegas, it's just FO3 code with new content, there's very little if anything new beneath the hood.

I give this advice as much as possible since the memory issue with Havok is a known issue. It will never ever be patched by Bethesda. They have nothing to do with it.

Bethesda can fix graphic glitches and scripting erros and such, but not the memory leaks that are such a pain with the havok engine.

If you want to reduce the number of crashes, you need to minimize the number of zones and textures your game loads.

Early in playing you have less explored and less needs to be loaded. The further you get in the game, the more you travel around the map doing your quests and the more zones/textures/memory is loaded.

1. Never load a game from inside the game. If you are going to load from a previous spot, quit the game to xmb and restart from the load you want to play. This is the main way to prevent lock ups. It is actually even better to actually (what I do) use the gamepad shutdown of the system and start completely over for each time I want to load. So basically every time you save or every time you want to restart a load, you quit out and restart the game.

2. Each time you fast travel to a new zone you are loading new textures and area items into your memory and this game doesn't clear the cache the way it should. The longer you go or the more times you zone into new areas, the more it's going bog down and eventually lock up. If you zone into an area and your game gets bad lag right away, where people are in slow motion and you can't turn around in place smoothly, save and restart your console. There is no point in continuing because a lock up is about to happen within a minute or two.

If you do these two things diligently, you will reduce the memory issue lockups to about zero. There will still be the occasional lockups due to graphic glitches or sound/graphic conflicts. That can't be help as they are the odd lock ups that happen for no apparant reason.

The memory issue was never addressed in Fallout 3, never patched, still exists. It won't be fixed in either game. You just have to live with it. It won't burn up your console, but one problem is that if your game (any game) ever locks up, DO NOT EVER shut your machine off with the power switch. Use the console safe shut off, or the gamepad accessed shut off. Turning the power off by basically unplugging it or switching it off while the disc laser is in operation is a sure fire way to block your console out.

The number of saves you have on your hard drive doesn't make any difference at all, only to the space they take up. I save knew every time and have like 140 or more save files. The game only knows about the saves you have used since you powered up the game.

Save often, never load within the game and never shut off the machine. Yes that means when there is lightning and thunder, don't play. Unless you have a reliable power back up that you are pluged into that won't flash set your console when it kicks in.


/good luck

You shut your PS3 off and back on after EVERY save???? yet save often??? I don't understand, that seems entirely too time consuming.

No he means shut your ps3 off and back on before loading a save.

No, he shuts down the PS3 before loading a new game.

i did the restore file system even though it did not get a msg to and i told me that i had a corrupt file system so i let it restore and now my freezing is gone

Right, I play basically till I see any kind of wonky behavior at all. If the load screen takes longer than usual or I get any unusual lag or if vendors or pip boy slow down at all, then I save where I am, reset the ps3 with the gamepad PS button and then start it all back up. Only takes a minute really. Sound long, but it's actually about the same as quitting the game to xmb and restarting.

I save as many times as I want along the way. I just never reload. Reloading from inside the game does not clear out your cache, so you carry all the baggage the game wont let go on with you to your clean load. I've played the game now 2 times through and crashing is fairly minimal. Not that it wouldn't be. It gets wonky on me about every 30 minutes or so, the way I play the game. It just depends how much you travel around, especially fast traveling. The more you load areas and textures without clearing the cache, The quicker it will blow up.

Its also advisable to turn off autosave on travel. Fallout 3 loved to freeze upon entering a new area and nothing is worse then your autosave being corrupted. As New Vegas uses the same engine I figured from day one the same problem would exist.