PS3 players of Skyrim have a lot to look forward to with the recently-released 1.4 patch. The PS3 version of the game has long suffered a debilitating bug that drastically reduces performance over long periods of play. Yesterday's patch directly addresses the issue, and some say the patch is doing its job.

"I believe this patch is working," one Bethesda forum user said. "I was level 32, with an 8MB save, but after patching it dropped to 6.5MB and unbelievably, Whiterun (which was the area with biggest frame drops in my case) is certainly lag free."

Bethesda's Pete Hines went on Twitter to say he's "glad to hear [the PS3 patch] is solving issues and folks are happy."

However, not everyone is satisfied with the update. "I'm sad to say that this fix is only a temporary one. After three hours playing the lag is back in full force, even worse at times," one forum user said. "I may try playing again later, but I'm honestly not even interested anymore," said another user on the Bethesda forums. "With problems like this with the regular game, i'm definitely not getting the DLC's, that's like throwing gasoline onto a house fire."

Bethesda is saying that PS3 users should take a few extra steps to make sure the patch's improvements take place. "To ensure the fastest jump in performance after applying the patch, be sure to first create a new manual save by entering the save menu and choosing 'save game,'" a Bethesda moderator noted. "You should then restart your PlayStation 3 before continuing to play."

"If you encounter strange behavior while playing immediately following application of the patch, do not be alarmed--this is a temporary effect of Skyrim scripts correcting themselves after the update," he added. "Once this process runs its course, be sure to make a new save and restart your PlayStation 3."

There's also one added trick that may help increase performance: "I will also add that once you load the new post patch save after resetting, things may be a bit off for the first 73 game hours as the scripts reset and things get working again. It might be best to wait or sleep 73 game hours in place before venturing out. It is not required and everyone's save is different so waiting may not even be needed."

(via OPM)