Tips for dealing with the PS3 memory issues affecting Skyrim and Fallout?

[StaceyPowers]

@Crazycrab and I were discussing in another thread a little bit about the game breaking problems on PS3 which, to my knowledge, affect Fallout: New Vegas (the worst offender in my experience), Fallout 3, Skyrim, and (I assume) other titles in both series.

I'm always surprised at how few people mention these issues, and not everyone seems to have them, which I can't figure out. As best I can tell, the problem has to do with the increasing size of one's save files. As they get larger and more complex, the world starts glitching and freezing and falling apart.

I wanted to know if anyone has discovered any tips for minimizing and delaying these problems. So far, here are my recommendations:

• Set priorities. I don’t worry about this too much except in NV, but there is a reason I am on my third? fourth? playthrough there already. If you have this problem as badly as I do, you just have to accept limited, smaller playthroughs, and plan accordingly so you can do what you want most on each round. Don’t waste time on things you don’t have to/don’t really want, and if you need to level, do it efficiently.
• Avoid loading complex areas when not necessary. Over time, you get a feel for which areas like to glitch. If at all possible, only walk into them when you actually need to complete a quest objective, and leave immediately when you finish that.
• Need to load a complex area that is glitching? Fast travel clear across the map and back and try again. Say, for example, that Camp McCarren is freezing. Try fast travelling way across the map to say Red Rock Canyon, and then back. Sometimes this will resolve the issue temporarily, allowing you to progress. You can also try restarting the game. Sometimes that works too.
• Keep that blood and guts perk OFF on Fallout. All those little giblets flying around get logged into the growing save file. They add unnecessary complexity, and will hasten the glitching of the world.
• Don’t bump into random objects. Yes, it might look like fun to knock over that huge pile of crates and send Nuka Cola bottles flying everywhere, but it will have the same bad effect as the blood and guts perk.
• Certain weapons seem to make the VATS problems worse for me. If I avoid guns with a high rate of fire, that seems to help a lot.

Does anyone have any additional suggestions for minimizing and/or working around these PS3 save data/memory issues while playing these Bethesda games?

Edited March 31, 2020 by StaceyPowers

[Crazycrab]

Well it's clear that you knowledge on dealing with the notorious issues with Bethesda RPG's on PS3 has far exceeded my own.  I guess I haven't to deal with those issues since I moved onto other platforms.  Nice work!