The real problem with the Creation Engine’s load times is how it processes and conveys parts of an environment. We’re already seeing that in tests of backward-compatible Bethesda titles. However, the simple presence of an SSD will likely greatly reduce the amount of time you spend staring at a traditional load screen. Yes, open-world Bethesda RPGs have historically suffered from long load times. Limiting so many core components of an engine to a 60 FPS cap will also limit the next-gen capabilities of future Bethesda titles. While Bethesda RPGs aren’t the titles you typically think of when you’re touting the virtues of high FPS gameplay, we are entering an era of 1440p and 4K gameplay that naturally demands more frames-per-second. Either the game will straight up crash (which is very common) or the physics of the game will rapidly speed up in a comical and confusing manner.
If you try to play a game like Fallout 4above 60 FPS (even if you only raise the cap by a couple of frames) one of two things will likely happen. One of the biggest overall issues with the Creation Engine is the way that it ties its physics system and other key components to a 60 FPS cap. Specifically, we can think of at least five improvements that Bethesda needs to make to their game engine before the release of Starfieldand The Elder Scrolls 6. While it’s easy to look at a statement like that and immediately jump to general conclusions like “better graphics” and “fewer bugs,” we instead suspect that Howard is talking about addressing fundamental shortcomings with Bethesda’s Creation Engine which have impacted the way the studio handles core design concepts. “So the overhaul in our engine is the largest we’ve probably ever had, maybe larger than Morrowind to Oblivion.”
“It’s taken us longer than we would have liked, but it’s going to power what we’re doing with Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6, and when people see the result, they’ll hopefully be as happy as we are with what’s on the screen, but also in how we can go about making our games,” Howard said. At the Develop: Brighton keynote session, Bethesda’s Todd Howard stated that the studio is developing overhauls to their controversial Creation Engine which could represent the biggest leap in technology that we’ve seen from Bethesda since the transition from the Xbox generation to the Xbox 360 era.