Skyrim Patch 1.7 Now Available For Testing

Bethesda is preparing to roll out the next major update for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Steam users can now download a beta version of Patch 1.7, expected to be available to the public soon.

Patch 1.7 contains the usual amount of optimizations for memory and stability. It also addresses some new crash issues caused by water or dragons landing. Considering how many bodies of water and dragons there are, this is a welcome change. On a less important note, vampiric grip will no longer stop your swimming animation. Breath a sigh of relief, young Dragonborn.

The Xbox 360 version of the patch addresses some issues with Kinect voice commands. The system should respond more consistently to users' speech now. Furthermore, Kinect-supported dragon shouts for French, German, Italian and Spanish editions of the game will be less buggy.

This isn't a very sexy patch but maybe some of you will want to test it on PC anyway. If so, enable the Skyrim beta in Steam by heading to Settings>Account>Beta Participation in the menu bar. Remember to create new saves while testing the patch or back up your old ones; any saves you make during testing won't work with Patch 1.6, the current version of Skyrim.

Bethesda hasn't provided a time table for Patch 1.7's release, but generally the official release happens soon after the beta. Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the update are also in the works but, again, no dates. The PS3 hasn't received Patch 1.6 yet, even, so its changes will be merged with 1.7 on that platform.