Bugs (Oblivion)

No game is perfect and Oblivion is certainly not without its bugs.
 * First, be sure to install the latest patch (currently v1.2). You can get more information at our patches page.
 * Important Note: Many of these bugs, glitches, and exploits have been fixed as of the patch v1.2.
 * Ensure that a bug is widespread among other users (and not just a problem with your system setup), or has been confirmed as a real bug.
 * Feel free to discuss any problems, glitches, or bugs in the talk page. This page is continuously undergoing cleanup to remove non-bugs or individual gaming issues.

Using the console

 * For more information on using the console and its commands, see Console commands.

For PC users, some of the bugs on this page can be circumvented using the console, specifically the bugs where Item X is needed but doesn't show up. To open the console, simply press the tilde key (~), which is the key to the left of the '1' key and below the 'Esc' key. Some have stated that the at (@) key (the '2' key) can also open the console.

Disk read errors
These seem to occur on the Xbox 360 version from time to time even with a clean, unscratched copy of the game. This bug may very well have to do with the console itself rather than the disk, but is notable, as it occurs on many consoles.

Solution Save fairly often (should be done anyway in case you die). It helps that the game itself (if set to) auto-saves frequently. If this happens, restart the game, and it should play fine. If it continues, the problem seems to go away if you remove and reinsert the disk.

Seemingly endless "enemy nearby" or "guards pursuing you" messages
If when you try to wait, you get either of the aforementioned messages, commit a crime and pay the fine (a petty crime, obviously) and you should be able to wait and fast travel again, or you could just use save/load. Use the console ~, and type "swdp" (without ""). This should list a group of people currently detecting you. Whoever isnt physically present (ie Imperial Watch), is who you want to find, and talk to. Often they will run up to you, as if to confront you, but the result will be the same as if you started a conversation. For this reason, if you commit a crime in, say Imperial City, its often a good idea to get rid of the bounty while still there, and talk to a guard afterwards. To test if you still have the issue, try to wait. Usually this fix works. See this thread for more details, including how to extract from the proprietory Installshield .cab files: here.

Mages Guild - Cheydinhal Recommendation
This has been found on several forums for both PC and Xbox 360 versions.

If this quest is not completed within three game days of starting the quest, the item you're looking for will disappear (as part of the normal body removal routine, I suppose) from the place where you are supposed to search, and therefore makes the Mages Guild quest impossible to complete!

Another bug which has been confirmed happens when you take the ring of burden off Vidkuns body and drop it before the journal update appears. This results in the quest not being able to be finished. The only way to fix this is to reload from a previous save game.

Solution: You can use the cheat player.additem 0002E5AC 1 to fix this (it gives you the ring - then just walk into the building and talk to Deetsan).

Mages Guild - Arcane University - A Mage's Staff
By falling off the island (near the staff) instead of fighting the necromancers, you will be forced to return to Wellspring Cave again to regain access to the island. When you return the necromancers will be gone and you will be unable to finish the quest. More information on the discussion page for this quest.

Solution: Either re-load a previous save or use "setstage 000e4e14 30" in the console.

Thieves Guild - May the Best Thief Win
On the PC version there is a bug in this quest. Methredhel gets to the diary almost immediately, and although the map indicates that the book is in her chest in her house, it does not appear in the chest when it is opened. It is not possible to pickpocket Methredhel for it since she is not carrying it. Even after 30 days Methredhel never takes the diary to Armand, and the secondary method of entering the Guild is never triggered. It is therefore impossible to join the Thieves Guild should this bug happen. An interesting version of this bug is when Methredhel doesn't get the diary immediatly. This could happen if she gets interupted by another NPC, or when she get's stuck on a "glitch spot" - a spot where NPC are stuck and can't move. My Wood elf got the diary this way, much to my suprise (Methredhel was busy talking to a guard). Another solution is to have an amazingly high Athletics score, and as long as you know where you're going, you can beat Methredhel there. It doesn't actually matter if she beats you there or not. Methredhel is always in sneak mode in the house, so all you have to do is run to the desk that the diary is in and take it (no sneaking needed).

Solutions: Use the cheat player.additem 000355ED or use movetoqt 1 to get the diary and give it to Armand to complete the quest and join the guild.

Or do what I did and learn an invisibility spell, like Deathly Visage from the Dark Brotherhood. If you go invisible as soon as you enter the door, you can sprint past her and get to the book before she can. I've completed the quest this way with all my characters.

Another way to complete this that has always worked for me is-- Talk to the beggar and get the location, then fast-travel there. Run full-tilt for the door, she will likely beat you there. Go in after her (having the Tower Stone active on you helps open the door) and she is still in sneak mode, in an empty floor of the house... Just unsneak and dash past her to the desk, where the diary is. She never breaks sneak, the house owner is never downstairs to see you un-sneaking, and Methredhel doesn't care if you are visible to her when you get it. The invisibility is not required.

The easiest way I've found to do this, is to pickpocket Methredhel or her "partner" before getting the quest. Steal the house key, start the quest, let her take the book, then just go back to her place and voila!

Another way is to attack her. She is a quest character and therefore cannot die. When she overtakes you, attack her and take the diary.

Another solution is to simply wait at night, and then pick Methredhel's house door and sneak past her to the cupboard. The book is in there.

Copying Daggers and Staves
This glitch requires you having the Staff of Worms acquired from Mannimarco, and the Skull of Corruption from the daedric Vaermina. To start this glitch off you need to kill someone or find someone that is already dead. Once you have found a dead body. Put the weapon you want to copy on the dead person's body that isn't the Staff of Worms or the Skull of Corruption. After that use the Staff of Worms and reanimate the dead person. Once they are up off the ground shoot the Skull of Corruption at the person you reanimated. When the clone appears of that person you will notice that they have the weapon that you want to copy. Once the clone gets the weapon out like they are going to attack something kill them before the original reanimated person dies. The weapon you want to clone should be on the floor somewhere after you kill the clone. Collect the cloned weapon off the floor and then go to the dead body you cloned search their body and take the weapon you cloned. After all of this is done you should have a duplicate of the weapon you wanted to duplicate.

To duplicate the Staff of Worms, find a dead body, then remove any weapon it may have. Stand close so you can still "open" the corpse. Begin to shoot the body with the Staff, but quickly (before the animation completes and the bolt fires) open the corpse and place the staff in it. The bolt will still fire, resurrecting it; proceed to clone and kill/disarm the clone.

Crash on exit leading to crash on running/loading
Some players find that Oblivion crashes sometimes on exit. They also find that Oblivion will crash on startup after one of these crashes. While we don't know the cause of the crash on exit, a cause of the crash on startup has been found.

Solution: Apparently   corrupts the Oblivion - meshes.bsa file when it crashes on exit, and this causes it to crash on startup. To fix the problem, replace the current meshes.bsa with an original copy from the DVD by copying it out of the Installshield .cab files on the DVD, or by reinstalling the game.

Stretching People
When people/creatures are killed, sometimes their body turns to 'jelly' and they ball up on the floor. When this happens, it continually happens to that creature until the game is reset. This can be quite fun as now you can strech the body as long as you want and it just keeps stretching. This might also happen when you shoot them with a paralyze spell.

Shifting Staves
When a staff is placed somewhere by a player it will shift a foot or two towards the direction the head of the staff is facing. This happens when a player reloads into the area after saving in another area. (Has been fixed in patched versions)

Paintbrushes
A miscellaneous item that can be found in many areas in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. While seeming ordinary, Paintbrushes are not under the effects of the physics engine in Oblivion; that is, you can drop one from your inventory and it will float in the air in front of you. This is very useful for creating a "bridge" of paintbrushes to reach areas more easily. Unless you hate cheating, it's a good idea to carry several paintbrushes, and pick up any you might find.

Paintbrushes can usually be found in many chests, barrels, and sacks in cities, which prove to be the easiest places to find them.

This also seems to work with bricks and bones.

Note: On the PS3 version if you have the Shivering Isles Expansion the Paintbrushes will be added under the effects of the physics engine.

Jumping the Bruma wall
On the southeast wall of Bruma there are several houses that allow you to jump onto the wall with high enough skill. While there are multiple areas that allow you to jump onto the wall, there is no invisible wall guarding the southeast wall, allowing you to jump over.

With high enough Agility, Athletics, and Acrobatics, you can jump from the ledge around the chapel onto J'Ghasta's House, and then jumping to Helvius Cecia's House. After doing so, stand on top of the roof as high as possible and jump onto the ledge on the wall. Simply jump over the wall in order to enter an unbound map with no detail. If you cannot reach the top of the roof, try quickly running downwards for a step or two and then switching directions and running back up (as long as you continue running you can walk up a roof without problem).

You may un-glitch yourself by entering the main gate of Bruma (which will be to The Jerall Mountains) or by using map-travel.

This is actually a brilliant way to find map locations without having to worry about enemies. You can go all over Cyrodiil with everything unloaded and you can find any map location. The only danger is that you cannot see the ground you are walking on, only the grass (every so often) so you have no idea if you are going to drop off a mountain. you can also train your acrobatics skill while doing this (almost necessary actually) jumping instead of walking. Remember to save often.

If you travel to the edge of the map you will fall for a short period of time and then instantaneously die.

Note: This is possible to do on every major city in Cyrodiil. There is even a way to exit Crucible this way.

Bodyless Horseman
When riding a horse switch to the third person view and look at your shadow to see a man riding a horse, then switch back to first person and watch as a horsie is riding solo.

Infinite Money – Dorian Glitch

 *  Note: This bug may not always work. The effectiveness has not been checked since the latest patch (v1.2.0416) has been released. * Does not work with xbox 360's latest patch.

This bug reportedly works for both the PC and Xbox 360 version. In order to achieve infinite money, murder Dorian located in Imperial City Talos Plaza District. Loot him, and take his money. Instead of being removed from his inventory, the money remains and can be taken as long for as you want. After you're tired, save, then when the guards come pay the fine. You should still have the money, minus the fine, in your inventory. You can also simply use a paralyze spell on him and pickpocket the money without having to kill him.

If you cannot kill Dorian before he runs out the door, then either come back when you can, use the difficulty slider, or use a spell to paralyze him. You could also use the Yield exploit to drain a lot of health before he actually starts to run away.

Note: This bug is somewhat inconsistent. Often times Dorian will only have 10 gold on him (or another very low amount) This happens because you have just recently begun the game. If you have played the game for at least 30 days or so then he will have somewhere near 200 gold or higher. for some reason, the NPC's seem to gain money the more days you have played the game. In this scenario you will not be able to grab infinite money. Use the sneak ability to pickpocket him and it should show how much money he has (you don't want to actually take his gold at this point). If he does not have a reasonable amount, specifically at least 35 gold, use the speechcraft (disposition) system and bribe him. This will put money in his pocket and make the glitch viable. If you keep using the Yield exploit, you'll be draining his disposition, making it possible to keep bribing him over and over - we managed to shove over 2000g into him before he ran out of health - that's 2000g every single time you try to grab the money!

His body should stay there for several game days (allowing you to continue stealing infinite money from his corpse), however the game seems to do garbage collection on dead bodies.

Be warned: If you hit the "Take All" command when looting his body after the glitch has been activated your system will freeze.

Example movie: see here

Notes:
 * With the new patch, you can simply paralyze him to accomplish the goal (360, PS3).

Infinite Money – Vampire Cure Reward Glitch

 *  Note: This bug may not always work. The effectiveness has not been checked since the latest patch (v1.2.0416) has been released.

After completing the Vampire Cure quest and getting the potion to the count's wife, come back the next day and ask him for a reward. He'll give you level dependent gold(A level 20 should get about 3000). You can keep asking and clicking 'reward' and he'll give you the reward each time. If you are over level 30, the cash reward will be 10,000 septims.

This glitch assumes that you can give the woman bloodgrass. Many forums are talking about this bug. She might not recognize that your inventory has bloodgrass, therefore making you unable to complete the Vampire Cure quest. Think twice about becoming a vampire unless you have the The Vile Lair official plug-in.

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Infinite Money – Female Orc in Kvatch

 *  Note: This bug may not always work. The effectiveness has not been checked since the latest patch (v1.2.0416) has been released. *Does not work with xbox 360's latest patch.

There is an exploit if you can find a person that will buy items that is outside a city while on a horse. The best NPC is an orc woman who buys and sells weapons in the camp just outside the main gate to Kvatch. Obtain a very high-valued weapon and equip it, go to the camp and while on your horse with the weapon equipped, sell this item to her and you will receive the gold for the weapon, however as you are on your horse the game will not allow you to unequip weapons. The result is that you sell the item however it will not leave your inventory so you can sell it again and again until you have the amount of gold you feel happy with. The upside to this exploit is that it is faster than above and you can raise your mercantile skills as you are trading to receive the gold.

Notes:
 * This will only net you 200g per sale, as she only has 200g on her (unless you are an expert or master of mercantile, which will allow you to add up to 1,000 gold to her inventory permanently).
 * A video of the glitch being used on PC.
 * This bug does not work on the playstation 3 version.

Permanent Bound Items
For this, you may need a Disintegrate armor/weapon spell or just somewhere to wear down your bound armor/weapon and some repair hammers depending on how good at armorer you are. First of all, summon your bound armor/weapon, then use your Disintegrate Armor/Weapon spell or damage it in some way so that when you return to the inventory its rating is not 100. Then use your repair hammers to repair it WITHOUT unequipping it, it should let you drop them. Now your bound armor/weapon should be on the floor in front of you. All you have to do now is wait. Once the spell has worn off you'll see the familiar yellow mist around you as your weapon/armor supposedly evaporates but it won't disappear off the floor. Pick it up again and you now have weightless bound item!

Cloning Items
Note: With the patch released on March 23, 2007, the cloning exploit has been fixed, and does not work. This is referring directly to the XBOX360 version. You can still duplicate if you have a memory card (MU) and a hard drive (HDD). Just move your account and copy a save to the MU, disconnect the HDD and Ethernet cable/wireless adapter. If you do not have a MU you can also go to the Xbox Dashboard, select the System Blade, and select Memory. Highlight the HDD symbol and press Y. Press X, X, Left Bumper, Right Bumper, X, X. You will see a confirmation message to confirm system maintenance, proceed. Performing this function will also clear any software updates. This will not clear your saved games (How ever if you have any items from add ons that weren't around be for the update you will not be able to load this game).

Cloning items is a fairly simple process, and only requires a stack of arrows (along with whatever you are trying to clone). Equip the arrows and begin blocking (what you block with does not matter). While blocking, open up the inventory, attempt to unequip the arrows (you will receive a message stating that you cannot), then drop whatever you want to duplicate. Upon exiting the inventory, you'll drop your dick into a dark elf's mouth! Contrary to popular belief, a bow is not required to clone items despite the fact that arrows are involved. Be careful not to duplicate too many items at once, as your system might lag or crash with too many generated items.

Cloning will work with most items, however rare/quest items (like Nirnroot) do not appear to work at all. Stolen items will work, as long as you are also carrying a 'legal' version of the same item (this leads to having two stacks of the same item in your inventory). If you want to duplicate arrows, you will need to have two separate sets (one equipped, one to be cloned). Also, you cannot duplicate damaged equipment. The equipment being duplicated must be in perfect quality. It must be only at 100 condition.

When the particular arrow quantity is dropped, example 50, but cannot be because you are performing an action, the script remains unactivated. When you drop the desirable object, the game fills in the script, and will drop 50 of that item.

Be careful when duplicating large numbers of items, as it can lag excessively. It is a good idea to pick up previously cloned objects before making more. Using stacks rather than singular items reduces the lag (if you're duping an item with 100 arrows, 100 objects will be rendered and calculated on the screen, if you use a stack of 5, it only needs to render 20 objects).

If you are interested in how this works, it works because... let's say you have 50 iron arrows and are trying to clone 1 daedric arrow. you try to unequip the iron arrows while you are using them and you drop the daedric arrow. The game calculates however many iron arrows you are unequipping but gets confused as you cannot unequip an item you are using, and transfers the unequip request to the item you are dropping (the daedric arrow) and you end up dropping the daedric arrow 50 times. In order for this trick to work, you MUST have more arrows than of the item you are dropping. For example, you can't clone 150 ebony arrows with 50 iron arrows.


 * Correction to the above statement proceeding the advancement of no cloning after the patch*

You can, all you need to do is follow these steps.

1. Have more then one scroll(Say 5 flare scrolls) 2. Go to the scroll and equip it by pressing A once 3. Press B to leave the Menu. 4. Go back into the Menu. 5. Go back to the scroll you equipped and press A twice on it. 6. Go to the weapon you wish to duplicate and drop it. 7. Leave Menu and you'll find Items on the floor.

All I have tried with are weapons, I've tried with the skeleton key for the Part of the main quest to where you've to give a deadric artifact. It did not work.

Some common items may not be duplicated:
 * Boar Meat
 * Mannimarco's Staff
 * Items you enchanted (most of the time, check to make sure, sometimes works)
 * Glass War Axe
 * Mothers Head
 * Ayleid Statues
 * Quest items (items that cannot be dropped)
 * Nirnroot
 * Daedric weapons -confirmed

Some other items can be duplicated:
 * Black Band ring
 * Spell Absorption amulet
 * Umbra's equipment(not umbra sword)
 * Brusef Amelion's Armor
 * Daedric gear and weapons
 * Bound items(when dropped)
 * Azura's Star
 * mace of Molag Bal
 * Goblin Shaman Staff

Alternate Cloning Methods
Dawnfang/Duskfang

One interesting bit about the fangs is that if your mounted at the time that the swords do their switch (6:00 A.M./P.M.) and you have it equipped, you still retain the original fang but you also get the other fang (i.e. You're mounted at dusk with Dawnfang, you still have Dawnfang but Duskfang is still added to your inventory - this glitch only allows you to obtain an indefinite amount of swords)

Has been confirmed for PS3 and Xbox360.

It is Important to note that the latest Patch for PS3 has eliminated this Glitch. It has not been fixed on the latest Patch for Xbox360.

Using Scrolls

 Note: This has been confirmed to work on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC versions, even after the final patch (v1.2.0416).

First, get three or more of the same scroll. Go to the scroll in your inventory and click to equip it twice. Then, go to the item you want to duplicate and drop it. You'll get as many copies of the item as you had scrolls.

If you only have a few copies of a scroll and you want to get more copies of an item, click to equip the scroll you only have a few copies of twice and then drop another scroll. Two will appear on the ground. Pick up one and repeat. Once you get quite a few copies of the scrolls on the ground, pick them all up. Then, you can use this scroll instead to do the multiplication. Just so you know, this will not work with quest items, or Dawnfang/Duskfang. A great use for this exploit is cloning an expensive item (especially something light, like an enchanted necklace or ring) many times and selling them to a merchant. You can get literally hundreds of thousands of gold in a relatively short amount of time, depending on what you're selling and how much gold the merchant you're bartering with has available. And on top of that, it's an absolutely splendid way to raise your mercantile skill.

Using Melee Attack  Note: This has been confirmed to work on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, even after the final patch (v1.2.0416).

First, unequip all weapons except one quiver of arrows. The number of arrows in the quiver should be divisible by ten (because certain items will drop in pairs), and make sure there are roughly no more than fifty arrows (on the Xbox 360 version) or no more than your computer can handle, or the game can crash.

Raise your fists and aim at the ground. Throw a punch and then quickly (almost immediately afterward) open the inventory. Attempt to unequip the quiver of arrows and you will get a message that says you cannot perform the action (if you could unequip them, you'll have to try again). Go to any item you wish to drop and drop it. Your item will now drop the same number of arrows in the quiver.


 * Certain items, like lockpicks, require more processing power than rings and other small items. Use your best judgment when cloning items (swords and axes will be harder on your system than jewelry and other small items).

[Small Proviso: It appears that this glitch no longer works on the PS3, as of 2/11/09. If others are still having luck with this glitch on PS3 please feel free to redact my comment]- edit by wppk765

Another way of duplicating is have 2 or more scrolls and the item you want to duplicate. 1.equip a diffrent spell from your scroll. 2. go over to the scrolls you have more then 2 of and equip. still hold A or X after equiping it. 3. go to the item you want to duplicate and drop it still while still holding A/X. go of your iventry and it should duplicate the item the same amount asthe scrolls. you must have more scrolls then the item, some items will not duplicate, to duplicate lot and lots of the same item duplicate some scrolls WARNING: if you duplicate more then 1k of scrolls then duplicate and item your Game may lag  do this to 2 items in the same are will jam your Game

Permanent Enchantment Glitch
This is an interesting way to send your attributes skyrocketing, if you have the time. You will need:


 * Sigil Stones or Soul Gem with a level of Grand
 * Two of the Same Scroll
 * Optional: Already Enchanted Item


 * 1) Use either a Sigil Stone or Grand Soul Gem to make an item at the altar of Enchanting
 * 2) Enchant an easy item (For Example:A Copper Ring) with the desired effect (only works with rings, on the PC at least).
 * 3) After making the item of choice, duplicate the item. Remember, only have two scrolls to duplicate it with.
 * 4) Retrieve the items, and then equip one.
 * 5) Duplicate the item that you are not wearing, that one plus the one you are wearing should be dropped.
 * 6) You will notice that if you attempt to put back on the dropped items, you will not be allowed to and will get some sort of message. Congrats, you now have the effect of the item permanently bound to you. Be warned though, all effects are one-hundred percent permanent and in no way can be removed. So be warned when using effects such as Chameleon or Night-Eye. Can be useful if one uses this glitch to give oneself Water Breathing.

Notes: Duplicate Sigil Stones/Grand Soul Gems and Copper Rings (or other item you are enchanting) so you do not have to re-purchase the items over and over.

It is recommended that you use Sigil Stones, as they come with useful Enchantments such as Feather or Fortify Magika. Imagine, if you duplicate a Sigil Stone that uses feather over one hundred times and then duplicate a copper ring one-hundred times, you can use this permanent enchantment glitch to make your character to be able to carry well over ten-thousand pounds!

Tainted Magic
You can potentially boost your skills and attributes to astronomical levels using an exploit in the way Weakness to Magicka works. All you have to do is create a chain of spells that Fortify skills or attributes, and also add a Weakness to Magicka effect. The Weakness to Magicka would continue to increase the power of the fortify effects exponentially as you chained the spells together. This exploit has been fixed as of the most recent patch.

Thieves Guild: The Stationary Fox
This is an odd bug that is triggered by adding the Boots of Springheel Jak (item) to your inventory via the console prior to completion of Taking Care of Lex. Upon adding the boots to your inventory, you will get a quest pop-up from the Boots of Springheel Jak quest, saying that you must return the boots to the Gray Fox in Ganredhel's house in Cheydinhal. However, if you try to talk to him there, his greeting will be, "I assume you have the boots" as if you have completed the quest, yet the standard yes/no dialogue options will not appear. You will instead be presented with the regular dialogue options presented when talking to any other guild member, and you will have to complete Taking Care of Lex to ride out the bug.

Here is basically what happens: When you get the quest Turning a Blind Eye from Methredhel, the Gray Fox will not be in Helvius Cecia's house like he is supposed to be. He will remain in Ganredhel's house, saying, "I assume you have the boots" only now you can talk to him about your next assignment. This will keep happening until you complete Boots of Springheel Jak quest.

Where Spirits Have Lease
Issue: After finding Velwyn Benirus in Imperial City, he says to meet him back at The Count's Arms in Anvil. However, you may find that he's not there.

Solution: He says to meet in a couple of hours, so wait around two hours and he should show.

Also, try looking in the staircase of the inn, I found his head in a corner and after talking to him he moved to our meeting place and was unbugged.

Another problem that occurs is Velwyn getting himself loaded inside a wall or staircase in the Count's Arms. This is related to the bug description just above, and it also happens in the Imperial City. The only solution I could come up with was to leave the quest sit for a game-week or so while I did other things. When you return to the inn you should hopefully see a reloaded Velwyn standing out in the open where you can talk to him. The only way I ever discovered where he was while loaded in the wall was by using my Vampire's Hunter Sight. Otherwise I might never have found him.

The Siren's Deception
Issue: In Anvil, for the quest The Siren's Deception, it is possible that you won't be able to enter the farmhouse. Signy Home-Wrecker and Faustina Cartia may attack you at the Flowing Bowl. If you kill them, you do get the basement key but are locked out of the farm to finish the mission. This bug can be fixed by removing all your infamy before meeting them at the Flowing Bowl the first time.

Solution: Be sure to meet them at the farmhouse at the appropriate time: after 11 pm.

If you are locked out, use the cheat code "player.coc GwedenFarmInterior" without quotes and kill the woman in there and then the mission should finish automatically.

Also it is possible that after killing the gang that the quest is not updated. In that case type this into console "player.setstage MS04 60" this will then bring the two guards into the farm house.

Bruma - Lifting the Vale
Issue: When you go north to find the Akaviri artifact for the Countess of Bruma, and complete the quest and come back, you may still have "enemies nearby", even in towns and inns, no matter where you go.

Solution: To fix this, you must go back to Serpent Trail, to the ruin you found the artifact in, and search it extensively. There are many skeletons in there, and you have to find the one or many that are giving you the message and kill them.

Bravil - Caught in the Hunt
Issue: After talking to Kurdan gro-Dragol and traveling in the boat to fort grief, you will find the gate is closed. Since it requires a key that is found inside the gate, you will not be able to finish the quest. Cause of the problem is unknown. It my be caused by talking to Ursanne Loche after talking to Kurdan gro-Dragol, or talking to Kurdan gro-Dragol a second time before traveling to Fort Grief.

Solution: Use lever to the right of gate.

Mages Guild - Chorrol Recommendation
If you opt to go with the "Guild Way" and return the item to the guild, the guildmaster will tell you that you get his recommendation, BUT the green arrow still points to him although you actually have in effect received the recomendation, the quest pointer is incorrect and can be ignored.

Go Fish: Slaughterfish
Issue: During the quest that involves you killing twelve slaughterfish for their scales, the quest markers may be off at times (in locations with no fish).

Solution: This is a large pain, but if you swim around the lake using Detect Life, you should eventually find the slaughterfish. It will be perfectly still, making no movement at all; once you attack it, the map marker will update and it will start to move and attack as normal.

Issue #2: During the quest you may not find any fish, even at the green marker.

Solution: This comes from a clipping problem where the fish spawned directly in a rock under the water. You can use the console command to turn off the clipping and walk under/through the rock. The fish will usually follow you out. After that, turn clipping back on and complete the quest.

Issue #3: A slaughterfish is found at the arrow, but it doesn't have a scale.

Solution: To fix this issue without the console (for Xbox360 and PS3 users, mainly), simply abandon the quest for around three days, this will allow the slaughterfish to respawn, giving it the scale needed to complete the quest.

Unfriendly Competition
In Unfriendly Competition, sometimes it is difficult to find the required evidence shovel in the Mausoleum. It is NOT the shovel that is at Agarmir's house. Look around the mausoleum carefully, as things can fly around during battle. Especially check dark corners.

It is also possible that if you go into the mausoleum and attack Agarmir or his partner, then a guard will give you the normal "Jail, Resist, Fine" options. If you choose Jail/Fine, the mausoleum will require a key. If you choose to resist, you must defeat all three enemies.

Lost Histories
Issue: When clicking "map," it shows no arrow for Shum gro-Yarug. This may apply to both the Lost Histories quest, and the quest to buy the house in Skingrad. The quest arrow just points you to a road, and upon arriving at the arrow, you find nothing. Therefore you can't finish either quest.

He actually falls off of the bridge and dies, and where his body landed is where the arrow is pointing for the house quest.

Solution: The best way to fix this is to either: 1) use the console to summon him with his NPC ID, or 2) find his NPC HEX ID, point to it, and use the resurrect command. After some time he showed up walking on the road. Enter the console, and type the following:


 * prid 00028FB6
 * resurrect

Another way to bypass this bug (for lost histories only) is to ignore the chance to fake the job, and instead, go to the Skingrad prison and pickpocket the dungeon key from the jailor, then carry on as if Shum gro-Yarug never died. The reason this works is because the game only recognizes opening a locked door (like the door to the cells) as a crime if a lockpick/the Skeleton Key is used, because the appropriate key is used, unlocking the door isn't seen as a crime. (This is useful for Xbox 360 and PS3 users)

Mankar Camoran's Paradise
Issue: Mankar Camoran does not appear in the building at the end of the Paradise mission. Instead, he seems to be wandering around the inside of Cloud Ruler Temple, and you're unable to attack or pickpocket him. He just asks you, without voice acting, to "enter the hall" to challenge him. You cannot complete the Paradise mission because of this.

Solution:If you are experiencing this glitch it is because Mankar Camoran is stuck either in Lake Arrius Caverns...at the Dagon shrine, or from what I have heard he sometimes gets stuck at cloud ruler temple. First you need to find him either at the Cloud Ruler temple or at the Dagon Shrine inside Lake Arrius Caverns. I found him in the far right corner (Just off of the platform) of the Dagon shrine. If he is at Cloud Ruler Temple he should be in the main room where Martin is. A word of Caution, save before you enter Lake Arrius Caverns, and do not attack anyone but Mankar. My system crashed everytime I tried to attack anyone else. You have to run straight to Mankar without attacking anyone else. Speak to Mankar, and then start hacking away, loot his body and grab the amulet of kings. After you have the amulet of kings start running, because by now you probably have a whole herd of cultists after you. After a few seconds the loading window will show up and you will be back at cloud ruler temple with a message saying the you defeated Mankar and that the portal to paradise has closed.

Shrine of Clavicus Vile quest bug
Issue: When attempting to return the Umbra Sword to Clavicus Vile's shrine for his quest, both PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game crash. The crash has something to do with the statue that Clavicus Vile will give you to carry with while you do his quest. The crash occurs when this statue has to be placed back onto the shrine pedestal from your inventory. At the end of the quest when you go back and talk to the shrine again, whether you give the sword, or keep it, when the statue gets removed from your inventory, the game crashes. This is confirmed on the PC version as well.

Solution: The latest patch fixes this quest. If it does not fix it for you, keep reading:

Before ever talking to the Shrine of Clavicus Vile, go to Vindasel, here you can find Umbra with her sword. Defeat her and take the sword, then go talk to the Khajiit worshipper by the shrine. This will add the Clavicus Vile quest to your journal. You can then speak with the shrine, and he will immediately say, "You've found the sword!". He will take the sword and you won't have to do his quest. Do this and you won't have the glitch with the statue having to get removed from your inventory.

It may also be possible to get around the bug by making sure that the sword Umbra is not currently equipped. This seems to have worked for at least a few on the PC version of the game. It is recommended that you try this method first, as another lucrative quest may hinge on the completion of this line.

For those who do not want to have to reach level 20 this is a good alternative. One simply has to receive the quest and activate the shrine without the loss of gold.

Another possibility is to use wait. Immediately after returning the sword to Clavicus but just prior to the Baucus's parting remarks, simply "wait" for an hour. This has the effect of "time-warping" the character past the final remarks, so they are never given. The game may still lock up later if you ever return to the shrine again, however.

Additionally, for the path of keeping the sword, you can try and warp to the waterfront district. The seller's words should interrupt those of Baucus (the dog) and allow you to continue (tested only on 360). This doesn't seem to work when you accept the Masque.

Another solution is to simply have the Umbra sword in your inventory before going to the Shrine of Clavicus Vile. When you travel to the shrine with the Umbra sword, do NOT talk to the shrine. Instead, talk to the Khajiit nearby and tell him you have the sword. He will tell you to approach the shrine. You have the choice to keep the Umbra, or exchange it for the Masque of Clavicus Vile, this mask somewhat resembles a samurai faceplate and is the only mask in the game. (Note: This solution has been confirmed and is guaranteed to work).

A final option, if any of the above does not work is to travel to the East gate of Cheydinhal. As soon you give/don't give the blade to Clavicus immediately pause the game to the Journal and travel to the East gate. As soon you spawn to Cheydinhal the Dog Statuette will start talking and will head back to the shrine and will leave your inventory without freezing the game. (This has been confirmed.)

Wabbajack glitch
Issue: For some reason, when you use the Wabbajack to transmute your own horse, you are simultaneously kicked out of every guild you have joined. Each message claims that you have stolen from another guild member, except the one for the Dark Brotherhood, which only says you have broken one of the tenets. The suspected reason for this is that since it's your horse, it belongs to all the faction you are in.


 * The Reason for this is that the horse belongs to you, and if you attack your horse you are somehow stealing from yourself, a guildmember.