UESPWiki:Reference Desk

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The reference desk is a place where people can ask questions about the Elder Scrolls games and about our site.

How to ask questions...

• Search first. It saves time for you and our volunteers when you can find the answer on your own. You can search on the site using the search box on the left, you can browse the site by categories or by the sections on the left, or you can search Google or the search engine of your choice.
• Be specific. Explain your question in detail by addressing exactly what you want answered. Please specify which game your question concerns, and provide as much background information as necessary.
• Sign your questions by placing four tildes (~~~~) at the end of all comments.
• Include a header. Two-tier headers (==Example Header==) serve as the subject of your inquiry, and allow discussions to be organized by inquiry.
• Be courteous and patient. People who respond to questions here are human volunteers, and those who know how to fix your problem will probably not be reading your comments immediately after your post. If no one responds to your question after a couple days, consider rephrasing it. Also, if someone has answered your question, it would be nice to thank them for their support.
• No hardware or software support. If your game is crashing, if it is not performing the way you would like, or if your question pertains to the technical side of one of the games, it will not likely be answered here. Try asking on the Official Forums: Skyrim Issues, Oblivion Issues, Morrowind Issues, and Other Issues.
• Do not include your e-mail address. Questions are not normally answered by e-mail, and posting your e-mail in this message board will make it available to spammers. Remember, people who respond are volunteers, try to help them out by making it as easy as possible to get the answer to you.
• Check back for updates. A complete answer to your question may be built up over time. You should regularly check for updates by bookmarking this page or by adding this page to your watchlist.
• New questions go at the end. On pages like this, new information always goes at the end so that we can keep things in the right order and keep track of what needs to be archived and when.

How to answer questions...

• Be thorough, but concise. Provide as much information as you can in as few words as possible. Link to other articles on the site that may have further information.
• Be nice when answering questions, especially with new users.

Critical Damage

Where is this concept best described for Skyrim? I can't find it at the moment! — Unsigned comment by JR (talk • contribs) at 03:25 on 28 December 2012‎

I'd say Skyrim:Combat. --Alfwyn (talk) 14:15, 31 December 2012 (GMT)

Hmmm... I'd think the same, but that's the page I'm trying to see if I can improve. Maybe the info on there is good enough already. Or maybe I didn't look at all of it yet. I thought I remembered reading a better treatment of it somewhere else. But I searchy and no findy. Thanks. --JR (talk) 17:33, 31 December 2012 (GMT)

Waaadhaminnit. What is critical damage? Are we (or should we be) actually referring to damage multipliers related to sneak attacks when we talk about critical damage? --JR (talk) 17:34, 1 January 2013 (GMT)

LOST WOODEN MASK!!!!

uesp tells me that the mask will respawn with the note in a few days. well, after waiting i can get the note to respawn but not the mask. any one have any ideas? im on 360 btw. — Unsigned comment by 107.48.148.159 (talk) at 01:04 on 3 January 2013 (GMT)

The mask no longer respawns, according to the Creation Kit. That's odd, as I've acquired several legitimately in the past. Your only option is to find your old mask, reload to a save where you had it, or roll up a new character if you don't want to continue without it. --AKB ^{Talk Cont Mail} 01:04, 3 January 2013 (GMT)

damn that sucks. i know i have either sold it or left it somewhere because the character i'm playing as was the first one i made :/

thanks anyways — Unsigned comment by 107.48.148.159 (talk) at 01:17 on 3 January 2013

You're welcome, I personally apologize about that note. I added it based on my own experience, but it doesn't seem to be true (at least not now). I've removed it to avoid any further incidents like this. --AKB ^{Talk Cont Mail} 01:23, 3 January 2013 (GMT)

Possibly the most common question out there - Unadoption in Skyrim

Is there a console command for unadoption? I've just spent ages googling this and can't come up with any answer. Many of them say "check UESP" but there doesn't seem to be anything here. I've never used the console commands in my life, but for this, I'm willing to type them in like I'm writing an essay. Anything to get rid of this kid. Please help! 85.250.99.84 21:41, 12 January 2013 (GMT)

I do not believe that there is a single unadoption command, but you could probably do it with a combination of faction changes, script calls, and quest stage setting. Not 100% but, I would say that it is possible, but very difficult. Jeancey (talk) 02:17, 10 March 2013 (GMT)

"bat bandit" ramifications

On the Skyrim Console page, there is a description of how to do a alternative start. The scenario and character created are NOT involved in the main quest ("does not start"). My question: What happens to other, more developed, characters I am playing that ARE involved in the main questline? — Unsigned comment by 50.128.222.183 (talk) at 17:04 on 29 January 2013‎

Are you asking if the actions of 1 of your characters affects the world for other characters? If so, the answer is no. Each one of your savegames is an independent "instance" of Skyrim that does not affect any others. --Xyzzy ^Talk 21:32, 29 January 2013 (GMT)

Thanx a bunch for that quick answer. I was concerned about the possibility of the main questline being broken for other characters by intentionally voiding it for the "Bandit". Figured the authors would say so if that were the case, but still worried about it. Again, thanx... P.S. Handle is ta192; thought I was signed in...

Hjaalmarch- Waking Nightmare problem

I downloaded Hearthfire on PS3 and went to buy the land from the Jarl of Dawnstar however I cannot since I couldn't complete the Waking Nightmare quest due to a bug in the game, is there some way of getting around this without having to start a new game? — Unsigned comment by ‎82.20.189.22 (talk)

Unfortunately at the moment there is not a way to bypass that. You could get the land at one of the other holds and build there but if you are determined to build in The Pale you're going to need to start over. Lord Eydvar ^{Talk|Contribs} 10:15, 21 February 2013 (GMT)

Remarriage

Is there any way to remarry on PS3 or Xbox? If your wife is killed, is it possible to find someone else and remarry? — Unsigned comment by 82.20.189.22 (talk) at 11:31 on 21 February 2013‎

No. Console commands are the only way. Vely^►t►e 20:04, 21 February 2013 (GMT)

Nightingale Armour

I seem to have misplaced my Nightingale Armour on the PS3 version of Skyrim. Is there any way to retrieve another set or a way to recover lost items? — Unsigned comment by 82.20.189.22 (talk) at 10:39 on 10 March 2013

There is no way to retrieve an other set of Nightingale Armor, however some tests I did one or two months ago show that it is a permanent item and as such should never disappear under any circumstance. I recommend checking the places where you think you could've put it. Elakyn (talk) 15:28, 10 March 2013 (GMT)

Updates and betas.

Is there a window or timeframe between betas and when they are released as updates? — Unsigned comment by Daschulz (talk • contribs) at 17:07 on 14 March 2013‎

In the past, there has generally been a period of 2-4 weeks of beta testing, and then around a week for Bethesda to get the update past Microsoft and Sony's inspections. Jeancey (talk) 17:09, 14 March 2013 (GMT)

I noticed that a known issues on the latest patch beta 1.9.26 was not addressed in the list. I emailed Bethesda about it and asked a question about the possible cause. I'm not a programmer of any kind and have the PS3 version of Skyrim but is there a place I should be posting or looking up possible causes or solutions for various issues I discover? Here is what I sent to Bethesda.

I noticed in the list of fixes for patch 1.9 it doesn't mention the issue where the Housecarl's Quarters does not get furnished once you become a Thane of Solitude.

Would this have happened if items had been stored in the barrels in that room prior to becoming thane? And could this happen in other residence? — Unsigned comment by Daschulz (talk • contribs) at 12:51 on 15 March 2013‎

Not Healing

Whenever I summon Lucien LaChance to battle I use the console command "getav health" afterwards to check his remaining hp. I've always noticed that he never heals. Is this a bug or is he not supposed to regenerate health? If so, can I force him to regenerate health using console commands? 107.47.33.137 16:40, 18 March 2013 (GMT)

Editing etiquette.

I'm new to the contribution thing. What's the etiquette for listing a bug work around I discovered when another solution has already been provided? Should I contact an editor first or simply enter it and let them evaluate it later? — Unsigned comment by Daschulz (talk • contribs) at 00:24 on 19 March 2013‎

I'm not completely certain what you're saying here. Bug is on a page, and has a solution, but you have another solution you want to add?

I don't know if you're looking for format tips, but if so, just add the solution under another bullet point, like this (with the green being what you add):

{{Bug|NPC dies randomly.|confirmed=1}}

**Reload an old save.

**Type resurrect into the console.

If in doubt, you can always contact a mentor or ask on the talk page. but it's certainly acceptable to go ahead and make the edit! If someone thinks it needs discussing, they'll say so. As long as the edit adds info, it's quite alright to add it. Multiple solutions and workarounds for bugs are always welcome, too, since not everything works all the time. Vely^►t►e 01:05, 19 March 2013 (GMT)

Friends potion effects are around 25% stronger after drinking them??? anyone know how cause we cant figure it out

My friend drank a 41% fortify enchanting potion. We aren't using the fortify restoration bug tho. Any he drank a 41% FE potion which is the highest we could make but under his active effects turns it to 51%. Same with strength potions. He drinks a 60 one and it says 73 under active effects — Unsigned comment by 70.193.130.236 (talk) at 08:24 on 3 April 2013

Is your friend a vampire with the Necromage perk? That causes restoration-type effects to be 25% stronger, including on yourself. --Xyzzy ^Talk 17:50, 3 April 2013 (GMT)

Dark Brotherhood

So a long time ago I started the "with friends like these" quest, and i ended up killing astrid because i thought that she was evil when she was having me pick someone to kill, and after that I went to the dark brotherhood sanctuary and murdered all the other members that were there. So now after months of playing and several new quests being completed, i would like to go back and do the dark brotherhood ones. I used the placeatme console command to bring the dark brotherhood members back to life, and i also used the console to force complete the "with friends like these quest" and now i would like to go right back into the dark brotherhood quests but all the brotherhood members seem disengaged from the game since i resurrected them. My question then is what do i do to either get them to resume the questline or to start the dark brotherhood quests from the beginning without clearing out everything that ive done in the game?? — Unsigned comment by 76.29.0.38 (talk) at 23:35 on 5 April 2013‎

I really doubt that there is any way to force the game to completely reset the quest. When you kill Astrid, you immediately fail the quest, which ends the scripts that would progress the quest. You could try using the console command to reset the quest, but since you killed and then resurrected the DB members, there is no guarantee that their individual scripts will trigger properly, making it likely that quest would break at some point. Your only sure bet it to reload a save from before you killed Astrid, or start a new game. --Xyzzy ^Talk 16:09, 6 April 2013 (GMT)

Skyrim Marriage

My question is about doing quests for NPC's after marrying them. I'm not talking about the quest that is a prerequisite for marriage, but other non-marriage-related quests for one's spouse. I'll give an example. If one marries Ysolda from Whiterun BEFORE finding the Sleeping Tree Sap, can one still begin that quest, finish it, and sell the Sleeping Tree Sap to Ysolda? Will the necessary dialogue appear if she is living in one's home or if one moves in with her? Thank you for your time, and I appreciate all the work people are putting into this site. — Unsigned comment by Steely eyes (talk • contribs) at 18:24 on 9 April 2013‎

Sorry for the late reply. AFAIK, marrying an NPC doesn't prevent you from starting or completing their associated quests. There may be individual cases where their quest dialogue doesn't appear after marrying them, but these would most likely bugs and have workarounds. --Xyzzy ^Talk 16:41, 4 May 2013 (GMT)

"Returning Persistent Reference" message

I had a new experience today playing the game that baffled me. I had acquired The Pale Blade a long time ago and placed it in the weapon's plaque above the door in Breezehome, then took it down today for some testing. When I placed it back in the weapon's plaque, I received a game message stating "Returning Persistent Reference". I removed it from the plaque and replaced it again and received the same message again. I don't recall ever seeing that message before. I googled it and found a forum topic on the Steam website under Skyrim Creation Kit, but I felt like I was reading ancient Sanskrit trying to understand it. Does anybody know what it means? --Xyzzy ^Talk 16:51, 4 May 2013 (GMT)

mine not respawning

the iron ore mine outside whiterun is not respawning. its been like 500 days and still doesnt respawn. i need a good supply of iron/silver/gold ore can someone tell me some nonglitched mines that actually respawns? — Unsigned comment by P90 user (talk • contribs) on 7 May 2013‎

Here's a list of mines. All of them should respawn, and hopefully won't glitch on you. Vely^►t►e 15:16, 7 May 2013 (GMT)

Do the ore deposits located outdoors respawn the same way as dungeons, as in if you revisit them too soon, the respawn timer resets? I wonder if that's what happening here. --Xyzzy ^Talk 20:08, 7 May 2013 (GMT)