Skyrim Word Wall bug

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Ragnaris

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I've only found one other person who seems to be in the same situation as me. I'm currently at Northwind Summit (somewhere north of Riften, if I recall correctly), and there's a Word Wall at this location (and a dragon of course). After killing the dragon and absorbing the soul, I proceed to the Word Wall to learn a new word. The problem is, nothing on the wall is lit up.

I can still hear chanting and drum beats, signaling me that I haven't yet learned the word, but because nothing is lit, I can't proceed to learn another shout. I've reloaded the game, browsed through console commands to activate the wall, but to no avail. I've also posted this on the Nexus technical forums, so hopefully I'll have an answer soon. Until then, I'll have to hope they're aware of the problem and will include a fix in the next patch.

Anyone else experience this issue? If so, was it recent (after the Steam DRM patch that was released yesterday)?
 
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Sorry, I found that word with no problem whatsoever. I assume you've checked to make sure it really hasn't been learned.
 
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Stupid obvious question time, but how close to the wall are you? I've had a few times where I heard the music and nothing was happening, and I just wasn't quite close enough. One wall in particular I had to be almost touching it before I absorbed the shout.

Even then I was able to see it lit up on the wall from a distance, though, so it's probably a bug.
 
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Stupid obvious question time, but how close to the wall are you? I've had a few times where I heard the music and nothing was happening, and I just wasn't quite close enough. One wall in particular I had to be almost touching it before I absorbed the shout.

Even then I was able to see it lit up on the wall from a distance, though, so it's probably a bug.

No matter how far or close I am, no words light up on the wall. I've ran against the wall hoping I might absorb the language, but no luck yet. I do know that you have to be very close (almost to the point of touching the wall), but the problem isn't how close I am, it's the word itself not lighting up (I can still hear chanting, however).

I have double checked (reloaded from a previous save) to make sure it wasn't absorbed, and still nothing.
 
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Apparently that wall gives you Aura Whisper. Any chance you know that one already?

Even if you do, you would have to have absorbed it three times already, and since there's only two other places that have it, and you've not been to this wall before...
 
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Well, I've known 2 words for Aura Whisper before even discovering the location, let alone killing the dragon and learning the third word. As I mentioned previously, I loaded an autosave (10 minutes before discovering the area, with 2 words already learned for Aura Whisper), and I know I've never been here before. I tend to visit areas of Elder Scrolls in large sections, and I've yet to explore anything south of Wildhelm (other than Riften).

I'm almost 100% certain it's just a glitch, but was curious if anyone knew a workaround and/or experienced this issue. If not, I'll live with it until it's addressed. :)
 
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Yeah, definitely sounds like a bug! At least it's not a major one. I hope it gets fixed for you in the next patch, ideally before it gets me. ;)
 
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I haven't got that glitch (dunno if I visited that location yet, I'll check that later and post) but I did get another bug, dunno if it helps.
At Bonestrewn Crest location with the word wall, my hero killed the dragon but can't take the dragon soul. I've repeated the fight 3 times and nothing helps. I took the word though.

Now… Prior to that fight I've got to level 40 and the dragon there is blood dragon so… It's maybe level related you'll say… No it's not. After this one I've killed another blood dragon on another word wall location and "sucked" it's soul without problems.

EDIT: Checked… No I haven't been to Northwind Summit yet. For the Aura Whisper shout I've learned so far only one word (Life). To test if the problem repeats itself to anyone, I should probably get the second word before I visit Northwind Summit, but… Dunno where exactly the second word is, as I've posted already due to queststopper bugs I tend not to visit locations unless get a nonrepeatable quest or hear a rumor (that results in the map updated) that points me to visit a certain location. Word Wall locations I do visit if I see them nearby while walking to a quest area. Any suggestions?
 
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I haven't got that glitch (dunno if I visited that location yet, I'll check that later and post) but I did get another bug, dunno if it helps.
At Bonestrewn Crest location with the word wall, my hero killed the dragon but can't take the dragon soul. I've repeated the fight 3 times and nothing helps. I took the word though.
I´ve encountered at least three dragons whose souls were unsuckable and I´m quite sure it was always around one of their marked spawn points (dragon icon), which leaves me to believe it´s a respawn issue at these places (first dragon spawned there works ok, subsequent one(s) not).
There are some other unmarked places of their respawn (well, at least The Winterhold College courtyard is), but these cases seem to be issue-free.
 
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I don't think that there is dragon - word wall association. After all, there are word walls in dungeons with no dragon spawn points.
 
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I don't think the "can't absorb dragon soul" issue is really a glitch, I believe it's intentional. I've had it happen a number of times to me, particularly in areas I've been to already. In one instance, I even predicted when it would happen when I was outside Riverwood. I'm convinced it has to do with slaying a dragon that was close to or near an area you've already been to, then having it spawn again.

Essentially, when you kill a dragon and absorb the soul, it respawns some time later. The problem is, it respawns in a random area on the map, and although you may have encountered the dragon in, say, Riften, your next encounter with that same dragon may be west of Riften near the Throat of the World.

More often than not, I believe it will respawn near the area you killed it, and if you don't revisit that area in X amount of game hours, it wanders off to the next area. Some dragons are killed at different times when the others wander off, and this gives me evidence why it's possible to fight more than one at a time. The one you killed earlier respawns while a new one wanders into your area.

Of course, I can't confirm it, but that is my experience with them so far. I've slain quite a few dragons in Riverwood to the point where most of them don't have souls anymore (only Riverwood dragons, of course).
 
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Hmm nope. On my mage I picked up all shouts/words as far as I know, except a few quest related ones.

Sounds like another bug to me. I wouldn't spend any more time on it, the shout isn't all that great anyway.
 
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@ Ragnaris, you can encounter 2 at once.
icon0k.png

Sorry for the crappy pic, it's just the icon from my save file, as soon as I unpaused one of them took off until after the other was dead so I couldn't get a better pic. Both are Edlers, and this was at Karthwasten.

Also I had this bug happen too. I ended up reloading and still couldn't get it, then a bit later my game froze and my ps3 had to be restarted. then I went to a different wall, everything worked fine and I got the word, and then returned to the wall that was bugged and it worked that time. So I'm not sure if it was restarting the ps3, getting a different wall, or if I just got lucky. The word that was glitched was the last one I needed for the "marked for death" shout, the other one I got was the fist word for "dismay". not sure if any of this helps but hopefully it does.
 
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@ Ragnaris, you can encounter 2 at once.
icon0k.png

Sorry for the crappy pic, it's just the icon from my save file, as soon as I unpaused one of them took off until after the other was dead so I couldn't get a better pic. Both are Edlers, and this was at Karthwasten.

Indeed! That just further proves my "2 dragon at once, or more" statement. :)
 
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Do dragons fight? I fast traveled one time and a dead dragon fell out of the sky right in front of me as a wounded dragon started attacking. It could have been something else in the area that killed it I suppose.

And I've had to fight two dragons at once. I was high up in the mountains fighting one and another one was flying around. I lost track of the first one and the second one must have gotten too close and I shot it. They then took turns strafing me.

Oh yeah, one other time I single shotted a dragon. It landed right in front of me while I was moving. I went berserk, did a overhead power attack swing with my greatsword, and got a critical.
 
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