Annoying Dialogue Bug

[Taco Bell® Crunchwrap Supreme®]

So, I just recently started playing Skyrim again and I'm running into this incredibly irritating bug where occasionally (there doesn't seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason to it) the dialogue will just get stuck. The NPC says something, and the screen is just stuck, no options to pick or anything. Hitting tab does nothing. Hitting literally every key on my keyboard does nothing. I can't access the menu either. The only thing I can do is close the game. I'm not playing with any mods, by the way.

[pedantic_roc]

Hmm... years ago that used to happen if you opened a Steam chat overlay while still in a dialogue window. Are you using, or have you installed, any kind of " chatware " on your system?

[Taco Bell® Crunchwrap Supreme®]

Originally posted by pedantic_roc:

Hmm... years ago that used to happen if you opened a Steam chat overlay while still in a dialogue window. Are you using, or have you installed, any kind of " chatware " on your system?

No. And this happens normally through gameplay. I don't shift+tab or alt+tab or anything like that right before or during the dialogue to make that happen.

[pedantic_roc]

What are your system specs, Jorvalt? It's starting to sound like the normal game freeze you'd expect to encounter when the system runs out of VRAM - just a thought and no offence intended.

Edit: Part of the thought process was, and I omitted to ask, does your game ever freeze at any other time, besides when attempting dialogue?

[The Hawk]

First, does the entire game freeze, or can you still look around? Is the NPC still moving? If you don't care about achievements, try installing the Unofficial Skyrim Patch mod, that could fix it. As pedantic_roc mentions, it could be a problem with your setup, but if the game doesn't actually FREEZE, then try the patch.

[Taco Bell® Crunchwrap Supreme®]

Originally posted by hawK:

First, does the entire game freeze, or can you still look around? Is the NPC still moving? If you don't care about achievements, try installing the Unofficial Skyrim Patch mod, that could fix it. As pedantic_roc mentions, it could be a problem with your setup, but if the game doesn't actually FREEZE, then try the patch.

I can still look around, but that's really all I can do besides close the game. The NPC just stands still and does nothing.

[The Hawk]

Originally posted by Jorvalt:

Originally posted by hawK:

First, does the entire game freeze, or can you still look around? Is the NPC still moving? If you don't care about achievements, try installing the Unofficial Skyrim Patch mod, that could fix it. As pedantic_roc mentions, it could be a problem with your setup, but if the game doesn't actually FREEZE, then try the patch.

I can still look around, but that's really all I can do besides close the game. The NPC just stands still and does nothing.

And pressing escape does nothing either? The dialogue sometimes freezes for me too, but I just wait half a minute or so, then it continues as normal. Is it in unskipable dialogue like with Parthurnax, or is it normal dialogue, as if you're speaking with a random innkeeper?

[Taco Bell® Crunchwrap Supreme®]

Originally posted by hawK:

Originally posted by Jorvalt:

I can still look around, but that's really all I can do besides close the game. The NPC just stands still and does nothing.

And pressing escape does nothing either? The dialogue sometimes freezes for me too, but I just wait half a minute or so, then it continues as normal. Is it in unskipable dialogue like with Parthurnax, or is it normal dialogue, as if you're speaking with a random innkeeper?

Pressing escape does nothing. No keys do anything. I think the only time I've encountered it was with skippable dialogue, unskippable dialogue doesn't have the [Tab]Exit in the corner, yeah? Anyways weirdly enough I've encountered this only twice so far and now I've gone hours without encountering it again.

[The Hawk]

Originally posted by Jorvalt:

Originally posted by hawK:

And pressing escape does nothing either? The dialogue sometimes freezes for me too, but I just wait half a minute or so, then it continues as normal. Is it in unskipable dialogue like with Parthurnax, or is it normal dialogue, as if you're speaking with a random innkeeper?

Pressing escape does nothing. No keys do anything. I think the only time I've encountered it was with skippable dialogue, unskippable dialogue doesn't have the [Tab]Exit in the corner, yeah? Anyways weirdly enough I've encountered this only twice so far and now I've gone hours without encountering it again.

I honestly don't know what might be wrong. It is possible that you'll have to change something in the .ini file, but I don't know exactly what. You should ask someone who's really a genius when it comes to stuff like this.
The unskippable dialogue does not have a [Tab]Exit thing, no, though it is possible to stop the conversation completely by pressing Escape. Left-clicking on the screen with your mouse will also skip 'unskippable' dialogue, unless it's key dialogue, like that with Parthurnaax.

If you say that it's some time ago it last happened, perhaps it's stopped, but just to be sure, do this: Save often. At least Quicksave.

Hope this helped you :D

[Galaxy358]

I have the same exact bug, with unofficial Skyrim SE patch installed and shot tons of mods. But this bug doesn't happen if I play with a controller.

[Tentonaxe]

I had this bug with Vantus Loreius. I use a controller, and interacted with him from behind. He began his dialog, but didn't give me any options and just stood there looking away from me.

I was able to fix it by opening the console and killing him, then i revived him after. No side effects.

[Math]

Originally posted by Tentonaxe:

I had this bug with Vantus Loreius. I use a controller, and interacted with him from behind. He began his dialog, but didn't give me any options and just stood there looking away from me.

I was able to fix it by opening the console and killing him, then i revived him after. No side effects.

THANK YOU. Trying to do this never even occurred to me. I was having the exact same problem with the exact same character no less. I guess he got flagged as essential for the little Cicero quest, so I enjoyed watching him crawl across the ground for a bit for getting me stuck like that.

((shameless necro post; too grateful for a working solution to care :P))

[Verocan]

Originally posted by The Math Wizard:

Originally posted by Tentonaxe:

I had this bug with Vantus Loreius. I use a controller, and interacted with him from behind. He began his dialog, but didn't give me any options and just stood there looking away from me.

I was able to fix it by opening the console and killing him, then i revived him after. No side effects.

THANK YOU. Trying to do this never even occurred to me. I was having the exact same problem with the exact same character no less. I guess he got flagged as essential for the little Cicero quest, so I enjoyed watching him crawl across the ground for a bit for getting me stuck like that.

((shameless necro post; too grateful for a working solution to care :P))

Another shameless necro, but I just had this same problem and found a more safe fix: open the console and use the 'resetai' command on the target. I tried this since the kill command did not work. Resetai worked perfectly

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

You might have received a message from a firend on Steam during that dialogue. GOverlay or no overlay, Steam notifies you of the message in the lower right corner ...and events as well....of your screen.

[WreK]

Exact same problem. Been having this EVER SINCE the cicero with a broken wheel quest. He was the first to have it and ever since it's been a frequent problem. Also, ALL dialogue will nolonger progress automatically. After every phrase I have to click to progress. It's starting to get on my nerves ... Problem is that 9 times out of ten ... this is with QUEST DIALOGUE ONLY. This has been breaking my game, badly. I can kill and resurrect but the dialogue will get stuck again, or I have to "click" out of the last phrase and the quest will not recognize me having talked to the NPC. He'll just start the same dialogue again.

And no, no steam messagers or anything.

[o_o]

I just got this bug; I think it's related to mods, but I haven't investigated yet.

I'm replying to add that it is possible to exit the dialog using the "Exit [Tab]" icon/button in the lower right of the screen.