Limit of 50 stored Dragon Souls?

[fishhooks]

I ask because I have 50 souls now, and the last Dragon I killed, I didn't get the "Absorbed Soul" animation, and the Dragon didn't turn into a skeleton.

Wiki doesn't seem to have anything on this, whether as a normal part of the game, or a bug.

[Mystery G man]

You only get one soul from the dragons that guard word walls etc. could this explain it.

[fishhooks]

I don't think so. According to the stats, I've captured over 70 Dragon Souls, and have been using them to unlock all words of power as I find them. Every time I've killed a Dragon, I get that "Absorb Soul" animation, with the swirling rings around me, and the Dragon corpse slowly burning down to a skeleton, and the dramatic music, etc.

EXCEPT this last time, when I already had 50 Dragon souls 'stored'...no animation, no music, and the Dragon corpse remained as a fleshed-out corpse, not a skeleton. So I'm thinking that there must be a max number of souls you can 'store' at any one time...i.e. 50.

If true, then what does that mean for the dragons I kill who's souls I don't 'absorb'? I guess it means they can return to life...but idk.

Does anyone have more than 50 Dragon Souls 'stored'? (Like, when you look at the Shouts tab, and the lower right hand corner tells you how many Dragon souls you have.)

[Ilja]

Are you using Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch? There is a bug win Skyrim (unrelated to Dragonborn DLC), where you fail to absorb dragon souls. This was fixed in Unoffiical Skyrim Patch and carried over to SSE patch.

Edi: Which wiki you are following? I just checked and this was mentioned in UESPWiki.

[fishhooks]

I'm using the same wiki...I didn't see anything under Dragon Shouts, which is where I expected to find any info on Dragon Soul bugs, since that's the page that details the capture and use of Dragon Souls for unlocking words of power.

Anyway, I'm not using any patches. When I first tried to install the patch, I mucked it up and it mucked up my game, so I just went on without it, figuring I could always try to re-install it if I ran into any game-breaking bugs (which I haven't yet, btw...after hundreds of hours).

BUT...I've been absorbing the souls of all dragons I've killed up to now w/e any problems. It just seems like an odd coincidence that as soon as I had 50 'in storage' so to speak, they stopped absorbing. Maybe it was just a one-time event...I'll see with the next dragon I kill.
But as far as you know, there IS NO LIMIT...correct?

[markdb92]

just use the console to give your self one if it bugs out.

[Ilja]

As far as I know, there is no limit. If there is, I am not finding a reference to it.

Note was under Dragon Souls. Searching UESPWiki can be somewhat challenging.

About patches: Skyrim is a bit of a gamble in how it's bugs works. We have gone over several times why some people may play the game without USLEEP just fine and some players just hit a horde of issues, which will mess up their games.

It depends a lot how you play the game and if any unfixed aliases will get stuck. For example, a character might have been present to fill aliases to scenes in your previous games, but this time they have died. Script to cut scene is missing and Papyrus starts to exceed it's limits, tossing dumps even for vanilla game.

Save bloat is another example of this. Some entries are not correctly cleared. For example Companion mission entries, that are not always correctly cleared, will cause bloat each time you visit Whiterun. By the time that becomes an issue is a time where there is very little safe methods to fix it. Save Script Cleaner can clean obsolete entries, but not bugged scripts that were already ran and baked to save files.

USLEEP fixes issues like this. One might say that they do not need it, but game can not retroactively update scripts - not even USLEEP scripts. If vanilla game gets messed up, then the issue might have happened several full saves ago, without player knowing or noticing.

This is also why I recommend using the patch. There just isn't any reason not to have it there.

Keep in mind that installing the patch now may not solve your issue right now. Like I said, game can not retroactively update scripts. It depends in which script got bugged and in what point in your game.

[★Kelvy★]

In original skyrim I had over 80 dragon souls and still needed to find 3 words.

[aturqoise]

If the dragon you killed was gaurding a word wall that you have already learned it will not give up it's soul. There are a few places that this happens, it doesn't matter how many souls you have.

[AikenAidan]

Here are some console commands that may help .

Open console;
target dragon corpse
type command ' Enable
enter.

This will make certain the corpse is valid.
You can get rid of the corpse by typing the command Disable on the targeted corpse. The corpse will disappear.

There use to be a bug in the origonal Skyrim where Dragons would stop giving up thier souls.
a workaround that was this console command;
Player.ModAV DragonSouls <the number of souls you want>
then hit Enter.

You only needed to enter 1 soul to clear the bug. But you still had to remove the corpse with another console command on the bugged out corpse [see diable command above]. Once the bug started it stayed over multiple dragons untill cleared. Sounds like that bug came back.

[pedantic_roc]

Originally posted by Ilja:

< snip >

This is also why I recommend using the patch. There just isn't any reason not to have it there.
< snip >

Oh Oh Oh, hold your tongue, peddy boy. Don't say a damned thing !!!!! :D

[fishhooks]

Thanks for all the helpful comments guys...I appreciate it. At this point, I figure that with 50 'stored' Dragon souls, and ~20+ words already unlocked, I should be fine even if I don't get any more souls (since as I understand it, you only need a total of 44 souls to unlock all words).

As far as installing the patch this late in the game..I completely forgot about issues like save bloat (which caused me a real headache in Morrowind), so I should probably do that now. Haven't had any issues with that (so far), but I still have a ways to go (I'm a real free-roamer type of player in these games, so even tho I have a ton of hours, I haven't really followed thru on any quest-lines).

Only real bug that has come up is that, at some point after I had been a werewolf for a while, it seems to have bugged over to being recognized as a vampire by other vampires. They don't ever attack me anymore, and seem surprised by my attacking them.

Related to that (I'm sure) is a bug with the Companion Quests. After over 3 dozen of their repeatable side-missions, I still have never gotten the "Purity" quest. No big deal, since I did go to the Tomb with a witch head, just to see if I can cure my own Lycanthropy (I can), so I am keeping it for now. And since I don't believe completing Purity is essential for anything, I can live with it.

Thanks again for all your help

[Docsprock]

Once you learn and unlock all the words, what do you do with all the extra souls?

[fishhooks]

Originally posted by Docsprock:

Once you learn and unlock all the words, what do you do with all the extra souls?

Well, nothing that I know of. That's why I said that I think I have more than enough Dragon Souls stored up, so it doesn't really matter to me if I can absorb anymore.

[pedantic_roc]

Originally posted by Docsprock:

Once you learn and unlock all the words, what do you do with all the extra souls?

Mock Miraak right back when he steals a dragon soul from under your nose? " See if I care numb nuts, I already have 50 spares, so there. "

[fishhooks]

Just fyi for anyone who cares...I found another word wall and unlocked it (bringing my stored dragon soul count down to 49), and the next dragon I killed, I got the absorbtion. So maybe the unpatched version DOES have a 50-count limit...idk, or that one Dragon was a glitch. I'll have to kill another and see. But thanks again for the help.