Broken main quest [SOLVED]

[Kiros]

I have a main quest (The Way of the Voice) that doesn't appear in the journal but seems to be active, however the triggers are not working, when i go to Hrothgar, the greybeards gather and Arngeir tells me to demonstrate my voice, nothing happens when I do.

I remember seeing the quest in the Journal at one point many play hours ago, I did a lot of moding and side quests and now I have noticed that it is missing.

setstage has an effect on it, increasing the stage seems to set flags and then Arngeir says different things appropriate to that stage of the quest but triggers still don't work. I can setstage to complete the quest but it does not appear as a completed quest and the next quest does not trigger, even with another setstage to try to start the next quest.
I can find the quest in the SKYRIM Quest Deleter[www.nexusmods.com] but cannot find any dialog references and in game (after deleting) seems to have no effect that I can find, talking to the NPCs, setstage, setobjectivecompleted are not having an effect.

Do I need to restart my 112 hour game? :/



I have no DLC

I have around 100 mods active

I have no save that has this quest showing in the journal or before getting the quest

Info I find on internet always refer to broken quests that still show in the journal.

[Kiros]

I used this 100 Percent Clean Save for Skyrim 1.9.32.0 by Sulhir[www.nexusmods.com] to do another test.

Using the save just before finishing Dragon Rising, same result as the new save I made.
Using the save just before entering Hrothgar, the quest The Way of the Voice is in Journal, when I shout at the greybeards his dialog progresses but the quest still says talk to the greybeards and doesn't go any further (shouting at them with my old save causes them to kill me)

Same results whether I leave the plugins on or turn them all off.

So a save game that was made with no mods and then played with all my plugins turned off is still broken.

I guess the next step is to start systematically uninstalling and testing mods? or do I need to start with a new install :/

Thanks cfs111 and Uncle64[Swe] for trying to help and fixing my load order at least.

[Uncle64]

You should make your skyrim clean, and install it again.
You have some files that should not be there.

And when you have installed Skyrim again, make your self one Steam copy of Skyrim.
It is one time saver when you need to reinstall.
Make sure that you have all mods saved, you dont need to reinstall NMM.
But those mods you have from workshop need to be DL again.

[cfs111]

Yes, but have you started a brand new game? This matters a lot in determining if we can save this mod list. The save you downloaded was not started with your system and mod list. You can add Alternate Start Live Anothe Life to make it a bit quicker. It should be last in the load order.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9557/?

Use the camping in the woods option. You will start just outside helgen, after alduin flies off go into helgen through the closest gate, go the right past the walls then turn left. /there will be a burnt corpse on the ground, search it for a journal. This will start the main quest.

It is 2am for me and TBH I'm pretty tired. I will look again in the morning, but I'm afraid your game is probably borked beyond help. Something has deleted or is blocking this quest. If you don't want to wait then you can make Skyrim vanilla by following this guide. After Skyrim is vanilla do not add any mods until after testing on a new game.

Make sure you are unsubscribed from all the workshop mods, then follow this guide: http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Make_Skyrim_Vanilla_Again
You can leave in the files for the DLC as well if you have them which I don't think that guide mentions, and if you have the hi res dlcs then you can leave in the third esp and bsa, but otherwise its all set

Edit: Ninja'd by alot!!!

[Uncle64]

I did forgot that part :(

[Kiros]

I started a new game with the mods on just to test it and had the same problem.

[Mr.Monster]

I ran into this bug but I still had the journal, heres how I fixed mine. Subsequent journal entries may or may not appear but I suppose you could still try it since it seems to be a bug.
This method skips one dungeon and might require you to add shouts through console after
I setstage it to the where the greybeards have nothing to teach you and boot you off for Jurgens horn.
*IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO NOT SETSTAGE PAST THAT*
Don't bother setting stages for that quest and just go ahead to setting stages for mq106. After that go back to finishing setting stages of MQ105 again.

[caopeira]

When going with the Greybeards, you use Relenting force right? Try aiming at them, I had some problems with it too.

[Kiros]

Originally posted by ‘Tanta:

When going with the Greybeards, you use Relenting force right? Try aiming at them, I had some problems with it too.

You mean Unrelenting Force, the only shout that you have at that point in the game, yes, I shout it at them and then they kill me.

--

OK, I can setstage MQ105 160 to complete The Way of the Voice, setstage MQ105Ustengrav 10 to start The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller which comes up in the journal (yay), the path inside Ustengrav is blocked by rocks and other stuff(i assume this is meant to despawn when you properly get the quest), setstage MQ105Ustengrav 15 (Objective read the note), setstage MQ105Ustengrav 20 the quest tells me to talk to Delphine but she does not have the quest dialog options that she should have. at every point I cannot progress because something is stopping the triggers.

Mr.Monster, when I setstage MQ105 160 then setstage MQ106 30 the quest A Blade in the Dark appears in the Journal as a completed quest and Delphine wont talk to me which is the first part of that quest. is stage 160 too far?[www.uesp.net]

[cfs111]

IMO, you have too much messed up to console your way out of this. There are locational, dialogue, and object quest triggers associated with the main quest. In otherwords, to properly start parts of quest you need to cross through certain doors, have certain conversations or pick up certain items. You will be consoling your way through most of the quest line, especially one as complicated as the main quest. Might be better to start over.

Yes, you will more than likely need to use the console for nearly every part of this quest line. I also have to wonder what other quest lines may be affected. My guess on the cause is mod conflicts removing or changing quest triggers. Make Skyrim vanilla and starting over is the best resolution to your issue.

[Uncle64]

I think the same as CFS111.
Once you have to start using Console, you will have to use it all the times.
It is one pain, but make your Skyrim clean and start again.

[Kiros]

Yeah I gave up on Console already but I wanted to try Mr.Monsters solution since he spent the time to write it.

[Uncle64]

Did it work?
If it works it is one time saver.
I did read his suggestion.

[Kiros]

No, it didn't work, like you and cfs111 said, I was having to skip further and further and the triggers were not working.

[Uncle64]

Ok.
Did guess that. It is how Skyrims script are working. Some of them do trigger other and so on.

Have you make Skyrim clean now?

[Kiros]

I have uninstalled every mod, cleaned the install and verified files as per the guide: http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Make_Skyrim_Vanilla_Again
Using the clean save that I downloaded, I can successfully do the greybeards quest.
Currently waiting for the skyrim folder to be archived in case I F it up again.
Then start modding all over again I suppose ._.