Can't get soul cairn creatures to spawn

[OneMug]

I have Arvak's summoning spell in my conjuration magic list but I can't ever get the horse to show up in the "wilderness" (which I take to mean, away from cities, castles, etc.)

Neither can I get Durnehviir to come to my aid in Tamreil (Skyrim). My quest list tells me to call him with the "Kill" shout he taught me in the soul cair) but I've never been able to get the dragon to show up so he can teach me the other shout words.

Do I have to be in battle to summon him? Or can I summon him in any large, outdoor area?

I searched the forum for help & I looked on wiki & UESP, but there couldn't find a clue for my situation.

How can I get these creatures to show up? TIA.

[Urgh]

You summon Durnehvir with the Dur-ne-hvir shout. Curse never dying I think it was. You have to unlock all 3 words and "aim" at a large open area on the ground.
Arvak, I'm not sure.
Can you summon other creatures?

[Roscaria]

Are you waiting long enough for the magic to build up to summon them both? If you try to release the spell before it has accumulated the magic amount required for the summoning, then the spell will not be effective.

Watch the magicka bar until it stops going down then release the spell.

[Moa Chiin]

Also make sure you are using the unofficial patches.
As BloodFirelce asked, it's important to know if you can summon other creatures and if you are using any mods.

[OneMug]

Thanks for your replies. I am using no mods, just 2 DLCs, DG & enhanced resolution.

For Arvak, I do wait until the magica stops diminishing, release the spell, look around, & don't see the horse, just my two followers, Serana & Lydia. The only thing that I see different is that the aiming cursor turns red when I start the spell. Then, bang, but no Arvak.

When I select the Micellaneous Durneviir quest, I get two items with diamonds "filled in",
1. Call Durneviir and
2. Learn the rest of the words.

There are no direction markers showing where to do this, no markers at all. The first word shout does not summon D. I tried to call Arvak & dragon back in the soul cairn, same result., i.e., nothing happens.

[Moa Chiin]

When the cursor turns read, it means out of sight, cast the spell onto the ground below you.

[OneMug]

Thanks Cinder Moa! Jees', your solution was right in front of my nose!. And works for Arvak and other conjuration minions I have but rarely use. I wondered why summonings worked sometimes & not others. I'm a sneaky archer, not a magician. But I'll probably be using magic more now. And I never have used regular game horses. What's the advantage? Seems they would ruin my "sneakiness". :)

But my shout for Durneviir still doesn't bring the dragon down to teach me the other words. What other obvious thing am I missing?

[Rocket]

anybody noticed there are no gingers in the soul cairn? just sayin'

[Moa Chiin]

Originally posted by OneMug:

Thanks Cinder Moa! Jees', your solution was right in front of my nose!. And works for Arvak and other conjuration minions I have but rarely use. I wondered why summonings worked sometimes & not others. I'm a sneaky archer, not a magician. But I'll probably be using magic more now. And I never have used regular game horses. What's the advantage? Seems they would ruin my "sneakiness". :)

But my shout for Durneviir still doesn't bring the dragon down to teach me the other words. What other obvious thing am I missing?

• Be Outside
  
• not in combat
  
• Yell onto the ground

It only works after you finish soul cairn completely

[OneMug]

Thanks again. The summoning of horse and minions is working now. But

I just read about Durneviir on the wikia page. Here's a quote: "Durnehviir initially teaches the Dragonborn all three words of the shout during the quest Beyond Death." D. taught me only the first word. For some reason I can't recall (it was a month or so ago), I did not get the other two words from D!

So just now, I went back into the soul cairn, went to the boneyard, came back out, no Durneviir and I can't summon him, even in the cairn, with just one word. Guess I broke the quest?

Any ideas on how to get D.'s other two words?

I did find Valerica (sp?), Serana's mother and told her I killed Harkon and she's going back to the vampires' castle. Don't suppose she'll be able to help me there.

[wowszer]

Durneviir gives you the words to call him, but you need to use dragon souls for all three words. Then you can call him with that shout to get 1 word every 5 minutes real time. For another 3 dragon souls. Expensive.

[OneMug]

Wowszer, thanks for the tip. I had plenty of dragon souls. The first word was already lit up when I selected the Summon Durneviir shout (that happened in the soul cairn a month or so ago). I did the other two words and they lit up. Then on a wilderness road where a dragon would fit, I pointed at the ground and shouted 2 pr 3 times but Durneviir didn't show up.

Did you mean that I have to shout 3 times over a 10 minute period before he appears? Then I have to replenish to dragon souls every time I use him?

[wowszer]

No, you add each word one at a time, using a soul, get all 3 active as you did. The word won't work unless you have the whole word active. Then shout at the ground, making sure that you hold the shout long enough to to use all 3 words. This shout is the longest to recover before you can reshout. A full 5 minutes. If it is shorter than that, you either have not shouted all 3 words, or by either not holding the shout long enough, or all 3 words are not active, or you have a mod that gives you unlimited shouts, ie no cool down time. And the 5 minutes is your time not characters time. I usually can do some mining, fight a bear and walk a bit before it becomes available for a second shout. You don't have to recharge again with 3 more souls, but if you have all words active he will appear with the first shout, you will not be able to call till 5 minutes have passed, the you can shout again, get the second word, then wait 5 minutes, call again after the blue leaves the shout bar. Then once all 3 words of the new shout he taught you are active, you can use that shout. So a total of 6 souls for 2 different shouts. The other thing that may cause difficulties is any mods you have, or your mod load order. Have you run LOOT? Or you can use a previous save, you might have picked up a glitch after the fight with him.

[OneMug]

No mods, finally got the two shouts as per your explanation. I wouldn't have figured out how to get them without your help, wowszer. Most appreciated.