Skyrim talk:Lost to the Ages

Missing Category

This page was not part of Category:Skyrim-Quests, like nearly all other quests. I suspect that this category is usually added by template Template:Trail2. However, I can't easily figure out how this is normally done. I did add the category manually, but consider this a work around. If you know how to do it using the preferred method, please do! Macfreek (talk) 16:46, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

Detailed Walkthrough

I just finished this quest but as i have never contributed to the creation of an article and i dont want stuff this up: This is not part of the 'main dawnguard questline' You start the quest by finding a bool called 'aetherium wars' ( i believe there is a guaranteed copy to the right of the enhanting table in fort dawguard. It involves you finding four dwemmer shards of Aeherium. One is in the quest specific dungeon, the other locations may be random. You use the shards to locate the aetherium forge. After a very large battle you are given the option to create one lf 3 dwarven artifacts with powerfull effects. Your companion mentions there may be more aeherium out there somewhere.

If no one has anything tomoro can i create an article for this? Do i need certain permission? Regards — Unsigned comment by 59.167.167.221 (talk) at 13:21 on 27 June 2012

Your good a base line of information is always a good thing. Of course when you write on the talk page a title and a signature (can be done by adding ~~~~ to the end of the post) are good things to remember. --SPMcKinney 00:49, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

Enough people help out with grammar/spelling and tidying up things - you can never really go wrong if something needs started. Just finished a more through walkthough, although still need the pattern for the Kenetic things once you meet up with Katria? along with what happens when you get them wrong lol - I noticed this was a stub a little after that point and didn't have a good save to backtrack too. D521^talk 03:55, 3 August 2012 (UTC)

Quest won't start

Quest doesn't start for me, and many others. Setstage command does nothing either. — Unsigned comment by 86.101.108.122 (talk) at 21:13 on 9 August 2012

I have the same problem (I'm on Xbox 360), i've gone through the quest and found the aetherium pieces but since the quest isn't in my journal i can't access the forge. I don't know of any possible workaround but hopefully it'll get fixed in an update. Hazmick 15:52, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

I have the same problem. it would not start after i read the book. I read it after and during the last quest in dawnguard. The fix says i have to delete dawnguard and reinstall. I picked up the book with another character and i got the quest. I have now gone to a save where i hadn't read the book, but it does not start. That quest is the only "artifact" i dont have, and it's a trophy, achievement. I can do it on another charackter for the achivement, but anyways, i want the aetherial crown.

As i can see there were not many dlc fixes in the patch. And now it's April 2013. (ps3 btw) — Unsigned comment by 217.31.100.61 (talk) at 21:23 on 10 April 2013 (GMT)

I had the same problem that the quest wouldn't start, and I suspect it was triggered by finding the first shard before even reading the "Aetherium Wars" book. When I read the book, nothing happened; however, after reading the book, just dropping the shard and picking it up again triggered the misc objective "Investigate Arkngthamz" and the quest proceeded as normally, with no need to delete and reinstall any plugins. Interestingly the shard was not flagged as a quest item and still droppable before the quest started, and it was identified as just "Glowing Shard", but when I dropped it and picked it up again it turned into "Aetherium Shard" 90.215.32.101 20:01, 21 July 2013 (GMT)

will not start quest on the Xbox one version and Katrias journal not on her body. Cannot uninstall dawnguard as it is included with thga as a complete version — Unsigned comment by 220.238.162.97 (talk) at 01:09 on 7 January 2021 (UTC)

From what I can tell in going back through saves. I am somewhat of an "adventurer" and I like to travel around picking up locations. The book will not start the "investigate the ruins" quest if you have already found the location. I have to go back 18 levels (and way too many invested hours) to do this quest...— Unsigned comment by 99.226.24.91 (talk) at 16:49 on 16 January 2021 (UTC)

(←) If you can't start the quest by reading the book, you might be able to start it by entering Arkngthamz or by picking up one of the Aetherium Shards. --Oriwa ^Talk 19:48, 16 January 2021 (UTC)

Problem after combining shards into crest

I have a possible bug. I gathered all four shards and put them into their slots, receiving the Aetherium Crest. Then the screen said to stand clear, but nothing happened. There was still a quest marker, seemingly buried underground, but the tower did not rise. I advanced the quest via console commands, which caused a tower to rise, but no other opening appeared. Well, the tower looks like a glorified gazebo, but I can't do anything inside a hollowed out, empty rain shelter. I currently can't get inside anything or progress any further (unless I were to enter more console commands, perhaps, but that's no fun). I think the problem occurred because I put the Aetherium shards together and grabbed the crest before Katria even showed up (she was, in fact, buried in the hill, too far away to interact without clipping through the landscape). This problem occurred on the PC, obviously. 134.176.247.178 13:58, 24 August 2012 (UTC)TDBostick

It sounds like your guess for the reason would be right- if you jump ahead by forming the crest before speaking with Katria, the quest may not be advancing correctly because it expects her to be helping you through dialogue. The tower that raises up is supposed to contain an activator to enter the Aetherium Forge, similar to other lifts in Dwemer ruins. If you have a save from before piecing the shards together, I would try reloading from there and waiting for the appropriate quest dialogue and continuing the way it's meant to be played out. If you don't have the appropriate save, console commands would probably be your best bet, though I have no idea what you would need to use, since I don't play on PC myself. ABCface^◥ 16:01, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

I'm having similar issues but reached them quite differently (special edition PS4) I arrive at the forge, kill bandits, talk with Katrina, she says "put the shards in and see what happens" The quest log updates, I put the shards in, quest log completes... then nothing happens. When I speak with Katrina, she says "go ahead give it a try" The quest won't update. If I take the crest out, it says "stand clear" a quest marker appears by some crates, but quest log doesn't update and nothing further happens. If I talk with Katrina again, she'll continually say "go ahead give it a try" 71.48.252.154 02:12, 25 December 2016 (UTC)

I have an update. I loaded an earlier save file where my character had only visited Riverwood and Whiterun (only two or three quests were completed. I was level 20ish) I located a copy of The Aetherium Wars - it didn't activate the quest. I then went to Arkngthamz to trigger quest. The quest triggers but when I picked up the aetherium shard, the quest updated with "find the remaining shards 0 of 4" Katrina gives the correct spiel then disappears. I go collect shard number 2 and the quest still says 0 of 4, and Katrina is no where to be found. I gather the other two shards - no Katrina - quest says 0 of 4, but after collecting the 4th shard, quest updates to find forge. I go to forge, Katrina gives the correct spiel, I place shards in device, but it still gets stuck as previously mentioned. So the quest became corrupt during the creation of the character. I hadn't done anything other than flee Helgen, visit Riverwood and Whiterun 71.48.252.154 11:47, 4 January 2017 (UTC)

New possible bug...

After reading the book and getting the misc. objective that will trigger this quest I did nothing for an extensive period of time with it. I hadn't even discovered Arkngthamz (it was marked due to the book, but I had no approached it yet). Eventually, I proceeded to resume the Dark Brotherhood questline after I simply gave up hope of doing Blood on the Ice (without transferring my xbox save to PC to try 'fix' the quest myself. Still might do that, but I can resurrect Nilsine and Tova along with Arivanya). Anyways, I decided I might as fully explore Raldbthar, and at the end of the second zone I found the Crest that I forgot was supposed to be there...after the relevant quest actually triggered (or so I would assume looking at the quest page). I saved before taking it, and then I hurried to do this quest afterwards to see what effect already having a Crest would have. I haven't even gotten inside the ruin yet, as it took longer than anticipated to sort out my loot from Raldbthar and a few other places. I will do this quest first chance it get in the morning, and post my results below. Still, it should be noted that the crests are added at least as soon as you read the book, if not when Dawnguard is actually installed.--Playerseekingbugs 05:35, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

Not really a bug... DG adds the rooms as well as each crest when it's installed. You can either start the quest by reading the book, or by stumbeling on one of the crests on your own. a lot of SR quests work like this if they require a non-radient item to be found. Whispend^talk 07:31, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

The quest did not trigger when I picked up the Crest. I would not be so concerned if it did, but it did not. And many quests involving taking items mess up when you take something before you're supposed to.--Playerseekingbugs 07:38, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

To avoid confusion for anyone reading this in the future, the "crests" being referred to are actually the "shards", not the crest. There's only one crest, which is made by combining the shards later. ABCface^◥ 13:59, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

Oops. Sorry about that. Anyways, after I got the shard in Arkngthamz I found out that you can just tell her if you already have any of the pieces, so the dialogue and stuff accomodates the appearance of the shards before the quest starts. This should probably be noted. I'll do that later as my first edit to something besides talk pages. I'll also fill in some details on the Arkngthamz on it's page. Did anyone else find a broken (as in can't be interacted with) small dwarven chest, 2 ebony ore veins, and 1 quicksilver ore vein in the final large room?--Playerseekingbugs 19:25, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

Katria's rival?

The notes section of the page says that, but dialogue and her journal points to an apprentice, not a rival. I will correct this now.--Playerseekingbugs 22:12, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

Maybe he was a former apprentice who has since become a rival? hazmick 19:40, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

It's been fixed already, there's no need to debate it as in-game dialogue only says apprentice, never rival. ABCface^◥ 20:23, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Another possible bug - map markers

After finding the first two Aetherium Shards in Arkngthamz and Raldbthar the map markers for this quest disappeared. Finding the next Shard at Deep Folk Crossing did not solve the problem, and I don't know if the map markers will appear after moving to the next stage. Anyone can confirm it? --Mr.Killjoy (talk) 18:41, 24 October 2012 (GMT)

I can confirm the disappearing map markers after getting the second Aetherium Shard, I'm on PC, latest patch and all 3 unofficial patches. I came to this page to find the next locations, so will update here when I make progress in the quest. 62.194.197.15 13:22, 10 January 2013 (GMT)

I got the third and fourth shard without a problem, Katria showed up in both locations and after getting the fourth I got a new marker pointing me to the forge. I think the disappearing of the markers is intentional, after all, there is a map in Katria's journal giving the locations and the map is not that hard to read. Will update after entering the forge if anything bugs out, but not expecting that to happen at all. 62.194.197.15 14:56, 10 January 2013 (GMT)

Quest finished normally, questmarkers updated again when inside the forge. Still think you have to find the other 2 shards on your own. 62.194.197.15 09:22, 11 January 2013 (GMT)

No update after combining

Has anyone else run into the problem of after putting the crest into the forge and creating an item, the quest won't update/complete? I'm at the very last step from what I can tell, but my quest won't progress. It doesn't matter what item I create; as soon as I'm done the forge just shows a blank selection screen and nothing happens. I have to exit the menu manually, but Katia still has the previous dialogue, and the stairs leading to the exit won't come up (leaving me stuck and forcing me to reload a save before entering the room. I've reloaded previous saves after I had combined the crystals, but only if I reload a save before I started any other dawnguard/hearthfire addon quests can I complete the quest. Playing on the xbox. — Unsigned comment by 98.154.187.157 (talk) at 19:22 on 27 October 2012‎

Bugged Bow

During the objective while I was activating the resonators, I was killed by Dwarven Spheres because I was a very low level character. I reload the nearest autosave,which was where Katria commented on her bow being on the log hanging over the edge of the drop. I went over to the bow,attempted to pick it up, but there was no option for 'Press A to Pick up Zephyr'(Spellcheck on that). Is it just a corrupted save or an actual bug? JesterInPeril (talk) 17:14, 4 November 2012 (GMT)

Possible solution to Trapped in the Forge Room Bug

I encountered this bug, and believe that it's caused by spawning and equipping the Aetherial Crown via the console before completing the quest. I forged an item(the staff), but Katria's dialogue did not update, the quest did not update, and the stairs did not come back up.

The solution that I've found is to use setstage DLC1LD_Bthalft 90 in the console.

Can others with this same bug give this a shot, and see if it helps? — Unsigned comment by Neurotmesis (talk • contribs) at 18:53 on 24 January 2013

Works for me. — Unsigned comment by 86.25.247.123 (talk) at 10:58 on 1 August 2013

I picked up shard before I had the quest and now the quest broke (?)

I was around the "Dwarven Storeroom" near Mzulft and decided to clear it out and took the shard without a second tought. At this point I did not had the quest, so a few days later I got the "Aetherium Wars" - book and started the quest. As I followed the quest line I got stuck at the second shard.

I'm (now) in the storeroom and the npc (Katria) tells me to pick up the shard, which I can't.

To fix this I tryed to remove the item per console but it did not work because there is some trouble with the item ID and a forced drop did also not work because of the same problem. (At this point I need to thank ABCface,Dwarfmp and helenaanne for their attempts to help, thank you !)

Problem still unsolved. — Unsigned comment by 93.214.34.251 (talk) at 18:39 on 7 February 2013

Had not used the console myself to spawn the items or anything else, this setstage isn't helping fix it — Unsigned comment by 70.77.68.30 (talk) at 19:56 on 11 February 2013

I didn't have this problem. Right after I got the first shard, I had the option to tell Katria that I already had a second one. I have the unofficial DG fix, if that helps. 50.0.25.231 06:29, 20 February 2013 (GMT)

I just cleared Raldbthar (now 3/4) but didn't get a quest marker on Deep Folk Crossing. Maybe I'm also bugged... 50.0.25.231 08:14, 20 February 2013 (GMT)

Blah. Fast traveled to Deep Folk Crossing and then the marker showed... 50.0.25.231 08:19, 20 February 2013 (GMT)

IDK WTF the problem you guys are having is, I had all 3 shards from the other locations before ever going to Arkngthamz and never had a problem. Are you all on PC? If so check your mods cause probably something there is messing you up. Cause with DG,HF,DB 1.8 on 360 this doesn't occur. Lord Eydvar ^{Talk|Contribs} 08:21, 20 February 2013 (GMT)

There seems to be a problem with this quest if you enter the Mzulft area before reading the Aetherium Wars. When going to the Dawnguard area (by traveling in direction Riften) you are very likely to do so. Had this problem on 3rd play (PC). — Unsigned comment by 84.24.198.228 (talk) at 18:46 on 25 August 2014 (UTC)

I encountered this problem myself and found a potential fix. After Katria tells you to grab the missing shard from Mzulft, fast travel to Deep Folk Crossing. Up the path a ways, there's a small area with a dwarven helmet with another/the final aetherium shard. Once you pick it up, the quest should (ideally!) continue as normal. At least it did for me. Best of luck! — Unsigned comment by 73.96.152.143 (talk) at 04:26 on 24 April 2022 (UTC)

Bug at Raldbthar

So I have already retrieved 3 shards, and this would be my final shard. I'm already at the bridge where I have to fight a Centurion, but the button doesn't work. Everything is working fine, the power to both torches is ok, I can use the button but it doesn't work. Is there a way to reset this part of the quest? — Unsigned comment by 181.66.245.37 (talk) at 22:34 on 5 March 2013 (GMT)

Katria scolds you if you loot her armor

I think this would be a noteworthy addition, perhaps as a note. If you loot the armor off Katria's body, and her ghost is with you, she will scold you for it. This is noteworthy because you seldom get chastised for looting armor, which Nords (and likely many other races) would consider disrespectful. Penguinfinity (talk) 23:45, 3 April 2013 (GMT)

Tonal lock puzzle bug

The doors wouldn't open after successfully completing the puzzle, nor would the locks reset if done in the wrong order. My follower had the zephyr bow, I tried six times and it happened each time. I took the bow back after loading my save and tried again, it worked perfectly and I was able to retrieve the shard. — Unsigned comment by 172.0.30.195 (talk) at 13:55 on 5 April 2013‎

I'm running into this bug but I don't even have a follower. I even tried getting them wrong on purpose but then they don't reset. Any got any ideas? Unfortunately, I saved right before doing the puzzle so reloading doesn't seem to change anything. — Unsigned comment by 80.47.34.171 (talk) at 16:58 on 8 April 2013 (GMT)

Try running back outside to change cell and back again, should have reset. I had to do this several times before it worked for me. Biffa (talk) 21:01, 8 April 2013 (GMT)

Only just read this. I loaded up, dropped the two copies of The Aetherium Wars that I had, picked one back up, waited 24 hours and then it worked. I'm not sure what part of this may have fixed it though; whether it was the fact I turned off the PS3 and came back later, dropped the books, or waited the 24 hours, I'm not sure. Much appreciated, anyway! — Unsigned comment by 80.47.34.171 (talk) at 16:10 on 9 April 2013 (GMT)

Will chime in here, its the waiting, the dungeon resets after X (ingame) time, cant say what as all dungeons reset on a different time scale. - Killerchronic (talk) 01:32, 31 May 2013 (GMT)

[Brute Force Solution to Tonal Puzzle Bug]

1. Save game upon arrival to Tonal Lock puzzle
2. Turn Off XBox, wait a couple of minutes
3. Turn On XBox and "continue" with game.
4. Solve puzzle

I have noticed that when the Tonal Puzzle refuses to work, you won't hear a musical note when you hit one of the resonators. If you hear a musical tone, you know the puzzle will work just fine. It is unknown why the puzzle sometimes plays musical notes and sometimes does not. Maybe it has to do with a runtime error that's difficult to debug. If this type of runtime error is to blame, it makes sense as to why you must turn off and then on the XBox. — Unsigned comment by 129.101.153.5 (talk) at 08:42 on 28 November 2013

Yet another bug?

After defeating the forge-master, I attempted to create the "crown" using the forge. The forge indicated I didn't have the required flawless saphires, when in fact, I had 6 of them. Also, after combining the shards to open the forge, it took a long time (doing nothing but vibrating) and my character running a long distance away from the forge entrance for the elevator to appear. — Unsigned comment by 172.3.70.19 (talk) at 00:37 on 7 April 2013 (GMT)

As to the elevator time, it may take a while, just because it's so far down that it takes time to travel up. With regard to the sapphires, I can't say for certain, but do you perhaps have an active quest that requires a flawless sapphire? If so, the game will treat them as quest items and forbid you from using them while crafting. Quillan (talk) 18:52, 9 April 2013 (GMT)

No Journal Bug

I just started the quest and I talked to Katria then proceeded to move to her corpse. Upon looting it I didn't find the journal though, so I looked up the page here to see if it's a common bug. I found it in the bug section but with the addition that it isn't confirmed yet. Guess it's confirmed now? It's actually the second time that the bug happened to me. First time I ever played Dawnguard the same happened. Now it's the fourth or fifth time I'm doing the quest and the journal has always been there on the other playthroughs. So I can confirm the bug for PC. -- Nick not Found (talk) 21:22, 11 April 2013 (GMT)

Same here on the 360. Quest didn't start with the book. The shards are called "glowing crystal shard". No journal on Katria's corpse. I have all the shards but the mechanism is unresponsive and Katria is nowhere to be found.108.185.16.106 22:50, 12 September 2013 (GMT)

Last shard will not spawn

I have all of the shards except for the one at the deep folk crossing. There is no map marker so i tried finding it with multiple guides, just to make sure i covered all my bases, but to no avail. Does anyone know how to get it to spawn? — Unsigned comment by 173.217.131.231 (talk) at 19:39 on 4 August 2013

Please reply about this topic. I have the same problem and waited / did so many quests yet the last shard is just not an aetherium shard, its a glowing crystal shard and nothing happens when it is picked up. Katria won't appear at deep folk crossing — Unsigned comment by 108.168.85.44 (talk) at 21:42 on 19 October 2013

What platforms are you playing? If PC, do you have any mods or unofficial patches installed? —MortenOSlash (talk) 12:53, 20 October 2013 (GMT)

Katria following me everywere - Multiple Follower!!!

Doing the tonal lock puzzle i suffered the bug where the doors can't open even if doing the right combination. Katria went to the still locked door and stayed there. Frustrated i tried to get out of Arkngthamz, i rushed and took the route where you have to use Become Ethereal to survive the fall and arrived at the entrance of the dungeon. After exiting the place i noticed that Katria was there with me following everywere, even fast traveling!! I started making some tests and discovered that she follows the player outside the dungeon when the first target of the puzzle is hitten and that this can be done even without the bug. — Unsigned comment by 189.71.129.190 (talk) at 06:07 on 7 September 2013 (GMT)

Incorect order of the quest's steps

So after i completed the first part of the quest,wich was finding the shard in Arkngtham ruin the second part of the quest that my map and journal showed me took me at Mzulft in Dwarven Storeroom which should have been the third part as the quest should have taken me to Raldbthar. So i tryed to ignore this thinking that the order dosent mater, but after taking the second shard from the Dwarven Storeroom the marker to the third shard disapeard making the quest be imposible to complete. Can someone help me fix this as i tryed to figure out what is wrong but i didnt noticed this issue on any wiki or forum — Unsigned comment by Veacktor (talk • contribs) at 15:39 on 29 September 2013‎

The markers are sort of unreliable. I've had this quest show up with no markers to the shards, or all markers in place. It's weird. However, the shards are always in the same places, just go to where they are by following the walkthrough, collect them all, and the quest marker will update properly once you have the four shards and point you at Bthalft. Also the order you collect them in doesn't matter, although I haven't yet tried collecting the other 3 shards before going to Arkngthamz. --Morrolan (talk) 17:38, 29 September 2013 (GMT)

No map markers

I know other people have said that they lose the map markers. When I got out of the first dwemer city I didn't get any of the map markers at all. It was only when I got to deep folk crossing that I got that map marker. Right now I am to that point. I'm on ps3. — Unsigned comment by I0brendan0 (talk • contribs) at 00:59 on 5 March 2014 (GMT)

Katria Typo: Atria

In the "Tonal Lock" section, Katria is misspelled:

"When picked up, a overwhelmed Atria will say:"

Just thought I'd point it out. 153.90.96.134 22:20, 3 April 2014 (GMT)

Fixed. Thank you! For future reference, anyone can edit a wiki page; feel free to make the changes yourself if you want. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 00:08, 4 April 2014 (GMT)

Another Tonal Lock Bug

So I appoached the tonal lock with Katria. When I get too close, the centurion locked behind the door wakes up and becomes hostile, but it can't attack me because it's still behind the door, and Katria starts shooting at it with her bow. I read the journel and note, and I got lucky and unlocked the doors on the first try without getting any wrong notes. I go in, loot the room, grab the shard. The quest journal updates saying "talk to Katria". But I go outside, and I can't talk to her because she's still in combat with the centurion. I try to use console to kill the centurion, no luck. I noclip into the little chamber with the centurion and try to console kill it, no luck. I try to hit it, it's invincible. So I noclip back to the start of the level and leave the ruin, and go back in. I run all the way back to the tonal lock room and I see the centurion wandering around outside. I think great now I can kill it. But I try shooting it and hitting it, it's invincible. I run away and hide, the centurion runs into the loot room and goes after Katria. Katria runs out, and she starts talking to me like she's supposed to when I picked up the shard. But before she gets past "so it does exist...." the centurion comes out and attacks her and she goes into combat with it. The centurion is indestructible. I can't console kill it and I can't damage it. I try using console to resurrect it, centurion resets and stops attacking Katria, but it's still invincible and Katria won't break combat. Eventually I give up and restart from a save I luckily made when I first entered the ruin. I run through the whole ruin again but this time, I intentionally hit the wrong notes in the tonal lock and the centurion is released from the door normally. I kill the centurion that way and everything else happens as intended when I grab the shard. — Unsigned comment by 66.183.62.232 (talk) at 11:52 on 4 May 2014 (GMT)

Removing bug note after extensive testing

Someone keeps undoing my revision for some reason, but I am going to change it back again, as this bug note is false. I am leaving my explanation here. I just did exactly what it said I couldn't do, and the quest started fine. It stated that visiting Mzulft or Deep Folk Crossing and letting the area respawn before starting the quest prevents you from starting it.

This is untrue. Mzulft was cleared long ago, and doesn't respawn anyway. The dead adventurers and the shards were still there after I visited the areas and left and waited over 10 days for the areas to reset. The quest still started fine. Tested on xbox 360, fully patched with all add ons.

I am unsure if the bug note only applies to games with the UDGP or something to do with that. If it is, then it should state so, and that it doesn't happen to normal games with official patches only. Anyone is welcome to test this as I did. — Unsigned comment by 24.179.199.227 (talk) at 01:16 on 5 May 2014‎

The reason it keeps getting reverted is that the UDGP fixes the problem. That means that the problem has been confirmed, and the source of it found and corrected. It's possible that there's some detail to it that the bug note hasn't properly reported, like perhaps the area needs to remain unvisited for long enough that bodies get cleared out and references removed, but if a problem has been fixed, it's a safe bet that there was one in the first place. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 01:24, 5 May 2014 (GMT)

I just had a look at the entry in the patch notes (search for Mzulft and it'll bring you right to it), and my suspicion that "respawning" wasn't quite the right description of the problem was confirmed. I've updated the note according to what was reported there. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 01:37, 5 May 2014 (GMT)

I am on 360. The bodies don't disappear for me at all. How are bodies disappearing for others outside of mods or unofficial patches? Even if they did, there are other locations that the book can be read. This should be pointed out, as I've seen other fixed copies of the book elsewhere. Just picking up the shards or going to the ghost should work, too. It would hardly break the quest. — Unsigned comment by 24.179.199.227 (talk) at 02:01 on 5 May 2014‎

On all platforms, most dead bodies are eventually cleaned up if you visit a location and then don't visit it again for a long time. If the game didn't do that, after you'd played for a really long time, Skyrim would be cluttered with the bodies of everything you'd ever killed. So using Mzulft as an example, what happens is that the first time you go there, the game notes the bodies that are dead, whether you killed them or they were already dead. A long time later (I think it's 30 in-game days without ever visiting that location, but I might be wrong), it'll make those bodies invisible. Even later (another 30 days?), it removes the invisible bodies from the game entirely. At that point, any quests that require the fully removed bodies will fail to start if they haven't been started already. There are ways around that, but in the case of this quest, they failed to use any of those ways, so if you visit Mzulft once, then don't visit it again for a very long time, the quest will fail to start when you read the book. For reference, the Mzulft corpse is the one sitting underneath the rotunda like thing that's behind and to your left if you're facing the entrance. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 03:24, 5 May 2014 (GMT)

No, I'm not missing the point (per your edit summary). Despite how unintuitive it might seem, the bodies are required, regardless of where you read the book. That's the bug. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 13:40, 5 May 2014 (GMT)

(←) I haven't been able to trigger it either, but that may be because I haven't fully removed the UDGP, only deactivated it.

Looking at the bug report, it seems that there may be more to it than what the patch notes summarize it to. It sounds like maybe if you get close enough to Mzulft without going right up to it, that can trigger the problem. Or maybe it only happens if the cell is disturbed in some way (like an area spell) without you entering it. The point being, I don't know when exactly it occurs, and neither do you, and just because we aren't able to reproduce it doesn't mean it never occurs. Multiple people have reported that it does (Google search). I tried finding Arthmoor to see if he could provide any insight, but he wasn't online when I looked. He would be the one to talk to about it. In the meantime, since he has a reputation for being thorough and so many users have reported it, I'm willing to take it on faith that the bug is at least close to accurate. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 22:04, 5 May 2014 (GMT)

That's an awful lot of maybes in your reasoning to be stating that this is a guaranteed bug that will happen every time, especially when nobody knows what exactly causes this to happen to some people. I am going to re-word it to include additional information, until someone actually looks up what makes the bodies disappear that are supposedly required to start this quest. The first copy of the book picked up is a permanent/persistant item item until the quest starts (per the wiki), so the body shouldn't vanish until you read the book. Visiting these sites before installing DG also has no effect on starting the quest after it is installed. This is my main beef with the way it is stated. I went to Mzulft long before installing DG, and it started fine, as there were no bodies there before installation. I will note this. — Unsigned comment by 24.179.199.227 (talk) at 20:27 on 6 May 2014 (GMT

Thanks! The new wording is much better than what was there previously. I hadn't picked up on the fact that it said "will", which is clearly incorrect. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 03:50, 7 May 2014 (GMT)

I don't know who put in the original text for the bug - I just tagged it as fixed. The tracker report on the issue on our site was very thorough but it still took a long time before realizing it was due to corpses that were eventually decaying out of play. Those corpses were not marked as optional aliases, so if those locations had been visited prior to adding Dawnguard to the game, then they could easily have been cleaned out when the game culled old corpses. It's the exact same kind of bug that once blocked Blood on the Ice from starting if the player had completed the Dark Brotherhood quests in Windhelm and then did not return to the city for a long time. Arthmoor (talk) 04:07, 7 May 2014 (GMT)

Oh, and it's guaranteed that it won't start if those corpses go missing and you don't have the UDGP installed. There's no maybes about it. Arthmoor (talk) 04:09, 7 May 2014 (GMT)

How do you get the corpses to disappear, though? I wasn't able to do that, even with the UDGP disabled (though it was an existing game, so perhaps that played into it). – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 04:23, 7 May 2014 (GMT)

Katria won't open the door

Katria is not opening the door for me to get the first shard. I have killed her and moved her to see if she will open it, but nothing happens accept for her just keep walking into the gate.I don't know what else to put down...its a small glitch that is making it impossible to beat the quest — Unsigned comment by 174.45.237.193 (talk) at 00:39 on 25 July 2014 (GMT)

Deep Folk Crossing PS3

PS3 --- Deep Folk Crossing piece will not spawn. Katria is not there. Can anyone help me? It's my last piece! — Unsigned comment by 24.74.215.15 (talk) at 08:58 on 30 November 2014 (GMT)

This talk pages are primarily for discussing how to improve the pages, that is something for the forums, so I guess you are trying to report a bug? There is some issues with the quest if you have visited Mzulft or Deep Folk Crossing prior to starting the quest. Do you think you have been? —MortenOSlash (talk) 12:24, 30 November 2014 (GMT)

Aetherial crown forged, never encountered Katria, quest entry disappeared

I had picked up one shard at Deep Folk Crossing, and I read the Aetherium Wars in a dungeon, triggering the quest. I knew where the rest of the shards were, so I went and got them. When I got to the ruin where Katria's body is located, her ghost didn't appear, even after reading her journal. I picked up Zephyr,solved the tonal Lock puzzle, forged the Aetherial Crown, etc., without ever seeing her. Even more odd, the Quest entry disappeared off my journal, as if it had never been started. Joker961 (talk) 11:57, 16 May 2015 (GMT)

The quest is generally buggy, as the bug list indicates. If you feel you bug is not among those described, please feel free to add it to the list. Before you do, are you playing pc with any mods or unofficial patches added that could make an impact on the quest flow? —MortenOSlash (talk) 16:53, 16 May 2015 (GMT)

I am playing a modded game on PC, tho I don't have anything that mods the Aetherial artifacts. The previous play through was vanilla, and I didn't encounter anything similar so I'm inclined to blame it on a mod interaction.

Joker961 (talk) 20:11, 16 May 2015 (GMT)

I am afraid there is nothing on this wiki for your bug if it is a change it is induced by mods. —MortenOSlash (talk) 22:02, 16 May 2015 (GMT)

I had this same bug, Katria didn't appear but I could get the shards and they counted as quest items, even though I didn't have the quest... Resentic (talk) 19:56, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

And you are sure it is not a mod induced bug? MortenOSlash (talk) 23:17, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

Arkngthamz

i cannot even get near Arkngthamz when i do my playstation get stuck every time this is my 11 attempt and i give up there is still so much wrong with skyrim — Unsigned comment by 82.171.70.174 (talk) at 09:34 on 7 August 2015 (UTC)

New bug in Special Edition version

Can not kill Forgemaster, he acts almost like essential NPC. HP lowers to 1(?), he stops for few seconds and then full HP again. Had to use console to advance quest. 162.216.46.194 01:26, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

According to The Forgemaster page it is a protected creature. I guess that means he is protected up until a certain point in the progress of the quest, but of course not all the time, as you are supposed to kill it. I guess you have done something, or a mod you have installed has done something, that might have made it miss the point were it is supposed to turn off the protection. —MortenOSlash (talk) 05:45, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

Finished the forge now I'm falling

So I finished the forge and go to the elevator to leave and I appear falling somewhere above the elevator and fall to my death. This is with a few mods and SEE on Xbone. — Unsigned comment by 174.30.7.165 (talk) at 11:41 on 15 November 2016‎

You might need to go back to a previous save, from before or as you enter the forge. Glitches like that are rarely solved easily, but better to redo the forge than break your save game. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 19:07, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

can't place shards

i can't activate the dwarven mechanism on my xbox 1. i press "a" but nothing happens. i have started the quest normally and recovered all pieces as i should but once i got to the place where the forge is it won't let me place the shards. — Unsigned comment by 68.226.242.136 (talk) at 21:29 on 6 January 2017 (UTC)

I'm having same problem. I can insert first shard without any problem, but when I try to add another shard, I get notification: "nothing you have will fit into the mechanism"... I think that wisest action is abandon this quest at sight of first bug. — Unsigned comment by 91.157.144.239 (talk) at 16:12 on 19 December 2017 (UTC)

One solution seems to be to setstage for 170/176/181 and wait. Sometimes waiting or leaving the place will cause the quest to advance. (Sorry, I know this is not the function of this page. I just though that as this sometimes is the solution, it might have it's place on the talk page at least.) Other wise, setting quest stages in this quest may break more than fix, unless user is very careful and knows exactly what they are doing. — Unsigned comment by 91.157.144.239 (talk) at 21:18 on 19 December 2017 (UTC)

I am having the same thing I have all four shards but keep getting the same msg. "nothing you have will fit into the mechanism" I have tried going back to an earlier load but no good.

I think I know How the Map Markers Work

I think the map markers only show for discovered locations. This makes some sense, as the map in "Aetherium Wars" doesn't have names of locations on it. With a normal map, an undiscovered location appears in black and then turns white when you actually discover it. But in this quest, they don't appear at all until you stumble across them.

In my case, I found the piece in the Dwarven Storeroom before starting the quest, and I discovered the location Deep Folk Crossing (but not the shard) before I explored Arkngthamz. When I came out, I had a quest marker for Deep Folk Crossing, but nothing else. Based on this article, I hunted and found Raldbthar. As soon as it turned white, it acquired a quest marker--a simple one, as though the building itself were the goal of the quest (not the kind that suggests the goal is past a door).

I think the idea was that, based on the map, you were supposed to explore certain areas of Skyrim, and it would identify the entrances on your map once you found them (i.e. without making you explore every dungeon in those areas). So I don't think the missing map marker problems that people are reporting are actual bugs. This is what it was meant to do.

Someone else should try to verify this. Prior to kicking off the quest, go and discover all the target sites, complete the quest, and then see if all the quest markers appear as expected. Conversely, start the quest without discovering anything, and then verify that discovering each location creates a simple marker. Greg Hullender (talk) 16:32, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

Yes, this is exactly how they work, and what I tried to describe in the Notes section. If you've discovered a location before doing this quest, or even been close enough to it, it will show a map marker for it; if you've never been anywhere near it, it won't. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 23:36, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

Bug Encountered Lost to the Ages Tonal Lock Puzzle in Arkngthamz

I'm on the xbox 360.

I know that all the Dwarven attackers can be looted for some good stuff for doing atronach forge things so intentionally trigger wrong combinations, but I did this from a huge distance away using ranged fireball attacks on both the tonal lock elements and the released attackers. This goofy distant approach attack scenario had worked a prior time that I had done it by ONLY shooting one of the tonal lock tumbler elements to trigger an attack since as soon as all of the enemy attackers in that wave were killed off, the one tumbler element would nicely reset on its own. This bugged time, I kept shooting at more of the tumbler elements--WHEN I SHOULD PROBABLY NOT HAVE DONE SO...

I possibly have encountered a bug like this before involving the killing of an attacker that did not get counted by the game as having been successfully killed by me having done so at such a huge distance away with arrows or fireballs or whatever--in that case the quest marker kept pointing to the already dead enemy that was "to be" killed for success in the quest. I killed all of the Tonal Lock attackers from the wrong combination in a similar manner where they were barely visible from "across the map."

However, in this case I got all of the tonal lock "tumbler" elements spun up to the top and locked there using the intentionally wrong combinations. I am somewhat impatient, but waited a lot for the tumbler elements to reset but no joy; I dropped back zephyr onto its original end of the log and waited again and so on--still no joy. I went down close to the locked gates to see if there were any enemies left to be killed that would then reset the locking mechanism, but all were killed and junked automatons, etc. Shooting further fireballs at the tumbler elements to get them to undo their locked spins resulted in none of them turning in reverse at all--this just wasted time.

The lock "tumbler" elements NEVER reset themselves at least in the limited time I was willing to wait for them to do so. The large centurion never got released as part of my trying to get him to come out perhaps because I was doing this attacking from as far away as possible and could not see for sure if all the prior attackers had been successfully eliminated.

Sometimes it does not pay to know ahead of time what is going to happen if you come up with too elaborate a solution to overcoming the traps and enemy attackers in a fairly risk-free way. Some quests you cannot do out of intended sequence or it will trigger a bug that prevents further progress.

I am now going to revert to a prior permanent save due to all of my AUTO saves being so corrupted as to disable continuation with the quest in a timely fashion. 198.91.176.251 16:47, 24 March 2017 (UTC)

Exploring the Water in The Ruins of Bthalft

This is where you go off to the right ("entrance into the cliff"), when facing the Resonators that access the Forge area. There are two skeletons in the water; in my case they each had a type of sword. It's very dark up top, and the water is even darker, but you can cast a Candlelight before jumping in the water and it'll follow you down, just bright enough.

Be careful when approaching that first waterfall (there are two) from underwater, the current gets strong and eventually you won't be able to stop from going over. I had ~750 health and barely made it over alive, would have buffed health more if I had known, it's a very long fall onto rocks, not water. There is an unlocked chest on the ledge behind the first waterfall, so angle inwards when going over. You may be able to get to the chest ledge from shore using a shout, not sure because I couldn't see where I was relative to shore when on the ledge. It's safe to jump out from the chest ledge because you land in water and harmlessly go over the next waterfall, to land near the first bridge at the underground beginning.184.175.3.141 00:15, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Finished the quest after encountering 'locate aetherium forge' and Katria stuck in Mzulft bugs.

I took Mzulft shard before reading Aetherium Wars or otherwise starting the quest, so it was destined for bugs. Managed to go through Arkngthamz, and collect other shards without problems (Deep Folk Crossing was last) - Katria had all dialogs, no problems. First bug was encountered when I was supposed to find the forge. Katria was not near the entrance and quest did not update. I could put the shards in and retrieve the crest, and that updated the quest to 'stand clear', but the tower did not rose up. I tried to progress by using various setstages and coc to the interior, but it did not work properly - AI inside did not initialize, and when it came to fighting guardians, they didn't come out from walls to fight. Then I went to Mzulft again, and Katria was there, but I could not speak to her, only got 'pick up the shard' response. But then, after returning to Bthalft, Katria showed up and the quest progressed as normal, up to the 'use the forge', when, once more, it did not update. That was fixed by setstage DLC1LD_Bthalft 90, and quest ended properly.

tl;dr When encountering those bugs try to go through all locations where shards are supposed to be, even if you've already collected them, that apparently can set some variables needed to progress. — Unsigned comment by 83.26.215.144 (talk) at 15:23 on 12 May 2020 (UTC)