Unususal Gem from the Archmage's quarter without following the mageguild questline - does it break anything?

[MarinaHyde]

Hey there,

 

does anyone know if I break the mageguild questline, if I teleport my character into the Archmage's quarter to get Barenziah's unsual gem? I really, really wish to follow this questline later when I'll be having Serana as a follower (and Serana Dialogue Add-On installed, obviously :)). And, no thanks, but I don't want to use mods, which move the gems to different locations.

 

Any help would be highly appreciated!

 

Many regards,

Marina

[Gorgopis]

Hi.

 

We are guessing that the answer depends on the kind of "cell" that the Archmage's quarters may be, as determined by the game's programming.

 

If you can use, for example, the no-clip function in the (~tcl) console command, to ghost through the door, up the stairs, and into the quarters, then chances are you can "lift" the gem with no ill consequences to the later Quest.

 

However, if Skyrim's programmers "built" the Archmage's quarters as their own separate "cell," which you cannot enter by using the no-clip console command, then the cell may have important quest-related script information attached to it, such as "activate script Z when player finishes quest-stage number X"), which may affect your intended mageguild quest.

 

You could probably test these guesses above, by seeing if you can ~tcl (collision-off) pass through door into the quarters. If you do not find the stairs or the quarters, but instead if you find weird graphics or endless void, then those quarters are likely "their own cell" separate from the College.

 

Next you could try starting a time-costly save-game series where you use the "coc" command to get in there, steal the gem, and get out, and then try to next complete the mageguild questline as quickly as possible, to see if you broke the quest?

 

GL.

[cumbrianlad]

Seriously?

 

I can tell you right now that using cheats and console commands in general can and will break all sorts of things.

 

If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. Never advance quests via the console. Using the console to move yourself to a cell can break all sorts of things. These commands are for devs and mod authors to speed up testing. As such, we know what will break. We don't care. We are testing something else that will not be affected by the command, on a save that we will never use again, unlike your game. If you do this, loading an area can bake scripts and quest stages into your save. That means that these things will never work when they are meant to.

 

I'm a mod author with a published mod. I can tell you that I learned this the hard way.

 

While I can't say for certain (without looking at the archmage's quarters in CK whether or not you have broken something, I can tell you that you might have. I hope you haven't and off the top of my head, I don't think you have... fingers crossed.

 

In all honesty, you don't need mods to get this gem anyway. Simply gain access to the Mage Guild and loot the thing. Just like you can sneak into the Jarl's quarters in Whiterun and Solitude and loot the gems from there.

 

I'd strongly advise you not to use this kind of technique, as it can break your game.

 

Instead, Google where the gems are and sneak in and take the lot...

 

...as Bethesda intended.

 

If you have CK, open it, load skyrim.esm, update.esm and wait for it to load. Then type 'TGcrownGemActivator' into the object search.

 

This will bring up what you're looking for. Right click that and select 'Use Info'. That will show you all the cells that the gems are to be found in. You can even double click each cell and the render window will load it with the camera pointing at the gem.

 

This is much safer than using console commands, as it can not affect your game!

 

Hope this helps.

[Gorgopis]

@cumbrianlad is the expert here.

 

We suggested using the console simply to test the cell, not to establish a saved-game series.

 

@LucyAuditore wanted to "teleport" into the cell, which to us suggested a use of the console. How else can a player teleport into a cell?

 

But though we use the console for testing, we never save any games where we used the console during gameplay. And we have the autosave function turned off in the Skyrim gameplay Settings menu.

 

@cumbrianlad's advice is "spot-on."

[shrrdavid]

There are more than a few of them that you can get to very easily. There are 2 more of them in Winterhold that you can basically walk right up to. Four in Whiterun, etc... You can pick up the one in the Archmage's when you go to speak to him on the Under Sarthal quest without breaking anything, and that would be the only thing I could see it breaking... As others have said you can break all sorts of things fairly easily. Just as the Mage Guild questline can break itself if you pick up to many of them before you get to the appraiser to progress the questline..... Just get one of the ones that is easy to get to first. I usually get the one in Mistveil Keep first, then go find Maul (The guy that wants to fight when you first go to Riften) to progress the questline...

[cumbrianlad]

There are more than a few of them that you can get to very easily. There are 2 more of them in Winterhold that you can basically walk right up to. Four in Whiterun, etc... You can pick up the one in the Archmage's when you go to speak to him on the Under Sarthal quest without breaking anything, and that would be the only thing I could see it breaking... As others have said you can break all sorts of things fairly easily. Just as the Mage Guild questline can break itself if you pick up to many of them before you get to the appraiser to progress the questline..... Just get one of the ones that is easy to get to first. I usually get the one in Mistveil Keep first, then go find Maul (The guy that wants to fight when you first go to Riften) to progress the questline...

Hee, hee!

 

I had to laugh.

 

"Go fiddling with any locks around here, we're going to have a real problem."

 

Larceny is in your blood, my friend.

[AnvilOfWar]

Marina, not sure if you are aware but Thieves Guild Requirements (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/33256) now has options for moving the 3 "quest locked" stones to alternate locations one can get too without needing to start/advance certain quests. This might not be helpful for this character/your current game, but at least something to consider in the future.

[greyday01]

You could look at the quest. Some quests just depend on having a certain number of base objects. If so you could just use additem to give yourself however number of gems you need. If the gem is an activator and activating it adds to the count that won't work. Depends how the quest and the items are set up. I would hope they are like the bear pelt quests where you just need a certain number.