Under Saarthal Quest Not Starting

[GentleLite]

I completed first lesson for the mages guild. This is when I learned the ward and I have to put up the ward spell while he hits me and then we are asked to move to Saarthal.

I get the quest complete for that one, but the next one doesn't start.

Of course, I looked this up and tried the following console commands:

setstage MG01 200
Exit console, does the next quest start? If not use these

startquest MG02
setstage MG02 0

Exit console, does the quest procedd? If not try this one last command
setstage MG02 10

 

I even tried teleporting the NPC to Saarthal. No luck.

I was told to attempt to kill the students (a round about method) but I shouldn't have to do all that.

I do have the unofficial skyrim patch and it said that the patch is suppose to fix this but it doesn't. I"m on SE, not AE.

[GentleLite]

Trying to get this to work is just making me sick + headache.....

Is there like a older version of the unofficial skyrim se that can get me past this?
checked Nexus, there doesn't seem to be a dedicated resolution/mod fix/patch for this.
Steam forums mentions the same console cmds

wiki mentions attempting all these tricks such as killing an ally, do this, do that, etc. It also mentions the console.

I've seen a few incompatible mods which I don't have installed. About to give up.

I need a favor from anyone reading this. Start a new game with alternate start. go guild path, college of winterhold. run inside (no need to listen to arcano's and her conversation outside) listen to the lecture inside, and let me know if it completes that quest and starts the next one.

weather it works or it doesn't, let me know and also let me know if you are running Se or AE

[7531Leonidas]

AFAIK, the Unofficial Patch team only supports the latest AE build. If you are on 1.5xx version, you will probably have to beg for a copy for the older version of it. I don't remember which version of the Unofficial Patch worked with the SE version. Also, I don't think that passing deprecated files around is appreciated by the team.

[GentleLite]

AFAIK, the Unofficial Patch team only supports the latest AE build. If you are on 1.5xx version, you will probably have to beg for a copy for the older version of it. I don't remember which version of the Unofficial Patch worked with the SE version. Also, I don't think that passing deprecated files around is appreciated by the team.

No worries there, I have the unofficial patch version 5.04 that works for my current version of skyrim se 1.5. I never deleted it off my backup. It's just not fixing this bug.

[SavvyChad]

Did you find a solution?

[SnobbyCoder60]

Hello, is it really possible that SO MANY PEOPLE IN SO MANY YEARS experienced this F*ckin bug and NO ONE EVER solved it?!? Seriously??

QUEST UNDER SAARTHAL NEVER STARTS AFTER COMPLETING FIRST LESSONS. NO CONSOLE COMMAND CAN SOLVE THIS OR MAKE YOU START THE QUEST PROPERLY.

THERE MUST BE SOME MOD RELATED TO THIS BUG AS IN VANILLA IT DOES NOT OCCUR.

IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE THAT NO ONE SHARED EVER THE SOLUTION? COME ON....!

[SnobbyCoder60]

7 minutes ago, SnobbyCoder60 said:

Hello, is it really possible that SO MANY PEOPLE IN SO MANY YEARS experienced this F*ckin bug and NO ONE EVER solved it?!? Seriously??

QUEST UNDER SAARTHAL NEVER STARTS AFTER COMPLETING FIRST LESSONS. NO CONSOLE COMMAND CAN SOLVE THIS OR MAKE YOU START THE QUEST PROPERLY.

THERE MUST BE SOME MOD RELATED TO THIS BUG AS IN VANILLA IT DOES NOT OCCUR.

IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE THAT NO ONE SHARED EVER THE SOLUTION? COME ON....!

Here you have my modlist and order:

PLEASE, i'm really asking for some help since it's years i's like to play a mage build PG but i never did cause this quest is never starting.

Consider that:

- NO console command seems to work to properly solve this (even if the quest starts with "setstage" the NPCs does not do what they are supposed to do..)
- It looks like is NOT related to a directly-editing Winterhold mod (ex: Immersive College of Winterhold/Magical College of Winterhold)
- it is NOT solved by mod like "At your own pace" or others that can edit the College's questlines

I really hope in some help to fix this, apreciate and thank you.

plugins.txt modlist.txt loadorder.txt LazyListExporter (1).csv

Edited March 16 by SnobbyCoder60

[scorrp10]

Shouting in caps is not going to endear you much.   

As you mention, this is not  a vanilla quest issue, it is some mod (or combination of mods) that breaks things.    Nobody is going to sift through a list of hundreds of your mods.  You want to fix it, this requires a targeted investigation.

"Under Saarthal" quest ID is MG02 (1F252)   It is NOT an SM Event-started quest, therefore it should be controllable via console commands.   
Normally, this quest is started when MG01 (First lessons) reaches stage 200 and completes.   (Fragment 18 of the quest script handles this)

Console command "sqv mg02" should tell you status of the quest and its aliases.   And command "startquest mg02" should launch the quest.   I just checked - on a new character that never set foot in the College, I did 'startquest mg02', and it immediately gave me:    Started:  Under Saarthal - meet Tolfdir at Saarthal.
In general, a quest will fail to start if it can't fill all of its non-optional aliases.   So these will need to be checked. 
An alias can fail to fill if:

• Some other quest messes with object of this alias in some way (i.e. disables it)  If you got any mods that "overhaul" Saarthal, that could be it.
• Some other quest reserves object of an alias
• An NPC for the alias gets killed prematurely. 

Before doing anything else, you should run SSEEdit and under Skyrim.esm - Quest -  locate 1F252, and see what overloads it.    If something other than USSEP does it, that is likely the issue.

Now, you will want More Informative Console for this.   For each of these references, you will need to run "prid" command to examine the Reference.   

I.e. 'prid 1c1a1' for Tolfdir.
So, list of aliases 
Tolfdir:  1c1a1 - must be alive and enabled, can be reserved
Amulet trigger:  79b2e - must exist, can be disabled, reserved
Savos Aren: 1c1b8 - must exist, can be dead, reserved
Nerien:  233d3 - must be alive, can be disabled, reserved
Brelyna/Onmund/Jzargo - these are optional, so no need to check.
Arniel Gane: 1c1ab - must be alive, and not reserved by any other quest.
Saarthal door: 15e82 
Various scene triggers in Saarthal:  51af1, 51af2, 51af3, 51af6, 51afe, 51aff, 2584e, 2584d, 25859, 233cb 
Saarthal exit door: 1b952 
Holding chest: d762e

To give an example: I go into game, open console, type 'prid 15e82', it gives me an info panel in upper left showing it is an iron door, which is enabled, and  fills no aliases (no aliases entry in the panel)

I type: 'prid 1c1ab'  for Arniel Gane.   I put mouse cursor over arrow at bottom of info panel, and start pressing Shift to scroll through it.   It shows me that he is enabled, and is filling 2 aliases.   Mousing over Aliases, and pressing Shift, I get a list of Aliases.  For me, those are:
'AI for Winterhold Mage' and 'Arniel's Endeavor'
Drilling down, I see that 'AI for Winterhold Mage ' form ID is 9921CFCA, and it is defined in 'Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul.esp'

(Arniel's Endeavor is one of vanilla quests).   If I load up Immersive Citizens in CK, and look up this quest, Arniel is not reserved by it, so that one is fine.

So, go over those IDs, see that stuff is enabled, and if any of the above are filling aliases in non-vanilla quests.

 

[SnobbyCoder60]

On 3/16/2025 at 10:00 PM, scorrp10 said:

Shouting in caps is not going to endear you much.   

As you mention, this is not  a vanilla quest issue, it is some mod (or combination of mods) that breaks things.    Nobody is going to sift through a list of hundreds of your mods.  You want to fix it, this requires a targeted investigation.

"Under Saarthal" quest ID is MG02 (1F252)   It is NOT an SM Event-started quest, therefore it should be controllable via console commands.   
Normally, this quest is started when MG01 (First lessons) reaches stage 200 and completes.   (Fragment 18 of the quest script handles this)

Console command "sqv mg02" should tell you status of the quest and its aliases.   And command "startquest mg02" should launch the quest.   I just checked - on a new character that never set foot in the College, I did 'startquest mg02', and it immediately gave me:    Started:  Under Saarthal - meet Tolfdir at Saarthal.
In general, a quest will fail to start if it can't fill all of its non-optional aliases.   So these will need to be checked. 
An alias can fail to fill if:

• Some other quest messes with object of this alias in some way (i.e. disables it)  If you got any mods that "overhaul" Saarthal, that could be it.
• Some other quest reserves object of an alias
• An NPC for the alias gets killed prematurely. 

Before doing anything else, you should run SSEEdit and under Skyrim.esm - Quest -  locate 1F252, and see what overloads it.    If something other than USSEP does it, that is likely the issue.

Now, you will want More Informative Console for this.   For each of these references, you will need to run "prid" command to examine the Reference.   

I.e. 'prid 1c1a1' for Tolfdir.
So, list of aliases 
Tolfdir:  1c1a1 - must be alive and enabled, can be reserved
Amulet trigger:  79b2e - must exist, can be disabled, reserved
Savos Aren: 1c1b8 - must exist, can be dead, reserved
Nerien:  233d3 - must be alive, can be disabled, reserved
Brelyna/Onmund/Jzargo - these are optional, so no need to check.
Arniel Gane: 1c1ab - must be alive, and not reserved by any other quest.
Saarthal door: 15e82 
Various scene triggers in Saarthal:  51af1, 51af2, 51af3, 51af6, 51afe, 51aff, 2584e, 2584d, 25859, 233cb 
Saarthal exit door: 1b952 
Holding chest: d762e

To give an example: I go into game, open console, type 'prid 15e82', it gives me an info panel in upper left showing it is an iron door, which is enabled, and  fills no aliases (no aliases entry in the panel)

I type: 'prid 1c1ab'  for Arniel Gane.   I put mouse cursor over arrow at bottom of info panel, and start pressing Shift to scroll through it.   It shows me that he is enabled, and is filling 2 aliases.   Mousing over Aliases, and pressing Shift, I get a list of Aliases.  For me, those are:
'AI for Winterhold Mage' and 'Arniel's Endeavor'
Drilling down, I see that 'AI for Winterhold Mage ' form ID is 9921CFCA, and it is defined in 'Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul.esp'

(Arniel's Endeavor is one of vanilla quests).   If I load up Immersive Citizens in CK, and look up this quest, Arniel is not reserved by it, so that one is fine.

So, go over those IDs, see that stuff is enabled, and if any of the above are filling aliases in non-vanilla quests.

 

Thank you.

I tried the command prid on every voice you mentioned, but no one is "Last Changed" except for some that are updated by the USSEP (which it should not be the problem i gues..).

TBH i did not get the point when you suggested to run SSEdit to see what mod does conflict with Under Saarthal (MG02) quest... how can i do so?

I REALLY apreciate your help.

Edited March 19 by SnobbyCoder60

[scorrp10]

When you tried prid on all the IDs I mentioned, are all of them coming with  'Is Enabled:  Yes'?

What about 'startquest mg02' or 'sqv mg02' commands?

About SSEEdit:
Once you got it installed, and launched it, have it loading all the mods.   Then you expand Skyrim.esm entry, under it - Quest entry, and then look for 0001F252
I my case, only thing overloading that quest for me is USSEP, which is fine.