dig site looted by someone else?

amapola76

First let me say, I read the Alcast tutorial and it did not appear to address this situation.

So, I finally got around to trying out the Antiquities system. Took my main to Solitude, walked through the tutorial quest, easy as can be, picked up Gabrielle's item. Then I tried scrying for the Western Skyrim green lead that pops up for you after the tutorial. Can't remember what it's called, but it's a Nord item very near Solitude. I scryed, got four stars, all well and good. So I left Solitude, and after a quick stop to fence some stolen items, I headed west in the direction of the green outlined area on the map indicating the location of the dig site.

I reached the dig site. It was sparkly as expected. I hit "E." But instead of getting the minigame for the dig site, a window popped up with a Wicker Effigy, and I looted it. I am guessing someone else was in the vicinity and dug up the site right before me, and just left behind their bonus item. I waited around a few minutes to see if the dig site would reappear, but it never did, so I logged out of that character and logged back in, hoping that it would reload the site. Still no luck. I went to antiquities tab in the journals setting, and hovered over the item, and hit E, and received a message that I could not progress further with that item.

Then I logged out, loaded an alt, and took that alt through the process of picking up the antiquities line. Opened the journal, hovered over the same green item, hit E, and received the same message about not being able to progress further.

What on earth is happening here? Should I drop the lead, and try picking it up again on yet another alt? Is this item just hopelessly bugged for me and I will never be able to get it? Is this a bug or just poor design?

TBH, I don't even care that much about this green item. However, in the process of all this, I picked up a purple lead for a snow elf throne furnishing that I really want, and I don't want that to disappear in 30 days if I haven't figured out how to progress my skill line, since I'm currently not a high enough level to scry for the purple level items. Meanwhile, the only other green leads I have that could get me started have those codex sub-entries, and I still don't understand what's up with that either? Do I still just have to luck into finding something else for all of those?

Guyle

Lol, someone else did not loot the excavation site, you just discovered one of the sites that the antiquity isn't located at. You said you got 4 stars for the scry, that means that two or three potential dig sites should have appeared on your map. Only one of those sites will be the actual location of the antiquity, and interacting with the ones that are not, will result in what you experienced, receiving a single item and the dig site going cold. Check your map, sometimes the dig sites can be very hard to see, but I guarantee you, there will be at least another area on the map.

Guyle

Also, just for the record, other ppl cannot loot your dig sites, it works the same way material surveys or treasure chest maps work in that other ppl cannot loot them either.

amapola76

Not sure how the "lol" is helpful; obviously I asked because I don't know.

There may be something to what you're saying, but initially there was a green outlined area on my map, and now there's not... and no, only one potential dig site ever appeared, and now it's gone. Now there's nothing.

Anyone else have experience with this situation?

laksikus

how dare they, loot your sites and not loot it fully so it can respawn

SeaGtGruff

If you get 6 stars, there's only 1 site on the map-- the correct site.

If you get 5 stars, there's 2 sites on the map-- the correct site plus 1 dummy site.

If you get 4 stars, there's 3 sites on the map-- the correct site plus 2 dummy sites.

And so on.

If there are any dummy sites on the map, you'll need to excavate each site until you get the correct site, which might be the first site you pick or the last site. You must have picked a dummy site.

SeaGtGruff

As far as where the other sites went to on the map, did you relog or something after the first site? If so, maybe you just need to go through the scrying part again, but this time hopefully you'll be able to connect to all 6 stars.

amapola76

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

If you get 6 stars, there's only 1 site on the map-- the correct site.

If you get 5 stars, there's 2 sites on the map-- the correct site plus 1 dummy site.

If you get 4 stars, there's 3 sites on the map-- the correct site plus 2 dummy sites.

And so on.

If there are any dummy sites on the map, you'll need to excavate each site until you get the correct site, which might be the first site you pick or the last site. You must have picked a dummy site.

Thank you, that's useful information. I still think it's weird that the green outline of the area is now gone from the map, which makes it a little challenging to figure out the parameters of where the other potential sites might be. I suppose at least I have a general idea. Don't really love this system, though.

amapola76

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

As far as where the other sites went to on the map, did you relog or something after the first site? If so, maybe you just need to go through the scrying part again, but this time hopefully you'll be able to connect to all 6 stars.

No, that's what I was saying in my first post: it no longer allows me to scry further. After I found the apparent dummy site, I got a pop-up that it had gone from four stars to five stars, but now... on either that character or the two other alts I've now tried, if I hover over it and hit E, it won't let me scry any further. And there's still nothing on the map.

And before anyone asks, yes, I'm absolutely certain about the number of stars. I'm no math whiz, but I can count to five.

SeaGtGruff

I reread your OP, and you said that you relogged because you thought something wasn't working correctly and wanted to see if relogging would help. So my guess is that relogging causes the already-scried sites to disappear from the map. You'll need to do the scrying step over again.

amapola76

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I reread your OP, and you said that you relogged because you thought something wasn't working correctly and wanted to see if relogging would help. So my guess is that relogging causes the already-scried sites to disappear from the map. You'll need to do the scrying step over again.

But it won't let me. When I try to, that's when I get the message about not being able to progress further.

freespirit

Just another quick fyi...….. the dig sites only appear for the character that did the scrying, therefore logging to alts will not help

I have done many, many digs and never had that issue, I hope you manage to work it out because it is quite a fun thing to do

SeaGtGruff

Oh, sorry, I guess that part of your post didn't sink in when I read it.

I don't know what to do, other than maybe see if there's a way to abandon the quest and start it over from scratch.

If this is for the Nord carving thingy, and if the correct site for the first carving is the same for everyone, you could also try going to the correct location and see if you can find the dig site.

It's the site that was south of Solitude, a little bit north of the nearby Harrowstorm site, IIRC.

willjones1122

You may have to drop the lead and scry for it again. You wont lose the lead, just the progress in scrying. Might want to submit a bug report about logging out and losing the other potential sites though. Could be annoying if someone is short on time and has to log after scrying for whatever reason.

Guyle

amapola76 wrote: »

Not sure how the "lol" is helpful; obviously I asked because I don't know.

There may be something to what you're saying, but initially there was a green outlined area on my map, and now there's not... and no, only one potential dig site ever appeared, and now it's gone. Now there's nothing.

Anyone else have experience with this situation?

The lol was because, players encounter a lot of bugs in this game, or things they dont fully understand, and a lot of ppls first instinct is to say, this person was hacking, or someone did this to me, when in reality, they dont understand how the specific thing in question works. It amuses me :shrug:

When you scry for an antiquity, but you do not get all of the stars, more than one green dig location site will appear on the map. Looting one of those sites that isn't in fact where the antiquity actually is located will cause the scry stars to go up, an item will be looted, and the green outline for that area will disappear on your map. Look around, there WILL be another green outlined area on your map, again, some of them can be really hard to see so zoom in and really scour the map. If in fact there are NO OTHER green outlined areas, then your scry is bugged, you will have to abandon and re do the scry. As pointed out, you will only be able to see the active possible dig sites on the toon that did the scrying.

phairdon

What you are seeing is normal. When your character is given multiple sites to visit, only one of the sites is the actual dig site. All other sites will drop a individual item like the wicker effigy, as an example.

Linaleah

freespirit wrote: »

Just another quick fyi...….. the dig sites only appear for the character that did the scrying, therefore logging to alts will not help

I have done many, many digs and never had that issue, I hope you manage to work it out because it is quite a fun thing to do

this. make sure you are checking for the final location with a character you originally did the scrying with.

and for the record, I have logged out with a scrying portion done, but dig still active and when I logged back in on the character that did the scrying - the outline was still there. it maybe kinda smallish and overlaping with an icon for a quest area or some other area of interest so it can be hard to see - but its there. try to zoom in your map and move around it to see if you missed the outline because its a small area on top of another area of interest

HelixUnited

if you go to the item in scry and press y if using controller, not sure what key for m/k m sure someone will say, and press abandon then just rescry for it.

joerginger

You can also try "Show on map" to see if the area is still highlighted.

amapola76

Linaleah wrote: »

freespirit wrote: »

Just another quick fyi...….. the dig sites only appear for the character that did the scrying, therefore logging to alts will not help

I have done many, many digs and never had that issue, I hope you manage to work it out because it is quite a fun thing to do

this. make sure you are checking for the final location with a character you originally did the scrying with.

and for the record, I have logged out with a scrying portion done, but dig still active and when I logged back in on the character that did the scrying - the outline was still there. it maybe kinda smallish and overlaping with an icon for a quest area or some other area of interest so it can be hard to see - but its there. try to zoom in your map and move around it to see if you missed the outline because its a small area on top of another area of interest

No. It literally was not. I had nothing else active in all of Western Skyrim, and zoomed in and out several times. It was, and is, not there.

Anotherone773

OP: It sounds like your problem is that you think the other dig sites are in the same "highlighted" area you found that false site. They are not.

* Each star you miss on scrying adds a dig location. These locations are not near each other on the western skyrim map and require a good walk and often are a couple of minutes of horse ride apart
* Once you go to a location and either get the false positive like you did or the digging minigame and complete it, that site is completed. If you got a false positive like in your case then you look on your map for another highlighted area that is another dig site. Travel to that one and try again.
* You can go to journal select the lead and click scry eve if that lead is active. You can repeat this as many times as you want until you get all 6 stars on the scry minigame.
* You can abandon the quest in your journal as well and start again.

Sides notes:
1) You must be in a zone to scry in that zone.
2) You can have one scryed lead per zone.
3) Green leads can be repeated an infinite amount of times.

amapola76

amapola76 wrote: »

Linaleah wrote: »

freespirit wrote: »

Just another quick fyi...….. the dig sites only appear for the character that did the scrying, therefore logging to alts will not help

I have done many, many digs and never had that issue, I hope you manage to work it out because it is quite a fun thing to do

this. make sure you are checking for the final location with a character you originally did the scrying with.

and for the record, I have logged out with a scrying portion done, but dig still active and when I logged back in on the character that did the scrying - the outline was still there. it maybe kinda smallish and overlaping with an icon for a quest area or some other area of interest so it can be hard to see - but its there. try to zoom in your map and move around it to see if you missed the outline because its a small area on top of another area of interest

No. It literally was not. I had nothing else active in all of Western Skyrim, and zoomed in and out several times. It was, and is, not there.

I just tried picking this up on my kid's account, and it worked just fine on that account doing exactly the same things, so I can only conclude that it is in fact somehow bugged on my account.

amapola76

joerginger wrote: »

You can also try "Show on map" to see if the area is still highlighted.

That was literally the first thing I tried.

amapola76

Anotherone773 wrote: »

OP: It sounds like your problem is that you think the other dig sites are in the same "highlighted" area you found that false site. They are not.

* Each star you miss on scrying adds a dig location. These locations are not near each other on the western skyrim map and require a good walk and often are a couple of minutes of horse ride apart
* Once you go to a location and either get the false positive like you did or the digging minigame and complete it, that site is completed. If you got a false positive like in your case then you look on your map for another highlighted area that is another dig site. Travel to that one and try again.
* You can go to journal select the lead and click scry eve if that lead is active. You can repeat this as many times as you want until you get all 6 stars on the scry minigame.
* You can abandon the quest in your journal as well and start again.

Sides notes:
1) You must be in a zone to scry in that zone.
2) You can have one scryed lead per zone.
3) Green leads can be repeated an infinite amount of times.

I think you are trying to be helpful, but I clearly noted that these things are either not true or not applicable. After the first one went away, there was no highlighted area ANYWHERE on my western skyrim map. Additionally, it would not let me scry again. People keep suggesting this, but I have very clearly said multiple times that the inability to scry again is part of the problem./b]

It's also not true that the real dig sites are not in the same highlighted area as the false site. When I got it to work on my kid's account-- not my account, which is still not working-- it was in fact in exactly the same highlighted area... which did not go away after interacting with the false site.

Anotherone773

amapola76 wrote: »

I think you are trying to be helpful, but I clearly noted that these things are either not true or not applicable. After the first one went away, there was no highlighted area ANYWHERE on my western skyrim map. Additionally, it would not let me scry again. People keep suggesting this, but I have very clearly said multiple times that the inability to scry again is part of the problem./b]

There should be. I still feel like you are missing it. there are a few in the snow areas that may be difficult to see depending on your screen settings.

It's also not true that the real dig sites are not in the same highlighted area as the false site. When I got it to work on my kid's account-- not my account, which is still not working-- it was in fact in exactly the same highlighted area... which did not go away after interacting with the false site.

That has never happened to me and i have done hundreds of sites. You either get the dig minigame or you start the dig and immediately get the bonus treasure but no dig mini game. Not sayings its not possible but ive never had two dirt mounds in the same exact dig site at the same time.

If you go to your journal, and select the lead and press "E" ( on PC) it will bring up the scry minigame again. If you press "X" on the same lead it will abandon the lead and then you can start over from scratch. Id suggest you try one of these to see if you can get out of this bind that way.

Linaleah

amapola76 wrote: »

Linaleah wrote: »

freespirit wrote: »

Just another quick fyi...….. the dig sites only appear for the character that did the scrying, therefore logging to alts will not help

I have done many, many digs and never had that issue, I hope you manage to work it out because it is quite a fun thing to do

this. make sure you are checking for the final location with a character you originally did the scrying with.

and for the record, I have logged out with a scrying portion done, but dig still active and when I logged back in on the character that did the scrying - the outline was still there. it maybe kinda smallish and overlaping with an icon for a quest area or some other area of interest so it can be hard to see - but its there. try to zoom in your map and move around it to see if you missed the outline because its a small area on top of another area of interest

No. It literally was not. I had nothing else active in all of Western Skyrim, and zoomed in and out several times. It was, and is, not there.

that is exceedingly odd. I have antiquities maxed on US and working on EU right now and I did a LOT of sites and not one of them did what you describe - though to be fair I've only failed to get all points on a single attempted couple of times early on and nowadays I just get all stars in a single try.

if abandoning and rescrying as suggested above doesn't work - open a ticket in game.