####-IMPORTANT UPDATE-####

As suggested by people on this thread, I followed what they suggested to fix Miraak's script and it did indeed work, which suggests that the previous theory about the DLC being downloaded before the patch is to blame for breaking Miraaks encounters.

1) Uninstall Patch
2) Uninstall Dragonborn DLC
3) Clear Xbox System Cache
4) Re-installed Patch
5) Loaded up Skyrim, and loaded your last save and agree to losing any items you may have previously acquired during the Dragonborn DLC.
6) Save the game, thus creating a 'Clean Save' meaning it has no Dragonborn progress on it, but has you're newly re-installed patch
7) Download the Dragonborn DLC
8) Finally Blast though the entire main quest line in a couple of hours, WITHOUT EXPLORING! and hopefully experience Miraak steal a dragon soul from you after you read the first black book in Solsthiem.

I know this is a terrible fix and essentially means you'll lose all progress you may have made in Dragonborn that isn't related to any skill level ups, BUT if you're like me you already saw everything worth seeing and can thus skip the dialogue and sprint around to wherever you need to go, and it doesn't take nearly as long to get back to were you where as you would imagine. However this is still a serious issue that needs patching as I can see a lot of people returning to Skyrim for this DLC and falling victim to the same series of events related to DOWNLOADING THE DLC BEFORE THE NEWEST PATCH as we all have.

####-ORIGINAL POST-####


Well I have been hanging around these forums for a little while now trying to gauge how many people have been experiencing the same game breaking Miraak turning ethereal glitch as me. Firstly from what I seen there are two variations of this glitch.

1)You break the games script by killing him too quickly and thus HE ABSORBS THE FIRST DRAGON SOUL and ends up getting stuck since he can’t consume another quick enough

OR

2)You break the games script by killing him normally, but end up ABSORBING THE DRAGON SOUL YOURSELF, thus getting him stuck from not completing the act.

Now, I’m not certain but the first one, seems to be easily addressed by simply slowing down the beating you are giving him, whilst the second one isn't so easily addressed. If you are experiencing the second version of the glitch and “YOU END UP ABSORBING THE DRAGONSOUL”. I have noticed some patterns in player experience which has now lead to the formulation of this hypothesis about what may be causing it.

A few people who also have this glitch also say they did the same thing as me, and DOWNLOADED DRAGONBORN BEFORE THE LATEST PATCH which has lead me to believing this may be the cause. So, for people who are experiencing the same game breaking glitch, I would like you to say if you did the following same five steps whilst playing Dragonborn as me, which should hopefully provide further evidence that either proves, or refutes it.

Are you experiencing the glitch after carrying out these 5 steps? Alternatively did you not experience this glitch after carrying out these five steps?

1) Downloading Dragonborn from marketplace
2) Start Skyrim up and be prompted to download latest patch
3) Load up a previous saved game in Skyrim, then realize you can't start the DLC and be forced to reset and reload
4) Start playing though the DLC normally and not experience Miraak appearing to steal a dragon soul you earned from killing a dragon on Solstiem.
5) Finally take part in the final battle with Miraak and experience the ethereal glitch caused by you getting the dragon souls and not him.

Hopefully, if this receives enough evidence, it may increase the speed of a fix or provide some inspiration for a workaround that actually works.

This was my theory from the thread located here:

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1429033-miraak-stuck-in-ethereal-state/page__st__30__gopid__21937712#entry21937712

I am positive that the Miraak bug that causes him to not absorb souls in the last fight is directly linked to a scenario where you loaded the dlc but the patch did not properly apply. I am not talking about the other bug that people are mentioning with damaging him to fast, this issue is separate. Since I posted that fix everyone that has mentioned anything on it all share one thing in common, when they installed the dlc they had to reapply the patch because the content within the game was not showing up (Dragonborn showed up under Addons within the game but once launched the initial cultist attack, the boat at Windhelm, or anything dealing with Dragonborn was not there).

I seriously doubt this will be patched soon so my advice is to do the clean save fix. It may not be the best but so far it is seems the only way to get around Miraak and possibly other npcs being glitched. Just clean a save and go at it again, problem solved and I can not tell you how happy I was to finally down Miraak the second time around. I shared this fix in as many places as I could find to help people that were as frustrated as me because like I said, I do not see this being patched soon for two reasons. One is that this is not really Beths fault and is possible to correct yourself. Second is that there are still glitched quest from the original game itself that are yet to be addressed (like the larceny quest for the Thieve's Guild).

In reply to games123 and elderdrake, I believe I fit the theory here as I posted in another thread earlier today. This is essentially what happened to me.

1. Logged into the main/xbox Live account, purchased and downloaded dragonborn dlc and installed it. The main/xbox Live account is my son's account, I have my own account but no Xbox Live account attached to it.

2. Logged out of the "main" account and logged into my account and started skyrim.

3. Loaded my last save, went to several cities and never saw the Cultists. Realized there was an issue.

4. Logged out of my account, back into the main account and started Skyrim. BOOM! I was hit with the message to install the latest update, this being the last update before Dragonborn came out which allows Dragonborn to work with Skyrim once it is installed.

5. Logged out of main account and back into my account. Started Skyrim, went to Whiterun and there were the Cultists.

6. Been playing the game for about 6 total hours, exploring, doing the main quest, side quests, killing dragons on Solthsteim, you name it. Made it to the end of the main quest to fight Miraak and when he's nearly dead he goes to the center of the arena and glitches up. I absorb all the souls of any dragon killed in the fight. I have tried everything people have suggested and nothing works. AND HERE IS THE BIG ONE: when I have fought and killed dragons in Solthsteim I have always absorbed the soul and have never seen Miraak show up to steal a soul from me.

All that said, I installed Dragonborn before I installed the latest Update that allows Dragonborn to work with Skyrim. That has to be it.

*** UPDATE *** See my update a few posts down.

Elderdrake, could you explain to me what you mean by doing a "clean save?" I'd like to do what you did and fix this and move on. Are you talking about deleting the DLC and reinstalling? If I do that do I lose all my Saves from playing Dragonborn? Sorry, I'm admittedly not an expert here and my son isn't quite sure what you mean either. Thanks!

Sorry, used to that term from playing on the pc version (I have the game for the 360 and PC for the wife). Should be a nice long tl;dr style post here:

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1429033-miraak-stuck-in-ethereal-state/page__view__findpost__p__21937712

Edit: Just a heads up, doing this process will reset Dragonborn so all quest and items you have from there will be wiped. You will keep your progress with skills and the like though. Good luck and hope it helps.

Fun Fact: I mentioned the patch being unlikely because unlike the pc version, any 360 patch is paid by the developers to have deployed...and it is not cheap. Fun read on it here:

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/02/16/microsofts-40000-per-xbox-patch-explains-why-updates-are-slow-to-roll-out/

Got to love M$

** UPDATE **

FolIowing what Bobbybane did I simply went back to my very last save before purchasing and downloading Dragonborn. Sure enough the Cultists came and that basically started the entire DLC over. I very quickly made it to the part of the main quest where you read the first book you encounter in the Nordic ruins along with the woman from Skaal which takes you to meeting Miraak for the first time. After that you visit Skaal and the old guy tells you to go learn the Bend Will shout, at that site you battle a dragon. Upon defeating the dragon Miraak showed up and stole the dragon soul from me and THAT HAD NEVER HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE! I had killed a few dragons on the island before but never once did Miraak ever show up to steal a soul. That's the key indicator right there. If you you have ever killed a dragon on the island or in the battle with Miraak, and Miraak has never appeared after killing the dragon and stolen the soul from you then your game is likely glitched. So if you decide to start all over like me and load your last save before you installed Dragonborn and you get to the point early in the quest where you fight the Dragon at the site where you learn the shout Bend Will, if after defeating the dragon Miraak does NOT show up and steal the soul from you then your game is glitched. If he appears and steals the soul then your game is likely fine and you won't have issues when you battle him.

So it appears with this happening everything should be fine and I shouldn't get the Miraak glitch when I battle him. It svcks I had to start over but it's not that bad I guess having had only a few hours into it before. Now if you do decide to start over but you have collected a lot of items, gold or experience in the DLC and don't want to lose them then you can follow elderdrake's instructions on how to do this here: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1429033-miraak-stuck-in-ethereal-state/page__view__findpost__p__21937712

One of the reasons that glitch happens is when you do too much damage to him at once.

Yes, but sadly, unbelievably, that's yet another separate and different glitch!

There are two glitches with Miraak people are experiencing:

1. If you installed Dragonborn BEFORE applying the update put out in November which allowed Dragonborn to work with Skyrim, you will likely encounter glitches that involve Miraak not appearing and stealing dragon souls from you and ultimately when you battle him his script is glitched, he will become stuck in the ethereal state, and you will not be able to defeat him. Ever. Sadly you can do as I did and go back to your last save right before installing Dragonborn and start the whole damn DLC over again and everything should be fine. A key indicator to see if your game is then NOT glitched (described a couple posts up) is if Miraak appears and steals the dragon soul from a dragon you defeat at the site where you learn the Bend Will shout. Now if you do decide to start over but you have collected a lot of items, gold or experience in the DLC and don't want to lose them then you can follow elderdrake's instructions on how to do this here: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1429033-miraak-stuck-in-ethereal-state/page__view__findpost__p__21937712

2. If you installed the update put out in November before installing Dragonborn then the issues above in #1 shouldn't happen to you in regard to Miraak not appearing and stealing dragon souls ,and the hard Miraak glitch when you battle him. Apparently another glitch can happen which is inflicting too much damage on Miraak too quickly and thus causing him to glitch out in the ethereal state similar to the hard glitch people experience in the glitch explained above in #1. But with this glitch you can get around it and ultimately defeat Miraak by taking your time and inflicting damage on him at a slower rate as described by many people at this point and even has been suggested by Bethesda.

So when we have seen people complaining they have tried fighting Miraak slowly and they can't defeat him whatever they do, and that Miraak doesn't absorb the dragon souls in the final battle, these people likely have the major glitch described in #1 above.

YES, I KNEW IT. I had a hunch that the improper installation order of the patch and Dragonborn had something to do with the Miraak glitches I'd seen. I'd posted as such around here before, but I've been talking about this glitch in so many places I doubt I could find it.

Anyway, I will try elderdrake's solution, as I want to lose as little as possible.

If my son is also playing on a separate xbox profile (also not connected to xbox live) does that mean I have to prepare his character for this as well? I assume so.

I wonder if this has anything to do with Glover Mallory not giving me the Bonemold quest as well....

If you mean that the box you two are playing on had DB then patch 1.8 installation order, then I think you are correct: Once the Xbox is clear and re-setup with 1.8 then DB, any Skyrim save that was made on the box with DB running would best be deleted, to avoid later unexpected complications.

I've discussed with the team and I would not recommend going through these steps (though I'm happy to hear if it worked for you). Particularly at step 5, you run a risk of running into more issues if you start making saves after removing the DLC content and title update after starting the content.

Best course of action is to simply roll back to a save prior to the battle with Miraak. Details here http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1426775-starting-dragonborn/

I highly doubt that is going to work. I tried it and it doesn't. The key indicator to knowing if your game is glitched is this: if Miraak does not show up to steal the dragon soul from the dragon you kill at the site where you learn the Bend Will shout early in the quest, or after you kill any dragon on the island for that matter, then the entire game is glitched from the beginning. The entire line of saves from the time you started playing Dragonborn would be corrupted. You have to restart the DLC one of the two ways outlined on this forum, no question about it.

Agreed. All due respect to the team, not a single suggestion worked before I cleaned a save and after that I was 100% fine, as is anyone that is doing either method to repair their game. For awhile people did not even understand what this bug was and were convinced it was all about doing less damage and correctable by loading earlier save, punching Miraak for 30 minutes bare handed, and a slew of other crazy fixes. This bug is completely different from what was mentioned in official postings. As a community we all pooled our experiences together and were able to figure out exactly what the common problem was that we all shared and then narrowed it down to exactly how it happened (patch application corrupting saves). These methods work in this thread and are being echoed as working but everyone that does it not on only this board but others as well. Last post for me as I do not want to beat this horse anymore. The original theory, supporting facts, community input, suggested fixes, and then follow-up supporting post indicating their success are all here for anyone stuck with this problem.

Happy gaming all

I've tried clearing my Xbox cache, freshly installing Skyrim itself, deleting and reinstalling the Dawnguard DLC data, the pre-Dragonborn DLC patch data, and the Dragonborn DLC data, and reentering Apocrypha on a freshly made pre-Miraak fight save--all at the same time. And, after and before this, I tried several simple reloads at various places. This did not work. Period.

Please, just give us a patch for the Miraak fight. I don't want to have to redo a bunch of gamplay just because of this bug.

I think this would work, I am of the ones that did not have problems with Miraak stealing a soul when killing a dragon, and the cultists did show up well after completing the mission for the greybeards, and I installed the patch sience it came up, and later installed the DLC Dragonborn they day it was released.

Eahaddix, I'm sorry you went through all this, but for me, I'm glad you did so that I know I would be wasting more time if I try any of these solutions. A new patch is the only fix, I'm sure. Like you, my character absorbs the dragon soul no matter where I am. In fact, Miraak goes ethereal BEFORE I absorb it. It makes absolutely no difference how fast or slow I kill him. Once his health dips below a certain point, he heads straight for the pool and is untouchable. It really svcks.

To be clear, did you also try doing the steps and going to a save not just pre-Miraak fight, but to a save before any of Dragonborn had "touched" your game?

replay http://www.gamesas.com/forum/222-dragonborn/ MQ? what if I ran into Miraak's bug again?