So, I've recently realized there's a hell of a lot of voice acting that I think many of us have been missing out on but probably didn't even realize it. I'm talking about conversations between NPCs (not the player). There are some exchanges that are meant to be one-time only, of course (like Sapphire shaking down that stable hand in Riften, for example) but I don't mean those. I mean recurring conversations. Conversations that the NPCs are supposed to be having with one another on a regular basis. There seems to be an extremely-easy to trigger glitch that inhibits these conversations from occurring between NPCs, and once it's triggered, it's effective across Skyrim. I hadn't realized this to be a glitch until now as I just assumed NPCs didn't have anything to say to one another except for those scripted one-offs, but they're apparently supposed to be having regular interactions.

I'll use Winterhold as an example here since it's a small settlement. Let's start with The Frozen Hearth inn. If you stand in the inn and just observe for awhile, Dagur has four random conversation topics with his wife, Haran. These are:

1) A discussion of their mead supply.
2) Haran's dislike of her daughter playing a game called "Hunt the Elf" with the Jarl's son.
3) Haran's concern that Ranmir drinks too much, with Dagur responding that it's not their business to get involved.
4) A discussion of Jarl Korir, and his complaints of the inn's guests.

Dagur also has two conversations with Nelacar:

1) Nelacar asking Dagur if he heard any "loud explosions" last night.
2) Dagur asking Nelacar if he's had any trouble with other visitors to the inn.

When Birna (shopkeeper) gets off work, she'll enter the inn (around 8:30 ish) which should prompt to Ranmir to stand up and they'll have one of two (perhaps three, I can't recall) conversations about his binge drinking.

At the Jarl's Longhouse, Jarl Korir and Thaena will piss and moan about how Dagur is allowing Nelacar to reside at the inn. The Jarl will also talk to his son about how "bad" the mages at the college are, with the Jarl's son saying "I hate them!" to which the Jarl responds "That's my boy!"

Finally over at Kraldar's house, Kraldor will ask Thonjolf if there's anything of interest happening lately to which Thonjolf will reply in the negative.

So for those of you reading this, perhaps you could indulge me and head on over to Winterhold on your current character and let me know if you see any of these conversations taking place?

its a big improvement over the mudcrap conversations in oblivion

writing in the game isnt a priority anymore, they spend their money on other things



id rather they cut out voice acting entirely save a few greeting lines and focus on more important things

Uh, okay, but I'm trying to identify a glitch. Are the NPCs in your game conversing with each other, or do they only talk to you?

I have noticed after the 1.5 patch that I have heard ALOT more NPC conversations going on. It took me by surprise. I would hear them talking and stop to listen thinking a quest was going to pop up but they never did. Usually the only time I heard them talking was when a quest was being overheard. It must have been a glitch they fixed with the new update.... Something was keeping these little gems from happening. I must say that Skyrim is a much better place for it!

I remember some of those conversation topics from my first ever character, one of the first things I did was hunt down the Azura's Star, as I got that little Misc Quest within 30 minutes of playing, I went to Winterhold quite early, in the inn, I heard some of those.
That was on the first day (11.11.11), on xbox360, no patch. (Unless maybe there was a day 1 patch? I can't remember)

Don't know about after 1.5 though, not been Winterhold in a time.

Something still is. There's something that's easily-triggered that will stop the conversations from happening altogether.

Ditto, but I can't really decide if it's because there really are more conversations, or if I'm just more likely to catch them because at this point I'm not *always* running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing and how to get to the place where I'm supposed to do it.

I passed a couple coming across the tundra - not on the road, just crossing the wilds like I was doing - and they talked from the time they appeared until I was almost out of earshot... in fact I had to turn around and go back towards them just to catch the last of their exchange. They were on their way back to Cyrodiil, and it sounded like they had come to Skyrim to attend a particular high society event in Solitude (one that didn't, er, turn out so well, as it happened... ahem... but enough about me). The woman was complaining that they'd never even made it to the event and the whole trip had been a nightmare AND, to top it all off, HER GOOD SHOES GOT RUINED. *gasp*

Or stolen, I can't remember, but whatever. The husband's part of the convo was him pointing out all the terrible things that had happened to them - attacks by wild animals, set upon by bandits, you know, just another day in the life in Skyrim, really - and yet the one thing that really upset her was her damn shoes.

It was hilarious.

Yeah, i heard some of those conversations in Winterhold when i was just there. This is a fifty-ish hour old save, so whatever it is, it hasn't happened to me yet.

Yeah, I've just noticed this recently (which means that my old character must have been suffering from said glitch). Standing around the Riften market area during the day, those people just kept going from conversation to conversation..... Maven certainly seems to have alot of things to argue about with others.

(I've also noticed my spouse, Senna, having the same conversation with Lydia every day. But there's some lines missing from the middle of it, so it doesn't make sense.)

Thank you Kiralyn and ToJKa for checking.

There's all kinds of conversations that are supposed to be happening in each city, town, etc, and they should be happening at regular intervals. Something stops it for some reason. It's happened in my current game several times, so I've always reloaded because I wanted NPCS to keep these conversations going.

Also in Riften, in the Bee and Barb, Vulwulf Snow-Shod should be occasionally yelling at Talen-Jei for suggesting he's had enough to drink, calling him a "lizard" and then threatening to put his head on a pike.

Wow, if you told me that story and claimed it was true, I would believe you!
Even in Skyrim women value shoes over their well-being!!

I too have noticed more ambient conversations recently. I think it's post 1.5 but I'm not sure. I also have been just walking around a lot and when I do hear a conversation start up, I stop and make sure I'm not too close- so they don't stop and start talking to me.
It's been a real treat because it makes the world seem more alive.

So, what is the glitch that prevents the conversations from happening? Anyone have any clue?
Would like to know so I can avoid it in my game.

Thats 2 of the guests for the wedding in Solitude I think. You can meet them before the wedding with a bodyguard, the husband in fine clothes. After the wedding you can meet them again, they never got to it, no bodyguard anymore, and the husband is in rags.

I've been getting the conversations in Winterhold the OP mentioned. They don't happen every time I visit that inn so I have no idea what triggers them. There are others around Skyrim, eg Ysolda and Nazeem in the Whiterun marketplace.

I tend to hear more of these random conversations after each patch. In fact, I tend to get more random and radiant quests after each patch too.

I wonder if the ebb and flow of NPC conversations is related to the NPC Schedules and how those can get thrown off. To whit, each patch essentially resets the game, so perhaps the mechanisms to reset NPC schedules will do the same thing. Like, go to another town, wait for 73 hours, then go back and see what they are talking about.

I'm sure it's something to do with that. My game never glitches in this respect if I steer well away from NPCs (like if I go off to clear out a dungeon). It only seems to happen while I'm in NPC populated areas.

For example, something that happened during a trip to Windhelm glitched my game. While I was in Windhelm, I heard numerous conversations between the merchants and the shoppers. Heard conversations inside the inn too (mainly Viola Giordano shamelessly hitting on Captain Lonely-Gale). Except at some point during that visit, the conversations simply stopped altogether. I have no idea why and when I eventually returned to Winterhold (my character resides at the college), the case was the same. The NPCs stopped speaking to each other. I think my interacting with one of the NPCs in Windhelm might have thrown off somebody's schedule.

I saw this one just yesterday right outside of Ivarstead... Very funny... And when you approach the man to talk he just says "leave me alone!"

Well, my character just spent almost a week in Winterhold, so here goes:


I've gotten the first three repeatedly. I'm not sure about the fourth one...it's possible it happened while I wasn't paying attention, or was busy talking to another NPC.


Gotten those two and a couple more relating to Nelacar's experiments I think.


Haven't run into this one...Birna and Ranmir typically keep to themselves when they're in the inn for me. The first time I came into town, though, it was right around the time Ranmir was heading over to the inn. Overheard an argument between the two of them that time about Ranmir's drinking, followed by Ranmir storming off to the inn. Birna followed after at around 8:30 and I swear the two of them haven't spoken since.

That first argument might be scripted, though. Not sure.

To be honest I really haven't noticed NPCs having conversations with each other. I'm too busy playing the game to just stand around and wait. But I will check it out next time I'm in Winterhold if only for my own curiousity

Yeah, the first argument is a scripted one-time only exchange.

From what I can tell, the other Birna and Ranmir exchanges only seem to occur if you're inside the inn before she arrives. If you show up and she's already there, they don't seem to.

Doesn't even have to be Winterhold. Should be like this everywhere. I've been hearing conversations between Alvar (blacksmith in Riverwood) and his daughter that I've never heard before.

Yep! I've heard similar conversation with Alvar and his wife about his daughter. It went something like the wife complaining she wouldn't eat her cabbage stew and Alvar siding with her daughter. The wife wins the argument though. I've even noticed more converstations among bandits. I have pushed up the volume of speech over music and sound effects so that I can hear more of these converstations.

They have almost an entire set of female Legionnaire voice lines in the "over-accented female nord" voicetype (Danica Pure-Spring as that voicetype's example)... but nary a single female Legionnaire or Imperial-aligned townguard is in sight, aside from Rikke and Captain Off-With-Dragonborn's-Head in the beginning.

So the same thing as with there being no female guards in Oblivion despite there being voice acting for them?

Bethesda, y u no finish female guards?

There was VAing for female guards in Oblivion? I don't recall them... or maybe their existence wasn't known by the time I left for the FO3 pasture.