Dear lord this is frustrating. I've just started playing the Dawnguard dlc and there already seems to be a bug making it unplayable. I'm at the beginning of the bloodline quest and I'm playing on Xbox 360. When I walk up to the gate with Serana to get into Volkihar keep to bring her home for the first time, it won't open for anything. The first gate opens, but the woden doors wont budge. Tried waiting, tries loading earlier save, left and did another quest and came back, uninstalled the DLC then redownloaded it, tried the back door someone told me about (requires a key and cant be picked) still nothing! Someone please help!

The only thing I can think of you can try is a clean install of the entire Skyrim game.
Remove Skyrim from your console/ pc. Clear your cache.
Install, patch and try again.

Good luck

I thought you had to be level 10 to start the Dawnguard quest. Not sure if you can get Serana before that, so....

You mentioned "just started" Dawnguard, not sure if that means you are using an existing character or started fresh.

I'd try the clearing cache if the level 10 thing doesn't apply. Good luck!

My character is level 33. I tried to clear the cache. Funny thing is after I cleared the cache and put the game back in the console, it didn't download the update again. Would u guys know how to go back and manually get the update again?

The games update is not in the cache, its in next to the game instalation and save files. The patch is so large it cant sit in the cache and has to be placed instead in the game folder on 360. Browse through the HDD to your games folder and you should find one marked "Title Update" or similar, thats the one your looking for.

There is also the "game cache" that skyrim uses. The game makes heavy usage of the 360's caching ability and stores data for quicker loading this way. Its said this can be cleared by starting the game from the dashboard and holding LB + RB + A or X (both to make sure) until the main menu appears. That should clear out the game's temporary data from the hdd.

I thought I had a problem at this point too. Serana stood near the boat. I had to speak to her before I could get inside the keep.

I have the same problem on my 2nd time playing with Dawngard. The 1st time aroung I had no problem.

I have Speak to Harkon assigned, and Serana is standing next to me at the gate, BUT the gate-gard will not let us in


On the 1st time through the gate-gard automatically recognized Serana and opened the gate.

What gives?

No kidding! I deleted saved files and lost my level 48 character! Now where's this cache you speak of? Ive started over and just redownloaded dawngaurd/hearthfire. Haven't started a new game yet.. really G-Staff y'all need to be here a lot more then you are. Especially when 10+ MILLION buy your game/dlc!

Forgive me, but I can't help but share your pain and frustration about this particular problem. I view this issue as not only a raw - open nerve still exposed, but also a host of other sensations. Don't get me wrong I loved SKYRIM (didn't blink at over 200-hours of gameplay I paid for - and enjoyed) until DAWNGUARD came along - and I bought that - and within 2-hours I hit a brick wall; unable to proceed any further in SKYRIM - aside from the few dozen hours spent solely in "BLOODLINE" trying to get the %%#(^ door open to return Serana to Castle Volkihar ! ! ! Good Grief, writing tighter code, improving your QA process, and focusing on grasping the gaming industry reputation of #1 in customer support should be the sole objective of _anything_ with Bethesda's icon. Obviously, since I can't finnish DAWN-BUG DLC, I'm __very_ apprehensive about the upcoming "HEARTH-CHARRED" DLC. Hey, you are not giving me my ( OUR ) money's worth, and it is only natural in such a scenario to "lose-the-warm-and-fuzzy". Especially when I know that I am NOT alone in how I feel about this issue. So, please. FIX IT. Thanks for listening.