Whenever I go into an inn nowadays (past few weeks, actually), the bards never sing. Thery're still there and will do a request, but they never sing/play on their own -- never. I have no intention of doing the bards questline (another future character, maybe) and only have the initial "Visit the Bards College" in the log (from practically the beginning of the game), so I'm a bit stumped as to what quest I may have done or not completed that caused this change in their behaviour.

Does anyone know if this is a known factor associated with an event/quest? If it is, a non-spoiler tip would be greatly appreciated.

The Bards are still singing for me in my game. Nothing you would do in the Bard's College would effect what the Bards do in the Taverns.

First question is, can you get them to sing if you make a request?

Also, are you Fast Traveling in and out of Towns a lot? That can screw up the NPC schedules so things like shops open and close at weird times. A 73 hour wait in place will straighten that out, perhaps the same thing here. Wait outside the Tavern for 73 hours, then wait for Afternoon/Evening as that seems to be when most Bards sing and see what happens.

Yes. If I make a request, they'll do that one song and then go immediately back to what they were doing (usually sitting and eating).


I've FT maybe a handful of times in this, so far, 400 hr. character.


Yeah, I'm mostly in the inns eating/drinking during the evening (then sleeping if outside of Whiterun where my home is). I don't really understand how waiting outside the inn for 'x' number of hours could help. Normally it'll have been quite awhile, oftentimes weeks in-game, since I last visited any particular inn. And if a specific NPC's scheduled AI went buggy and this only occured at one particular inn then I'd have just written it off, but I seriously haven't heard a single (non-requested) bard play/sing in the last half-dozen or so inns I've been to (spanning a month or more in-game). 'Tis weird.

waiting that many hours will straighten a bunch of things out. It's not necessary that you understand why, it's only necessary that you try and see if that fixes your issue. For example, if your follower (if you have one) disappears or is taking a long time catching up to you, just wait for one hour and they should appear right beside you. Another example, Tonilia, a thieves guild fence (merchant of stolen goods) will regain her full amount of money after 48 hours, so you can sell her a bunch of stuff and then wait a certain amount of time and she'll have money again. Waiting 73 hours and hoping the bards will sing may not work, but it's worth a shot. Right? I mean, really, what is that in real time, like 45 seconds... Give it a shot.

Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to come across as unwilling to try or ungrateful for suggestions. I'm gettin' the itch so I'll be firing up the game in a few minutes anyway.

Nonetheless, I understand, scripting wise, why the examples you mentioned above work (any normal merchant, e.g., will reset after 24 hrs), I just can't get my head around *all* of the bards being effected and how me waiting three days will prop a fix when I hadn't visited that inn(s) -- and, therefore, cell -- for two weeks game-time anyway. But, it's worth a shot ...

Well, bummer. Neither waiting outside the Solitude gate nor the Winking Skeever for 73+ hrs changed the bards behavior. She still didn't sing/play unless I made a request (once inside the Skeever, I waited in 1-2 hr increments to give her the chance to play schedule-wise, but she didn't througout the afternoon to midnight). I'll be taking the carriage back to Whiterun soon so I'll perform a similar test with the bard there, though this time I'll be able to wait in my house (don't know if that'll make a difference or not). As I said before: 'Tis weird.

They know two songs, both of which are awful. Their quest line is terrible too, don't bother. If you thinking that you're saving yourself future content, you're wrong. There is no content to be found within the Bards quest line and is utterly pointless.