[Skyrim] Problem with Vilja learning how to play a lute

[Dova]

Question: Wilbert offered to teach Vilja how to play a lute, but they won't talk to each other. (This should be fixed in ver 3.0+, please let us know if you continue to have this issue)

Answer: When you talk to Wilbert to ask him to teach Vilja, tab out of the dialogue before it closes on its own. This is because the scene cannot start with one of its participants (Wilbert) who is still in a conversation with the player. It took us quite some time to figure this out, because we could not reproduce the problem until we finally found a save where all the testers can reproduce the problems and debug it. There will be a built in solution for this in the upcoming version (which I believe will be numbered as 3.1.0)

Suggestions from before, no longer applies:

SPOILER: Click to show

The most common cause of Wilbert and Vilja not interacting each other is because they are stuck as Karita's audience. Here are a few things you can try to get the scene to play:
- Hit Vilja and Wilbert a few times (you can also try to spar with Vilja)
- Leave the inn, summon Vilja, and re-enter the inn with her
- To force start the scene: Talk to Vilja, "traveling together..." -> "off topic - configuration and settings" -> "I believe something is wrong (bug fix attempt)" -> "I thought you wanted to talk to Wilbert"
- Ask Karita to take a break from her bard playing, then hit Vilja and Wilbert, and force start the scene as described above
- To skip the scene: Talk to Vilja, "traveling together..." -> "off topic - configuration and settings" -> "I believe something is wrong (bug fix attempt)" -> "I'm totally desperate, let's try something desperate (WARNING! Use with caution)" -> "I give up! You are not going to play for Wilbert, are you? Then, don't do it."

Alternatively, the scene is not required to be played to progress the quest. You should be able to retrieve a book on lute-playing from Sindra at the Bards College in Solitude.

If these suggestions do not help in your game, please write back.

EDIT: I updated a the list of suggestions to help workaround the lute lesson scene not starting. This problem seems to plague many players.

EDIT2: here's what the scene entail for those who need to skip the scene but do not want to miss out on it:

SPOILER: Click to show

Wibert: (happy) Vilja! Great to see you again! You got the lute from Sindra?

Vilja: (happy) Oh yes, I have the lute! Now I just need to learn how to play.

Wilbert: I'm sure that won't be any problem. But, first let me look at you. What happened to you girl? You look absolutely stunning!

Vilja: Well, I am happy, that's all! I've got a lute, I've got my flute back and...

Wibert: And...? Let me guess... you have met someone?

Vilja: Yes... in a way... (looks at player happily/warmly Note: you can interpret this freely depending if you plan to romance Vilja or not)

Wilbert: Yes, I can see that by the way you look at your friend. You could probably melt all the snow in Skyrim just be looking at it the same way.

Vilja: Don't be silly! We're just friends.

Wilbert: Oh, I never implied anything else. Dear Vilja, you are welcome to look at me the same way any time you wish. (Note: a hint of jealousy from Wilbert?)

Vilja: Oh Wilbert, you're so funny! But, let's be serious now... Can you show me how to play the lute?

Wilbert: Absolutely! You have got the lute, right? Then, play something for me.

Vilja: (strums the lute and results in a few broken notes)

Wilbert: That's enough! Yes, you really could do with a few lessons. And I think you need a book to learn from, too.

Vilja: (slightly embarrassed) I thought you would say that...

Wilbert: You know, maybe your friend could get us that book while we are practicing. I'm sure Sindra has an extra copy at the Bards College.

Vilja: Alright, I'll ask.

[reacher]

I have tried all of the things you suggested still the same glitch I even started Vilja all over
again from the Bannered Mare completely cleared with just 3.02 in no joy so I added version 2.03 in outside the Windpeak entered did the scene and removed it again and it worked I don't know if it will help you to figure it
out but it worked for me .Thank you anyway for replying

[Wolf]

Apr 7, 2014 16:25:44 GMT reacher said:

I have tried all of the things you suggested still the same glitch I even started Vilja all over
again from the Bannered Mare completely cleared with just 3.02 in no joy so I added version 2.03 in outside the Windpeak entered did the scene and removed it again and it worked I don't know if it will help you to figure it
out but it worked for me .Thank you anyway for replying

A very unusual way to sort out this frigging issue, but obviously a working one. It's a bit hard for us to understand why it worked with version 2.03 because there were no changes made to this scene since. Thank you for telling how you managed to get it working.

[reacher]

There seems to be a lot of snot flying around in your version Sniffles and I wonder if we are the only two
to have had this problem no one else has said anything I thought it was me missing something out

[Seyheb]

It's a strange issue. I guess I've been one of the silent ones because I didn't have any problems there, despite repeating over during testing. I've also played it again in 3.02 in my new game. Nor do I have any new answers to add to what has been mentioned.

[Dova]

Updated post to include two dialogue options as possible solutions. They are not new, and I just forgot about them until I am charting the dialogues now.

[Dova]

We recently found out how to get around the infamous Wilbert Lute Lesson scene being stuck, please refer to the original post for the updated answer.

[CollinMacleod]

Well. Lets just say, to keep it simple, that Amgepo is sure how to keep it from happening in the future. I am not sure we concluded what specifically caused it. It never happened to 90% of us in testing. Likewise in testing because the temporary fix (Although we didn't know that it was the temporary fix), was accidentally used without identifying that it was just jumping over the problem, the exact incident wasn't noticed.

Once one of the testers had a save file that had the problem, they shared it and we hammered at it until we identified the specific place where it hung. Once that happened it took Amgepo literally minutes to fix the script.

Edit: When I say fix, I mean to add a special condition. It wasn't broken. I believe he is going through several similar scripts and adding the condition to be sure it doesn't happen elsewhere as a preventative measure.

We are sorry it took so long, but unless we can reliably replicate the issue across all our systems it makes diagnoses difficult.

[CollinMacleod]

Actually, Amgepo is mulling over adding them back. He already knows how, the problem is making it elegant and unnoticeable to the users.

[soire]

I had the problem with Vilja 3.02

After probing around with all suggetions (without debug menu, i wanted to see the scene), I've loaded a save right before entering the inn. This is what I did to solve the problem (it persisted, first):

1. I told Vilja, she doesn't have to wear her armor before entering. Previously, she was wearing her armor and while the scene should have been playing, she changed to her sandbox clothes which seemed odd to me - I do not use her warderobe system, I simply give her armor and tell her to wear it or not depending on where we are or what we are up to.
2. I let Lydia and Inigo wait for Vilja
3. I led Vilja to Wilbert
4. I tabbed out of the conversation with Wilbert
5. I waited a minute, the scene would start but not right away besides Vilja and Wilbert kept bumping into each other for a while.

ps. I did not save where the problem occured, unfortunately.