[FOLLOWING THE THREAD mission]Skellige - Trottheim deserted...?

[Klipperken]

Doing Lamberts mission, Following the Thread.
Have to go to Sellige, took a boat to Harviken, walked to Trottheim... to find it devoid of any life.
Not a single soul around.

Loaded an earlier save, redo... no use: Trottheim stays as empty.
Tried to make them spawn by Meditating... nope, no ball.
Restart game... no ball either.

I have not been there, never had any contact with Skellige before, so that cannot it be either.

I am totally stuck now, anyone that knows of a way to 'fix' the issue at hand, or a workaround?
Thank you.

 

[Draconifors]

Found a couple other threads about the same issue, but no solutions.

As for workarounds: Hammond can be found without ever visiting Trottheim; he's on that same island, and you can go straight to him. I've done it more than once and the quest has worked fine -- but since yours is bugged I don't know if Hammond will respond properly.

 

[Klipperken]

Thank you, sir.

Found a couple other threads about the same issue, but no solutions. ...

That is why I came here, hoping to find a working solution that would not possibly kill off my save.
Seeing so many have had this issue, I fail to get why Red has not launched a patch to fix it, considering it's main story line, thus important.
Now, ALL missions are -of course- important, do not get me wrong here...
But a broken main line one...?

So sad...
ESPECIALLY since it's a tripple A game!!!


ADDENDUM:
Strange, so many (have) play(ed) it, but no one found a solution?
Hmmmm...
Unexpected, this is... (Darth Yoda)


ADDENDUM II:
Found Hammond... he refuses to talk to me...
Figures.
What do I do now?

 

[Hayashi.226]

Can you kill him? Then search the area around him for an item that, iirc, advances the quest.

From the wiki (spoilers)

Spoiler

He can be encountered in Trottheim, where he is shown meditating before an altar with the intent on taking part in a pillaging. Geralt of Rivia can fight him on this occasion. Close to the altar, a letter from Karadin can be found that provides useful information to the quest Following the Thread.

 

[Klipperken]

Now that I did not try, only to talk to him...
Let me try right now, sir.

Thank you.

Unable to kill Hammond: game protects him...
No letter to be found.
Not even cheating (dismember command) kills him...

Console has been removed again.

 

[SigilFey]

Now that I did not try, only to talk to him...
Let me try right now, sir.

Thank you.

Unable to kill Hammond: game protects him...
No letter to be found.
Not even cheating (dismember command) kills him...

Console has been removed again.

0.) Are you using any mods, or did you ever use any in the past?

1.) Try going back to a save before you first leave for Skellige. Play through the main quest until you need to go to Skellige for...more "central" reasons...(avoiding spoilers).

I've played this bit on 6 different playthroughs and never had the slightest issue with it, but I don't think I've ever gone to Skellige for the first time before the main quest brought me there. That's the only thing I did that's significantly different.

The unkillable character thing sounds like an echo of a very old bug: the invincible, -1 Level enemies -- ones that would often wind up non-responsive in a T-pose. Haven't encountered that or even heard of it since the 1.1x days, though.

 

[Klipperken]

0.) Are you using any mods, or did you ever use any in the past?

Yes sir: Armour Colour Overhauls.
Nothing character/mission altering though.

Try going back to a save before you first leave for Skellige. Play through the main quest until you need to go to Skellige for...more "central" reasons...(avoiding spoilers).

Oh hoh?
Yes, I DO have a Multiple Location Main Mission open: In Ciri's Footsteps.
Still have to do Ciri missions in Novi.
Multiple Location Secondary Missions in Skellige, then: Practicum in Adv. Alchemy, Black Pearl.
No mission brought me to Skellige... yet...
I was around Novi (or even in Novi) when I got the mission...
Since it was in Velen I figured to finish that one before moving on.

The unkillable character thing sounds like an echo of a very old bug: the invincible, -1 Level enemies -- ones that would often wind up non-responsive in a T-pose. Haven't encountered that or even heard of it since the 1.1x days, though.

Well, the character is unkillable due to the system not yet making him killable: He's Blue, thus protected by the game...

Thank you very much, I will revert to these missions in Novi and do the prime Skellige one.
When about'ish can I complete (or move on from where I am) Following the Thread?

Kind of weird that the mission is bugged due to not been in Skellige yet... as I did get the mission...

 

[Hayashi.226]

BTW this quest, Follow the Thread, is not a main quest although it is a major side quest. Hence strictly speaking you can still complete the game.

 

[Klipperken]

I know sir, however, as per your:

Follow the Thread, is not a main quest although it is a major side quest.

... I see it as a main one.

This aside: How can one "complete" a game if one mission (either main or not) is in-completable?
To complete means to do it ALL, right, sir?
And my Asperger's OCD just FORCES me to "complete" the game.

Thank you very much for replying.
Made a ticket 2 days ago, hopefully I will get an answer soon.

 

[SigilFey]

I know sir, however, as per your:

... I see it as a main one.

This aside: How can one "complete" a game if one mission (either main or not) is in-completable?
To complete means to do it ALL, right, sir?
And my Asperger's OCD just FORCES me to "complete" the game.

Thank you very much for replying.
Made a ticket 2 days ago, hopefully I will get an answer soon.

Hopefully, waiting until the Main Quest Skellige journey occurs will do the trick. I, too, have no sure idea why that would matter. As I said, it's just the only thing I did that was majorly different to yours, and I've never had a problem with the quest.

And, it's not possible to "100% the game" in a single playthrough. Many of the quests are exclusive, meaning once you choose to do A, all of the quests along the B path are closed off and you'll never get those interactions or outcomes. (6 playthroughs in, and I was still finding stuff I had never seen before.)

Yes sir: Armour Colour Overhauls.
Nothing character/mission altering though.

Can't rule it out, though. Modding is not as simple as, "I push this button to make that light turn on." Things are interwoven in the engine, and changing one thing can affect a lot of seemingly unrelated things. Also, human error. For example, if I write a mod to replace armor textures with custom colored ones, I may accidentally make dirty edit to that NPC while trying to deal with a totally different part of the game. I simply mis-clicked while I was working and didn't realize that I altered a parameter by mistake. My mod has now inadvertently broken that whole questline, and I'm not even aware.

The mods can be complex, but borking the game is certainly that simple. (Not saying the mod is at fault, just saying we can't rule it out because it doesn't seem to be related.)

 

[Klipperken]

Modding is not as...

Well, one way to find out is to run the game 'clean', I guess...
If it still happens...

Thank you.

 

[SigilFey]

Well, one way to find out is to run the game 'clean', I guess...
If it still happens...

Thank you.

No sweat! Just back up your saves first. If the problem occurs again, delete ALL of the new saved games and restore your backups. Just to be safe. Removing mods can cause other issues. (Although, again, I imagine the one you're using can be removed without too much hassle.)

 

[Klipperken]

Considering these are just recolours of armours, I think it would be no issue.
Stats and other things are not affected, so...
Yes, should not be an issue at all.

Thank you.