Bugs (Awakening)

NOTE: All Bugs/Glitches for Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening should be posted here to clean up Awakening's main article.

Known Bugs/Glitches

 * When given the quest "Bombs Away!" make sure you only give one lyrium sand at a time, as everytime I have done otherwise, Dworkin will take all you have and count it as only one. Confirmed for both PS3 and XBOX.
 * Herren's vendor inventory would continually reset, allowing multiple panancea, rainswept, and other unique items. This issue was alleviated when the patch was removed (what patch?)
 * Conversation with the dying bandit in the Wending Woods may loop indefinitely; get out of it by quickly skipping all dialogue once it begins to loop back on itself.


 * Able to access the Silverite Mine before talking to Velanna. See Silverite Mine page for details.


 * Main character's equipment may disappear during the Silverite Mine portion of the game, details on that page.


 * Velanna may not be allowed to undergo the Joining without improvisation unless the three main quests are done in a particular order. See Velanna's Joining.


 * Sigrun may not be allowed to undergo the Joining without improvisation unless the three main quests are done in a particular order. See Sigrun's Joining.


 * Awakening introduces some old console bugs not present in the PC version of Origins, allowing the player to assign Tactics to summoned creatures by clicking on the '# new tactics slots have been added' message on summon. In addition, the Ranger's Wolf/Blight Wolf summon hides 3/4 skills, mostly taken from Dog's repertoire, normally inaccessible to the player. Via the tactics menu, you can make the Wolf auto-cast those hidden abilities.


 * Possible to have Sigrun's approval start out at +100. This can be done by giving her the Spyglass (other gifts can produce the same results) immediately upon rescuing her outside of Kal'Hirol. Doing so will begin the cut scene and add +100 approval. In order to not get the +100 approval bug with any of the characters, you need to do the "blight orphans" quests or "chantry board" quests, that give (dis)approval to a character, only after you recruit that character. For example, if you do the "From the living wood" quest(that normally gives -1 approval to Velanna) before actually recruiting Velanna, that will get you the +100 approval bug with Velanna. Same goes for the quests for the "blight orphans". If you do quests that give (dis)approval to Justice or Sigrun before recruiting them, that will lead to the bug with them.(Tested on PC)


 * A similar bug version exists with Velanna and Justice where (even personal) gifts only yield +5 approval. Some have also seen this happen with Oghren with +6 approval yields.


 * When initially equipping a shield, it will appear on the avatar normally. However, whenever you switch between primary and secondary weapon sets, the shield will disappear. It still shows as equipped in the inventory, but does not appear on the avatar's back in game. In battle, the character motions as if pulling out the shield, but it's not there. If you return to the inventory screen and re-equip the shield, it will show again. However, the defense stats seem to be the same regardless of whether or not the shield is visible. Further investigation suggests this happens only after using a Manual of Focus. To avoid the bug, un-equip ALL items before using the manual.


 * Accepting the quest Law and Order in Amaranthine will eliminate your ability to initiate Sigrun's personal quest. A dwarven woman standing at the bottom of the steps leading up to the tavern will no longer spawn if this quest has been accepted. If you picked up both Law and Order and Smuggler's Run and decide to side with the smugglers instead, it will cancel the bug out.


 * It is possible to accept Law and Order and Smuggler's Run and fail at both by doing so.


 * The gloves, breastplate, and boots of the Sentinel armor set will look like the Warden Commander armor on a human character if your DA:O game had the Warden's Keep DLC installed. On a dwarven character it should be normal. Deactivating the Warden's Keep DLC will apparently fix this. But if you have the vanilla Wintersbreath or decide buy a Wintersbreath off in the Awakening, it will look like a stick instead of a staff. (This is because the staff graphics actually came from The Warden's Keep itself)


 * The Vigilance sword, acquired from the Worked to the Bone quest given to you by Wade, will look like the Starfang sword from DA:O if your game had the Warden's Keep DLC installed. Deactivating the Warden's Keep DLC fixes this. There are also fan made fixes available for the PC version.


 * When collecting the 4 pieces of the Sentinel Armor during Shadows of the Blackmarsh, you must obtain all pieces before leaving. If you exit the area, there is a chance that the pieces may be replaced with a duplicate of one of the items already in your inventory.


 * If the player is using an imported Warden, many of the Codex pages collected during Origins will have been removed. The removed pages appear as empty slots in the log rather than being erased. Saving and reloading the game apparently fixes this.


 * In the quest Smuggler's Run in Amaranthine (given by Shady Character) you are asked to speak to the innkeeper at the local tavern to get him to allow smuggling to continue. When you return you will be rewarded and invited down into the passage inside the house adjacent to him. Inside you will deal with some thieves and after you have cleared them out the Master Smuggler will show up. When you speak to him he will give you a gift of 15 gold and 500 experience points and offer you another job. Decline his offer and initiate dialogue again. He will once more reward you with 15 gold and 500 experience points. This can be repeated as much as you desire.


 * When using an imported character, some of the DLC (promotional & Warden's Keep) items will not be transferred (excluding Memory Band, Return to Ostagar and The Stone Prisoner ( only)). However, if you have these items equipped on your character, even though the items themselves disappear, their bonuses and fatigue modifications will be merged into the character's base attributes. (You can end up having character with 30% or more starting fatigue, or +25% Cold Damage & Resistance while naked). An unofficial fix that enables importing for all Warden's Keep and promotional DLC items is available here.


 * Using the Manual of Focus on an imported Warden gives an extra skill point (this can be exploited for infinite skill points). Possibly, this has something to do with the fact that the Warden from Origins starts with 2 pre-selected skills instead of 1 like the Orlesian Warden or any companion.


 * If you use [Esc] to stop the ending, then you read the epilogue, you get an unknown bug that causes the "killing the Mother" cutscene to play on an infinite loop after the credits. You can also get this without hitting ESC, the scene will play once more but go to the credits the second time instead of showing the epilogue.


 * Loss of functionality after saving Amaranthine. Talked to the weaponsmith after killing the Ogre Commander. Then talked to the enchanter, resulting in the rune enchantment screen coming up without a background. Exited this and talked to him again, resulting in a pause state without any GUI. The only way to exit was to press Start twice. After this, could not save or exit the zone.


 * Codex entries for companions will sometimes read that they have died in battle, even if the epilogue says they have survived.


 * If the Warden saved Amaranthine but did not take up the side-quest through the Blight Orfans Notis Bord, the epilogue will still show what happened to Dirk.


 * Some players have reported that no armor in their game has any rune slots. Most likely caused by unofficial mods. Simply disabling mods doesn't fix it, they have to be disabled and then start a new game.


 * The Vigil's Keep town keeps resetting itself. For example, the lootable chests and crates reappear, Lilith appears again and walks away after talking to her, and Herren's inventory resets to default.


 * Companions' highest approval rank is displayed as "Love" instead of "Friendly".


 * Visuals for the epilogues may not load, just displaying the text on a blank screen, before the brood mother's death scene is replayed, then the credits will not display.


 * Herbalism cannot be used in some playthroughs.


 * The Awakening epilogue will not recognize romance with Morrigan if you speak to her at the Final Battle in Origins, meaning you can't get a Morrigan epilogue in Awakening if you get the Ring epilogue in Origins. (It seems that this can be fixed if you hold off giving Morrigan the mirror gift until after loading the post epilogue save, which reactivates romance again.)


 * The Silverite Mine is extremely buggy. If *anyone* is equipped with something the corresponding experimental subject cannot carry, that equipment will disappear. This isn't always true. There have been some reported playthroughs where the characters had on Warden specific gear that the ES couldn't equip, but after defeating the ES all items were there, just not equipped.


 * Anders' gift, Phylacteries, gives only one approval.


 * Experience bug on Voldrik Glavonak's granite quest. After locating and telling him that there is granite in Wending Wood, he will ask you for guards for the miner's protection. Pick the second one saying "We're already short on soldiers. You can't have any." This will give a 500 exp reward. This process can be repeated many times over as long as the player desires.


 * Chose to execute the Darkspawn that helped save Ameranthine, yet he is shown as alive in the end credits helping others


 * Unlimited approval with Nathaniel: In Vigil's Keep - Basement, if you pass the Survial check for the mabari hound, instead of taking the scroll, just leave the dog alone. The Survival check will still be available if you talk to the mabari again, each time giving you +2 approval with Nathaniel. Check's passed with level 3 Survival btw.


 * Just entering into the Vigil's Keep - Basement, just after you've finished vanishing the first run in there, and talking to the woman in the dead end, and choosing to go back to the surface, will give you experience points.


 * A rogue Warden was no longer able to detect traps, but Nathaniel and Sigrun were still able to.


 * Sometimes unable to start the proper conversation with the Vigil Keep dwarves Dworkin and Voldrik to get their sidequests (What is Built Endures, Memories of the Stone, Bombs Away!) even if you are carrying the required items and the plot helper icon is shining above them. Similar problem with the Heartwood (exotic materials) quest for Master Wade. Walking away then coming back and speaking to them does not solve the glitch, nor does going to a different location/zone. However, if you complete the entire Wending Woods quest arc through the end of the Silverite Mines then all three of these quests should be able to progress.


 * If Alistair slays the Archdemon in Origins, and(/or)? is also a love interest to the Warden-Commander, the dialog noting that the two run off together incorrectly displays. This couldn't happen.


 * When in blackmarsh, there is a quest for a merchant (Karsten) or something, you have the choice to find his left cache. well when you get to it you can keep tapping A, then B, if put on hardcore this will continueously give you XP, My dude is a lvl 34.


 * Some cases the personal storage will delete all items it is holding. Currently happens when Sigrun is glitched to have 100% loyalty before plot gift given and unable to give her the joining do to finishing Knotwood hills last.


 * As part of the personal storage, storing an item *unknown* causes the save game to become corrupt.


 * When Shields are equipped, sometimes they will appear backwards when not in use. this causes your character NOT to utilize it upon engaging in combat


 * Even after the Warden speaks to each of the three leading figures after their takng back of Vigil's Keep, the quest 'The Awakening' does not regsiter that Mistress Woolsey has been spoken to.


 * Heraldry bugs: the Legion of the Dead heraldry gives an impressive +20 to all attributes bonus, instead of +3 like all other heraldries, the Templars heraldry turns into the Redcliffe heraldry when used.


 * Soldier's Heavy Helm and Cailan's Helm will look like Helm of Hirol's Defense, when imported into Awakening.


 * Importing a Warden level 22 or above only gives companions 2 specialization points instead of the 3 they should have. Using a Manual of Focus does not fix this. Anders leveled to 23 and still only had 2 specialization points. This is a bug caused by mods that give you more tactics slots on Origins. To fix this bug while keeping other mods, look here.


 * After killing The Withered, the Warden kept holding his arms as if he was holding his weapons and would not go back to normal. Can be avoided if using single-handed weapons during the battle or by switching weapon sets to single-handed immediately after striking the killing blow. Staffs, bows, two-handed swords, battle-axes and mauls trigger this bug even when wielded by Anders and Oghren. Easily fixable after the cut-scene through switching weapon sets.


 * After killing The Withered when King/Queen shows up with Soldiers Alistair is king even if Warden choose to marry Anora in origins


 * At the end of the final encounter, a cut scene plays of the Warden slaying the Mother, followed by a series of narrative text screens wrapping up loose ends in the story. At the end of those narrative text screens, a bug may occur in which the Mother-slaying death scene replays. Pressing the escape key resets the cut scene to the beginning, and it continues to play. There is no way to escape out of this and continue to a proper exit-to-menu state. Pressing F1 may force an exit to menu where game may be resumed from last save state. If this bug occurs it may repeat so that no proper endgame state is achieved.