Skyrim: How To Use the ‘Setstage’ Command & Force Finish Quests?
When you have a game as complex as Skyrim, a lot of things can go wrong. Elder Scrolls games are famous (or rather infamous) for numerous bugs and glitches that are present on launch. Some of those bugs are patched relatively early due to the efforts of the vigilant modding community. Some of the bugs persevere for a long time due to modding itself being involved. We all found ourselves at least several times in a situation where we came across a “game-breaking” bug when we were unable to finish a certain quest and progress through the game at all. This is where cheats and console commands once again come, and we’ve decided to make a guide for using one specific command. Let’s see how to use the setstage command to force finish quests.
You can use console commands to force finish or force start quests
Console commands can be used for cheats like god mode, infinite items, or gold, but they can also be useful for repairing your game if you find yourself in a situation that calls for it.
Sometimes, with a game as heavily scripted as Skyrim is, numerous things can go wrong, and you are unable to either start advance or finish the quest.
One command in specific is extremely useful for such situations as it allows you to progress through quests and advance them to the next stage, or it allows you to start or finish them altogether. The command doesn’t necessarily have to be used when your game is “broken.” You can use the command to force-finish a quest and skip it altogether if you don’t like it or find it boring.
Like all commands in Skyrim, the setstage command comes with several pros and cons.
Pros
- allows you to progress through the story with minimal effort
- you can use the command to fix game-breaking bugs
- Using the command to skip ahead to specific points in the quests can save you some time
Cons
- The setastage command itself can lead to catastrophic bugs
- Once the quest has been completed, it cannot be restarted
- Using the command on the radiant quests will make them permanently finished
How to use the setstage command?
To use the setstage command in Skyrim, you will need a specific stage of the quest you want to trigger and the quest id. The general body of the command looks like this:
setstage <quest ID> <queststage>
No quest in Skyrim is identical. Longer quests generally have more phases, with short and radiant quests having only a few. You can learn about specific quests and their respective phases by visiting this Quest Index provided by Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.
For example, to start the side quest ‘The Lost Expedition,’ you must type the following: setstage dunNchuandZelQst 10. Stage number 10 means that the quest has just started, and you will have the same target objective as if you’ve acquired the quest organically.
If you plan on advancing the quest to a later stage via the setstage command, you need to type the following: setstage dunNchuandZelQst 50.
This specific stage will put you right in the middle of the action when you need to reactivate the Nchuand Zel’s defenses after all journals have been recovered, bypassing the need to explore the large portion of the Dwemer ruin.
If you want to finish the quest without entering the ruin, type the following: setstage NchuandZelQst 110.
Quests can be completed through the command even if you don’t have them in your journal. As long as the finishing stage has progressed, organically or through the command, the quest will be marked as finished.
The Majority of the quests start with stage 10 while finishing stages can vary based on the specific storyline and quest length.
Why you shouldn’t rely too much on the setstage command
Even though the setstage command sounds nifty and useful, it can lead to more problems than it fixes. Using setstage command to skip through the main quests or advance through the large storyline, such as companions or any other faction for that matter, can lead to serious consequences down the line.
The more you use the command, the greater the chances that you will render your save unplayable in terms of quests. Use the command only when necessary, and I recommend that you follow the stages in the correct order, don’t force-finish quests in a single command that you’ve never even started. This can permanently lead to some specific quest objectives being stuck in your journal.
Never use this command on radiant quests such as fetch quests, bounties, and Thieves Guild Special Jobs since this command permanently finishes those quests with no option to restart them, and sometimes, restarting them can be vital. Once you’ve used the setstage command to advance it to a final stage and the game has registered the quest as being completed, there is no way to restart the specific quest, even by using the command.
I always recommend that you save your game and backup the saves before you plan on using commands that can potentially render your game unstable or unplayable.
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