I always am. I decided to give daggerfall a try since I enjoyed morrowind and oblivion, and I would like it... If if if I could make all random dungeons 20 times smaller.
My complaint is that the dungeons are just too large, 3 hours of passing the same rat I killed about 1 hour into the dungeon and I cant find a lone NPC. The missions from the fighters guild that ask to erradicate 5 of something in a random dungeon I flat out refuse because I know I'd only find 3 of the things then die looking for the exit after I give up 4 hours later. The map is next to useless I find, far too convoluted to be anything but amusing.

Die looking for the exit is an exaggeration, I do use mark and recall, which I find to be invaluable for escaping after I fail to find something.

I think im doing something wrong control-wise as well when it comes to levitate, the only way I go up is by jumping which almost kills me from exhaustion. and I cant levitate in a downwards direction so I have to wait until it runs out so I can drop to the floor. Controls were a nightmare when I first started, Ive gotten used to it, but yes levitate and swimming I seem to have trouble with.

Oh and the main map, doesnt have the precision necessary to be able to click on all the details.

At present, Im wandering around the dungeons of Wayrest castle, killing all the guards in pursuit of a rogue lord, for some reason nobody seems to mind that ive butchered all the knights and battlemages of the court. Why this castle has a dungeon 50 times larger than the castle itself is beyond me.

Ive had to abandon a mission to kill a daedroth because I cant find a mithril weapon, Im level 5 now, why dont these appear anywhere?

I did consider myself one of the most patient people I know, but this has broken me. Is there a mod to reduce dungeon size? what am I doing wrong with swimming and levitate? Is the lack of precision on the world map a pain for everyone to click on specific places of interest (dots) or is it just me?

I realise Ive gone on a bit and I dont expect anyone to care, but any help on any of this is appreciated, before I decide to quit once and for all.

Hilarious. Don't worry though, at some point all of us fought the frustrations of playing Daggerfall.

But in order:

- nah, I'm afraid there aren't any mods to reduce dungeon size. But here are som hints to help your dungeon delving: use markers on the intersections on the dungeon map. Whenever I reach an intersection I click on it on the map and write which way to the exit (e.g. east, west, south, north). That way, I almost never get lost and while it doesn't really easy the suffering of giant dungeons, it helps a little. Next one is an exploit of kind, a cheat if you will. I constanly have cheatmode activated (by writing "CHEATMODE 1" into the Z.cfg file - without the quotation marks) and whenever I get too desperate or simply lost in a dungeon I press either [ or ], these two cycle between the quest locations in dungeons. But I always give a honest effort to find the target but whenever it becomes too much of a pain in the rear end I simply use these. After I spend more than hour and half/two in the dungeon. It ceases to be fun at that point. Also, be careful when using these, as when your target objective is a monster, you might "land" literally inside the monster, unable to move. Just swing the open air and you can kill the monster this way. To get out of a dungeon, save your game, reload and don't move, just press Alt+F11 and you'll get teleported to the dungeon's exit. Again, if cheating is against your taste, don't do it, but I want the game to be entertaining and not a nuisance.

- you can levitate and swim by using PageUp (upward) and PageDown (down). Careful when swimming in a tin can however...

- I don't know if there is a solution to your main map problem, because I, too, have sometimes trouble hitting exactly what I want.

- don't quit yet. Give the game a try, read the wiki (beware of spoilers though), and enjoy it some more. It is certainly worth it, patience is a need though. Good luck.

For levitation: use the float up and float down keys to move up and down. With swimming, you won't be able to move up and down if you're carrying too much stuff... drop your stuff!

For dungeons, I agree that there's too much dungeon crawling, but I don't spend 4 hours plus in EVERY dungeon. 2 hours, max, but 30 mins average seems more like it. You should develop a system and pay closer attention to the design of the dungeons. Read http://uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Dungeons

EDIT: to paraphrase that link: you can't just do a dungeon Morrowind/Oblivion style and walk straight from the entrance and expect to end up somewhere eventually. Each dungeon is made up of a few block-shaped sections that are mazes, which go around in a big circle. So, if your quest target is in a different section than your quest entrance, unless you go through that usually ONE door that leads to the different section, you'll be going in circles forever.

You gotta check the map often and learn the design of the dungeon.


For the map, I think it's just you. Maybe your cycles are too low. That might make the dots hard to click on, otherwise I think they leave a pretty big margin of error.

The map has the find button in the corner, so you can type in where you want to go. I also turn off all the worldmap layers that I don't need so there will be more separation between the points.

If you need a good weapon, go to the Odd Blades in the city of Daggerfall's merchant circle. They usually have high quality weapons. Or if you have some magical talent, the mages guild magical items retailer often has strong weapons for cheap prices. Each mages guild has a different inventory of items, so shop around.

Right click on the travel map to zoom in.

When levitating you sometimes have to push the left/right turn or forward/back button along with the float up/down button.

I've never had problems with swimming although I know others have. The only thing I would suggest is to make a single spell that contains BOTH water walking and water breathing. You'll be able to move much faster.

Most dungeons in Daggerfall come in three sizes, 2, 3, and 4 modules. You can tell the size of a dungeon, and where you are in it, by looking at the little yellow map. Exceptions: Pirates Hold, the starter dungeon, is the only single module dungeon in the game. The main quest dungeons, being hand crafted, are larger than 4 modules. This includes Wayrest which is a teleporter dungeon and difficult to get around in. (You should only have to dungeon crawl in Wayrest for the main quest. Any "rogue noble" you're looking for should be in the throne room or the large room directly behind it).

Individual dungeon modules consist of a large central square/oblong with 2 or more floors. There are 2 "attaching" doors on each of the square's 4 sides. The 2 attaching doors on any 1 side are always on different floors and can only lead to 1 of 3 places.
1) To a closed room
2) To a stairway which either leads to a closed room or to the other attaching door on that side.
3) To another dungeon module.
With a little experience and by looking at the yellow map you can tell if you're transitioning to another module. You can also tell in which direction to travel to get to an adjoining module.

I've found that the easiest way to explore a dungeon is to explore it 1 module at a time, going floor by floor (if possible) within each module.

Thanks for the responses. Cheating is now very much on the menu. It’s funny to think I once saw the ash storms of Morrowind as being a true test of metal, but compared to these dungeons- mere child’s play... I'll try to find things without cheating but Yoda is wrong, there is a try, very much so.

Page up and page down I was missing completely, glad thats sorted, as for swimming, it could be a matter of weighing too much and will work on getting a waterbreathing+walking spell

The right clicking on the world map makes things sooo much more clickable, thanks for that. You’d think I’d have done a bit of trial and error, but no, not me.

The wayrest problem is over thanks to this: (don’t click if you don’t want spoilers.) http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Lord_K%27avar_Quest_Part_III
Without it there is not a dog in hells chance id have finished the Q

New issues: 1) Trying to make a large deposit into the bank. The banker says you don’t have enough gold. You are mistaken sir, I have 20,000, and you say I can’t deposit 2000... Typical banker mind you, can’t do basic maths.

2) Item vanished, a gift from a queen no less, my shirt just disappeared when i loaded up, which drops my str from 100 to 75 again, boooo. While I wouldnt put it past me to accidentally sell the thing... I really dont think i did this time. Does this ever happen? On the other hand im not just 1 hit killing everything so I'm not too bothered about that.

3) spellbook and gold disappears inside the wagon, is that normal?

Before reading the walkthroughs, come on here and asks for hints. It's helped me solved two main quest dungeons that I might have otherwise cheated on. Including wayrest.

The new stuff you listed sounds screwy. Maybe they're bugs? Did you use the queen's shirt? Because magic items can disappear after a certain number of uses.

You have a letter of credit. Deposit your letters of credit into your account first and then you'll see the leftover gold amount.


Sometimes you click on one thing and accidentally click on another. It's possible you unequipped the shirt and it went back into your wagon or inventory, or you dropped it on the ground. Just a thought.

Also, a constant effect magical item like that wears out fast, especially for a less durable thing like clothing. it's probable that it crumbled to dust, as magical things do when they wear out.


If you drop gold it disappears, and you cannot pick it back up. As for the spellbook, I never touch the thing because I once lost it and was unable to cast spells ever again.

Fortunately, the mages guild can sell you a new spellbook.

credit letters fixed the bank problem :foodndrink:

problems volume 3:

Quest log is showing quests long after ive completed them, minor annoyance.

Main plot quest cyndassa, time limit (i think) expired. Cant talk to her anymore; the objective isnt in the target dungeon where its supposed to be, ive wandered the thing for hours also. Is there a way to reinitialise failed qs or is that the gamebreaker I assume it is?
-I went on an exploration venture around the world, who knew that q was 31 days to game-death?
WHO KNEW

all saves are past the point of no return in a particularly annoying dungeon