Skyrim mystery: the weird chime-ish noise revealed. : V - Skyrim

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:10 pm

Happened to me last night... In the Reach.

So I'm not the only one! I honestly think this noise is much more interesting than that of the Nirnroot!

Have you ever gotten the noise out in the open (like where you can look around)? I've definitely experienced the shaking to which you're referring (a couple of hours ago even), but I've never looked around. The Reach is so rocky and mountainous I just assumed it was a troll out of view. :tongue:

Not really open, but I was able to look around and really saw nothing, though there were hills and such. I mean, it is the Reach xD

But yeah, I really think this deserves some investigation!

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:40 am

Every since I bought this game at launch and while wandering I keep hearing this weird chime noise. It's fades in and out, chiming. Some people on here were also wondering what the hell that noise was. Some theorized it had something to do with Restoration magic, which I didn't understand.

But at last, after over 300 hours of gameplay and about 5 different characters, I have discovered the source of the noise: NIRNROOT!

Seriously. I have been confounded by this mysterious noise for months, and after slaying the cave troll before the road to Ivarstead, I found a glowing Nirnroot creating the chime noise. Wouldn't have guessed a plant was making the noise. But that's all for now, just thought that perhaps some people hadn't discovered this and were as confused as I.

Seriously? You never picked a Nirnroot plant until after 300 hours? How can you not? They glow bright enough. You can see them from pretty far away and the noise gets louder as you approach them.

They made the same sound in Oblivion too. But they didn't glow.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:23 am

You'd think glowing and humming would not be good survival traits for a plant...

Anyway, I remember hearing it in the first couple of hours of playing and thinking to myself, "Oh, gods, not those again..."

Fortunately, we don't have a quest making us collect insane numbers of them. Unfortunately, we have to collect a whole new kind of Nirnroot instead. :dry:

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:06 am

But yeah, I really think this deserves some investigation!

Damn, it! Now I'm gonna' be obsessed with looking the next time I hear it.

You'd think glowing and humming would not be good survival traits for a plant...

Maybe the light makes animals think it's a human settlement so they stay away and maybe the sound is of a frequency that irritates animals ears?

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:44 am

Whenever I wander around the Reach for the first time, there's a giant shaking and a crashing noise.

The earthquake-like sound? I've heard people say it's the Graybeards training up in High Hrothgar: you can see them Shout in their courtyard when you're around for long enough, and it creates quite the noise and rumble. Could that be it, maybe? It would make sense that it happens in The Reach, since High Hrothgar is situated in The Reach, if I'm not mistaking.

» Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:28 pm

The earthquake-like sound? I've heard people say it's the Graybeards training up in High Hrothgar: you can see them Shout in their courtyard when you're around for long enough, and it creates quite the noise and rumble. Could that be it, maybe? It would make sense that it happens in The Reach, since High Hrothgar is situated in The Reach, if I'm not mistaking.

HH isnt in the reach, its in whiterun hold. Markarth is in the Reach.

» Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:07 pm

HH isnt in the reach, its in whiterun hold. Markarth is in the Reach.

Oh wait, I was mistaking The Reach and The Rift, my bad. Still, The Rift ain't Whiterun, so that's pretty stupid too. However, I've heard of people having that sort of noise and rumble anywhere in Skyrim, so it may still be the Greybeards

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:38 pm

Oh wait, I was mistaking The Reach and The Rift, my bad. Still, The Rift ain't Whiterun, so that's pretty stupid too. However, I've heard of people having that sort of noise and rumble anywhere in Skyrim, so it may still be the Greybeards :smile:

I think its most likely to be the greybeards too, unless it has something to do with the CoW, maybe aftershocks or something.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:21 am

Install a mod like "Sounds of Skyrim" and add some extra sounds. It lets you forget about things like this and you get a lot of extra sounds. Different birds outdoor, flies, more wind and weather sounds, and inside dungeons do you get spooky noises, etc.. Why wonder what it was you heard when you can hear entirely new things?!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=13231
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=9106

It does not change any of the game play but only seems to add more sounds. This should make them two pretty harmless, but awesome, mods.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:34 am

Oh, yeah, I remember that. I can't recall the sound offhand, but I think I recognized it. It wasn't bees, was it? I seem to recall expecting to find something in the tree but there was nothing there.

That tree has a twittering sound, like lots of small birds. However, the bridge has a trigger as you cross it to release a bunch of bats. I think it's a misplaced sound emitter. I'd have to look up that cell in the CK to see for sure.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:05 am

* Shakes fist *

I thought you were going to reveal the musical jingle that happens evey now and again for god knows what reason.

Like the one that seems to chime whenever you clear a location? Or at least that's what I thought it meant for the longest time. Now I just dismiss it as music or randomness.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:05 am

I knew it was nirnroot - from Oblivion... Collecting nirnroot in Oblivion was cool, because there were a limited amount in the game and there was a related quest, so you learned to listen for the sound and look for the glow. Why does Skyrim track how many you've collected? There's no regular nirnroot quest, just a crimson nirnroot quest (which are not tracked outside of your quest entry). And don't the nirnroot in this game respawn?

» Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:30 pm

Knew this since I've spotted my first nirnroot.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:12 am

I figured it out the very first time I picked a nirnroot and the noise stopped.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:32 am

* Shakes fist *

I thought you were going to reveal the musical jingle that happens evey now and again for god knows what reason.

You mean the one which announces that you've killed the last baddie in a dungeon?

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:40 am

I've also wondered about the Nirnroot-like music... I seem to hear it when I'm carefully approaching a dangerous place, always outside.

I've never heard that booming sound! I've spent the last week in the Reach too dammit. That would freak me out and I would HAVE to find the source. Does it happen just once? Yet another great reason to hook up surround sound...

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:07 am

I think you people are hearing things... you hear jingles when you get near a dangerous place? Really? Is the place near water? LOL I'm just playing, this isn't meant to be sarcastic!

Hmm, I don't recall a booming sound either, besides the first time the Greybeards holler at me from their mountain!

» Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:40 pm

I didn't think this was a big mystery... It did the same thing in Oblivion too.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:04 am

Oblivion?...

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:17 am

Seriously. I have been confounded by this mysterious noise for months, and after slaying the cave troll before the road to Ivarstead, I found a glowing Nirnroot creating the chime noise. Wouldn't have guessed a plant was making the noise. But that's all for now, just thought that perhaps some people hadn't discovered this and were as confused as I.

You should try actually reading the text of in game books. The Nirnroot plant is described in no less than TWO in game books as making noise. No telling what other useful info you might be missing out on.

Also, finding some Nirnroot tends to be a hint that there's a quest location / giver / goal nearby, in case you had not picked up on that. Less so in this game than Morrowind and Oblivion, but enough to be worth considering.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:36 am

2 of my char's got the booming sound, they spent alot of time near Markarth for a while. I just alway's figured it was the greybeards, actually the 1st time I went up to High Hrothgar thinking they were calling for some reason.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:39 am

My nirnroot plants didn't even glow until 1.4 - once I got that patch into my game (PS3), I was like "What the heck is that glow over there?!?" I run over... nirnroot. I was so disappointed.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:48 am

OP I still can't decide whether you were having a go here or not :-)

During a dwemer crawl I kept hearing a tapping noise. After scouring the big room it turned out to be a dead spider on a shelf, tapping its toes. Jigging and tapping away even tho it was dead as a doornail and probably had been for years. I stood there firebolting and sparking it until I ran out of magicka, lol.
Maybe that big Reach noise is one of those dead spider things but dragon style, dead or alive.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:53 am

The chiming sound doesn't have anything to do with the in-game time of day, does it? I had one yesterday at 10.24 AM and at 2.41 AM. Care to compare? You need to be out in the open to catch it, though.

» Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:27 pm

I figured it out pretty early because I play with headphones.

Yeah, same here, the first time I walked by some outside of Whiterun.