Skyrim Console Commands

The developer console in the PC version of Skyrim was built for testing, not for play. It is powerful, unrestricted, and several commands will break a save in ways no amount of subsequent commands will fix.

Opening it

Press the tilde key, usually above Tab. On non-US keyboards the key varies — it may be the backtick, the section sign, or a key that requires switching to a US layout temporarily.

The game pauses while the console is open. Type a command and press Enter. Press tilde again to close.

Clicking an object or character while the console is open selects it, and its reference ID appears at the top. Many commands then act on that selection, which is far easier than typing IDs.

Before you use it at all

Make a separate save first, and keep it. Not a quicksave — a named save you will not overwrite.

Understand that achievements are disabled once you enter a command in the current session on most versions. Mods exist that restore them.

Some effects are permanent. Commands that alter quest state, delete objects or change essential flags cannot always be undone by reversing them.

The commonly used, and reasonably safe

tgm — god mode. Toggle again to disable.

tcl — no clipping, walk through walls. Useful for escaping a place you are stuck in, which is the most legitimate use of the console.

tim — immortal mode. Health drops but you do not die. Gentler than god mode.

coc <location> — teleport to a location by its editor name.

player.additem <ID> <count> — add items. Gold's ID is 0000000f.

player.setav speedmult <n> — movement speed. Requires a menu open and close to take effect.

player.setlevel <n> — set level.

showracemenu — reopen character creation. Caution: this resets some stats on older versions. Change appearance only, and avoid changing race, which can affect abilities and skills.

tfc — free camera, for screenshots. tfc 1 also pauses the scene.

tm — toggle the interface, useful with free camera.

unlock — unlock a selected door or container.

resurrect — revive a selected dead character. Frequently used to recover a killed quest-giver, and it can leave the character in a broken state.

The genuinely dangerous

setstage and completequest. These force a quest forward. They are the standard fix for a broken quest and they are also the standard way to break one permanently, because skipping a stage can leave variables unset that later stages depend on.

Use only with a specific stage number from a reliable reference for your exact version, and only after saving.

disable and markfordelete. Removing an object the game expects to exist can break anything referencing it. markfordelete is permanent across saves.

setessential. Making a character non-essential allows them to be killed, which can make quests uncompletable.

player.setav on skills. Setting skill values directly can desynchronise the level-up calculation. advskill and player.incpcs behave better.

removeallitems on the player. Exactly what it says, including quest items.

Fixing a stuck quest properly

The common legitimate reason to use the console.

First, try in-game solutions: wait several in-game days, leave and re-enter the area, complete other quests. Many stuck quests resolve themselves.

Then identify the exact quest ID and current stage with sqo for objectives and getstage <questID>.

Consult a reliable reference for what stage should come next and what that stage sets.

Save, then use setstage for the next stage only. Do not jump to the end.

Verify the quest progresses normally afterwards. If it does not, load the save.

Finding IDs

help "<name>" 0 searches for anything matching a name and returns IDs by category. Adding a number filters by type.

Clicking an object with the console open is easier and gives the reference ID directly.

Note the difference between a base ID, which identifies a type of thing, and a reference ID, which identifies one specific instance in the world. Some commands need one, some the other, and using the wrong one silently does nothing.

On console and mods

The console is PC only. Console editions have no equivalent, and creation-club content and mods are the only route to similar changes there.

For anything you want as an ongoing part of play rather than a one-off fix, a mod is a better answer than console commands: mods are designed to coexist with the game's systems, and console commands are not.

Mistakes people make

Not making a separate named save first. Several commands cannot be undone, and a quicksave you then overwrite is no protection.

Using setstage to skip a quest stage. It is the standard fix for a broken quest and the standard way to break one permanently, because skipped stages leave variables unset.

Using disable or markfordelete on world objects. Removing something the game expects can break anything referencing it, and markfordelete persists across saves.

Changing race in showracemenu. It can reset skills and abilities. Change appearance only.

Setting skill values directly with setav. It desynchronises the level-up calculation. Use advskill instead.

Reaching for the console before trying in-game fixes. Waiting several in-game days or leaving and re-entering an area resolves many stuck quests.

The short answer

Save separately first. Prefer tgm, tcl and unlock, which are reversible. Treat setstage, disable and setessential as last resorts, used with a stage reference for your exact version. For anything ongoing, a mod is a better tool than a command.