Do Oculary beams in Skyrim only have two positions that don’t work

the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim

I'm trying to focus the Oculary in Skyrim on an XBOX 360. I have every type of flame and frost spell, can hit the crystal in alternate shots or together – but no matter what I try, what combination of spells, order, where I shoot from – the beams go up in a narrow 'v'(the original position) and down in a wide 'V', stopping in the same two positions each time. Neither formation has the beams cross where the mirrors can stop, and the beams always stop on the edge between the sliding rings the mirrors are on. ( in the original position, one of the beams is above the rings, not even ON a mirror ring at all.)

I have tried going back to an earlier save, but I had such a bitch of a time killing that automaton ( I suck at shooting stuff) that I really don't want to go back to any saves before that. No matter what i do, I can't get this to work.

Since I KNOW the Staff of Magnus is at Labrynthian, can I just go get it? Or do I need to finish this quest to make the next one work? Can I get out of this dang room without having to go all the way back through the dwarven ruins? That took hours.

Best Answer

Step 1: Using just frost spell, make sure that one of the beams are on the top tier, one of the beams on the middle tier, and one of the beams on the bottom tier. Use only one type of spell. If the correct position is not found, you will reach a point where the frost spell won't do anything. If that happens, start using flame spell and go backwards. Remember we are only concerned about the height of each beam. One needs to be on top, one in the middle and one on the bottom.

Step 2: Once that happens. Keep pushing one of the buttons until the mirror is in position to reflect the beam, repeat with two other buttons.