If you’re anything like me, Skyrim is not just a platform for axe-swinging, dragon-felling, and all other forms of destructive Dovahkiin-ing. It is also a space for community, finding the ‘right’ follower to quest with, and laying down roots in your locale of choice – all of which depends on walkabout-prone NPCs. But now this new mod, by javaplaza, lets you track everyone involved in your grand nesting plans through a flute doubling as a GPS tracker.
The Flute Finder mod is designed to help you keep track of over 100 NPCs in the world and location maps, with each character’s whereabouts denoted by a regular quest marker and their title, or relation to the player. You activate this mod in-game by picking up an enchanted flute, which then adds 12 categories to the ‘miscellaneous’ section of your quest journal. Each NPC falls under a category in the menu, and you select who you want to start tracking.
The most obviously useful features of the mod include being able to track down your spouse, children, and other household members, saving you precious minutes (or is it hours?) of tearing around Whiterun seeking them out, only to discover they were tucked up in that bed you so carefully picked out the whole time. Or, backtracking through labyrinthine dungeon passageways cooee-ing for your hired hand only to find they were standing behind right behind you.
Another cool feature is that you can also pick up ‘scrolls of finding’, which allow you to track any NPC you like if you place one in their inventory.
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The mod is in its first version and the creator warns that there might still be bugs to work out, so be sure to follow the guidance and advice on the mod’s page to start your sidekick-stalking in earnest. The mod also doesn’t appear to have been ported to Skyrim Special Edition yet, but the creator has suggested that they will port it if the mod is a success.
Just make sure you don’t become a helicopter parent, and risk the same fate as Grelod the Kind at the hands of her little wards, courtesy of the Dark Brotherhood. Give those kids their space.
Top image credit: Chesko and Nikkita/Nexus Mods