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About this mod
This mod introduces a new means of finding your way around Skyrim. Receive directions straight from the quest-giver or ask for directions from various vanilla NPCs distributed across Skyrim.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
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How to start this mod: 1) Install 2) Ask any carriage driver for directions 3) Check your inventory for your Wayfinder's Notebook
~ New game highly recommended ~
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How to start this mod: 1) Install 2) Ask any carriage driver for directions 3) Check your inventory for your Wayfinder's Notebook
~ New game highly recommended ~
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[what this mod does]
Wayfinder re-imagines the experience of moving through the world while in pursuit of a quest location. While the vanilla game seems designed to encourage the player to be reliant on following a quest or map marker to a destination, several mods have pushed gameplay in the opposite direction. Wayfinder pushes this even further by requiring the player to travel to a given location before its map marker is added to the map. Upon receiving a quest, no map marker is added to the map and instead the quest-giver may provide written directions to the location. These directions are then added to the Wayfinder's Notebook. The result is that the player must read the land and heed various landmarks to arrive at their destination, inspiring a deeper sense of immersion in the world. And finally, 13 years after Skyrim's release, the player can now ask vanilla NPCs for directions to various locations.
[features]
Vanilla quests covered
- Wayfinder supports bounty and other radiant quests, quests received via rumors, main quest, Companions quests and more
- The goal of the mod is to include every relevant quest
- Where the vanilla quests are intentionally vague about directions to a quest target (e.g. go beat up Belethor in Whiterun), Wayfinder will aim to leave this game design in place
- Supported locations: Inns, Settlements, Nordic Ruins, Dwemer Ruins, Forts, Nord Towers, Caves, Bandit Camps, Giant Camps, Dragon Lairs, Mines, Watchtowers, Groves, Clearings, Orc Strongholds and more
- Written directions to locations generally reflect the level of obscurity of the location in question. A cave visible from a town will be conceivably well known, and the accuracy of the directions reflects that. But a Dwemer Ruin high in the mountains and far off the main roads might elicit directions that are considerably more vague
- As of v1.3.5, DLC locations are not yet included nor are locations added to the radiant system by other mods
- Many vanilla NPCs distributed across Skyrim now offer directions to various locations
- These NPCs know about locations of a type as befits their occupation or faction e.g. Guards, who might very well be keeping tabs on the local bandits, know about Bandit Camps in the area and can direct you to them
- NPCs generally know only about locations within the hold in which they reside but sometimes also nearby holds (dependent on multiple factors)
- In limited cases, select NPCs can offer directions to locations all across Skyrim
- For a breakdown of which NPCs offer directions to which locations, see:
Spoiler:
Scholars
A select number of NPCs who, by nature of their expertise on a topic, can direct the player to locations not just regionally but to locations in any hold across Skyrim. These include:
Show
- Carriage Drivers know about Towns, Settlements, Inns and Nord Towers--the latter only on a regional basis
- Some Guards can direct the player to Bandit Camps, Forts and Watchtowers. Guards are only familiar with local locations--so a Solitude guard won't know anything about a watchtower in The Rift
- Some Farmers can guide you to Giant Camps in the region given their longstanding bovine sacrificial agreements with the giants
- Some Court Wizards, with their extensive knowledge of magical artifacts and where they might be buried, have at least a local knowledge of Nordic Ruins and Dwemer Ruins
- Orc Stronghold Chiefs will share directions to other Orc Strongholds--provided the player is on good terms
- Some Orc Blacksmiths, various other blacksmiths (Riverwood, Whiterun, Riften e.g.), and some who own and operate mines (Ainethach in Karthwasten e.g.) can offer directions to mines on a regional basis
- Some Bartenders / Innkeepers in smaller towns and settlements outside the city, and also fishermen can guide you to nearby caves
Scholars
A select number of NPCs who, by nature of their expertise on a topic, can direct the player to locations not just regionally but to locations in any hold across Skyrim. These include:
- Calcelmo in Markarth (Dwemer Ruins)
- Aela in Whiterun (Nordic Ruins)
- Urog in The Arcanaeum at The College of Winterhold (Nordic Ruins and Dwemer Ruins)
- Mjoll in Riften (Dwemer Ruins)
- Calixto in his shop in Windhelm (Dwemer Ruins)
The Wayfinder's Notebook
- When the player first asks any carriage driver for directions, the Wayfinder's Notebook is added to the player's inventory
- Upon receiving certain quests from NPCs or asking directions from NPCs, directions to the relevant location will be added to the notebook
- The notebook's capacity is 20 entries. When the player has exhausted that, entries will over-write previous ones starting at the first
- If directions related to a particular quest location are over-written, there are always citizens from whom you can re-acquire them
[compatibility]
- Any mod that alters vanilla quests will likely conflict with this mod and require a patch
- It is highly recommended to check the 'data' tab of Mod Organizer 2 (or equivalent in Vortex) for script conflicts
- Several patches are provided in the fomod including for USSEP, Interesting NPCs, Immersive Encounters, Timing is Everything, Thieves Guild Requirements, The Heart of Dibella Quest Exp., House of Horrors Quest Exp., Save the Icerunner, Andrealphus' Harder Thaneships, Headhunter: Bounty Quests redone, Thieves Guild Alternative Endings, Improved College Entry, Bards Reborn, DQANM.
- More will be added as they emerge
- Wayfinder should load after the mod Even Better Quest Objectives. Where these mods overlap in their edits of vanilla quests, Wayfinder has integrated EBQO changes
- For quest and other mods that lack a patch, it is recommended to load those mods after Wayfinder--to maintain the functionality of those mods--or ideally create your own patch
- This mod makes no edits to vanilla NPCs or their dialogue so is highly compatible with NPC mods or mods adding / changing dialogue
recommended load order
...
Even Better Quest Objectives
Wayfinder
{conflicting mods x,y for which there is a patch}
Wayfinder – patches for mod x,y
{quest mods \ mods conflicting with Wayfinder with no patch}
...
[what's next]
- Add DLC locations
- Re-think how location types are distributed to NPCs by faction / occupation etc.
- Implement limits on NPC dialogue such as creating time conditions (only between certain hours), making some NPC's dialogue contingent upon their disposition toward the player—ie. whether the player has helped them in some way etc.
- Refine & re-write some descriptions for clarity and to incorporate a more landmark-based approach to those descriptions
- Add support for select major dungeon / location mods (as of v1.3.4, Hammet's and Easierrider's dungeons added)
[recommended mods]
If you like what Wayfinder does, the following mods are highly recommended:
- Even Better Quest Objectives ~ Inspiration for this mod massively improves quest descriptions. EBQO is a soft requirement and is necessary to get the most out of this mod
- Helps to Have a Map ~ Player starts without a map, which can then be acquired in various ways
- Skills of the Wild ~ Removes player location GPS from map; compass removed and enabled only after 'Wayfarer' skill advancement, and many many other features
- Skyrim Paper Map by Aesoterik, included in FWMF (or another paper map that includes names of rivers, lakes, mountain ranges) ~ Wayfinder's location descriptions sometimes include references to these geographic features
- Reduce Compass Range ~ You know the cave marker on your compass showing you the cave 7 miles away in the distance ? That's not immersive, pal.
- Get Lost - Prevents the map from centering on the player location
[thanks]
- whickus, WilliamImm and Techangel85 for Even Better Quest Objectives
[faq]
- Does this mod remove all of the map markers ?
Wayfinder (as of v1.3.5) removes zero map markers from the map. When the player receives a quest, and the game reaches out its hand to plunk down a map marker for a location the player has never travelled to nor explored, this mod wags its finger no-no-no and halts the addition of that map marker.
- So what you're saying is that you hate map markers.
Map markers can be immersive AF, but this mod proposes that they should denote a location that the player has actually traversed to and seen with their own eyes (exceptions being the major cities). Suppose you the player make your way through the snowy Velothi mountainside and discover Kagrenzel ? Well, that map marker is added to your map: you've earned it. Until you've been there, though, the location is a bit more mysterious than a precise GPS indicator. That reflects the overall philosophy of this mod.
- Are the directions given by NPCs ever intentionally misleading or wrong ?
Locations are written in a mostly neutral fashion similar to how quest objective text reads. Even if NPCs could conceivably be wrong or lie, Wayfinder doesn't include that tone in the description write-ups. Moreover, there may be vagueness in some of the directions, but there should never be anything misleading.
- Is this mod going to make my potato computer catch fire ?
One of the virtues of this mod is that it's quite light on resources. There are no polling scripts; the mod's scripts are in operation only while the player is in dialogue with direction-giving NPCs.
- If I use Even Better Quest Objectives, why do I need this mod ?
For radiant quests (e.g. the bounty quests) the game will helpfully tell the player to:
"Kill the bandit leader at Pinemoon Cave."
EBQO improves this to: "Kill the bandit leader at Pinemoon Cave in Haafinger."
Wayfinder further improves this by enabling the player to take this information and proceed to Haafinger hold to ask the locals for directions to the cave--and all without the aid of the gps map marker.