Creation Kit (Detailed Followers Tutorial)

[@TheLittleVirus]

I know this video is 8 years old, but... Can I just say, I have really bad ADHD, and every CK tutorial so far has been awful to follow along with and understand what's being said. I don't know how you do it, but I've managed to follow, hear and understand everything you've explained in this entire 41 min long, detailed tutorial. I'm pretty amazed actually. Thank you so much!!

[@Dragonbleps]

I have a Skyrim character I created over 10 years ago, played multiple games with him, drawn and written things about him, but I think I'm finally ready to try and create him as a follower so he can be immortalized in others games, too. It's late as I type this and I'm only 15 minutes into the video, but it's already given me confidence to attempt it tomorrow. We'll see what happens! Thank you for the in-depth video!

[@moribundknight2896]

Yeah man lol

[@Growmetheus]

he says, "go ahead and save here,its known for closing down." i hit okay >> "creation kit not responding" fml

[@twotall1299]

Not sure why somebody would dislike this tutorial. This is the most in-depth one that I found that someone actually took the time to go through the entire process

[@TheKrensada]

Theyre jealous they didn't do it first....thats all I got.

[@Kiwiwiwiiwiwi]

I plan on making a fully custom follower for my Skyrim adventures...And this really helps a lot since ive never opened creation kit before. Im probably gonna end up binging all your videos in one day to help out since they are really in depth, thank you!

[@nathangabrielmusician]

Thanks heaps Darkfox127! What a well spoken and detailed tutorial! Really helped me understand a lot more about the different areas of the kit.

[@Shadowhawk827]

Very helpful video. You cleared up a couple of things about the creation process that weren't explained very clearly elsewhere.

[@lillianwilson1146]

Thanks so much for sharing this. I referred to it several times while making my latest mod.

[@Jon-ul3hi]

I know this is an old tutorial but thanks for making it! Been wanting to get into Skyrim modding and I thought making followers would be a good start.

[@pdarwin25]

👍 I am very grateful that you have shared this video with the community. Your video helped me immensely! I was succeeding in creating a character in CK - but failed to get them into the world visibly. Your method for creating a character has everything I needed to succeed in making my very first follower. I am stoked!! You are awesome! Hope you are well. I will be watching more of our videos soon!

[@ThatsMrFrank]

Old vid but thanks so much man, other guides missed subtle details that make it fail.

[@tonystanney3804]

Fantastic tutorial DarkFox. I have my follower up and working in under an hour! Might be worth pointing out that Ctrl + F4 doesn't work if you highlight your new follower in 'All' within the CK. But it works fine if you highlight her in 'Actor'. Another strange quirk on the Creation Kit I suppose. Nevertheless, an excellent tutorial!

[@rickrosemeyer1313]

Thank you. Making my first NPC follower. This vid helped a lot since "How-to-make-a-follower" vid [very good, "Skyla Skyrim"] used pre-made CK follower. Generally, thanks for your work to help us all to be better users of the tools provided by generous modders like yourself. First saw your work with Elianora; your name here (in helpful U Tubes) was clincher. Peace. Rick

[@katharielnightoak3222]

Thanks for the wonderful Video even as it is 8 or 9 years later its still one of the best. I made a follower today using this video.

[@a3970010]

I think he might sell his Axe if it was outside his selling hours, but in the case of the tutorial he sells 24/7 so he's never outside his hours of selling. Well done tutorial as always.

[@rayquantum6677]

3:08 I know this tutorial is 7 years old but you have that backwards protected means only you can kill them

[@patrickjinks]

Is that right? I know it's seven years old, but I'm doing the exact same thing XD

[@belowroller]

@Sweet “What in the Goddamn?” Tea essential means they cannot die. Protected means only the player can kill them (if other NPCs or creatures take their HP all the way down, they will go down on their knees until they recover). Most vanilla followers are set to protected. A few are essential. Quest NPCs and major NPCs like Jarls, are set to essential by default, so you don't accidentally break a quest line. A handful will switch from Essential to protected after you complete their quest line.

[@Sigmundzore]

Thanks alot! Really good tutorial with a quick and yet easy to follow phase. I will be watching all your other tutorials now!

[@Rawrlz]

Can you do a tutorial about how make followers using the Enhanced Character Edit mod and importing them into the creation kit? That'd be super helpful to a lot of people!

[@nofranko]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGm1h4OwbZxmrdk

[@joannefrt4553]

Ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

[@adambowling1831]

awesome guide! that was much easier than some folks make it out to be. thank you very much!

[@Starboythecosmicwitch]

I'm creating a custom follower/replacement of Alesan, using mainly Racemenu and RS Children. I have run into an issue where the Racemenu ears wont show up on the character. Everything else with my replacement is working perfectly. I just cant figure out how to get the ears to show up. If anyone can help, please let me know what to do?

[@freasgarringer8907]

3k+ views and only 94 thumbs up? he always does well in these and gets very little recognition for it, its not hard give the guy a like his effort alone in presenting this and others is worth it.

[@Darkfox127]

Thanks for the support.

[@freasgarringer8907]

No problem Dark. Thanks for your work! your tutorials helped me go from simply changing weapon stats and such, to building entire environments, and have the respective elements work properly.

[@Gothdir]

Great video! Everything worked out great! Now I need to find out how to combine this video with the custom NPC voice video.

[@schmokerpatrick]

Hey thanks I went though several videos several times over trying to make a Follower including you advance one. But all I kept ending up with was an NPC who would help me in a local fight. The follower only voices was the only thing that stopped me from making my follower a follower. So thanks for that last bit of info.

[@CrystalWingDesigns]

Any tutorial update on adding in custom dialog? Or even existing dialog so you can go through it before they become a follower?

[@BroTechGames]

For anyone having problems getting him to talk to you, try changing his voice to none or their race type, that default one makes it so my follower wont talk to me

[@twitch2156]

For clarity I’m pretty sure the “protected” means the opposite. e.g. they can be downed in combat but only the player is able to finish them off.

[@instinctofficial8745]

when I talk to him there's no dialogue box

[@mrsecify]

Great tutorial. Followed it and produced my first bauss followah brah. :)

[@clairemadeinheaven]

+MrSecify wrex

[@Darkfox127]

That information is mentioned in my basics tutorials as it just wastes time having to guide people through the basics every video like I used to do. If you are looking at watching a detailed video I expect you already have a grasp of the CK so there's no need to cover esp files.

[@SS-cv6lq]

I agree. Having a series of videos that follow an arc or a progression is more valuable, and a better use of time than recreating the wheel every time it's mentioned.

[@cheryldahl9192]

YOU screwed up my game! Just kidding, your 'disclaimer' at the beginning made it difficult to resist pretending though. Thanks for the awesome tutorial :)

[@Artix117a]

i found one major issue with the followers we create this way. when we dismiss them they just stay where we dismiss them they dont return home. how does this one fix?

[@FinityYT]

I can't choose the race, or anything on the Traits section. Everything is blank. I can ONLY choose the voice.

[@annikadegraaf4034]

I created a follower just like in the vid, but it will not follow me. The dialogue says he will follow me, and then he just stays there. When I talk to him again I can ask him to follow me again, but then it just is the same story again. Could it have something to do with another mod (for example amazing followers tweaks)? If so, does anyone know how to fix it?

[@LoneChipmunk]

For some reason, when I got to the new follower menu to initially start, there were no options what so ever in any of the boxes to the right, such as race, weapon list, etc. What am I missing?

[@killerbigred]

For some reason when I click on actors nobody shows up?

[@manbullmoose5045]

+BlizKrieg I realize this is a month late but maybe others will have the same question. Be sure to click the open button with the folder picture on it, located under File. Then double click the Skyrim masterfile so a blue x appears in the box. Click ok, and then it should load everything and actors will appear under their tab. Thats the first thing you have to do when starting the creation kit, and isnt covered in this more advanced tutorial.

[@sapiantomata6989]

I'm using SkyRe that changes perks and their names,and most perks of my followers don't work.can someone help me(I open follower+SkyRe in CK,add SkyRe perks,save but it doesn't work)?i want to use an archer follower for a change since I play shield+sword build but since SkyRe changes bow draw speed she fire really slow(in SkyRe Overdraw perk has bow draw speed but since SkyRe changes the name the follower doesn't get the perk)

[@Jt3Sketch]

I have deleted a test follower. Is it safe to also delete their associated face mesh file (you start talking about around 36:00). If I do so would I be harming any other game data?

[@thebattlebrothers7344]

I have followed your steps, hopefully by the letter, and though the video has helped me immensely such as getting the relationships tab to work. I'm currently having this problem where I'm not getting the option to tell my follower to follow me, all she does is sit there and looks at me. I've obviously missed something but I've re watched and redone this follower several times and still the issue persists, some assistance would be helpful to a scrub such as myself. p.s. Your video is great, please don't misconstrued my words for ungrateful, it really did help me out.

[@ytbeth567]

+The BattleBrothers If you haven't figured this out yet, then try pulling up the AllFollowers FormList under Misc. in CK. This will tell you all of the voice types available for followers. This is discussed in this video, so you might want to re-watch it. Also, if that is not the problem, try loading into your cell where the follower is through the console command (~ coc type your cell name)from the start of the game, rather than using your pre-existing savegame to test.

[@CrystalWingDesigns]

+AvengingNarwhal The video shows how to locate what voices will work with followers. You pretty mucyh want to look up the follower form list and double click it, any voice shown inside will work, make not of one of them and apply that to the follower.

[@ohigetjokes]

I'm getting the same problem. Oddly enough it WAS working, but I made some changes and suddenly it won't work anymore. Changed back, didn't fix it. Ever find a solution?

[@dawngallows9016]

i started this and i don't even get the list of actors. what should be my first thing to do when I download this for the first time?

[@RayMaxey]

Awesome job DF127, This video cleared up many of the questions I had regarding the Creation Kit. I have always wanted to add more Redgaurd NPC's to the game to use as followers, house stewards, or guards for my player homes. Can you suggest a tutorial that explains how to make changes to Player Home Mods for personal use in game? And this method does work with EFF so far, no problems.

[@marylight9700]

Mine shows up, but he offers no dialogue options, muchless to follow

[@daltonkrieg4694]

When i pick different classes it doesn't change their skill lvl they remain the same? Anyone know why the skills are frozen?

[@Paul_i_is]

i wanted to change a standalone followers out fit and add a few items, when i tried it, it created the tools etc in the overwrite folder MO2 can i just drop those files in my mod, and overwrite, as i created a new overwrite mod But it didnt change the character in Game ? any ideas, i was thinking of copying the character file, name it something else and place the altered character in game. Actually i just noticed its created a Duplicate of my actor, can i delete the original and call the duplicate the same name ?

[@ncshuriken]

I followed everything in the tutorial to the T (except I imported an NPC file of my old player for the "char gen parts") yet when I load up the game, I can't see my NPC anywhere... I looked all around Riverrun for a good 5 minutes & she's definitely not in the game. What could be causing this? I have version 1.9.32.

[@Viggatos]

For some reason my follwer has some very odd looking feet (no textured) any reason?

[@Artix117a]

honestly enjoyed the tutorial man thanks! dropped a sub and hit the bell for ya!

[@juliaeichhorst]

did you have the problem of it not showing a dialogue box? if not was there anything you did different especially since we are using the new creation kit now

[@DeadlyTacoGaming]

How do I remove war paint from my follower that I created. I accidentally put war paint on him and don't want it can u help me please

[@rhysbarnard3055]

hey there I've followed this tutorial to every detail and when i go in to the game i have no options to talk to the new follower its got press x to talk (NPC follower name) but nothing comes up to talk to the follower any chance you can tell me why this is happening and when creating a merchant its the same thing please can someone help me with whats im doing wrong please thanks in advance if someone can help me

[@marylight9700]

I'm having the same problem

[@derkreuzfahrer9134]

try to change voice type

[@eoganberr243]

The character does not have a dialogue about marriage, what could be the reasons?

[@alexander_martinez6084]

Darkfox please help. Please reply. Ok I did every step everything worked but when I go in game the face skin tone is different from the body. Even if I choose tone 1 it still looks like a dark dark tone head on a white body. It looks weird. How do I fix it? Please write back

[@smokenboots]

the short name is used when they talk to you and you have view dialog turned on

[@The_Nonchalant_Shallot]

26:50 So here's the thing... I can't find any info on it myself, and you didn't seem to explain it. How would I add a weapon into their inventory? Or master restoration robes? Neither of those seem to be in the list :( EDIT: Immediately figured it out. For anyone also wondering: You go to the Object Window into Items > Weapon (or armor), type a reference word to find what you're looking for. In my case I typed "dagger" to find an Iron Dagger. You just drag and drop from the list into the inventory area.

[@sunshineblaize9963]

Loving your tuts. Thanks :)

[@leonardotrote]

How do I set a fix place for my follower to return when dismissed?

[@caposolomon8745]

How do I put in modded armor onto an NPC as default? I been trying to figure it out but no one are making a video on that

[@namerson0111]

+David Capobianco In Data, you tick the modded armour's esp. but I don't know any further than that.

[@caposolomon8745]

RjViking six I posted that a while ago, first you need to make sure that the armor mod is a modding resorce. Most author dont want you to make a mod with their armor without permission, so they won't put the source, so you wont be able to mod with with it. Then you need to make sure you put in all the mesh and texture of that mod when you upload it or it will not work.

[@corrosivesins2456]

+David Capobianco I don't know if its too late but you have to go to the items tab I think and then go to outfits, right click on the side of the outfits tab, and then go to armors and drag whatever armor set desired into that outfit slot

[@qfaction]

Thanks Dark! Bloody fantastic tutorials

[@Korgass]

I did everything as shown in the video and it worked for my first Follower. Used Apachii hair on her + custom race (half dragon). But when I made 2 more custom Follower my Game crashes everytime they are (or rather should be) in my sight. I dunno what to do. My first Followers ID is pretty normal (llike other NPCs starts with numbers, not 0) while the other 2 have a weird ID like 0f22.... I dont know what to do.

[@metalcollection1]

Hey Darkfox, do you have any tutorials (or know any) about setting generic dialogue for what followers say during combat, sneaking, discovering specific places etc. using custom voice?

[@Kyro23]

Michael Aries I think he did a video about it now

[@dutchboss509]

Ctrl F4 will only work if in "Actor menu" was not working in "All"

[@Andres_W]

Jenassa is to weak now ..so I modify her in the ck (level and perks) but in-game she remains level 40 and has no perks ( I checked in the console) Is there something I can do? Thanks.

[@valerieiscrazy3256]

I have yet to figure out HOW to get the list showing in the beginning of your video. Hard to create or edit anything when nothing shows in "actor" etc....

[@heartattackphil]

top right hand corner: file- Data, make sure skyrim.esm is TICKED by double clicking and hitting okay, if a box pops up click "yes to all" and it will load.

[@marmalade627]

He's not following me, just stood there.

[@vincentii4853]

I select the actor I created, hit Ctrl + f4, it tells me "done" like its supposed to, but when I go to my Skyrim folder it's not there with the rest of them ):

[@vincentii4853]

Update I got that part to work, but in game when I talk to him it says that he is already following me and I can't Dismiss him/ open his inventory. He wont move or draw his weapon, just stand still. )):

[@DocGrimDeatheus]

make sure on factions where it says current follower faction it is set to -1 otherwise it'll think its following you.

[@vincentii4853]

I already fixed it and released the mod I was working on but thank you (:

[@ZapGamez]

I've been really trying to find a tutorial that explains how to make a fully voiced follower (Obviously with custom Voice Acting) It would be awesome if you could possibly make tutorial explaining how to do so.

[@weeaboobaby]

The Skyrim Romance YT channel has an in-depth tutorial on how to make custom voiced followers!

[@joeykuharik4240]

great video, really helped me understand the kit. thanks!

[@Sigmundzore]

Is there a way to make custom followers semi-essential like the vanilla followers? Making enemies stop attacking them when they enter bleedout and restoring their health when out of combat?

[@radagasttw]

Hi! great tutorial!! congratulations.! .ok,my question. the defaultSandboxCurrentLoc IA Pack, allow to NPC go to sleep in a bedroll automaticly in defualt time to sleep? (20:00 hours for 8 hours)?

[@DJYC21215]

Worked like a charm, thanks for the assistance :).

[@videogameboss72]

for some reason,i cant talk to my follower

[@nagaplagius2854]

Hey just wondering when using this am I able to use mods when creating a new character? For example a specific character enhancement to make them look better

[@linielinear.a8533]

Hi Guys! I'm kinda new in the modding world and i have a problem. I checked in the Data thinghy a mod for hair and DLC Dawnguard because I want to make a follower in Volkihar castle, it crash "Multiple Master Files selected for loaded. Load operation aborted." What I can do to load the dlc, main file and the hair mod same time?

[@Darkfox127]

Be sure to check out my Basics series for how to load DLC in the Creation Kit.

[@starwalk2k]

+Darkfox127 My follower only has usual dialogue, such as 'Need something?' or 'Hmm?' and think I've done everything I need to, what did I do wrong?

[@moshockful]

Thank you for your tutorials!

[@toxicrose8047]

I did everything correctly, the only problem is my follower has a severe black face and I also use KS hairs and it keeps removing itself! Halp please

[@kinda4664]

I was interested in getting an answer to one particular question, as to how one can match the face color up with the body one. I got it. Thanks.

[@SIG442]

Basic follower that does not say or do much, could proof handy. I however would love to my follower having more skills etc. For example you speak to them and get them to do something specific, open their inventory. such things. Or the plain and simple guard or set home here modes. So definitely will check out the rest of the tutorials, perhaps I can find what I need. BTW, I did notice that this follower will stop following you if essential and you hit them too many times. You can get them to follow right away again, but it may cause for issues during battle. How to fix this?

[@kingofcherries4357]

Followed all the steps and my follower can't be found anywhere

[@iidevilsspawnii6506]

Hey, I'm having a bit of trouble with this I'm not wanting to make a new follower i simply want to change a followers facial hair (Kharjo to be specific) I get all the details done in the creation kit but I think I'm saving it wrong because it will still show him with that ugly beard thing in game. help!!!

[@iidevilsspawnii6506]

wait do I just have to do that export thing you mentioned near the end?

[@brianscheg4220]

this is awesome but when I hit the save button it opens op my skyrim file. Do I just make a new file?

[@theoofed]

love this simple tutorial

[@Rubenoky]

Great video bro ;)

[@mestreladino1960]

How can I make the follower a mercenary that u need to pay for?

[@crazysinjab5493]

I want to make a custom follower like Miku. Do you know how i can change the whole playermodel?

[@futuza]

Hey DarkFox127, I was hoping you might be able to point me in the right direction. I want to have my follower have his PotentialFollowerFaction set to -1 initially, finish a quest and then change it to 0 upon the completion of the quest. The problem is I can't figure out the Papyrus script to alter the PotentialFollowerFaction variable. I've tried stuff like this: Alias_MyNPCsName.GetActorReference().SetRelationshipRank(Game.GetPlayer(), 3) to no avail. The code compiles, but doesn't seem to do anything when that stage of the quest is reached. Help?

[@KavosDreams]

So about the part where you said the sleep outfit doesn't do anything... I found out the hard way that if I didn't select a sleep outfit for my mannequins, they went naked instead of wearing the thieves guild armor I gave them all for their "default" outfit. So apparently it does something in the Skyrim Creation Kit.

[@ncshuriken]

Whenever I try to change the stats they instantly reset back to default. I'm trying to create a follower that has high archery/marksman skill but its stuck at around 20. Changing the class, toggling "PC level mult" & "auto calculate" all have no effect. All I can do is scale everything at once (not what I want). So 'CombatWarrior2H' has the same 2-handed skill as 'combatSorcerer'! I even created my own class with boosted archery but the stats list seems to ignore every change you make! Is this a bug? How do I fix this?

[@ncshuriken]

ncshuriken This is weird... I decicded to just test it ingame anyway, and the stats correspond to what I set them as (sort of) so I don't know why the editor refuses to show any changes you've made and the stats are identical regardless of what 'class' you choose.

[@DarkworldX]

how do you zoom in on a laptop with no mouse?

[@michaelmartin4383]

Dark Fox, I want to create a "dynamic follower", by dynamic, I mean the follower dose much more than a regular follower. Built into the follower mod are different texture groups, some for muscle definition which is based on whether or not the follower is engaged in combat or if the follower hangs about the house or Inn they lose muscle and become more fat, rounded and soft, while if they are captured they become slim and weak. Therefore, the followers body is continually changing shape according to the activities the player puts them through. Also, strength, stamina and health also changes, to reflect the type of body weight. Such, a follower will have to use optimized textures and will probably be script heavy. For me game-play if far more important than high-resolution graphics. How, I imagine this working is using the weigh system, 0% weigh is slim and muscular (no breasts), 50% weigh is normal (normal breasts), while a 100% is fat and soft (large breasts).

[@InnovatorSteve]

When working on a custom High Elf, none of my warpaints, scars, or dirt are working. They don't show in the preview, or the game. I tried exporting the face gen, and it still doesn't work. Any solutions?

[@hentertainment233]

I only have one actor at the start?

[@KhyrisEidan]

How does one use a saved preset for a follower?

[@illiamil]

+Kyeris Eiden Using racemenu is the easiest way, I have tried other ways but they don't do it as flawlessly as nifscope coupled with racemenu. You will need to go to the sculpt tab when creating your follower ingame and click export head or something similar, the nif file of the character should then be in the data folder or your skyrim folder, I can't remember which. After that you will need to find the follower that you made using the ck under Data> meshes> actors> character> facegendata> facegeom. Open up nifmerge and drag and drop the facegeom nif file of the follower into the right window, and then the one you made ingame in the left window, after that press match by vertex and then merge to target. That should do it.

[@ocamoriechan]

hi, i want to load mods with the creation kit and make a fallower with some of the mods i have can you show or tell me how to do that? thanks.

[@jonahlincoln7767]

When on Creation Kit, go to the Data option Under the Files option. Whilst in there click your regular skyrim.esm, but also the mod's .esm and then they both should be in there! Good luck!

[@photonwerewolf9740]

I tried making a new follower from a custom race, however when they are placed in the game, they do not seem to actually follow, they change from town clothes to armour I gave them on the CK, so I know they ARE detected as followers, but when I move away... they just stay there and if I hadn't talked to them in the first place. Then when I talk to them again, I am still given the option to ask them to follow me. This is quite vexing...! Edit: found the solution ^^ it turned out to be a mod conflicting with another mod that altered followers... it was a bit tricky to figure out I must say!

[@rtz538]

"once he's placed down I did say that I'd be sort of er.. just covering a.i packages, I will have a tutorial, a newer tutorial on a.i packages hopefully at somepoint, But just by default I recommend that if you don't want to mess around with packages and you just want him to move around in the area that you place him put in defaultsandbox and you want to select one of these default sandbox editor locations and the number is the sort of radius that he'll wander around in so the bigger is probably the better so we'll go with default sandbox current location 1024 and that means that he'll just wander around in the general location. So that will do, that will do just fine and we'll leave it at that."

[@miikatolsa6236]

I can't get my follower to talk can someone give a good explain how to get talk

[@dalkarancalimon]

eh darkfox, this brings up a good question, have you thought of doing a follower creation using immersive armors and weapons for creating them? im currently in the process of making a dunmer vampiric follower who is using a set of armor from the immersive armors and weapons, hope to hear from ya on this

[@daninelli-98]

Great Tutorial! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

[@Huge887]

Very nice tutorial, very helpful even if it is dated. Maybe it makes too much time, but I have an issue (I'm beginning in modding): I want to make a personalized outfit with an armor from a mod, I can put the elements and save the outfit, but when I quit then restart the CK, the outfit file is still here but the pieces of armor are away. I added the right .ESP as a plug-in file and all. Is it because it is an ESP? This doesn't happen with ESM files from mods.

[@schmokerpatrick]

If it was on the first floor I think that model is the silver blood attack so he may be only available during that one scene of the game. you might be able to tell if there are a couple of bodies to the right of the main entrance. hopes this helps.

[@redcraftsmeh]

Everyone here who might have a problem getting the dialogue to come up. Try saving next to the follower and reloading the save then re ask them.

[@Diesel32323]

Whats the song at the end in the last 8 seconds or so