Make a custom Skyrim SE/AE follower without ever opening the Creation Kit.
Pick her name, face, voice, class, combat style, outfit, and where in Skyrim she waits — all from your own installed mods, by name. Follower Forge writes a real, conflict-safe ESPFE plugin and an installable mod folder.
2.0 is the first real follower-maker release (earlier prototype snapshots were withdrawn).
| 2.0 | |
|---|---|
| UI | 7-step wizard — real names only |
| Placement | 3,000+ spawn spots harvested from your mods |
| Face pipeline | RaceMenu export + FaceGen + slot-aware missing-texture warnings |
| Loadout / body | Weapons + spells multi-select; optional body skin (or race default) |
| Marriage | Marriageable adds PotentialMarriageFaction for real |
| Asset hubs | Free-hub default (Naz skin maps when installed) + optional own-hub with permission gate |
| Races | Vanilla first; custom races opt-in (they become requirements) |
| Sharing report | "Needs nothing but base game" or exact mod requirements |
| Ship form | Follower Forge.exe + CLI, no .NET install needed |
➡️ Grab FollowerForge-2.0.0-win-x64.zip from the
Releases page.
Self-contained Windows 64-bit package — no .NET install required.
Follower Forge.exe GUI wizard
cli\FollowerForge.Cli.exe same engine, scriptable
README.md end-user guide (ships inside the zip)
CHANGELOG.txt full history
- Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
- A Vortex-managed Skyrim Special Edition / Anniversary Edition install
- Your game Data, Vortex staging, and installed mods are never written to
- Unzip anywhere and run Follower Forge.exe.
- First launch reads your mods (about a minute; only repeats after a Vortex deploy).
- Walk the seven steps and press Build follower.
- Install the produced folder (or
.zip) in Vortex, enable the plugin, and go find her.
| Step | What you choose |
|---|---|
| Who she is | Name, sex, protected-by-default, optional marriageable |
| Her look | RaceMenu head export + race (vanilla first) + optional body (skin armor; unset = race default / your body replacer) |
| Her voice | FULL FOLLOWER / SOS PACK / unverified — labelled honestly |
| How she fights | Class + combat style (clone into her plugin; originals never edited) |
| What she wears | Outfit plus multi-select weapons and spells loadout |
| Where she waits | Searchable location library from real NPC placements |
| Build her | Summary, build, and a plain list of anything worth knowing |
Load the preset in game → RaceMenu Sculpt tab → F5 to export the head.
A .jslot alone is not enough; the exported head mesh carries the face.
Follower Forge scans every mod that places its own NPC and builds a library of reachable spots — classic inns (Bannered Mare, Sleeping Giant, Bee and Barb, …) plus hundreds of mod-author placements. Each entry shows how many mods use it and whether it needs masters beyond the base game.
The build report tells downloaders exactly what they need:
She needs nothing but the base game — safe to share with anyone.
or a list like "Anyone who installs her also needs: KS Hairdos".
Listing a mod as a requirement is not permission to redistribute its assets. Follower Forge
never copies another author's files unless you explicitly declare redistribution rights, and
it will not make that claim on your behalf. Every build writes credits.md,
dependency-report.json, and source-assets.json.
| Mode | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Free hubs (default) | When Naz's Asset Collection is installed, skin support maps (_msn / _s / _sk) for covered races are retargeted so the follower leans less on private skin packs. Diffuse, eyes, hair, and mouth stay on their real sources. |
| Own hub | Copies the face assets she uses into textures\<Prefix>\… and repoints the mesh — only after you tick the redistribution permission box. BSA-packed assets are never unpacked. |
Free hubs do not make a follower fully shareable on their own; the report stays honest.
FF_YourFollower.esp ESPFE / ESL light plugin
meshes/.../facegeom/FF_YourFollower.esp/ FaceGen mesh
textures/.../facetint/FF_YourFollower.esp/ Face tint
manifest.json source-assets.json dependency-report.json rebuild-profile.json
build-report.html credits.md PERMISSIONS.md (when own-hub copies)
Rebuilding the same follower produces a byte-identical plugin.
cli\FollowerForge.Cli.exe drives the same engine:
fforge env # what Follower Forge sees on this PC
fforge index # re-read your mods
fforge locations --scan # rebuild the spawn library
fforge locations --text "bannered mare" # search spawn points
fforge races # usable races + why
fforge hubs # free-hub coverage
fforge assets --path "textures\...\x.dds" # is this texture installed?
fforge build --profile her.json --zip # build from a saved profile
fforge batch --profiles .\profiles\ # build a folder of profilesYour game folder, Vortex staging folder, and installed mods are only ever read. Everything Follower Forge creates goes in its own workspace. A write-guard refuses any path that would land inside your game or mod manager.
Generated plugins are checked for:
- HEDR
1.71, formVersion44, ESL light flag, new FormIDs in the light range - Clean reopen in Mutagen
- Deterministic rebuild (SHA256 match on the ESP)
77 xUnit tests. Release build: 0 warnings / 0 errors.
Not yet user-confirmed in-game for every path: recruit / trade / wait / dismiss and “she is standing in the inn” still need a Skyrim session. Structural validation is not a substitute for that.
Requires: .NET 10 SDK
cd "Follower Forge 2.0.0"
.\Build-FollowerForge.ps1 # build + tests
.\Publish-FollowerForge.ps1 # self-contained exe + zip in dist\| Project | Responsibility |
|---|---|
Domain |
Profiles, records, assets, hubs, manifests, validation types |
ModManagers |
Vortex discovery, deployment manifest, write-guard |
SkyrimRecords |
Mutagen indexing, follower compiler, cell placement, race suitability, analyzers |
AssetIndex |
SQLite catalogue, loose + BSA, CharGen, hub catalog |
FaceGen |
NiflySharp head dirty-swap |
BuildPipeline |
Atomic builder, location library, hubs, batch, packaging |
Validation |
In-process ESP header ship-gate |
Cli |
fforge |
Ui |
Avalonia 7-step wizard |
Tests |
xUnit |
MIT for Follower Forge source and binaries you build from it.
Follower Forge never redistributes Bethesda masters or third-party mod assets. Portable / own-hub copies require an explicit redistribution declaration from you, and the tool records that you made the claim — it cannot verify permission with the original authors.