Horde - A Light-Weight SKSE Follower Management System

Author's Note

I've been working on Horde off and on since November 2025. It started as a follower system for my custom followers, but I eventually realized what I really wanted was a lightweight follower manager with a focused set of features. It began with an MCM, moved to SKSE Menu Framework, and later shared the HTML-based interface work I did for Tailor. That work became Meridian UI, which powered Horde 2.0.

Horde 3.0 now has its own native interface built directly into the mod. It keeps the dark-fantasy panel, copper and amber colors, and party controls, with no separate UI framework to install.

At one point I doubted whether I should release Horde because Ivy had already made such a nice SKSE follower system. That said, I wanted a little more from it, so I built this for myself and I'm releasing it for the rest of you.

Important: Horde is a replacement for other multi-follower frameworks such as NFF, EFF, and AFT. Do not run them together. If you are switching frameworks, follow the previous mod's removal instructions and use a new game for the cleanest start.What's New in Horde 3.0

• Built-in native interface - Horde now renders its own Dear ImGui/DX11 panel. Prisma UI, Meridian UI, and Media Keys Fix SKSE are no longer requirements.
• Controller navigation - navigate followers, commands, group orders, settings, and confirmations with contextual button legends and an optional stick cursor.
• Open from Favorites - gamepad users open Horde by casting the Horde lesser power. No dedicated gamepad opening combination is reserved. Select the Keybinds button to remove the favorites feature.
• Reworked sandboxing - followers use Skyrim's package system to relax in suitable locations, with separate behavior for followers traveling with you and followers waiting where you left them.
• Dismissed followers can live at home - assigned homes use dedicated residence behavior, independent of your active follower slots.
• Revised friendly-fire protection - identifiable damage between the player and Horde followers, or between Horde followers, is blocked at the health-damage hook. The old health-refund system has been removed.
• Follower and save fixes - improvements to home restoration, animal dismissal, Essential-state recovery, equipment armor values, and loading follower data.
• No hidden starter bow or arrows - Horde removes vanilla's hidden follower bow and iron-arrow grants from recruitment.

Overview

Manage up to 20 followers from one in-game panel. No MCM and no follower-management dialogue trees.

Follow, wait, summon, dismiss, assign homes, and manage combat behavior from a full-screen party panel. See your roster alongside the selected follower's stats, equipment, and commands. Open Horde from its lesser power or an optional keyboard shortcut.

Sandbox-enabled followers can use nearby furniture and idle activities in safe locations. Traveling followers stay near you; waiting followers relax around their own wait position instead of following you away.

Assign a home before dismissal and Horde gives that follower residence behavior at the destination. The dismissed registry remembers them, lets you change or clear their home remotely, and can summon and re-recruit them when you need them again.

Horde manages followers that use Skyrim's vanilla DialogueFollower system. Known independent follower frameworks are detected and excluded so those companions can continue using their own systems.

Horde 3.0 uses one native DLL for supported Skyrim SE and AE runtimes. The included Horde.esp is ESL-flagged and does not consume a full plugin slot.Requirements

• SKSE64 matching your installed Skyrim runtime.
• Address Library for SKSE Plugins with the database matching your installed Skyrim runtime.
• Microsoft Visual C++ v14 Redistributable (x64) - install the current supported x64 package. You may already have it from other SKSE plugins.

Prisma UI, Meridian UI, and Media Keys Fix SKSE are not required. Horde's interface is built in. Dear ImGui and FreeType do not need separate installations.

Install the complete Horde package, including its matching DLL and ESP, and fonts. The fonts are included under Data/SKSE/Plugins/Horde/fonts/.

Supported Runtimes

• Skyrim SE 1.5.97.
• Skyrim AE 1.6.x through 1.7.104, using the appropriate SKSE and Address Library files for your executable.
• Skyrim VR is not supported.

Choose requirements by your game executable version. Owning the Anniversary Upgrade content does not by itself determine which SKSE download you need.Installation and Updating

First Installation

1. Install the requirements listed above.
2. Install the complete Horde archive through your mod manager.
3. Enable Horde and activate Horde.esp in your load order.
4. Launch Skyrim through SKSE.
5. Load your game, recruit a compatible follower normally, and cast the Horde lesser power to open the panel.

The default Favorites mode grants five lesser powers on save load and adds them to Favorites: Horde, Horde: Follow, Horde: Wait, Horde: Summon, and Horde: Passive. Clicking the Keybinds button in the interface will remove the favorites and only use the Keybind to open Horde (Shift-H).

Updating from an Older Horde Version

1. Exit Skyrim and back up your save and its matching SKSE cosave.
2. Preserve your existing SKSE/Plugins/Horde/settings.json if you have customized it. With MO2, the active copy may be in Overwrite or a separate settings mod.
3. Replace the old Horde installation with the complete 3.0 package. Update the DLL and ESP together, and include the bundled fonts.
4. Check that another mod or Overwrite is not supplying an older Horde DLL or ESP.
5. Load a copied save and check your roster, home assignments, and per-follower settings.

Existing follower data is read from the SKSE cosave, with defaults for newly added fields. Keep the matching save and cosave together.

You can remove Prisma UI, Meridian UI, or Media Keys Fix SKSE if nothing else in your load order needs them. Keep any dependency still used by another mod.Features

Follower Management

• Up to 20 followers - recruit through normal dialogue and let Horde detect compatible followers automatically.
• Individual commands - follow, wait, summon, and dismiss each follower.
• Group orders - Follow All, Wait All, Summon All, and a party-wide Passive toggle.
• Follow distance - Close, Normal, or Far presets for the party.
• Follow Close - an optional per-follower teleport leash for companions who fall too far behind.
• Friendly-fire protection - filters identifiable teammate damage and stops combat between teammates.
• Custom-framework detection - known independently managed companions are left to their own systems.
• Recruitment equipment - no vanilla hidden follower bow or iron-arrow grant. Existing inventory items are not removed.

Sandbox System

• Per-follower control - enable Idle Sandbox for the companions you want to relax nearby.
• Traveling followers - use furniture and idle activities within an 800-unit area around the player in safe locations, while neither actor is in combat and the player is not sneaking.
• Waiting followers - sandbox-enabled companions can relax within an 800-unit area around their own wait location when it is safe and they are out of combat.
• Hold-position fallback - waiting followers hold their position when sandboxing is disabled or its conditions are not met.
• Engine-controlled behavior - Skyrim selects the appropriate package as conditions change. There is no fixed five-second idle countdown.

Sandboxing depends on the location's keywords, navmesh, furniture, and idle markers. An area that looks peaceful is not necessarily marked as a safe sandbox location by the game or the mod that added it.

Home System

• Assign a home - set your current location as a follower's home.
• Live-in dismissal - dismissed followers with assigned homes receive residence behavior so they can travel there and sandbox.
• Independent of the active party - residence behavior does not occupy your active follower slots or disappear when you recruit someone else into a vacated slot.
• Change or clear - manage homes from the follower panel or dismissed registry.
• Original location recovery - clearing a home restores the follower's recorded original location data.
• Quest behavior respected - higher-priority quest packages can still take precedence over Horde's residence behavior.
• Persistent assignments - home data is saved in the SKSE cosave and restored on load.

Dismissed Registry

• Remember dismissed followers - see former party members and their assigned homes in one place.
• Summon and re-recruit - bring a registered follower back to you when a party slot is available.
• Manage homes remotely - set their home to your current location or clear their existing assignment.
• Forget - remove an unwanted registry entry with confirmation. Horde restores its home override before discarding the entry.

Combat and Per-Follower Behavior

• Passive mode - call a follower out of combat and suppress their aggression until you turn Passive off.
• Party-wide Passive toggle - stand down the whole party, then switch them back when you are ready to fight.
• Essential toggle - control each follower's Essential preference from their detail panel.
• Independent preferences - configure Passive, Essential, Follow Close, and Idle Sandbox separately for each follower.

Native Interface

• Roster and follower details - party overview and the selected follower's information together in a full-screen panel.
• Built-in rendering - Dear ImGui/DX11 with the copper and amber theme, bundled fonts, and custom icons.
• Mouse, keyboard, and controller - use the input method you prefer, with controller hints for the current section.
• Optional controller cursor - switch between focused navigation and a stick-controlled cursor.
• Game pause and input capture - Horde pauses Skyrim while open and captures menu controls.
• Crosshair quick-open - look at a tracked follower before opening Horde to select their details immediately.
• Notification control - mute Horde notifications from the panel.

The Panel

Roster

Each follower has a row with their name, level, class, health / magicka / stamina bars, distance, and current state. Green marks following and amber marks waiting. Select a follower to view their details and commands beside the roster.

Group orders sit above the roster. The footer contains follow-distance presets, notification control, and the button for switching between Favorites and Keybinds. The Dismissed button opens the registry when entries exist.

Follower Details

• Stats - race, level, class, armor rating, and current / maximum health, magicka, and stamina.
• Combat skills - one-handed, two-handed, archery, block, heavy armor, light armor, destruction, restoration, and conjuration.
• Equipment - both hands plus head, body, hands, and feet, with damage or armor information where applicable.
• Behavior - Passive, Follow Close, Idle Sandbox, and Essential controls.
• Orders - Follow / Wait, Summon, and Dismiss.
• Home - view, set, change, or clear the follower's assignment.

Dismissed Registry

Former party members appear with their home assignments and Summon, Set Home, Clear Home, and Forget actions. Set Home uses your current position, so travel to the desired destination first.How to Use

Getting Started

1. Recruit followers normally: talk to them, hire them, or complete their recruitment quests.
2. Horde detects compatible followers and adds them to the roster, up to your configured limit.
3. Select the Horde lesser power from Favorites, close the Favorites menu, and cast it during normal gameplay.
4. Select a follower for individual commands, or use the group orders to manage the whole party.

Lesser Powers / Favorites Mode (Default)

• Horde - open the management panel.
• Horde: Follow - all followers resume following.
• Horde: Wait - all followers wait.
• Horde: Summon - teleport all tracked followers to you.
• Horde: Passive - toggle the party between standing down and being ready to fight.

Keyboard Shortcuts (Optional)

Choose Use Keybinds in the roster footer to switch from lesser powers to keyboard commands. Choose Enable Favorites to switch back.

• Shift + H - open / close the panel in Keybind mode.
• Alt + F - Follow All.
• Alt + W - Wait All.
• Alt + S - Summon All.
• Alt + P - toggle party-wide Passive.
• Escape - close Horde while its panel is open, in either mode.

Keyboard bindings can be changed in Data/SKSE/Plugins/Horde/settings.json using DirectX scan codes.

Controller Controls

Open Horde using its lesser power in Favorites mode. Select the power, close Skyrim's menus, and cast it. Release the casting button before navigating the panel. Horde does not reserve a gamepad opening combination; the former LB + Y shortcut is no longer used.

Once Horde is open, the bottom legend shows the controls for the current section. Default Xbox-style labels are shown below:

• D-pad / left stick - move focus within the current section.
• A - select a follower, enter their commands, or activate the focused control.
• LB / RB - switch between Followers, Commands or Dismissed, Group Orders, and Settings.
• B - cancel a confirmation, return from a section, or close Horde from Followers.
• X - open Group Orders from Followers, or return to Followers from Commands.
• Y - open the dismissed registry from Followers when entries exist.
• Right-stick click (R3) - toggle between navigation and cursor mode.
• Right stick - scroll the current section, or move the cursor in cursor mode.

Controller hints appear after controller input and hide when mouse or keyboard input resumes. Xbox, PlayStation, and generic labels are available through the controllerGlyphs setting. Label selection does not change the bindings.Settings and Persistence

Your roster, dismissed registry, homes, follower preferences, and follow / wait states are stored with your game in the SKSE cosave.

General settings are stored in Data/SKSE/Plugins/Horde/settings.json. Close Skyrim before editing this file manually.

• maxFollowers - roster limit, up to 20; default 20.
• useKeybinds - false for Favorites mode, true for Keybind mode; default false.
• defaultSandboxEnabled - sandbox preference for new recruits; default false.
• defaultFollowClose - Follow Close preference for new recruits; default false.
• notificationsEnabled - enable Horde notifications; default true.
• followDistance - "close", "normal", or "far"; default "normal".
• controllerGlyphs - "xbox", "playstation", or "generic"; default "xbox".
• modifierKey / activateKey - keyboard UI shortcut; defaults 42 + 35, Left Shift + H.
• groupModifierKey - group-command modifier; default 56, Left Alt.
• followAllKey / waitAllKey / summonAllKey / passiveAllKey - default F / W / S / P.

Compatibility

Followers Horde manages

Followers recruited through Skyrim's vanilla DialogueFollower system, including compatible hirelings and mod-added followers that use that system. Recruitment conditions, payments, and relationship requirements still apply.

Independent companions

Inigo, Vilja, Lucien, and Kaidan are examples of companions intentionally left to their own frameworks. Serana is also excluded because she uses the Dawnguard follower quest system. Use those companions' own commands; exclusion from Horde's roster is intentional.

Other follower managers

Do not use Horde alongside NFF, EFF, or AFT. They manage the same follower systems.

Dialogue and quest overrides

Horde suppresses vanilla Follow, Wait, and Dismiss dialogue for followers it manages. Trade and Command dialogue remain available.

Horde also overrides the DialogueFollower quest to remove the hidden starter bow and iron arrows. If another plugin wins that quest conflict, its follower alias must preserve this change for future recruitment grants to remain disabled. Horde does not remove equipment already in an NPC's inventory.

Friendly-fire scope

Protection applies when Horde can identify a teammate as the source of damage through Skyrim's health-damage path. Hostile and environmental damage still apply, and healing is unaffected. Scripted health changes that bypass that path are not filtered. Horde does not estimate or refund lost health.Troubleshooting

The panel does not open

Launch through SKSE and verify your SKSE and Address Library versions match your executable. Check that the complete Horde package is enabled, including Horde.esp and its fonts. Check Horde.log and skse64.log in your game's SKSE log folder for loading errors. If the DLL reports a missing Visual C++ runtime dependency, install or repair Microsoft's x64 redistributable linked above.

I upgraded, but the old interface or missing text appears

Check for an older Horde DLL winning a file conflict. Install the complete 3.0 package, including its matching ESP and all bundled fonts. Horde 3.0's interface does not load through Prisma UI or Meridian UI.

The lesser powers are missing

Powers are granted on save load in Favorites mode. If you previously enabled Keybinds, open Horde with your configured keyboard shortcut and choose Enable Favorites. You can also set useKeybinds to false in settings.json while Skyrim is closed, then reload your save.

LB + Y no longer opens Horde

That opening shortcut has been removed. Use Favorites mode and cast the Horde lesser power. Controller navigation and button legends still work once the panel is open.

A follower is not tracked

Confirm that the follower uses the vanilla follower system and that your roster is not full. Independently managed companions are excluded intentionally. Horde.log can help identify why an actor was rejected.

A follower will not sandbox

Enable Idle Sandbox for that follower and try a suitable location such as an inn with accessible furniture. Traveling followers must be out of combat, with the player out of combat and not sneaking. Waiting followers can sandbox around their own wait position when the location permits it. There is no five-second inactivity timer in 3.0.

A dismissed follower does not stay at the assigned home

Confirm their home is still listed in the dismissed registry and that you installed the matching 3.0 DLL and ESP. Check that the destination is reachable. Higher-priority quests or scenes can temporarily take precedence over residence behavior.

A keyboard shortcut conflicts with another mod

Change the keybinds in settings.json or switch to Favorites mode. Horde reserves no gamepad opening shortcut during gameplay.

Large parties reduce performance

Lower maxFollowers in settings.json. More active NPCs mean more pathfinding, combat, animation, and equipment work, with results depending on the area and your mod list.Typical Workflows

Build your warband: Recruit normally through dialogue. Horde adds compatible followers to the roster, where you can review their equipment and behavior settings.

Plan a fight: Use Horde: Wait to leave the party at a chosen position, Horde: Follow to regroup, and Horde: Summon when someone needs to be brought back to you.

Call off combat: Cast Horde: Passive to stand down the party. Cast it again when you want them ready to fight. Use Follow or Summon separately if you also want to regroup.

Give a follower a home: Travel to the destination, select Set Home, and dismiss the follower. Their residence behavior uses that location, while the dismissed registry keeps them available for later recruitment.

Leave companions at the inn: Enable Idle Sandbox and tell them to wait. They can relax around their wait location while you continue on your own.