TETHER - Hand-Holding for Followers

[brussh]

We are getting so spoilt nowadays, this is so perversely hardcore maybe one for the purple brigade, whats next? a listening mod?

 

It sounds brilliant. I am abstaining from adding and removing in this playthrough and its paying off, one day at a time. Next play for sure. It is difficult playing Skyrim the normal way, you know fixing it untill its utterly broken.

 

Thanks a lot

[Ryo95]

12 hours ago, KEI997 said:

I'd like to clarify whether "change location" means changing cells or fast traveling, though in my own setup, fast traveling while holding hands didn't cause a CTD.
But assuming you mean fast travel, I'm considering updating it so that the tether releases whenever you open the map or menu.

No, I meant crossing a door.

[Bluegunk]

I've been tinkering with the SE Followers as Companions 2 mod, and managed to get walking side-by-side:

 

Video

 

BUT! Followers As Companions 2 currently has some issues with script stacking.  These were likely in the original LE version of the mod. I have been in touch with the current author with some fixes, and he will update the mod when he is back to his PC in due course.

 

Edited August 18 by Bluegunk

[KEI997]

1 hour ago, Ryo95 said:

No, I meant crossing a door.

Thanks for clarifying. Could you send me the log file from when the crash occurred? It should be located at:
Documents/My Games/Skyrim Special Edition/SKSE/TETHER.log

[Ryo95]

3 hours ago, KEI997 said:

Thanks for clarifying. Could you send me the log file from when the crash occurred? It should be located at:
Documents/My Games/Skyrim Special Edition/SKSE/TETHER.log

 

Here :

 

[21:26:52.422] [2592 ] TETHER v1-0-0-0
[21:26:52.422] [2592 ] TETHER loaded
[21:26:52.669] [2592 ] OAR condition register (TETHER_IsTetheredPlayer): OK
[21:26:52.669] [2592 ] OAR condition register (TETHER_IsTetheredFollower): OK
[21:28:04.683] [20732] Settings::Load: 16/16 globals bound from TETHER.esp
[21:28:04.683] [20732] InputHandler registered (toggle key from MCM, default DIK 0x23)
[21:28:04.683] [20732] PlayerUpdateHook installed (vtable idx 0xAD)
[21:28:04.683] [20732] SpeedHook installed (SetMaximumMovementSpeed)
[21:28:04.683] [20732] kDataLoaded: TETHER ready
[21:30:23.273] [11636] Hotkey pressed (device=keyboard, raw=0x23, skyui=0x23)
[21:30:23.273] [11636] KeepOffsetFromActor dispatch: OK
[21:30:23.277] [11636] Bones cached: follower arm L1=22.8 L2=16.0 (reach=38.8u), player arm L1=22.8 L2=16.0 (reach=38.9u)
[21:30:23.277] [11636] Axis probe (identify which local axis is bone-forward):
[21:30:23.277] [11636]   [pUpper] boneDir=(-0.12,-0.05,-0.99) dots: X=-0.00 Y=-0.00 Z=+1.00
[21:30:23.277] [11636]   [pFore] boneDir=(-0.50,0.16,-0.85) dots: X=+0.00 Y=-0.00 Z=+1.00
[21:30:23.277] [11636]   [fUpper] boneDir=(-0.00,-0.01,-1.00) dots: X=-0.00 Y=+0.00 Z=+1.00
[21:30:23.277] [11636]   [fFore] boneDir=(-0.34,0.07,-0.94) dots: X=+0.00 Y=-0.00 Z=+1.00
[21:30:23.277] [11636] ForceAddRagdollToWorld: player=OK follower=OK
[21:30:23.277] [11636] AddHavokBallAndSocketConstraint dispatch: OK
[21:30:23.277] [11636] engaged: target='Abigail' (formID=0xFE4EF808) offset(R=0 B=-30 follow=30/catch=60) [kinematic=false constraint=true]
[21:30:34.496] [2592 ] [W] ForceRelease: worldspace change
[21:30:34.496] [2592 ] ClearKeepOffsetFromActor dispatch: OK
[21:30:34.496] [2592 ] Game.RemoveHavokConstraints dispatch: OK
[21:30:34.496] [2592 ] ForceRemoveRagdollFromWorld: player=OK follower=OK
[21:30:34.496] [2592 ] [W] ForceRelease: state → Off
[21:30:40.192] [19328] Hotkey pressed (device=keyboard, raw=0x23, skyui=0x23)
[21:30:40.192] [19328] KeepOffsetFromActor dispatch: OK
[21:30:40.192] [19328] Bones cached: follower arm L1=22.8 L2=16.0 (reach=38.8u), player arm L1=22.8 L2=16.0 (reach=38.9u)
[21:30:40.192] [19328] Axis probe (identify which local axis is bone-forward):
[21:30:40.192] [19328]   [pUpper] boneDir=(0.15,0.07,-0.99) dots: X=+0.00 Y=-0.00 Z=+1.00
[21:30:40.192] [19328]   [pFore] boneDir=(0.55,-0.09,-0.83) dots: X=-0.00 Y=-0.00 Z=+1.00
[21:30:40.192] [19328]   [fUpper] boneDir=(-0.07,0.04,-1.00) dots: X=-0.00 Y=+0.00 Z=+1.00
[21:30:40.192] [19328]   [fFore] boneDir=(-0.14,0.38,-0.91) dots: X=-0.00 Y=-0.00 Z=+1.00
[21:30:40.192] [19328] ForceAddRagdollToWorld: player=OK follower=OK
[21:30:40.192] [19328] AddHavokBallAndSocketConstraint dispatch: OK
[21:30:40.192] [19328] engaged: target='Abigail' (formID=0xFE4EF808) offset(R=0 B=-30 follow=30/catch=60) [kinematic=false constraint=true]
[21:31:21.780] [2592 ] [W] ForceRelease: worldspace change
[21:31:21.780] [2592 ] ClearKeepOffsetFromActor dispatch: OK
[21:31:21.780] [2592 ] Game.RemoveHavokConstraints dispatch: OK
[21:31:21.780] [2592 ] ForceRemoveRagdollFromWorld: player=OK follower=OK
[21:31:21.780] [2592 ] [W] ForceRelease: state → Off
 

[KEI997]

7 hours ago, Ryo95 said:

[21:26:52.422] [2592 ] TETHER v1-0-0-0

try it with v1.0.2 first plz

[XDADDYXXX]

In first-person view, I can't see my follower. Could you please adjust the slider settings to bring the follower more forward?

[ppl3632]

First of all, I absolutely love the concept of this mod! I am so glad a mod like this exists. Thank you so much for creating such an excellent piece of work.

However, I am experiencing a strange issue and was hoping to get some advice. Intermittently, when my character holds hands with an NPC, my player character's neck twists unnaturally.

It seems to happen depending on the angle or direction I am looking at the NPC when initiating the hand-holding.

I do have the "PC Headtracking" mod installed, but it is completely deactivated in my game, so I don't think that is the culprit.

I'm really not sure what is causing this on my end. Any ideas or advice on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated!

 

Edited August 17 by ppl3632

[KEI997]

5 hours ago, ppl3632 said:

player character's neck twists unnaturally.

Regarding that issue, the head is actually kept completely straight in the animation data itself, but for some reason it tilts like that once you hold hands in-game. In the tether state, the actors are set to an "active ragdoll" state. I'm guessing that when a hand gets pulled backward in that state, the torso gets pulled along with it, but because the head tries to stay in its original position, it ends up twisting like that—though I'm not 100% sure.

So, if I tilt the head in the animation data enough to offset that in-game tilt, it might end up looking straight in-game.

[ppl3632]

4 hours ago, KEI997 said:

I'm guessing that when a hand gets pulled backward in that state, the torso gets pulled along with it, but because the head tries to stay in its original position, it ends up twisting like that—though I'm not 100% sure.

So, if I tilt the head in the animation data enough to offset that in-game tilt, it might end up looking straight in-game.

 

Thank you for the reply! If you plan to fix this in a future update, I'll happily wait for it.

[Agensolo]

Best mod! Could you also add an option for regular NPCs, not just followers?

[gerroth]

This is too good.

 

I almost feel the potential to create some sort of true "chained and leashed walk" walk based on that.

Edited August 19 by gerroth

[KEI997]

9 hours ago, gerroth said:

I almost feel the potential to create some sort of true "chained and leashed walk" walk based on that.

Yeah, definitely. When I first saw the leash mod, I actually thought about making animations for it, but I gave up thinking "nobody can move that fast on all fours anyway." But if you detect the leashed state and just cut down the movement speed, that sounds completely doable.

[gerroth]

On 8/20/2026 at 5:34 AM, KEI997 said:

Yeah, definitely. When I first saw the leash mod, I actually thought about making animations for it, but I gave up thinking "nobody can move that fast on all fours anyway." But if you detect the leashed state and just cut down the movement speed, that sounds completely doable.

 

Well fuck me, apparently all of this already works anyway.

 

Leash Framework + Pet Ring OAR. Sorry for Off-Topic Posting.

[Bluegunk]

3 minutes ago, gerroth said:

 

Well fuck me, apparently all of this already works anyway.

 

Leash Framework + Pet Ring OAR. Sorry for Off-Topic Posting.

Woah! That's worth having! Will you release this?

[gerroth]

5 minutes ago, Bluegunk said:

Woah! That's worth having! Will you release this?

 

The mods already exist, I did not create any of this just connected existing mods.

 

1. Leash Framework for leashing NPC to player (I used debug menu)

2. Pet Ring OAR on the player.

 

Again, sorry for OT posting.

Edited August 21 by gerroth

[Bluegunk]

Thanks for the info!

[inlabsishirley]

Any chance for a version where followers/NPCs hold the player's hand and are the one to lead the player (i.e., the player is the one behind)? :))

Edited Friday at 11:32 AM by inlabsishirley

[Latar2480]

On 8/15/2026 at 7:43 PM, gibgame said:

OAR says the tether plugin is missing when I boot up the game. Any suggestions?

I have the same problem with both versions of the mod, weird

[emiliamajitenshi]

can we get rid of mcm and  the esp and switch to skse menu framework or something similar in the future versions?

[dreadnaughtbr]

Hey buddy, I got back into Skyrim yesterday; I downloaded tons of mods and they're all working, except yours, due to the recent Skyrim update (Todd really won't leave us alone). Do you plan on updating the mod for the current version? 

 

[KEI997]

8 minutes ago, dreadnaughtbr said:

Hey buddy, I got back into Skyrim yesterday; I downloaded tons of mods and they're all working, except yours, due to the recent Skyrim update (Todd really won't leave us alone). Do you plan on updating the mod for the current version? 

 

So, what version of Skyrim are you actually running right now?

[dreadnaughtbr]

26 minutes ago, KEI997 said:

So, what version of Skyrim are you actually running right now?

Naturally, the latest version of the game. If I have to go back to the previous one, I’d have to downgrade all the mods I downloaded, even though almost all of them are already updated for this new version.

[KEI997]

48 minutes ago, dreadnaughtbr said:

Naturally, the latest version of the game. If I have to go back to the previous one, I’d have to downgrade all the mods I downloaded, even though almost all of them are already updated for this new version.

In my personal setup, I use a bunch of mods like OStim SA, MCO, POISE, and powerofthree's Tweaks etc.., so I really want to wait until the whole ecosystem updates to the latest version before doing a full rebuild and updating everything. Honestly, my hands are tied right now, so I can't do anything about it.
 

So for now, please consider TETHER to be strictly for version 1.6.1170.
 

It's open source, so feel free to fork the repo and make a 1.7.104-compatible version if you want. In fact, I'd really appreciate it if you did. Though, of course, you don't actually need my permission anyway.