Skyrim Designer Confirms Foxes Lead You To Treasure
For many years, the purpose of foxes has perplexed and puzzled Skyrim fans. Of course, there’s every chance that they’re just another NPC creature to boost immersion in the Elder Scrolls series by frolicking around the foot of the Throat of the World.
For as long as we can remember, fans have been suspicious that their appearance in-game is for something more. Rumblings and rumours have swirled since the game’s release, that foxes have the ability to lead you to treasure. It means that if a player spotted one, there’s a good chance some loot is nearby. It turns out this is slightly true - but not in the way you’d expect.
Skyrim Foxes Lead You To Treasure - But Not On Purpose
Click to enlargeThe way that foxes react in the world of Tamriel is a peculiar one, which in some cases, can actually lead you to treasure as many have previously expected. Joel Burgess, - an ex-Bethesda developer - has confirmed that the fox’s pathfinding has led some players to decent loot.
In a Twitter thread, the Lead Level Designer for Skyrim explained that the treasure fox's pathfinding paired with its programming to run away from players if it gets scared has brought some players upon some goodies.
It’s the ‘navmesh’ that guides foxes into caves and the like, guided by the invisible polygon sheet that masks the map.
How Do Foxes Find Loot In Skyrim?
Click to enlargeFiguring out how foxes find their loot is actually incredibly complex. While larger areas use bigger triangles on the navmesh across less complex environments, the likes of caves and camps use many smaller triangles.
As it turns out, when the fox turns to flee, it’s not looking to run a distance of metres or miles - it’s looking to run a distance of triangles. So, the quickest way it can discern to do this is to find a camp or cave to take care of those triangles as soon as possible.
It’s a deeply fascinating programming fact, and it’s interesting to know that after all this time that the rumours were true - maybe not in the way we expected, but it’s intriguing either way.
