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Lodestar Trail

Getting started

Lodestar Trail shows you the way to a place you choose: a glowing trail along the ground, a small fairy light that flies ahead, an arrow at the top of the screen, or any mix of the three. Everything happens in your own game. Nothing needs to be installed on a server.

Install

Section titled “Install”
Loader Server
NeoForge Not needed

Download the Lodestar Trail file for your Minecraft version and NeoForge (its name starts with lodestar-trail-neoforge), put it in your game’s mods folder and start Minecraft. Lodestar is client only: it works in singleplayer, on LAN and on servers that do not have it installed. It adds no blocks or items and never changes the world.

Map mods are optional. See Map mods if you use JourneyMap or Xaero’s maps.

Open Lodestar

Section titled “Open Lodestar”

Join a world and press Esc. A small star button sits beside the pause menu’s centre buttons (its tooltip says Open Lodestar). Press it to open the Lodestar menu. If another mod has taken that spot, the star moves to a free slot nearby or to the top right corner.

You can also bind the Open Lodestar key under Options → Controls → Key Binds → Lodestar Trail. Every Lodestar key starts unbound, so nothing clashes with your other mods. You never need a key or a command for everyday use.

The first time you open Lodestar, a short welcome explains three things it can do: Save places you like, Find your way back and Choose how you’re guided. Each has a button that takes you straight there. Press Get started to continue to the menu. Show the welcome again, under More options, brings it back.

The Lodestar welcome screen titled A little help finding your way, with three short cards: Save places you like with a Save this place button, Find your way back with a My outings button, and Choose how you're guided with a Your guide button. Get started sits at the bottom right.
The welcome appears the first time you open Lodestar.
Section titled “The Lodestar menu”

The top line tells you what Lodestar is doing right now: Guiding you to a place with its distance, Retracing your steps, Guide paused or Not guiding anywhere. If the place is in another dimension, the line names that dimension instead of a distance.

The Lodestar menu. The status line reads Guiding you to a long place name, 72 blocks. Below are three large buttons, Go home with a red bed, Retrace my steps with leather boots and Save this place with a map, then a row of Places, My outings and Your guide, then Pause guide and Stop guiding. More options is at the bottom left and Done at the bottom right.
The Lodestar menu while guiding.
Button What it does
Set home here / Go home Saves where you stand as Home, then guides you there whenever you like
Retrace my steps Guides you back along your latest outing (My outings)
Save this place Saves where you stand as a named place (Places)
Places Your saved places, recent places and the journey
My outings Your recorded walks, saved journeys and portals
Your guide Which guides show you the way, and how they look (Your guide)
Pause guide / Resume guide Hides the guide but keeps your destination, then shows it again
Stop guiding Stops guiding and ends any journey or retrace; saved places and history are kept

Pause guide and Stop guiding only appear while Lodestar has somewhere to take you. Done closes the menu.

More options

Section titled “More options”

Every Lodestar screen has a More options button at the bottom left. It reveals extra settings on that screen, and Lodestar remembers your choice for every screen until you press Fewer options. On the Lodestar menu it adds Change home, Mark return point, Go back to return point and Show the welcome again.

Set home

Section titled “Set home”

Stand where you want Home to be and press Set home here. Lodestar says “Home saved. You can find your way back any time.” From then on the same button reads Go home and guides you there.

To move Home, open More options and press Change home. Lodestar asks before replacing your old Home with where you stand now.

Home belongs to the world (or server) and to you. Each world has its own Home.

Save a place

Section titled “Save a place”

Press Save this place. The editor opens with the name field ready: type a name, and optionally choose an icon and a colour (see Places). Press Save. The place appears under Places → Saved.

Choose a destination

Section titled “Choose a destination”
  1. Press Places.
  2. Pick a place on the Saved or Recent tab.
  3. Press Guide here.

The menu closes and your guide appears. With the default settings that is a glowing trail along the ground. When you arrive, a small sparkle plays and the guide hides. It comes back if you walk away again.

Other ways to choose a destination:

  • Go home or Retrace my steps on the Lodestar menu.
  • A saved journey of several stops (Journeys).
  • Guide with Lodestar in a supported map mod (Map mods).
  • The Guide to looked-at block key, or typed commands (Quick guide and keys).

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
  • Change how you are guided in Your guide.
  • Learn the quick guide wheel for one-key access to Home, Retrace, Save and Pause.
  • Read the limits: Lodestar points the way, but it does not find a path around walls.