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🧭 Guided Location Quest

This tutorial shows how to make a quest that points players toward a real place in your world.

The player will:

  1. accept a quest,
  2. see the normal objective progress,
  3. follow a guiding marker beam,
  4. optionally use a bossbar compass to face the right direction,
  5. interact with the target block to finish the objective.

We'll build a small quest called Lost Relic. The player has to find an old crate near some ruins and right-click it.

A player following a NotQuests guiding beam with the bossbar compass visible at the top.

Before you start​

Pick the exact block or spot players should find. Stand there in-game and note:

  • the world name,
  • the x, y, and z coordinates,
  • which block the player should right-click.

In this tutorial, replace world 100 64 200 with your real location.

Enable the visual helpers​

Open general.yml in the NotQuests data folder (plugins/NotQuests on Paper or <world>/notquests on NeoForge) and check this section:

visual:
  objective-tracking:
    actionbar:
      enabled: true
    bossbar:
      enabled: true
    location-compass:
      enabled: true

actionbar and bossbar show objective progress. location-compass adds the direction helper for objectives that have a saved marker location.

Restart the server or reload NotQuests after changing the config.

Create the quest​

Create the quest:

/qa create LostRelic

Give it a name and description players will understand:

/qa edit LostRelic displayName set Lost Relic

/qa edit LostRelic description set The blacksmith lost an old crate near the ruins. Follow the marker and inspect it.

Add the objective​

For this tutorial, use an Interact objective. It completes when the player right-clicks the block at your chosen location:

/qa edit LostRelic objectives add Interact 1 world 100 64 200 --rightClick --maxDistance 2 --cancelInteraction --taskDescription "Inspect the lost crate"

What this means:

  • 1 - the player must interact once.
  • world 100 64 200 - the block or spot to interact with.
  • --rightClick - only right-clicks count.
  • --maxDistance 2 - the player must be close enough.
  • --cancelInteraction - prevents the click from also opening or changing the block.
  • --taskDescription - the text players see for this objective.

Add the guiding marker​

The objective now has a real target, but the marker beam is a separate setting. Set it to the same place:

/qa edit LostRelic objectives edit 1 location set world 100 64 200

If you are standing exactly where the marker should point, you can use this instead:

/qa edit LostRelic objectives edit 1 location set here

You can also aim at the block and use:

/qa edit LostRelic objectives edit 1 location set looking

Check that the marker is saved:

/qa edit LostRelic objectives edit 1 location status

Preview the marker before giving the quest to players:

/qa edit LostRelic objectives edit 1 location preview

Test it like a player​

Take the quest:

/q take LostRelic

Walk away from the target location. If everything is set up correctly:

  • the objective appears in the actionbar or bossbar,
  • the marker beam points toward the saved location,
  • the bossbar compass shows whether the marker is ahead, left, right, or behind,
  • the distance goes down as you get closer.

Right-click the target block to complete the objective.

Optional: attach the quest to an NPC​

For a nicer player flow, attach the quest to an NPC or armor stand:

/qa edit LostRelic npcs add rightClickSelect

After running the command, right-click the NPC that should offer the quest.

For more detail, see the NPC quest givers tutorial.

Common issues​

  • No marker appears: run location status and make sure the marker is enabled.
  • The compass does not show: check visual.objective-tracking.location-compass.enabled in general.yml.
  • The marker points to the wrong place: stand at the correct spot and run location set here again.
  • The objective does not complete: make sure the Interact objective coordinates match the block the player is clicking.
  • The player is in another world: marker tracking works best when the player and marker are in the same world.

Marker beams vs the Beam action​

This tutorial uses objective location markers. They are tied to the objective the player is tracking and are usually the best choice for guiding players.

The separate Beam action is for manually spawning or removing a named beam from rewards, triggers, or saved actions. Use that when you want a custom effect, not basic quest navigation.

Quick recap​

  • Add any objective that has a place in the world.
  • Set its marker with location set here, location set looking, or exact coordinates.
  • Enable visual.objective-tracking.location-compass.enabled if you want the bossbar compass.
  • Use location preview before players try the quest.
  • Test the quest with /q take LostRelic.