Animation Diagonal Walk / Run

[bobsobol]

I'm tempted not to request this, not (as suggested in the "Before you make a mod request" pinned post) because I think it's probably easy, or because I haven't bothered looking for it, but because I think it may be actually impossible due to some silly over site in the internal game mechanics.

 

Here's the thing... I know we can now replace animations... what PC and NPCs do when they are idle, how the walk, run, jump, fall, get up etc... and even add items to a pose. But the biggest thing that takes realism away from the game for me, is when I'm running / walking, and I want to see what is ahead left, or ahead right of me. In anticipation of a turn, I often turn the camera (move the mouse) before a turn, and use strafe (side step) left or right to keep my avatar going straight.

 

When I do this is TES IV, my character faces in the direction of the camera, and runs in that direction whiles his / her feet slide across the floor like they are running on greased glass.

 

Down hill on ice, this wouldn't be a problem, but up hill in the grass, this just looks so wrong... moving in completely another direction to that which your feet are visibly propelling you.

 

If anyone knows how these animations are produced, or even if the orientation of the character to the camera could just be changed when forward and left or forward and right are both pressed, I would love to see a mod which fixes this.

 

Of course, this mod may exist, and I have simply been putting in the wrong search term... if this is the case, can someone please correct me, and point me in the right direction?

 

TIA.

[Vagrant0]

Might be possible with OBSE... (pauses while people gasp)

The problem is really creating the animation and all the scripting which would be needed to do this since you would be checking both movement vectors and where the player is facing, then forcing an animation to play. As this sort of thing is only noticeable if you are in 3rd person view, and are moving forward and to the side while looking to the side, there might not be much of a demand or the mod once all the work is done. So yeah, possible, just probably not worthwhile for most people.

[exanimis]

Might be possible with OBSE... (pauses while people gasp)

The problem is really creating the animation and all the scripting which would be needed to do this since you would be checking both movement vectors and where the player is facing, then forcing an animation to play. As this sort of thing is only noticeable if you are in 3rd person view, and are moving forward and to the side while looking to the side, there might not be much of a demand or the mod once all the work is done. So yeah, possible, just probably not worthwhile for most people.

 

Might be possible with OBSE... Dang! VagrantO said it might be possible? Remember, remember the 5th of...well February when Vagrant vicariously vindicated his visage of vigilance and verbose vocabulary and voluntarily voiced vainly vocalized ....Nah! skip that.

 

Don't ask! I have no idea what I just said.

[bobsobol]

Well, thank you for your prompt responses. Actually, I play, mainly, in third person... and I guess many other people do to. Otherwise, why all the custom PC races, skins and meshes and revealing armour which you can also, only really see in third person view? :)

 

I admit that targeting in third person is very hard for a ranged attack, but I find it impossible to tell when I'm getting attacked from behind, or manage a large mob at melae range. And for travelling (not fast travelling) it is really crucial to be able to see where you are not going, but might want to...

 

It's quite natural (I think) for us to look around in directions other than that in which we are moving. If I'm taking a walk in the country or just window shopping, I only periodically check directly in front of me.

 

Of course, this is a very subjective topic... as everyone has different playing styles, but it might be interesting to get a kind of poll against who spends what percentage of their time in what view.

 

If I'm truly hones, I tend to play first person in dungeons, where I can clear a corridor and have little chance of becoming surrounded. Ceiling adornments can become problematic for third person view as well. But outside, I know I only switch to first person in order to target my bow / spells.

 

Of course, this means I see the exterior of my Warriors / Fighters more than my Mages or Archers.

 

A stealth character I find most challenging, and is constantly switching views. I think this is also quite natural, because sneaking produces an adrenaline rush which heightens the senses. A Rogue / Thief will be highly aware of their surroundings, relying on much more than their sight and hearing. If I think about times I have been creeping around, I remember being very aware of the movement of grasses and shrubs, the feel of movements around me on the ground. Imagine a hunt, or game of Blind Mans Buff.

 

So yea... in stealth, I'm constantly switching... What is around me? Okay get to that dark corner... they've passed? Where now? The cupboard over there, but watch for the next patrol... Quickly and carefully remove silverware... no knocking or dropping, keep switching back to have plenty of warning of that patrol... clear? Okay get back to the shadows. And so-on.

 

In any case... I definitely see my character from outside quite enough for the appearance of their movements to be very important to me.

 

How do others feel?

[SirMagus]

A diagonal walk animation would be quite nice.

 

Doesn't look right to do diagonal moonwalks like the chars are doing now...

[bobsobol]

I don't think you'd need to create new animations, like the combat animation mods. The existing run / walk animations are fine, they just need their orientation to the camera (view port) adjusting when moving diagonally. I just have no idea if that means taking the existing animation, performing a transformation on it and creating a new .kf with the adjusted angle(s) or if you can do it pragmatically in script.

 

The latter would seem possible because we can watch NPCs run from any angle... and if that is the case, I could maybe invest some time in learning CS & OBSE.

 

My last attempt failed miserably because, while I already script in LUA, C, VB, PHP and many others, and produce textures for existing models in Oblivion and other games... my sense of 3 Dimensional space on a VDU (and, actually, in real life) is completely messed up. lol

[Ravager1213]

i wouldn't know how to do it, but might i suggest "torso twisting" of a sort? such as your upper torso can be facing one direction and your legs could rotate about 45-60 degrees the left or right and any further than that would cause you to start side stepping? just a thought.

[bobsobol]

My experience of other peoples mods suggests that the entire body is animated in a single animation file. (.kf) This makes sense when a head, or hand gets stuck behind a door and the body stretches along the nearest bone to keep the two body parts joined. If the parts where treated as separate objects, they would pop apart revealing the nothing inside them. ;)

 

Therefore, if a new animation needs to be created, and played when in 3rd person and running diagonally, this would be entirely possible... and could be made as an option, the default etc. depending on what looked better. But if a new .kf would be required, I have no idea how to create one, or how to edit an existing one. If it is possible in NifSkope I don't know how... maybe one of the other Nif Tools... but they don't make much sense to me.

 

If anyone has any info that they can share, has created animations and implemented them in game, or only considered something similar... I would appreciate any notes, pointers, links to insightful pages / tutorials.

 

This thread hasn't died, despite my endless prattle, so there is some interest. With your help, I have the willing, and maybe the base skills to make it work. But I couldn't possibly do it alone. Believe me, I have looked. I have read, but do not understand well enough to proceed alone.

 

Anything to do with Nifs and KFs seems to be aimed at people who find Blender and 3D MAX are intuitive, strait forward applications to use that need little explanation. Personally, if playing a game is like Dr. Zeuss, and C++ is Shakespeare for me... then Blender and 3D MAX are the untranslated cuneiform of the Dead-Sea scrolls. :rolleyes:

 

I don't consider this "stupidity" on my part, as I know many other people who are exactly the other way. 3D is no problem but coding is alien to them, and all attempts to understand it come to nothing. It's like left handed right handed, 1 in 3 of us are left handed, very few are ambidextrous. :wink:

 

Sadly, the 3D people I know are heathens who are not interested in TES, if it's not WoW or Halo3 they don't care. :wallbash: Hence I appeal to this fine community of "right minded" people. :D

 

TIA, and here's still hoping we can work together to fix this "bug". ;)

[Birrii]

It IS possible to walk diagonally, it just requires alot of work. With this, I mean that you don't use a mod, you just use you W A S D buttons.

I'll now try to explain it to you.

You are in 3rd person. First, you click W and then A/D (it depends on what direction you want). It sin't that hard. Well, I kind of understand what you mean. You maybe mean that they walk so unrealistic diagonally, don't you?

 

Well, hope it helps a little though, Birrii

[ihateregisteringeverywhere]

He meant the leg animation, the legs are running sidewards even thought you're walking diagonally, it kind of looks like sliding.