Regarding animation and tutorials

[RiftWynd]

Im using 2 great weapon mods for Fallout 4, but having an issue.

One has great animations, but the weapon is not quite what im looking for.

The other has great gameplay, but the animations are poor.

 

I want to use the animations from the first mod, on the second. The gun in question is identical - they both appear to use the same style of animation and reload etc.

 

Initially i thought i could go into FO4edit and find the names of the animations, then change them, but i cant find any information in the mods that reflects this.

 

The question is, how to find animations, and edit them or replace them, with other animations? Ive looked for tutorials and all i can find is pages of information telling me to download blender or take part in a free trial and subscribe to a website so i can view nifs.

 

Ive been customizing my game for a little while so i have a basic understanding of how the mechanics work, but i thought the animations would be in a folder like all the others, and they are not - so if they are not in the folders, or the esp, where is the game getting them? And with this in mind, how would i tell the game that this weapon - uses the other weapon animations - instead?

 

All the evidence i can find suggests that the animations are somehow attached to the model files? But i cant find a way to VIEW animations without buying a 3d modeling program. If dont mind buying it if it solves the issue, but cant find any posts that state this will be the case?

[StormWolf01]

Heyas RyftWynd :)

Ok, so first let me say, that this is 3d modeling. Something that I pretty much only know the tip of the iceberg about. So.... I can't give you much in the way of help as far as modding these files. But I CAN answer a few of your questions.

 

Ok for starters. Anim (animation) files, are tied directly to 3d models. They're almost like a movie, with a whole bunch of frames, each tied to one another, to form a series. Each of them containing a small movement of one 3d object, or more, to create an entire motion. In this case, it would be the actor body, and the weapon or part of the weapon.

 

AFAIK, and again, I'm the greenhorn here, those files are listed in with the meshes. Not via creation kit or Xedit.

 

If the mod author did not distribute them as loose files (in a folder) they would be contained within the .bsa files of the mod. .bsa files are kinda like .zip files in that they are a container package, but in a format that the game uses and understands. You have to use specific programs in order to be able to open them, unpack the contents to access them, and then repack them to be usable again.

 

doing a search for .bsa in the mods section can give you some leads. ALSO..... I DO NOT KNOW for certain if Fallout4 .bsa files work the same as Skyrim bsa files do. I DO know that "some" of the tools are cross compatible for both games, but not sure about .bsa files.

 

As for editing them. There ARE some animation programs that I have seen in (I THINK) the utilities section https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/categories/38/ but since I don't really know the whole process I don't know if those are standalone and can go through the entire workflow, or if other 3d applications like Blender (for example) are still required.

 

OBTW, Blender is free. So IF it can handle these files once they have been unpacked, that would be a start for you. https://www.blender.org tho I am sure that you would have to chase down several plugins files for compatibility.