[LE] Butterfly Blues: How do insects work?

[Lollia]

I had a spur of the moment idea that sounded absolutely wonderful, but once I tried to implement it, I realized that I had entered (at least for me) uncharted territory.

 

Would anyone happen to know how I can set up an insect as a regular NPC? I'm talking about the insects that spawn from activators (like the butterflies and such).

 

I have tried attaching the critter mesh to regular NPC actors. Copies of flame atronachs, ice wraiths and wisp actors have been linked to a duplicate of their race with just the body mesh changed, but there is no luck to be had.

 

I then tried linking the custom race to some of the animation files specific to the critter mesh, but all that has led to is the creature being stuck in one place once spawned. (Before the change, they scooted around while clipped halfway into the ground.) Their wings no longer flap in either case. :ermm:

 

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

[maxarturo]

You need to create your insect outside CK, and give it / attach it to a valid actor's skeleton, then you create a custom race and insert your custom made actor to the game, just copy / paste file address directory won't work here.

[Lollia]

You need to create your insect outside CK, and give it / attach it to a valid actor's skeleton, then you create a custom race and insert your custom made actor to the game, just copy / paste file address directory won't work here.

 

Let me make sure that I am understanding this correctly.

 

I'm using the mesh from Butterfly Improved by zzjay. I have that in a custom folder, and its file path is linked to the custom race in the CK. But I still need to attach it to a valid actor's skeleton...? How does one do that?

 

The only skeleton I was able to find was located in meshes\uniquebehaviors\moth\characterassets. It is called singleboneskeleton and is an HKX file. Can that be linked to through NifSkope? If so, where?

 

Edit: I just opened the butterfly mesh up, and there a great many entries. o_O

Edited July 15, 2022 by Lollia

[maxarturo]

That is just a mesh and texture replacer for the 'Critters Spawn'.

'Critters Spawn' don't use actors, they just run a random algorithm to mimic a random insects movement, which the insects are movable statics objects.

The insects from the 'Critters Spawn' or from the mod you pointed out are not 'Rig', you need to rig that insect mesh into a valid Skyrim actor's skeleton ,so that you can create an actor by using CK's actors creation system.

In order to do this you will need a program like 3DS or Blender.

Unfortunately this is one of those things that is not easy to explain how to do it without writing a wall of text, that in the end will only confuse you more. You will need to start researching this on-line, i'm not sure if there are any tutorials for this, but you never know.

EDIT: I meant 'algorithm' and not 'logarithm', I always confuse the two even in my native language which is the mother language of those 2 words, I'll never learn...

Edited July 16, 2022 by maxarturo

[Lollia]

Whoa! Blender!? :woot: I have not touched that since 2012! Oh, this takes me back to my terrible attempt at creating drowning poses for The Sims 3! :D

 

Not gonna lie. The very idea is extremely intimidating, but... I'm going to try to do it anyway! :dance:

 

You have given me a good idea of where to start. Thank you, maxarturo!

[Sphered]

Just take an invisible NPC, (or a regular NPC with invisible skin) and have them equip something that has an enchant. Give that enchant's effect, a Magic Hit Art. That art, can be anything. Including an animated insect

 

The nif may need some setting tweaks, like BSX and the graph details. Not looking at one atm, but more or less you can use existing nifs of bugs, just set BSX to 1 if it isnt already, and Controls Root Skeleton (or whatever its called) might need to be set to true. Oh, and it might matter to convert the root node to a NiNode. I havent made one of these in a while so dont remember if it matters in this case

[Lollia]

Just take an invisible NPC, (or a regular NPC with invisible skin) and have them equip something that has an enchant. Give that enchant's effect, a Magic Hit Art. That art, can be anything. Including an animated insect

 

The nif may need some setting tweaks, like BSX and the graph details. Not looking at one atm, but more or less you can use existing nifs of bugs, just set BSX to 1 if it isnt already, and Controls Root Skeleton (or whatever its called) might need to be set to true. Oh, and it might matter to convert the root node to a NiNode. I havent made one of these in a while so dont remember if it matters in this case

 

 

This sounds rather promising, but it also reminds me of something:

 

A few months back, I tried experimenting with a custom NPC who used the Meridia light form. It mostly worked fine, but the unfortunate bit was that there were still human footstep sounds whenever the form moved around. Is there a way to stop that from happening, or at least swap the sound for something more fitting?

[Sphered]

Any particular reason it has to be a human npc? Being invisible you really just care about movement. Wispmother could be a good choice, or icewraith, etc. Really just an invisible actor that seems to be quieter than most when moving. Footsteps can be handled easily with any race, but there are graph-induced sounds that happen on animations, so maybe pick a race that tends to be less loud

[Lollia]

Any particular reason it has to be a human npc? Being invisible you really just care about movement. Wispmother could be a good choice, or icewraith, etc. Really just an invisible actor that seems to be quieter than most when moving. Footsteps can be handled easily with any race, but there are graph-induced sounds that happen on animations, so maybe pick a race that tends to be less loud

 

 

It need not be human. I would prefer that it wasn't on account of the hitbox size. These particular butterflies, if I can get the concept working, are deadly. They're out to kill the player. An overly large/out of proportion hitbox is a disaster for immersion, so I would like the size to match up as much as possible. :yes: