Weapon Animation Question

[ric36]

I noticed that when I changed the reload animation for a TwoHandAutomatic weapon from ReloadA to ReloadE that the reload animation of the weapon model stopped working. So I am making a leap of logic and presuming that the fire animation of a weapon model that you see in game is related to the attack animation specified for the weapon in Geck and the reload animation of the model (the magazine coming out and being replaced) is related to the reload animation specified in GECK.

 

Is this true? If it is, where in the .nif file does it specify which attack animation and reload animation to use?

 

Do I need to use blender to change this, or can I use nifscope?

 

Would appreciate if anybody can answer any of these. I don't want to create a new animation, I just want to change the animation of an existing weapon and have it work properly. An example is the G36 assault rifle from FOOK. In FOOK it is set to ReloadA, however there is no cocking lever on the rifle where the G3 has one (the origin of the ReloadA animation). I thought that the ReloadE animation would look better, except now the weapon does not play its reload animation when I reload it. I have had similar problems with a number of shotguns not playing their fire animations (no shells being ejected, etc).

 

Thanks

Ric36

[pob255]

Animations are in seperate files, they are found in \Data\Meshes\Characters\_1stperson and _male

_male is the 3rd person person animations _1stperson are the animations you see in 1st person view.

They are in .kf format, I've not yet got as far as trying to figure out how to make your own .kf animations, however I can tell you that the .kf are the body movement animations of the person holding the gun, the animated bits of the weapon .nif are just the animations on the weapon model and they are somehow tied to the .kf files.

I know this because when making my bullpup em2 I tried to reposition the animation keys instead of repositioning the magazine mesh within nifscape.

It worked fine in nifscape and when you first equip the rifle the magazine and cocking handel where in the correct place, however the moement you reloaded both the cocking handel and magazine would reposition to the default positions from the person reload animation.

 

atm it seems to be easier to change a mesh than change an animation.

 

back to the .kf files you can figure out what they are from the file names eg 2hrreloada.kf = 2h, two handed, r, rifle class weapon, reload, the reload animation, a, animation sequance A

Which animation sequence can be selected as an option in GECK seems to be linked into this files nameing structure, well I cannot find any direct changeable options within the GECK to say use this file for this animation sequence.

 

Again when I was working on the EM2 I just used a reload animation sequence someone else made (from the "classic fallout weapons" mod) however I forgot to include the _1stperson animation so in 3rd person it was playing the correct animation but in 3rd person it was actually playing the laser rifle reload animation, I'm guessing FO3 was defaulting to that as there was no automatic class weapon animation sequence.

[ric36]

Right with you on the animation / kf file thing. It is the weapon mesh I am interested in, though. As you said, they animate independently, and I can watch the reload animation in nifscope, with the cocking handle moving and the magazine coming out, etc. The bit I am interested in, though, is that it appears the weapon model is sensitive to the body animation you tell the geck to use for it in the game for either firing or reload.

 

I assume that the information for the body animation is somehow linked to the .nif file of the weapon. That is what I want to change. Again, the example being the G36 assault rilfe. I can change the reload animation in the GECK to ReloadE, but then the weapon stops animating on reload (magazine does not come out, etc). How do I make the weapon animate when I select ReloadE?

 

Of course, I could be completely wrong about the whole thing. Not much grey matter upstairs.

 

Ric36

[pob255]

Well as I said the nif and kf are somehow interlinked, I've not figured out how, as the base files don't include a 2hareloade.kf I can only assume it's defaulting to 2hrreloade.kf , which ever weapon that is (watch the animation in game and you should be able to figure it out) I think the problem with the magazine not moveing is because the magazine object in the nif does not match the magazine object in the .kf for reloade so nothing is being triggered/animated.

As I said when I edited the animation within the nif it automattically reset the magazine position from the reload kf because I was still using the original reload assault rifle animation, ie it was ignoreing the animation data in the nif after the first reload/removal of the magazine.

 

you could try figureing out which weapon is using reloadE and then replace the meshes in that weapons nif with the g36 meshes and then use that weapon within GECK to remake the G36 that way the reload animation should fully work with all the parts animated, whether it will look right is another matter.

 

trying to figure out how they linked them all together and how I can make replacement animations is current my big stumbling block. :wacko:

[ric36]

ReloadE is the chinese assault rifle. I have just finished installing blender, so I will give that a go. Tomorrow. After work. RL sucks.

 

Thanks for your replies.

[Ghogiel]

Well as I said the nif and kf are somehow interlinked, I've not figured out how,

node names in the nif match controlled blocks in the kf.

 

ie open the nif. all the nodes that will be controlled by the animations start with ##. ie "##Bolt" or whatevver

 

open any of the reload kfs that belond to it. expand the controlled blocks array. scroll down to usually the later entries. There should be controlled blocks coresponding to those nodes in the weapon nif it is for.

 

open the kf and/or nif of the weapon/anim set you want to switch over to using. note block names. change the your weapon node names to match those. now the new animation set will play. if its wrong you'll just be miming away.

 

alignment will probably be an issue. I am not actually sure you can change pivot centers in nifskope.....must be a way...I'll look into that. but otherwise it'll be a case of importing both the nifs matching pivots of your mesh objects to the ones on the donor mesh.

 

if the mesh has a node with ##, then a child with ## but with a different name, (like in the alien blaster for example) you may have to do a little juggle of translation in nifskope after reexporting to get the node to line up after, for example the reload plays. it'll look correct at first, fire a few shots, reload. and the clip is floating out there in the wrong place.

 

most anims in the weapon nif don't do anything.

[pob255]

TA muchly that's handy info, I'll have to go digging into.

[ric36]

@Ghogiel you the man. I have changed the ## node names on the TOZ-34 and it is now using the double barrelled shotgun animation instead of trying to use the sawn off shotgun animation, so that's excellent. The G36, I had partial success with. As you pointed out, the magazine is animating, but now hangs in the air after a reload. Ho hum, no plan is perfect.

 

Any thanks for your help and KUDOS!

 

Ric36

[Ghogiel]

the reason for the mag to hang out there after the reload, is that while the releative position of the mesh object is in the right place in the nif, the actual numbers in the meshes translation/pivot center of the mag obj doesn't match what the anim expects. so once the mag comes under controll of the animamtions, ie reload. those numbers matter. and that is actually where it is now going to be placed, reguardless of what where the mesh actually is, it is moved around acording to its pivot point by the anim. you, have to not only have the mag in the right place, but you have to have the numbers in the transforms matching as well.

 

hope that helps

[ric36]

From what you are saying, I am guessing that I either need to make extensive and technical modifications to the rifle model or modify the animation, both of which are things beyond my current level of ability and time. I can live with the G36 as it is, and I was able to fix the TOZ-34, so I am happy with some amount of progress.

 

I am working on my own overhaul mod and have a tremendous amount of ground to cover, but if I have the motivation when I am done, I will try some model tweaking.

 

Thanks for your replies though, the information has helped me. Also, thanks for the many mods you have made for both fallout and oblivion.

 

Ric36