HELP - Custom creature using custom skeleton

[McPaddington]

If they don't have a weapon then basically sitting or running away is all they can do. Unless you have some special animation (something funky) then you don't really need holster or reload animations. TARS weapon/s should be set as embedded and you need to set the node to have the same name as your weapon bone in your skeleton (so yes you do need one), default is ProjectileNode which playable weapons use but you can call it other names just as long as the skeleton and weapon form use the same name. When you add the weapon node / bone to the skeleton also wise to give it extra string data of "sgoKeep=1" just in case the game decides to chuck that node away.

 

If your using 1hp as your animation attack type then also make sure that the animation type is set right in the weapon and your using the correct Attack Anim which should correspond with the attack name given in the attack animation itself, e.g. if you used the name AttackRight, AttackLoop, etc.

 

You will also need to create your own weapon list, say TARSWeaponList and add your unique weapon to it, then tell TARS the creature to use that weapon list as well as place the actual weapon in the inventory plus ammo.

 

Hope some of that helps.

 

 

Okay, thanks for your advice. I have got most of it working now, but can you please elaborate on what you mean by "you need to set the node to have the same name as your weapon bone in your skeleton"? How do I do this exactly?

[mindboggles]

When you have the weapon form open right down the bottom you will see "Embedded Weapon" (tick by the way) it will also have "Node" make sure the text you enter there matches exactly the name of the bone / node in your skeleton you want it to fire from. For the Bloatfly I think it has something like ProjectileNode_Stinger which you should be able to find somewhere in it's skeleton nif, and it can vary from creature to creature.

[McPaddington]

When you have the weapon form open right down the bottom you will see "Embedded Weapon" (tick by the way) it will also have "Node" make sure the text you enter there matches exactly the name of the bone / node in your skeleton you want it to fire from. For the Bloatfly I think it has something like ProjectileNode_Stinger which you should be able to find somewhere in it's skeleton nif, and it can vary from creature to creature.

 

I have already done this, naming the bone ProjectileNode, and set it in the weapon form too. I have also added the weapon and ammo to his inventory, created a weaponlist and set TARS to use the weapon list, but all that happens when he tries to fight is that the weapon appears at his root bone, and does not fire.

[mindboggles]

Do you have a special weapon mesh for TARS? Most of the creatures don't (or they're built into the skin mesh to start) and the "attach" part in the animation text keys attaches the weapon in name only. So for most of my creatures when I make the equip and unequip animations files I'll just call those text keys and attach the (non-existent / invisible) weapon to the bone that the projectile node is attached to in the skeleton (parent bone).

 

If you've used an existing weapon to build the one for TARS from and your not using a special weapon mesh then make sure you wipe out all the model meshes the weapon was pointing to in the Art and Sound tab, otherwise it will drag the original weapon model around from the root bone.

 

If your still stuck PM me the files and I'll take a look and see if I can fix it.

[McPaddington]

Do you have a special weapon mesh for TARS? Most of the creatures don't (or they're built into the skin mesh to start) and the "attach" part in the animation text keys attaches the weapon in name only. So for most of my creatures when I make the equip and unequip animations files I'll just call those text keys and attach the (non-existent / invisible) weapon to the bone that the projectile node is attached to in the skeleton (parent bone).

 

If you've used an existing weapon to build the one for TARS from and your not using a special weapon mesh then make sure you wipe out all the model meshes the weapon was pointing to in the Art and Sound tab, otherwise it will drag the original weapon model around from the root bone.

 

If your still stuck PM me the files and I'll take a look and see if I can fix it.

 

I have got the Attach / Detach keys working in the animation files, and I have removed the meshes from TARS' weapon (since I extended the Gatling Lazer weapon form), but still TARS does not shoot. I do not entirely know what you mean when you say "attach the (non-existent / invisible) weapon to the bone that the projectile node is attached to in the skeleton (parent bone)." Is that the same as just adding the text keys? Is it done in Nifskope or my 3D program?

[mindboggles]

Basically when I say attach it's in name only (for creatures that is) and it's just the text keys. If you've used the Gatling Laser form then you've picked one of the more complicated weapon attacks to work with, from my understanding it's marked as automatic and instead of it being and attack like 1hpattack.kf you will be wanting it called 1hpattackloop.kf and the internal kf animation name instead of "Attack" you will be wanting "AttackLoop", and you might just want check the text key difference for a normal attack and an attackloop.

 

From the sound of it your not that far away from having it working.

[McPaddington]

Basically when I say attach it's in name only (for creatures that is) and it's just the text keys. If you've used the Gatling Laser form then you've picked one of the more complicated weapon attacks to work with, from my understanding it's marked as automatic and instead of it being and attack like 1hpattack.kf you will be wanting it called 1hpattackloop.kf and the internal kf animation name instead of "Attack" you will be wanting "AttackLoop", and you might just want check the text key difference for a normal attack and an attackloop.

 

From the sound of it your not that far away from having it working.

 

Hey, that got it working!

 

But for some reason, the lasers seem to originate from above the top of him, not where the ProjectileNode is placed. Any thoughts on why that might be?

[mindboggles]

There's a couple of things you could have a look at, firstly check if your animation files are telling the ProjectileNode to be somewhere else, in the NiTransformInterpolator block details the very first thing is the position of the node / bone so the ones (if any) that control it will dictate where it is. The other thing to check is the "projectile" used in the weapon form and check the nifs it uses to make sure that it's not transformed away from the 0,0,0 position in the nif itself.

[McPaddington]

I worked out what the problem was. It turns out I didnt have the ProjectileNode bone included in my firing animation. I added it in, and now his weapon is working completely perfectly!

 

Thanks again for your help!

 

Now I just need to finalize some of his companion functionality and then he will be complete and uploaded to NexusMods. I will update this forum when his download page is active.

[McPaddington]

After a LOT of bugs, here is the final TARS mod: http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/59315/?