Help: Building a bare-knuckle brawler/mage

[Calemyr]

To celebrate the upcoming release of Skyrim and just generally blow off steam, I wanted to build a new data folder for a new character (I keep copied the data folder once I installed the game, patches, dlcs and expansion. That way I just have to swap in data folders to play different configurations without having to worry about unnecessary mods and files). I know what I wanna do, I have the mods to do it, but I can not get the animations to do it style.

 

The key is a mod that lets you deliver touch spells via unarmed attacks. So the idea was to create a mage/monk who's preferred means of fighting is to pummel people into submission, using touch spells as unarmed techniques (disintigrate weapons: "Eagle Claw", paralyze: "Paralyzing Palm", shock damage: "Oblivion Buster", etc), creating a style akin to Jade Empire or Dragon Ball. The whole thing works quite nicely, but the animations are a problem. If any of you kind souls have seen something like this or have a suggestion, I'd appreciate it.

 

First off, I'm not entirely sure why, but the shoulders and upper third of the character's chest are visible (off camera, but visible in TFC mode) in 1st person. This means that whenever a punch makes the character lean forward, it makes this section of the character clip with the camera, briefly filling the screen with a skin-toned blob. I have no idea why this portion of flesh is appearing, even when wearing a robe or shirt, but it will kill the immersion when I start playing if I don't kill the problem first.

 

Secondly, I cannot find a good animation set for an unarmed fighter. I'm not looking for a monk as much as a brawler style, but I can't find any that work right of either variety. And I'm not talking about the kicks, as I know why those aren't showing up in 1st person, but the animations keep bouncing around, both in regards to camera height and stance. I've tried both with the Coronerras skeleton and without and none of the animation mods I've seen (excluding Seph's, because it only adds kicks) operate smoothly. I'm not using Deadly Reflex or Unnecessary Violence at this point, as they don't seem to offer much to an unarmed fighter, so that's not the problem. Frankly, I'd be happy with the vanilla animations if I could just get that darn bit of chest to stay the heck away from the camera.

 

Finally, I still have to work out how to make legs visible for kicks. I'm a neophyte at best when it comes to mesh modification, so I'm finding it tricky. I know the mod suggested by DR, but I don't want to loose my rings - I used the spiked knuckle meshes from Claws and Monk Gear and like the effect having them adds. I'm also still trying to find some decent pants beyond the blacksmith pants to fight in, either modded or vanilla. Or some decent black boots for that matter.

 

Anyway, that's my situation. If anyone has an idea on how I can make this work, I would appreciate it.

 

If you're interested, here's the build I have:

Race: Ravain (Modified Classic Witcher, rebalanced to use Breton stats/abilities)

Body: Roberts

Clothing: Tailored Black Vest (Elegant Vests), Fingerless Gloves (DMC Dante Clothes), Spiked Knuckle rings x2 (Claws and Monk Gear), Blacksmith's Pants, and Gold-trimmed Shoes.

 

Major System Mods: Enchanted Hand to Hand, Midas Magic

Companions: Rhianna, Vilja

[funnyfiggy]

Duke Patrick has some kick and punch animations included in his melee mod. He probably won't give you a reupload, but this sounds like a project primarily for private use anyway.

[Calemyr]

Yeah, it's pretty much just something for my own interests. I'm pretty good at adapting existing material to my purposes, but I'm crap at models and textures and animations and most of the other building blocks of modding. As such, everything I do is derivative, and so I keep it to myself unless I really hit a problem, such as this one.

 

By the way, I went to TESAlliance and got the mod you mentioned, but the only animations it has are for kicks.

Edited August 25, 2011 by Calemyr