LE Female Archery Fix

[yasutaka]

The purpose of this thread is to highlight animation errors for archery on female characters/NPCs.

 

If you play a female character, you will notice that when you draw a bow the arrow does not line up properly with the bow (the bow appears to be held too far forward). On closer examination I think I've figured out the problem (and what can be done about it).

 

It seems that Bethesda decided that bows (and arrows) should be slightly smaller when held by a female. I assume this decision was made for aesthetic reasons, but unfortunately they did not alter the animations to match the new sizes of bows and arrows. As a result, the bowstring does not line up with the right hand and the arrow is held too far back.

 

 

These two images compare the male and female archery animations:

 

http://static.skyrimnexus.com/imageshare/images/932470-1327006546.gif http://static.skyrimnexus.com/imageshare/images/932470-1327006556.gif

 

Note the sizes and positions of the bows and arrows in each version of both images. Here is a non-animated comparison image, for anyone who might want that: Link

 

 

I can think of two ways to solve this problem:

 

1. Bows held by females can be changed to be the same size as bows held by males. I suspect that everything will line up properly if this is done, and that it will be the easier/safer method. Unfortunately, I have no idea where model size is controlled.

NOTE: If someone can point me in the right direction, I would be happy to explore this method myself and post/submit anything I can come up with.

 

2. The female animation can be altered so that the bow is held farther back (closer to the character's chest) when drawn. The problem with this method is that altering animations is likely more complicated than the first method. Also, there may not be a separate animation for males and females, in which case a new animation would have to be made, and references to the old animation changed to point to the new one.

Edited January 19, 2012 by yasutaka

[woopypooky]

how do u capture side photo of urself with the arrow drawn?

 

for me, i can't move the camera to my sides or front with the arrow drawn. i am using pc

Edited January 20, 2012 by woopypooky

[yasutaka]

how do u capture side photo of urself with the arrow drawn?

 

Hold down your attack key to draw the bow. Then, while holding down your 'change view' key ('F' by default), move the mouse side to side to rotate or up and down to zoom in and out.

 

Alternately, you can use the console ('~' by default). Draw your bow, then open the console and type "tfc 1" to enable Free Camera mode with the game paused. When you are done, enter "tfc" into the console to turn it off.

Edited January 20, 2012 by yasutaka

[Allephus]

how do u capture side photo of urself with the arrow drawn?

 

Hold down your attack key to draw the bow. Then, while holding down your 'change view' key ('F' by default), move the mouse side to side to rotate or up and down to zoom in and out.

 

I still wish there was a way to control the camera freefrom with the weapon drawn. :rolleyes: It's a big pain in the ass to angle it sometimes, without nearby walls.

 

I haven't noticed it much, but now that you have shown it, yeah...it could use a fix. But I'm not nitpicky about it. My chick's hot enough to make up for her apparent improper archery. :tongue:

[yasutaka]

I still wish there was a way to control the camera freefrom with the weapon drawn. :rolleyes: It's a big pain in the ass to angle it sometimes, without nearby walls.

 

I haven't noticed it much, but now that you have shown it, yeah...it could use a fix. But I'm not nitpicky about it. My chick's hot enough to make up for her apparent improper archery. :tongue:

 

Check out the edit on my previous post.

[Allephus]

I still wish there was a way to control the camera freefrom with the weapon drawn. :rolleyes: It's a big pain in the ass to angle it sometimes, without nearby walls.

 

I haven't noticed it much, but now that you have shown it, yeah...it could use a fix. But I'm not nitpicky about it. My chick's hot enough to make up for her apparent improper archery. :tongue:

 

Check out the edit on my previous post.

 

Thanks. I knew about that, but didn't like it. I was thinking more of a Fallout 3 style thing. I like the over the shoulder view, but it can't be done very easily in Skyrim, shoono? With the way you could angle the camera in FO3, you could even have an armpit view.

[yasutaka]

Thanks. I knew about that, but didn't like it. I was thinking more of a Fallout 3 style thing. I like the over the shoulder view, but it can't be done very easily in Skyrim, shoono? With the way you could angle the camera in FO3, you could even have an armpit view.

 

It's not always easy, but I think with a little patience you can get most of the shots you could want. The most annoying part is that the "tfc" camera moves so fast it's difficult to be precise.

Edited January 20, 2012 by yasutaka

[Eleathiel]

Being an archer RL I can say; judging by the animation: that the correct way to solve this is by letting the females use a larger bow.

 

Because the placement of her hand at full draw is correctly aligned to her cheek. The only thing I can imagine why this problem might have surfaced is that the script, or so, that makes the bow smaller is the same that makes the other weapons smaller.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Eleathiel]

Thanks. I knew about that, but didn't like it. I was thinking more of a Fallout 3 style thing. I like the over the shoulder view, but it can't be done very easily in Skyrim, shoono? With the way you could angle the camera in FO3, you could even have an armpit view.

 

It's not always easy, but I think with a little patience you can get most of the shots you could want. The most annoying part is that the "tfc" camera moves so fast it's difficult to be precise.

 

 

There's actually a console command to set the speed of the freecam, I'll look it up and edit it into this post.

 

EDIT: The command is "sucsm <number>" setting it to 1 is significantly slower, I guess normal is around 10 or so.

 

EDIT2: Lol, noticed I had quoted the wrong post.

Edited January 22, 2012 by Eleathiel

[yasutaka]

Being an archer RL I can say; judging by the animation: that the correct way to solve this is by letting the females use a larger bow.

 

Because the placement of her hand at full draw is correctly aligned to her cheek. The only thing I can imagine why this problem might have surfaced is that the script, or so, that makes the bow smaller is the same that makes the other weapons smaller.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

I'd agree with this. I'd prefer the bow-size method to the animation adjusting method, due to both simplicity and appearance, but I'll be satisfied with anything that makes it look good.

 

 

There's actually a console command to set the speed of the freecam, I'll look it up and edit it into this post.

 

EDIT: The command is "sucsm <number>" setting it to 1 is significantly slower, I guess normal is around 10 or so.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the tip!