Actors' Animations

[LtMattmoo]

I would like to change the animations that a particular actor uses, but I can't find anywhere in the creation kit that lets me edit animations. At the moment I've just given the new HKX file the same name as the animation that I want it to replace and stuck it in the same Skyrim\Data directory but this changes the animations of every actor that used the original.

 

What can I do to edit the animations of only one actor?

[fore]

Nothing.

 

Beth hasn't given us the tools to add new animations, and like you said, the CK doesn't allow for it.

 

Until someone cracks the behavior files, we will not be able to add anything. Only replace. And even that with problems.

[LtMattmoo]

Oh.. Well thanks anyways.

[rainofchaos]

There is a way to do this, but like fore said, only by replacing existing animations.

 

To make new (replacing) animations that don't interfere with the rest of the skyrim characters. I created a new Race and a new Actor class for the animations.

Then you can change the animations that you want on the new Race.

 

Here are the steps that I made:

 

Step 1. Copy the Meshes/Animations of the Actor 'Character' to a new map with your new race name (I'm going to use the name NewRace, as an example). (You can extract the animations with a BSA reader/unpacker tool found on nexus)

 

- Copy the following folders and files from, Meshes\Actors\Character\ to your new folder (Meshes\Actors\NewRace\):

 

_1stperson

animations

behaviors

character assets

character assets female

characters

characters female

facegendata

defaultfemale.hkx

defaultmale.hkx

 

- Delete the following, but keep the folder structure intact:

1. Every file in 'facegendata'

2. Every file in 'character assets', but NOT the files with 'skeleton' in the name.

So in the end you have the files: skeleton.hkx, skeleton.nif, skeletonbeast.nif still in your folders.

3. The same goes for 'character assets female'.

 

Step 2. Go in CK.

 

Step 3. Duplicate the race you want (Give it a custom name, For example: NewRace001)

- Under 'Copied Data' --> Select a Morph Race (I chose NordRace) and Select an Armor Race (I chose NordRace, if you forget to do this, then your actor won't have a body).

- Tab 'Body data' --> Change Skeleton and Behaviour Graph (Notice that you do this for male and female, you can switch between them in the above menu: Editing : male, female) to the new Actor folder you created at step 1

- Press the OK button.

 

Step 4. Add an actor (For example: newRaceCharacter001)

- Set Race --> NewRace001

- Optional: Check Unique

- Press the OK button.

 

Step 5. Then save everything, close the whole creation kit. And start it up again with your .esp as active file.

 

Step 6. Now in Top menu-item Gameplay --> Animations, there should be a NewRace Actor.

- Insert all the childs from the 'Character' Actor.

- Then let the horror begin of copy pasting all the syblings in the childs.

 

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to Select a Child/Sybling and rename it, because when it is duplicated it only get's copied and not saved afterwards.

As for the Standard duplicate name the action/animation event gets DUPLICATE001 after the name, you can rename this to something to your liking. If the name has a * after it, you know that it's going to be saved when you 'Close' this window NOT 'Cancel' and save the .esp.

Try to save often in between the renaming process, because my CK crashed a few times and it's not fun to do 100 items again.

 

Step 7. Add the new Character somewhere ingame.

 

Step 8. Overwrite an existing animation and play the game with the .esp to test it out.

[Gryphex]

There is a way to do this, but like fore said, only by replacing existing animations.

 

To make new (replacing) animations that don't interfere with the rest of the skyrim characters. I created a new Race and a new Actor class for the animations.

Then you can change the animations that you want on the new Race.

 

Here are the steps that I made:

 

Step 1. Copy the Meshes/Animations of the Actor 'Character' to a new map with your new race name (I'm going to use the name NewRace, as an example). (You can extract the animations with a BSA reader/unpacker tool found on nexus)

 

- Copy the following folders and files from, Meshes\Actors\Character\ to your new folder (Meshes\Actors\NewRace\):

 

_1stperson

animations

behaviors

character assets

character assets female

characters

characters female

facegendata

defaultfemale.hkx

defaultmale.hkx

 

- Delete the following, but keep the folder structure intact:

1. Every file in 'facegendata'

2. Every file in 'character assets', but NOT the files with 'skeleton' in the name.

So in the end you have the files: skeleton.hkx, skeleton.nif, skeletonbeast.nif still in your folders.

3. The same goes for 'character assets female'.

 

Step 2. Go in CK.

 

Step 3. Duplicate the race you want (Give it a custom name, For example: NewRace001)

- Under 'Copied Data' --> Select a Morph Race (I chose NordRace) and Select an Armor Race (I chose NordRace, if you forget to do this, then your actor won't have a body).

- Tab 'Body data' --> Change Skeleton and Behaviour Graph (Notice that you do this for male and female, you can switch between them in the above menu: Editing : male, female) to the new Actor folder you created at step 1

- Press the OK button.

 

Step 4. Add an actor (For example: newRaceCharacter001)

- Set Race --> NewRace001

- Optional: Check Unique

- Press the OK button.

 

Step 5. Then save everything, close the whole creation kit. And start it up again with your .esp as active file.

 

Step 6. Now in Top menu-item Gameplay --> Animations, there should be a NewRace Actor.

- Insert all the childs from the 'Character' Actor.

- Then let the horror begin of copy pasting all the syblings in the childs.

 

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to Select a Child/Sybling and rename it, because when it is duplicated it only get's copied and not saved afterwards.

As for the Standard duplicate name the action/animation event gets DUPLICATE001 after the name, you can rename this to something to your liking. If the name has a * after it, you know that it's going to be saved when you 'Close' this window NOT 'Cancel' and save the .esp.

Try to save often in between the renaming process, because my CK crashed a few times and it's not fun to do 100 items again.

 

Step 7. Add the new Character somewhere ingame.

 

Step 8. Overwrite an existing animation and play the game with the .esp to test it out.

 

hi thanks for your tutorial but still I don't understand the step 8 properly. can u plz explain it more clearly? thanks.! ^.^

[rainofchaos]

Step 8 is replacing the animation files of that race, with the ones that you want to include in the game.

So for instance you have the mt_walkforward.HKX and you want to replace it with your own walking animation, then you have to replace that file with your custom animation with the same name.

 

1. Create your animation.

2. Name it: mt_walkforward.HKX

3. Copy it over to the animations folder of your new race and overwrite the existing file (if it exists). If it doesn't exist, then just copy it.

[BlueLight79]

female work so far but male is freeze. dunno what cause it

[LoganWolverine]

Has Anyone Tried To make a Sneak Animation for lets say a wolf or dog???

 

I'm asking because I made a mod called Rusheeda which is a wolf Follower, but now I'm working on getting it to sneak when I sneak but there isn't any animation for dogs or wolves to sneak and I'm not at all familiar with making them working with animations.

[Ceruulean]

I think there is. In the behavior files, I've noticed game engine features are connected to event names. For example, actors fly when certain animation events trigger, even if it's from a clone of the original and a different race. My case; I cloned the dragon race, tried changing the Takeoff event parameters but still got CTD in game. Finally I renamed every event related to flying, taking off, landing or hovering and I could finally play the animation in-game, although the actor stays on the ground. I don't think the engine supports player-controlled flying so every time the actor tried to fly it resulted in CTD. Renaming the events turned the flying animations into normal ones.

 

Since dragons don't have a sprint event, they can't sprint and they can't sneak either. I'm guessing you have to actually add properly-named events so the engine can recognize what the character has to do. For sneaking, you'll have to add events "sneakStart" and "sneakStop," create a sneaking state where the movement animations are different from regular walking, and connect them together in the behaviors, then connect the event to ActionSneak in in the CK.

[fore]

...

Finally I renamed every event related to flying, taking off, landing or hovering and I could finally play the animation in-game, although the actor stays on the ground. I don't think the engine supports player-controlled flying so every time the actor tried to fly it resulted in CTD.

 

No, it does: FNIS Flyer

 

FNIS Flyer is the only mod that uses real custom flying animations. Animations that move the player. All other Flying mods available use a fake flying. They make flying look-alike animations, while the real movement is scripted using the TranslateTo() function.