Fallout NV NPC animations stiff during dialogue

[skullsridge]

Greetings all, I'm having a minor issue in regards to NPCs animating during dialogue. Whenever I speak to any NPC, their bodies remain stiff and perfectly still, while their heads keep moving as normal. Sometimes they'll play an animation whenever I select a dialogue option, but they almost always reset back into the stiff pose. The stiff pose they take on reminds me of one of Weapon Animation Replacer's custom idles, but I wouldn't know if that mod also affects NPCs as well as the player.

 

Here's the mod list, for anyone interested. I know it's quite a few, but I assure you, the game works perfectly fine. I patched the NVSE exe to run on 4GB with a patcher, and also using ENBoost to get the game running. I'm also using Asurah's reanimation pack alongside WAR, WMX, and EVE, and I have all the correct patches. I'm also using LOOT, and only tweaked a couple things like Wasteland Flora Overhaul placement. I don't know why plugins like the Interior Lighting Overhaul esps are all separate from each other, but I put my faith in the almighty LOOT to know what it's doing.

 

Anyway, the load order:

 

0 0 FalloutNV.esm

1 1 DeadMoney.esm

2 2 HonestHearts.esm

3 3 OldWorldBlues.esm

4 4 LonesomeRoad.esm

5 5 GunRunnersArsenal.esm

6 6 ClassicPack.esm

7 7 MercenaryPack.esm

8 8 TribalPack.esm

9 9 CaravanPack.esm

10 a NVInteriors_Core.esm

11 b oHUD.esm

12 c SolidProject.esm

13 d FCOMaster.esm

14 e Interior Lighting Overhaul - Core.esm

15 f NVInteriors_ComboEdition.esm

16 10 NVWillow.esp

17 11 Project Nevada - Core.esm

18 12 Project Nevada - Equipment.esm

19 13 Project Nevada - Rebalance.esp

20 14 Project Nevada - Cyberware.esp

21 15 NevadaSkies.esm

22 16 Interior Lighting Overhaul - L38PS.esm

23 17 The Mod Configuration Menu.esp

24 18 EVE FNV - ALL DLC.esp

25 19 FOVSlider.esp

26 1a B42Inertia.esp

27 1b Real Recoil.esp

28 1c hz_1 by 1 Reload Fix.esp

29 1d FCO - NPC Changes.esp

30 1e WeaponModsExpanded.esp

31 1f All Weapon Sounds Overhaul .esp

32 20 WMX-DLCMerged.esp

33 21 WMX-EVE-AllDLCMerged.esp

34 22 WMX-ArenovalisTextures.esp

35 23 1nivVSLArmors.esp

36 24 boa ncrpahelmet.esp

37 25 Boacombat2glove.esp

38 26 pipboy2500_edisleado.esp

39 27 ADAM - Trooper Gloves.esp

40 28 ADAM Complete.esp

41 29 ADAM - MERGE.esp

42 2a CAGE 1.9.3.2.esp

43 2b PerkEveryLevel.esp

44 2c DarNifiedUINV.esp

45 2d FCO - OHSB NPC Edits.esp

46 2e dD - Enhanced Blood Main NV.esp

47 2f CASM.esp

48 30 NevadaSkies - Brighter Nights.esp

49 31 ELECTRO-CITY - Imaginator.esp

50 32 Asurah_reanimation.esp

51 33 Laser Pistol Fix.esp

52 34 AK74.esp

53 35 hz_Automatic Weapons Fix.esp

54 36 The Weapon Mod Menu.esp

55 37 Project Nevada - WMX.esp

56 38 WMX-POPMerged.esp

57 39 GRA-WRP-Patch-Two_Unofficial.esp

58 3a Project Nevada - Dead Money.esp

59 3b Project Nevada - Honest Hearts.esp

60 3c Project Nevada - Old World Blues.esp

61 3d Project Nevada - Lonesome Road.esp

62 3e Project Nevada - Gun Runners' Arsenal.esp

63 3f Project Nevada - EVE All DLC.esp

64 40 FCO - Willow.esp

65 41 NoDegrade.esp

66 42 Interior Lighting Overhaul - Ultimate Edition.esp

67 43 ILO - GS Shack.esp

68 44 ILO - NVInteriors Project.esp

69 45 Vurt's WFO.esp

70 46 NevadaSkies - Ultimate DLC Edition.esp

71 47 MergedPatch12.esp

NevadaSkies - Basic Edition.esp

NevadaSkies - TTW Edition.esp

FCO - Russell.esp

FCO - Willow (Cazy).esp <-- I have the last four turned off, since I lack the requirements to run them. I haven't deleted them from Data out of fear it'll mess with something.

Also, for whatever reason, I can't seem to find any plugin for WAR, though I think that's because I'm using the FOMOD on Nexus Mod Manager. It worked after a fresh reinstall, but since I'm not using any of Millenia's custom weapons aside from WRP and the AK74 (which doesn't say if it actually requires WAR), there isn't much reason for me to keep it, aside from the possibility that deleting it might mess with the game somehow. I'm not new to modding per se, but I am new to modding Fallout New Vegas, so there are still things I don't know. Any advice on how to resolve the stiff NPC animations, as well as general load order, would be deeply appreciated. Thanks fellas.

[dubiousintent]

* Move any "inactive" plugins out of the game "Data" folder. They count against the "plugin cap" because they get loaded by the game engine if found, and can cause "Missing Master" problems. Please see the wiki "Missing Masters" article if you get that error message.

"Weapon Animation Replacer (WAR)" doesn't have a "plugin" file (neither ESM nor ESP). It replaces vanilla animation ".kf" files, which are buried in the vanilla BSA files, with "loose files" placed under the "Data" folder. This doesn't matter which mod manager you use to install it (only if you attempt to uninstall it). As such it will not show up in your "load order".

 

It's never a good idea to remove any plugin once it has been included into a "save game" file. If you were to do so, it would be best to go back to a save prior to when you added it, or start a new game. This simply because you can not have any idea just what scripts and flags and other things it has running. Without the plugin, unexpected things can cause corruption.

 

Most dialog (all that I can recall) zooms in on the head so that is all you see. If you are seeing "stiffness" that is not present in vanilla dialog, then it's the result of some animation mod (again, "*.kf" files) you have installed. As with WAR, such do not appear in the "load order".

 

-Dubious-

[skullsridge]

Alright, good to know. I just uninstalled WAR (literally as I was receiving your reply), so...woops. I'll verify the local game files through steam to get the vanilla .kf files back, then reinstall the Asurah reanimation pack, plus patches, and see if that does anything. I swear, installing WAR through the NMM has always been screwy. Anytime I try to reinstall it through NMM, the manager crashes, so I'd have to delete it, then recompile the FOMOD all over again. I tried reinstalling it just now, and encountered the same error. I don't know if that has anything to do with how I compiled the FOMOD or what, but it's done me more harm than good, that's for sure. Might have something to do with the NPCs' stiff animations, come to think of it. Anyway, about to verify files through steam now. Thanks for the reply, I'll keep you posted if anything happens.

[skullsridge]

Turns out my instincts (and yours) were right: it was WAR messing with the NPC idle animations. After permanently uninstalling WAR, verifying the files, and reinstalling the Asurah's animations and patches, I took your advice and started a new game (and removed the inactive plugins to a backup folder, just to be safe). I saw the stiff pose for a split second when talking to Sunny, but it went right back to the regular animations. I think what happens is that the idle animations "load" between certain dialogue lines, and this stiff pose is just a very brief placeholder for the animation "reset" to occur. What WAR was doing was preventing certain animations from playing, or just removing them entirely, so this placeholder stiff pose would be all that loads in for the NPCs, while certain other animations would be unaffected, which is why some of them would play when selecting a new dialogue option, but then go back to stiff shortly thereafter.

 

I doubt I'll be reinstalling WAR any time soon after this. None of the Millenia weapons that require WAR ain't worth all the hell and high water that I would have to go through to run all of this correctly, at least not with Asurah's beautiful animation work and WRP to keep me company.

 

Thanks again for your response. Knowing what exactly WAR does certainly helped me better understand how to best restore the game after the mod's deletion. Perhaps someday WAR will return to my radar, and on that day I'll make some changes as to how I compile the FOMOD, but today is not that day.

 

Have a good night, Dubious. Best of luck in helping other wayward drifters like myself find the right path through modding.

Edited March 29, 2018 by skullsridge

[skullsridge]

After playing the game some more, I'm starting to notice the stiff pose occurring more often now. It's not all the time like it used to be while WAR was installed, mind you, but I notice all NPCs stand in this stiff pose when they're not in dialogue, and occurs when first initiating conversation. Asurah's reanimation pack is still installed, as is Project Nevada, Solid Project, and EVE, so it's either one or more of these mods that's causing the stiff pose. Also bear in mind that I've already verified the game cache through steam, so the vanilla .kf files should have been reinstalled as normal, unless reinstalling Asurah's animations overwrote some of those files, just not as many as WAR did.

 

Since first posting this topic, I downloaded NifSkope onto my desktop for use against mod issues. I understand that .kf files are not the same as .NIF files, but would NifSkope be functional in addressing this animation bug? At the very least, can it diagnose the issue so I can report back to you fine people as to what the cause is?

[dubiousintent]

About "verifying files": the use of "BSA Redirection" (aka "ArchiveInvalidation") means that "loose files override the use of vanilla files stored in BSA files". "Verifying" is basically checking the CRC of files provided as part of the vanilla game (and it's DLCs). It won't touch "loose files" because it doesn't know about them. So simply "verifying" won't remove added "loose files" (such as your ".kf" idle animations) which are blocking access to the vanilla BSA versions. You have to do so yourself (typically by "uninstalling" them). Please see the 'Restoring to "Vanilla"' entry of the wiki "FNV General Mod Use Advice" article.

This "management of loose files" is one of the features your mod manager is supposed to handle for you. But depending upon the manager, it may require you to reconfigure/uninstall from your "install order" or "profile" or "overwrite folder", etc.

 

As for examining the bug, animations use the same "NetImmerse File" format as mesh ".nif" files (with the ".kf" extension), so they should be able to be loaded by NifSkope. (But I don't know, as it hasn't come up before.) They are created in "image/mesh tools" such as Blender.

 

Please see the 'Animation' section of the wiki "Getting started creating mods using GECK" article to get an idea of what is involved.

Note there are mods which add additional "idle animations". Search the Nexus on the term "idle".

 

-Dubious-

[skullsridge]

Understood Dubious. To be completely honest, the issue of the stiff pose isn't worth the hassle of restoring the game completely to vanilla. Having said that, if I could identify which loose files that are preventing the vanilla idles from playing, I could "uninstall" them and verify the game cache (yet again) to get those files back then redownload Asurah's animations, but again, I'd need to diagnose which loose files are causing me grief.

 

Good to know about NifSkope with animations, that'll give me some insight as to what's happening. I'll try to look through the animations and see if some of them aren't working.

 

Thanks for your help, I'll keep you posted. I won't do anything too drastic just yet until I know what I'm dealing with.

 

Edit: Scratch that, looking through the files reveals that Solid Project has its own custom idle animations. I'm reinstalling that now and will see if that fixes the problem. Here's to hoping.

 

Edit 2: Reinstalling Solid Project didn't seem to do anything, sadly. The bug persists. I can look through that folder list, though, to see if maybe it wasn't downloaded correctly. Worth a shot.

Edited March 31, 2018 by skullsridge

[skullsridge]

I've already given up on the endeavor of sifting through the files. Not that the bug no longer bothers me, mind you, it's that I have no idea what the names are for the animations that are supposed to play during dialogue. If I knew exactly what I was looking for, then sure, not a problem, but I have no idea what counts as animations for idle and dialogue, and which are for combat and first-person.

 

Maybe looking through FNVedit will give me some answers.

[dubiousintent]

The general naming scheme is in the 'Animation' section of the wiki "Getting started creating mods using GECK" article.

 

-Dubious-

[skullsridge]

I read the animation section, but it seems to pertain entirely to animations in combat, with no examples of what an idle animation for NPCs would look like, so it doesn't help me, at least not at the moment.

 

I also realized that I need blender to actually look at the animations, not NifSkope. I'll download that tomorrow; I'm too exhausted right now to download that and look at every single animation to verify which ones are for NPC dialogue and idle stance.

 

Thanks for your continued help Dubious, I just need some time to sleep and recharge for all the poking around I'll have to do to fix this issue.