Fire-Breathing Deathclaw?

[LeahTheUnknown]

My daughter, who loves dragons, wants me to make a fire-breathing deathclaw. Help.

 

I created a new race, and a new actor. I created the weapon and added it to its inventory. I gave it the "Voice" equip type and added Voice to the list of equip types the race can use, using the Tongue3 node on the nif as the location.

 

Ideally, I would like to copy the "Taunt" animation (where he spreads his arms and yells at you) and the "Pick you up and yell in your face" animation to make them both fire breath. I'm pretty stuck, though.

 

I know nothing about animating, and I don't even have 3DSMax. I have a command like HKX converter, which is fine, I know how to use the command prompt/write batch files.

 

1. How do I make an attack use an animation? Do I have to create an entirely new animation HKX file for my new creature? Will I have to learn how to use HavokTools for this?

 

2. How do I get him to use the weapon in combat? Another area I know nothing about is AI.

 

I would really like to do this, but if its too complex, I'll have a disappointed 9 year old. And no father wants that.

 

Please help.

 

~GKX

[kitcat81]

Give her a copy of Skyrim :wink:

Not sure that it's possible but probably you would need a new behavior file to make deathclaw use the addictional weapon during playing some certain anims. You'd need to learn creating behaviors for this, which can't be done in the CK.

Maybe there is a way around..but no guarantee that it works.

You can try to create a dummy weapon that uses flamer projectiles and ammo and give it to your deathclaw. Also copy ammo and projectile and adjust them for your needs.

 

If you remember the mirelurk king sonic explosions..I copied and eddited the projectivle to attach it to alien blaster. Without edditting it was floating above the blaster. So attaching projectiles from other weapons works.

In general you need a dummy secondary weapon that uses flamer projectile and is attached somewhere close to his mouth. If you type in the CK : WeapMirelurkKing - you can check the mirelurk sonic explosion weapon .I think it's quite similar to the weapon you need. Might require some keywords replaced with flamer keywords.

 

But even if you manage to attach the new weapon to your deathclaw, I doubt that it will be able to use it unless it replaces some similar weapon. Maybe as a way around you could create a script that is registered for taunt and grab animation events and fire this weapon from the script. No idea if this will work , it's just what I'd try to do. There is abDeathclawRaceEffect magic effect in the CK . It has a script that might interest you . RegisterForAnimationEvent(mySelf, "Intimidate") - registers deathclaw script for taunt animation

 

 

Edit: I was curious, it's quite interesting idea, so I tried to make something like this...And suprisingly it worked, though only partly. I used "other" weapon slot for testing , I doubt that deathclaws have the voice weapon slot. The fire appeared , but from under his legs. And he did not use his usual weapon (unarmed fight). I think that a new weapon should be attached instead of existing one. Maybe it's possible to eqip it each time before using and then remove... Unfortunately, it seems that deathclaws don't have any suitable weapon slots like middle hand.

What I did:

Copied WeapMirelurkKing weapon and changed most settings and values using Flamer as a reference. Added WeaponTypeFlamer and WeaponTypeHeavyGun keywords to it.

Set vanilla flamer projectile, ammo and enchanting and impact data.

Created a copy of abDeathclawRaceEffect and replaced the script. Just copypasted the script and changed it to this:

Scriptname DM_DeathclawFireEffect extends activemagiceffect

Actor property mySelf auto hidden
Weapon Property FireWeapon Auto Const
Ammo Property FlamerFuel Auto const

EVENT OnEffectStart(ACTOR akTarget, ACTOR akCaster)
    mySelf = getTargetActor()
    RegisterForAnimationEvent(mySelf, "Intimidate")
    RegisterForAnimationEvent(mySelf, "GibTarget")
endEVENT

EVENT onAnimationEvent(objectReference akSource, string asEventName)
        if (asEventName == "Intimidate")
        FireWeapon.Fire(myself,  FlamerFuel)
    endif

    if (asEventName == "GibTarget" )
        FireWeapon.Fire(myself,  FlamerFuel)
    endif
    
endEVENT

Then copied the approriate deathclaw race spell , replaced the magic effect and gave weapon+ammo+spell to my deathclaw

Edited April 12, 2018 by kitcat81

[kitcat81]

I tried to play with some settings and it works better now:

I copied the vanilla DethclawRace and assigned it to my NPC. In the General Data set Armor and Morth race to Dethclaw to avoid invisibility. Then I did the same thing you mentioned : added voice slot to Combat Data and selected the toungue node 03.

Eddited my projectile nif file so it's closer to the head. Set my weapon embedded, set it to use the voice slot, removed playable flag from ammo so it can't be seen in inventory. Only left 4 keywords for my weapon: crWeaponRanged, WeaponTypeHeavyGun,QuickKeyGun and NoRicochet. Other weapon settings are copied from vanilla flamer and protectotron flamer. And now it looks better though the flame still can appear not exactly in the mouth , sometimes is appears above the head :/ .Not sure why, but it might be because of the toungue node or because the deathclaw is moving his head while firing. But now the weapon is attached to the voice slot so it does not require unequipping or re-equipping, so it does not block vanilla deathclaw weapons anymore. The fire appears each time when taunting. I believe that it's possible to get better results by playing with settings and maybe using some other animation events.

Edited April 12, 2018 by kitcat81

[BlahBlahDEEBlahBlah]

Thatâs some good work there, Kitcat. :)

[LeahTheUnknown]

Holy crap, thanks kitcat! It's... beautiful!

 

She'll love it.

 

Thanks again!

 

~GKX

[kitcat81]

Thank you too guys. It's just a cool idea really about fire breathing.

I did even expect it to work....but it's quite funny to see fire breathing deathclaws. Maybe it's also possible to make fire roaches from FO3.:D

 

Also tried to add a headweapon node to the deathclaw skeleton. Copied it from Mirelurk King skeleton nif and attached to the head node. It seems to me that it made the fire appear in the proper place or at least with the proper angle most of times.

Edited April 12, 2018 by kitcat81