1st person animations

[kingfriday1989]

I recently reinstalled New Vegas and am replaying through it. The animations in this game are horrendous. I have seen many attempts to fix these animations, but no one has really done much as far as I can tell. I am a animator, and I want to overhaul the weapon animations. I have worked on games like Stalker, CS:S, and hl2. My animation skills have come a long way, I really want to fix these crappy animations but I have never worked with this engine before. I need help in doing so.

 

what tools do I need? What files should I edit? How are the animations set up? From what I can see the first person animations are also the third person animations, is this correct? What limitations are there?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

-KingFriday

Edited June 16, 2012 by kingfriday1989

[pluramon]

Hey KingFriday,

 

I feel compelled to first state that both my skill and experience in working with weapon animations are limited, but since no one has yet replied, I will share what knowledge I have.

 

Let's start with the tools. There are only a couple you're going to need:

1. Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM), to extract the animations from the bsa package.

2. NifTools (NifSkope), to edit nif/kf files. Depending on which 3d modelling software you use, you will also need to download and install certain patches/plugins to be able to import/export the kf files. All are found in the linked page.

 

As for the animations themselves, the Gamebryo engine uses the NetImmerse format, and there are two file types you should be familiar with:

.nif files store all mesh 3d data and shading properties, under control nodes.

.kf files, which are the most relevant to you, store all animation data, manipulating the control nodes in nif files.

 

All .kf files associated with weapons share a naming convention that tells the game engine which specific action they animate. The first three characters in the file name indicate the weapon type, followed by the action type, and lastly the variant tag. To throw in a few examples:

2haattack3.kf = two-handed automatic weapon type, attack animation #3;

2haattackloop.kf = two-handed automatic weapon type, fully-automatic fire attack animation;

sneak2hrattack5.kf = two-handed rifle weapon type, sneak attack animation #5;

1hpreloadr.kf = one-handed pistol weapon type, reload animation 'r';

2hhattackright.kf = two-hand handler weapon type, attack animation 'right'.

 

Each weapon animation has two versions - default animation and 1st person animation. Both share exactly the same name, only located in separate folders. From my (once again, limited) experience with weapon animations, it appears most 1st person weapon animations have little to no noticeable effect in-game. The default animations are used most of the time, whether it be 1st person or 3rd person.

 

All .nif files and .kf files are packed in the archive 'Fallout - Meshes.bsa'. After you have installed FOMM, you will be able to extract them, and then edit them.

Default animations are located in the folder 'meshes\characters\_male', while their 1st person counterparts are found in 'meshes\characters\_1stperson'.

You will also want to extract a skeleton to work on. You will find one in 'meshes\characters\_male\skeleton.nif'.

 

What's left is importing the skeleton.nif, along with the .kf animation file you wish to edit, to your choice 3d modelling software, then you can finally get to work.

When done, you will need to export the .kf file back to the folder from whence it came. Some post-editing with NifSkope may be necessary, since some properties are not always exported correctly (this applies to Blender; it may not be necessary if you're using 3ds max/maya). More details on importing/exporting/post-editing can be found here (Blender specific), and here (3ds max specific). Both pages contain relevant info, regardless of which you use.

 

I hope that's enough to at least get you started. I've wrote this in a rush, so have likely missed something, but I think I covered the essentials. You have taken no small undertaking, so thumbs up and best of luck.

 

Pluramon

[kingfriday1989]

I appreciate the quick reply. I have been searching the wiki a bit, and found some useful info while I was there. blender turned me off right away. I am so used to maya its not funny. but I am unable to import animations into maya. So I will be using 3dsmax for the moment.

 

I was actually successful in getting upper body and hand meshes, and a animation into 3dsmax without to much issue. Problem is that the skeleton is moved and bent forward and rotated to the left. How fix? From there I may be able to actually make some new animations. Also how do you set up the position of a weapon in the hand? Is the main joint on the weapon itself attached to the right had joint or is there some other way that it is attached?

 

BTW here is some of my animations. These are just under a year old and by skills have improved some yet.

 

 

 

-KingFriday

Edited June 18, 2012 by kingfriday1989

[pluramon]

Problem is that the skeleton is moved and bent forward and rotated to the left. How fix?

Try doing it in this order: First import skeleton.nif with the animation file, then import each of the body parts (upper body, right hand and left hand), but ONLY their geometry (meaning: with neither their skeleton parts nor animation). Then join all body parts together into a single mesh, and make the skeleton its parent.

 

Is the main joint on the weapon itself attached to the right had joint

If by "main joint on the weapon" you mean the parent node (BSFadeNode) in the weapon's model, then yes.

[ThunderShiba134]

I recently reinstalled New Vegas and am replaying through it. The animations in this game are horrendous. I have seen many attempts to fix these animations, but no one has really done much as far as I can tell. I am a animator, and I want to overhaul the weapon animations. I have worked on games like Stalker, CS:S, and hl2. My animation skills have come a long way, I really want to fix these crappy animations but I have never worked with this engine before. I need help in doing so.

 

what tools do I need? What files should I edit? How are the animations set up? From what I can see the first person animations are also the third person animations, is this correct? What limitations are there?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

-KingFriday

The only fps animation i look for is f*#@ING eating animations. Because those from that guy who made eating animations. its fp camera is horrible! and it if it wouldnt have Horrible that would have been fixed! and yeah add Enhanced fps camera then that f*#@ing no need for fps eating animations