Scripts

[casma164]

Hello, I'm extremely new to modding and wanted to know what can a script do AND what they can't do.

And can SKSE make a script do something which it would normally be not able to do.

 

For example....

Can a script replace an animation on the fly, ie in game(assuming the actor/s are not performing the animation thats being replaced).

[dfac364]

scripts are what make the entire video game process work, everything that happens including moveing your character happens because a script facilitates it, for modding with the Ck scripting is somewhat limited although much easier what the wiki tutorial on scripting to get an idea for how they work

[casma164]

Thank you for replying, but can scripting be used to accomplish my example, even with a plugin?

[JanusForbeare]

I think that there are two reasons you haven't received a response regarding your example:

 

1) The wording is unclear. What do you mean by "replacing an animation on the fly"? Do you want the player to play a different animation when, say, using a furniture item (like a chair or a smelter)? Do you want to switch between two different action animations (for instance, two different sprinting animations)? More information on what exactly you hope to achieve is needed.

 

2) Animation modding is one of the most complex operations you can hope to accomplish in Skyrim. Very, very few people have a firm grasp on the subject, and even those that do can only make relatively minor changes. Bethesda did not make this aspect of modding easy for us.

 

It's not possible to give you a comprehensive list of what can and cannot be accomplished via Papyrus, because scripts are complex structures made up of events and functions (and other elements as well, but those are the most fundamental ones). The closest thing you'll find to an exhaustive list of these elements is this page, Ultimately, what can be achieved depends on how you decide to link these various pieces together.

 

Since you're just getting started with Papyrus, I'd recommend that you read the scripting tutorials on the CK wiki. It's a good place to start, even if it is limited at times. It's best to do the tutorials, then, once you have a basic understanding of how things work, choose a small aspect of your mod to write a script for. For instance, one of the first scripts I wrote in Papyrus was a simple summon spell for a unique NPC. Obviously, it's always best to start small, and work your way up to the complex stuff - which includes anything to do with animations.

 

Good luck!

[casma164]

I did read up on the 4 basic tutorials listed on the CK wiki and browsed the papyrus primer. Tons of stuff for me to read and understand.

As far as clarifying by "on the fly"...

 

I was thinking more of kill cam animations(KCA) rather then sitting, walking, running etc.

 

For example, the players has a standard set of KCA using a particular weapon related to a specific perk tree. Then the player acquires a specific perk from said perk tree, then either a number of KCA(whether 1, 2 or all of them) are replaced with new KCAs.

 

I'll eventually spend more hours exploring the CK and possibly finding the answer to my questions, but I'm certain only more questions will arise.

[JanusForbeare]

I've been looking through the CK, and I honestly don't know how killmoves are unlocked. Perks like Savage Strike, which unlocks one-handed decapitation killmoves, are used by certain killmove idle animations, but I haven't been able to figure out how. I would have expected that the idle would have had a condition on it requiring the user to possess the necessary perk to make use of it, but that's not the case.

 

Idle anims are actually just containers that are filled with "animation events", but I don't know where those are found (I suspect that they're .HKX files - ie. Havok files - that are contained in .BSAs). However, I don't see how an .HKX file could be dependent on a perk... that seems like something that would have to be handled by a CK object (in other words, the idle anim).

 

That said, I'm out of my league here. I've never worked with combat animations. If you wanted to create your own killmoves, though, I would think that you could control when they become available through the method I described above (putting a condition on the idle anim that requires the user to have a certain perk).

 

Maybe one of the veteran animators, like Fore, would be able to clear things up a bit more. Here's hoping that he runs searches for his username, and that saying it out loud will summon him (kinda like Beetlejuice ;)).

[casma164]

Cool, thanks for replying, what you did tell me was way more then I knew before.

I'll look thru the CK, clik on seemingly related things and maybe get lucky.

Chances are though that a specific perk(ie savage strike) will have properties that will point out where to get the specific idle anim. Maybe..

[steve40]

Yes, scripts can be used to play/stop specific Havok or Gamebryo animations, provided those animations are already present in the object's mesh (nif) and/or havok behavior (hkx) files. You can't "replace" an animation from one object with the animation of another object, for example. Edited October 29, 2012 by steve40

[jackaspades]

Hi im working on a script that allows me to sepcify that when the player reloads a crossbow if it has a specific keyword it will play a diffrent reload animation ive got the animation showing up in the preview windo so i think it recognizes that the animation is there but i cant seem to figure out how to script this if i could get some help id be very appreciative