Animation data in Nif files do nothing?

[LordNapalm]

Is this true?

I spent pretty much all day animating by number in NifSkope.

My lightsaber grow and retract animations look amazing.. but they don't show up in the game.

Whats the deal?

[jaysus]

mmmh how to explain... yeah... youre right lol...

 

animations are specified by the *.kf files which are grouped in sets... you can change the set and the subsequent animation in the DNAM record of the item in the *.esp

 

all you can do in nifskope is alter some animations position, time and the like... at least regarding translation; rotation and scale lead to ctds - im unsure about quadternion keys tho...

[vashts1985]

best way to think about it is this: all animations are controlled by the skeleton animations for the player. those nodes you see in the weapons nif do not animate themselves, they are only there to link those objects to the skeletal animations.

 

basically if you want to add custom animations, it has to be done via the characters animations.

[LordNapalm]

Hmm.. So, when why can I edit some animations with NiTransformController, but not other ones?

For example.. I have a light that pulses that I copied from a muzzle flash.. I can edit the scale on it and it works.. but the baton wont let me edit its transform at all.

 

This is very confusing..

haha.. I'm super depressed.. I really did work on it all day.

 

I tried redoing the whole model over the SHishkabab instead of the baton.. but then when I try to copy over my pulsing light for some reason it moves the model to a weird place way out of the players hand.

[Moraelin]

The final position is after the translation and scaling and rotation have been applied. The original .nif has the values there that were apropriate for the original pieces, and their size and shape. When you're replacing them with something else, you have to tell it where to put it.

 

Personally I found my life easier if I just generate the meshes (yeah, they're still program generaeted) so they already sit at the exact positions I need them in the coordinate space. So then all that remains is to set the translations and rotations to zero, and the scale to 1.0 if it was something else.

[Moraelin]

I also wanted to say, hey, no need to be depressed about it. You spent some time discovering new things. I find the right frame of mind to be basically this: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=193

 

Well, that's how I approached dissecting the nif anyway :P

[LordNapalm]

Well this is depressing.. I'm gonna go back to the drawing board with some fresh ideas.

 

I put up a fix for the conflict with our red sabers in the meantime Moraelin. Really sorry about that.

I'm super new at doing this stuff. Kind of learning as I go.

 

Any luck with idle sounds?

That one is bugging me also.

 

Oh, and what about adding a VisController?

Does that work?

[Moraelin]

Nope. No idea what to do about idle sounds. Even copying the one from the ripper doesn't seem to help.

 

And the visibility controller is why my blade disappears when put away, so, yes, it helps. Well, for when you want something to appear or disapear, anyway.

[SaidenStorm]

Your problem depending on exactly what you are doing is...

 

1) you did not change the node names and nodes controlled by a skeletal animation.kf WILL ALWAYS win for control over that node -> like pretty much every vanilla weapon is directly controlled within the player.kfs

 

2) you did not set the animation cycle to looping -> any node with animation data not set to loop will not play period unless its directly called to play by the skeletal animation.kf's -> and even if it is set to looping it will still not play IF that node has a skeletal animation also with a controller for said node.

 

so...

 

change the node names and set the cycles to loop and the animations will play -> but there is ZERO ability with this method to create dynamic animations (you can not make the saber turn off when you unequip it) its looping static always on or never on -> or you have to completely create new skeletal animations that will control not only your weapon but every single other melee weapon that needs controllers for that animation sequence set -> equip, unequip, every movement animation, the idle, the jump animations and the attack right/left animations -> if you miss even one of these then any node not under direct control will just stand in space where it was last animated into -> particle systems will turn off as they require direct and constant control to stay active -> texture controllers will stop playing at thier last frame (ie flips will stop flipping and transforms will stop moving).

 

At the very least for a weapon like the Powerfist you have to alter no less then 19 animations just to include one new weapon that is skeletally controlled., for a LightSaber you could get away with just creating an Equip and Unequip and just turn the saber node on and off that way -> but the entire rest of the anim effect has to be looping and not skeletally controlled so watch the node names used.

 

Personally IC a ton of the same that was done for Oblivion for this where you create two meshes one with saber on and another with saber off and just use a script to alternate between them.

[LordNapalm]

Thanks for the detailed explanation Saiden,

I ended up just using VisControler from the shishkabab.. I guess it will have to do.

 

It's a shame that it's set up this way.

Would be great to be able to add animations to weapons easily.