Alternate Animations

[BentonGrey]

Howdy guys, I've got a quick question for those in the know.  Is there no way to set up ranged keys to use alternates in the same way as melee keys?  I.E., Ranged_4 is assigned, but also uses Ranged_4_a, etc.

[spydermann93]

Howdy guys, I've got a quick question for those in the know.  Is there no way to set up ranged keys to use alternates in the same way as melee keys?  I.E., Ranged_4 is assigned, but also uses Ranged_4_a, etc.

I... actually don't know.

Huh, never thought of doing that before.

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, me neither!  But the same name scheme doesn't work, I can tell you that.  I'd really like Ock to use multiple ranged animations for his basic tentacle attack.

On a related note, is there anyway to add variation in hover animations?  I LOVE the hover_2 animation on DM's Spidey skope, but it just doesn't mesh well enough with the rest of Spidey's animations to be used all the time.  If it was something that just happened occassionally, it would be awesome.

[spydermann93]

Yeah, me neither!  But the same name scheme doesn't work, I can tell you that.  I'd really like Ock to use multiple ranged animations for his basic tentacle attack.

On a related note, is there anyway to add variation in hover animations?  I LOVE the hover_2 animation on DM's Spidey skope, but it just doesn't mesh well enough with the rest of Spidey's animations to be used all the time.  If it was something that just happened occassionally, it would be awesome.

Again, I'm not sure because I haven't tried, but I'm inclined to say "no."

[detourne_me]

Sorry Benton, they can't. Neither can dodge.  Only the melee key frames can randomize.

[Cyber Burn]

Hey DM, glad to see you, I hope you don't mind me picking your Brain here.

If only the "Melee" Animations randomize, then anything I want to use as far as "Dodge" would have to be labeled as "Dodge_Left" or "Dodge_Right", with no "_a" or "_b"? And then things like "Ranged" or "Area" would have to be named as "XXXXX", "XXXXX_2", and "XXXXX_3" to make them selectable, but then we wouldn't be able to make them random. Is that correct?

[detourne_me]

Hey DM, glad to see you, I hope you don't mind me picking your Brain here.

If only the "Melee" Animations randomize, then anything I want to use as far as "Dodge" would have to be labeled as "Dodge_Left" or "Dodge_Right", with no "_a" or "_b"? And then things like "Ranged" or "Area" would have to be named as "XXXXX", "XXXXX_2", and "XXXXX_3" to make them selectable, but then we wouldn't be able to make them random. Is that correct?

Yeah, you are pretty much right!
From what I've found, the names of animations don't matter for ranged or melee (or active defense or area) animations
You could name them absolutely anything.
However, if you want randomized animations for melee attacks, just remember the suffix _a to _f
Anything higher, like _g will count as a separate animation.
Any animation that has a 'contact' counts as a melee, regardless of name.

On that note, any animation that has a 'leave_hand' counts as a ranged, regardless of name.
However, if you want a corresponding hover animation to be played, name it hover_whatever.
If a ranged animation has no hover_ counterpart, then hover_ranged will be played when the hero is flying.

Additionally, any animation could have both contact and leave_hand, meaning it could be both ranged and melee.

For non-attacking animations the naming (and spelling) is crucial. These would be your dodges, land_from_flights and whatnot.
These will not randomize, even if you label them _a, _b etc.

Hope that helps.

[Cyber Burn]

Very much so, thanks DM.

On that note, if I have a Mesh that has a "Ranged_3", and a "Hover_Ranged_3", and a Character is supposed to use the "Ranged_3" for an attack, then when in Flight, it should automatically use the "Hover_Ranged_3"?

EDIT: Sorry, got distracted and hit the send button.

If the Mesh in question plays the wrong animation while in Flight, where would I look at to fix that?

[BentonGrey]

Thanks for the answer, DM! 

Kommando, welcome back to the game!  Try out Nifskope, it's INCREDIBLY useful and pretty darn easy to use.  Even I can do some stuff with it.

[Cyber Burn]

Yeah... I'm still figuring out how to install skins and meshes again. I suppose I should dig out that hard drive. I got Gigs of stuff. It's going to take a while to get used to things again.

One of the Old School Members with "Gigs of stuff", that is awesome, just imagine all the lost treasures that you may have. 

[daglob]

I've used Nifscope to rename flyx, flyy, flyz (or whatever) to fly, and renamed fly to some thing else (flya, maybe). I have some gun totin' keyframes that use a super-type flight instead of the ropeswinging type.

[detourne_me]

Very much so, thanks DM.

On that note, if I have a Mesh that has a "Ranged_3", and a "Hover_Ranged_3", and a Character is supposed to use the "Ranged_3" for an attack, then when in Flight, it should automatically use the "Hover_Ranged_3"?

EDIT: Sorry, got distracted and hit the send button.

If the Mesh in question plays the wrong animation while in Flight, where would I look at to fix that?

Yeah that should be right.   If a character does the wrong animation for shooting in flight, it might be misnamed.

[Cyber Burn]

Thanks DM, I'll check that out.