Animation Modding

[someone]

A recent update (0.98.55) changed the animation system to be more mod friendly. The change allows animations to be attached to specific races or even specific characters.

It is now possible to do stuff like giving beep a ridiculous run animation:

beep.gif (2.81 MiB) Viewed 9963 times

Previously a mod could only replace the entire animation set meaning only a single mod could affect animations. The update allows additional skeleton files to be loaded which can override existing animations or add new ones. The update also fixes the issue with animations not playing properly if it is not the from default skeleton file.

As before, you can import existing animations into blender or start from scratch using the template file. Character animations are located in data/character/meshes/male_skeleton/ and data/character/meshes/female_skeleton/ folders.
Animal animations are in the data/animal/meshes/ folder.

Delete any animations you don't want to override from the NLA editor and make your animations...

blender.png (160.55 KiB) Viewed 9963 times

When you export, make sure export skeleton and export animations are checked. You can delete the .mesh file it exports.

In the construction set, create a new ANIMATION_FILE object and add your skeleton files to it. The preprocess option must be true if it is for human characters. Then just link the object from the race or character objects.

fcs.png (75.7 KiB) Viewed 9963 times

The your skeleton files must not have the same name as any existing skeleton file or it will override it causing problems.

It is possible to add new animations and combat techniques to the game but make sure all races and genders have the animations.

If you have created a new human race that doesn't share the standard skeleton files, make sure your skeleton file has an ANIMATION_FILE object to let the game know about the preprocess setting.

Happy modding.

[Space_Lettuce_OG]

Thank you @Someone

I will take a look at getting my animation working today.

I intend to add combat animations for all the weapons.
If you guys want to use them in vanilla, just ask, I'd be happy to contribute.
Also, I made some weapons recently on the workshop. I'd be happy to contribute those as well.

Love Kenshi, and it's my 3rd favorite game of all time. Love the dev team. Keep up the good work!

[Space_Lettuce_OG]

Making separate skeleton files did fix the derpiness I described in my Steam Discussion's posting about this.
However, my animation just makes the character twitch. I set up the chance to 10, so they just twitch and never do the animation.
I even fiddled around with the number of frames, and what not, still nothing.
I also made sure the scene was in 30 fps as far as I know. I set the frame rate and time mapping(old and new) to 30. I figured that's what you meant by set scene.

Note: I did re-import my .mesh that came with the export, and the polearm_attack_1 animation I made was indeed in the NLA editor. So, it did export with the .mesh file at least. I don't know how to verify that it exported with the .skeleton file though.

Could this be, because it is a combat technique and not a regular animation?

[Essenwee]

Hey, I've tried adding new idle skeletons for the character creation section but they always default back to the original template. I've tried several poses and they simply don't work. Any pointers on how to go about doing this?

[acenewton1]

Sadly, you cannot create a vampire even using this feature. You cannot bite others. No way for buffs/effects. etc

[Cattrina]

I made an animation tutorial video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0XpZUQV6CQ