Combat guide(Updated 4/3/2019).

[ther1pper]

Combat Tutorial: I'm no teacher and my thought process is weird but i'll give it by best shot.

 

update 4/3/2019 i'm updating it because this is looking a little lackluster compared to before with no links and such so i'm adding in everything i use and have learned since i last did this. Feel free to ask questions or ask for me to add more detail.

 

1. Mods: The mods i recommend are Collygons, Halos, Wulfsposer, Gomapero, and Lamir poser for action shots. Poser Hotkeys i recommend for quickly switching between poses at the literal press of a button, it is smart to have a reference folder in front of you before doing them though. Screenshot pad is exceptionally useful when you want NPC's close to each other in a pose but they move away, well this mod allows you to move the character without moving the hitbox so you can have two NPCs or an NPC closet to you easily, works on yourself as well. Jaxons positioner is great for moving NPC's as well as objects in certain positions and even allows you to scale them too. NiOverride Pose Adjustments is a literal gift as it allows you to individually move the bones of your character allowing you to modify existing poses a little, however it does not work on the fingers but its fine, the thing is great anyways. Also can allow you to even tilt yourself or an NPC upside down if you wish, just remember to reset after otherwise it will look like your character has had their bones violently dislocated. I also use this mod, Puppeteer master to make NPC's and even the player stay in specific areas and do certain idel animations if need be. This mod is useful for keeping spawned NPC's from disappearing. Ponzo Fx rings and FX rings are also very useful for different effects, particularly if you want your character to appear powered up.

Mod list that i use:(Could not find the links for all of them.)

-Collygons Poser

-Gomapero Poser

-Halos Poser

-Kinoko Poser

-Lamir Poser

-Public Poser

-Render Poser

-Wulfs Poser

-Screenshot pad

-Poser Hotkeys

-NiOverride Pose Adjustments

-Jaxons positioner

-Puppeteer master

-Ponzo Fx rings

-FX rings.

 

2. Planning: Pick the location, make sure you are totally aware of what NPC's, followers, how many people, and weapons you are gonna use and what weapons the enemies are gonna use. Typically because my spawned NPC's always disappear, i use Puppeteer master to lock them in place using the stay here feature after taking control of them, it keep them from disappearing when i need to re-load that save however there seems to be a either 10-12 person limit for this mod. Be aware of if you are gonna use magic, if you are just gonna have the NPC's fight at random be aware of how frail NPC's can be so you can increase their health via clicking them and typing "setav health #", just be sure to reset it later unless its an NPC you plan on killing, otherwise who cares. Also adjusting the timescale makes it so that the day isn't going by so quick, using "set timescale to #" 20 is the vanilla number, 1 makes it so it moves at the same time as the real world, anything higher than 20 makes the time go quicker, also helps if you don't want to wait. DO NOT SAVE IF YOUR TIMESCALE IS ANY NUMBER BUT 20, BE SURE TO RESET IT.

 

3. NPC's: NPC's now only npc's with human skeletons can be posed meaning if you want to do a fight with a wolf or troll you have to work around their combat animations. This is truely where Tai comes in handy, you wait till the NPC is about to attack then you open the console either before or after their swing depending on what you need and tai them freezing them in place and can use Jaxons to move them, then you can pose yourself in a way you need in front of them before screenshotting. Do remember to use tgm aka god mode during this as my dumbass has died quite a few times on sheer accident.

 

4. Weapon Posing: To pose with weapons you obviously have to have the weapon equipped so equip it before going into a pose, however when you exit the pose they will be in a standard standing position with the weapon equipped still, to remove this you gotta unequip and re-equip the weapon, same applies for npcs. To make NPC's draw their weapon or magic use "setalert 1". You can also force NPC's to equip certain weapons via the console by either adding in the weapon then typing in "equipitem #######(item code) #(item number)" for duel welding, do the same thing but add "left" at the end.

 

5. Magic Combat: So this for the most part does not work well, though some people have found a way around it. You can't really pose an NPC while they are doing a spell. I added a mod down below that adds magic projectiles so you don't have to have NPC's do this, you can thank Blazingsai for the existance of that mod. The player character can cast spells while posed but there is a trick to it. You cannot past a spell in third person but you can in first. So cast the spell in 1st person then switch into third and open up the console and use tfc1 to use the freeze camera. DO NOT pose NPC's with active spells, they will have their spells locked into their hands possibly forever...i'm not sure. If you are not using your player character for the fight, you can also cast the spell then TFC1 in first person mode to make it appear as though an NPC is casting it. I also added in different effects as well.

Examples of magic projectiles being used.

 

 

 

 

6. Bow Combat: Bows/Crossbows, just as difficult and for the most part you do the same thing, a method to get npc's to aim in the direction you want is to use a skeever, give it 10000 health via "Setav health 10000" and have everyone attack it then tai the archer when they pull the bow back or if you need a shot of the bow firing and are not showing the direction the archer is shooting then use tfc 1 to show the bow flying mid-flight. HOWEVER because of Blazingsai there is now a new method as of 9/28/2018 that i just never added in. This involves using that FX mod down below, this will allow you to spawn in arrows typing in the words "Projectile" and allow you to grab them with Jaxons and you have arrows with streaks behind them allowing you to create scenes with multiple arrows raining down on foes without you having to shoot a single one.

 

 

 

 

 

7. Making the fight: o I'm not gonna lie, planning these fights isn't exactly a specialty of mine. See when i come up with a fight i pick the location, how i want a fight to start and how i want it to end. I don't actually plan out all the movements for the most part, i try to let that flow naturally as i'm making the fight based on. I have the characters poses fit the best next action they would take, if someone punches, you dodge or you block, if you choose to dodge you can then come at them from the side, if you chose to block, you can either keep blocking or counter during their next strike. Making the action for me is......time consuming.....like 4hr time consuming. When screenshotting these fights it is best to imagine like you are making a comic or manga, for the first shot have 2 characters strike, then the next shot have someone dodge, now based on the dodge it is best to find a pose that the person dodging would do next, for example if they dodge left and they have their arm up with the foe just missing them, it would be best for the next to try to find a pose where they are swiping down where they are swiping down at where they foe is or previously was if you are having them dodge. Try to make each shot flow into each other as well as you can. When doing this and wanting certain characters to be close, flying or floating you can either use Screenshot pad or NiOverride Pose Adjustments to move them up and down along with Jaxons, however for Jaxons to keep an NPC in the air you must click on them in the console and tcl to turn off their collision only, just remember to turn it back on later.

Its best i just show you.

Examples of what i do, this is Satsuki from chapter 43(images in chapter not working so i did something here)

 

First shot here is of Satsuki charging in using a running pose.


Second shot you can see Satsuki below charging up the stairs and the Bandit spotting her getting ready to attack using one of the offensive poses i found.


Third shot is the bandit attacking but Satsuki has dodged by quickly running by and the bandit has missed his attempt to stab her. At this point you gotta think what a person would do logically after a person just missed stabbing you and their back is to you, for me the answer was simple, kick this fucker off the ledge


Fourth shot i did just that having Satsuki kick the dumbass off the ledge down below, but such a fall would not kill him so i keep him down there for a moment.


Fifth shot i also gotta keep in mind that there are more bandits so obviously the next one would come in to help their friend so i had one coming in while Satsuki's back is turned but clearly position it to show that Satsuki is aware.


Sixth shot i have Satsuki dodge backwards to avoid the bandit doing a downward strike.


Seven shot i then have her doing a simple punch to the face which would stun her enough to make her bend over a little.


Eight shot i then have the bandit talking shit while crouched over to show that she is trying to recover for just a moment while talking shit and i figure out how an unarmed Satsuki would handle the situation next.


Ninth shot the best thing i came up with was to knee her head into the wall, doesn't perfectly flow well but it was the best i got, you can't perfectly get every shot to flow well as sometimes you just lack to poses to get what you want. So with this i have her clearly showing that her head is getting slammed enough the wall which ended up killing her.


Tenth Shot i then have Satsuki pick up the Axe the dead bandit has as the bandit she kicked down earlier has some up for more.


Eleventh Shot i have Satsuki simply throw the axe at him, to have him fall. To accoplish this i had to use Tcl on him to keep him from falling down the stairs, then had him in a falling pose. I then used Jaxons to position the axe in his face. Now an issue you might come across is the npc might try to move away from the object, so in that case you want to use Tai on the npc. You will still be able to move them via jaxons so move them to the position you want, then take the shot.


Twelth shot i have Satsuki leaving to go kill more bandits while showing the corpse of the guy she just killed on the floor after falling down the stairs.

 

 

8. War scenes: Jesus fuck if you want to do a scene with over 20 people like for a battle of whiterun or something you can try, but i'd just recommend just not doing it, i'm in the middle of trying that right now, its hell, its literal hell but apparently i'm a masochist so fuck it. For those just let NPC's attack each other, add health onto them if you don't want them to just die especially of you have particular npc's you want to live during this fight. Be sure to remove all npc's from the area that you want to live as well.

 

9. Killing enemies: You will not be using puppeteer very much for these fights but it has some useful features, 1 is if you have an npc with a bow out you can use the mod to have them ready the bow so it looks like they are about to fire, this is very useful. The second method, and i love this because i'm a sadistic fuck sometimes is my personal favorite, in the mod in the animation category i believe i need to double check, there is an option called "Watch your head" first let me say NEVER EVER use this on the player puppeteer one, you will regret it instantly, just it on an NPC. What this does when used is it causes an npc do do the decaptitation animation, this will cause the npc to lose their head, literally, this is how i get all my decapitation shots. When going for a decaptiation shot you want to first click on the npc using the console, then when their head comes off quickly open the console and pause them via Tai this will pause them mid fall and their head mid-flight. For other methods of killing npc's you might have to just play around, like if you have a pose of a person holding up a sword with both hands you can put an enemy in a falling pose, tai them, tcl them, then move them above you or the npc in the sword holding pose like they are holding up the enemy with their sword. Also if you do have a small amount of NPC's that you plan on killing and its less than 10 that you spawned in, use puppeteer master, keeps the corpses in the same place when you reload a save.

 

10: Extra flare: You and add in motion blurr or other things if you like, but for that you need to see Wanobi12's Motion Blur Tutorial, gives the shots an extra kick.

 

I'm uploading a mod, this mod is REQUIRED to be used with Jaxons, it will not work without it because these are not grabbable objects. This esp has a bunch of armors that have the nifs of spells. Type projectile into the console and you will see objects like "steel arrow projectile, ice spike projectile, fireball projectile" if you spawn them the a still but moving projectile of a fireball will spawn, only the arrow and bolt ones are grabbable, you must click the spell projectiles in the console then use Jaxons to move them around. This mod would not exist if it weren't for the Sai's smart ass who keeps finding out crazy things to make his stories even better so thank him for the creation of this.

 

Requires DLC's obviously, also remember you need Jaxons to move most of these around.

FXprojectiles 1.4.zip

[Alter Native]

Thanks for the tutorial!

I just linked from my post too it. The projectile mod is actually really useful, I always wondered how you did this in your stories. 

 

The war scene problem can be solved by the creation kit. With the CK you just have more powerful tools preparing scenes like this.

[Tirloque]

Hmmm... Great tutorial !

 

I learned a few things that might come in handy. Sadly Halo poser is a no go for me, as it requires a clean save/full new game, but I didn't knew about Wulf's. Nor Lamir (but didn't found it ). The tgm, add health, tcl of an NPC seem useful tricks as well (on the work I recently shoot I just tried to tfc1 ASAP after turning halo poser off ^^). Same for the FXProjectile (always wondered how you managed to get that arrow catching shot  ).

 

Anyway, having recently improved my combat screenarchering (or at least a think so ), I would like to emphasize on two things you described :

— Think the combat scene beforehand. In other words, do a script just like in a movie. That's why my chapter 5 of Mourning White took so long, as my first batch of shots were regular fight capture, while the reshoot was me executing my script. Sure it's way more time consuming, but if you want top notch fights' choreographies, that's how it starts.

— tai over NPCs, and tfc1 over PC. That's how you freeze the action in order to get the best shot of something.

 

 

Anyway, a tutorial from a master is something precious. That's why I wanted you to do it in the first place, TheR1pper. Thank you.

[Irstina]

Possibly a silly question, but this has plagued me since forever without a solution and there's no easy way to google about it either.

 

NPCs frozen in TAI occasionally disappear. Or rather, they teleport far away.  Usually, they'll lose collision first, if I re-enable TAI after this happens, they'll teleport to a new location (sometimes hilariously falling to their deaths). This would be fine, since normally if I freeze an NPC, I'm done with it, but even if I leave them frozen, they'll teleport on their own sooner or later. This is without loading saves or anything, mind you.

 

As you can imagine this is a problem when you're trying to pose more than like 3 people, especially if you're being excessive with the details and it takes you awhile.

 

I haven't the faintest idea what causes this. Is this common? Is there any fix? To circumvent this I usually do tdetect to prevent NPCs from staring at me, and I just don't TAI them and use poses instead, but if I want to use an animation of some sort, they have to be TAIed. Am I missing something obvious here?

[Alter Native]

19 hours ago, Irstina said:

Possibly a silly question, but this has plagued me since forever without a solution and there's no easy way to google about it either.

 

NPCs frozen in TAI occasionally disappear. Or rather, they teleport far away.  Usually, they'll lose collision first, if I re-enable TAI after this happens, they'll teleport to a new location (sometimes hilariously falling to their deaths). This would be fine, since normally if I freeze an NPC, I'm done with it, but even if I leave them frozen, they'll teleport on their own sooner or later. This is without loading saves or anything, mind you.

 

As you can imagine this is a problem when you're trying to pose more than like 3 people, especially if you're being excessive with the details and it takes you awhile.

 

I haven't the faintest idea what causes this. Is this common? Is there any fix? To circumvent this I usually do tdetect to prevent NPCs from staring at me, and I just don't TAI them and use poses instead, but if I want to use an animation of some sort, they have to be TAIed. Am I missing something obvious here?

Yes this is a common problem and there is indeed a fix for it.

This is caused by the collisions of skyrim. When you TAI and NPC their AI is turned of but not their collision. When you move them around after posing and TAI -ing something tells them that they are colliding with an object. When you un-TAI them they'll adjust their position in some bugged manner and go off floating somewhere. 

 

The solution is to always work in tcl mode (toggle collisions off) that way the won't ajdust their position, unless you load a save file.

Check out my Skyrim Screenshot Stories guide for some details on that and my typical (recommended) workflow.

 

[Tirloque]

Yeah, plus that happens only if you move them too much compared to what they'd normally be. If you're jaxoning them meanwhile they won't fall though, and do usually teleport above the place they were. So with patience you can jaxon them back where you wanted them to be. But yeah, that's time loss, so Alter's preventive method is probably better.

 

Anyway, nice mods update in the first post, r1pper.

[Jay-Omms]

..........

Spoiler

☺️

Awesome!

Thank You.