Leg Animation Bug / Noodle Legs / Crazy Legs / Helicopter Feet

[Yahegao]

Obnoxious title so others looking to resolve my apparently specific issue(I haven't been able to find it anywhere) can find it more easily.

I'm having this strange bug where female characters in modded armor are floating and their legs go crazy(see attached screenshots). It also makes a hell of a clamoring when they try to move around. This only seems to occur with followers I do not have actively following me; it is also happening with Lydia, who is a vanilla follower. I have other NPCs dressed in custom armor through SPID, and they do not appear to be having this issue, only followers I have dismissed and told to live at my houses. I have already instructed Vortex to load XPMSE last, and have switched over from Nemesis to Pandora+(with no new issues). I have a whole host of mods installed, and I will post the list/load order if needed.

 

I have rectified/ruled out:

- Skeleton load order

- Outdated animation engine

- Armor mesh overrides

 

Just about the only thing I haven't attempted to test is the mod that allows me to make them stay at home. I'm starting to think I should use AFT's native "Dismiss but hang out here" feature instead of using a whole mod to do just that.

 

Thoughts?

Edited December 7, 2024 by Yahegao

[Yahegao]

UPDATE: So far, testing has supported my theory about the one mod that lets me tell followers to live at my homes is the problem, somehow. I have no idea why it would interact with their animations, but it might also be a red herring, as sometimes, when the stars align, their animations won't be broken even with it installed.

 

The mod in question:
Settling of Squad
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/125471

Edited December 7, 2024 by Yahegao

[traison]

The old helicopter legs/feet bug? Heh, not seen that in years; probably since pre-LE in fact.

 

Edit: This? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u630Unp1CoI

Edited December 7, 2024 by traison

[Yahegao]

UPDATE 2: Nope, not the issue. Definitely a red herring. Still, I'm keeping it uninstalled, as the functionality seems redundant in hindsight with AFT installed.

 

To document what has been ruled-out/rectified thus far:
- Skeleton load order

- Outdated animation engine

- Armor mesh overrides

- Redundant follower home mod

 

One of the things this issue has in common is it is currently happening in two modded homes. I'll have to send some people to Breezehome to see if they continue to have issues there, as well.

[Yahegao]

3 minutes ago, traison said:

The old helicopter legs/feet bug? Heh, not seen that in years; probably since pre-LE in fact.

 

Edit: This? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u630Unp1CoI

That is it exactly. So it's an older issue? Could explain why I'm not seeing it pop up on any searches. Mind pointing me somewhere that can show me how to rectify whichever rookie mistake I've made?

[traison]

Too old, don't remember anymore. Literally haven't seen it in a decade. Helicopter feet is the name tho, still seems to turn up some stuff on DuckDuckGo/Google.

 

Edit: If you can't find anything then my list of suspects would look something like this:

1. Foot IK.
2. Actor scaling gone wrong on idle markers.
3. Skeleton.
4. Behavior files.

Edited December 7, 2024 by traison

[Yahegao]

Just now, traison said:

Too old, don't remember anymore. Literally haven't seen it in a decade. Helicopter feet is the name tho, still seems to turn up some stuff on DuckDuckGo/Google.

That gives me more to go on than nothing. Appreciate the assistance.

[creepycream]

On 12/7/2024 at 1:06 PM, Yahegao said:

That gives me more to go on than nothing. Appreciate the assistance.

I'm experiencing the same issue as you. Did you manage to figure out the culprit? For me the bug occurs after disengaging in sex. Are you on AE or SE?

[ShivasBane]

I was having the same problem with the flying followers and spent an hour doing various google searches and found this mod Actor Limit Fix at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community I installed and spent a few hours in game trying to get the problem to reappear but so far all of the affected npcs have been behaving properly. It appears that the mod fixes the problem but be careful to grab the mod version that matches your Skyrim version. I really hope that this fixes your issue as it seems to have fixed it in my game. Happy holidays to you all.

[Yahegao]

On 12/9/2024 at 8:14 PM, creepycream said:

I'm experiencing the same issue as you. Did you manage to figure out the culprit? For me the bug occurs after disengaging in sex. Are you on AE or SE?

I'm on SE. I never did figure it out, no. I ended up completely revamping my modlist and going with OSTIM Standalone over SexLab. I have seen the bug every now and then, but it has been drastically cut since then. I'm going to try installing the mod listed here and see what happens:

 

On 12/24/2024 at 9:04 PM, ShivasBane said:

I was having the same problem with the flying followers and spent an hour doing various google searches and found this mod Actor Limit Fix at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community I installed and spent a few hours in game trying to get the problem to reappear but so far all of the affected npcs have been behaving properly. It appears that the mod fixes the problem but be careful to grab the mod version that matches your Skyrim version. I really hope that this fixes your issue as it seems to have fixed it in my game. Happy holidays to you all.

 

Edited December 26, 2024 by Yahegao

[anjenthedog]

Have you tried disabling ragdoll? I found that doing so in my game reduced the problem almost to zero.

 

[ShivasBane]

Ok. The mod I posted above does not fix the issue because after using a mod to change Dinya Balu's clothing and then having sex with her she just started flying off. I typed her name into the mod "Where are you?" and teleported her back to me which fixed it but I can't seem to find a permanent solution. I guess I'll just have to use this band-aid solution for now.

[Yahegao]

19 hours ago, anjenthedog said:

Have you tried disabling ragdoll? I found that doing so in my game reduced the problem almost to zero.

 

So far I still barely notice the issue. It happens every once in a blue moon now that I've updated my modlist. But I also don't have companions sleeping over at my house anymore, since I trimmed down my custom followers and don't roll around with a killteam anymore, just Serana for the most part. I also keep my playthroughs relatively brief, preferring to roleplay specific characters with objectives in mind. Of course, "relatively" is the operative phrase there, as my playthroughs still last around 25 hours or so.

Edited December 27, 2024 by Yahegao

[Yahegao]

3 hours ago, ShivasBane said:

Ok. The mod I posted above does not fix the issue because after using a mod to change Dinya Balu's clothing and then having sex with her she just started flying off. I typed her name into the mod "Where are you?" and teleported her back to me which fixed it but I can't seem to find a permanent solution. I guess I'll just have to use this band-aid solution for now.

Good to know. I think I'll keep it installed for now, as it hasn't caused any new issues, and it probably helps with performance, if I had to guess. Not that I notice too much, I'm able to run a heavily modded game on 4k and notice no frame drops whatsoever(thanks, BethIni Pie).