Fallout 4 Animation Modding (for modders and animators)

[dagobaking]

12 hours ago, ARRadiation said:

I've previously tried maya 2016 a while ago but couldn't get it to work with FO4.

I'm a blender animater anyway so if Maya isn't really supported I would of had no chance. r.i.p my dreams

What specifically did you try? There are many versions of Havok Tools out there and only one works with FO4. Easy to use the wrong one.

[A.N.R]

12 hours ago, dagobaking said:

What specifically did you try? There are many versions of Havok Tools out there and only one works with FO4. Easy to use the wrong one.

I used HavokContentTools 2014 64Bit from this video.

I might of used Maya 2017 looking by my purchase history.

 

[dagobaking]

9 hours ago, ARRadiation said:

I used HavokContentTools 2014 64Bit from this video.

That isn't the right one.

 

That is version "2014-1-0_20140830".

 

You need version "2014-1-1_20150216".

[A.N.R]

I've managed to get the correct 3ds Max thanks to and been trying it out but I've run into an issue with animations not playing in game.

 

I think I've installed everything correctly as when I go into the CK I can see the animation play in the previews so the export has worked but when I load up the game it doesn't play, this is with both AAF and by doing playidle in the console. I named everything Test3 to see if I named something wrong but it still wont play.

 

AAF registers that animation is there but but does not play it. I put everything in the correct folder paths as shown in the AAF guide.

 

I've took a few screen grabs, not sure if it makes it clearer or not.

 

Here's AAF Animation Data. everything is test3 as a temp measure.

 

Here's the Position Data

 

Here's the folder path in the CK.

 

Confirming the folder path

 

I all these check out I'm not sure where I went wrong. as the animation can be played in the CK

[dagobaking]

On 5/28/2019 at 7:36 AM, ARRadiation said:

I've managed to get the correct 3ds Max thanks to GrayUser and been trying it out but I've run into an issue with animations not playing in game.

 

I think I've installed everything correctly as when I go into the CK I can see the animation play in the previews so the export has worked but when I load up the game it doesn't play, this is with both AAF and by doing playidle in the console. I named everything Test3 to see if I named something wrong but it still wont play.

 

AAF registers that animation is there but but does not play it. I put everything in the correct folder paths as shown in the AAF guide.

 

I've took a few screen grabs, not sure if it makes it clearer or not.

 

Here's AAF Animation Data. everything is test3 as a temp measure.

 

Here's the Position Data

 

Here's the folder path in the CK.

 

Confirming the folder path

 

I all these check out I'm not sure where I went wrong. as the animation can be played in the CK

Sorry for the delay replying. I didn't see any notification about this post since I wasn't quoted.

 

Are the form ID in your example above pointing to your "Test3" animation?

 

You cannot point to an animation using its CK name like you have it in your Test section of the XML. You have to use either FO4Edit or the "MakeXML" tool from AAF optional files on Nexus to look up that animations form ID and put that in the XML.

[ghjctrc]

On 5/28/2019 at 7:36 PM, ARRadiation said:

I've managed to get the correct 3ds Max...

Which max is correct? Help me connect correctly ,please . 3ds max 2015/2016  and Havok  Content Tools  2014-1-0_20140830 /2014-1-1_20150216

[dagobaking]

I list the correct Havok above.

 

The Max versions that work with it are either 2015 or 2016.

[A.N.R]

On 6/11/2019 at 7:31 AM, dagobaking said:

Are the form ID in your example above pointing to your "Test3" animation?

 

You cannot point to an animation using its CK name like you have it in your Test section of the XML. You have to use either FO4Edit or the "MakeXML" tool from AAF optional files on Nexus to look up that animations form ID and put that in the XML.

Thank you I tried it again and it works.

[Stunlocked]

I need some help with obtaining the correct skeleton.HKX file for the HKXpack converter, so I can convert non-human animations with it.

Just using the skeleton.HKX from the game files doesn't work

[johnridd03]

Any update on sextec yet?

 

Sorry if it's been asked before.

[Firehawk777]

Hey there. Could one of you amazing modders please tell me what I am doing wrong with 3ds max and importing fbx? I can make my own animations now!!!! Yay. Thanks to this guide and ShadeAnimator. Though I am still having an issue with importing the fbx. I have vanilla files converted to fbx. They will import though they are not joined to the skeleton and only appear to be affecting the mesh. Also the mesh is twisted up like its facing the side. I assume I not disconnecting the rig properly though I run the script several times just to make sure.

Any tips?

[ArchConjurerXL]

On 1/3/2018 at 6:05 AM, Vader666 said:

In 3dsMax, Just open the Rig and select everything, use the rename tool to add a suffix, im using _AC1 for actor 1 _AC2 for actor 2 etc,

to everything you selected and create a selection set

Now import > merge the same rig and select everything that does not contain the String _AC2 ( press H > select > search > set up the condition to "does not contain" >

set the value to the suffix you used for the other actor > click add > click select.

 

Now everything of your second actor should be selected.

Add a suffix to everything of your second actor just like you did with the 1st and do a selection set for this actor too.

 

Now you can animate both actors.

 

When exporting, just remove the suffix of one of the actors and export.

Havok exports only the nodes that are found in the scene AND the rigmap.txt so the suffix of the 2nd actor prevents a mess.

After exporting reapply the suffix, remove the suffix of the other actor and export.

 

Thats how im doing it.

Deleting one of the actor after animating will mess up ik targets and stuff that are constrained / linked to parts of the other actor ( Obviously... ).

Hi Vader - sorry for replying to a 4 year old post, but I'm trying to follow these instructions to replace an existing killmove in FO4.  Just to clarify these steps:

 

1. Open Rig (I'm using Maik's F4Biped.CAT rig) in Max, select all -> tools, rename objects and add a suffix and base name for the first actor (e.g. base name = attacker and suffix _AC1) then create a selection set

2. When importing the same second rig for the victim, do you merge all and also merge duplicates?  I see instructions to set up a condition, but where exactly do you do this?

 

Appreciate any guidance you can give, thanks!

[Vader666]

On 4/19/2022 at 6:53 PM, ArchConjurerXL said:

also merge duplicates?

 

You shouldn't get duplicates since you renamed everything with a suffix.

I never used Maik's rig, maybe some of the stuff in there is set to hidden ?

In that case the hidden stuff would not be renamed with your suffix which then leads to duplicates on importing the rig a second time.

[ArchConjurerXL]

1 hour ago, Vader666 said:

 

You shouldn't get duplicates since you renamed everything with a suffix.

I never used Maik's rig, maybe some of the stuff in there is set to hidden ?

In that case the hidden stuff would not be renamed with your suffix which then leads to duplicates on importing the rig a second time.

Thanks for the reply!

 

Yeah, with Maik's rig, there are some hidden entities which when you select all, don't actually get selected when renaming.  I had to manually pick those and add a suffix and the second rig imported without duplicates, so all good on that front.  I'm in the process of animating the attacker and victim, hoping to get that done in a couple days...absolute headache.  I'm curious which rig you use for your animating?  A few of the tutorials I've seen for say idle poses or simple idle animations used Maik's rig, but apparently the one that comes with F4AK is much better (F4AK_rig_final). 

 

My second question is once you export both victim and attacker animations to 64 bit HKX, how would you go about replacing the paired killmove in game?  Would this be done via the CK or does it involve naming the files to the Paired killmove you are replacing and just dropping them into the data folder in your FO4 directory?

 

Thanks again for your help.  I'm 50-50 on this being a successful little project, but only time will tell.

[Vader666]

2 hours ago, ArchConjurerXL said:

I'm curious which rig you use for your animating?

 

I used the F4AK_rig with changed camera node translations, the original one used to mess up furniture animations because of that.

 

2 hours ago, ArchConjurerXL said:

how would you go about replacing the paired killmove in game?

 

Never did killmoves.

Afaik the anims need some annotations for them to work, if you got that, replacing vanilla killmoves should be able by just overwriting the animation files.

 

 

[ArchConjurerXL]

19 hours ago, Vader666 said:

 

I used the F4AK_rig with changed camera node translations, the original one used to mess up furniture animations because of that.

 

 

Never did killmoves.

Afaik the anims need some annotations for them to work, if you got that, replacing vanilla killmoves should be able by just overwriting the animation files.

 

 

Thanks for your help!

[ArchConjurerXL]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:33 AM, Vader666 said:

 

I used the F4AK_rig with changed camera node translations, the original one used to mess up furniture animations because of that.

 

 

Never did killmoves.

Afaik the anims need some annotations for them to work, if you got that, replacing vanilla killmoves should be able by just overwriting the animation files.

 

 

Hi Vader

 

So I've finished animating the characters and adding annotations to the victim and attacker.  Wen exporting I am doing the following from HCT:

 

1. Select animation export 3rd person

2. Under create skeleton, I choose Fallout4Rig3rd.txt

3. I then export it via write to platform

 

Do I need to do anything else from HCT?  There are a few other options such as prune types, extract motions.  Do I need to use any of those?

 

Thanks in advance

[Vader666]

5 minutes ago, ArchConjurerXL said:

Do I need to do anything else from HCT?

 

if you loaded the configuration file from F4AK... no.

 

 

 

 

 

[ArchConjurerXL]

On 4/27/2022 at 1:42 AM, Vader666 said:

 

if you loaded the configuration file from F4AK... no.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks

 

Partial success - the victim and attacker animations play well....up until what looks to be the 100 frame mark (out of 135), where they both randomly rotate off axis to the left and right respectively.  So odd...I did notice that when you create a new scene in max, the default number of frames is 100.  I loaded the saved clip I created from the import rig after collapsing layers and loaded it onto the CAT rig and had to extend the scene to 135 frames manually which was the import animation length as it didn't do this by default.  Wondering if this is causing the weird behaviour as everything runs fine up until then.  Le me know if you have any thoughts on this.  Been trying to get in touch with @Hazraogh6 as he seems to be the only one who has successfully tested this, but he's been away a while by the looks of things.

 

Cheers

[Vader666]

On 4/28/2022 at 10:48 PM, ArchConjurerXL said:

Wondering if this is causing the weird behaviour

 

If it still looks correct at frames 100-135 in max it's very unlikely this behavior is due to your animation.

You could easily check that by creating a 150 frame T-pose animation an see if that still does weird rotations at the same time.

 

However, killmoves have a pretty specific purpose and i've encountered some "hardcoded" motions regarding furniture animations.

So it might be that at a specific time, probably the frame where one of the actors should be killed,

the behaviorgraph sends a "hardcoded" rotation change to i.e the root bone to either prevent collision of the actors after one actor is set to ragdoll or maybe just to get better visuals out of the ragdoll effect.

However typically behaviors like that are triggered by annotations and not a fixed framecount.

[Gilibran]

Not directly AAF related but since there is alot of animation knowledge here.

 

I want to try and delay the Vertibird takeoff animation for a sound mod i have in the making. What happens now is as soon as you choose your destination the vertibird takes off. What i want to achieve is a engine spoolup sound starting as soon as the player boards a Vertibird or after they have chosen a destination and exit the pipboy. Sofar I have been trying to replace other sounds to see if i can do it that way. Try to replace the unequip/equip sound, other related iddle sounds and anything else i could come up with but i'm not getting anywhere with that.

I have replaced the engine sounds themselves and those work on takeoff-flight-landing. I have the latter 2 under control > The right sound during flight and the right sound for engines spooling down once landed, still need some tweaking but it's close to what i want to achieve. The first part however i cannot get the way i want it because the vertibird takes off immediately so at the moment the engine spoolup sound and flight sound play together for X amount of time.

I have come to the conclusion that the only way to do this is to try and lengthen the takeoff animation itself since i cant find a script related to the Vertibird taking off-flying and landing  where i could perhaps change some timers. I cant even find the script and animation to board the Vertibird so i can perhaps script the spoolup sound starting as soon as the players clicks E to board!???

 

As far as i have been able to narrow it down, there is no script that ties the different animations together, it seems to be hardcoded and as soon as you put the pipboy down the game just takes over.

I know the vertibirds are tricky already but i think it should be possible and not to invasive so it breaks stuff to delay the takeoff animation, if this is possible i should also be able to lengthen the animation off the proppelors spinning up and  stopping.

I can find the individual .hkt files for all those animations in the CK and by now, after several days of trial and error know i need to extract them somehow, edit them and then repack them.

Offcourse investigating this i soon found HKXpack but what i cannot find is howto install and actually use it. I have no Java knowledge, i can find my way around XML's though. I'm making an assumption here, but the length of the animations has to be a value set somewhere so if i can acces that and just increase that value i might not even have to import/edit/export animations to blender etc. etc. ???

I unpacked the scripts and still going through them to find something related to Vertibird animations/boarding activation but sofar i think that is a deadend to achieve what i want.


So back to the animations, where do i start with HKXpack? Is it the right tool to begin with for what i want? Any knowledgable animation modder think it is possible at all?


These would be the animations as far as i been able to narrow down which together form the Vertibird flight and some of which i need to edit:

 

1. LandIdle.hkt

 

2, PropellorStart.hkt ( for slower-longer start up spin)

 

3. Takeoff.hkt or TakeoffWithForwardMotion.hkt

                   (Not sure what the difference is perhaps normal take off - Prydwyn takeoff after boom disconnect or takeoff when sending the vertibird to a settlement)

 

4. ForwardGlide.hkt

 

5. Land.hkt

 

6. LandTouchdown.hkt

 

7. Landiddle.hkt

 

8. PropellorStop.hkt (for slower-longer stop spin)

 

If it all works i might add a delay to the takeoff from the Prydwen:

PrydwenPerch\ExitToStand.hkt (Prydwen Startup and unhook animation)
 

Any help is very much apreciated

 

In the meantime i'll keep looking for a script where the whole Vertibird fasttravel from boarding to closing the pipboy and flying is handled if it exists to see if find a solution there.

 

A short vid to get an impression of the rough sound edits i have made sofar. Music is merched with the engine during flight soundfile so loops and auto starts and stops with vertibird flight:

 

 

[ArchConjurerXL]

On 4/30/2022 at 9:42 PM, Vader666 said:

 

If it still looks correct at frames 100-135 in max it's very unlikely this behavior is due to your animation.

You could easily check that by creating a 150 frame T-pose animation an see if that still does weird rotations at the same time.

 

However, killmoves have a pretty specific purpose and i've encountered some "hardcoded" motions regarding furniture animations.

So it might be that at a specific time, probably the frame where one of the actors should be killed,

the behaviorgraph sends a "hardcoded" rotation change to i.e the root bone to either prevent collision of the actors after one actor is set to ragdoll or maybe just to get better visuals out of the ragdoll effect.

However typically behaviors like that are triggered by annotations and not a fixed framecount.

Thanks - With the animation that is messed up, I had loaded existing animations for the attacker and victim that were already in game i.e. imported the attacker and victim anims onto the import rig, collapsed layer then loaded both anims onto new rigs in a scene.  Reason I did this is because I wanted to use that particular killmove and just change what happens from a certain frame to the end frame - I deleted all keys from that frame for both victim and attacker until the end then created the keys for the remaining animation.  I have a feeling this is what is causing the problem, there something within those 2 existing animations for the attacker and victim that leads to the rotation.  So I'm now re-creating the animation fresh.  Just load up 2 rigs into the scene and freshly animate both from frame 0 to the end.  Will see if this fixes the problem.

 

The T-pose idea is a good one, I'll try that as well before wasting my time building this from scratch.  Thanks again mate,, really appreciate your help

[ArchConjurerXL]

2 hours ago, ArchConjurerXL said:

Thanks - With the animation that is messed up, I had loaded existing animations for the attacker and victim that were already in game i.e. imported the attacker and victim anims onto the import rig, collapsed layer then loaded both anims onto new rigs in a scene.  Reason I did this is because I wanted to use that particular killmove and just change what happens from a certain frame to the end frame - I deleted all keys from that frame for both victim and attacker until the end then created the keys for the remaining animation.  I have a feeling this is what is causing the problem, there something within those 2 existing animations for the attacker and victim that leads to the rotation.  So I'm now re-creating the animation fresh.  Just load up 2 rigs into the scene and freshly animate both from frame 0 to the end.  Will see if this fixes the problem.

 

The T-pose idea is a good one, I'll try that as well before wasting my time building this from scratch.  Thanks again mate,, really appreciate your help

@Vader666 I'm getting a really odd error now when exporting via HCT.  It says that the R_RibHelper and L_RibHelper contain an additional root....Any clue on how to deal with this?

[ArchConjurerXL]

2 hours ago, ArchConjurerXL said:

@Vader666 I'm getting a really odd error now when exporting via HCT.  It says that the R_RibHelper and L_RibHelper contain an additional root....Any clue on how to deal with this?

Ignore me, I figured this out

[Vader666]

On 5/1/2022 at 8:03 PM, Gilibran said:

i'll keep looking for a script where the whole Vertibird fasttravel from boarding to closing the pipboy and flying is handled if it exists

 

Not 100% Sure but i think vertibirds are handled as furniture.

So in CK there should be a form for the usable vertibirds which should have a script attached to it.