QUESTION: how to add unit effects?

[j_mie6]

oh I think I get it... I thought you meant that all 3 empty nodes on the controller (that became dummy_sword ones had to be all the same but all 3 are different... 2 for the dummy_sword (1 with the bool) and 1 for the sword...

also when this is done won't there be a extra sword in all the other animations which I will have to remove?

 

[SaibotLieh]

Sounds correct. Of course you are right about the other animations, I didn't thought about them. It should be sufficient if you add a single NiBoolInterpolators with the value "no" to the idle animation and align it with the dummy_sword. The nodes should always keep the last attributes that were given to them via the kf files. Thus, because the unit always starts with the idle animation, the dummy sword turns invisible and should stay so until the surrender animation is played.

 

[j_mie6]

yay it works... just need to put in the invisibility for the other animation and then i'm finished with my first unit... btw why does the phalanx have 2 spears and would I have to make a third to make it drops it's spear when it dies?

 

[SaibotLieh]

Excellent.

I guess the second spear is for the fidget animation. I think you could use that for your surrender animation, you just have to put it in the right place at the 0.0 second timestamp of the NiTransformInterpolator you create for it.

 

[j_mie6]

I just tested the final praetorian and when it reaches surrender it's sword isn't there... apprently because it was hidden before in the other previous animations it didn't want to come back out to play... I have an idea about how to fix this though... The child of the bool you told me to delete needs to be there for the sword to appear again... in every animation the bool needs to be there with it's child and set to the full animation's time (as you said it defines when the vis is turned on and off) and then it should work when it reaches surrender... What do you think and how would I go about using the child node...

 

[SaibotLieh]

Hm, normally the child shouldn't be needed because you want the sword to be visible the whole animation. Does the disappearence of the original sword works with no problem? Maybe you made a small misspell mistake. If you post your unit with the custom animation again I would take a look at it.

 

[j_mie6]

ok I included a read me for all your reading pleasure

 

[SaibotLieh]

Well, this took me awhile, but I found the problem. Go to the NiTransformInterpolator you added to the surrender animation. There is an entry "Scale". It is set to something like -1000000, which means that the dummy_sword gets pretty small when the animation is played (in fact this could be used for making stuff invisible, too). Set that value to 1 and everything should work fine.

 

[j_mie6]

well the sword works fine, (and i'm sorry to have to say this) BUT, during the surrender the sword drops but the general himself isn't there

 

[SaibotLieh]

Did you do anything else than change the scale value? Because if you only change this within the General you uploaded, everything should work fine.

I just tested it to be sure.

 

[j_mie6]

yep only changed the value you said to change...

 

[SaibotLieh]

Just to be absolute sure, here is a screenshot of the value that is to changed in the surrender kf. It should like this afterwards:

Spoiler :

Also I've attached the surrender kf file that I changed and is working on my computer.

 

[j_mie6]

mmmm weird... yours works perfectly so I will have to thank you for that.... also check my mod's discussion thread and look at the last post on page 2...

well thanks for all of your help! I will start getting on with the others I have to do and get back to you if I need any more help!!! (btw I am going to hate looking on my account and not seeing this thread on it... It will be there and I will see it when I need more help but I really enjoyed working on this and i'm sad that my initial learning curve has ended...)

 

[j_mie6]

oh and also I will be posting updates on here to keep me happier

 

[SaibotLieh]

mmmm weird... yours works perfectly so I will have to thank you for that.... also check my mod's discussion thread and look at the last post on page 2...

Well, stranger things already happened, as long as it is working out in the end I guess it's fine.

well thanks for all of your help! I will start getting on with the others I have to do and get back to you if I need any more help!!! (btw I am going to hate looking on my account and not seeing this thread on it... It will be there and I will see it when I need more help but I really enjoyed working on this and i'm sad that my initial learning curve has ended...)

No problem, it was also fun seeing that somebody understands that well what I'm trying to tell. There is still some things to learn with NifSkope, but I guess those should be touched at the time when you really need it.

 

[j_mie6]

well first off there is a unit in my mod (which I didn't make) which doesn't have a die a or b fade which means when it dies it just appears standing again and it is really annoying. so I thought why don't I move the praetorians fades in and see if they would work... Nope, unfortunatly the Legion has a different Editable Mesh than the praetorian so the only thing that fades is his shield.. any idea on how to edit the fades into the legions animations bearing in mind the BIP and Bip01...

the zip contains the praetorian dieAfade and DieBfade aswell in there...

 

[SaibotLieh]

Hm, I must say I never looked into the DieFade animation, so I can't tell how it works at the moment. But if you're alright with the unit not fading, but at least keep lying you could improvise a DieFade animation.

For this, open the Legion Die animation and look at the stoptime of it. Change the start time to the stop time minus 0.1 seconds (for example, with a stop time of 2.0 seconds the start time should be 1.9 seconds). Save that modified kf as DieFade animation for the Legion and you should be good to go.

 

[j_mie6]

unfortunatly that doesn't work if anything it would have to be 1 SECOND faster... because it's not just because of the end of the animation it's because it happens after the animation finishes because there is not fade to go into...

 

[SaibotLieh]

I know, that's why you have to create a DieFade animation. Has far as I know, each time an animation isn't available the unit uses the idle animation instead. Following my description you should end up with the original Die animation and a new DieFade animation that consist of the last 0.1 second of the Die animation (hopefully a lying Legion unit). Alternatively you could create an empty animation file and make it the DieFade animation.

 

[j_mie6]

oh..... I thought you mean't change the original animation to be slower lol yer that should work......