With FNIS AA it is possible to dynamically (i.e. during runtime) replace 537 (3rd person) character
standard animations with an "arbitrary" number of custom replacements, called alternates. This feature
allows a tremendous variety of animation solutions. However, this is severely hampered by restrictions of
Papyrus and the general game architecture.
The selection of alternate animations is done using Havok animation variables (animvars). In order to
reduce the amout of these AnimVars, and the number of function calls in your mod, the animations are
subdivided into 54 Animation Groups, where all animations of one group are controlled by one animvar.
You will always change all animations of one group at the same time.
The size of the groups range from one (like for the mt_idle.hkx) up to 41 for the 1hm_attack animations
except for the power attacks. For a complete list of all groups and their animation files please check out
the file tools/GenerateFNIS_for_Users/Alternate_AnimationGroups.txt. But please: DO NOT CHANGE
this file. It is used by the Generator itself.
The Problems:
The problems FNIS AA has to solve are not so much stemming from the behavior changes themselves.
They are relatively easy and straight-forward so it was possible to have a tool which automatically
inserted almost all the necessary changes to the behaviors. It's because FNIS supports an arbitrary
number of mods, and exactly these mods can be added, modified and removed between save and load.
And because of some System and Papyrus short-comings.
Limited NPC functionality
AnimVars work well for the player. As soon as the player is in 3rd person, her/his 3rd person animvars
are available. Not so for the NPCs. Whenever an NPC "looses 3D", s/he looses all animvar values as
well. As soon as 3D is regained, all values are set to 0. "Loosing 3D" is probably a matter of the game
cache, not loosing sight or being in a different interior.
To solve this problem, Skyrim doesn't provide much help. Most notably, there are no custom actor values
you could use. FNIS Sexy Move, for example, uses MiscItems ("Sexy Coins") in the NPC's inventory to
determine the animvar values once the NPC is close to the player. Maybe you can find another solution,
suited to your situation.
Changing Installation Situations
All mods share the same animvar for the same animgroup. Each mod gets a range assigned, and
therefore a mod and group specific base value has to be added every time an animvar assignment is
made. But whenever a game is loaded, it is possible that your mod's base values have changed
whenever the user has added or updated or deleted a mod that uses AA functionality.
FNIS supports this situation in 2 ways:
1. On game load FNIS will check all animvars for the player and NPCs in question, and adjust them.
2. You have to make sure that you always use the updated base value(s). But DO NOT RUN the
designated FNIS functions EVERY TIME you have to change the animvar. This can be very time
consuming. Do this in a PlayerAlias script where you compare the crc value of the current install
with the previous one, and update if that value has changed. If it is not possible to to make a
PlayerAlias script, then at least check for different crc before loading the base value(s) anew.
Due to game architecture and Papyrus limitations it was not possibleto implement the AA functionality
without considerable restrictions. BE RESPONSIBLE TOWARDS THE COMMUNITY, AND DON'T DO
THINGS UNNECESSARILY!
• Maximum 128 sets in one user installation (one set defines all custom animations in one mod for
one particular group. For example, XPMSE/Racemenu requires 6 sets alone for the euquip
animations for 6 different weapon types).
• Considerable CPU load when calculating the base values. Especially when the user comes close
to the 128 set limit.
How to set up Alternate Animation for your mod (example):
1. Define an animation folder (animations\<mymod>) and an FNIS animation list
(animations\FNIS_<mymod>_List.txt), as usual
2. Got to the file GenerateFNIS_for_Users\Alternate_AnimationGroups.txt to find out which
animations you want to replace, and which group they belong to
3. In the FNIS list use the following definitions (example):
AAprefix mym '3 character abbreviation for your mod
'all animation sets you need in your mod
AAset _mtidle 3 '3 AAs for all files of group _mtidle (mt_idle.hkx)
AAset _1hmidle 2 '2 AAs for _1hmidle files (1hm_idle, sneak1hm_idle)
4. In the animations\<mymod> place all your alternate animations. Each one has the name
<mod_prefix><number_0_to_9>_<original_filename>:
mym0_mt_idle.hkx
mym1_mt_idle.hkx
mym2_mt_idle.hkx
mym0_1hm_idle.hkx
mym0_sneak1hm_idle.hkx
mym1_1hm_idle.hkx
mym1_sneak1hm_idle.hkx
5. If you don't want to define alternates for certain files of a group then DO NOT USE COPIES of
the standard files. Simply omit the alternates you don't need. FNIS will automatically use
standard animations instead!
6. Scripting. The following is the recommended structure of a mod using FNIS AA functionality. If
you don't use such structure, please keep in mind that all functions (except SetAnimGroup())
can be very time consuming.
Quest script
Scriptname myModQuest extends Quest Conditional
int Property ModID Auto
int Property mtidle_base Auto
int Property 1hmidle_base Auto
int Property ModCRC Auto
Event OnInit()
ModCRC = FNIS_aa.GetInstallationCRC()
if ( ModCRC == 0 )
; Installation Error: no AA generated by FNIS
else
ModID = FNIS_aa.GetAAModID("mym", "<myMod>", true) ; true during test only
mtidle_base=FNIS_aa.GetGroupBaseValue(ModID,FNIS_aa._mtidle(),"<myMod>",true)
1hmidle_base=FNIS_aa.GetGroupBaseValue(ModID,FNIS_aa._1hmidle(),"<myMod>",true)
endif
EndEvent
PlayerAlias script
Scriptname myMod_PlayerAlias extends ReferenceAlias
myModQuest Property Mod Auto
event OnPlayerLoadGame()
int current_crc = FNIS_aa.GetInstallationCRC()
if ( current_crc == 0 )
; Installation Error: no AA generated by FNIS
elseif ( current_crc != myMod.myModCRC )
Mod.ModID = FNIS_aa.GetAAModID("mym", "<myMod>",true) ;true:testonly
Mod.mtidle_base=FNIS_aa.GetGroupBaseValue(Mod.ModID,FNIS_aa._mtidle(),"<myMod>", true)
Mod.1hmidle_base=FNIS_aa.GetGroupBaseValue(Mod.ModID,FNIS_aa._1hmidle(),"<myMod>",true)
myMod.myModCRC = current_crc
endif
endEvent
Script changing the groups' AnimVar
..................
if <set_my_animation>
bOk = FNIS_aa.SetAnimGroup(Game.GetPlayer(), "_mtidle", myMod.my_mtidle_base,
<value_0_to_9>, "myMod", true)
else ; set vanilla
bOk = FNIS_aa.SetAnimGroup(Game.GetPlayer(), "_mtidle",0,0,"myMod",true)
endif
if !bOk
; there was a problem
endif
Теперь хоть на расшифровку и эксперименты с альтернативными анимациями не буду тратить время) 
