Strike a Pose - Version 2.1
By: Xiamara and Aleanne

Play NPC idle animations on your character.

SPECIAL NOTE: Before you download Strike a Pose, please be aware that a more advanced animation mod has now been made. I would recommend you check out Trollf's "Actors in Charge Mod." It has all the animations of Strike a Pose plus over 100 more. Also, it allows you to change facial expressions and gives you better control over NPC animations. Check it out here: http://tessource.net/files/file.php?id=6239">http://tessource.net/files/file.php?id=6239">http://tessource.net/files/file.php?id=6239 Just letting you know :)

IMPORTANT NOTE: To avoid bugs, please read the whole readme file, carefully before use.
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1. Introduction
2. Installation
3. Use Instructions
4. Known Bugs/Issues Q&A
5. Tips
6. Credits
7. Contact/Other

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1. INTRODUCTION
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This mod adds a gem that allows your character to choose various NPC idle animations in 3rd person when used. It also adds spells with these animations and animation rings for your companions to use. In addition, the script on the Altars of the Nine Divines has been changed so that your character will pray when the altars are activated. All animations are by Bethesda.

As these animations were originally for NPCs, and not for the player character, there are some bugs that can occur during use. These bugs are all easily fixable by in-game actions (such as talking to any NPC if you are stuck in an animation). To avoid problems, please read the whole readme file before using the mod. In particular, please pay attention to section 3. USE INSTRUCTIONS and section 4. KNOWN BUGS / ISSUES Q&A. Also, a help & bugfix page exists on the animation gem to help you in game if you run into a problem.

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2. INSTALLATION
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To install the plugin, unzip the files and place "Strike_a_Pose_Ver_2.1.esp" into C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data folder. Copy the textures into the same subfolders of C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data\textures\, the meshes into the same subfolders of C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data\meshes\. Run the Oblivion Launcher program. Select Data Files. Click the checkbox next to "Strike_a_Pose_Ver_2.1.esp" to select it. Run Oblivion.

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3. USE INSTRUCTIONS
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ANIMATION GEM
The Animation Gem is added to your inventory when you load your game. To use the Gem, stay in 3rd person, equip the Gem and close your inventory window. A menu will come up allowing you to select buttons for the animation you want to play. Press the button, view your character in 3rd person and you will see the animation. Keep your character standing still and make sure you don't have your weapon, shield or torch currently in your hands or the animations won't play. To stop the "looping" animations (from Gem page 1&2), equip the Gem again and select button "Stop Animations". To stop "Looping Object" animations like book reading and potion drinking (from Gem page 3) you select button "Stop Animations" or get up out of your chair if you used the animation while sitting. To stop "non-looping" animations (from Gem page 4) you just need to wait for these to finish playing and they stop themselves. A Help & Bugfix page is included on page 1 of the gem to help you fix or avoid bugs in game.

ANIMATION RINGS FOR COMPANIONS
Find the companion rings in Red Diamond Jewelry Store in the Imperial City. When you enter the store look for the chest just to your right. To use the rings on your companion, place the ring in their inventory. Have your companion stand still, wait up to 30 seconds and they should start playing the animation. To stop the animation, some companions (like Gabi) only require that you remove the ring from their inventory. Others may require that you remove the ring and make them wield their weapon (or fists for a moment). WARNING: Don't sell your companion rings to NPC vendors, or they may equip it and be stuck with the animation.

ANIMATION SPELLS
In Red Diamond Jewelry Store in the Imperial City, look for the chest just to your right, it contains an "Animation Spell Scroll". Activate the scroll in your inventory window and choose YES to add the spells to your spellbook. The spells are lesser powers. Stay in 3rd person and cast the spell to see the animation. The spell animations do not loop and will stop by themselves. You will still see the casting animation (fist in air) and then the idle animation. Thanks Aleanne for the spell scripts. WARNING: If you have the official Oblivion patch installed, you might experience CTDs (crash to desktop) when using the animation spells. To fix this problem, open the Strike a Pose .esp file in the Construction Set (set it as the active file). A warning message will pop up about biped slots, just click "yes to all". Save the .esp without making any changes. When you use this saved/updated .esp, there should no longer be the CTD problem when using the animation spells.

PRAYING AT ALTAR OF THE NINE DIVINES
This mod adds new lines of script to the "Altars of the Nine Divines" to make your character pray when using the altars. These altars are the central ones located in each Cathedral in the main cities. Stay in 3rd person and activate the Altar. Your character will do the praying animation as well as receive the normal 9 Divines blessing. Thanks Aleanne for the Altar script.

HOW TO EAT, DRINK, ETC.. IN A CHAIR
Only the animations on page 3 of the gem can be used while sitting as well as standing. To eat, drink or read sitting down, stay in 3rd person. Next activate the chair and sit down. Equip the Gem in your inventory and close your inventory window. Select one of the animations from Page 3 of the animation Gem. Your character will do the animation sitting down. You may see a slight jump in the animation when it first starts. To stop the animation, just get up out of the chair. Please stay in 3rd person the whole time when you try this. If done in 1st person you will get bugs like objects stuck to your hand. See Known Bugs - Issues & Answers for how to stop the bugs.

OTHER NOTES
All the animations are for use in 3rd person. Please do not play the animations in 1st person or you will get stuck or see strange results. Speaking to any NPC will get you unstuck and back to normal.

The idle animations are purely for looks and rely only on using the gem, spells or rings, they do not rely on any other objects in your inventory. (For example, the potion drinking animation will play when you use the gem, even if you don't have any potions in your inventory).

If you use "Dark UI" the text on the companion ring icons may be hard to read.There are some alternate icons (with lighter text) for Dark UI users available in the "extras" folder. You can copy these and overwrite the other icons.

All animations are either unique ID's in the idle animation manager that point to untouched Bethesda animation files, or edited copies of Bethesda animations with new file names and unique ID's in the idle animation manager. Therefore, there should be no conflicts with the original idle animations or other idle animation mods.

Please read Known Bugs/Issues for more details.

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4. KNOWN BUGS - ISSUES & ANSWERS
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Issue: Some of the animations are not playing.
Answer:
First, remember not to wield your weapon or fists or to have the shield or torch in your hands when you try to play the animation.
If you get a problem where some of the animations are not playing at all (specifically Cheer, Clap, Eat, Drink Bottle, Drink Potion and sleep), check that you have all the .kf animation files copied correctly to Oblivion\Data\meshes\characters\_male\Idleanims\
Also, this mod was created with everything installed to the directories C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data\. If your game is installed to an alternate directory or folders, it might cause issues, some of the animations may not play. I heard the fix for that is to make some dummy directories and folders on C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data\ and place the files there. Also, during testing some animations would fail to execute at random but would play when tried a second time.

Issue: The animation won't stop playing!
Answer:
Press the STOP ANIMATION button on the Gem, or speak to any NPC and it will force you to reset.

Issue: In first person, I can't move, my controls are frozen or I see something weird.
Answer:
Please stay in 3rd person when using the animations, never in first person. If you use the looping animations in first person, your character will get stuck in the animation or your first person controls may seem frozen or worse. To solve this problem, get into 3rd person, run and speak to any NPC and it will reset the animation back to normal. Basically for any problem you experience in 1st person, speaking to an NPC should fix it.

Issue: My character's mouth is stuck open after eating or drinking!
Answer:
To fix that, please use the Gem to play the "mug drinking" animation again while standing, make sure to use the "stop all animation button" at a point in the animation when your character's mouth is closed.

Issue: My weapon got stuck to my character's hand!
Answer:
If that happens, stop the animation, select and de-select the weapon again in your inventory screen, or save your game, exit and reload.

Issue: The mug, book, potion bottle etc... got stuck to my character's hand or is stuck to my weapon sheath!
Answer:
If this happens, speak to any NPC and the item will disappear. It can happen because the game assigns these items temporarily to your weapon and shield slots. To prevent this problem, please avoid changing, equipping and unequipping your weapons in the inventory screen at the same time that the animation is playing. Please stay in 3rd person when using the animations at all times, never use them in 1st person.

Issue: I can't unequip my weapon or shield.
Answer:
Speak to any NPC to reset, and then you should be able to unequip the item again. To prevent this problem, avoid changing your weapon and accessing other items in your inventory while the animation is running.

Issue: My companion's mouth is stuck open after eating or drinking.
Answer:
Use the "mug drinking" ring on them again and remove it from their inventory at a point when their mouth is closed.

Issue: My companion is stuck in an animation after giving them a companion animation ring.
Answer:
If your companion is stuck looping an animation, just take the companion ring from them and make them wield their weapon.

Issue: Using the animation spells causes my game to crash to the desktop (CTDs)
Answer:
If you have the official Oblivion patch installed, you might experience CTDs (crash to desktop) when using the animation spells. To fix this problem, open the Strike a Pose mod's .esp file in the Construction Set (set it as the active file). A warning message will pop up about biped slots, just click "yes to all". Save the .esp without making any changes. When you use this saved/updated .esp, there should no longer be the CTD problem when using the animation spells.

Issue: When I use the Altar of the Nine divines, the praying animation doesn't play, although I do see the message that I have finished my prayers.
Answer:
If the praying animation doesn't happen at the Altars, please check that file Xiapraying_noloop.kf is installed to Oblivion\Data\meshes\characters\_male\Idleanims\

OTHER KNOWN BUGS & ISSUES

To use the Pat Horse animation, you need to be sitting on your horse. If an NPC or creature is standing right next to you and your horse, the animation may not play properly.

The "Hand on Weapon" Animation works only on side equipped weapons. It works for most side equipped weapons, but some types such as cutlasses are not the right size and will look strange with the animation.

Because the AnimObjects share the weapon and shield slots temporarily, you may see for example, both your weapon and a wine bottle in your character's hand in the inventory view.

Your character will still pray if you activate the altar, even if you already received the daily blessing or if you are wicked and get no blessing.

Original script Altar of the Nine has been changed. Any other mods that change this script or the Altars of the Nine may conflict.

Most of the animations are not supposed to run while you have your weapon, shield or torch out or when you are swimming, sneaking, riding or sitting. Occasionally the game ignores these conditions in the idle animation manager and you may see your character doing the animations at weird or inappropriate times. The solution is to stop the animation and/or speak to an NPC to reset the animation. The exceptions are the "horse pat" animation (meant to use while riding) and the object animations from Gem page 3 like "drink mug" and "read book" (those can be used when sitting).

It's not possible to cast spells while on your horse or in a chair, therefore the animation spells do not have the "pat horse" anim or the ability to eat, drink or read while sitting down. The salute animation was too short to work as a spell animation, so it is not included with the spells.

Spell casting animations had to be non-looping versions (looping animations with spells caused bugs). Therefore the animations of the spells are shorter duration than the animations of the gem. The sleep animation could not be included as a spell because of the looping problem.

The Companion Animation Rings can be uses on the player if you want. Equip the ring on your character, wait about 30 seconds and the animation will start to play. To stop the animation, unequip the ring and wield your weapon or fists for a moment.

Don't lose the animation gem, as it is the only one in the game.

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5. TIPS
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To have your character lay on a bed, jump on top of a bed and stand facing the foot of the bed. Position yourself about a foot away from the pillows. When you activate the sleep animation, your character should fall into place with his head on the pillows. Also, before you activate the animation, if you aim the camera so that the bed is selectable (i.e. you see the word "bed" in the right corner of your screen) then you can even activate the bed and sleep while your character is laying on the bed.

It is possible to do some actions while the idle animations are still running (when playing looping animations with the Gem). For example you could leave the potion mixing animation running on your character and then actually mix potions in the game.

If you assign the gem to a hotkey, you you can avoid having to open and close your inventory window to use the gem.

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6. CREDITS
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Spell Scripts and Altar of Nine Divines Script: Aleanne
Gem and other scripts: Xiamara
Other Scripting Help: Qarl and Scruggsywuggsy the Ferret
Creating mod in CS, editing Bethesda .kf files: Xiamara
Animations: Bethesda
The mod name Strike a Pose: Floydian1
Figuring out the talk to an NPC bugfix: Xara'Thyn
Nifscope Team: Thanks for Nifscope, which allowed me to copy and alter the looping and timing of some of Bethesda's animation files.
Special thanks to all Beta Testers (if I forgot anyone, sorry, please let me know!):
Aleanne, Axel Vain, Bad Karma, Brandon, Briz9, Cell, Chia-Hippo, Cold_as_Hell, Coleman, Cormath, CrazyAce, Dee_Dee1, Divine Avenger, Eion, Eshme, Fernelf, Floydian1, GiPSy, Grizz, Hand of Sotha, Hidon, Kalikut, Katan, Kele, Khorn, Lan'Tiyr, Large Jack, Marine O'Keefe, MarkQuinn, Mathias Lionheart, Melchya, Miriamel, mmmpld, Monkey Dogg, Mr.DarkSim, Povuholo, Prime Monky, Ravvid: Phase –0, rboy3, SeriouaWolf, Shadow, SirKyleAziz, Soor, Strange Angel, Valkyrie321, Vampire Dante, Verlox, Viking50, Warde, Xara'Thyn, Xari

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7. CONTACTS OTHER
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Please send me any comments, suggestions, bugs, questions, or anything else by sending me a Personal Message (PM) to Xiamara at the official Elderscrolls Forums: http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/

Thanks to the Morrowind and Oblivion modding community for their support. Thanks to Bethesda for a great game.