Skyrim

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JJ

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OmecaOne

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About this mod

Tired of the same old attack animations repeating endlessly? This mod lets you extend the vanilla 2-Hit loop and combo your regular attacks into different power attacks. Up to 7 times more animation variety than before.

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Normal Attack chain Demo (ANIMATIONS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS MOD!)





Combining Normal and Power Attacks (ANIMATIONS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS MOD!)











Many action games have intricate melee combo systems where you can pull off many unique moves through different attack patterns.

Skyrim's combat animation tree is very simplistic: Power attacks aside, there are only 2 attack motions for each movement direction that will just loop over and over as long as you swing your weapon.

C.A.F. is a framework that allows you to set up your own combos with up to 19 additional attacking animations compared to vanilla that you can mix and match from any existing animation replacer mods.






  • No behavior modification, no Nemesis patch required, completely based on Dynamic Animation Replacer
  • Supports 2-Hit, 3-Hit, 4-Hit, 5-Hit, 6-Hit, 7-Hit, 8-Hit, 9-Hit, 10-Hit or 11-Hit Combo chains
  • Supports unique Power attacks after any number of normal attacks
  • Light script but no scripted animations
  • Supports custom Combos for every weapon type (daggers, onehand swords, twohand swords, unarmed, battleaxes, maces etc.) and dual-wielding
  • MCM menu





INSTALLATION


Step-by Step combo setup guide



CAF does not come with pre-packaged animations. You can pick files from any animation mod and truly build your very own moveset from them. Each stage of the combo chain corresponds to one DAR folder which will contain all animation files that should play at this point in the combo.
Once you've understood how to use the DAR conditions of this mod, you'll be able to create a limitless amount of attack variety in your game.

  • The Main File in the download section includes the basic DAR folder structure for a 11-hit Combo. Each stage of the Combo chain has its own folder and each folder contains a README file detailing which animations you need to put inside. 
  • The file CAF DAR folders for Weapon Types in the download section contains folders for 5-Hit combos for each individual weapon type. You can set up many more combo variants yourself by combining conditions (details on the DAR mod page).

After you're done filling in your desired animation files, note how many folders you have filled for each weapon. The script needs to know the maximum length of a combo loop or the combo will not work. Set the sliders in the MCM menu accordingly, for example if you have set up a 5-hit combo for twohanded axes in your folders, set the "2-Handed Axes/Hammers" slider to 5.








HOW DOES IT WORK?


  • Melee normal attacks come in sets of two attack moves (example: A1 and B1 both belong to the same set "1", but have different animations "A" and "B"). This is how Skyrim's behavior graph works and I didn't change that.
  • Each time your character does an attack animation, CAF will increase your "combo level" by one. Each combo level uses a different set of A and B attack animations thanks to DAR. So while the game makes you go back to the A-type move again after the B one, it will now actually be a different animation!
  • When you reach the end of the combo loop, your combo level will reset and you'll start with the regular set of attacks again. If you stop attacking midway through the combo or wait too long with pressing the attack button, the combo will also reset.
  • Each combo level also has its own set of power attacks (P1, P2, P3 etc.), so you can finish your combo chains with different moves by doing a power attack after any number of normal attacks.





COMPATIBILITY


  • Animated Armoury - DAR Version: Recommended. It's easy to combine CAF's  DAR conditions with those used by the newly added weapon types of this mod and to give some of them extended combos.
  • Stances - Dynamic Weapon Movesets and its Add-On: Recommended. You can give a single weapon multiple different combos depending on the stance.
  • Dynamic Combat Module: Highly Recommended. As you can see on this flowchart, the framework allows for unique Sprint Attacks and Sprint Power Attacks at each stage of the combo. This means you can chain any number of normal attacks into unique Sprint attacks, or even chain consecutive Sprint Attacks together.
  • Separate Power Attacks: Recommended. Makes it a lot easier to trigger PAs precisely when you want to, instead of them going off when you accidentally hold down the attack button a split-second too long.
  • SkySA up to version 1.2: Compatible. 
  • SkySA version 1.3 - 1.7: Somewhat compatible. These versions have a hardcoded  3-hit combo with the standing power attack after 2 regular attacks, CAF could in theory add a unique mid-combo power attack after the first hit and a unique finisher as the third hit. Make sure to activate the SkySA option on the second page of CAF's MCM menu.
  • SkySA version 1.8 and higher: Redundant. From 1.8 on SkySA has its own combo system so CAF isn't needed there
  • Attack Behavior Revamped: Redundant. ABR has its own combo system.
  • Smooth Combo Animation Framework Fix: Incompatible. Version 1.3 of CAF includes the "fix" (a new power attack being available after 1 normal attack instead of only after 2), so that mod is obsolete.
  • Diverse Random Normal Attack: Incompatible. You could download it for its pre-packaged animations though and use some of them in your combos.





FAQ


Q: My combo doesn't work
A: Check if the in-game MCM settings matches your combo length. E.g. if you have set up a 4-hit combo for onehand axes but the slider is still set to 2, you will not see any changes. If your weapon does not get registered (debug message "no combo for this weapon" appears), check the "Combo Override" option. This will force the current combo length to whatever you set the override slider to, regardless of what weapon you have equipped.

Q: That wasn't the problem, my combo still doesn't work
A: Check if you have put your animations inside the correct folders. There's a README inside every single one telling you exactly what you should put inside.

Q: Nope still doesn't work
A: Check if your CAF folder structure conflicts with other DAR mods in your mod manager. If a "_conditions.txt" file gets overwritten, you have a conflict and should rename your folders. Even if nothing gets overwritten directly there might still be priority conflicts, where anim files inside a DAR folder with a higher number overwrite files of the same names from a CAF folder. Try changing the CAF folder names to higher numbers.

Q: Ok now something is working but it switches back and forth between vanilla animations and the combo I set up
A: Maybe you messed up CAF's internal folder priority while renaming folders. Folders higher up in a combo chain must have higher numbers, e.g. a combo5 folder must always have a higher number than a combo4 folder. The comboFinish folder must always have the highest number out of the set!

Q: Ok now it works but my character is t-posing
A: You've probably grabbed an Oldrim animation file by accident. They are not compatible with SE, but can be [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2970]easily converted

Q: Some of the animations are being skipped and the combo gets mixed up on the second loop.
A: One or more of your animations have more than one hit frame. CAF's script will count them as multiple attacks and everything gets mixed up. The trick to solve this is leaving the folder for the next combo stage after the double-hit animation file empty. Example: Your first attack swing has 2 hit frames. Leave the combo1 folder (for animations after one normal attack) empty and put everything you would have put in there into the combo2 folder instead, move everything from combo2 into combo3, etc...

Q: I only want 3-hit combos, what to do with the remaining folders for the 4., 5. etc. hit?
A: Leave them empty.

Q: I can't find all the animations suggested in the _README for each combo stage. I only have an attackpower.hkx file for my combo2, but no attackpowerforward.hkx. What happens when I do a forward power attack after 2 normal attacks now?
A: If you have an attackpowerforward.hkx in your combo1 folder but none in your combo2 folder, the combo1 animation will also play in place of the combo2 one. If you don't have an attackpowerforward.hkx inside combo1 either, the base or vanilla animation for this power attack will play. Generally for any undefined file, the next defined file with lower priority will be used.

Q: I have only 2 animations for weapon type X, but I want a 6-hit combo for X. Can I just put my 2 animations into the combo5 and combo6 folders and leave the previous folders 1 to 4 empty, so I get a loop of four vanilla moves -> my two replaced moves?
A: Yes.

Q: How do I set up combos longer than 5 hits for any weapon type?
A: Create the extra folders yourself, copy the condition files from the main file's folder structure and add the respective weapon condition.