This is a small plugin that I made after learning about issues with paired animations work in Skyrim - namely the fact that adding animation events as annotations inside animation files doesn't seem to work.

The plugin in itself doesn't really do anything new - it simply enables animations to do some things they couldn't before.

Technical information for those interested:
After reverse engineering quite a lot and figuring out how it all works, it turned out that the annotations are in fact being read by the game - but the game expects a prefix (NPC or 2_), so it knows which event is supposed to play on which actor. Fair enough... except events with prefixes are actually supposed to be included in behavior as well. So events like the dummy PIE event from Payload Interpreter would not work, even with a proper prefix (NPCPIE/2_PIE), because the event with the prefix does not exist in the behavior graph.
The whole thing seems unnecessary as the game does in fact convert the prefixed events to the non-prefixed ones anyway. The prefixed ones just had to exist to be recognized.
The plugin simplifies all that by removing the need for the prefixed events to exist in behavior graphs. It strips the prefix right away while it's being read.

The plugin, as a sort of a side effect, also stops the synchronized clip bindings from being pre-created when the behavior graph is loaded by the game, reverting to an actually fully implemented (and unused?) vanilla feature that creates a binding on demand. This frees up a few hundred animation slots that can now be used by animation replacers.

• Animation events included as annotations in paired animations are now recognized by the game
• Synchronized clip bindings are no longer pre-created by the game on launch, taking up valuable space that could be used by animation replacers.
  

It's okay if you don't have any idea what that means :) The plugin is just going to enable animators to do some things they couldn't before.

• SKSE
• Address Library for SKSE Plugins
  

Use your mod manager of choice.

• Should be compatible with any non-ancient Skyrim version, including 1.5.97, 1.6+ and VR.
• Incompatible with Open Animation Replacer older than v2.0.0.
• Compatible with Open Animation Replacer v2.0.0+.
• Compatible with Dynamic Animation Replacer...
  ...and all other known mods.

• Legendary Edition version?
  

I'm sorry, but no. Special Edition's engine is much more stable and frameworks like CommonLibSSE allow much easier implementation of advanced plugins. It's really, really time to move on. However, feel free to try porting the mod to LE if you're up to the challenge. I'd rather spend my time on something else than supporting a much worse and, at this point, absurdly outdated version of the game.

• Is it compatible with [SE/AE/VR]?
  

Yes.

• Can I install/uninstall this in the middle of a playthrough?
  

Yes. The plugin has no lasting impact on your game and can be installed/uninstalled anytime.




The annotations in paired animations need to be set up in a specific way to be recognized by the game. As I'm not an animator, I've asked NickNak to write up a short instruction. He has prepared more than I expected! An archive containing a pdf with instructions, some examples and vanilla killmove events is available in miscellaneous files.




GitHub




My patrons for the support!❤️

The SKSE Team for SKSE.

Ryan for the invaluable CommonLibSSE.
powerofthree for the CommonLibSSE fork.
CharmedBaryon for CommonLibSSE-NG.
meh321 for the Address Library.
NickNak for providing many iterations of test animations and helping me figure out the whole thing, and writing up the information about paired animations.
alandse for licensing help.
All the Skyrim reverse engineers who share their work, as well as everyone who share the source to their SKSE plugins. Without their contributions, I wouldn't have been able to learn how to do any of this.
Sovngarde font has been used in the mod description.