View source for Mapbase/Entities/NPCs/Custom Animations

{{mb|4.1}} adds custom animations to many {{hl2|4.1}} NPCs and modifies many existing ones. These changes are intended to increase consistency between NPCs as well as provide additional capabilities for mappers and modders.

= Custom weapon animations =
{{todo}}

= Remapped activities =
Many existing animations have had their [[Activity]] changed in order to be more consistent across different NPCs and work as would be expected from the base activity definitions.

For example, in stock Half-Life 2, if you place a {{ent|npc_citizen}} with no weapon, it will use a generic unarmed idle animation called <code>ACT_IDLE</code>. When the citizen is holding a weapon, it will use a weapon-specific animation with its own suffix, such as <code>ACT_IDLE_SMG1</code>. This is known as translating activities, and all NPCs with weapons do it automatically.

However, even though all NPCs translate activities, not all NPCs have activities which match up with what the game expects. For example, {{ent|npc_combine_s}}'s base <code>ACT_IDLE</code> actually holds a weapon. Its unarmed idle animation uses a separate <code>ACT_IDLE_UNARMED</code>, which does not exist in any other NPC and can only be translated by custom code. This is why spawning a Combine soldier with no weapon causes them to still look like they're holding one in most games.

Mapbase changes the activities on these animations to be more consistent with the base implementation, and thus work as expected with their weapon state. For example, by changing the soldiers' unarmed activity to <code>ACT_IDLE</code>, Combine soldiers will now look and act unarmed when they have no weapon.

The following animations have had their activities changed to something else:
=== combine_soldier_anims.mdl (npc_combine_s) ===
{{note|Mentions of "AR1" refer to a new set of intentionally unused weapon animations representing different hand positions. See the [[#Unused weapon activities|Unused weapon activities]] section for more details.}}
{| class="standard-table"
! Sequence
! Original Activity
! New Activity
! Notes
|-
| <code>Idle1</code>
| <code>ACT_IDLE</code>
| <code>ACT_IDLE_AR1</code>
| This animation involves holding an assault rifle. "AR1" is the closest approximation given the hand position.
|-
| <code>Walk_all</code>
| <code>ACT_WALK</code>
| <code>ACT_WALK_AR1</code>
| This animation involves holding an assault rifle. "AR1" is the closest approximation given the hand position.
|-
| <code>RunALL</code>
| <code>ACT_RUN</code>
| <code>ACT_RUN_AR1</code>
| This animation involves holding an assault rifle. "AR1" is the closest approximation given the hand position.
|-
| <code>Idle_Unarmed</code>
| <code>ACT_IDLE_UNARMED</code>
| <code>ACT_IDLE</code>
| This is a "true" unarmed idle animation. In order to retain support for code which calls <code>ACT_IDLE_UNARMED</code>, the <code>ACT_IDLE</code> variant is a separate hidden sequence rather than a direct replacement.
|-
| <code>WalkUnarmed_all</code>
| <code>ACT_WALK_UNARMED</code>
| <code>ACT_WALK</code>
| This is a "true" unarmed walking animation. In order to retain support for code which calls <code>ACT_WALK_UNARMED</code>, the <code>ACT_WALK</code> variant is a separate hidden sequence rather than a direct replacement.
|-
| <code>CombatIdle1</code>
| <code>ACT_IDLE_ANGRY</code>
| <code>ACT_IDLE_ANGRY_AR2</code>
| This animation was created for the AR2 in mind. {{bug|tested={{ez2}}|Since there is no replacement for default <code>ACT_IDLE_ANGRY</code>, unarmed soldiers may T-pose under specific circumstances.}}
|}

=== police_animations.mdl (npc_metropolice) ===
{| class="standard-table"
! Sequence
! Original Activity
! New Activity
! Notes
|-
| <code>batonidle1</code>, <code>batonidle2</code>
| <code>ACT_IDLE</code>
| <code>ACT_IDLE_MELEE</code>
| <code>ACT_IDLE</code> is normally used for unarmed animations and then translated to weapon counterparts.
|-
| <code>walk_all</code>
| <code>ACT_WALK</code>
| <code>ACT_WALK_MELEE</code>
| <code>ACT_WALK</code> is normally used for unarmed animations and then translated to weapon counterparts.
|-
| <code>run_all</code>
| <code>ACT_RUN</code>
| <code>ACT_RUN_MELEE</code>
| <code>ACT_RUN</code> is normally used for unarmed animations and then translated to weapon counterparts.
|-
| <code>lowcover_shoot_pistol</code>
| <code>ACT_RANGE_ATTACK_PISTOL_LOW</code>
| <code>ACT_RANGE_ATTACK_PISTOL_MED</code>
| Part of the support added for "medium" cover. To be more consistent with other NPCs, there is a custom crouch animation which takes the place of this one.
|-
| <code>lowcover_aim_pistol</code>
| <code>ACT_RANGE_AIM_PISTOL_LOW</code>
| <code>ACT_RANGE_AIM_PISTOL_MED</code>
| Part of the support added for "medium" cover. To be more consistent with other NPCs, there is a custom crouch animation which takes the place of this one.
|-
| <code>lowcover_shoot_smg1</code>
| <code>ACT_RANGE_ATTACK_SMG1_LOW</code>
| <code>ACT_RANGE_ATTACK_SMG1_MED</code>
| Part of the support added for "medium" cover. To be more consistent with other NPCs, there is a custom crouch animation which takes the place of this one.
|-
| <code>lowcover_aim_smg1</code>
| <code>ACT_RANGE_AIM_SMG1_LOW</code>
| <code>ACT_RANGE_AIM_SMG1_MED</code>
| Part of the support added for "medium" cover. To be more consistent with other NPCs, there is a custom crouch animation which takes the place of this one.
|}

= Medium cover support =
{{todo}}

= Readiness animations =
{{todo}}

= Unused weapon activities =
Mapbase optionally comes with a bunch of unused weapon activity sets intended for use by mods. Many of these weapons exist or are mentioned in the SDK, but are not integrated into mods by default. This includes the following:
* <code>AR1</code>
* <code>AR3</code>
* <code>SMG2</code>
* <code>SMG3</code>
* <code>HMG1</code>
* <code>SNIPER_RIFLE</code>
* <code>DUAL_PISTOLS</code>
In order to use these animation sets, they must be enabled in the code. Go to <code>ai_activity.h</code> and set <code>EXPANDED_HL2_UNUSED_WEAPON_ACTIVITIES</code> to 1 if you want to use them.

Regardless of whether these are enabled in code, Mapbase comes with custom animations for some of these weapon sets. For example, Combine soldiers have an animation set for the AR1 which uses a hand position more closely resembling that of a "traditional" assault rifle as opposed to the AR2.

= Optional dynamic interactions =
{{todo}}