(Cross-posting this from Serenes Forest; I was informed this was a more active community for FE modding)
For a long time now, I’ve really wanted the ability to repoint/resequence existing weapon animations in FE:Fates by reassigning the labels for them. The biggest example of this is getting the game to understand that a weapon given ranged capability needs to call the ‘weapon is casting a spell’ animation sequence, rather than using the ‘weapon needs to be thrown’ animation sequence. I was wondering/hoping to see if any sort of progress has been made in figuring this out, as I’m currently stuck.
An example would be Corrin assuming a ‘sword casting’ stance while wielding the Yato, and the Ragnarok spell effect being produced afterward, much like how the Levin Sword already has its labels set to make the wielder assume their ‘sword casting’ stance (for the given class they’re in) and produce the Thunder spell effect afterward.
Now, I know this is possible because I’ve seen the Siegfried, a weapon that normally uses a spellcasting animation at range, get thrown in battle as if it didn’t. This is because the label for using the ‘weapon is casting a spell’ animation sequence (whatever it is) is not assigned/pointered for when Dragon Fang is triggered.
I had made a copy of Siegfried (including its weapon model) for the avatar using Paragon, and it works great with everything else and does exactly the same things animation-wise that it does when Xander’s wielding it…except that Dragon Fang triggering (as Dragon Fang is a skill Xander never learns, so they didn’t put in the label/reference for it) at range causes Corrin to throw Siegfried instead. Siegfried is never thrown in the base game; the program was already capable of having Corrin do that instead without my having to add or edit anything despite Siegfried having labels assigned for ranged spellcasting.
So, all the animation sequences for things like this are already there in the game. I must iterate that I’m not interested in trying to create brand new animations; this would likely require developer’s tools to which we do not have public access. I just want to re-point the ones that already exist for other weapons so that they’re called up when making ranged attacks (the Siegfried, Raijinto, and Levin Sword all use the same character animation routine for this, and that’s the one I want to use for other sword-class weapons, as an example).
The “Effects” list has also already been discovered by thane and put into Paragon, but I don’t know the way to point these effects towards specific weapons. For example, Mgs_氷打 is the effect label for the snowflake-erupting effect when getting hit with an ice-themed weapon (or an ice-themed character hits you period; as an aside, this is another example of an unknown assignment and I believe it’s attached to possessing certain personal skills), ColdAir is the emitter label that makes a weapon model look like it’s leaking cold mist/snowflakes, and Fimbul’s the name for the actual spell effect called when casting the Fimbulvetr spell. Leo’s Iceblade as a weapon model is also already in the game (model name here is wep_sw037).
But I don’t know how to repoint/reassign any of these so that they’re called up in the right order/at the right time, like what points Mgs_氷打 and ColdAir to the weapon model wep_sw037 (this is already in the game), and how would I also point Fimbul towards that model as well when it’s called to make a ranged attack (this is something I’d want to add that’s not there already) while also having the wielder assume their “I’m attacking with a magic weapon” stance. Basically, how would you take the above information and get it so that the following sequence of events occurs:
-Wielder of the weapon in question (let’s say Leo’s Iceblade) declares a ranged attack, or has to counterattack at range.
-Wielder of the weapon in question assumes their ‘casting a spell with a weapon’ stance (whatever one they use while wielding the Levin Sword); this data is attached to the class of the wielder and it’s the one used for magic-producing weapons of the types they’re capable of wielding. Anything capable of wielding a magic weapon in the first place already has these animation routines in the game, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to use Levin Swords/Bolt Naginatas/etc. properly. I just want to be able to have other weapon models call that character animation routine, which I’m thinking should not require anything more than a simple repoint/reassignment because nothing new seems to be created, here.
-The ‘spell effect’ is produced, and you see/hear the effects of the Fimbulvetr spell. Again, this just feels like pointer/reference manipulation so long as the spell effect in question already exists within the game; this data is attached to the weapon model (for example wep_sw011 seems to call Mag_オーディンの黒書, or “Siegfried”'s weapon model calls the animation for Odin’s Grimoire when it’s time to make a ranged attack).
I’m pretty comfortable with using the Paragon utility; I feel like the problem’s that the file/s holding this information just haven’t been located/deciphered yet (and I’m not sure where to start looking, if that’s the case). If anyone has information about this that might make it possible to accomplish, I’d be very grateful to learn of it.