Analysis of the Combat Animations

[JCarter426 1,214]

This is a repost of an old tutorial I did on LucasForums. Original posts can be found HERE.

The combat animations are in fact in the regular old animations.2da; combatanimations.2da is more like a seating arrangement. It lists all the attacks and then states which animation goes with it - hit, parry, dodge, and so on. It's entirely numbers so it can be a mess. animations.2da gives you more of a clue, but the naming scheme can seem a bit weird at first glance. The animation name is an alphanumeric code with four parts, alternating letters and numbers.

The first part corresponds to the attack type - a generic attack, a feat, or a monster attack. There also seems to be some attempt to divide it into ranged and melee, but I can't discern it entirely.

b - ranged
c- melee
f - feat
g - generic
m - monster

Next, it's divided into weapon type as well as whether the character wielding one or two. These are given abbreviations for K2 only.

0 - N/A - droid
1 - SB - stun baton
2 - SS - single saber
3 - 2HS - two-handed saber (double-bladed)
4 - DS - dual sabers
5 - SB - single blaster
6 - DB - dual blasters
7 - RF - rifle
8 - NT - natural attack (unarmed, I believe)
9 - HC - heavy carbine
10 - UC - unarmed, complex (K2 only)
11 - N/A - wrist launcher (K2 only)

Next, what the character is doing.

a - attack
d - damage
f - appears unused
g - dodge
n - deflection
p - parry
r - ready
w - wield

And finally, another number. In most cases this is simply a variation number; some in K2 have an additional letter, for even more variation.

So, for example, if you want a character wielding a blaster rifle to dodge, the animation would be g7g1.

g: generic
7: rifle
g: dodge
1: variation (in this case there's only one)

In the original thread, Fallen Guardian asked about power blast. This is where it gets complicated.

Some of these variables are limited by other variables. Parry, for instance, is only a melee occurrence. I believe this is the reason for the distinction between ranged and melee that I mentioned above. Let's look at the first part again.

1:b - ranged
1:c - melee, complex
1:f - melee, feats
1:m - melee, monster
1:g - both, generic

And now let's look at the third part.

3:a - both, attack
3:d - both, damage
3:g - ranged, dodge
3:n - melee, deflection
3:p - melee, parry

(Putting this in code because of the emoticon.)

1:b is used for [i]all[/i] blaster attack animations.
1:c covers complex melee animations such as parries and clashes.
1:f is reserved for melee feats - critical strike, flurry, and power attack, as well as Force Jump.
1:m is for engaging a monster in melee.
1:g is anything else.
3:a is used for any attack.
3:d is used for any damage.
3:g is used for dodging ranged attacks.
3:n is used for deflecting ranged attacks with a lightsaber.
3:p is used for parrying melee attacks.

Because of these specifications, certain ones do not belong with certain other ones. If that's not confusing enough, the final number is not always a simple variation; what it is depends on both of the above letter slots. I'll go over the feats for you.

MELEE (f***)
1 - critical strike
2 - flurry
3 - power
4 - jump

RANGED (b***)
1 - attack
2 - attack 2
3 - sniper shot
4 - power blast

So, finally, a power blast animation is b*a4. The asterisk is either 5, 6, 7, or 9, depending on whether you are dealing with a single blaster, dual blasters, a rifle, or a heavy carbine.

To make things even more confusing, there are a couple other animations that use the same scheme, in a way. The knocked down animations, for instance, are g1x1, g1y1, and g1z1. And in K2, there are multiple ready animations for lightsabers, the final number corresponding to the saber form, but I don't know if they ever finished the animations for them.

If you're still confused, the 2DA for K2 has a description column that might help. The format is virtually the same as K1's, but of course K2 has more animations so you shouldn't go by it entirely.