I've used two methods to get skeletons to do more than their idle pose.
1. Works always including in Vanilla game I let them start attacking me then use the "tcai" (toggle combat artificial intelligence) command to make them pause in place facing me with weapons out and angry, shaking their weapons at me. I used this, for instance, in the film for my recent "Echos of Shadows" film.
2. Requires the Vigilant mod in Skyrim SE (which is definitely worth playing if you haven't yet). This mod has some humans in skeleton outfits. So they look exactly like skeletons but can use any animations humans can use. I used this in a few film, one of which is the following as an example:
Wow, this helps a lot! Thanks a bunch my friend :D I had noticed the skeletons in your films before and just assumed you made the movements manually with Blender, but using those Vigilant humans wearing the skele outfits makes a lot more sense. For this photo I did a rudimentary version of what you suggested in the 1st tip. Instead of using tcai, I used tdetect so they wouldn't attack on sight and then manually chose the pose/animation in photo mode lol
Post Script: I forgot to mention with regard to the Vigilant mod. One of the things my character does every playthrough is work up the pick pocket skill to 100 so she can steal the clothing and armor off NPCs. (Working up that skill gets her arrested and often executed by the guards, of course, but that's more than half the fun.)
I play at very high difficulty, and removing the weapons and armor off the NPCs before the fight starts helps her have a better chance of surviving and winning the battle. (She really does die a lot, haha.)
Anyway, I discovered the skeleton outfits on the humans because I'd picked some robes off some NPCs and discovered they were skeletons under the hooded robes. I remembered their names (at the time--though I've forgotten them now other than that one of their names starts with a B, I think.). And then when I wanted to use a skeleton in a film I used the "player.placeatme [ID of NPC]" command to spawn a copy I could use.
If/when you play Vigilant, take note of NPCs you see with skeletal faces. They are likely to be completely skeletal. On top of that, the "unequipall" command on them strips their robes but keeps the skeleton body (meaning the NPCs in the plugin are actually granted the skeleton skin as their default skin). Most of the NPCs in question are not hostile, so they're safe for Ostim Standalone animations or Sensual Dancer animations (the latter one the mod I used in the example).
The tdetect command is also a convenient way to 'bruteforce' your way through some stealth quest moments that get broken or too tedious too :) That's a smart way to help even the odds lmao I can imagine it must've been a pretty funny moment, sneakin around yoinking their gear and then ending up exposing some secret skeletons to their cohorts. I do have Vigilant in this playthrough so I'll be waiting to see them myself eventually haha
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Couldn't figure out how to get the skeles to pose in any other way besides idle or force equip weapon smh
1. Works always including in Vanilla game
I let them start attacking me then use the "tcai" (toggle combat artificial intelligence) command to make them pause in place facing me with weapons out and angry, shaking their weapons at me. I used this, for instance, in the film for my recent "Echos of Shadows" film.
2. Requires the Vigilant mod in Skyrim SE (which is definitely worth playing if you haven't yet).
This mod has some humans in skeleton outfits. So they look exactly like skeletons but can use any animations humans can use. I used this in a few film, one of which is the following as an example:
(the image is a link to the film)
I had noticed the skeletons in your films before and just assumed you made the movements manually with Blender, but using those Vigilant humans wearing the skele outfits makes a lot more sense.
For this photo I did a rudimentary version of what you suggested in the 1st tip. Instead of using tcai, I used tdetect so they wouldn't attack on sight and then manually chose the pose/animation in photo mode lol
I play at very high difficulty, and removing the weapons and armor off the NPCs before the fight starts helps her have a better chance of surviving and winning the battle. (She really does die a lot, haha.)
Anyway, I discovered the skeleton outfits on the humans because I'd picked some robes off some NPCs and discovered they were skeletons under the hooded robes. I remembered their names (at the time--though I've forgotten them now other than that one of their names starts with a B, I think.). And then when I wanted to use a skeleton in a film I used the "player.placeatme [ID of NPC]" command to spawn a copy I could use.
If/when you play Vigilant, take note of NPCs you see with skeletal faces. They are likely to be completely skeletal. On top of that, the "unequipall" command on them strips their robes but keeps the skeleton body (meaning the NPCs in the plugin are actually granted the skeleton skin as their default skin). Most of the NPCs in question are not hostile, so they're safe for Ostim Standalone animations or Sensual Dancer animations (the latter one the mod I used in the example).
That's a smart way to help even the odds lmao I can imagine it must've been a pretty funny moment, sneakin around yoinking their gear and then ending up exposing some secret skeletons to their cohorts.
I do have Vigilant in this playthrough so I'll be waiting to see them myself eventually haha