Morroblivion

After a few months of gathering information on Oblivion Animations & Custom Creatures & Conversions, I decided to create a updated guide on the process with links to all the tools needed and additional resources. Since it's been mostly an unexplored area of Oblivion modding and a sheer amount of info on the topic is slowly getting lost to time. This Guide will be getting updated over the next few weeks with more information, So consider it a WIP

Note: This is written specifically for Oblivion, Although much of the information may apply to Fallout 3/NV and Morrowind since much of this is sourced from those communities.

Last Updated on 12/1/2021

Tools Required

• 3ds Max 8 Trial
• 3ds Max 8 Service Pack 3
• Civ4 Plugin
• Nif Plugin for Max 5-9
• Photoshop or GIMP
• Nifscope (Fixes walking)
• kfupdater (Verified Not Needed for Oblivion, the latest NifTools exports partially correct)

Useful Tools

• AnimationTester

Installation

When installing 3ds Max 8 you can leave the serial key as default, First and Last Name as anything you want and Company as whatever you want. Those require something to be filled in to continue the installation. After a successful install, Go ahead and download the 3ds Max Service Pack 3. This ensures that 3ds max is fully up to date and should give you less headaches.

After installing service pack 3, You can open 3ds Max and follow the prompts to activate your trial period of 30 Days. Note: After 30 Days you can simply uninstall and follow this tutorial and it should reset back to 30 Days.

After you verify that everything works correctly, exit 3ds Max and continue to download the Niftools Max Plugins 3.4.2. Then navigate to max-8-plugins-3.4.2

Copy the contents to your 3ds Max 8 directory, Default location is C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\3dsMax8

Now we can install the CivilizationIV-MaxTools-v7, Copy the contents to your 3ds Max 8 directory same as the last step. Now open 3ds Max 8 from desktop and it should load without issue.

Now to verify that you can open a creature file and start working on those animation skills!! If you navigate to the top left,

File then Import
 

Take a look at Files of Type you will see a list of the different files that 3ds max is able to open, within that list you will see the Above Netimmerse/Gamebryo (*.NIF.*.KF) This will be the only one, we will use in the entirely of the tutorial.

Now to easily navigate to where your files are located, Click the folder with the up arrow.

After clicking it a few times, You will eventually see the below and will be able to navigate around!

Now, I won't go over the steps for a Photoshop or GIMP install.

Now you can follow the below guide written by a member of the community.

• Creature Conversion (Note: Some info seems to be incorrect, creatures may work but some issues may arise)

External References

Note: I archived the below on Wayback Machine for future reference if the sites go down.

• Animation Data for Oblivion (Just a collection of notes)
• Stormfront Studios Tutorials
• Animation tutorial by Seph
• Creating Character Animations (Blender Specific)
• Setup New idle Anims for NPCs
• Mr. cellophanes Oblivion Animation Templates (Nexus Mod for Anim)
• Animation Tabs
• AnimGroups
• Combat Style
• Morph Anim Tutorial (Japanese)
• 3ds Max: Custom Creeatures (CS Wiki)
• Qixi Oblivion Animation Notes
• Comprehensive MW Animation Thread (contains 2002 developer emails)
• 3ds Max Simple Animation Tutorial by nick_op and Razorwing
• 3D Studio Max: Random Tips and Tricks (silgrad tower)

Quick Notes

 

The (idle) & (walkforward) animations need to be set to Loop Sequence
Note: unknown behavior will occur if they're not looped

Stormfront Studios has a very good page with all the information needed on Loop & Clamp Sequences, Extremely useful for Creature Conversion Tutorial "Preparing Animations:" section.

Stormfront Part 3 Animations And Active Sequence Names

 

Links to Old Forum Posts, Might be useful

• Creatures Revisited
• [HUB] Creatures

 

Whats Possible?

If you have the time and skill? Anything, Modern Bethesda games use the very same engine Oblivion uses but heavily modified. If you see an animation or creature that you want to see in Cyrodiil. Well it's most likely possible to recreate it ;) Somebody did backport a Skyrim walking animation to Morrowind..

Questions?

• Q: Why can't I use a modern version of 3ds Max, such as 2012, 2016 or 2020?
• A: Well, the Niftools were never properly updated for modern versions of 3ds Max as such many features are simply broken. Animations are ONLY possible/tested on v7 - 8, v9 will not work due to a flaw. Older versions such as 3ds Max 4, 5 might work but untested.
• Q: Can I use a Motion Captured Animation? (Proof)
• A: Yes, This is entirely possible although difficult

Impossible?

Adding new Weapon Types? It seems to be hardcoded just like Skills..

Misc Archived Forums for Oblivion Info

• Bethesda Old Forums (Construction Set Section)

How to Fix - Animate In Motion Animations?

I've ran across a "Walking In Place" bug, which is caused by NifTools exporting improper NiTransformInterpolator settings on Bip01 - This carries over to all animations that require to be Animated in Motion like Forward and FastForward.

But Dagger, I exported with CivIV? Well this used to be correct but wasn't compatible with everything, especially re-imported Morrowind creatures. Turns out the NifTools plugin for max had support and it works 1000% better then CivIV, but the latter is still required for preparing the animations inside of max. Just export with NifTools!!

**Insert wrong setting picture, aka what you should have upon export.**

Note: NiTransformInterpolator on Bip01 NonAccum is exported correctly besides the NiTransformData "more on that in a minute"

*Insert Image of correct settings*

The NiTransformInterpolator attached to Bip01 must have all Transform and Rotation Data set at zero 0. If these are incorrect your character will abruptly spin after each step and snap back. Your only other worries are the NiTransformData on Bip01 NonAccum note these settings effects flying creatures, The NonAccum affects the Z axis and possibly the X axis as observed in some Bethesda Assets.

**Image of incorrect NonAccum**

This time around instead of the NiTransformInterpolator settings, We're looking at the NiTransformData on Bip01 NonAccum, Translation Keys and setting the Y value to 0 zero, You must leave the Z value, remember Bip01 NonAccum is flying or up and down.

**Current Settings pic**

Let's turn our attention to Bip01 and navigate to it's NiTransformData and expand the Translation Keys. Note: Depending on the character, you might have 1 to 100 translation keys here. You have to 0 zero out the X and Z values. Just like the NonAccum the Bip01 controls moving forward and side to side.

**Wrong setting image of Bip01 Data**

**Correct setting image of Bip01 Data*