As far as I know, this question has not been answered by Bethesda. So, my post is really a request to them!

Just in case it hasn't been directly requested, I am just hoping to point out to the powers that be that there is huge demand in the mod community for adding custom animations. So, any tools they can throw down to help implement animations (for example export plugins for 3DS and a way to load them directly into the CK) would be greatly appreciated by many people.

Without official tools, people will most likely come up with workarounds to make it happen. But, the workflows that result from those patched together solutions typically include a lot of extra steps and limitations. That's frustrating when everyone knows that tools exist somewhere already that allow much more direct publishing and implementation.

Anyway, I hope it can be considered. Thank you for the amazing game!

Whatever you request for the Creation Kit, it is safe to say it is far too late for Bethesda to change anything.

You won't find out what animation tools are included until the Creation Kit is released - hopefully soon. I would not mind getting it next week.

Safest bet is to encourage Fore to port his animation suite to Fallout 4. That works, works well, and all the modders are used to that level of support.

I don't see why it would be too late for Bethesda to change anything on this point.

I know that it's unlikely that I will find out before CK release. That's why I write in the post that it's really a request.

My understanding is that Fore is not going to make FNIS for FO4. Others have already started working on solutions but there remains a lot of uncertainty about what they will be able to set up. I disagree that it works well. In fact, you have to take multiple conversion steps with several apps from the point of creation to seeing an animation in game. This makes animation way more tedious than it would be if there was a plugin to export into game-ready format and a way to import into the CK.

Most likely not, I think the reasoning is is that the creation kit is a watered down version of the dev tools and for legal reasons they had to remove some features like animation tools. Don't quote me on that though.

Sorry that I just quoted you on that.

Yeah. I read something about that as well. The plugin(s) I would love to have are most likely made by Havok. So, there would probably be some issue there. BUT, the Havok plugins aren't really the thing that delivers the reason companies pay Havok. So, it shouldn't be sweat off of their back to make it easier to use their clients products. At one point in time, the basic Havok export plugins were offered for free download.

I mean, some poor guy(s) are going to go through the painstaking task of reverse engineering it anyway. So, what is avoided by not releasing the plugins as they were before?

Lol, I just hope the next game they do they make their own engine with their own construction set so they can release the full package or just the animation tools.

That would be great. I'd say that the revenue generated by the series justifies it!

As a mod creator I have prayed for that since May 1, 2002, but I do not think God plays Bethesda games... or I am still on the wrong side of his ledger.