Title: Unnecessary Violence II: Taking Action
Author: HeX

Date: 10/6/10
Release Date: TBA
Download: TBA

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=541CA445D96D2E2A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAc2M8scUAE

In case you're in Germany you can download the first person trailer from http://www.mrl.nott.ac.uk/~pxt/UV/fptrailer.zip

Please don't use this link if you're outside Germany - i'd rather not hammer janet. It's only here because I forgot about the german rules concerning music on youtube...

The future is here. The future is violent.

Requirements: Oblivion Patch 1.2.0.416, OBSE 19 and NifSE 1.0. Do not attempt to play without these three or your computer will explode.

Introduction

Welcome to a world of unnecessary violence. Version one introduced a new level of combat variety to the world of oblivion including true dual wielding, loads of extra combat moves, throwing weapons and much more. Unnecessary Violence II: Taking Action picks up where its predecessor left off, and takes it significantly further. Now every character class will have some benefits, new combat moves for the tanks, throwing weapons, bow melee and improved sniping for the marksmen, climbing and climbing through windows for the burglars, explosives and traps for the alchemists, chargeable spells, staff melee and releasable soul gem spirits for the wizards, juggling dancing, acrobatics and a lute for the bards, and that’s only the beginning. There are brutal critical hits including decapitations and amputations, fully location aware damage multipliers with unique location special effects like knocking opponent’s helmets off, a controllable bullet time system, and a comprehensive new training system. All this and a comprehensive configuration file that will let you tailor the mod’s features to your exact preferences. If any of those things sound like something you’d like your character to be able to do then read on McDuff.

Key Features:

Weapon Modification:

Off Hand Weapons:

• Switch any weapon (including any added by mods) to you left hand for true dual wielding.
  
• Once switched that weapon will do damage independently of the one in your right and damage will depend on your skill with that weapon type.
  
• Damage calculations use the same formulas (to the best of my knowledge) as vanilla attacks, though the process is handled somewhat differently internally.
  
• Any enchantments or poisons will be carried over to the left handed weapon and work exactly as expected.
  
• Poisoning of left hand weapons is also a simple process.
  
• You cannot however currently enchant or recharge the weapon without first returning it to your right hand.
  
• NPCs will also randomly exhibit this behaviour.

Grip Switching:

• Swap any weapon between a one and two handed grip. If you’re strong enough you can wield two handed weapons with just one hand, and even dual wield them. NPCs will also randomly exhibit this behaviour.

Melee Combat
At any given time you’ll have access to 18 (or 12 for bows and staffs) melee combat moves with your weapon(s) and an additional 12 kick type moves. Giving a total of 30 (or 24) possible melee attacks. Each weapon combination has a unique set of animations. This includes several new animations over and above those in UV RC1. The result is this:

• 1 handed weapon (or sword and shield): 18 weapon attacks, 12 Kicks
  
• 2 Handed Weapon: 18 weapon attacks, 12 Kicks
  
• Dual Wielding: 6 Right handed attacks, 6 Left handed attacks, 6 simultaneous attacks and 12 kicks
  
• Bow: normal firing, 12 blunt attacks, 12 kicks
  
• Staff: normal firing, 12 blunt attacks, 12 kicks)– note that bows and staffs use different animations
  
• Hand to Hand: 18 hand attacks, 12 Kicks (12 hand to hand attacks available when other weapons are sheathed)
  
• Spears also use unique animations and are autodetected

Additionally there are three close up combat moves which can be performed either in hand to hand mode or when you have no weapon drawn:

• Uke Goshi
  
• Tome Nage
  
• Neck Snap (Master perk for hand to hand and nearly always lethal)

You’ll also have access to 4 of 8 possible dodges (on which more later)

Location Specific Damage
You hits (including vanilla attacks) will have specific effects depending where you hit your opponent. At the simplest level this is just a multiplier, but there are a number of unique critical hits, some of which are lethal including:

• Decapitation
  
• Amputation of hands, forearms, whole arms, feet, lower legs and whole legs
  
• Injured head
  
• Injured torso
  
• Knock helmet off
  
• Knock weapon out of hands
  
• Knock shield out of hands

Marksman Skills

• Throw any weapon or object (if you can pick it up you can throw it)
  
• Certain types of weapons may stick in scenery if they connect at the correct angle
  
• Instantly prepare an object to throw as you pick it up, meaning you can run away flinging things at your pursuers.
  
• When throwing enchanted or poisoned weapons the enchantment or poison is applied to the target as expected
  
• Different types of object fly differently, shields spin horizontally, weapons spin vertically, spears, arrows and darts fly straight etc.
  
• Throwing a poison or potion will apply the effects of that potion to the target with some splatter to nearby actors
  
• Throwing a soul gem will release whatever soul is trapped in there (including a random one if the soul is not named)
  
• It is possible to use alchemy to create throwable explosives (see below)
  
• Throw objects with variable power for different spin and distances

The marksman skill 50 perk has been improved and linked to your skill level. You can now zoom when drawing a bow or aiming a throw to a much further level depending on your skill, and the free zoom allows you to control how much you want to zoom in or out. This can also be considered an observational skill.
If you’re in third person mode, the camera will automatically switch to first when you draw your bow or aim a throw the snap back to third person once the projectile has connected.

Magic Skills

• Changeable spells. Charge any spell you have to a more powerful version simply by holding down the cast key. It will increase the power of the spell up to the level of your magicka.
  
• Soul trap and release. If you capture a soul using soul trap, the soul gem will be named for that creature and a spirit version of that will be released to wreak havok. This will work for any creatures or NPCs including those added by mods.
  
• Pre-filled soul gems will release a random spirit (appropriate to the level of the gem). The spirit may be of anything you have encountered on your travels, including creatures added by mods.

Stealth Skills

• You can now knock people out and rob them if you manage to sneak up undetected behind them and bonk them on the head. No special weapons are needed for this effect and it will work on any NPC. They will appear dead, but wake up after a short period of time.
  
• All attacks on sleeping victims are considered a coup de grace and will always be lethal (except for the specific case of knock out blows).
  
• You can climb up any static object with full collision, including walls, buildings columns, in fact almost anything.
  
• It’s also possible to catch a wall in mid air and begin climbing immediately, this means you can jump from wall to wall, or lower yourself down from high buildings.
  
• Climbing through windows (BETA) yes you read that right. You’ll be able to enter or exit any building through the windows. There are a couple of reasons this feature is considered beta, one is that it’s not actually possible to detect a window as part of a larger static, so it’s up to the player to use his own judgement to say he’s over a window, second it only works if the building you’re entering is a single load cell (this is sometimes not the case for multi storey buildings) third if the level designer is lazy and the inside model doesn’t match the outside model’s dimensions then there will be a mismatch about where you arrive. Finally if there is a load door to another building nearer you than the load door of the building you’re trying to enter, then you’ll end up in the wrong building, and probably falling through space.

Alchemy Skills

Three new special components are available to you:

• Black powder
  
• Fuses
  
• Tap components (proximity detectors basically)

In combination with potions, these three objects allow you the flexibility to create various useful explosives:

• Create explosives to blow the locks on doors or containers
  
• You must use exactly the correct amount of black power or you may fail to open the lock, or completely destroy the container (and break all the contents) that you are trying to open.
  
• Create bombs to throw at people
  
• Create fused bombs to throw
  
• Create bombs which will explode when someone is near
  
• You don’t have to just throw the potions though, you can use the lock blowing system to affix exploding potions to any door or container, with a proximity trap or fuse to create real and effective traps.

Performance Skills

• Each performance skill affects how much the people around you like you, not unlike persuasion. There is an amount they like each skill type and performing that skill will drag their feelings towards you in that direction. Some may like a skill, others may hate it. Some may even attack you (or stop attacking you) when you perform for them. The rate at which their dispositions are dragged is dependant on your speechcraft (or in one case acrobatics) skill The skills are as follows:
  
• Juggling
  
• Dancing (can be done with or without weapons in hand)
  
• Acrobatics (actually the dodges from the melee system, but they have the same effects on non-combatant bystanders)
  
• Playing the lute. This can be done either with default tunes, or you can turn your keyboard into an instrument and actually “play” the lute. You too can violate the airwaves of cyrodiil with your ten thumbed talentless noise pollution.

Other Speechcraft Skills

• You may taunt people until they start fights with you, which means defending yourself isn’t a criminal offence,
  
• You may also plead with people attacking you and ask them to spare your life, which they just might.
  
• Finally, as a master speechcraft perk, you may learn to sweet talk honest merchants into buying goods of dubious origin (stuff you stole). It won’t affect their long term responsibility of course, they’re not about to become a thieves guild fence, but it can be very useful, especially if you need to provide a receipt for some unique object.

Misc Skills

• Enter a version of bullet time whenever you want, with the amount of time you get determined by your willpower (but quite short). In this mode a successful hit always triggers a critical (note that that doesn’t mean every hit is a kill, or indeed every hit is successful) but you can only make one attack (successful or otherwise) while in bullet time. This is the closest to fallout 3’s VATS mode I could make with the available tools.
  
• Make duplicates of the weapons you already own, so you can dual wield your favourite toys
  
• Fumbling - not exactly a skill in fact almost the complete opposite, but you (and NPCs) can make a hash of your attacks resulting in dropped weapons, pulled muscles and even hitting yourself. More difficult attacks are more likely to cause fumbles, and a higher weapon skill and luck reduces the chance. Of course the global chance is controllable in the INI

Dealing with the Dead:

• If you have a shovel you can bury the corpses of those who have fallen.
  
• You can also mark those graves with a wooden headstone complete with customisable epitaph.
  
• You can then dig up the grave and either plunder the stuff, or safely store your own things there (be warned though grave digging is considered an offence in cyrodiil)
  
• You can also dig up any grave (from any architecture set) you come across in the same way and access the loot of the fallen, though graves you did not make yourself should not be considered safe storage.
  
• It’s not just the guards you have to look out for, digging may well disturb the spirit of the dead, who will become enraged and attack you!. If it’s a vanilla grave it will just be a random spirit, if you dug it yourself then it will be the spirit of whoever is buried there.

Training:

• All the new skills and moves are delivered via the vanilla training system. To learn a new skill go to the appropriate trainer, enter the training menu tap the UV Attack Button and they’ll present a list of available skills. If they have the skill to teach you and you have the skill to learn you can spend some cash and learn a new skill. Accumulation of every skill in the game is a decidedly costly experience (not for those who don’t like this idea it can be entirely bypassed in the INI to give you all the skills up front)
  
• All training dummys, training bales etc. actually work now so you can train your skills by attacking them. Target spells aimed at the dummies also train the relevant school.

NPC Behaviour

• NPCs will randomly dual wield and gripshift their weapons
  
• NPCs will dodge, block and counter your moves and throws (vanilla moves too)
  
• NPCs will use a variety of the new UV combat moves on you and each other complete with the associated special effects
  
• Most NPCs lack the skill to dodge highly acrobatically, and then it's only possible depending on what armour they're wearing (you can set a limit for the acrobatics dodges of no armour, light or heavy). There aren't many NPCs out there with acrobatics skills high enough to pull off the top dodges, and those that do might surprise you...

First Person

• Unlike its predecessor UVII:TA has full integration with normal first person mode, though it depends on (and subsequently is packaged with some resources from Loup Sombre's excellent third person animations in first person mod. With a nod to skycaptain for his help, kicks in first person will even correctly show your legs no matter what armour you might be wearing without the need for the leg mesh packs that were required by RC1.
  
• One side benefit of this technique is that it gives some nice effects like head bobbing while running, and much more realistic feeling archery.

Configurability:

• UVII:TA is incredibly configurable via an INI file. If you don’t like a feature it can be disabled (mostly). There are virtually no numbers hard coded into the game, instead with all being made available in the INI, meaning you can configure the game to play exactly the way you want to. It’s also possible to override the setup menus and define keys in the INI so those who wish to use it but often start new games needn’t go through the set up process every time.

Credits

Animations by:

• UK47
  
• OWASephirot
  
• OdysseusB
  
• Frantic

Additional Animations from the following mods:

• DMC Stylish
  
• Weaponskill Power Attack Animation Replacer
  
• Skinkpoints Martial Arts Animation Replacer

Special Thanks to

• DragoonWraith
  
• UK47

Additional Thanks to

• Pacific Morrowind
  
• Skycaptain
  
• The Talkie Toaster
  
• Loup Sombre
  
• Wintermuteai
  
• Scruggsywuggsy the ferret and the rest of the OBSE team
  
• Everyone at the CS Wiki
  
• Many Many Community Members
  
• Jennifer

Closing Statements:

So that’s it for now. I’ve probably forgotten some things, so they’ll be added here when I remember them.

The mod is essentially finished (except for a couple of little odds and ends). Making such a comprehensive trailer really served as a good testing process and threw up a lot of points (hence the delay in releasing this trailer)

It will be released pretty much as soon as OBSE19 and NifSE are both available.

And yes I know about the typo in the trailer on screen text...

HeX

Isn't NifSE already available though?

Amazing work. LMAO @ the lute.

I don't really like the idea of NPCs making highly acrobatic dodging moves (even though I do want them to dodge with the vanilla dodging animations...).

The very high jumps are an exaggeration but that is the fault of the animation creator, not yours.

1. It would be neat if you could dig holes to bury your loot. For roleplaying purposes it would be a fantastic way to hide some stolen goods or bury a set of plate armor that you can't carry back from the wilderness.

2. Also, what if you could ask companions to perform entertainment? You could even get a companion to play the lute while you danced! Of course this kind of scripting would probably have to be done by the companion's modder.

lol see u decided to use "taking action"....

so will any of these animations be usable in first person???

Is the throw speed (actual speed of the object thrown) configurable?

Not right now, it's dependant on a lot of things including weapon weight and framerate, and i'm still not completely happy with the calculation method. Generally objects seem to fly much better indoors (because the framerate tends to be much higher). When I increase the overall speed they're too fast indoors and when I reduce it they're too slow outside. Some clever tweaking of the flight code is probably necessary. I'll be looking at it again before release anyway.