Animation clips in ModelDoc

Read the original clip

1. Open the hero's clips folder in Source 2 Viewer, the same one you used in the simple route.
2. Select the clip you will replace and preview it.
3. In the Data section, write down FPS, DURATION, and FRAME.
4. Open the hero's model and go to DataIKChainsData, then IKChains. For each chain, write down its name (m_Name), its end bone, its bone count, and its target bone.
5. Decompile the original clip. Keep the .vnmclip, because you copy events from it later.

Check your Blender export

The Blender steps live in the simple route. Before you export, check these:

• The scene frame rate matches the clip's FPS, rounded to a whole number.
• The frame count matches the original.
• The IK bones follow the real limbs with Copy Location and Copy Rotation constraints, and the animation is baked.
• Root_motion has no keys, unless the move needs to travel.
• The DMX export uses Binary 9 and Model 22.

To start from the original motion, import the original clip's DMX with PulseSrcOps.

Import the clips in ModelDoc

1. In CS2 Workshop Tools, create an addon.
2. In its content folder, rebuild the hero's skeleton path, the same path you used in CSDK 12.
3. Decompile the hero's .vnmskel into that folder.
4. Put your DMX files in a clips folder next to it.
5. Open ModelDoc and choose AddAdd Simple AnimationsAdd, then Add Simple Animations. Import your DMX files.
6. Set each animation's frame count and frame rate to the original values.
7. Delete any NMSkeletonList or AnimGraph2List nodes.

If you skip step 7, you get the warning "Found existing (default) AG2 graph. Ignoring requested creation."

Make the clips

1. Choose ToolsMake Default Animgraph2Tools, then Make Default Animgraph2.
2. Pick the hero's .vnmskel.
3. Tick Convert Anim Sequences to Clips.
4. Run it. ModelDoc writes one .vnmclip for each animation. It does not make a working graph, and you do not need one.
5. Rename your clip to the exact name of the clip it replaces.

Older sound and bodygroup events convert on their own.

Copy the ID events

ID events (CNmIDEvent, shown as CNmClipDocEvent_ID) do not convert. Your new clip needs the same ones as the original.

1. Open the original decompiled .vnmclip in a text editor.
2. Find every ID event.
3. Copy them into your new .vnmclip.
4. Check again that they are there after any later DMX swap.

Set up aim clips

Aim clips, such as aim_idle.vnmclip, are additive. They work relative to their middle frame. Set these lines in the .vnmclip:

m_additiveType = "RelativeToFrame"
m_additiveBaseFilename = ""
m_additiveBaseFrame = "UserSpecifiedFrame"
m_nAdditiveBaseFrameIdx = 31

Match the IK chains

1. In ModelDoc, add one IKChain node for each chain you wrote down.
2. Copy the chain name from m_Name.
3. Set the end effector bone, for example Hand_R.
4. Set the bone count. It is usually 2.
5. Set the target bone.

Check in the Clip preview

1. Open the Clip preview tab.
2. Set the filter to your skeleton.
3. Refresh the Clip Browser.
4. Play your clip. Check that the limbs bend the right way and the model does not flip or slide.

Compile and pack

1. In the Asset Browser, right-click your .vnmclip and recompile it.
2. Copy only the compiled .vnmclip_c into a staging folder, at the original clip's path.
3. Never pack the .vnmskel_c skeleton or any scripts/*.vdata_c file. A shipped skeleton breaks other mods and breaks after updates.
4. Pack the staging folder. Follow Pack your mod into a VPK.
5. Test the move in game. Follow Test your mod in game.