Matched Combat - How to

[Lugie]

Hello. I was wondering if it was possible to make new kill-moves, as to increase the variety/improve responsiveness, as seeing the same 3 or 4 moves gets old quickly.
I know is that there are two files associated with it.
1. The txt files in Animations/matched_combat
2. The references in the animation fragments.

I want to find out 3 things.

(Completely) How does it work, is it possible to add more kill-moves, and if it is possible, how many can we add? Most of the kill-moves in the animations are like COMBAT_1, COMBAT_2, etc. Thing is, I do think this is the number of the animation in the matched combat fragments. That looks like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

version 1

// YARI VS YARI MATCHED COMBAT


// KILLS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

matched_combat
{
entry alliance = 0, start = combat_ready, end = combat_ready, equipment_usage = yari, filename = "Animations/SHOGUN_ANIMATION/BATTLE/MEN/MATCHED_COMBAT/KILL/YAR_KILL_01.anim"
entry alliance = 1, start = combat_ready, end = dead, equipment_usage = yari, filename = "Animations/SHOGUN_ANIMATION/BATTLE/MEN/MATCHED_COMBAT/KILL/YAR_KILL_01_YAR_01.anim"
}

matched_combat
{
entry alliance = 0, start = combat_ready, end = combat_ready, equipment_usage = yari, filename = "Animations/SHOGUN_ANIMATION/BATTLE/MEN/MATCHED_COMBAT/KILL/YAR_KILL_02.anim"
entry alliance = 1, start = combat_ready, end = dead, equipment_usage = yari, filename = "Animations/SHOGUN_ANIMATION/BATTLE/MEN/MATCHED_COMBAT/KILL/YAR_KILL_02_YAR_01.anim"
}

matched_combat
{
entry alliance = 0, start = combat_ready, end = combat_ready, equipment_usage = yari, filename = "Animations/SHOGUN_ANIMATION/BATTLE/MEN/MATCHED_COMBAT/KILL/YAR_KILL_03.anim"
entry alliance = 1, start = combat_ready, end = dead, equipment_usage = yari, filename = "Animations/SHOGUN_ANIMATION/BATTLE/MEN/MATCHED_COMBAT/KILL/YAR_KILL_03_YAR_01.anim"
}

etc. It goes on for all the different states (draw, charging, etc.)

The only thing I don't think I know is how it differentiates between different weapons. I'll report back if I make any findings, and I might just turn this into a guide if need-be.

[You_Guess_Who]

Yes, its possible to add kill moves, and yes its possible for a unit to use 2 melee weapon at once (but stat-wise the same, just animations).

For 2 melee weapons, Lokgar once made a submod for Sekigahara that does basically this. Notice, that spear units usually carries their spear + sword, but never uses their sword. Lokgar makes so Cavalry in Sekigahara charges with the Yari, but in the melee, can alternate between Tachi and Yari.

How Lokgar did this, is by creating a new combat fragment based on yari combat fragment, but adding in motion synch (attack/defend) and matched combat animation from katana combat fragment. This is also the case for the horse animations.

Saya Sheath mod also did this - It added Matched Combat animations from standard banner bearer animations, where originally sabres only have matched combat animations in charges but not in a protracted melee.

Both of these (Hybrid Katana-Yari and Enhanced Sabre matched combat) are included in Kami's Saya and Ebira mod. Try it, look inside the animation battleconfigurations.

[Lugie]

Yes, I knew how to do that, but I was just wondering how the system differentiates between different weapons, As in how does the system know if it is a kill, draw, etc. I was thinking that it was hard-coded because, say, Katana_Katana.txt has way more entries than Yari_Yari.txt. This was also reflected in the animation fragment, with more entries in order. Of course, I was pretty sure that we could modify existing fragments, thus adding more to say- Yari_Yari, but how do we add new ones, like muskets or axes? How does the system know what animation fragment corresponds to what matched fragment?

[You_Guess_Who]

How does the system know what animation fragment corresponds to what matched fragment?

Yes, I also see there are no obvious link between fragments and the matched_combat. Its not fragment>refers to matched_combat>refers to the .anim; but both fragment and matched combat refers to the anim directly. This brings the question: what matched_combat for if fragment refers to the anims directly?

I believe why Katana_katana have more entries than yari_yari is simply because...CA made more katana v. katana .anim than yari v. yari. This is also the case with the animation fragment.

You want to add more animations - do you mean reusing available animations or creating new animations?

[Lugie]

Like I said, I was trying to figure out how to create new animations for new weapons. I wouldn't want to think its one of those things in the DLL, but I have not seen anything else anywhere that could point to this.