[3ds Max] IK chain won't show in game

Larry_Marso

I'm trying to create a simple animation for a game and decided to use an IK limb solver on 1 of the arms. I collapsed the IK bones and deleted the IK chain. Everything looks fine in max but, when I test the animation in-game, the arm stays motionless. What am I missing? 

Edit: The game's Skyrim Special Edition and I'm using 3ds Max 2012 

Eric Chadwick

First thing, summarize your question in the topic title. For example [3ds Max] IK chain won't show in game. This will pull in more people who know rigging.

Secondly, which game engine? And how exactly are you exporting/importing out of Max and into it? Each game has its limitations & best practices.

Third, which version of Max, which version of the game engine. Things change from version to version, bugs are add, bugs are fixed, etc.

I suspect deleting the IK is your problem. But most game engines only import FK animation, and if you want IK in-game you usually set that up inside the game editor.

Larry_Marso

I shall do that! Thank you 

As for the info:
The game's Skyrim Special Edition (which uses the Creation Engine), I'm using 3ds Max 2012 with the niftools plugin (so I export/import the file in kf and convert it to/from hkx through hkxcmd)

If I may ask, how do I properly delete the IK?

Eric Chadwick

I'm not up to date with that particular pipeline, but one thing I've done before was to export the full IK animation to FBX, then reimport back into a fresh scene.

This collapses everything into simple FK, which usually is better for a game exporter. Worth a shot. 

Larry_Marso

Ok, I exported the animation to FBX (checked the "bake animation" box and left the other options untouched). Then I refreshed 3ds max with a new scene (keeping the objects) and reimported the file. I removed the ik chain and proceeded to export to kf. So far so good but, when I open nifskope to check the animation, the kf file I exported is empty. Either I made some mistake or the niftools plugin is to blame. 

Larry_Marso

Alright, I figured out what I was missing.. Once I have collapsed/baked the animation (regardless of the method) I save the animation motion. Now, if I simply load said motion (or import the FBX file) on a new scene, the exported file will return empty. However, if I import a random animation first and then overwrite it with the saved motion, the file will export as intended. 
There's probably a better way to do this but it works and that's enough for me.
Thanks for the help, much appreciated.