How to force-play First Person Arms animations?

[almostchris]

Is there a way to play certain animations on First Person Arms without having an ItemSet equipped?
Enabling the AlwaysActive toggle on the FirstPersonBaseObject only makes the arms visible, however, its animator's parameters only get updated when an ItemSet is equipped.

I'm trying to trigger an arms animation from a custom ability, which works fine in third-person view, but is virtually invisible in first-person due to the camera offset, so I'd like to play it directly on FPS arms. I've added the animation substate to both tps and fps animator controllers but it never gets triggered on the arms even if they're set to active.

 

[Justin]

All of the animator parameters are synced across the full body and first person animators. The Item parameters are only set when there is an Item equipped. For abilities you can use the Int Data and Float Data parameters to specify unique values for that ability.

 

[almostchris]

All of the animator parameters are synced across the full body and first person animators. The Item parameters are only set when there is an Item equipped. For abilities you can use the Int Data and Float Data parameters to specify unique values for that ability.

Thanks for the reply, Justin, however, none of the parameters are being updated if the character is unequipped. I've tested this with the stock demo scene in a brand new project:

I've removed the default Body ItemSet from the character controller and as you can see the FPS arms animator parameters only get synced when there's a sword equipped.

 

[Justin]

You'll need at least a body ItemSet. If no items are equipped then the controller will think you aren't using the arms at all.

 

[almostchris]

Thanks for clearing it up! You should probably mention this prerequisite in the First Person Arms documentation just in case someone else runs into the same issue.