What is Viewmodel

Viewmodel is the weapon model that the player holds in first-person view. You could say that animatronics receive a weapon upon spawning, but with their own hand model and logic for playing animations during movement, screaming, etc.

In this section, we will NOT explain what a SWEP is or how to create a hand model. We will only explain how to prepare your own Viewmodel for an animatronic.

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v_base

v_base is a base for SWEPs that contains convenient functions for adding and managing animations. Using it, the game will automatically play walking, running, jumping, landing animations, etc. But before sitting down to code, a few details need to be clarified.

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Preparing the .qc file

For v_base to be able to add animations for future playback, you need to add a unique activity "ACTIVITY_NAME" 1 for each animation (See ACT).

The activity name can be anything, as long as it is unique for each animation.

Example:

// Hand appearance animation
$sequence "draw" {
	"oldfreddy_anims\draw"
	activity "ACT_VM_DRAW" 1
	fadein 0.2
	fadeout 0.2
	fps 24
}

$sequence "idle" {
	"oldfreddy_anims\idle"
	activity "ACT_IDLE" 1
	fadein 0.3
	fadeout 0.4
	fps 24
	loop
}

$sequence "walk" {
	"oldfreddy_anims\walk"
	activity "ACT_WALK" 1
	fadein 0.3
	fadeout 0.4
	fps 24
	loop
}

// Second walk option
$sequence "slowwalk" {
	"oldfreddy_anims\slowwalk"
	activity "ACT_WALK_STEALTH" 1
	fadein 0.3
	fadeout 0.4
	fps 22
	loop
}

$sequence "run" {
	"oldfreddy_anims\run"
	activity "ACT_VM_SPRINT_IDLE" 1
	fadein 0.3
	fadeout 0.4
	fps 24
	loop
}

After this, compile the model.

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Preparing the script

We want the Viewmodel to register after the gamemode loads, otherwise it will not be able to inherit the v_base.

Create a file at:

garrysmod/addons/my_fh_addon/
└── gamemodes/
    └── fazbearshunt/
        └── entities/weapons/
			└── v_NAME.lua

Note

The Viewmodel file name should start with v_ to distinguish them from weapons, which have the prefix weapon_.

Then, our file should look something like this:

-- swep name
SWEP.PrintName = "Bon SWEP"
-- Base mentioned earlier
SWEP.Base = "v_base"

if CLIENT then
	-- Optional, but create a ConVar for each animatronic
	-- to change the swep FOV	
	local vfov = CreateClientConVar('cl_fov_bon', 104, true, false, 'Fov of Bon')
	SWEP.ViewModelFOV = vfov:GetFloat() or 104
    
    cvars.AddChangeCallback("cl_fov_bon", function(name, old_value, new_value)
		local wep = LocalPlayer():GetActiveWeapon()
		if IsValid(wep) and string.StartWith(wep:GetClass(), "v_") then
			wep.ViewModelFOV = tonumber(new_value) or 104
		end
    end)
end

-- Path to the swep model
SWEP.ViewModel = "models/gentoi/walterfiles/vm/bon.mdl"

-- Function where you need to add your animations
function SWEP:SetupAnimations()
	-- Add "draw" and "scare" animations
	self:AddAnimation("draw")
	self:AddAnimation("scare")
end

function SWEP:Think()
	-- If writing custom logic, please keep this return!
    return self.BaseClass.Think and self.BaseClass.Think(self)
end

Now you can enter the gamemode, and if there are no errors, you can give the Viewmodel to the animatronic. Simply add the viewmodel parameter to the Pill structure:

viewmodel = {
	weapon="v_bonbon",
	skin=1, -- Optional, if you want to change the skin
	func=function(wep)
		-- Code here executes when the hands are given
	end
}

See Pill Structure and Registration →

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Controlling the Viewmodel

As mentioned earlier, animations can be controlled using the following functions:

SWEP:AddAnimation(anim, act, name, noForce)

Adds or replaces an animation.

If only the first argument is specified, it will search for the animation by that name. If the second or third argument is specified, it will search for the animation in the model by them.

Parameter	Type	Description
anim	string	Name of our Viewmodel animation
act	number	Activity name of the model's animation
name	string	Name of the model's animation
noForce	bool	If true, does not replace the animation if it already exists

-- Freddy has a second walk animation option "slowwalk"
-- Replace his normal walking when given:
viewmodel={
	weapon="v_freddy",
	func=function(wep)
		wep:AddAnimation("walk", nil, "slowwalk")
	end
},

SWEP:HandleGroundAnim()

Should movement animations play even if the player is not on the ground?

Returns false by default.

SWEP:AlwaysRunning()

Is the player ALWAYS running? Useful for animatronics like Plushtrap who have the same running and walking speed.

Returns false by default.