Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
Quote Originally Posted by PROMETHEUS View Post
From a conversation I had with Vercingetorix I can summarize here the steps to create a full set of new animations for a unit , was hard to understand without his help , here is the summary....

1)

start make sure you have the latest version (just redownload it) of Xidx.

2)

from the zip extract:
xidx.exe xidxshell.bat extract_animations.bat extract_skeltons.bat pack_animations.bat pack_skeletons.bat
to you data\aniamtions folder

3)

Run extract_animations.bat and the extract_skeletons.bat.

4)

in windows copy fs_theunit_u_want_to_copy and rename the new skeleton.

5)

run xidxshell.bat

6)

type exactly:

chpath fs_newunitname copy all data/animations/
(one space goes here do not write this in parentesis) data/animations/fs_newunitname/
this will copy all the animations that the skeleton uses into data/animations/fs_big_indian_elephant/
remember that there must be a space between data/animations/ and data/aniamtions/fs_big_indian_elephant

7)

ok now there is a folder Data\animations\data\animations\fs_newunitname with all the files right?
now do up arrow so you have the exact same line you typed before but remove the word "copy" be sure not to run this twice!...
this told the skelton to use the new files that you copied instead of vanilla

8)

ok this is probably the most complicated, type exactly:

fork echo chpath fs_newunitname list all data/animations/ | xidx --shell >> anim_list.txt
this lists all the files we copied and saves then at the end of the file list_anim.txt. this is so when we run pack_animations.bat we will pack all the copied files...
should say if went ok ... idx extractor packer
version 96 mady by vercingetorix...

9)

now open data\animations\list.txt and on the last line type fs_newunitname then save the file...
in list.txt not list_anim.txt

(When copying an animationset that contains animations in the BI\data\animations\ folder then XIDX will not find those files.

ADD TO TUTORIAL: 9a: Copy the contents of list_anim.txt and add it to the end of anims_list.txt. XIDX will now include the new files into the packing process.)
10)

run pack_animations.bat then run pack_skeletons.bat
good now you should be able to use that skeleton in descr_model.txt and start the game

11)

so basically now you can take the copied animations in the folder of new fs_skeleton and place on the new edited animations
overwriting them everytime
the fs_skeleton will use always those in this folder
run pack_animatiosn to update the pack with your updated animations to make them work in game...

12)

repack everything.......


be always sure to have made a backup of all ur animations edited befoure making any change just in case you need them ....


I compiled all this in a single tool: Adding animations
So you don't have to write those complex commands all the time anymore... (Personally I always had some typos in them )