A nubby modders questions

[MacIntyre]

Hey there, I'm trying to make my first character mod, and I have a load of questions.

 

I've found the extended sample character download and guide, and the prefab guide for old DS, and I've closely examined the files for similar already-existing character mods.

 

What I don't know is:

• How to make custom animations
• Where the animations are even stored
• What file format the animations are saved in
• How to make new items. Like, I have a rough idea of the files that are necessary, but I can't really find a guide for DST, and I can't find a guide for item animations, projectile creation, synchronizing damage timing with animation, etc.
• What can be done as far as changing a character's attributes and capabilities. (Can I give a character a tibbers-like AoE attack, for example, and how would I go about doing that? Can I give the character a permanent, death-persistent weapon with an icon in the inventory tray that doesn't actually show up on the user's character model? How do I configure fire/ice/eletric damage? Can I adjust which enemies are friendly to the character?)

 

The guides that exist are very basic and don't have a lot of information about how to edit, what can be edited, that sort of thing, yet there are hundreds of character mods out there, so someone must know how to do these things, or I must be able to find some answers somewhere. If anyone could help provide some answers to these questions, that'd be most appreciated. Please be as detailed as possible, as I'm very new to this