Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch

Bug Description: Combat Rifle points downward during NPC firing animation (visual issue)

Issue: When an NPC equipped with a Combat Rifle fires the weapon, the rifle’s animation appears to point downward at an unnatural angle, even though the trajectory of the bullet itself is unaffected. The issue lies in the visual representation of the weapon’s position during combat, leading to an odd, jarring animation where the NPC appears to fire the rifle while it’s pointing well below the intended target. This causes immersion-breaking visual errors, though it doesn’t impact the actual effectiveness of the weapon (the bullets still hit their target as normal).

Steps to Reproduce:

Have an NPC equipped with a Combat Rifle engage in combat.
Observe the firing animation as the NPC shoots at enemies.
The Combat Rifle will appear to point downward at a sharp angle, but the bullets still travel in the intended direction and hit their target as expected.
Expected Behavior: The NPC should fire the Combat Rifle with the weapon properly aimed at the target, as is typical with other weapons, showing a consistent and realistic firing animation.

Platform(s) Affected: [Include platform details—e.g., PC, PS4, Xbox One]

Impact on Gameplay: While this bug does not affect the combat effectiveness or the trajectory of the bullets, the visual inconsistency can be immersion-breaking, particularly during extended combat sequences. The odd animation can be distracting and detracts from the overall experience.

Additional Notes:

This issue only affects NPCs—player-controlled characters do not experience this animation bug with the Combat Rifle.
The bug may persist across different combat situations and can occur with various NPCs, whether they’re enemies or companions.
The rifle’s trajectory remains unaffected, meaning the bug is strictly visual in nature.