Animating ShapeImage Nodes on Server?

#1 Well, not an aswer to your question, but you could discard that part of the melee resource, and just detect a hit if the person was a) in range, and b) in the "strike zone"

#2 Yeah I've tried that, but it really just isn't very effective due to the variety of animations each weapon has.

#3 You need mShapeInstance->advanceTime() to be called on the server as well. In Player::updateAnimation(F32 dt), replace this:

void Player::updateAnimation(F32 dt)
{
   if ((isGhost() || mActionAnimation.animateOnServer) && mActionAnimation.thread)
      mShapeInstance->advanceTime(dt,mActionAnimation.thread);
   if (mRecoilThread)
      mShapeInstance->advanceTime(dt,mRecoilThread);

   // If we are the client's player on this machine, then we need
   // to make sure the transforms are up to date as they are used
   // to setup the camera.
   if (isGhost())
   {
      if (getControllingClient())
      {
         updateAnimationTree(isFirstPerson());
         mShapeInstance->animate();
      }
      else
      {
         updateAnimationTree(false);
      }
   }
}

By this:

void Player::updateAnimation(F32 dt)
{
   if (mActionAnimation.thread)
      mShapeInstance->advanceTime(dt,mActionAnimation.thread);
   if (mRecoilThread)
      mShapeInstance->advanceTime(dt,mRecoilThread);

   // If we are the client's player on this machine, then we need
   // to make sure the transforms are up to date as they are used
   // to setup the camera.
   if (isGhost())
   {
      if (getControllingClient())
      {
         updateAnimationTree(isFirstPerson());
         mShapeInstance->animate();
      }
      else
      {
         updateAnimationTree(false);
      }
   }
}

#4 Move the following code which was previously in ShapeBase::processTick:

for (int i = 0; i < MaxMountedImages; i++)
         if (mMountedImageList[i].dataBlock)
            UpdateImageRaycastDamage( TickSec, i );

To ShapeBase::updateImageState function just below the line:

image.delayTime -= dt;

This fix my problem and I hope that works for you too.

#5 I appreciate the help, but neither solution works. The server still doesn't animate the weapon nodes.

Edit: I found the bloody culprit. God, it's amazing how one condition can give me such a headache. In shapeImage.cpp, at line ~1413, I changed this:

if (isGhost()) {
      if (image.dataBlock->isAnimated) {
         image.animThread = image.shapeInstance->addThread();
         image.shapeInstance->setTimeScale(image.animThread,0);
      }
      if (image.dataBlock->hasFlash) {
         image.flashThread = image.shapeInstance->addThread();
         image.shapeInstance->setTimeScale(image.flashThread,0);
      }
      if (image.dataBlock->ambientSequence != -1) {
         image.ambientThread = image.shapeInstance->addThread();
         image.shapeInstance->setTimeScale(image.ambientThread,1);
         image.shapeInstance->setSequence(image.ambientThread,
                                          image.dataBlock->ambientSequence,0);
      }
      if (image.dataBlock->spinSequence != -1) {
         image.spinThread = image.shapeInstance->addThread();
         image.shapeInstance->setTimeScale(image.spinThread,1);
         image.shapeInstance->setSequence(image.spinThread,
                                          image.dataBlock->spinSequence,0);
      }
   }

to this

if (1) { //Change: Animate on server too (was isGhost())
      if (image.dataBlock->isAnimated) {
         image.animThread = image.shapeInstance->addThread();
         image.shapeInstance->setTimeScale(image.animThread,0);
      }
      if (image.dataBlock->hasFlash) {
         image.flashThread = image.shapeInstance->addThread();
         image.shapeInstance->setTimeScale(image.flashThread,0);
      }
      if (image.dataBlock->ambientSequence != -1) {
         image.ambientThread = image.shapeInstance->addThread();
         image.shapeInstance->setTimeScale(image.ambientThread,1);
         image.shapeInstance->setSequence(image.ambientThread,
                                          image.dataBlock->ambientSequence,0);
      }
      if (image.dataBlock->spinSequence != -1) {
         image.spinThread = image.shapeInstance->addThread();
         image.shapeInstance->setTimeScale(image.spinThread,1);
         image.shapeInstance->setSequence(image.spinThread,
                                          image.dataBlock->spinSequence,0);
      }
   }

Now my sword works!
'course this may not be enough to fix it from stock Torque, as my random animate(), advanceTime(), and countless other animation calls may have been required after all. Time to go back through and see what I can get rid of.

Edit: And these are the necessary animate calls (and is probably very brute-force, but ah well)
In shapeBase.cpp, in ShapeBase::processTick, make the following changes

advanceTime(TickSec); //add this
   if (isServerObject()) {
	   // Server only...
	   advanceThreads(TickSec);
	   updateServerAudio();
	   // SphyxGames -> Melee
	   for (int i = 0; i < MaxMountedImages; i++)
	   {
		   if (mMountedImageList[i].dataBlock != NULL)
		   {
			   //add these------------------------------------
			   mMountedImageList[i].shapeInstance->animate();
			   mMountedImageList[i].shapeInstance->animateNodeSubtrees(true);
			   mMountedImageList[i].shapeInstance->animateNodes(0);
			   //---------------------------------------------
			   UpdateImageRaycastDamage( TickSec, i );

		   }
	   }
	   // SphyxGames <- Melee