Help with loading animation mods?

[FlameNoir]

So, I want to play an unarmed character. I've got a perk overhaul mod that gives them perks, but I hate the weird and inelegant vanilla animations. Thankfully, there are several mods that provide plenty of alternatives.

Except, I can't figure out how to install them properly. When I try to install them after downloading, MO2 tells me that there is "no game data on top level." I read that this is because there is no .esp file, and that what I need to do is "make sure the file structure of the mod folder matches your Skyrim data folder."

But that's where the problem is, because my Skyrim data folder doesn't HAVE the same structure as these mod folders, or the same structure as shown in the installation guides on these mods. The mod installation guides tell me that I need to put the animation files under Skyrim\data\meshes\actors\character\animations, but... maybe it's because I'm using Steam, but there IS NO DIRECTORY like this! Oh, sure, there's Steam/steamapps/common/skyrim/Data, but it stops there. The only folders under Skyrim/Data are Interface, LSData, Scripts, shadersfx, Sound, Strings, TES5Edit Cache, and Video. There is a .bsa file labeled "animations" in the Data folder, but if that's some kind of compressed animations container file, how do I merge the animations mod with it??? btw I don't even know what a .bsa file is, unless it's a .boyscoutsofamerica file /s

 

I'm so confused, and I have no idea how to make this work. Help would be very appreciated.

btw the mods I tried to install were

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50416

and

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/77045?tab=description

[easyrider1988]

For the first mod: Select Manual, right click "Data" -> Set Data directory.

For the second mod: Select Manual, right click "Cross and Jab" -> Set Data directory.