So, you want one animation to be used for all possible facings? That's simple to do, relatively. Just take the animation set you want to have, and put the exact same frames in each direction. That didn't come out too well, so here's a visual.
The standard hero has the following .pict files. This is a condensed version. Forgive me if I get directional order wrong.
Hero_AttackE0001.PCT
Hero_AttackE0002.PCT
Hero_AttackE0003.PCT
Hero_AttackE0004.PCT
Hero_AttackE0005.PCT
...
Hero_AttackN0001.PCT
Hero_AttackN0002.PCT
Hero_AttackN0003.PCT
Hero_AttackN0004.PCT
Hero_AttackN0005.PCT
Okay, here you have two sets of attack graphics, of five frames each. One is to the north and one to the east. You will make #1 of each direction identical, and #2 of N will be the same as #2 of E, and so forth. Capiche? Just post back if that wasn't what you wanted.
(This message has been edited by Celchu (edited 08-02-2002).)