SC2Mapster

For a while, I thought that shields that acted as temporary bonus HP and are displayed on the Life bar (instead of Protoss-style shields that exist as a resource alongside Life and Energy) weren't possible in the Galaxy Editor, but after playing SotIS, I have discovered that this isn't the case.

I don't have access to the SotIS map file itself, so I can't just open it up in the editor and reverse-engineer it, so if anybody who knows how to recreate that effect can give me the details, that would be wonderful!

(Alternatively, if it's possible to download the SotIS map file, I would appreciate it if somebody told me how. There are many effects in there that I can't find on this forum, and being able to figure it out myself is a better alternative to having to bug you guys about it.)

@ItemsGuy: Go

There are a couple ways to do this.

Perhaps the simplest would be to make a behavior with a Unit: Modification - Vital Max Bonus that increases the unit's maximum shields, and a modify unit effect with an Effect: Vitals - Change that increases the unit's current shields by the same value.

If you give the behavior a duration, then the maximum shields will simply decrease when the behavior expires. Any other sources of shields will not disappear.

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A different way would be to use triggers to modify the units maximum and current shields directly. Then after a wait or some other condition is satisfied, reduce the maximum shields by the same amount.

Firstly i shall direct you to said link http://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/general/general-chat/60305-need-to-deprotect-a-map-any-helpers-pm-me/#posts Just so you aware of the how continuing down a wrong line in regards to accessing closed maps can end up negatively. That being said you can peruse the list of open maps to see if maybe you can find an old version that will provide some answers; or ask the author for access or how its done (highly unlikely given its popularity).

Althought i don't know for sure atm as im not famaliar with sotis, i would generally say that any temporary change to health or unit states is going to be done via a simple buff; which also will allow you to attach visual effects or modify incoming damage. I would actually highly ecourage you bugging us on figuring out how things are done as many of the mappers here happy to lend a hand if they see you are willing to put the work in yourself. Either way as i see it you will need to learn a bit of how data works in order to get things to link and work properly together like you would like. Happy mapping.

@MasterWrath: Go

Mentioning that first part got me thinking on an alternate solution to this (since shields are fairly messy to work with, especially when it comes to armor and such) - instead of adding a temporary Shield vital, the intended effect could be achieved through two Effects - one that temporarily increases a unit's maximum health by X, and one that heals said unit by X. The "destroyable maximum health" effect could possibly be achieved by removing a stack of the effect after the affected unit takes X damage.

I've been able to get the heal portion to work, but can't quite figure out how to create a buff that adds temporary maximum health (changing Vital Max Bonus in Behavior: Modifications + doesn't seem to work), or how to change Damage Response to remove a stack after X damage is taken.

@ItemsGuy: Go

First of all, there is no such thing as an effect that can modify a maximum vital. There are effects that can modify current vitals by a ratio of the maximum vital, but that isn't what you need.

You need the behavior with the vital max array. Check my original post - the field is under Unit: Modification, not Behavior: Modification.

Also not sure how you got to damage responses, but you have no need of those for this.

@MasterWrath: Go

Worked like a charm - thank you!

I'll probably have to do some fiddling with the UI to have shields appear as an extension of the Life bar, but that's something I can figure out on my own time. : P