SC2Mapster

Hey so i want to have a stream on higher ground and then use the waterfall doodad to have it fall into a bigger body of water on ground level. Now the problem is when putting down the water it is done with the squares. And the cliff goes through one of those squares. So I can either have water on the top level or the bottom level.

So ultimately water is either mising from the last bit of the stream or the first bit of the big body of water since I cant have water on both levels. The other thing is if it is on the top bit, it hangs out and the water "floats" making it look really bad, is there a way around this or is it not possible?

@Nicholas68: Go

YOu could use the cliff tool to cover it up a bit.

@Taintedwisp: Go

Have tried that but the cliff tool jumps into adding big sections, is there a way like with the doodads (holding shift lets you put it anywhere and make micro adjustments) can I do that with the cliffs so I can make micro adjustments rather then it adding big chunks?

Because atm It adds either not enough or more cliff area then needed so then I need to add another water square to make it go to the end putting me back at square one, but if I could micro control it then I could get it just right.

@Nicholas68: Go

Nope, cliffs can't be modified in anything smaller than a 2x2 grid.

The best way to cover up waterfall transitions is with doodads. Rocks and such, in whatever style fits your map.

Ok, I ended up scrapping the waterfall and am making the transition with the cave doodad, but this brings another problem (seems to always be the case fix one to gain a new haha). I actually like the look of the cave and how it turned out. But the problem is by default it has a smoke animation which i dont like/doesn't suit. I had a look at the cave entrance actor and couldn't see anything to turn it off (probably missed it) but does anyone know how?

Thanks once again, Nic

@Nicholas68: Go

It's a bit of a hacky solution, and may not hold out over long game sessions, but there is a simple fix for the cave smoke.

Basically, you have to use the cave's actor events to "pause" the animation before the smoke has a chance to show up. "Pause" in this case, being "set the animation speed as low as the editor will let you".

In case you're new to the data aspects: that's under Events+ in the actors tab. Right click to add a new Event, and set it to look like my attached image.

@Telthalion: Go

Ok, thanks, might use that, for the mean time since the other option is a little bit buggy, I've just added an asteroid that's landed in the cave and since its still hot the smoke is coming from it instead of the cave entrance :P

like this, looks alright and goes along with the theme/story. Waterfall to this, limitations in the editor just lead to more creativity.

It's only my first map so doesn't need to be perfect this time round.

One of the first things you need to realize when it comes to water is that you need to make your cliffs and heighting conform to the water, since the other way around cannot be done. Additionally, don't get yourself stuck in the mindset of using cliffs to drop waterfalls off, it's a common rookie mistake. Use terrain heighting.

If you want some more in-depth talk about stuff like this, I recommend watching some of my Terraining Thursday shows. Recently I had a 6 part episode on waterfalls, where I created a really detailed one. You can find the first of these series here - skip to the 50 minute mark to find the point where I first start on the waterfall. Parts 2 through 6 all lay down a level of detail about it, depending on how much information you need you can check out any of those.