Assuming you start off by duplicating the Unit, you get/need these entries:
Unit (unit stats etc)
Actor>Unit (this has the wireframe, hover bar etc in it)
Model>Unit (the 3d model ONLY. In the current version of GE, if you duplicate a unit and tick the Model>Unit in the duplicate list, the model will be copied just fine but it forgets to update the link in the Actor>Unit to point to the correct Model. Either fix this in the Actor>Unit or give both the same name so it auto links them. Note: it is absolutely not necessary to duplicate the 'terran death', 'zerg death' and 'protoss death' models)
Behaviours (note: don't copy a unit behaviour unless it's trivial and/or you're SURE you want to edit it. It may lead to a hornet's nest of unsearchable references in the 'event' field of various random unduplicated actors you don't understand. Case in point: terran building burndown)
Weapons
Turret (as in the tab Turret; this is referred to in the field 'weapon-turret' for the Unit but it isn't necessary to copy this, all it has is a bunch of rotate speed settings and whether it should spin when idle)
Effects (weapon related)
NOT copied: Actor>Attack (this has the links to attack sfx Models and Sounds. The important fields have 'launch' and 'impact' in them and most of the fields are junk. Look at a few existing attacks and ignore the fields they tend to leave empty. Also, like all actors, this one is activated when the conditions in 'events' are met, which means you need to edit those so it's listening to your correct Effect; but if you don't want to type these in yourself, start by filling out the 'impact', 'launch' and/or 'attack' fields at the top of the page and if it doesn't bug it will auto fill the 'events' for you. Check it yourself to make sure it did in fact do something...)
NOT copied: Actor>Beam (don't forget to make the link in Actor>Attack; it's not a dropdown but if you follow the convention of Something Attack for the attack actor and Something Attack Beam for the beam it will link it by default)
NOT copied: Actor>Turret (this is a dumb actor. All it has is an 'event' that refers to your Unit and tells it to 'engage turret')
NOT copied: Attach Methods (as in the tab; if you copy a unit and it shoots from the ground or from the wrong weapon, you're missing an attach method. Most attach methods don't care what unit is using them, except the ones that make your unit switch between multiple barrels (thor, battlecruiser) because they're listening for a specific Event that makes them switch. You can find attach methods in the 'launch attachment query' and 'impact attachment query' of your Actor>Attack)
If the unit has a missile weapon:
Effect>Missile Launch (has a link to 'ammo unit' = Unit>Projectile in it)
Unit>Projectile (don't forget this has a 'mover' field and Effect>Missile Launch also has one, make sure they match)
NOT copied: Actor>Missile (don't forget making the link to this from Actor>Attack AND putting the Unit>Projectile name into the field 'unit name' at the top)
NOT copied: Model for the missile (linked to in Actor>Missile and you should duplicate it along with that one)
Does something not work? Look around Actors
NOT copied: most other actors (morph, ..., but you can usually find them easily by filtering on the unit name)
You do NOT need to duplicate:
Every model that isn't your actual unit model or its missile (there are a LOT of random Models for things like the portrait, death animation for other races for goddess' sake, and it's all pointless to duplicate because all you can do with a Model is replace the actual graphics; if you want another portrait or death explosion, just choose one from the list in Actor>Unit)
Trivial behaviours. You don't have to duplicate Permanently Cloaked for every unit you make, you know.
Movers (no reason to duplicate this, you can't do much useful with them anyway and it uses the old ones if you don't duplicate them)
Trivial abilties. No need to duplicate Attack or Stop.
Upgrades (each weapon upgrade has the various units it affects in it. If you want to keep the current functionality of the upgrades concerning other units, I 100% recommend you edit the existing upgrades, not duplicate them or you're going to have to duplicate the next two...)
If you were stupid enough to duplicate the upgrades, you also need:
NOT copied: Validators (the things that know whether you have researched Ground Weapons 1 or not, so it knows to display the correct button. This isn't directly related to your unit, but if you duplicated the upgrade, you need to duplicate this too. It is likely there are two validators, one for having researched the upgrade, one for not having researched it yet)
NOT copied: Abilities>Research (if you edited your upgrades, here are the abilities that let you learn them, on a by-building basis)
......
Other important elements:
- Duplicate all of your Effects at once if it's a complicated weapon like the marauder's. They're all linked to each other in a daisy chain, so if you forget one, the effect chain will jump off the rails at that point and continue using the old Effects.
- Always check out the 'events' field in your Actor Unit. It might be referring to a behaviour or other event you didn't even know existed. Also, some events are based on your weapon (thor missile bay doors), so if you replace the weapon they'll break.
Thanks for posting this. I'm new to map creation and was trying to sift through this myself just a few minutes ago. It was obvious that I didn't need to duplicate everything, but I wasn't sure so I'd been duplicating everything. It worked well until I'd duplicated about 5 units, then I realized what a mess I'd created
Good list, the only thing I'd note is that there's no real reason to duplicate the model 90% of the time. I'm up to hundreds of actors in my TD map and only 2 of them needed customized models.
There is one reason in the entire game (other than Blizzard paranoia): building placement graphics in abilities are a model and there is no way to set its scale in the ability. If your building has its scale set in its actor (as it should), then the placement graphic will have the original size. So you duplicate it and change its size there.
There is one reason in the entire game (other than Blizzard paranoia): building placement graphics in abilities are a model and there is no way to set its scale in the ability. If your building has its scale set in its actor (as it should), then the placement graphic will have the original size. So you duplicate it and change its size there.
You can do that, or you can make a custom placement actor. That also lets you do other effects to the placement image like tint it or whatever.
In my TD map, to get consistency with towers based on all three races (and some based on units) instead of using the placement models I use the regular models with a custom placement actor that sets the opacity at 30% and tints them green, for example.
To determine which actor's I need to copy, I usually do a once through to figure otu which ones reference the unit I am copying.
For example, when I duplicate the marine, I check the marine actor and the marine_death actor because both respond to the marine unit doing something. They will not respond to a copy of a marine, so a copy of the actor is needed.
I never copy weapons or abilities until I know I need to adjust them. I always copy them separately to verify I am copying all the appropriate actors for the weapon/ability as well.
Not sure if this is the best way to do it, but it seems to work well.
It's not: it is unnecessary to copy those models because they already exist and they don't link to anything, they're only linked to. I still copy them because they take up almost no space if you don't change anything and who knows what the other fields will turn out to be good for.
This is, however, a good way to find missing actors - you may need trial and error if they're not all named like the unit. The viking and missile turret ('Mi Tu') have some divergent actors.
good god... my micro map was suppose to take much shorter to make but doing the most simple tasks in the editor such as duping a unit is complicated as hell.
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For lack of an installed copy of Visio...
Assuming you start off by duplicating the Unit, you get/need these entries:
If the unit has a missile weapon:
Does something not work? Look around Actors
You do NOT need to duplicate:
If you were stupid enough to duplicate the upgrades, you also need:
......
Other important elements:
- Duplicate all of your Effects at once if it's a complicated weapon like the marauder's. They're all linked to each other in a daisy chain, so if you forget one, the effect chain will jump off the rails at that point and continue using the old Effects.
- Always check out the 'events' field in your Actor Unit. It might be referring to a behaviour or other event you didn't even know existed. Also, some events are based on your weapon (thor missile bay doors), so if you replace the weapon they'll break.
:D
Thanks for posting this. I'm new to map creation and was trying to sift through this myself just a few minutes ago. It was obvious that I didn't need to duplicate everything, but I wasn't sure so I'd been duplicating everything. It worked well until I'd duplicated about 5 units, then I realized what a mess I'd created
Good list, the only thing I'd note is that there's no real reason to duplicate the model 90% of the time. I'm up to hundreds of actors in my TD map and only 2 of them needed customized models.
There is one reason in the entire game (other than Blizzard paranoia): building placement graphics in abilities are a model and there is no way to set its scale in the ability. If your building has its scale set in its actor (as it should), then the placement graphic will have the original size. So you duplicate it and change its size there.
You can do that, or you can make a custom placement actor. That also lets you do other effects to the placement image like tint it or whatever.
In my TD map, to get consistency with towers based on all three races (and some based on units) instead of using the placement models I use the regular models with a custom placement actor that sets the opacity at 30% and tints them green, for example.
To determine which actor's I need to copy, I usually do a once through to figure otu which ones reference the unit I am copying.
For example, when I duplicate the marine, I check the marine actor and the marine_death actor because both respond to the marine unit doing something. They will not respond to a copy of a marine, so a copy of the actor is needed.
I never copy weapons or abilities until I know I need to adjust them. I always copy them separately to verify I am copying all the appropriate actors for the weapon/ability as well.
Not sure if this is the best way to do it, but it seems to work well.
It's not: it is unnecessary to copy those models because they already exist and they don't link to anything, they're only linked to. I still copy them because they take up almost no space if you don't change anything and who knows what the other fields will turn out to be good for.
This is, however, a good way to find missing actors - you may need trial and error if they're not all named like the unit. The viking and missile turret ('Mi Tu') have some divergent actors.
@BrotherLaz: Go
good god... my micro map was suppose to take much shorter to make but doing the most simple tasks in the editor such as duping a unit is complicated as hell.