Note: This is my first Tutorial I've written, so I'll be glad if some one tells me what to improve. I haven't used English very much since I went to Uni.
It would be great if someone proofreads it
How to use Sections
When you looked into a map made by blizzard you may have noticed a new menu appearing labeled with "Section". But I think most people don't know what they are used for. In this Tutorial I'll be explaining what sections are and what they do or what you can do with them.
Best way to understand something is learning by doing, so I won't begin with explaining what sections do. Instead I'll write how you use them. In the end it should be clear what sections do.
Creating a Section
To create a section open the Overview Manager (F12). You should be able to find a field labeled with Sections. Right-click it and select "Add section ..." (Ctrl + =). Now you will have to give it a name. There also is a browse field which is optional, it's important when you use the "Merge All Sections" command in the sections menu, which will be explained later on.
Now you have a new section in you map and also the section menu in your menu bar.
When you place units they will be placed in the active section, which can be changed in the new section menu, by clicking the the name of the section you want to work in.
If you have placed an object in the wrong section or just want to change the sections the object is assigned to, you can change it in the objects properties (double click the object) in the "General"-tab
Merging Sections
Now comes the interesting part: With sections you have the ability to merge two sections of the same name on two different maps. By doing this the section of the map you are working on is replaced with the corresponding section on the map you selected for merging.
For demonstration purposes I have created two maps:
The first one has some terrain texures added to it and an Immortal placed in the section called "new_section".
The other map has some basic terrain, doodads, units, a point, a region, and a camera and a trigger placed in the section which is also called "new_section". Both maps need to have the same depedencies, or else in won't work
Now I want the stuff placed in "new_section" in my second map to be in my first map. So I set "new_section" as my active section and go to "Section -> Merge Active Section". The editor will now open a browser window, in which you have to select the second map. (In my case it's tutorial_section01.SC2Map)
When everything was ok with both maps and sections, a report will show, telling you what was added and what was removed.
As you can see the terrain of the map stayed the same, but now the objects of the second map which were in "new_section" are placed on it.
Only Objects of the section you are merging are affected by the merging process. If the immortal was in an other section, it wouldn't have been removed. Same goes for the stuff in the second map.
Merging only works for Triggers, Units, Doodads, Regions, Points and Cameras (I think this is everything), but not for Data and Terrain. Keep that in mind when you want to merge maps.
There also is the command "Merge All Sections". This opens a new window showing the sections of your map. For using this you need to have a map file assigned to a section in the overview manager.
The list will be showing your sections, their status and if they should be merged. You can choose between "Yes" or "No" by double clicking the list entry. If a section has no map specified, it will just be ignored.
When you click OK the merging process will be started. The result will be the same as with "Merge Active Section", except that you can merge multiple sections at once.
What is good for?
Sections would come handy when working in a team. If for example one team member is working on the Triggers and the other on the terrain, they could work on seperate maps and just merge them from time to time. In this case the terrain map should be the main map, since terrain won't be affected.
Sadly Data and Terrain cannot be merged. That means you'd have to go with copy and paste in that case. (there is a directory for that in the map, when you open it with a mdl editor or save it as *.SC2Componentlist, so it will just take a minute)
The data restriction hurts a lot (I miss Neverwinter Nights' ERF format for migrating data), but I can definitely see applications for prototyping and complex doodad structures.
I had never heard of this feature anywhere. Thanks a lot for the info!
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Note: This is my first Tutorial I've written, so I'll be glad if some one tells me what to improve. I haven't used English very much since I went to Uni. It would be great if someone proofreads it
How to use Sections
When you looked into a map made by blizzard you may have noticed a new menu appearing labeled with "Section". But I think most people don't know what they are used for. In this Tutorial I'll be explaining what sections are and what they do or what you can do with them.
Best way to understand something is learning by doing, so I won't begin with explaining what sections do. Instead I'll write how you use them. In the end it should be clear what sections do.
Creating a Section
To create a section open the Overview Manager (F12). You should be able to find a field labeled with Sections. Right-click it and select "Add section ..." (Ctrl + =). Now you will have to give it a name. There also is a browse field which is optional, it's important when you use the "Merge All Sections" command in the sections menu, which will be explained later on.
Now you have a new section in you map and also the section menu in your menu bar.
When you place units they will be placed in the active section, which can be changed in the new section menu, by clicking the the name of the section you want to work in.
If you have placed an object in the wrong section or just want to change the sections the object is assigned to, you can change it in the objects properties (double click the object) in the "General"-tab
Merging Sections
Now comes the interesting part: With sections you have the ability to merge two sections of the same name on two different maps. By doing this the section of the map you are working on is replaced with the corresponding section on the map you selected for merging.
For demonstration purposes I have created two maps: The first one has some terrain texures added to it and an Immortal placed in the section called "new_section". The other map has some basic terrain, doodads, units, a point, a region, and a camera and a trigger placed in the section which is also called "new_section". Both maps need to have the same depedencies, or else in won't work
Now I want the stuff placed in "new_section" in my second map to be in my first map. So I set "new_section" as my active section and go to "Section -> Merge Active Section". The editor will now open a browser window, in which you have to select the second map. (In my case it's tutorial_section01.SC2Map)
When everything was ok with both maps and sections, a report will show, telling you what was added and what was removed. As you can see the terrain of the map stayed the same, but now the objects of the second map which were in "new_section" are placed on it.
Only Objects of the section you are merging are affected by the merging process. If the immortal was in an other section, it wouldn't have been removed. Same goes for the stuff in the second map. Merging only works for Triggers, Units, Doodads, Regions, Points and Cameras (I think this is everything), but not for Data and Terrain. Keep that in mind when you want to merge maps.
There also is the command "Merge All Sections". This opens a new window showing the sections of your map. For using this you need to have a map file assigned to a section in the overview manager.
The list will be showing your sections, their status and if they should be merged. You can choose between "Yes" or "No" by double clicking the list entry. If a section has no map specified, it will just be ignored. When you click OK the merging process will be started. The result will be the same as with "Merge Active Section", except that you can merge multiple sections at once.
What is good for?
Sections would come handy when working in a team. If for example one team member is working on the Triggers and the other on the terrain, they could work on seperate maps and just merge them from time to time. In this case the terrain map should be the main map, since terrain won't be affected. Sadly Data and Terrain cannot be merged. That means you'd have to go with copy and paste in that case. (there is a directory for that in the map, when you open it with a mdl editor or save it as *.SC2Componentlist, so it will just take a minute)
The data restriction hurts a lot (I miss Neverwinter Nights' ERF format for migrating data), but I can definitely see applications for prototyping and complex doodad structures.
I had never heard of this feature anywhere. Thanks a lot for the info!