SC2Mapster

Yup new wiki and new tutorials page.

In general duping is a bad idea as that corrupts actor events and makes mistakes with adding the 2 onto the id

Here is a general summary of what data type does what in the data editor:

Abilities are skills the unit has most are Effect - Target/Instant, the others are more specific and capable of filling entire forum topic on their own.

Behaviors are passive/continuous applied effects to units including hero like lvling, most are buffs while the others are user friendly.

Effects are the inner workings of weapons, abilities and behaviors. They are responsible for most damage and missiles.

Footprints are involved in the colision/size and placement of doodads, buildings and creep growth.

Items are used by item type units to give weapons, effects and behaviors.

Loot is used by units to determine the reward when the unit dies. This can be items, units or effects

Movers are what units with the Move ability and missiles use to determine their path and affects speed, trajectory, motion and obstacles

Requirements are a bit less simple and are what hides buttons or makes them grey and unusable. Usually only needed for abilities and units and can be linked to validators. Needs practice.

Turrets only affect units/attachments using models that contain a turret attachment point. Allows part of the model to turn a certain amount and dictates the turret motion when idle. Used for buildings since they cannot turn and units that can fire while moving eg. pheonix and diamondback.

Units contain the items, heroes (show icon in lower right of screen like zeratul04) units structures missiles and destructibles. This is the actual thing you select and control.

Upgrades are once off player affecting technologies that irreversably change the stats of a unit/behavior/ability/effect/etc...

Validators are conditions that allow other data editor things to work if the conditions are met. Used in a large range of things from the fire animation on buildings at low hp to the function/limits of behaviors. Needs alot of practice.

Weapons are what the Attack ability uses to fire when they engage in combat. They use effects to perform their function (exception is brood lord that uses weapon purely to direct the Arm Magazine units)

Actors are the visuals in the game and use models/textures to create the pretty colours and units you see in game. They contain fields called Events these are really tricky and not all are fully understood by the community. Best bet is to look at existing actors and learn through immitation though there are some tutorials on attachments eg. the uberlisk.

Attach Methods are involved in finding attachment points for actor hosted operations like launch site of a beam or missile/attachment of other models/impact site for a beam or missile. They are usually unreliable so rather use direct attachment unless forced to use otherwise (really advanced functions only).

Beams, Not sure what those do, maybe a relic from earlier beta versions.

Buttons use an icon texture and they are the visual you click in unit command cards eg research upgrades/unit training.

Digital Sound Effects, not sure what function they have next to creating an echo effect.

Lights affect the colour and direction of the lightning. Mostly used for giving day/night cycles (see tutorial on that) and unit actor portraits a colour.

Models are what actors link your unit/visual to. Yes there are some models and missiles that are not used in the melee/campaign.

Reverb Effect are used by Terrain Texture Sets for global echo effects when a sound is used.

Sounds, a no brainer plays an mp3 with minor modifications when told to by actors/triggers.

Soundtracks, are the in game music (dont ask me how to reference it).

Textures, never tried this but seem to be the player insignia in-game.

Fog of War Data affects how large the edge of the line of site is between visible and unseen. Set under Map Options

Terrain Cliff Meshes, not tried this but think affects the physical properties of cliff (not sure).

Terrain Cliffs combines meshes, textures and an editor icon to make the cliffs used in the terrain.

Terrain Objects are really tempramental, they morph the terrain height and pathing to fit over a model and even can hide terrain cells (eg Valerian02 reactors). Play with at your own risk since they can change terrain that can't be fixed using undo.

Terrain Roads creates a path using a texture eg. roads (dont know why ingame roads were all so similar).

Terrain Texture Sets is what affects your loading screen, your background noise, your mix of cliff and terrain textures, your roads, your standard lighting, your elevation fog and even the texture of creep(Try sludgewater with an increased Texture Tiling). Change in the Map Properties under Textures

Terrain Textures affect the texture of the terrain you paint on the ground.

Water affects the colour and properties of the water tiles and their elevation.

Achievement Terms and Achievements are what the game uses to give you them, do not waste players time with them in custom maps.

Alerts are the sound/text/ping you get when a validator fails or the UI uses to tell you you are under attack.

Cameras are used for cinematics and triggers for setting the camera to positions other than the standard overhead view eg. first person shooters.

Conversation States, no clue seem to be a relic from the beta campaign where conversations were more dynamic.

Conversations, beyond my knowledge of the editor (campaign lip sync).

Cursors change the texture used for the various cursors eg you want the ability target to look like a nuke crosshairs.

Game UI Data, still got to learn this part. Used in cusomising the music, game variants, game cetagories and screen boxes/selections

Gameplay Data Changes alot of things including max map size change under the data menu at top of screen Modify Gameplay Value.

Item Classes affect what inventory slots can hold and what item units are classified as.

Item Containers are used by the Inventory ability and are what hold/uses items.

Races sets starting units, locations and resources. I belive game bugs if you have more than 3.

Requirement Nodes are a part of requirements as fas as I understand and are easier to visualize under that.

Rewards are a part of achievements and of not much use for custom maps

Score Results and Values are part of what you see if you choose to see the game overview after it ends.

Tactical AI Data is the validators used by npc players in deciding when to use abilities.

Target Finds and Target Sorts, cannot see a use for altering them with my current knowledge.