SC2Mapster

Hey guys, got a little annoyance that needs fixin'.

I made a duplicate of the mothership, copying only weapon, attack related effects and actors, and the mothership actor. I really just wanted a mothership, stripped of all its abilities, including movement, cloaking effects and Void Ray vulnerabilities, to sit and be a primary base for a Space themed map. Unfortunately, everytime I test my map, and the mothership attacks I get the following error message:

00:00:17.25 WARNING: [  a4    2] CActorBeamSimple[CommandStationAttackBeam] Model created via Cache; ModelLink[CommandStationAttackBeam]; Failure to initialize.

CommandStationAttackBeam is virtually a copy of MothershipAttackBeam, with its events modified for the copied attack effects, where appropriate.

If anyone has gotten this type of warning before and discovered a solution, let me know!

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Forgot to mention, on my map I've setup a few Void Rays and Phoenixes owned by player 1 (Me) and player 15 (hostile). I have a trigger that sets player 15 to a one-way alliance with player 1, with shared vision, spending and control. This way I can use my guys to attack the mothership without automatically being attacked back, or use their guys to get an automatic response. When I order the mothership to attack one of my guys, it performs one attack, displays that error message and then stops. Meanwhile, with the hostile units, it seems to go through a cycle of: acquire target, display error message and attack, stop; acquire target, display error message and attack...etc. I'm pretty sure it shouldn't do that, and that it should have a more continuous, seamless attack pattern. Hope that helps!

DOCUMENTATION!!!!!!

Every data-field, actor-event and flag. If you do anything at all, do this one. This is kind of embarrassing. If you really expect us to make truly epic maps, or at least good maps, we need to know at least most of what you know about the tools we're using. You don't have to tell us how you coded it, just how it was supposed to be used. Ask us for help. Seriously, if someone from Blizzard says, "Hey Mapsters, we're documenting the editor, but it's a huge job, could we get some of you're help for free?" then someone here or another fan-site would answer, "You had me at 'Hey'!"

(PS: I am one of those people. I have lot of experience programming so I know how important, and especially how tedious, documentation can be. I want to help you guys out, so let me and the community know if you need some fan-power!)

Data Editor

• Footprints still bugged: Every time you open the shape editor for it, it resets to it's default, making it almost impossible to decipher how to make proper footprint.
• Footprints are really bugged! Even when you have one setup as a duplicate of one that Blizzard made, it will not work exactly the same, especially while in the editor.
• One-Way Line-Of-Sight: It would be really nice to have a way to define one-way Line-of-Sight objects (actor and footprint would make the most sense). So that you could make bushes that can be seen out of but not into. So far, the best I can accomplish is making a terrain object that raises the terrain cliff level by 1, then manually lowering it using the terrain-morphing tool to make it look lowered, but that has nasty consequences tied to it that aren't worth it.
• Attribute Behaviors: Behaviors of type Attribute should be able to hold floating point values. Just have a "displayed-precision" field and make it so the value field holds floating-point numbers. Also, not sure if this has been changed, but it would be great if we could control the layout of the unit's display interface.
• Mathematical & Cross-Referenceable Value Fields: Numeric-value fields should be able to hold an expression which can reference both instance/temporary values (such as the current number of Buffs on a unit) and fixed values (such as the default, before-game-has-started maximum number of Buffs allowed for that Buff). This could be too hard/risky depending on implementation, so a possible alternative might be allowing triggers to create new instances of the target object, with X changes, that Y unit/player group will reference to from now until otherwise reset.
• Unit Attributes: Customize, add/remove unit attributes (such as armored, biologic...etc.)
• Resources: Customize, add/remove resources (such as minerals, gas, terrazine...etc.)

Trigger Editor

• Instance Object Control/Creation: (refer to Mathematical & Cross-Referenceable Value Fields: in Data Editor, for details.)
• Before/After Effect is Initialized: When ever an effect is created (with/without triggers) there should be an event fire before and after it is cast that will allow you to modify the effect, or even allow the effect to initialize. This would make making our own damage/damage reduction system MUCH easier. Matter of fact, events for effect stages would be great, such as Effect-Cast (before initialization), Effect-Initialized (after initialization), Effect-Period (event thrown each period), Effect-Exhausted (duration ended), Effect-Final (effect removed). But before/after initial stages are the most important.
• Smarter Debugger/Error-Messages: (In Game) A TriggerError has occurred! ...somewhere... Too bad you decided to use a custom script on many of the arithmetic lines, because using the GUI's arithmetic tools would have been a nightmare. Now you'll either have to painstakingly look at every single word of it to make sure you remembered to update your variable/parameter names, or you'll have to recreate it using the GUI. Or, my favorite "Syntax Error. Line: 36. File: Generated." Syntax Error? No kidding? And here I thought that "int lv_var; lv_var = 0;" was valid syntax. Huh. Ok I'm done being an ass here, but in all seriousness, the errors could be a little more descriptive/helpful. Look into the scripting language Ruby, and how it's system handles errors. It might save you some time and headache.

Misc

• Image/Model Converter: Native image and/or model conversion support when importing/exporting. (Hey, a man can dream, can't he?)
• Native Plug-in/Extension Support: So that users can make new tools to attach directly to the editor. (Yeah, totally not gonna happen. >_<;)
• Hero/Unit Persistent Data Preservation: This belongs under both Data & Trigger Editors. The ability to take a snapshot of unit, before it dies and is removed, and be able to recreate that unit exactly as it was before. If you have already fixed this, then thank you very much! <3

Final Thoughts

Thanks for taking the time to read any, if not all, of this and thanks for listening to us!

Yeah, most forum systems these days have "subscribe to thread" options allowing you to be notified instantly, daily, weekly...etc. I assume there are already standard libraries and/or systems that make integrating this into your forum easier.

Oops, no wait, the error I was receiving was my fault. Still, this is a really annoying bug, and needs to be fixed.

I'm having this issue too, and I think it's screwing up my maps as well. I notice when I View Script from the Triggers Editor I see that it's including its native libraries 3 times as shown below:

include "TriggerLibs/NativeLib"
include "TriggerLibs/NativeLib"
include "TriggerLibs/NativeLib"

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Library Initialization
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
void InitLibs () {
    libNtve_InitLib();
    libNtve_InitLib();
    libNtve_InitLib();
}

I can deal with have duplicate labels, but it seems like my projects are showing errors that suggest that its having problems initializing the map.

If no one has any answers we should at least keep this thread alive and populated so that we can bring it to Blizzard's attention. It might be the cause of any of the current BNet issues as well.

So, as the title describes, I'm trying to have an attacking unit apply a behavior (buff) to an enemy unit that stacks only once per player. The behavior in this case is a Gold Credit that, when the unit dies, each player with a Gold Credit on the unit gets a mineral bonus for assisting in killing the unit.

However, there appears to be no validator that checks to see if the casting player already owns a behavior on the targeted unit. I would really prefer to do this without triggers, because I feel like it will disrupt the scope of things, but I'll take what I can get.

Also, it looks like markers might be able to keep track of this, but since no one has yet to write a comprehensive guide on markers, I don't know.

@GurkenKinG: Go

Yes and no. It's easy to modify incoming and outgoing damage so long as you're multiplying/adding the damage by a static value (ie: Amount * 2.5) but INCREDIBLY difficult if you're modifying the final amount to be dealt with an expression or a changing non-static value.

Exampe: Having all range and melee damage reduced by x/(x+100); where x is the target's resistance attribute (custom attribute). Matter of fact, modifying incoming damage in-general is ridiculously complicating. Or at least it's very obscure as to how you're supposed to go about it.

If you discover any cool tricks for doing this, let me know!

Oh dear...

I did a test were I made an trigger for the Mouse Clicked event and one for the Dialog Item Used event and had them send a text message to the chat area when the event fires. When I clicked my dialog item, I only got the Dialog Item Used message. Only when I didn't click on a dialog item, would I get Mouse Clicked. Which leaves me to believe that SC2 doesn't register mouse clicks for dialogs (which is just weird...). Hmmm, well if someone can still think of a way, or if you have answers to my first question(s), please let me know!

Thanks!

(Note: The Dialog Item Used event does not pass the key modifiers, such as ctrl, shift and alt. That was my mistake.)

Hey guys,

I've been trying to make a trigger that responds when a dialog item is pressed, and have it do different things if I left-click, right-click or middle-button click it. Of course, to my dismay, the Dialog Item Used Event does not return what mouse button was clicked, only if Ctrl, Shift and/or Alt was being pressed while the dialog item was used. However, the Mouse Clicked Event returns the modifier keys and the mouse button clicked, but no Used Dialog Item, of course. So, I figured I could use both events at the same time, in the same trigger, but now all I get is red Trigger Error events.

My questions are:

1. Can I use 2+ events in one trigger? If so, when should/shouldn't I use it? (whichever is easier to answer)
2. Is there a way or a better way to do this?

Thanks for any feedback!

Is it possible for me to create two Effect - Target abilities that act an Attack ability (with auto cast) and have only one of them act at a time? Does this make sense?

@RileyStarcraft: Go

Well, so far this isn't working quite right. Perhaps I've setup the effects wrong...

@RileyStarcraft: Go

Hmmm... might work. I'm testing it now.

Hey guys,

I've been trying to make a set of abilities for some defensive towers that will let me change the Target Sorts of the weapons used by the tower, and have it check for a new target in between attacks. For example, have two different tactical "stances." Stance A prioritizes higher health units first and the Stance B prioritizes lower health units first. So, if Stance A is on, then the weapon should fire once at the first highest health target, then fire once at the next highest health target (which could be the first target).

Right now I'm using a 2 Search Area effects that validate whether a Stance behavior is on the caster. This works, but it doesn't feel very efficient or modular, and if I do individual tower upgrades, it's going to get REALLY annoying and messy... Also, the tower (in this case an auto-turret) doesn't rotate its turret to the new target that's being attacked, because it's acquiring the target through the weapon's parameters, and the search area effect is what is really acquiring and damaging the target.

Again, I feel like there should be a way to have the weapon itself retarget between attacks, and a way to simply change the Target Sorts of a tower's weapon, either base on a buff on that tower or having an ability directly change that tower's weapon.

Thanks for any feedback!

(Sorry if any of these have already been mentioned.)

Bugs:

Footprints:

1. Attempting to edit the layers+/shape+ field does not display what the current values/settings for the pathing are and if you press OK after just opening and viewing values, but not changing anything, the shape field is reset.
2. Duplicating a premade footprint will not guarantee that the new footprint will behave exactly the same as the old one. When placing down a unit with the new footprint, the unit will not snap to the grid as the unit with the old footprint would. Pathing checks still seem to function with the new footprint, but pathing isn't updated in the editor.

Improvements:

• Line of Sight Controls: It would be really nice to be able to make one-way LOS blockers, this way the designer could create bushes that units will be hidden in, but can still see out of. Additionally, a way to disable these LOS blockers dynamically would be nice as well. Using the same example, this would allow units attacking from the bushes to be revealed for a bit while they are attacking.
• Value Referencing/Expressions in Category Fields: I would like to be able to assign an expression that includes arithmetic, algebra and trigonometric functions and the ability to reference numeric values from other sources. This way I could have a Damage effect have its amount field be equal to the current stack count of a particular behavior on the target/caster/etc. I would like to be able to do this without triggers, that way I don't have to modify the base effect object each time it executes.
• Easy Access to Updating Data for Display and Reference Purposes: Like the previous suggestion, I would like a way, in the data editor, to reference the current stack count of a behavior on a unit, or the current amount of life a unit has, or the distance from the one unit to another...etc.
• Tooltips: There need to be more tooltips explaining what a field is there for. Especially for flags, their needs to be a tooltip for each flag. It is safe to assume that none of the flags are self-explanatory. That's not entirely true, but most of the time even the flags that seem self-explanatory, aren't. I'm still bewildered by the differences in the target types: Outer, Source, Target, Unit Origin...etc.

I think that's good for now.

@Habladabla: Go

Hey, I know this post is old, but if you look into your model objects for your building (destructible) you will see the "Occlusion" field, which if set to Hide, will cause the model to turn translucent while a model (with this field set to Show) is behind it.

Hope that helps!