To simulate 8 players, you can add units for each player in your map, then modify alliances between you and these players to "share control".
Yes, there is a limit to the number of doodads in a map. It's quite high though, but I don't remember how much it is. Probably something like 16384 or 65535, but I think if you open the Overview Manager window you can see how many doodads are already placed + how many is the limit.
About your screenshot, did you modify the terrain height somehow? Did you create your map with random height enabled? If that's the case, I wouldn't worry. The doodads you use for your grid are flat, so if you put them on parts of terrain with slight height variations, the doodads won't show entirely, or won't show at all because they're kind of buried beneath the ground level. But it's still there. To prevent this from happening, modify the properties of each of your grid doodads (select them + press Enter) to make sure their height is >0 (0.1 or 0.2 should be high enough).
Event
Map initialization
Variables
UnitsGeneratingIncome (integer)
Conditions
None
Actions
Repeat forever
Set UnitsGeneratingIncome = Number of units in YourRegionGeneratingIncome owned by player 1 (excluded missile, dead, hidden)
Add (10*UnitsGeneratingIncome) minerals to player 1
Wait 10 game time seconds
It should be as simple as that if you just need it to work for player 1, just as tordecybombo said. If you have more players though, you can add more local variables (one for each player) and duplicate all actions in the loop except "wait for 10 seconds" (which should remain last). Just modify which player it will add money to, and whose units are counted.
If you want to stop the income script from working at some point, you just have to make a trigger stop all instances of this trigger + turn it off (very important to do both or it won't stop and will never get out of its loop). You'll have to turn it back on somehow + run it whenever you want the income generation again (again, doing both is important, you won't be able to run it properly if it's off... and you need to run it manually because it's originally a "map init" trigger). I wouldn't recommend adding Conditions to this trigger either, but instead add "if then else" statements in the loop of actions.
oh thx bro but how? know a walkthrough? ive been ragin all week :)
If you want a mod to work, it has to be included in a map. Mods alone are just a set of new/modded parts of the original game. Just create a new map and add your mod to its dependencies list in the new map creation dialog. Alternatively, you can open an already existing map, open the dependencies dialog (go to File > Dependencies...), add your mod to the list. Either way, don't forget to save your modded map, close the editor, re-open your map, check for dependencies again, then play to be sure it's included properly.
I'm pretty sure a tutorial for this can be found very easily while browsing either here or Google... I have still not created any mod in SC2 but I'm pretty sure it's how it's done without even searching for a clue online.
Your trigger seems unreliable to me... There are much simpler ways to do this.
Adding 4 times the same event won't do it 4 times. It will just execute the actions everytime ANY of the action is happening, which in your case is 4 times the same.
A good way would be to turn the trigger off at the beginning, then turn it back on at the end when all the actions are done. However it will force a wait for all actions to finish before allowing another unit to get the artefact power... You'd rather check for "trigger execution count <4" (0 counts as the first execution, so <4 means it was launched less than 5 times) in the conditions of your trigger.
Just in my case my explanations are not clear:
EnterArtefakt1EventsUnit-AnyUnitEntersadistanceof1.5fromArtifactFragment-5[49.48,46.62]
Local Variables
Artefakt = 0 <Integer>
Conditions
AND
(Number of times (Current trigger) has been executed <4)(NumberofLivingunitsin(Magicianunitsin(Entiremap)ownedbyplayer(Triggeringplayer)matchingExcluded:Missile,Dead,Hidden,withatmostAnyAmount))==0(NumberofLivingunitsin(Tassadarunitsin(Entiremap)ownedbyplayer(Triggeringplayer)matchingExcluded:Missile,Dead,Hidden,withatmostAnyAmount))==0((Triggeringunit)hasExplosionActive)==False(Unittypeof(Triggeringunit))==InquisitiveActionsUI-Display(Text((Numberoftimes(Currenttrigger)hasbeenexecuted)))for(Allplayers)toChatareaVariable-SetArtefakt =1Unit-MoveArtefakt[Artefakt]instantlyto(CenterofPunkteAway)(NoBlend)Unit-Replace(Triggeringunit)withaMagicianusingOldUnit'sRelativevitalsActor-AttachItemGravityBombsImpactDeath(Unnamed)toHeadon(Lastcreatedunit)UnitGroup-Add(Lastreplacedunit)toAlivePlayersUnitSelection-Select(Lastreplacedunit)forplayer(Triggeringplayer)Variable-SetArtefaktPlayer[(Triggeringplayer)] =Artefakt[Artefakt]Variable-SetArtefaktPosition[(Triggeringplayer)] =(PositionofArtefakt[Artefakt])
The AND condition I added was not necessary but I personally like it better that way, you don't have to ask yourself anymore if the conditions of a trigger checks for all of them or each one separately: you're sure it checks all. What's pretty useful with the "trigger execution count" condition is that you can do various effects each time the trigger is executed, if you include it in a switch (basically "switch actions depending on number of times current trigger was executed"). In your case, adding it to the execution conditions of your trigger will make sure your trigger cannot be executed more than 4 times by any unit matching all the conditions.
I think I remember having a similar problem once... It was a problem with the mover used by the unit, making it follow the ground level instead of actually flying to a default height without taking low cliffs into consideration. The "helper splat" is on ground level 1 because it cannot go lower than the level 1 cliff height (level 0 being the floor level of pits, which cannot be reached by ground units unless set to "ignore placement requirements"). I'm not sure about your problem with the camera though, but if I had to find a culprit for the unit I'd say it's a problem with its mover. There is a field to make units follow air or ground pathing, but there is also another field to make it a missile, a cliff jumper, or those sorts of things... Can't remember which does what but you can do pretty silly combinations with these two fields and sometimes it results in weird placements. That's the only clue I have for now...
during one episode Eiviyn asked the guest whether he played with legos, and set up a theory that Mapping was the natural evolution of playing with legos (Well, "mapping or minecraft" is what he said)
We've been asking our guests the "Did you play with legos?" question ever since.
The whole Lego theory made me laugh but it's quite true. I actually didn't play Lego... that much. I mean my brother had Legos when we were young, of course, but I never really played with them. I was curious about them, but it was my brothers' so I watched him build awesome stuff and I messed with the pieces while he was building it. I had Duplo Lego bricks though when I was even younger, and I remember building houses like crazy with these. I also remember building lots of structures as a child with pieces of wood (like Jenga tiles, but with more pieces like arches, cones, etc.) and rolling my Crash Dummies car at full speed to check how strong the structure was. Hell, that was so much fun...
Quote:
I made a sort of game based on paper. Turn based arena style game
I remember doing that too. I was around 8 or a bit less, I basically used a huge sheet of paper my parents found and made a board game out of it, with motherships, space fighters, planets to colonize and such... Basically, the mothership was like a docking bay for smaller ships and you had to send colonization teams to conquer planets and build defenses on them. Movements were based on maximum distance available per turn, pretty much like Warhammer works (if you move too much you cannot fire this turn, you're better protected in certain areas, and so on...).
Quote:
Over the years I had picked up and dropped Wc3 at least five times.
It hurts to see how NOT unique we all are... I did that too. Actually, my latest TFT map was started just a month before SC2 came out. I never took time to finish it because I was too excited for SC2, but I'll eventually finish it. Actually I'm rather considering converting it to SC2. It's a TD map, almost a clone of another TD map I made years ago, but much more improved. I think I still have videos of it on my Youtube profile, by the way... I want to convert both these maps from TFT to SC2, but they're not on the top of the queue... I'd rather finish Ikari Warriors, Sand Worm Survival, and Paparazzi first, but I'm pretty sure what I'm planning to do with these TD maps is unique in SC2 and could be a lot of fun. You should do that too with your WC3 map(s). :)
Quote:
(Come on, what person doesn't want to see his school flooded by zombies?)
I had the occasion to do that in HL1... Man, it was so freaking fun... I made my entire junior high school with the Hammer Tool, filled with zombie scientists, vortigaunts and headcrabs, and it was a bloody mess (with something like 20 zombies in each classroom). At that time I also did my first mod (more like a full scenario, actually), which was for Gunman Chronicles, a pretty cool HL1 mod. Then I switched to the Unreal Engine for maaaaaaany years and made most of my 3D level editing experience in Unreal 1 and 2, UT, etc etc etc... I made levels for the whole series, it's as simple as that. There were videos of some of my latest UT2004 maps on my Youtube profile but I think I removed them, you could barely see a thing and that's not "pro" enough to be displayed in a portfolio. Come to think of it, I wonder why I never published any of my maps before SC2 came out. I almost always keep my maps all to myself, but I don't know why. Honestly, I've seen worse so I shouldn't be ashamed of my maps like that.
QA is also a good way to get into the industry, from what ive heard.
Yes, it's true... but only if your goal is to become a game designer. They like people from QA for these jobs because analyzing a game system, and its flaws, makes you potentially good at knowing what a game really is, in terms of work to achieve (game mechanics, scripting, 2D and 3D, sounds, animations,...). You learn from QA how a game is done, so you basically should be able to design one, eventually. Since game design is more or less a mix of every job at the same time, working in QA is a good way to start because you inspect every piece of a game.
But don't expect to get a QA job easily, even such a job requires some skills than many people don't have (like good writing, programming, analysis skills,...). I already said that multiple times but I'll say it again, whatever is the career you seek in video games, you need to be able to focus, work fast and be part of a team. Even in QA. As an example I've seen lots of SC2Mapster members here and there having lots of ideas for maps, scenarios or whatever (good ones to be honest, by the way...), and their projects never made it to the end. It's an essential skill in the video games industry to have strong will, if you're too chaotic you just won't make it. Period. It has to be said once and for all, because so many gamers think they can make their own games or start their company. They just need to realize making video games is not just all about fun, it's about working hard.
Starting in QA or not, it's a tough road. With that said, I know some members here could start a career in video games already, if it's really their goal. I'm being harsh here, but I just don't want people to get delusional about how the video games industry really is. Honestly, I'd rather advise keeping this as a passion, and work in a field close enough to video games without actually soaking in it. Programming can be done for other matters than gaming, music as well, and 3D animation too... If you fail in video games (and we're a lot to fail, because we're a lot to seek for these jobs), you must have a plan B.
I think the guy from the Q&A image you posted will soon become a meme for the question he asked, or at least will become another example to add to the huge *trollface* and *facepalm* or whatever lists... Let's call him "Blizztroll" from now on... or "Blizztard".
Oh yeah, right... The topic was about the editor changes, wasn't it... Err... Yeah, all the new features look cool. I just would have loved more than just one 5-stars rating for maps... I would have imagined something like 5-stars for gameplay, 5-stars for scenario, then originality, bug-free quality map, and so on...
I'm pretty sure reviews are going to be pointless because people will just check for the 5-stars rating and won't bother playing if the map doesn't have 3+ stars... Comments on Youtube and such are often very mean, I don't see why SC2 players would be wiser when they review any map, even those they like. I personally almost never play Star Battle, and I have no idea why people are not bored of this map yet. So basically, I don't trust SC2 players to give interesting reviews on maps, and I fear most of the coolest maps will be rated very badly just because there is one bug that pissed them off (that, or a gameplay mechanic they didn't twig). The day one of my maps reaches the top of the popularity list is not even close to happen...
I'll line up with StragusMapster, Telthalion, and Zeldarules here... I'm in the video game industry since 2007 and my background story is pretty much like theirs. I was around 10-12 years old when I first tweaked with game mechanics. Actually my brother did, he's older than me and he was into programming (now he's programming humanoid robots, just to give you an idea). He was replacing sprites from the game Fury of the Furries to make spikes look like coins, and he played a trick on me with this. I realized at that time you could actually do your own levels thanks to this, so I searched for a suitable editor to make my first steps. I think my very first attempt was on Warcraft 2, or Dune2000 maybe, I spent days and days making maps in the level editor... lots of them, each time as crappy... Then, when games from all genres begun having their own level editor, I spent a lot of time experimenting any kind of tool I had my hands on. Then came 3D, with editors like the Hammer Tool for Half-Life, the Quake editor, etc... It was a huge step forward to make, because 2D and 3D maps are completely different in every aspect, lots of rules of 2D design don't apply anymore in 3D (and vice versa).
I also recommend being always on the lookout for new technologies, not only things related to video games. For example, let's say some students in a random university in the world develop a brain waves recognition device or whatever (I actually know it's being worked on, for real)... Could be used as a controller, so you can design an entire game based on this, where you won't have anything but a helmet on your head to be able to play. My point being: keep experimenting. Using SC2 editor and UDK is cool, but they're the top of the top of level editors. You need to try random game or level design tools, because if you work in video games, you'll have to face another reality that hurts (like bugs and crashes every second if you don't do things in the right order). I kind of disagree on one point about what StragusMapster had to say, it's not all about logic AND programming AND design. I'm more of an artist, I really suck at coding, and 3 months ago I had an interview with a game designer at Ubisoft (Montreal) where the guy talked about 2 or 3 different career choices I have if I ever join Ubisoft, none of them involving programming... These jobs were basically entirely level design jobs (world building, to be precise). So it's entirely up to you and what you want to be, there is room for various profiles and you don't have to be a "multi-task tool" of some sort.
You just have to choose what suits best to you: if you think the video game industry is not what will pay your rent, go for some programming background. You'll have plenty of job opportunities, in completely different fields, and these profiles are wanted everywhere. If you're more of an artist, it's a completely different matter. Many guys were already here before you, lots of them with diplomas (and by diplomas I mean 3 of them, all in artistic fields and/or game and level design), and they have experience. You will have to prove you're good at what you do, and that you like it too. And, more importantly, you need to show you're able to work fast. Very, VERY fast. 5 guys, 3 months, 1 game. That's the kind of challenge you'll have to face. And it's effing hard, trust me... You'll have pretty much no social life beside this, but it pays well. Whether you're a programmer or an artist, you'll have to cope with pressure anyway. My last interview in France was made of 5 pages filled with questions about programming and design (including AI programming, maps to draw, logic problems to solve, etc.), and I had only 24 hours to send it back. That's how hard it is, and basically I just failed miserably to get this job.
One thing you should know though: DON'T, EVER, design maps (or code anything) as you please. You need to be very organized, you always plan ahead, you don't go wild and random. The boring side of these jobs is you don't do as you please, and you do repetitive tasks all day long. You follow schedules, plans, you have brainstorming sessions very often, you write milestone documents every month, and such... Writing the concept on a piece of paper (oh FFS, we're in the 21th century... use a word processor! :P ) is mandatory but you also need to be able to focus on your task, even after months... If you drop ideas and never get back to them, you're basically screwed in this industry. You work as a team, and everything in the game industry is a group decision. You have to be ready to be just another pawn on the chessboard. Keep your ego for the little projects/prototypes you'll make on your own during your spare time... Or make your own games alone, it works too (Minecraft FTW, even though he's not alone anymore). If you are in the industry, just forget about the good old days where you were adding stuff as it comes, because "oh well, I felt like adding a cow on a bike with lasers would be pretty cool here, so why not...". The video game industry became the #1 entertainment in the world (the movie industry is #2). It involves hard work, lots of responsibilities, and pretty much no social life in the last months of each project.
Check your Actor data, you must have an actor somewhere sending a Take Snapshot message. Remove that.
Found it, and it works! Thanks a lot, Masterxel. I can't believe it's something so stupid... I have no clue how this thing could cause errors (or why it was in here in the first place, since I never added this myself) but it did... What's the "take snapshot" event for, by the way?
The launch missile doesn't override the unit mover, and the only event customized in the actor is a "set tint color" to make the bullet brighter (and cyan). I also checked a very old version of my map just to be sure, the error also appears here (the oldest I could find is 0.6a, current is >1.9).
So basically, this error is very old and couldn't be caused by the amount of features I added in recent versions. It leaves pretty much nothing but the gameplay mechanics, which includes projectiles and anything related to them.
EDIT: Tested v0.6a after removing ALL triggers, ALL terrain elements (+cropped/resized the map) ALL custom data elements (except main character + his custom weapon and anything related to it). Seems like the error still shows up! Since it's apparently not the mover, what could it be? It's obviously related to the weapon.
Thanks, I just tried but it didn't work. I made sure no other unit could attack, created a new mover, edited it in XML view to copy-paste your example, removed the first motion phase, modified my character weapon with the new mover, saved and tested. The missile itself moves properly (can't see why it wouldn't, if it works for you) buuuuuuut... *rolling drums* Wait for it... *rolling drums* The error still shows up!
I agree it SHOULD be a mover error (I don't remember anything else but movers using phases), but why do the errors still show up with a fresh new mover set on my weapon? Attachment points issues? Effects/AoE... launch missiles, maybe? It makes no sense to me.
Would you please focus on the error message instead of taking me for a complete noob? I already spent hours and hours testing movers, reading tutorials and searching for any kind of help on the forums. I know my mover looks weird but as far as I can tell after all these tests, this is the only working combination I found if I want a projectile that can miss its target AND will keep flying around even if it goes beyond the target point/unit. All the tutorials available use guidance movers, or spells that aren't supposed to work beyond their target point/unit. I know you're trying to help here, but I already checked all of this. Besides, I tried modifying all my custom movers according to your advices and it didn't remove the errors, actually it made it even worse (more errors than before, and projectiles moving...err... ninja-style).
I started the map again, checking for errors in the debug console. Two things appeared:
1) the error message shows even when I don't shoot. In fact, it shows during the first 10 seconds of the game, there is no way my character would have started attacking or being targeted because I didn't even move. Unless...
2)...unless of course there IS another unit showing in range of an enemy somewhere on the map, and they attack each other. The soldiers (and grenadiers) in my map randomly shoot grenades towards their enemy target. There is a trigger ordering them to use their grenade ability when they start attacking. I also have a trigger spawning drop pods (and zerg units) all over the place, which could mean a drop pod landed somewhere on the map in the first 10 seconds, close enough to a soldier, therefore they fight and there is something effed up when it happens.
I still don't get why the errors are showing up, I thought the motion driver was the cause but it's not, since I applied some changes as you suggested and the errors are still showing. Can it be the weapon effect then? I've seen in the console that the error appears as many times in a row as there are projectiles launched. For example, an helicopter shoots 8 bullets at the same time, so I have 8 errors in a row in the debug console. It doesn't necessarily mean the mover is at fault, it might as well be the effect creating the bullets, right?
"Flying in a straight line" is precisely what the throw driver is all about.
And so do all the motion drivers... What is the "ballistic" driver for, if not for a projectile that acts just like a bullet? What's the difference between "parabola" and "throw", since they both check/use the values in the parabola fields anyway?
Anyway, I just tried the "throw" motion driver to check. Also added a negative value in the Throw vector (Y axis), and changed arrival test to "adaptive".. I expected no significant change, as I already spent hours and hours to get my projectile to work back in the days of v1.0 (experimenting every single field in movers is my favorite leisure, honest!)... The projectile using the "throw" driver has randomized speed for some reason, the collision detection is not working half of the time, the splash model doesn't show up where it should, and the projectile itself is behaving weirdly on targets NOT moving (seems like it even tries to go around them sometimes, almost dodging the target then it keeps going). The error message is still showing, though I think it happens less often after modifying each custom mover in my map... If anything conclusive, it's obvious the motion driver is still only part of the solution (or problem, depending on your point-of-view). There is something happening deeper than just an "inappropriate" motion driver or arrival test.
Still no clue even after checking the debug console either, nothing suspicious appears except MAYBE the fact that the mover error always shows after the same trigger is launched (this trigger is executed when enemy units attack with grenades, which is why I'm suspecting it but it may also be a wild-goose chase). I have absolutely no error whatsoever on my map except this and performance tests are perfect (told you, I worked hard on this map!). I'll get back to you if I have any clue miraculously popping into my head. Keep investigating, gentlemen! I'll have a look at Kueken's tutorials very soon, since it's my best option so far.
It uses a ballistic driver, yet the arrival test type is set to "never" so it never reaches its target? When it gets to the target point, I'm not sure how it's supposed to expand the parabola through the ground...
Are you sure you don't want to use something like a throw driver? It would seem far more appropriate, especially with a "never" arrival test type.
It just goes in the general direction of the unit you attack, which explains why it can miss it. So yes, it never reaches its target because it doesn't have any. And that's exactly what I want. The way it works is pretty simple: it gains speed in the direction of the unit you attack, and never stops until its search area finds a valid obstacle (or the lifetime of the projectile expires). Pretty much like a random shot. When there is something in the search area, it simply kills the projectile and apply some damage to whoever was on its path.
The arrival test is set to "never" (and tracking set to "no hook") because it doesn't have a specific target: it just picks whatever collides with it first while it flies around, be it its original target or anything else than came in the line of sight. That's pretty much it, and so far it works like a charm ingame (with the exception of these error messages lately so I guess it doesn't work that well, you got that right...). I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to use a "throw" driver though, specifically because throwing involves a parabola (even if virtually flattened to look like a straight line) and a target point, which I don't want here. I want it to potentially fly endlessly in a straight line, so anything that gives it a specific target is not good. That's why I went for the whole "go fly in that direction and see if I'm there, little buddy"...
@Kueken: Clever idea with the pathable validator, I guess it won't work if I want the bullets to pass over rocks but not trees though... Since both are making the path blocked for ground units they will both be valid targets for the projectile collision detection. Meh, I guess I'll have to do with it, screw these rocks... I'll look into it. And the tutorial looks helpful, thanks.
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@ctccromer:
To simulate 8 players, you can add units for each player in your map, then modify alliances between you and these players to "share control".
Yes, there is a limit to the number of doodads in a map. It's quite high though, but I don't remember how much it is. Probably something like 16384 or 65535, but I think if you open the Overview Manager window you can see how many doodads are already placed + how many is the limit.
About your screenshot, did you modify the terrain height somehow? Did you create your map with random height enabled? If that's the case, I wouldn't worry. The doodads you use for your grid are flat, so if you put them on parts of terrain with slight height variations, the doodads won't show entirely, or won't show at all because they're kind of buried beneath the ground level. But it's still there. To prevent this from happening, modify the properties of each of your grid doodads (select them + press Enter) to make sure their height is >0 (0.1 or 0.2 should be high enough).
0
Event
Map initialization
Variables
UnitsGeneratingIncome (integer)
Conditions
None
Actions
Repeat forever
Set UnitsGeneratingIncome = Number of units in YourRegionGeneratingIncome owned by player 1 (excluded missile, dead, hidden)
Add (10*UnitsGeneratingIncome) minerals to player 1
Wait 10 game time seconds
It should be as simple as that if you just need it to work for player 1, just as tordecybombo said. If you have more players though, you can add more local variables (one for each player) and duplicate all actions in the loop except "wait for 10 seconds" (which should remain last). Just modify which player it will add money to, and whose units are counted.
If you want to stop the income script from working at some point, you just have to make a trigger stop all instances of this trigger + turn it off (very important to do both or it won't stop and will never get out of its loop). You'll have to turn it back on somehow + run it whenever you want the income generation again (again, doing both is important, you won't be able to run it properly if it's off... and you need to run it manually because it's originally a "map init" trigger). I wouldn't recommend adding Conditions to this trigger either, but instead add "if then else" statements in the loop of actions.
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If you want a mod to work, it has to be included in a map. Mods alone are just a set of new/modded parts of the original game. Just create a new map and add your mod to its dependencies list in the new map creation dialog. Alternatively, you can open an already existing map, open the dependencies dialog (go to File > Dependencies...), add your mod to the list. Either way, don't forget to save your modded map, close the editor, re-open your map, check for dependencies again, then play to be sure it's included properly.
I'm pretty sure a tutorial for this can be found very easily while browsing either here or Google... I have still not created any mod in SC2 but I'm pretty sure it's how it's done without even searching for a clue online.
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Your trigger seems unreliable to me... There are much simpler ways to do this. Adding 4 times the same event won't do it 4 times. It will just execute the actions everytime ANY of the action is happening, which in your case is 4 times the same.
A good way would be to turn the trigger off at the beginning, then turn it back on at the end when all the actions are done. However it will force a wait for all actions to finish before allowing another unit to get the artefact power... You'd rather check for "trigger execution count <4" (0 counts as the first execution, so <4 means it was launched less than 5 times) in the conditions of your trigger.
Just in my case my explanations are not clear:
The AND condition I added was not necessary but I personally like it better that way, you don't have to ask yourself anymore if the conditions of a trigger checks for all of them or each one separately: you're sure it checks all. What's pretty useful with the "trigger execution count" condition is that you can do various effects each time the trigger is executed, if you include it in a switch (basically "switch actions depending on number of times current trigger was executed"). In your case, adding it to the execution conditions of your trigger will make sure your trigger cannot be executed more than 4 times by any unit matching all the conditions.
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I think I remember having a similar problem once... It was a problem with the mover used by the unit, making it follow the ground level instead of actually flying to a default height without taking low cliffs into consideration. The "helper splat" is on ground level 1 because it cannot go lower than the level 1 cliff height (level 0 being the floor level of pits, which cannot be reached by ground units unless set to "ignore placement requirements"). I'm not sure about your problem with the camera though, but if I had to find a culprit for the unit I'd say it's a problem with its mover. There is a field to make units follow air or ground pathing, but there is also another field to make it a missile, a cliff jumper, or those sorts of things... Can't remember which does what but you can do pretty silly combinations with these two fields and sometimes it results in weird placements. That's the only clue I have for now...
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The whole Lego theory made me laugh but it's quite true. I actually didn't play Lego... that much. I mean my brother had Legos when we were young, of course, but I never really played with them. I was curious about them, but it was my brothers' so I watched him build awesome stuff and I messed with the pieces while he was building it. I had Duplo Lego bricks though when I was even younger, and I remember building houses like crazy with these. I also remember building lots of structures as a child with pieces of wood (like Jenga tiles, but with more pieces like arches, cones, etc.) and rolling my Crash Dummies car at full speed to check how strong the structure was. Hell, that was so much fun...
I remember doing that too. I was around 8 or a bit less, I basically used a huge sheet of paper my parents found and made a board game out of it, with motherships, space fighters, planets to colonize and such... Basically, the mothership was like a docking bay for smaller ships and you had to send colonization teams to conquer planets and build defenses on them. Movements were based on maximum distance available per turn, pretty much like Warhammer works (if you move too much you cannot fire this turn, you're better protected in certain areas, and so on...).
It hurts to see how NOT unique we all are... I did that too. Actually, my latest TFT map was started just a month before SC2 came out. I never took time to finish it because I was too excited for SC2, but I'll eventually finish it. Actually I'm rather considering converting it to SC2. It's a TD map, almost a clone of another TD map I made years ago, but much more improved. I think I still have videos of it on my Youtube profile, by the way... I want to convert both these maps from TFT to SC2, but they're not on the top of the queue... I'd rather finish Ikari Warriors, Sand Worm Survival, and Paparazzi first, but I'm pretty sure what I'm planning to do with these TD maps is unique in SC2 and could be a lot of fun. You should do that too with your WC3 map(s). :)
I had the occasion to do that in HL1... Man, it was so freaking fun... I made my entire junior high school with the Hammer Tool, filled with zombie scientists, vortigaunts and headcrabs, and it was a bloody mess (with something like 20 zombies in each classroom). At that time I also did my first mod (more like a full scenario, actually), which was for Gunman Chronicles, a pretty cool HL1 mod. Then I switched to the Unreal Engine for maaaaaaany years and made most of my 3D level editing experience in Unreal 1 and 2, UT, etc etc etc... I made levels for the whole series, it's as simple as that. There were videos of some of my latest UT2004 maps on my Youtube profile but I think I removed them, you could barely see a thing and that's not "pro" enough to be displayed in a portfolio. Come to think of it, I wonder why I never published any of my maps before SC2 came out. I almost always keep my maps all to myself, but I don't know why. Honestly, I've seen worse so I shouldn't be ashamed of my maps like that.
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Yes, it's true... but only if your goal is to become a game designer. They like people from QA for these jobs because analyzing a game system, and its flaws, makes you potentially good at knowing what a game really is, in terms of work to achieve (game mechanics, scripting, 2D and 3D, sounds, animations,...). You learn from QA how a game is done, so you basically should be able to design one, eventually. Since game design is more or less a mix of every job at the same time, working in QA is a good way to start because you inspect every piece of a game.
But don't expect to get a QA job easily, even such a job requires some skills than many people don't have (like good writing, programming, analysis skills,...). I already said that multiple times but I'll say it again, whatever is the career you seek in video games, you need to be able to focus, work fast and be part of a team. Even in QA. As an example I've seen lots of SC2Mapster members here and there having lots of ideas for maps, scenarios or whatever (good ones to be honest, by the way...), and their projects never made it to the end. It's an essential skill in the video games industry to have strong will, if you're too chaotic you just won't make it. Period. It has to be said once and for all, because so many gamers think they can make their own games or start their company. They just need to realize making video games is not just all about fun, it's about working hard.
Starting in QA or not, it's a tough road. With that said, I know some members here could start a career in video games already, if it's really their goal. I'm being harsh here, but I just don't want people to get delusional about how the video games industry really is. Honestly, I'd rather advise keeping this as a passion, and work in a field close enough to video games without actually soaking in it. Programming can be done for other matters than gaming, music as well, and 3D animation too... If you fail in video games (and we're a lot to fail, because we're a lot to seek for these jobs), you must have a plan B.
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I think the guy from the Q&A image you posted will soon become a meme for the question he asked, or at least will become another example to add to the huge *trollface* and *facepalm* or whatever lists... Let's call him "Blizztroll" from now on... or "Blizztard".
Oh yeah, right... The topic was about the editor changes, wasn't it... Err... Yeah, all the new features look cool. I just would have loved more than just one 5-stars rating for maps... I would have imagined something like 5-stars for gameplay, 5-stars for scenario, then originality, bug-free quality map, and so on...
I'm pretty sure reviews are going to be pointless because people will just check for the 5-stars rating and won't bother playing if the map doesn't have 3+ stars... Comments on Youtube and such are often very mean, I don't see why SC2 players would be wiser when they review any map, even those they like. I personally almost never play Star Battle, and I have no idea why people are not bored of this map yet. So basically, I don't trust SC2 players to give interesting reviews on maps, and I fear most of the coolest maps will be rated very badly just because there is one bug that pissed them off (that, or a gameplay mechanic they didn't twig). The day one of my maps reaches the top of the popularity list is not even close to happen...
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I'll line up with StragusMapster, Telthalion, and Zeldarules here... I'm in the video game industry since 2007 and my background story is pretty much like theirs. I was around 10-12 years old when I first tweaked with game mechanics. Actually my brother did, he's older than me and he was into programming (now he's programming humanoid robots, just to give you an idea). He was replacing sprites from the game Fury of the Furries to make spikes look like coins, and he played a trick on me with this. I realized at that time you could actually do your own levels thanks to this, so I searched for a suitable editor to make my first steps. I think my very first attempt was on Warcraft 2, or Dune2000 maybe, I spent days and days making maps in the level editor... lots of them, each time as crappy... Then, when games from all genres begun having their own level editor, I spent a lot of time experimenting any kind of tool I had my hands on. Then came 3D, with editors like the Hammer Tool for Half-Life, the Quake editor, etc... It was a huge step forward to make, because 2D and 3D maps are completely different in every aspect, lots of rules of 2D design don't apply anymore in 3D (and vice versa).
I also recommend being always on the lookout for new technologies, not only things related to video games. For example, let's say some students in a random university in the world develop a brain waves recognition device or whatever (I actually know it's being worked on, for real)... Could be used as a controller, so you can design an entire game based on this, where you won't have anything but a helmet on your head to be able to play. My point being: keep experimenting. Using SC2 editor and UDK is cool, but they're the top of the top of level editors. You need to try random game or level design tools, because if you work in video games, you'll have to face another reality that hurts (like bugs and crashes every second if you don't do things in the right order). I kind of disagree on one point about what StragusMapster had to say, it's not all about logic AND programming AND design. I'm more of an artist, I really suck at coding, and 3 months ago I had an interview with a game designer at Ubisoft (Montreal) where the guy talked about 2 or 3 different career choices I have if I ever join Ubisoft, none of them involving programming... These jobs were basically entirely level design jobs (world building, to be precise). So it's entirely up to you and what you want to be, there is room for various profiles and you don't have to be a "multi-task tool" of some sort.
You just have to choose what suits best to you: if you think the video game industry is not what will pay your rent, go for some programming background. You'll have plenty of job opportunities, in completely different fields, and these profiles are wanted everywhere. If you're more of an artist, it's a completely different matter. Many guys were already here before you, lots of them with diplomas (and by diplomas I mean 3 of them, all in artistic fields and/or game and level design), and they have experience. You will have to prove you're good at what you do, and that you like it too. And, more importantly, you need to show you're able to work fast. Very, VERY fast. 5 guys, 3 months, 1 game. That's the kind of challenge you'll have to face. And it's effing hard, trust me... You'll have pretty much no social life beside this, but it pays well. Whether you're a programmer or an artist, you'll have to cope with pressure anyway. My last interview in France was made of 5 pages filled with questions about programming and design (including AI programming, maps to draw, logic problems to solve, etc.), and I had only 24 hours to send it back. That's how hard it is, and basically I just failed miserably to get this job.
One thing you should know though: DON'T, EVER, design maps (or code anything) as you please. You need to be very organized, you always plan ahead, you don't go wild and random. The boring side of these jobs is you don't do as you please, and you do repetitive tasks all day long. You follow schedules, plans, you have brainstorming sessions very often, you write milestone documents every month, and such... Writing the concept on a piece of paper (oh FFS, we're in the 21th century... use a word processor! :P ) is mandatory but you also need to be able to focus on your task, even after months... If you drop ideas and never get back to them, you're basically screwed in this industry. You work as a team, and everything in the game industry is a group decision. You have to be ready to be just another pawn on the chessboard. Keep your ego for the little projects/prototypes you'll make on your own during your spare time... Or make your own games alone, it works too (Minecraft FTW, even though he's not alone anymore). If you are in the industry, just forget about the good old days where you were adding stuff as it comes, because "oh well, I felt like adding a cow on a bike with lasers would be pretty cool here, so why not...". The video game industry became the #1 entertainment in the world (the movie industry is #2). It involves hard work, lots of responsibilities, and pretty much no social life in the last months of each project.
And now is time to end my wall of text. :D
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Found it, and it works! Thanks a lot, Masterxel. I can't believe it's something so stupid... I have no clue how this thing could cause errors (or why it was in here in the first place, since I never added this myself) but it did... What's the "take snapshot" event for, by the way?
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The launch missile doesn't override the unit mover, and the only event customized in the actor is a "set tint color" to make the bullet brighter (and cyan). I also checked a very old version of my map just to be sure, the error also appears here (the oldest I could find is 0.6a, current is >1.9).
So basically, this error is very old and couldn't be caused by the amount of features I added in recent versions. It leaves pretty much nothing but the gameplay mechanics, which includes projectiles and anything related to them.
EDIT: Tested v0.6a after removing ALL triggers, ALL terrain elements (+cropped/resized the map) ALL custom data elements (except main character + his custom weapon and anything related to it). Seems like the error still shows up! Since it's apparently not the mover, what could it be? It's obviously related to the weapon.
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Thanks, I just tried but it didn't work. I made sure no other unit could attack, created a new mover, edited it in XML view to copy-paste your example, removed the first motion phase, modified my character weapon with the new mover, saved and tested. The missile itself moves properly (can't see why it wouldn't, if it works for you) buuuuuuut... *rolling drums* Wait for it... *rolling drums* The error still shows up!
I agree it SHOULD be a mover error (I don't remember anything else but movers using phases), but why do the errors still show up with a fresh new mover set on my weapon? Attachment points issues? Effects/AoE... launch missiles, maybe? It makes no sense to me.
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Would you please focus on the error message instead of taking me for a complete noob? I already spent hours and hours testing movers, reading tutorials and searching for any kind of help on the forums. I know my mover looks weird but as far as I can tell after all these tests, this is the only working combination I found if I want a projectile that can miss its target AND will keep flying around even if it goes beyond the target point/unit. All the tutorials available use guidance movers, or spells that aren't supposed to work beyond their target point/unit. I know you're trying to help here, but I already checked all of this. Besides, I tried modifying all my custom movers according to your advices and it didn't remove the errors, actually it made it even worse (more errors than before, and projectiles moving...err... ninja-style).
I started the map again, checking for errors in the debug console. Two things appeared:
1) the error message shows even when I don't shoot. In fact, it shows during the first 10 seconds of the game, there is no way my character would have started attacking or being targeted because I didn't even move. Unless...
2)...unless of course there IS another unit showing in range of an enemy somewhere on the map, and they attack each other. The soldiers (and grenadiers) in my map randomly shoot grenades towards their enemy target. There is a trigger ordering them to use their grenade ability when they start attacking. I also have a trigger spawning drop pods (and zerg units) all over the place, which could mean a drop pod landed somewhere on the map in the first 10 seconds, close enough to a soldier, therefore they fight and there is something effed up when it happens.
I still don't get why the errors are showing up, I thought the motion driver was the cause but it's not, since I applied some changes as you suggested and the errors are still showing. Can it be the weapon effect then? I've seen in the console that the error appears as many times in a row as there are projectiles launched. For example, an helicopter shoots 8 bullets at the same time, so I have 8 errors in a row in the debug console. It doesn't necessarily mean the mover is at fault, it might as well be the effect creating the bullets, right?
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And so do all the motion drivers... What is the "ballistic" driver for, if not for a projectile that acts just like a bullet? What's the difference between "parabola" and "throw", since they both check/use the values in the parabola fields anyway?
Anyway, I just tried the "throw" motion driver to check. Also added a negative value in the Throw vector (Y axis), and changed arrival test to "adaptive".. I expected no significant change, as I already spent hours and hours to get my projectile to work back in the days of v1.0 (experimenting every single field in movers is my favorite leisure, honest!)... The projectile using the "throw" driver has randomized speed for some reason, the collision detection is not working half of the time, the splash model doesn't show up where it should, and the projectile itself is behaving weirdly on targets NOT moving (seems like it even tries to go around them sometimes, almost dodging the target then it keeps going). The error message is still showing, though I think it happens less often after modifying each custom mover in my map... If anything conclusive, it's obvious the motion driver is still only part of the solution (or problem, depending on your point-of-view). There is something happening deeper than just an "inappropriate" motion driver or arrival test.
Still no clue even after checking the debug console either, nothing suspicious appears except MAYBE the fact that the mover error always shows after the same trigger is launched (this trigger is executed when enemy units attack with grenades, which is why I'm suspecting it but it may also be a wild-goose chase). I have absolutely no error whatsoever on my map except this and performance tests are perfect (told you, I worked hard on this map!). I'll get back to you if I have any clue miraculously popping into my head. Keep investigating, gentlemen! I'll have a look at Kueken's tutorials very soon, since it's my best option so far.
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It just goes in the general direction of the unit you attack, which explains why it can miss it. So yes, it never reaches its target because it doesn't have any. And that's exactly what I want. The way it works is pretty simple: it gains speed in the direction of the unit you attack, and never stops until its search area finds a valid obstacle (or the lifetime of the projectile expires). Pretty much like a random shot. When there is something in the search area, it simply kills the projectile and apply some damage to whoever was on its path.
The arrival test is set to "never" (and tracking set to "no hook") because it doesn't have a specific target: it just picks whatever collides with it first while it flies around, be it its original target or anything else than came in the line of sight. That's pretty much it, and so far it works like a charm ingame (with the exception of these error messages lately so I guess it doesn't work that well, you got that right...). I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to use a "throw" driver though, specifically because throwing involves a parabola (even if virtually flattened to look like a straight line) and a target point, which I don't want here. I want it to potentially fly endlessly in a straight line, so anything that gives it a specific target is not good. That's why I went for the whole "go fly in that direction and see if I'm there, little buddy"...
@Kueken: Clever idea with the pathable validator, I guess it won't work if I want the bullets to pass over rocks but not trees though... Since both are making the path blocked for ground units they will both be valid targets for the projectile collision detection. Meh, I guess I'll have to do with it, screw these rocks... I'll look into it. And the tutorial looks helpful, thanks.