SC2Mapster

Nice! Glad to hear that system is working for you.

I just messed around with the dynamic ability actions. It looks like with some tinkering we should be able to get our cloning to work perfectly :D

• Go to Data and add the buttons of all the possible abilities that can be cloned, to one slot in the cloner unit's command card.
  • Make sure to set their command type to 'Ability Command' in the drop-down for the button.
• Then, go to XML view (still in the Data module), and add the bit: 'AbilCmd="[XML_NAME_OF_ABILITY_HERE],Execute"' to each listed '<LayoutButtons>' row under '<CardLayouts index="0">'.
  • Note the ',Execute' that comes after the XML ID of the ability
  • Make sure to put that bit right before the row/column information for that LayoutButtons entry (so that it is the 2nd to last item listed)
• Now go to Triggers and setup a switch that will handle the unit casting the clone ability (event - unit uses ability etc).
  • Make the cases of the switch be based off of the unit type of targeted unit.
  • Depending on the type of targeted unit, use the new PTR action 'Add Ability' or its raw-data name 'UnitAbilityAdd' to add whichever ability needs to be cloned to your cloner unit (e.g. if the cloner is targeting a zealot, add the Zealot - Charge ability, since it just stole the zealot's Charge).
• Note: Use the new PTR action 'Remove Ability' or in raw-data 'UnitAbilityRemove' to remove the last cloned ability before adding the new one.
  • You can do this right before you add the new one, in the above mentioned switch statement cases. You can reference the last cloned ability by using the 'convert string to game link' function and for the string pass in a global variable that has been set to the XML name (ID) of the cloned ability (set in the above switch cases).

I've tested this out and it works great. The only problem I could foresee is possibly, since you're adding the 'AbilCmd' of each button manually in XML, that may count as actually adding the ability to the unit, which would then be capped at 31 (our original problem). But I don't think this is the case, since none of the abilities actually show up in the GUI list of the unit's abilities nor in the XML list '<AbilArray>' for the unit. They only show up as linked icons on the left underneath the unit's name  under 'Abilities' in the context menu column to the left. So hopefully you can add as many buttons and AbilCmd ref's as you want.

What's cool is that it won't show any of the ability buttons when the cloner unit is selected, until you've added the ability using that PTR action.

Overall this means you can add any type of ability you want, at any time, in-game, to any unit.

I've attached a test map that uses key words entered by the player to "clone" abilities :)

Please see attached.

But what you could do, (just thought of it) for needing more than 32 abilities max to clone, is to have a trigger replace the cloner unit with the same exact looking unit but just a replica unit type, that had the next set of 32 abilities.

So like the cloner unit tries to clone another unit's ability, and you run that other unit through a switch. If it ends up belonging to some pre-defined list of group B units (those with abilities 33-64), kill and replace the cloner unit with the exact same unit type except for a new XML ID and its abilities (which would be the ones 33-64) (just restore its xp, hp, and energy values etc. to what they were before it used the clone ability).

That way you could have an infinite amount of abilities to clone because you can just keep making new unit types that are duplicates of your original cloner unit, each with their own unique set of 32 different abilities in data.

Let me know if that made any sense, sorry couldn't think of a better way to write it out, and can't upload any more images ;/ 

Here's an example of importing the Ultralisk model from SC2 to Blender.

• Open up Blender and go to Edit -> Preferences -> Add-ons
  • Make sure 'Community' is selected (for the filter) and search 'm3'
  • Tick the checkbox for the only listed hit 'Import-Export: m3addon for M3 form ...'
• Open up the StarCraft 2 editor to the project that has the asset you'd like to import to Blender
  • Hit Alt + `     to bring up the Console (or go to Window -> Console) and type the word 'browse' and hit Enter to bring up the Archive Browser
  • Search for 'Ultralisk' and right click -> Export File on the entry 'Ultralisk.m3'
• Back in Blender, click File -> Import -> StarCraft 2 Model / Animation (.m3/.m3a) ...
  • Import the .m3 file you just exported from the SC2 editor
• For the textures you will also want to export the following files from the Archive Browser:
  • ultralisk_diffuse.dds
  • ultralisk_emissive.dds
  • ultralisk_normal.dds
  • ultralisk_specular.dds
• Back in Blender, go to the Shading tab and select the ultra body itself (not the two blades it has on its sidearms)
  • ^ Make sure you have the Mesh selected, not the geometric cages (armature object) surrounding it. Just left click again until you have the ultra's body mesh selected.
  • A texture map should come up below the preview window with all the different textures linked together.
    • You want to set the 4 boxes that have an orange header to the file paths of the exported assets above (ultralisk_diffuse, ultralisk_emissive, etc.)
      • You'll be clicking on the file explorer icon to the right of the name of the image for that texture
    • Then the ultra should turn from pink (no textures assigned) to its normal in-game colors and textures (The blades on the sides of the ultra will still be pink. You can either delete them or click on them in the shading tab preview to find the name of the image file needed to be exported from the SC2 archive browser for their proper texture/color.)

Go to the unit 'Vespene Geyser' in Data and remove the top actor event in its list of actor events: 'UnitBirth.VespeneGeyser-Create SoundEmitter VespeneGeyser_Ambience'.

Go to the Data module and then open up Actors tab by hitting the small green plus sign and going to 'Edit Actor Data > Actors'.

Search for 'infested civilian'.

Select the actor 'Infested Civilian'.

On the right, double click the field for the section '(Basic) Event: Events - Send'. (The part on the right side of the division under 'Infested Civilian').

Scroll to near the bottom of the list that pops up and right click the flag that's labeled 'Actor Creation - Create InfestedCivilian_Moan' and select 'Remove Selection' (Note: Must right click the flag part, not the action part).

Hit 'OK'.

This video is useful for setting up veterancy behaviors. It also includes extra information like scaling damage and health from leveling up. 

*Data editing starts at t = 2:22

Hello,

in any unit actor, there is a field called "Status Bar Flags" and there you can click on "Charges". This enables the unit to display charges from an ability. (For example if you have 3 spider mines in your ability, then 3 blocks would show above the unit.) But the charges never appear in game at the status bar. Any idea how to activate it?

Yeah I found that the problem with UnitAbilityAdd not working for certain abilities has to do with <AbilSetId value=""/> being set in about 50% of cases. In those cases removing that line fixes the problem. In the rest of cases, copying the ability and then removing that line from the copied ability can work, along with DataCollection fixes the problem.

Not sure if this is intentional or not but seems like a bug to me.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to explain that Banebirst!

I was able to get it part of it working via the PTR features. However, I have noticed both on your test map and on mine that certain cloned abilities will not cast. The button will appear fine but when you try and use the ability (either via clicking or hotkey) it just does nothing.

I noticed this on Zealot charge and Marine stimpack on the test map and several abilities on my map. Can't seem to find the source of it.

Would be super sweet to get it working this way though. Code bloat is way down and it looks cleaner :)

Thanks again BaneBirst! Got this fixed. I did not understand to check Vespene Geyser unit. SOLVED.

One more noise problem still remains. Infested Command Center and maybe few other infested buildings are causing noise. Maybe that sound is somehow linked to Colony Infestation behavior? I will try to find solution for this. I just hate all ambience sounds :)

I found a solution to infested buildings by editing events of actor called "ZergColonyInfestationLoop".

@s3rius: Go

To clarify on what s3rius said, what you want to do is go to Data Editor, Camera Tab, then go to "Default Camera" and find where it says Zoom Levels. Go under each of these and change 'Modify' to Disable on each of them. This should prevent mouse wheel scrolling from altering the camera.

If that helps you can go into the Data Editor, Camera Tab
There you can delete the different zoom levels and only keep a single one.
That'd only work if you have a single camera setting thorough the map, tho. Otherwise turning the mouse wheel would reset the camera to this one setting.