The actor probably a Model type actor that you want the shot to fire from. You can use the main Unit actor but for that using attach methods should work unless you are trying to use a rolling index AM that is bound to a specific effect.
You cannot as Site type actors are unaffected by SOp (Local Offwset) SOps. You need to create a Model actor that is invisible that you then offset with the site hosted on it.
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Well, with some help from the Water Elemental map, I've finally gotten the offset to work! In the process, I think I've figured out (for the most part) how actors really work...
I do have one last question regarding actors: with so many different actors, is there a standard way of setting up all of the actor creation events? Currently, I have each actor be created by its host. That is, my unit actor creates the (invisible) model actor, which creates the site actor. Ultimately, I want to maximize the reusability of my actors, but maybe there is another way that makes sense for reasons I am not aware of.
My next goal is to get a persistent effect working that shoots multiple missiles. Maybe Kueken has already tried this with the RisingTide attack, but did not get good looking effects?
Well, with some help from the Water Elemental map, I've finally gotten the offset to work! In the process, I think I've figured out (for the most part) how actors really work...
Nice! I would be glad, if I could say that :D
Quote:
I do have one last question regarding actors: with so many different actors, is there a standard way of setting up all of the actor creation events? Currently, I have each actor be created by its host. That is, my unit actor creates the (invisible) model actor, which creates the site actor. Ultimately, I want to maximize the reusability of my actors, but maybe there is another way that makes sense for reasons I am not aware of.
Well, actor events are a pain in the ass. There is no standard way to set up the actor events, without individually adjusting them. Either, you use the create message in the host actor, or you use the create message in the actor itself (like UnitBirth -> Create). Either way requires you to adjust it manually.
Quote:
My next goal is to get a persistent effect working that shoots multiple missiles. Maybe Kueken has already tried this with the RisingTide attack, but did not get good looking effects?
I am pretty sure, I use a persistent to launch multiple missiles. Are you saying it doesn't look good? :p
My next goal is to get a persistent effect working that shoots multiple missiles. Maybe Kueken has already tried this with the RisingTide attack, but did not get good looking effects?
I am pretty sure, I use a persistent to launch multiple missiles. Are you saying it doesn't look good? :p
Well, what I meant was replacing the way your missile creates a static model every 0.1 seconds with a periodic effect that launches a new missile every 0.1 seconds. Maybe I am wrong, but I thought you used the persistent effect in order to launch missiles in different directions, at fairly large intervals.
Edit: I'm having trouble getting the periodic effect to do anything. I think I don't really understand how the persistent effect works, and what the PeriodicOffsetArray and PeriodicPeriodArray do.
Edit 2: I finally made it work by changing the ImpactLocation of my LaunchMissileEffect to TargetUnitOrPoint from the default TargetUnit. However, I want my attack to be directed at a specific unit (not a splash attack like Kueken's Rising Tide). Is there a way to do this, or is the target unit lost when using a persistent effect?
Edit 3: Fixed the previous problem by changing the TargetLocation of the persistent effect to TargetUnit. My last problem is applying the impact effects. I can't put these in the missiles anymore, since there many missiles per attack. The most obvious thing to do seems to put the impact effect into the persistent effect's expire effect. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to work (for example, no damage is dealt).
Should I put you through the actor proficiency test?
In general actor events of the same type take priority in the order they are in the list if firing at the same occurence. For example having several Set Tint Color events on actor creation you find one always wins based on the order in the list.
Your way has some advantages such as the cinematic editor and if you want large clusters of actors created at different places with idential patterns.
If you want several actors to have the same events use a Event Macro type actor since those can supplement the events of other actors. For examples look at the protoss buildings.
The offset array determnes where the target is offset realtive to the source while the period is the time between periodic effects with the first period being the time before the first effect. The offset is in map squares while the period is in seconds. A good example is the colossus weapon periodic effect. It will not work if you messed with the launch and impact subjects alot.
If you do like the leviathan tentacles or nova's domination you can create it on the target.
Ok, I will have to look into these Event Macro actors. Currently, I am reusing events by making a generic actor with a bunch of events and using it as the parent of my other actors. Unfortunately, this is limited by only having one parent.
Edit: What is this actor proficiency test? I still don't know how to do a bunch of things (like sounds, which are next on my list) but I think I understand enough of how actors work to figure things out by looking at the existing data.
This actor proficiency test sounds interesting, I'm really interested in figuring out complex actors, is there a way for me to do it? I'm working on creating units with composite actors and my goal is to create something similar to Kueken's Toss-A-Tron. (Although I know that is a far ways off.)
Well, I guess I'm not quite ready for the actor test, because I have another problem. Namely, the missile won't play it's stand animation continuously. I've tried all sorts of actor messages, but haven't found anything that works. The result is that the missiles disappears halfway to the target and then reappears close to the target. Maybe this is a quirk of the WaterSplash model? My only idea is to attach another actor of the right type (for continuous animation) to the missile, but I'm too tired to try that right now.
Considering the latest development in that field is my walker (on later posts on same thread). The original tossatron was static and lacked any dynamic features. It was merely marines scaling when the unit moved to create the image of movement, it only looked good on flat terrain. Since then there have been several technological advances.
It's probably the model because some model that are mostly temporary disappear in the latter part of their animation. You'll might want to try and either speed up the animation or use a different model that doesn't fade out.
After a lot of experimentation, it seems that no matter what events I set up, the only thing that matters is the AnimSetTimeScale. If I use 2.0, then the water is continuous, but sparse. I would like to set it to something like 4 or 6, but when I do that I get the disappearing and reappearing phenomenon.
Edit: Setting the range of my attack to something really high reveals what is actually going on. A short distance from the launch point, the water spray is dense (since the anim time scale is high, the water particles are being generated very quickly). Then the water disappears altogether for a distance, before reappearing. When it reappears, it is sparse, as if the anim time scale were reset to 1.0, but it no longer disappears for the rest of its trajectory (I've tested this with something like 60 range). There is a clear explanation for this. The water model's stand animation plays once with the adjusted time scale, and then replays forever with the default time scale, Nothing I've done in the actor events has changed this behaviour at all, except for the initial setting of the time scale.
Well, I've decided to go back to Kueken's method of using only one (Invisible) missile and creating the WaterSplash models as it goes along. I think I'm satisfied now with the attack!
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For Hosting - Host - Subject, what do you mean by the "model" I want to fire from? Using the unit's actor here seems to work.
I'm still not sure how to create an offset from the specified attach point. Do I add more SOps to the Host Site Operations - Operations?
The actor probably a Model type actor that you want the shot to fire from. You can use the main Unit actor but for that using attach methods should work unless you are trying to use a rolling index AM that is bound to a specific effect.
You cannot as Site type actors are unaffected by SOp (Local Offwset) SOps. You need to create a Model actor that is invisible that you then offset with the site hosted on it.
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/179654-data-actor-events-message-texture-select-by-id
https://media.forgecdn.net/attachments/187/40/Screenshot2011-04-17_09_16_21.jpg
Well, with some help from the Water Elemental map, I've finally gotten the offset to work! In the process, I think I've figured out (for the most part) how actors really work...
I do have one last question regarding actors: with so many different actors, is there a standard way of setting up all of the actor creation events? Currently, I have each actor be created by its host. That is, my unit actor creates the (invisible) model actor, which creates the site actor. Ultimately, I want to maximize the reusability of my actors, but maybe there is another way that makes sense for reasons I am not aware of.
My next goal is to get a persistent effect working that shoots multiple missiles. Maybe Kueken has already tried this with the RisingTide attack, but did not get good looking effects?
Nice! I would be glad, if I could say that :D
Well, actor events are a pain in the ass. There is no standard way to set up the actor events, without individually adjusting them. Either, you use the create message in the host actor, or you use the create message in the actor itself (like UnitBirth -> Create). Either way requires you to adjust it manually.
I am pretty sure, I use a persistent to launch multiple missiles. Are you saying it doesn't look good? :p
Well, what I meant was replacing the way your missile creates a static model every 0.1 seconds with a periodic effect that launches a new missile every 0.1 seconds. Maybe I am wrong, but I thought you used the persistent effect in order to launch missiles in different directions, at fairly large intervals.
Edit: I'm having trouble getting the periodic effect to do anything. I think I don't really understand how the persistent effect works, and what the PeriodicOffsetArray and PeriodicPeriodArray do.
Edit 2: I finally made it work by changing the ImpactLocation of my LaunchMissileEffect to TargetUnitOrPoint from the default TargetUnit. However, I want my attack to be directed at a specific unit (not a splash attack like Kueken's Rising Tide). Is there a way to do this, or is the target unit lost when using a persistent effect?
Edit 3: Fixed the previous problem by changing the TargetLocation of the persistent effect to TargetUnit. My last problem is applying the impact effects. I can't put these in the missiles anymore, since there many missiles per attack. The most obvious thing to do seems to put the impact effect into the persistent effect's expire effect. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to work (for example, no damage is dealt).
@XPilot: Go
Should I put you through the actor proficiency test?
In general actor events of the same type take priority in the order they are in the list if firing at the same occurence. For example having several Set Tint Color events on actor creation you find one always wins based on the order in the list.
Your way has some advantages such as the cinematic editor and if you want large clusters of actors created at different places with idential patterns.
If you want several actors to have the same events use a Event Macro type actor since those can supplement the events of other actors. For examples look at the protoss buildings.
The offset array determnes where the target is offset realtive to the source while the period is the time between periodic effects with the first period being the time before the first effect. The offset is in map squares while the period is in seconds. A good example is the colossus weapon periodic effect. It will not work if you messed with the launch and impact subjects alot.
If you do like the leviathan tentacles or nova's domination you can create it on the target.
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/179654-data-actor-events-message-texture-select-by-id
https://media.forgecdn.net/attachments/187/40/Screenshot2011-04-17_09_16_21.jpg
Ok, I will have to look into these Event Macro actors. Currently, I am reusing events by making a generic actor with a bunch of events and using it as the parent of my other actors. Unfortunately, this is limited by only having one parent.
Edit: What is this actor proficiency test? I still don't know how to do a bunch of things (like sounds, which are next on my list) but I think I understand enough of how actors work to figure things out by looking at the existing data.
The test is where I drill you on the more complex actor uses and applications. Think of it as a simplified academic viva.
Trouble with actors is alot of them have no existing data to use as a reference. Then it is just experimentation.
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/179654-data-actor-events-message-texture-select-by-id
https://media.forgecdn.net/attachments/187/40/Screenshot2011-04-17_09_16_21.jpg
This actor proficiency test sounds interesting, I'm really interested in figuring out complex actors, is there a way for me to do it? I'm working on creating units with composite actors and my goal is to create something similar to Kueken's Toss-A-Tron. (Although I know that is a far ways off.)
Well, I guess I'm not quite ready for the actor test, because I have another problem. Namely, the missile won't play it's stand animation continuously. I've tried all sorts of actor messages, but haven't found anything that works. The result is that the missiles disappears halfway to the target and then reappears close to the target. Maybe this is a quirk of the WaterSplash model? My only idea is to attach another actor of the right type (for continuous animation) to the missile, but I'm too tired to try that right now.
@Spoolofwhool: Go
Considering the latest development in that field is my walker (on later posts on same thread). The original tossatron was static and lacked any dynamic features. It was merely marines scaling when the unit moved to create the image of movement, it only looked good on flat terrain. Since then there have been several technological advances.
@XPilot: Go
Try the Play Forever flag under the animation playing actor event action.
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
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Where can I find the thread on the walker?
Check last page of tossatron experimental project. It is still a work in progress.
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
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I've tried that, with no effect.
It's probably the model because some model that are mostly temporary disappear in the latter part of their animation. You'll might want to try and either speed up the animation or use a different model that doesn't fade out.
Else set up actor events to restart the animation when it reaches a certain time.
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/179654-data-actor-events-message-texture-select-by-id
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@DrSuperEvil: Go
I've tried that too, again with no effect. Maybe I am using the wrong actor events (AnimSetCompletion, AnimDone, AnimPlay). What events would you use?
You could set up a timer when the animation sequence starts so that after a certain bit it stops then restarts the animation.
@Spoolofwhool:
I've tried that too, with no effect.
After a lot of experimentation, it seems that no matter what events I set up, the only thing that matters is the AnimSetTimeScale. If I use 2.0, then the water is continuous, but sparse. I would like to set it to something like 4 or 6, but when I do that I get the disappearing and reappearing phenomenon.
Edit: Setting the range of my attack to something really high reveals what is actually going on. A short distance from the launch point, the water spray is dense (since the anim time scale is high, the water particles are being generated very quickly). Then the water disappears altogether for a distance, before reappearing. When it reappears, it is sparse, as if the anim time scale were reset to 1.0, but it no longer disappears for the rest of its trajectory (I've tested this with something like 60 range). There is a clear explanation for this. The water model's stand animation plays once with the adjusted time scale, and then replays forever with the default time scale, Nothing I've done in the actor events has changed this behaviour at all, except for the initial setting of the time scale.
Well, I've decided to go back to Kueken's method of using only one (Invisible) missile and creating the WaterSplash models as it goes along. I think I'm satisfied now with the attack!