@KaronaTR - I've looked into your problem and it appears that the filter field doesn't actually prevent other players from seeing the text. This is either a bug or the field does something other than what it suggest. I haven't figured out how to fix your problem, but I'll be looking at it when I have free time to see if I can figure out whether not we need to wait for a bug fix or if it's possible through another field.
@jakpe - I actually haven't tried this, but I believe you can use Site Operation (Explicit Rotation) to do this. If you make the Site Operation local, it "should" allow you to set a facing vector that is based upon its current facing. So if your unit is facing in the -X direction and your Explicit Rotation has a [+X, -Y] vector, it will turn left from its facing towards the SW direction instead of SE. Using actor events you could make 8 Explicit Rotation actors (8 cardinal directions) and rapidly rotate through them using timers and Attachment Set/Dump. This is assuming you are trying to make a spinning motion.
@tigerija - " "
@MrZ3r0 - Terrain Deformation Flags allow you to revert the terrain after the actor is destroyed. By combining this with an actor timer (before destroying it) you can set specific durations. Alternatively if you've tied the actor's death to a buff or persistent, it will revert the terrain after either has ended.
Hey, thanks again dude. Too bad it could be a bug but that at least means Blizz may fix it.
I am going to be investigating it too because they defiantly do use the player filter for some of the visuals such as bunker placement markers. It would be weird if it is completely impossible. If I get anywhere I will post an update.
I am trying to make a new hero for a hero defense game, I coppied the unit from a hydralisk and gave it a custom weapon. But when I test the animation for his attack dosn't work. I think it is a action actor i'm missing. But there are no tutorials for melee weapons, only ranged. I've searched.
Map is below, unit name is Razor, weapon is Razor's Scythes and actors are Razor and Razor's Attack. Any advice would be apreciated.
I've created a custom weapon for Egon, and I've been trying to use the WeaponStart.[NAME].AttackStart Animation Play with the animation sequence called "OLD_Spell". The problem is, I can't really figure out what to put in the animation properties field. I have gotten his "Spell", and "Spell A" animation sequences to work with the attack, but not "OLD_Spell". Just for reference, in the model previewer, the animations are listed as: [17: OLD_Spell], [21: Spell], and [22: Spell A]. I have gotten "OLD_Spell" to work using WeaponStart.[NAME].AttackStart Play Sequence, however after the first attack animation, he continues to do the animation after each move command. I'm really going crazy over this, and any help would be appreciated.
Great tutorial I think, it left me even more confused than ever. Maybe cause it lacks pictures and examples, I can't learn without pictures and examples. There's so many things I'm confused on I don't even know where to start. I personally don't like the idea of actors, I used to make spells using vjass script in wc3 (which should be more confusing to most), and I was content and it worked just fine. Now there's all this stuff. Unfortunately it appears that I have to learn everything over again, how to use these actors, and this tutorial doesn't help me. It's more of a reference sheet to those who already have a basic understanding of how they work, or better yet, what they even are to begin with. I read this document over and over again, and it's all still greek to me. I've looked at some of blizzard's actors, they also make no sense to me. The headline says beginner difficulty, so if I'm a beginner and still don't understand anything this says.. I feel like there's no hope and I'm about ready to give up...
So it's explained they are what creates graphical representations for things like attacks and spells and what not. For example, I can't even figure out something simple like creating a flamethrower effect for hellion without a target. I want a Hellion to attack with a flamethrower without a target, and to damage all units in front of it by pressing spacebar. Normally I would have just done it all in vjass script in WC3, but it seems its not so simple now. I can set up the trigger, press spacebar, mimic attack animation... then what? Do I need actors to accomplish the rest? I have tried using pure triggers and I don't think I can do it without these bloody actors.
So I looked up blizzard's hellion attack to hopefully learn from it, no dice. There's multiple types and I just don't see how they tie together. There's Hellion Attack, Hellion Attack Beam, and Hellion Attack Damage Site.. sigh.. so how does it all tie together? So to try to understand it further, I click on Hellion Attack, look at the events to see something like Effect.InternalFlameThrower.Start, with subdivisions and more fields and more confusing shit. So I tried creating my own actor, and I don't even know where to begin because I can't find one document on the internet that explains how to step by step build your own from the ground up. I try to cross reference this tutorial with the fields in my data editor, and well... I'm lost. I don't know if I'm supposed to create an Action, Beam, Missile, or turret (or all???). Then I have to base it off of something which means what...? I try making Action, and get options like AoEAttackBase, AoEAttackShieldHitter, CActor etc.. I don't know what any of this means.
Perhaps a few step by step examples with each explanation would have made this tutorial amazing, but in its current state its just... OMG. Overwhelming to the complete newcomer. In the Actors Basic section (which is really short btw..), it lists Conditions, Terms, and Actions. I can't seem to find these in my data editor under actors. I see all kinds of tabs, including Event, Actor, Animation, Art, Attachment, Combat, Editor, Hosting, Properties, Sound, and Target.. combined there's soooo many fields, I don't even know where to begin.
Is there any other tutorials on actors anywhere? Because this is the only one I can find, and it doesn't even really go into much depth on what an actor truly is, how to utilize them, or how to even being understanding them. I'm so frustrated right now because I blew so much time trying to learn actors, and so far I've gotten nowhere.
Bit late - but if it's still relevant you need to set a create event in the actor's events list to create the actor when something happens.
The most normal trigger would be "unit.creation" - set the msg type to whatever unit type you want to attach the actor to, e.g. "Marine" and have the event msg be set to "create". You will also need to set another event triggered by the "unit.death" that has the event set to "destroy" which removes the actor. You can adjust the triggers based on what the actor is actually meant to be created by,
@Mgiarc - Melee Attack Actors work exactly the same as Ranged Actors. The only difference is that the weapon has a shorter range. You still tie the attack animation to the weapon firing.
@KidIkarus - Take a look at this Tutorial Bibendus made about the attack0ld animation for Marauders. Might help you.
@strongfoe - It sounds to me like you're trying to do too many things at once. I'd suggest starting here and then working your way up. This tutorial is meant to be a reference as opposed to an end all tutorial for everything actors. The reason for this is I could write hundreds of pages about actors alone and that wouldn't help you at all. The linked tutorials has 3 units that use beams of varying difficulty. Once you've made it through that you should have a much better understanding of the parts you would need to, say, create a Hellion. However, the Hellion uses a complex setup for attacking units in an area. You should look up Riley's Shockwave and compare it to the Hellion's Weapon. While the models used are different, their method of dealing damage is almost the same.
Also, stop by the sites IRC. I'm in there frequently and could work with you 1 on 1 to better understand the editor :)
@IcarusPrime - It depends on the actor you're trying to use. If it's a Unit, you change the Unit Name Token at the top of the Actor's fields. If it's a model, sound, turret etc you use the Events + Field to create Actor Events linking them together.
Alot of the models introduced in the solo campaign dont have "player colors" . Are they any actors you can recommend me using that can show a player color per person? im guessing i can put in a "unit birth" event for such actors that need them.. Any tips?
It might be that they don't have texture patches designed for dynamic colors. If this is the case, the only way I would know to change color is with tints. I'll have to look into it and see whether or not this is the case.
awesome coverage on this subjec im extremely impressed and i would love to see more posts from you. can you point me in the right direction to creating my items models that better resemble what the item actually is. like lets say for start, my armors chest piece to resemble a chestpiec and so on for leggings and even more. are .tga files what i would use in the creation? what kind of editing software would i need to make my own and how difficult would it really be? im a fast learner ive only had the game for 3 weeks now and ive spent probably 75% or more of the time in the editor and on mapster lolz.
Amen Johney I spend like 90% more time on the editor than actually playing the game because there is SO MUCH more to the editor. Thanks for the rundown on working with actors Prozaic(and thaks for taking the painstaking time to make it).
Nice toutorial. I like the colours. But my suggestion is to show easy/simple exmaples of these actors in use. It would then be probably easier to understand as you would see it as a whole.
Prozaic, thanks for all these awesome tutorials (well, good reference in this case). They've even gotten me to make a forum account here.
One typo/error:
in your Text section it looks like you c'n'p'ed the values from the elevation section, and forgot to change the values. I'm assuming text fields are not going to affect the elevation height?
(P.s. Do you know if anyone is making a javadocs style API for Sc2, or some sort of handy website for looking up any field/subject in the editor and seeing what it does?)
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Heya! I cant for the life of me figure out how to make my Unit Actor to rotate depending on his facing.
Set Facing lets me rotate him a certain degree, without taking his current facing into the equation.
Set Rotation doesnt let me input anything.
Help, please ^^
I have similar problem. And I cant do anything without it...
I have a question with Terrain deformer, is there anyway to revert the terrain back to normal, after a duration.
@KaronaTR - I've looked into your problem and it appears that the filter field doesn't actually prevent other players from seeing the text. This is either a bug or the field does something other than what it suggest. I haven't figured out how to fix your problem, but I'll be looking at it when I have free time to see if I can figure out whether not we need to wait for a bug fix or if it's possible through another field.
@jakpe - I actually haven't tried this, but I believe you can use Site Operation (Explicit Rotation) to do this. If you make the Site Operation local, it "should" allow you to set a facing vector that is based upon its current facing. So if your unit is facing in the -X direction and your Explicit Rotation has a [+X, -Y] vector, it will turn left from its facing towards the SW direction instead of SE. Using actor events you could make 8 Explicit Rotation actors (8 cardinal directions) and rapidly rotate through them using timers and Attachment Set/Dump. This is assuming you are trying to make a spinning motion.
@tigerija - " "
@MrZ3r0 - Terrain Deformation Flags allow you to revert the terrain after the actor is destroyed. By combining this with an actor timer (before destroying it) you can set specific durations. Alternatively if you've tied the actor's death to a buff or persistent, it will revert the terrain after either has ended.
Hey, thanks again dude. Too bad it could be a bug but that at least means Blizz may fix it.
I am going to be investigating it too because they defiantly do use the player filter for some of the visuals such as bunker placement markers. It would be weird if it is completely impossible. If I get anywhere I will post an update.
I am trying to make a new hero for a hero defense game, I coppied the unit from a hydralisk and gave it a custom weapon. But when I test the animation for his attack dosn't work. I think it is a action actor i'm missing. But there are no tutorials for melee weapons, only ranged. I've searched. Map is below, unit name is Razor, weapon is Razor's Scythes and actors are Razor and Razor's Attack. Any advice would be apreciated.
I've created a custom weapon for Egon, and I've been trying to use the WeaponStart.[NAME].AttackStart Animation Play with the animation sequence called "OLD_Spell". The problem is, I can't really figure out what to put in the animation properties field. I have gotten his "Spell", and "Spell A" animation sequences to work with the attack, but not "OLD_Spell". Just for reference, in the model previewer, the animations are listed as: [17: OLD_Spell], [21: Spell], and [22: Spell A]. I have gotten "OLD_Spell" to work using WeaponStart.[NAME].AttackStart Play Sequence, however after the first attack animation, he continues to do the animation after each move command. I'm really going crazy over this, and any help would be appreciated.
Colors made this tut x10 better
Great tutorial I think, it left me even more confused than ever. Maybe cause it lacks pictures and examples, I can't learn without pictures and examples. There's so many things I'm confused on I don't even know where to start. I personally don't like the idea of actors, I used to make spells using vjass script in wc3 (which should be more confusing to most), and I was content and it worked just fine. Now there's all this stuff. Unfortunately it appears that I have to learn everything over again, how to use these actors, and this tutorial doesn't help me. It's more of a reference sheet to those who already have a basic understanding of how they work, or better yet, what they even are to begin with. I read this document over and over again, and it's all still greek to me. I've looked at some of blizzard's actors, they also make no sense to me. The headline says beginner difficulty, so if I'm a beginner and still don't understand anything this says.. I feel like there's no hope and I'm about ready to give up...
So it's explained they are what creates graphical representations for things like attacks and spells and what not. For example, I can't even figure out something simple like creating a flamethrower effect for hellion without a target. I want a Hellion to attack with a flamethrower without a target, and to damage all units in front of it by pressing spacebar. Normally I would have just done it all in vjass script in WC3, but it seems its not so simple now. I can set up the trigger, press spacebar, mimic attack animation... then what? Do I need actors to accomplish the rest? I have tried using pure triggers and I don't think I can do it without these bloody actors.
So I looked up blizzard's hellion attack to hopefully learn from it, no dice. There's multiple types and I just don't see how they tie together. There's Hellion Attack, Hellion Attack Beam, and Hellion Attack Damage Site.. sigh.. so how does it all tie together? So to try to understand it further, I click on Hellion Attack, look at the events to see something like Effect.InternalFlameThrower.Start, with subdivisions and more fields and more confusing shit. So I tried creating my own actor, and I don't even know where to begin because I can't find one document on the internet that explains how to step by step build your own from the ground up. I try to cross reference this tutorial with the fields in my data editor, and well... I'm lost. I don't know if I'm supposed to create an Action, Beam, Missile, or turret (or all???). Then I have to base it off of something which means what...? I try making Action, and get options like AoEAttackBase, AoEAttackShieldHitter, CActor etc.. I don't know what any of this means.
Perhaps a few step by step examples with each explanation would have made this tutorial amazing, but in its current state its just... OMG. Overwhelming to the complete newcomer. In the Actors Basic section (which is really short btw..), it lists Conditions, Terms, and Actions. I can't seem to find these in my data editor under actors. I see all kinds of tabs, including Event, Actor, Animation, Art, Attachment, Combat, Editor, Hosting, Properties, Sound, and Target.. combined there's soooo many fields, I don't even know where to begin.
Is there any other tutorials on actors anywhere? Because this is the only one I can find, and it doesn't even really go into much depth on what an actor truly is, how to utilize them, or how to even being understanding them. I'm so frustrated right now because I blew so much time trying to learn actors, and so far I've gotten nowhere.
I might of missed this and it's probably a dumb question but how do you add an existing actor to an ability or unit?
Bit late - but if it's still relevant you need to set a create event in the actor's events list to create the actor when something happens.
The most normal trigger would be "unit.creation" - set the msg type to whatever unit type you want to attach the actor to, e.g. "Marine" and have the event msg be set to "create". You will also need to set another event triggered by the "unit.death" that has the event set to "destroy" which removes the actor. You can adjust the triggers based on what the actor is actually meant to be created by,
@Mgiarc - Melee Attack Actors work exactly the same as Ranged Actors. The only difference is that the weapon has a shorter range. You still tie the attack animation to the weapon firing.
@KidIkarus - Take a look at this Tutorial Bibendus made about the attack0ld animation for Marauders. Might help you.
@strongfoe - It sounds to me like you're trying to do too many things at once. I'd suggest starting here and then working your way up. This tutorial is meant to be a reference as opposed to an end all tutorial for everything actors. The reason for this is I could write hundreds of pages about actors alone and that wouldn't help you at all. The linked tutorials has 3 units that use beams of varying difficulty. Once you've made it through that you should have a much better understanding of the parts you would need to, say, create a Hellion. However, the Hellion uses a complex setup for attacking units in an area. You should look up Riley's Shockwave and compare it to the Hellion's Weapon. While the models used are different, their method of dealing damage is almost the same.
Also, stop by the sites IRC. I'm in there frequently and could work with you 1 on 1 to better understand the editor :)
@IcarusPrime - It depends on the actor you're trying to use. If it's a Unit, you change the Unit Name Token at the top of the Actor's fields. If it's a model, sound, turret etc you use the Events + Field to create Actor Events linking them together.
hey prozaicmuze, i need your help buddy,
Alot of the models introduced in the solo campaign dont have "player colors" . Are they any actors you can recommend me using that can show a player color per person? im guessing i can put in a "unit birth" event for such actors that need them.. Any tips?
Have you tried Set Team Color in Actor Events?
@ProzaicMuze: Go
yea, heros like jim raynor stay black no matter what, and tychus stays blue
It might be that they don't have texture patches designed for dynamic colors. If this is the case, the only way I would know to change color is with tints. I'll have to look into it and see whether or not this is the case.
awesome coverage on this subjec im extremely impressed and i would love to see more posts from you. can you point me in the right direction to creating my items models that better resemble what the item actually is. like lets say for start, my armors chest piece to resemble a chestpiec and so on for leggings and even more. are .tga files what i would use in the creation? what kind of editing software would i need to make my own and how difficult would it really be? im a fast learner ive only had the game for 3 weeks now and ive spent probably 75% or more of the time in the editor and on mapster lolz.
Amen Johney I spend like 90% more time on the editor than actually playing the game because there is SO MUCH more to the editor. Thanks for the rundown on working with actors Prozaic(and thaks for taking the painstaking time to make it).
Nice toutorial. I like the colours. But my suggestion is to show easy/simple exmaples of these actors in use. It would then be probably easier to understand as you would see it as a whole.
Prozaic, thanks for all these awesome tutorials (well, good reference in this case). They've even gotten me to make a forum account here.
One typo/error:
in your Text section it looks like you c'n'p'ed the values from the elevation section, and forgot to change the values. I'm assuming text fields are not going to affect the elevation height?
(P.s. Do you know if anyone is making a javadocs style API for Sc2, or some sort of handy website for looking up any field/subject in the editor and seeing what it does?)