yes, this problem appears since patch 3.0. I don't know what causing it. The mover i'm using is pretty much copy - paste of Spine Crawler Tentacle retract mover, and it was working perfectly until LotV release.
You can change mover to something more simple and straight like marauder missile mover and this problem will be gone. There are things that are just not working as they suppose to.... Still lot of bugs.
btw the most depressing shit in this data editor is sometimes you don't even know in what order actor receive some internal messages, or when (exact moment) his reference got recognized. As you may see in my second map i used timer 0.0 second in "Psi Shells Holding Site" actor just because otherwise nothing happens (previous actions are not done yet, so need to delay the execution)... so there's that.
I mean, it is totaly possible that i'm missing something or just not doing it in a 100% proper way but c'mon, is it even possible to know everything that going on in this mess without having a blizzard software engineer sitting in the next room.
The design of sc2 editor is what Blizz totaly fucked up with. It was a disaster already on a planning stage which lead to it being unusable by the masses, but just for a few passionate enthusiast from this community... IMHO
well i just open cinematic editor press shift+D and open "Materials" folder to search for texture names. Usualy it doesn't matter what slot you're using, i just cycle through already known such as "main", "generic01", "generic02", "genericXX" , etc. In texture declarations i usualy put full texture name in "Prefix" field. For effect models it usualy works fine.
and look in my maps. If it is the "Slot" field that gets you confused it doesn't realy matter for most effect models (actualy i hadn't encountered any that require specific slot name). It works like variable or something like that. You can use any known acceptable slot names as i mentioned above.
To hide unwanted parts of effects you can use "black.dds" texture for particles as i did with tornado model for my taldarim boss. Just look in there.
It is actualy very simple and very powerfull. It virtualy expands the total amount of available assets a lot, because now you can change the colors and overal look in a proper way, not just setting the tint which cause model to look shit. I highly recommend using texture swaps on effect models to improve visual fidelity.
Its not similiar it's technicaly the same, you got it right. It's just a bit different texture swaps and models used.
In this one i tried to make actor objects as unified as possible, because i aimed to use only one effect chain instead of 3 for each orb (how it's normaly done)
I realy don't want to make 30+ effects just because of duplication.
That orbs spell have 2 major parts. First one is orb creation sequence. To make 3 spinning orbs normaly you will have to use 3 different orb objects (because you will have to set different site operation for each starting angle of rotation (0,120,240)) so to workaround it i created a construction with few dummy "builder helpers". Basicaly what they do is setting a place where orb should be created, then create orb and then just attach it from that possition to unit. After that, this construction rotates by +120 degrees and create another one, and so on. After all orbs being created this dummy actors are removed.
You may think this is over complicated setup but actualy if you will try to use 3 different actor objects for each orb it will be an utter BUTT HURT. because you will have to create not only separate Launch Missile effects but also +1 action actor for each, and basicaly duplicates for everything else. This setup is more complicated in term of actor events, but the amount of overal data objects needed is DRASTICALY lower.
Moreso my setup allows to expand the number of orbs with less pain than classic approach. Basicaly with 5 -6 orbs the number of required data objects goes skyhigh if you will do a separate effect chain and actor for each. With my setup it's a few changes to the events of already existing actors and thats it.
A few messages that adding or removing aliases are meant to make so when launch effect happens (and it is the same for every orb) the system tries to find the orb that haven't been launched before, because if all orbs will have the same alias then the one that created first will be the only orb flying, all others will be ignored.
As i said, the actor system got a ton of hidden caveats, i just did a lot of testing to find out whats going on.
ehh, i didn't see your question i thought i already read everything in this thread. Setting host to ::Creator will attach the actor to the one which creates it (lol). I mean it will inherit bearings, properties like scale, etc.
I set this field for the actors that are created from within events of another actor. Otherwise there is a chance that newly created actor will be on the floor XD. (by default actors inherit bearings of the scope, if the host not found)
reading data is realy hard because all the system is basicaly in my head and sc2 data manager doesn't represent it anyhow........ This is a real issue with data.
Man it's hard to describe whats going on in a few words i realy suggest you to read my tutorial here to get better with actor system. (a bit , hopefully? :D)
BTW Spike Bomb ability is not that epic, i copy-paste from the old map. It is done with outdated actor tools. Now it can be done wit MUCH LESS data objects, i just don't have time or motivation to remade it. Basicaly in given map this ability is done by "stupid" approach (you can actualy create unified spike objects instead of using 6 for different directions). The explanation requires a wall of text so just get started with my tutorial if you wish to lose some life :D ._.
the spike missiles does not have collisions, and are not the actual missiles (units) , they're just models driven by mover type actor. Gameplay wise this spell is very simple (in effects tab), but in actor tab is where the magic happens :F
okay fine -_-.. Since few people requested this already here is a wip map. Try it, tinker with it, copy-paste it, do whatever you want since i'm playing Hearthstone lately and have no extra time or motivation to finish any map which could include it :X.
Try to add some abilities to Raynor for fair battle :D or tweak the cooldowns/hp of Alarak.
One thing to mention: there are few effects that called "Rain of Fire -...." and there is no such ability in map. They actualy belong to "Spike Bomb" ability. Their purpose is to place spike bombs in random points, i just copied them from spell i did in another map.
thanks guys. There is a little validator work for this path blocking spiked cage. As you see on gif if the circle is closed with my hero outside (fails) it doesn't prevent Alarak from pathing through, and got automaticaly destroyed. (on gif it is second time this abil used)
For placing the spikes in data i used a little workaround. Made 2 invisible "Placer" units guided by orbiting kinetic :X
For those spike bombs i used workaround because there is no data means for perfect Random Point in Circle distribution :(. I used invisible units with maximum speed and "Wander" type of behavior. Worked out exactly as needed :D.
The immolation ability activates when Alarak is below 50% of health. It is damaging nearby enemies and draining 100% of damage dealt, so player should try to keep distance while it is active.
The blink strike meant to deal guaranted damage periodicaly despite the possibility of being disabled/stuned by player.
I'm trying to work out at least 6 interesting bosses but the progress is pretty slow XD. Don't want to make some dumb and boring avoidable skillshots also trying to keep spells appealing thus spending lot of time browsing models and textures (using texture select by id intensively even on particle effects)
ok i don't know if 100mb gif is legit but was too lasy to record a video :D. Also kinda afraid to put this monster in my Show-Off thread XD. Anyway, finished a melee boss unit encounter.
All mini-boss abilities are auto-cast. 0 triggering involved. If someone cares check out this shit i made:
@msong7229: Go
yes, this problem appears since patch 3.0. I don't know what causing it. The mover i'm using is pretty much copy - paste of Spine Crawler Tentacle retract mover, and it was working perfectly until LotV release.
You can change mover to something more simple and straight like marauder missile mover and this problem will be gone. There are things that are just not working as they suppose to.... Still lot of bugs.
btw the most depressing shit in this data editor is sometimes you don't even know in what order actor receive some internal messages, or when (exact moment) his reference got recognized. As you may see in my second map i used timer 0.0 second in "Psi Shells Holding Site" actor just because otherwise nothing happens (previous actions are not done yet, so need to delay the execution)... so there's that.
I mean, it is totaly possible that i'm missing something or just not doing it in a 100% proper way but c'mon, is it even possible to know everything that going on in this mess without having a blizzard software engineer sitting in the next room.
The design of sc2 editor is what Blizz totaly fucked up with. It was a disaster already on a planning stage which lead to it being unusable by the masses, but just for a few passionate enthusiast from this community... IMHO
@msong7229: Go
well i just open cinematic editor press shift+D and open "Materials" folder to search for texture names. Usualy it doesn't matter what slot you're using, i just cycle through already known such as "main", "generic01", "generic02", "genericXX" , etc. In texture declarations i usualy put full texture name in "Prefix" field. For effect models it usualy works fine.
just watch this old tutorial (still good) http://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/20772-data-actor-events-message-texture-select-by-id/
and look in my maps. If it is the "Slot" field that gets you confused it doesn't realy matter for most effect models (actualy i hadn't encountered any that require specific slot name). It works like variable or something like that. You can use any known acceptable slot names as i mentioned above.
To hide unwanted parts of effects you can use "black.dds" texture for particles as i did with tornado model for my taldarim boss. Just look in there.
It is actualy very simple and very powerfull. It virtualy expands the total amount of available assets a lot, because now you can change the colors and overal look in a proper way, not just setting the tint which cause model to look shit. I highly recommend using texture swaps on effect models to improve visual fidelity.
@msong7229: Go
Its not similiar it's technicaly the same, you got it right. It's just a bit different texture swaps and models used.
In this one i tried to make actor objects as unified as possible, because i aimed to use only one effect chain instead of 3 for each orb (how it's normaly done)
I realy don't want to make 30+ effects just because of duplication.
That orbs spell have 2 major parts. First one is orb creation sequence. To make 3 spinning orbs normaly you will have to use 3 different orb objects (because you will have to set different site operation for each starting angle of rotation (0,120,240)) so to workaround it i created a construction with few dummy "builder helpers". Basicaly what they do is setting a place where orb should be created, then create orb and then just attach it from that possition to unit. After that, this construction rotates by +120 degrees and create another one, and so on. After all orbs being created this dummy actors are removed.
You may think this is over complicated setup but actualy if you will try to use 3 different actor objects for each orb it will be an utter BUTT HURT. because you will have to create not only separate Launch Missile effects but also +1 action actor for each, and basicaly duplicates for everything else. This setup is more complicated in term of actor events, but the amount of overal data objects needed is DRASTICALY lower.
Moreso my setup allows to expand the number of orbs with less pain than classic approach. Basicaly with 5 -6 orbs the number of required data objects goes skyhigh if you will do a separate effect chain and actor for each. With my setup it's a few changes to the events of already existing actors and thats it.
A few messages that adding or removing aliases are meant to make so when launch effect happens (and it is the same for every orb) the system tries to find the orb that haven't been launched before, because if all orbs will have the same alias then the one that created first will be the only orb flying, all others will be ignored.
As i said, the actor system got a ton of hidden caveats, i just did a lot of testing to find out whats going on.
ehh, i didn't see your question i thought i already read everything in this thread. Setting host to ::Creator will attach the actor to the one which creates it (lol). I mean it will inherit bearings, properties like scale, etc.
I set this field for the actors that are created from within events of another actor. Otherwise there is a chance that newly created actor will be on the floor XD. (by default actors inherit bearings of the scope, if the host not found)
reading data is realy hard because all the system is basicaly in my head and sc2 data manager doesn't represent it anyhow........ This is a real issue with data.
Man it's hard to describe whats going on in a few words i realy suggest you to read my tutorial here to get better with actor system. (a bit , hopefully? :D)
http://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/88247-data-actors-making-ring-of-frost-ability/#p1
BTW Spike Bomb ability is not that epic, i copy-paste from the old map. It is done with outdated actor tools. Now it can be done wit MUCH LESS data objects, i just don't have time or motivation to remade it. Basicaly in given map this ability is done by "stupid" approach (you can actualy create unified spike objects instead of using 6 for different directions). The explanation requires a wall of text so just get started with my tutorial if you wish to lose some life :D ._.
the spike missiles does not have collisions, and are not the actual missiles (units) , they're just models driven by mover type actor. Gameplay wise this spell is very simple (in effects tab), but in actor tab is where the magic happens :F
you can also check this thread this is also boss encounter just without fancy gif : http://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/development/map-development/88650-bosses-with-0-triggering-fun-or-shit/#p10
okay fine -_-.. Since few people requested this already here is a wip map. Try it, tinker with it, copy-paste it, do whatever you want since i'm playing Hearthstone lately and have no extra time or motivation to finish any map which could include it :X.
Try to add some abilities to Raynor for fair battle :D or tweak the cooldowns/hp of Alarak.
One thing to mention: there are few effects that called "Rain of Fire -...." and there is no such ability in map. They actualy belong to "Spike Bomb" ability. Their purpose is to place spike bombs in random points, i just copied them from spell i did in another map.
thanks guys. There is a little validator work for this path blocking spiked cage. As you see on gif if the circle is closed with my hero outside (fails) it doesn't prevent Alarak from pathing through, and got automaticaly destroyed. (on gif it is second time this abil used)
For placing the spikes in data i used a little workaround. Made 2 invisible "Placer" units guided by orbiting kinetic :X
For those spike bombs i used workaround because there is no data means for perfect Random Point in Circle distribution :(. I used invisible units with maximum speed and "Wander" type of behavior. Worked out exactly as needed :D.
The immolation ability activates when Alarak is below 50% of health. It is damaging nearby enemies and draining 100% of damage dealt, so player should try to keep distance while it is active.
The blink strike meant to deal guaranted damage periodicaly despite the possibility of being disabled/stuned by player.
I'm trying to work out at least 6 interesting bosses but the progress is pretty slow XD. Don't want to make some dumb and boring avoidable skillshots also trying to keep spells appealing thus spending lot of time browsing models and textures (using texture select by id intensively even on particle effects)
ok i don't know if 100mb gif is legit but was too lasy to record a video :D. Also kinda afraid to put this monster in my Show-Off thread XD. Anyway, finished a melee boss unit encounter.
All mini-boss abilities are auto-cast. 0 triggering involved. If someone cares check out this shit i made:
http://i.giphy.com/l41Yr3VG0WS68kdSo.gif