If you want the beam and missile to sync up, remove the damage effect from the set and add it to the impact of the missile. Make sure the missile's actor receives this change as well. I'm not 100%, but that should work.
1. Yes, the radius of the Search Area will change its precision. The lower the radius, the more periodic offsets you need in your main persistent, but the accuracy will significantly increase.
2. If the maximum unit count on the Search Area is set to 1 (both within the arc parameter AND in the nromal field) this should not happen. The only thing I can think of is that there are two search areas running more or less on top of each other. Make sure your periodic offsets are evenly spaced and as far apart as the radius of your search area. Alternatively, you can try slowing the periodic duration within your persistent effect. This may resolve the issue...it could be that the effect is moving faster than it can buff the caster.
3. To prevent it from travelling along the ground, make sure your missile action actor's events are proper. Make sure the missile action actor's Missile parameter is correct, and set the Launch Assets to AMFilter Weapon (you may not want AMFilterWeapon for all models, but Tosh could use it). As for it going up and down cliffs, I can honestly say, I never thought of that and will look into a solution. It IS possible to prevent that, but I'll have to investigate an effective method.
4. I'll have to test that myself...sounds strange. If you wish, you can force him to stand still while casting if you change your main persistent to have the flag "Channeled"
True, that would be simpler, but that's basically what this is, except you're adjusting it manually with a defined end point. It's also useful if you aren't sure whether you want to use a missile or a beam.
Getting the missile to fire should be more or less the same as the version you made for the beam. The End Persistent should have one period, which contains a dummy Launch Missile effect, with an Impact Effect: (Dummy Damage).
The things that must be changed (in comparison to your [real] Launch Missile effect):
Switch the Impact Effect to Damage Dummy (for the same reason as the beam. An impact effect must be set on Launch Missile effects, or else they never stop. Additionally, GenericAttack Actors require a damage effect to be created.
Change the Impact Location to be Target Unit/Point (The reason for this is quite simple. When set to Target Unit (which I believe is default) the Launch Missile simply isn't created if you tell it to target a point. With a 'miss' missile, obviously we want it to target the ground instead if no unit is present.
Those are the only things I can think of. That *should* get it working. Let me know.
Thanks. It's my first tutorial, so it's grea tto get some feedback. The Data Editor is...awkward in many cases. The Damage Dummy just gives us a proper effect to use to initialize a beam that doesn't hit anything. Beams can't be properly created through attack actors unless a damage effect has taken place (with or without a Launch Missile leading into it). Simply basing the Action actor off of a Search Area produces no result (at least in my tests). I found the simplest way to work around this was to use a blank damage effect, since they can be placed on points as well as units.
So once its hit a unit it doesn't work anymore? Where is your Remove Buff effect brought in? It should be in your main persistent's Effect - Expire field. Yes you need all the persistents and buffs, what you DON'T need is a set effect that contains both your remove buff and the damage dummy. I believe you can get rid of that.
Checking it out for you now. The alternate method has not replaced the old one for two reasons:
1. I have not tested it myself and prefer giving people things that I know work. (Only reason I added it at all was because several people already mentioned the low range of this method)
2. The alternate method is far less precise. Because you're using a single angle to detect collision, it tends to flare outwards the farther the missile travels, so collision is a little messed up.
[Edit]: Alright, I managed to fix this thing for you. I don't know if an update occurred or if I simply missed the fact that non-periodic offsets travel differently from periodic ones. Either way, you have a bit of an issue in that a) you implemented the effect from this tutorial incorrectly into your ability and b) I made a miscalculation within the tutorial itself, which I will be rectifying shortly. Follow these steps:
Create a new Persistent Effect titled Spear Shoot (Final Persistent)
Set Period Count to 1
Set Period Durations to 0.001
Set Period Effects to Spear Shoot (Damage Dummy)
Add one Periodic Offset at 0, -10
Add your validator into the Periodic Validator Field
Set Target Location - Start and Target Location+ to Source Unit/Point
Go to Spear Shoot (Persistent):
Set the Target Offset - Expire to 0, 0
Set Effect - Final to Spear Shoot (Final Persistent)
Go to your Ability:
Change Effect - Effect to Spear Shoot (Persistent)
Go to your Action Actors and look for the following:
Effect.SpearShootDamage.Start (One of the action actors will have SpearShootDamageDummy instead)
Right click that line and 'Add Term'. Change the Term Type to 'At' and change the Sub-Menu to 'Caster'.
I think that's all the changes I made. Please let me know if it works. It's quite possible I missed something...I mucked around with your spell quite a bit to get it to work, but I think those are the only changes that I kept.
Sorry for not responding for so long guys. In answer to the 'miss' questions, another value needs to be set, which I forgot to list, which causes your beams to produce the effect Nahotnoj described when left unaltered. I have updated the first post with the missing value.
I am also going to add an 'alternative method' to the first post for long range abilities.
Darn, I just made a new one from scratch and you're right. Guess I'll remove it from that post then. I think you'd need an entirely different layout for a missile then, probably based around either (as you said) a massive search area with an expanding radius, or possibly a dummy target effect run through triggers...
I have a couple more ideas to try before I totally give up on it though, I'll let you know how it goes.
I think it will work. Search Areas don't return anything (they aren't even detected) if they can't find a target. If you make the Launch Missile target the offset point, it will either not shoot at all (since there's no end point) or it will hit the targetted offset.
I don't pretend to be an expert on this subject, missiles have always been confusing to me (hence me sticking to the beams in my example). I'm going to try it out and see.
If you want the beam and missile to sync up, remove the damage effect from the set and add it to the impact of the missile. Make sure the missile's actor receives this change as well. I'm not 100%, but that should work.
1. Yes, the radius of the Search Area will change its precision. The lower the radius, the more periodic offsets you need in your main persistent, but the accuracy will significantly increase.
2. If the maximum unit count on the Search Area is set to 1 (both within the arc parameter AND in the nromal field) this should not happen. The only thing I can think of is that there are two search areas running more or less on top of each other. Make sure your periodic offsets are evenly spaced and as far apart as the radius of your search area. Alternatively, you can try slowing the periodic duration within your persistent effect. This may resolve the issue...it could be that the effect is moving faster than it can buff the caster.
3. To prevent it from travelling along the ground, make sure your missile action actor's events are proper. Make sure the missile action actor's Missile parameter is correct, and set the Launch Assets to AMFilter Weapon (you may not want AMFilterWeapon for all models, but Tosh could use it). As for it going up and down cliffs, I can honestly say, I never thought of that and will look into a solution. It IS possible to prevent that, but I'll have to investigate an effective method.
4. I'll have to test that myself...sounds strange. If you wish, you can force him to stand still while casting if you change your main persistent to have the flag "Channeled"
Hmmm...I'm not quite sure what you're after here. What exactly do you want me to fix? The missile stopping at the target?
If so, just add your Launch Missile effect to your Set.
Hey, sorry that it took me so long to respond. I've been really busy lately. I'll take a look at it later.
True, that would be simpler, but that's basically what this is, except you're adjusting it manually with a defined end point. It's also useful if you aren't sure whether you want to use a missile or a beam.
Getting the missile to fire should be more or less the same as the version you made for the beam. The End Persistent should have one period, which contains a dummy Launch Missile effect, with an Impact Effect: (Dummy Damage).
The things that must be changed (in comparison to your [real] Launch Missile effect):
Those are the only things I can think of. That *should* get it working. Let me know.
Thanks. It's my first tutorial, so it's grea tto get some feedback. The Data Editor is...awkward in many cases. The Damage Dummy just gives us a proper effect to use to initialize a beam that doesn't hit anything. Beams can't be properly created through attack actors unless a damage effect has taken place (with or without a Launch Missile leading into it). Simply basing the Action actor off of a Search Area produces no result (at least in my tests). I found the simplest way to work around this was to use a blank damage effect, since they can be placed on points as well as units.
Let me know how your experiments go.
So once its hit a unit it doesn't work anymore? Where is your Remove Buff effect brought in? It should be in your main persistent's Effect - Expire field. Yes you need all the persistents and buffs, what you DON'T need is a set effect that contains both your remove buff and the damage dummy. I believe you can get rid of that.
Checking it out for you now. The alternate method has not replaced the old one for two reasons:
1. I have not tested it myself and prefer giving people things that I know work. (Only reason I added it at all was because several people already mentioned the low range of this method)
2. The alternate method is far less precise. Because you're using a single angle to detect collision, it tends to flare outwards the farther the missile travels, so collision is a little messed up.
[Edit]: Alright, I managed to fix this thing for you. I don't know if an update occurred or if I simply missed the fact that non-periodic offsets travel differently from periodic ones. Either way, you have a bit of an issue in that a) you implemented the effect from this tutorial incorrectly into your ability and b) I made a miscalculation within the tutorial itself, which I will be rectifying shortly. Follow these steps:
Create a new Persistent Effect titled Spear Shoot (Final Persistent)
Go to Spear Shoot (Persistent):
Go to your Ability:
Go to your Action Actors and look for the following:
Effect.SpearShootDamage.Start (One of the action actors will have SpearShootDamageDummy instead)
Right click that line and 'Add Term'. Change the Term Type to 'At' and change the Sub-Menu to 'Caster'.
I think that's all the changes I made. Please let me know if it works. It's quite possible I missed something...I mucked around with your spell quite a bit to get it to work, but I think those are the only changes that I kept.
P.S. Nice terrain.
Sorry for not responding for so long guys. In answer to the 'miss' questions, another value needs to be set, which I forgot to list, which causes your beams to produce the effect Nahotnoj described when left unaltered. I have updated the first post with the missing value.
I am also going to add an 'alternative method' to the first post for long range abilities.
Really? I tried getting a tank turret to continually face my camera yaw for my third person shooter system, but it never seemed to respond.
Nice. I wish we could make turrets angle certain directions through triggers...
Did you try the new Launch Missile method?
Neat, does that use WASD? You could try switching the stalker to an immortal. The Immortals walk animations make it perfect for that sort of thing.
Darn, I just made a new one from scratch and you're right. Guess I'll remove it from that post then. I think you'd need an entirely different layout for a missile then, probably based around either (as you said) a massive search area with an expanding radius, or possibly a dummy target effect run through triggers...
I have a couple more ideas to try before I totally give up on it though, I'll let you know how it goes.
You'll be happy to know I got it to work
See above.
I think it will work. Search Areas don't return anything (they aren't even detected) if they can't find a target. If you make the Launch Missile target the offset point, it will either not shoot at all (since there's no end point) or it will hit the targetted offset.
I don't pretend to be an expert on this subject, missiles have always been confusing to me (hence me sticking to the beams in my example). I'm going to try it out and see.
No question it's not ideal for long ranges, but I wanted to show how simple something this daunting can be.
Below is a writeup for how to make use of Missiles with the above methods. If you are using a missile I highly recommend you look at this instead: http://forums.sc2mapster.com/resources/data-assets/16059-wingednoserings-data-assets/#posts
The below will still work though.
To use a Missile Instead of a Beam With the Above Methods:
Create your missile (I won't get into how to do that, I expect anybody following this know how)
Go to the Effects Tab and create a new object called Shoot (Launch) with Type: Launch Missile
Return to Shoot (Set)
Go to the Actor tab and add an object named Shoot Attack with Type: Action - GenericAttack
Event: Effect > Shoot (Launch) > Start
Term: At Caster
Action: Create
Event: Effect > Shoot (Damage) > Start
Term: At Caster
Term: FromEffectTreeDescendant
Action: ActionImpact