SC2Mapster

@Rommsteinz: Go

The only solution I've seen for this is script-based and kind of clunky at that. It involves using a data table to simulate a dynamic array and adding each mine to its own spot in the table, then recalling it ie: "Mine_" + ToString(1) etc

If there was an easy way to do this via Data, I and I'm sure many others would be very interested to hear it.

@Karawasa: Go

Iirc, replays are "autosaved" for a limited time frame and you can then choose to permanently save them from your in-game replays menu (or by moving them out of your unsaved replays folder in the game files).

I imagine anyone who's particularly concerned about saving their replays would be only minorly inconvenienced by this.

So this is a shout-out to, well, just about all of you with otherwise awesome published maps on Bnet.

Please. Please. Please for the love of all that is holy - make sure your victory condition has the score screen disabled. It serves no purpose for non-ladder games other than to be something we have to load (and usually WAIT for to load) after every. single. game.

I could be jumping right back in and playing your kickass map again, bumping its popularity...but no, I have to wait. 10, 20, 30 seconds; sometimes longer. Every time.

So next time you upload your map, please make sure your victory trigger says "End game in victory for <blah blah blah> and DO NOT show score screen".

Thanks <3

Quote from Eiviyn: Go

I have a week off work coming up shortly. I plan to try and get the map tested during that week and put the concept back on it's feet while weeding out any bad design choices and improving anything that could use a little polish.

This looks amazing. Can't wait to try it! :)

Gettin' crowded in there. Keep that up and a fight's gonna break out.

@kongkim82: Go

Poor use of triggers absolutely can kill your framerate or cause other game-breaking issues. What do you need a trigger that fires every second for?

@hawkerhurricane: Go

You can change the skybox via triggers. I believe it's "Environment - Set Background Model", but I could be wrong.

As for it displaying in-game, you might need to adjust your Camera Bounds in Map Options.

Damn that looks awesome. Especially with the new lighting.

You might want to add a skybox if you're going to have any kind of gameplay near those black edges, though.

@Cbasz95: Go

Camera Distortion Tutorial posted :)

http://forums.sc2mapster.com/resources/tutorials/18156-tutorial-camera-distortion-for-underwater-maps/

Introduction

In the hopes of promoting more "underwater" themed maps I wanted to show how you can simulate a key element of believable underwater gameplay - Camera Distortion.

This tutorial assumes you have basic familiarity with the editor (creating simple terrain and triggers; modifying unit and actor fields). By the time you're finished, your camera should have distortion "waves" going across it that look like this-

Terrain

For the purpose of this example, we're just going to use some generic terrain that will allow you to clearly see the effect as it moves across your screen.

Make a new map and add some height noise to it (I used 0.3 amplitude in the image above), and some nice tall doodads (those are Bel'shir Trees at 150% scale). Create a unit of some kind that the effect will "follow".

Once that's done, you'll want a good camera angle. Set Distance to 14, Pitch to 15, and Far Clip to 55 (for framerate reasons). The target X/Y and Yaw is pretty much up to you, but I recommend matching them to the unit the effect will be following for consistency. If you want you can just use "Set Camera to Current View" once you have a perspective you're happy with. Here's an example-

NOTE: These are settings that I know to be functional. There is, however, a range of settings that work and with experimentation it should be possible to make this effect function from a variety of camera perspectives.

Data

This effect is powered by a movable unit based on the Sentry's Guardian Shield model. We use a unit because the actor needs to be able to move with the camera. We'll want to create a Unit and Actor for this purpose, as well as a Behavior to control the speed of the animation.

Behavior

Create a new Behavior called Water Blur Speed and set its type to "Buff", then click ok. Open up the Modification+ field. Under the Unit tab find the "Time Scale" setting and set it to 0.25.

• This value controls the speed of the distortion effect, but be careful as it also affects the movement speed of your "Water Blur" unit and therefore its ability to smoothly follow the camera. If you want to turn it down really low, you'll need to give your unit a correspondingly high speed and acceleration value. If you notice weird clipping behavior, it's probably because your unit is too slow.

Unit

The easiest way to do this is by duplicating a Probe (tip of the hat to OneTwoSC as this will function somewhat like his movable Skybox). Don't duplicate anything except the unit. We'll be making our Actor from scratch.

Rename the copy to Water Blur, and make sure its settings read as follows-

• Abilities: Stop|Move
• Acceleration: 100
• Behaviors+: Water Blur Speed
• Collide: Remove all values from this field
• Deceleration: 100
• Flags: In addition to the default Probe flags, you'll want to add- Invulnerable, Not on Radar, Uncommandable, Unselectable, Untargettable.
• Inner Radius: 0
• Lateral Acceleration: 100
• Minimap Radius: 0
• Radius: 0
• Speed: 100

Actor

Create a new Actor called Water Blur with type Unit and based on GenericUnitBase.

• Model: Guardian Shield
• Scale: 2.4
• Events:
  • UnitBirth.WaterBlur
    • Create

Triggers

Clear out the contents of the Melee Initialization trigger and create a new one called Water Blur. Create a global variable of type Unit also called Water Blur. Set their values as seen below-

If you run the map at this point, you should see "waves" of distortion crossing your camera (which is focused on your unit). When you move the unit, the bubble will follow. If you implement this in a playable map you'll also want to use triggers to make the camera follow the unit.

You can find a great tutorial from OneTwoSC on how to do that .

Other Thoughts

The outline above is just an example of one way to make this effect work. It should be possible to employ it from an overhead or first-person view as well with appropriate tweaks. Remember that the "scale" of the Water Blur actor controls how big the 'bubble' is, and your camera Distance will need to be adjusted accordingly.

Since the bubble is a sphere, you can use almost any value for Pitch and Yaw and it should still work normally. This is the case for airborne units as well (though you'd need to adjust the unit's height accordingly), if for example you wanted to do a cinematic with a submarine and have your shot from below the ship.

If you run into any problems, you're welcome to download the map I made this effect for from its project page and see exactly what I did. You can also PM me or post here as well.

I hope this helps some people to make some very cool stuff :)

@bliztar: Go

Why not just use Modification -> Unit -> Height in the Behavior itself? In my experience this works perfectly if you want a unit to rise or fall based on the presence or absence of a Behavior.

If you're concerned about it being smooth, you can use a Start Time and End Time to make it blend over a period of X seconds.

@felixed: Go

It might help if you posted the map or at least the effect/behavior chain for the ability that's causing the issue.

Could you place the marine without the pathing footprint, and then use data or a trigger to spawn something else in the same space that DOES have a pathing footprint?

ie:

• Unit is Created
• Unit type of Unit is Marine
• Create 1 (Rock) at position of (Last Created Unit) and (Ignore Placement)

@SkrowFunk: Go

I'm working on a tutorial for something pretty similar to what you're asking. If you don't already have it figured out, you may be able to draw some inspiration from there once I get it posted.

@Cbasz95: Go

At it's core, the source of the ripple is the Guardian Shield model. I had to do some serious hocus pocus to get that effect out of it, though.

I can do a tutorial on it if people are interested :)