Studying off of the Weapon_Swap map, I think I have somewhat of an idea how to swap weapons in the way your map implements it (switching between multiple weapons, swapped weapon stays active unless changed), although I am having difficulty using this information to have a weapon temporarily replace the unit's default weapon.
I am currently attempting this by giving the unit a weapon, creating a Buff that disables that weapon, but adds and enables another weapon for 7 seconds, tying this Behavior to an Apply Behavior Effect, which in turn is tied to an Effect - Instant ability. My current issue is that the new weapon isn't added and enabled, and the old weapon isn't disabled.
Ah, it turns out I was trying to do this by creating a Max Vitals Change (removal) with a Damage Response, instead of creating a Remove Behavior Effect that is triggered by a Behavior with a Damage Response.
Although now I am not entirely sure how/where to attach the Behavior (or if I need to attach it to an Apply Behavior Effect). It would probably help if I attached the map!
The ability in question is "Runic Reinforcement," - "Runic Reinforcement (Shield)" is the shield bonus, "Runic Reinforcement (Shield Plus)" is the Bonus Max Shield, and "Runic Reinforcement (Shield Minus)" is the Bonus Max Shield stack removal.
Gonna consolidate this thread so I don't spam the forums!
Currently facing a few primary issues:
Creating an aura that only applies to units affected by a particular buff
Details: I have an Apply Behavior Effect [Venom Spread (Aura)] that applies a DoT Buff [Deadly Venom (DoT)] that is applied through an Apply Behavior Effect [Deadly Venom (Apply)] that can stack up to 6 times, through a Search Area Effect [Venom Spread (Search)] every 3 seconds. I first attempted to have the DoT application apply the aura, so that enemies near the first infected unit would receive a stack of the DoT every 3 seconds (and a cluster of enemies would constantly re-apply the DoT to each other, extending its effective duration as long as there were multiple infected units near each other). However, after managing to get the aura to apply to the DoT-afflicted unit instead of the unit doing the afflicting, the aura only applies the stacks up to 3 times before expiring.
My next solution is to create a Validator that causes an otherwise infinite-duration aura to remove itself once the unit no longer possesses the DoT buff, but I'm not sure how to set up validators/what kind of validator to set up/etc. and there are no mouse-over tooltips for the Validator: Else and If + fields so that's not really helping.
Applying a cooldown once an ability is cancelled OR deactivated via Behavior: Validators (Remove)
Details: I have an Effect - Instant Ability [Ambush] that cloaks the unit for up to 10 seconds, with a Behavior: Validators (Remove) of (Caster Not Attacking). I've found various solutions that tie an ability's cooldown to its Remove Behavior Effect ability (so that the cooldown occurs once the ability is deactivated), but none so far that tie the cooldown to when the ability's effect ends (manually or otherwise).
Creating a passive ability that applies a DoT upon missile impact
Details: The DoT mentioned earlier is currently implemented as a set with the hero's Weapon Damage effect (so attacking trigger's both the weapon damage and the stacking DoT), although through this method I cannot place a button with tooltip on the command card or allow it to be leveled. Creating an actual Damage Response to apply the DoT also doesn't work, as ticks of the DoT apply additional stacks of the DoT.
Button for passive ability
Details: Closely tied with the above issue - I can't quite figure out how to create a passive ability or a button that represents said passive ability on the command card. I'm probably missing something obvious, though.
Shared button slot for Apply Behavior/Remove Behavior
Details: Related to the cloak ability mentioned above - I have both the Apply ability and the Remove ability buttons in the same slot on the command card, although activating the Apply ability keeps the Apply button on the command card, instead of switching out with the Remove button.
Buffs that are removed one stack at a time
Details: Just a general issue I couldn't find a solution to on the forums - I have abilities that apply Buffs that stack multiple times, although if the buff is removed, all of the stacks are removed at once. I think the solution to this might be in the Behavior itself, but I'm not sure where exactly to look.
I think I'll leave it at this until I've got these all figured out! I've got a thousand and one questions for you guys because the data editor is big and scary, but it would make more sense to just figure things out in chunks (since what I learn from you guys tends to be applicable to other problems I didn't even know I'd have)!
I'll probably have to do some fiddling with the UI to have shields appear as an extension of the Life bar, but that's something I can figure out on my own time. : P
Mentioning that first part got me thinking on an alternate solution to this (since shields are fairly messy to work with, especially when it comes to armor and such) - instead of adding a temporary Shield vital, the intended effect could be achieved through two Effects - one that temporarily increases a unit's maximum health by X, and one that heals said unit by X. The "destroyable maximum health" effect could possibly be achieved by removing a stack of the effect after the affected unit takes X damage.
I've been able to get the heal portion to work, but can't quite figure out how to create a buff that adds temporary maximum health (changing Vital Max Bonus in Behavior: Modifications + doesn't seem to work), or how to change Damage Response to remove a stack after X damage is taken.
Sorry to drag this back up, but how exactly do you apply a cloak/invisibility to a unit? I've tried reverse-engineering the Ghost's cloak, but checking off the "Cloak" validator flag in the Behavior: Modifiaction + of the Behavior and checking off "Hidden" in the Behavior's Stats: Flags doesn't seem to be working.
While, as you said, I'll have to tinker with this in order to engineer something that suits my needs, a unit that increases in size (and perhaps gets stronger) in the presence of allies/enemies is pretty interesting! I'll likely experiment with it in the future, so thank you for that.
I am currently trying to figure out how exactly this whole thing connects - from what I can tell so far, there are Validators that apply the "ApplyShit" Behavior (although I've looked at it, I'm not sure if it's what modifies the unit scale), a Search Area Effect (maintained through the "Buff" Behavior) for the Apply Shit Effect, a State Monitor for managing the various states (not entirely sure how this works) with sequential Events that increase size based on State Change (also running the Validators etc). On simple terms, it seems like I'll need to change the Validator from counting nearby friendly units to counting buff stacks, but how exactly everything connects will likely take me a while to figure out (as I've really only started using this editor a week ago - I might be getting in over my head here, as I've really only worked with simpler abilities and creating units from scratch/importing m3s up until this point).
While it might take a bit of the fun out of this whole learning experience, could you give me a quick run-down of how the Actor, Effects, Behaviors, and Validators all connect together? I mean, I have a pretty clear idea of how Effects and Behaviors interconnect (as Effects can be used to apply Behaviors), and how the effect works overall (area search around the unit that sets off Validators based on number of nearby friendly units, which in turn triggers something in the Actor events, or maybe the Behavior: Modification +?), but I'm not entirely sure which factors are searching for # of nearby units/applying (I'm pretty sure the scale change is just the Actor event responding to states), or how Validators and States work in general.
While I wait for a response, I'll probably just tinker with all the various factors and see which changes make which effects so I can figure out which factors do what! The good ol' trial-and-error. :y
For a while, I thought that shields that acted as temporary bonus HP and are displayed on the Life bar (instead of Protoss-style shields that exist as a resource alongside Life and Energy) weren't possible in the Galaxy Editor, but after playing SotIS, I have discovered that this isn't the case.
I don't have access to the SotIS map file itself, so I can't just open it up in the editor and reverse-engineer it, so if anybody who knows how to recreate that effect can give me the details, that would be wonderful!
(Alternatively, if it's possible to download the SotIS map file, I would appreciate it if somebody told me how. There are many effects in there that I can't find on this forum, and being able to figure it out myself is a better alternative to having to bug you guys about it.)
Ah, I understand what you mean - the labels allow the Set Scale effect to work in sequence (so Set Scale 0.5 -> Set Scale 2 ends up as 0.5 of 2 instead of just 2) - what I'm having trouble understanding, though, is tying these events to the stacking effect. In short, how do I set things up so that they are tied to the stacks of the buff? (It would be ideal if I could manage to tie these events to the act of acquiring and losing stacks, so that one set of events can be used to control the entire thing - for example a Set Scale of 1.2 for every application of the buff, and a removal of one of those 1.2s every time a stack is lost)
Here's a screencap of what my Actor Events look like right now, if that helps.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. I can understand the labeling, but I can't quite put two and two together here in regards to how one is meant to influence the other.
Alternatively, apparently there is a way to change scale through Attributes (I'm guessing by creating an attribute that changes scale), and that applying the attribute to the shield's duration could create the effect as well. Would that method be simpler/easier to explain?
I am currently trying to create an ability that temporarily grants a shield (which can be stacked up to 3 times). Each instance of this shield would incrementally increase the size of the unit as long as it persists - so let's say one stack of shield increases the unit's size by 20%, applying another shield while the first one persists would increase the unit's size to a total of 140% (so the initial 100% + 40% from the two shields), and destroying a shield would bring the size back down to 120%.
I've tried doing this through actor events, but it only allowed me to one-off it - since Behavior.(Behavior).On -> SetScale only applies a single scale bonus as long as any of the stacks persist.
I could probably find out how to create the temporary/stacking shield mechanic somewhere else here on the forum (since I haven't quite figured out how to create "temporary bonus health" shields instead of the actual Protoss-type shield), so I'd mostly like to ask for help on the incremental size scaling, but if any of you know how to do the stacking temporary shield (or can link me to a thread that explains it), I would greatly appreciate it.
One thing I'm interested in figuring out, that hasn't been covered in any tutorial I've found, is a way to scale actor animations directly to an ability's area of effect.
So far I've been able to handle guesswork with animation effect scaling, but being able to reliably get it 1:1 would save me a world of work.
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Studying off of the Weapon_Swap map, I think I have somewhat of an idea how to swap weapons in the way your map implements it (switching between multiple weapons, swapped weapon stays active unless changed), although I am having difficulty using this information to have a weapon temporarily replace the unit's default weapon.
I am currently attempting this by giving the unit a weapon, creating a Buff that disables that weapon, but adds and enables another weapon for 7 seconds, tying this Behavior to an Apply Behavior Effect, which in turn is tied to an Effect - Instant ability. My current issue is that the new weapon isn't added and enabled, and the old weapon isn't disabled.
0
Forgot to attach the map!
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@DrSuperEvil: Go
Ah, it turns out I was trying to do this by creating a Max Vitals Change (removal) with a Damage Response, instead of creating a Remove Behavior Effect that is triggered by a Behavior with a Damage Response.
Although now I am not entirely sure how/where to attach the Behavior (or if I need to attach it to an Apply Behavior Effect). It would probably help if I attached the map!
The ability in question is "Runic Reinforcement," - "Runic Reinforcement (Shield)" is the shield bonus, "Runic Reinforcement (Shield Plus)" is the Bonus Max Shield, and "Runic Reinforcement (Shield Minus)" is the Bonus Max Shield stack removal.
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Gonna consolidate this thread so I don't spam the forums!
Currently facing a few primary issues:
Creating an aura that only applies to units affected by a particular buff
Details: I have an Apply Behavior Effect [Venom Spread (Aura)] that applies a DoT Buff [Deadly Venom (DoT)] that is applied through an Apply Behavior Effect [Deadly Venom (Apply)] that can stack up to 6 times, through a Search Area Effect [Venom Spread (Search)] every 3 seconds. I first attempted to have the DoT application apply the aura, so that enemies near the first infected unit would receive a stack of the DoT every 3 seconds (and a cluster of enemies would constantly re-apply the DoT to each other, extending its effective duration as long as there were multiple infected units near each other). However, after managing to get the aura to apply to the DoT-afflicted unit instead of the unit doing the afflicting, the aura only applies the stacks up to 3 times before expiring.
My next solution is to create a Validator that causes an otherwise infinite-duration aura to remove itself once the unit no longer possesses the DoT buff, but I'm not sure how to set up validators/what kind of validator to set up/etc. and there are no mouse-over tooltips for the Validator: Else and If + fields so that's not really helping.
Applying a cooldown once an ability is cancelled OR deactivated via Behavior: Validators (Remove)
Details: I have an Effect - Instant Ability [Ambush] that cloaks the unit for up to 10 seconds, with a Behavior: Validators (Remove) of (Caster Not Attacking). I've found various solutions that tie an ability's cooldown to its Remove Behavior Effect ability (so that the cooldown occurs once the ability is deactivated), but none so far that tie the cooldown to when the ability's effect ends (manually or otherwise).
Creating a passive ability that applies a DoT upon missile impact
Details: The DoT mentioned earlier is currently implemented as a set with the hero's Weapon Damage effect (so attacking trigger's both the weapon damage and the stacking DoT), although through this method I cannot place a button with tooltip on the command card or allow it to be leveled. Creating an actual Damage Response to apply the DoT also doesn't work, as ticks of the DoT apply additional stacks of the DoT.
Button for passive ability
Details: Closely tied with the above issue - I can't quite figure out how to create a passive ability or a button that represents said passive ability on the command card. I'm probably missing something obvious, though.
Shared button slot for Apply Behavior/Remove Behavior
Details: Related to the cloak ability mentioned above - I have both the Apply ability and the Remove ability buttons in the same slot on the command card, although activating the Apply ability keeps the Apply button on the command card, instead of switching out with the Remove button.
Buffs that are removed one stack at a time
Details: Just a general issue I couldn't find a solution to on the forums - I have abilities that apply Buffs that stack multiple times, although if the buff is removed, all of the stacks are removed at once. I think the solution to this might be in the Behavior itself, but I'm not sure where exactly to look.
I think I'll leave it at this until I've got these all figured out! I've got a thousand and one questions for you guys because the data editor is big and scary, but it would make more sense to just figure things out in chunks (since what I learn from you guys tends to be applicable to other problems I didn't even know I'd have)!
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@DrSuperEvil: Go
Currently trying to understand how to remove individual stacks of an ability - the only solutions I've sound so far remove the ability altogether.
I think I understand the rest of this, though!
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@MasterWrath: Go
Worked like a charm - thank you!
I'll probably have to do some fiddling with the UI to have shields appear as an extension of the Life bar, but that's something I can figure out on my own time. : P
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@MasterWrath: Go
Mentioning that first part got me thinking on an alternate solution to this (since shields are fairly messy to work with, especially when it comes to armor and such) - instead of adding a temporary Shield vital, the intended effect could be achieved through two Effects - one that temporarily increases a unit's maximum health by X, and one that heals said unit by X. The "destroyable maximum health" effect could possibly be achieved by removing a stack of the effect after the affected unit takes X damage.
I've been able to get the heal portion to work, but can't quite figure out how to create a buff that adds temporary maximum health (changing Vital Max Bonus in Behavior: Modifications + doesn't seem to work), or how to change Damage Response to remove a stack after X damage is taken.
0
Sorry to drag this back up, but how exactly do you apply a cloak/invisibility to a unit? I've tried reverse-engineering the Ghost's cloak, but checking off the "Cloak" validator flag in the Behavior: Modifiaction + of the Behavior and checking off "Hidden" in the Behavior's Stats: Flags doesn't seem to be working.
0
@abvdzh: Go
While, as you said, I'll have to tinker with this in order to engineer something that suits my needs, a unit that increases in size (and perhaps gets stronger) in the presence of allies/enemies is pretty interesting! I'll likely experiment with it in the future, so thank you for that.
I am currently trying to figure out how exactly this whole thing connects - from what I can tell so far, there are Validators that apply the "ApplyShit" Behavior (although I've looked at it, I'm not sure if it's what modifies the unit scale), a Search Area Effect (maintained through the "Buff" Behavior) for the Apply Shit Effect, a State Monitor for managing the various states (not entirely sure how this works) with sequential Events that increase size based on State Change (also running the Validators etc). On simple terms, it seems like I'll need to change the Validator from counting nearby friendly units to counting buff stacks, but how exactly everything connects will likely take me a while to figure out (as I've really only started using this editor a week ago - I might be getting in over my head here, as I've really only worked with simpler abilities and creating units from scratch/importing m3s up until this point).
While it might take a bit of the fun out of this whole learning experience, could you give me a quick run-down of how the Actor, Effects, Behaviors, and Validators all connect together? I mean, I have a pretty clear idea of how Effects and Behaviors interconnect (as Effects can be used to apply Behaviors), and how the effect works overall (area search around the unit that sets off Validators based on number of nearby friendly units, which in turn triggers something in the Actor events, or maybe the Behavior: Modification +?), but I'm not entirely sure which factors are searching for # of nearby units/applying (I'm pretty sure the scale change is just the Actor event responding to states), or how Validators and States work in general.
While I wait for a response, I'll probably just tinker with all the various factors and see which changes make which effects so I can figure out which factors do what! The good ol' trial-and-error. :y
0
For a while, I thought that shields that acted as temporary bonus HP and are displayed on the Life bar (instead of Protoss-style shields that exist as a resource alongside Life and Energy) weren't possible in the Galaxy Editor, but after playing SotIS, I have discovered that this isn't the case.
I don't have access to the SotIS map file itself, so I can't just open it up in the editor and reverse-engineer it, so if anybody who knows how to recreate that effect can give me the details, that would be wonderful!
(Alternatively, if it's possible to download the SotIS map file, I would appreciate it if somebody told me how. There are many effects in there that I can't find on this forum, and being able to figure it out myself is a better alternative to having to bug you guys about it.)
0
@Spoolofwhool: Go
Ah, I understand what you mean - the labels allow the Set Scale effect to work in sequence (so Set Scale 0.5 -> Set Scale 2 ends up as 0.5 of 2 instead of just 2) - what I'm having trouble understanding, though, is tying these events to the stacking effect. In short, how do I set things up so that they are tied to the stacks of the buff? (It would be ideal if I could manage to tie these events to the act of acquiring and losing stacks, so that one set of events can be used to control the entire thing - for example a Set Scale of 1.2 for every application of the buff, and a removal of one of those 1.2s every time a stack is lost)
Here's a screencap of what my Actor Events look like right now, if that helps.
0
@Spoolofwhool: Go
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. I can understand the labeling, but I can't quite put two and two together here in regards to how one is meant to influence the other.
Alternatively, apparently there is a way to change scale through Attributes (I'm guessing by creating an attribute that changes scale), and that applying the attribute to the shield's duration could create the effect as well. Would that method be simpler/easier to explain?
0
I am currently trying to create an ability that temporarily grants a shield (which can be stacked up to 3 times). Each instance of this shield would incrementally increase the size of the unit as long as it persists - so let's say one stack of shield increases the unit's size by 20%, applying another shield while the first one persists would increase the unit's size to a total of 140% (so the initial 100% + 40% from the two shields), and destroying a shield would bring the size back down to 120%.
I've tried doing this through actor events, but it only allowed me to one-off it - since Behavior.(Behavior).On -> SetScale only applies a single scale bonus as long as any of the stacks persist.
I could probably find out how to create the temporary/stacking shield mechanic somewhere else here on the forum (since I haven't quite figured out how to create "temporary bonus health" shields instead of the actual Protoss-type shield), so I'd mostly like to ask for help on the incremental size scaling, but if any of you know how to do the stacking temporary shield (or can link me to a thread that explains it), I would greatly appreciate it.
0
One thing I'm interested in figuring out, that hasn't been covered in any tutorial I've found, is a way to scale actor animations directly to an ability's area of effect.
So far I've been able to handle guesswork with animation effect scaling, but being able to reliably get it 1:1 would save me a world of work.