Just wanted to see everyone's thoughts on the new update. I personally am extremely hyped for this, and a lot of features I personally have been wanting in the last decade are finally getting added.
Also, congrats to the creator of Odyssey for getting featured!
Been a few years, but have some free time on my hands now!
When I first saw it, I always thought the idea of building a huge unit on the battlefield straight from an SCV was really cool. I get that it could have some weird effects in multiplayer, but it's a shame that that mechanic wasn't least implemented in the campaign or something.
Textures were done in Paint.NET and I'm starting to make the transition from Blender to 3ds Max for modelling. Some minor trim and fade work was done in Audacity for the timed Thor footstep sounds.
Apologies for the video quality and lag, I only have a laptop.
Still alive and kicking! I've been working on the campaign (SC2Saver included) on my own for a while now, but I haven't posted updates because I didn't think anyone would still be interested after all this time.
Part of the reason I've been so busy is that I've started college, but it's nice to know that people still care about this.
I'm currently looking into a way to make SC2Saver run automatically when SC2 is running so you don't have to manually do it yourself/if your forget, but for now I've just added a simple message reminder action in the library akin to what people typically do to remind players to save in single player maps.
It works well enough for me, I hope this at least provides a solution, however clunky, for making automatic checkpoints and stuff like that. (Odyssey Mission 10. Never forget.)
Added conversations! These are meant to facilitate the story with tidbits of lore and background information for those who like that kind of stuff. Minor thing, I know, but a lot's been going on dependency-wise.
I'm also going to be investing some time in learning how to make data wizards and post them for public use. If you haven't already checked out the community project proposal thread, I would highly encourage you do so here. However, now that summer's come back around, I should have more time to work on more things at a time. :)
Thanks to Pirate and Arcane, I have learned of the existence of a tool previously unbeknownst to me: data wizards. Pirate has mentioned in the past that these could help solve some of the stigma behind learning the editor and help attract people to the mapmaking scene, helping the community grow with more maps to test, more mapmakers to give feedback, and greater use of the extremely powerful tool we all have come to know and hate with a passion for its complexity love.
Mapster Community Project
The general idea is to make the editor more accessible to newcomers in the mapmaking scene. Of course, it is already difficult to get people to open up the editor in the first place, but it certainly doesn't help that you have to search through a veritable ocean of data categories and fields just to make your marine deal more damage. This has been a huge detriment to the growth of the community from the start and, when the community support for learning such a tool is so small, there is even less of an incentive to join the community to begin with.
Data wizards
Data wizards allow you to create your own interface for modifying fields in the data editor. For instance, if you want to make a unit with easily changeable stats and only a few abilities, you have to flip through several tabs and data fields just to change what you want. However, with data wizards, you can simplify what you see and keep out things that have nothing to do with what you're editing, such as in this data wizard made by Pirate:
What is needed from me, the mapmaker?
First: Input and suggestions. What kind of wizards would be useful to you? What common monotonous processes could be streamlined with the use of a wizard? As the community members who have seen the questions newcomers tend to ask, you know best what might make their lives easier and, consequently, make them feel confident enough to continue their projects and become a more active member in the community.
Second (and most importantly): Wizard development. Part of the reason so few public data wizards exist right now is that they're not very user-friendly to make, as they're coded completely in XML. However, being the creative-minded Mapsters we all are, I think we can all pitch something in towards giving back to the community. Though learning resources have been hard to find, there is sufficient documentation to get the ball rolling. I myself will be trying to learn how to make data wizards and distribute them publicly.
Why should I bother with this?
Growing the mapmaking community is something that benefits all of us. As stated before, more people making maps not only leads to more fun content to play, but more people available to give feedback on your work and the maps of fellow community members, making the quality of maps that much higher. The main reasons why the community is as small as it is now are:
The learning curve on the editor is often too high for newcomers
Many existing maps lack polish, not to the fault of mapmakers but due to lack of a large community to give feedback
Starcraft II isn't as popular as it used to be
Data wizards can help with the first two on the list by making the editor learning process easier for newcomers and by helping those with more experience further enhance the quality of their maps. With enough of us creating good custom content, making simpler interfaces for the data module, and following up by advertising the best of Mapster wherever relevant, we just might be able to more fully realize the huge potential of the SC2 editor.
Resources
There are a few resources available to us for research on data wizard development. I would suggest asking around in the data development forum if you have questions regarding how to make data wizards or conventions you might typically want to follow. I would also recommend joining the SC2Mapster Discord for questions in general due to its ease of access and instantaneity of communication.
Wiki page for data wizards - Thanks to Pirate, the wizard documentation from the editor (yes, it's there!) has been added to the wiki
Rogue Star 2 data wizards - Editor examples of data wizards from Pirate's Rogue Star 2 (learning resource, does not work independently)
Conclusion
Community involvement is key in this project. It might be too much to hope for, considering how few people contribute to the wiki and provide feedback to the various map testing feedback initiatives started up in the last few months, but I think this can work with a unified goal and clear vision on what this can do for the mapmaking scene. While I'm at it, I would also encourage all of you to also check out the Monthly Community Project Testing thread and to look at the SC2Mapster Wiki for missing pages and/or ask around for what needs to be done.
The new Punisher Grenades weapon uses a Set effect with two Launch Missile effects to launch one missile from the right and one from the left simultaneously.
In order to change this back functionally, change the Effect: Effect^ field of the Marauder - Punisher Grenades weapon to Marauder - Punisher Grenades LM Left or Marauder - Punisher Grenades LM Right. Then double the value in the Combat: Amount^ field of the Marauder - Punisher Grenades (Damage) effect.
This does not cause the Marauder to alternate between grenade launchers like in WoL and HotS. You need to change the action actor for the weapon in order to make the changes visually.
0
Completely reworked new version available on the project page (with code if you'd like to build from source).
0
Just wanted to see everyone's thoughts on the new update. I personally am extremely hyped for this, and a lot of features I personally have been wanting in the last decade are finally getting added.
Also, congrats to the creator of Odyssey for getting featured!
0.953621677957269
Been a few years, but have some free time on my hands now!
When I first saw it, I always thought the idea of building a huge unit on the battlefield straight from an SCV was really cool. I get that it could have some weird effects in multiplayer, but it's a shame that that mechanic wasn't least implemented in the campaign or something.
Textures were done in Paint.NET and I'm starting to make the transition from Blender to 3ds Max for modelling. Some minor trim and fade work was done in Audacity for the timed Thor footstep sounds.
Apologies for the video quality and lag, I only have a laptop.
0
Still alive and kicking! I've been working on the campaign (SC2Saver included) on my own for a while now, but I haven't posted updates because I didn't think anyone would still be interested after all this time.
Part of the reason I've been so busy is that I've started college, but it's nice to know that people still care about this.
0
Changed the icon for the application. Will update installation tutorial images.
0
I'm currently looking into a way to make SC2Saver run automatically when SC2 is running so you don't have to manually do it yourself/if your forget, but for now I've just added a simple message reminder action in the library akin to what people typically do to remind players to save in single player maps.
0
Tried adding an At Target term for the create message in the first solution?
0.951135581555403
Hey guys! It's been a while.
I finally got some spare time on my hands and whipped up this tool you can use to create saved games via triggers.
Project Page: https://www.sc2mapster.com/projects/sc2saver
It works well enough for me, I hope this at least provides a solution, however clunky, for making automatic checkpoints and stuff like that. (Odyssey Mission 10. Never forget.)
Hope you guys like it!
0.963119072708114
Good to see you back! Nice job on the models, they're very true to the originals.
0.961009174311927
Added conversations! These are meant to facilitate the story with tidbits of lore and background information for those who like that kind of stuff. Minor thing, I know, but a lot's been going on dependency-wise.
I'm also going to be investing some time in learning how to make data wizards and post them for public use. If you haven't already checked out the community project proposal thread, I would highly encourage you do so here. However, now that summer's come back around, I should have more time to work on more things at a time. :)
0
Nice! The first mission alone had the aspects of a high-quality campaign in the making. Looking forward to it.
0
[Reserved]
0
Thanks to Pirate and Arcane, I have learned of the existence of a tool previously unbeknownst to me: data wizards. Pirate has mentioned in the past that these could help solve some of the stigma behind learning the editor and help attract people to the mapmaking scene, helping the community grow with more maps to test, more mapmakers to give feedback, and greater use of the extremely powerful tool we all have come to know and
hate with a passion for its complexitylove.Mapster Community Project
The general idea is to make the editor more accessible to newcomers in the mapmaking scene. Of course, it is already difficult to get people to open up the editor in the first place, but it certainly doesn't help that you have to search through a veritable ocean of data categories and fields just to make your marine deal more damage. This has been a huge detriment to the growth of the community from the start and, when the community support for learning such a tool is so small, there is even less of an incentive to join the community to begin with.
Data wizards
Data wizards allow you to create your own interface for modifying fields in the data editor. For instance, if you want to make a unit with easily changeable stats and only a few abilities, you have to flip through several tabs and data fields just to change what you want. However, with data wizards, you can simplify what you see and keep out things that have nothing to do with what you're editing, such as in this data wizard made by Pirate:
What is needed from me, the mapmaker?
First: Input and suggestions. What kind of wizards would be useful to you? What common monotonous processes could be streamlined with the use of a wizard? As the community members who have seen the questions newcomers tend to ask, you know best what might make their lives easier and, consequently, make them feel confident enough to continue their projects and become a more active member in the community.
Second (and most importantly): Wizard development. Part of the reason so few public data wizards exist right now is that they're not very user-friendly to make, as they're coded completely in XML. However, being the creative-minded Mapsters we all are, I think we can all pitch something in towards giving back to the community. Though learning resources have been hard to find, there is sufficient documentation to get the ball rolling. I myself will be trying to learn how to make data wizards and distribute them publicly.
Why should I bother with this?
Growing the mapmaking community is something that benefits all of us. As stated before, more people making maps not only leads to more fun content to play, but more people available to give feedback on your work and the maps of fellow community members, making the quality of maps that much higher. The main reasons why the community is as small as it is now are:
Data wizards can help with the first two on the list by making the editor learning process easier for newcomers and by helping those with more experience further enhance the quality of their maps. With enough of us creating good custom content, making simpler interfaces for the data module, and following up by advertising the best of Mapster wherever relevant, we just might be able to more fully realize the huge potential of the SC2 editor.
Resources
There are a few resources available to us for research on data wizard development. I would suggest asking around in the data development forum if you have questions regarding how to make data wizards or conventions you might typically want to follow. I would also recommend joining the SC2Mapster Discord for questions in general due to its ease of access and instantaneity of communication.
Conclusion
Community involvement is key in this project. It might be too much to hope for, considering how few people contribute to the wiki and provide feedback to the various map testing feedback initiatives started up in the last few months, but I think this can work with a unified goal and clear vision on what this can do for the mapmaking scene. While I'm at it, I would also encourage all of you to also check out the Monthly Community Project Testing thread and to look at the SC2Mapster Wiki for missing pages and/or ask around for what needs to be done.
Please post your questions and thoughts below!
0
Same, most likely a problem on the Curse end of things. (In other words, PM MrFlameGoat/submit a ticket. :P)
0
The new Punisher Grenades weapon uses a Set effect with two Launch Missile effects to launch one missile from the right and one from the left simultaneously.
In order to change this back functionally, change the Effect: Effect^ field of the Marauder - Punisher Grenades weapon to Marauder - Punisher Grenades LM Left or Marauder - Punisher Grenades LM Right. Then double the value in the Combat: Amount^ field of the Marauder - Punisher Grenades (Damage) effect.
This does not cause the Marauder to alternate between grenade launchers like in WoL and HotS. You need to change the action actor for the weapon in order to make the changes visually.