One simple question today about Alleys HD Creep. I wanted to know how to apply this in the editor. A while ago I knew how to do this, but I forget since its been a while.
Alright. I have a number of more questions for today, but first things first. Talv has made a very good point. Most of the discussion here has been UI discussion. I decided to create another thread in the UI section and move all the UI discussion there. You can find my UI questions here:
What I am going to do is make a table of contents at the first part of this thread and the data thread so it can help other people find useful information. I do have some trigger related questions so I will ask those here.
1. Linking Boss bars to units in mods?
I want to set things up so that a boss bar appears when a hero is spawned. Now the issue I am running into is that when I try to use the event" Unit is Created", it only allows a player to specify a unit that is located on a map. I need some sort of way to indicate that I want a boss bar to a appear when such and such unit spawns that will work with mods.
2. Setting up icons next to player names chat?
Now there is already a few ways and ideas I have about how to do this that could work, but I wanted to check with you since you have more experience about what may possibly be the most ideal way to go about it. There is a ranked mode in my mode. I wanted to display a small icon next players when they speak in chat showing their rank. I wondered what the most ideal way would be to setup an icon like this.
3. Using image numbers for my countdown timer?
For my countdown timer that starts the game, right now I am simply using an integer variable that repeatedly gets modified over time until it hits zero. I have action that sets it to display as text, but what method would I use if I want the integer to show actual image numbers as it counts down?
4. How to move a dialog to another location?
But not instantly. I want to know how to move a dialog to another location, preferably with adjustable acceleration. I tried using move dialog, but it moves the dialog to the target offset instantly and I would prefer it to be gradual.
I am currently under the process of working on a very large project with lots of complicated stuff involved. Recently I've been attempting to through ally learn and understand UI. Since I have lots of questions I am likely to ask here, I will be creating a table contents as the thread progresses so others reading this can learn from what is said here. I prefer to keep most of my questions confined to mega threads for organizations purposes. So starting with todays first question and first topic. This first question is a follow up from my discussion with Dr.Superevil here. https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/development/triggers/231907-a-number-of-questions-about-trigger-related-issues?page=3
Table of Contents:
Post #1:
1. How to remove that move animation of these UI Calldown panels without causing the animation to be stretched? 2. Changing Alerts based on race?
1. How to remove that move animation of these UI Calldown panels without causing the animation to be stretched?
This happens whenever I remove this:
or this section of code:
Now I've concluded that what I want to do is hide the console ui and fill in the missing pieces by adding UI Models. This is because when you change the race of a player, one also has to change the alert sounds, the generic uis and fill in lots of other stuff. I am not quite sure how to do all of this yet so I am looking into this method should I not be able to figure it out that soon. Anyways what I want to know is how I can show that call down panel model it moving at all, but without it stretching either like seen.
2. Changing Alerts based on race?
This might be the wrong section for this as this is technically not a UI question, but people here may know this one. I've learned how to change the console his based on race, but what I am not clear on is how to change the alerts based on race. Alerts such as "You need more supply depots". My gut is telling me it is done a similar way to consoles, but I am unsure how and what information is needed.
When it comes down to it, I am trying to find a way to tract a player's wins and losses and have them displayed on a leaderboard. Which ever way works best. While looking through actions and conditions, I wasn't able to find anything that seemed to specify if a player has won which can be converted into an integer.
Specifically the thing I am confused about is how to specify if a player has won. I am familiar with how to make banks, but I am not sure how to tell the bank to save the wins a player makes. Something like Player Victory then do such and such actions.
I can do this, but the main reason I asked questions in groups like this is because I have a lot of them and I didn't want it to seem like I was flooding the site with threads. You do have a point about something though. I did ask a number of ui questions in the trigger section.
2. About this question.
I asked this because I wasn't sure if it differed in this situation in a certain way. The editor is quite complex and when I was learning data a lot to begin with I found a lot of things weren't always so straightforward. I simply asked this because I wanted more clarity and to be more certain.
5. Going to give this a try.
6. About the 650 MB
It is taking up 650 MB right now, but I have still not fully optimized it yet. I may be able to cut the MB down to around 350 MB or so without cutting out important content from the mod. The mod I am making is basically a Melee mod with multiple factions to choose from and multiple factions consistent of nothing, but custom models. Despite that fact that it takes so long to load for many people, I have managed to get some games going with it at this file size. However there is another thing I've meaning to address. I have not been using MPQ compression. By this I am assuming that build in file size reduction option that there is in the editor? Also, there are hundreds of icons I made for units in this mod since its begun. A while ago, I didn't resize images thinking it was uneeded till I noticed that some of these icons were taking up around 1 mb each. So resizing these images is on the to do list.
Growing up sucks doesn't it. I am in a similar situation. I'd love to continue just making mods and playing SC2 all day, but school, work and other real life stuff is forcing me to give that up for most of the foreseeable future. Great work on Marauders though! Truly a gem of a game.
2 and 3 I may figure out as I learn UIs better. 4 is solved. My new questions for today. I done a lot of studying of this tutorial by skunk so this time you aren't talking to someone who has no clue about how UIs work. I understand lots of the terms better.
However it is quite a lot to grasp and I am still unclear of many things that need to be done to accomplish said goes earlier.
1. Update on the UI buttons.
I have been studying the UI of the demo map more carefully to see what I could have done wrong when I copied the XML to my main map and I noticed this part:
The possible cause of the broken buttons is that I did no link the new models. I am going to try this.
2. How to change the size and offset off UI portraits?
Just as an experiment I tried to move the displayed call down panel models to the bottom of the screen. When I did this, they disappeared. I assume that it is because they need to be within portraits to be seen. My guess so far would be: <Width val="---"/> and <Height val="---"/>, but maybe it might be something done via triggers in this instance.
3. What causes the call down panel to move down?
So far my guess is that it might be be some sort of move command in the ui setup. I am unsure which yet. I looked at the animation and concluded it could not be the animation of the model itself since the model doesn't seem to move during animation.
4. Are the modified command panel buttons created from casters or are those simply created in the UI?
Simple question.
A quick breakdown of what I think I've learned so far in terms of UI:
A. How to hookup UI and then perform actions
B. How to link a caster unit to display buttons
C. How to use UI to display an image, label and button on the screen, but I have not tried models yet from scratch.
D. A somewhat vague idea of how to alter different things when linking command buttons like avoiding showing the cancel buttons, whether it has hotkeys or not, but I still have a lot to learn.
E. How to overwrite certain types of existing UI. So far I managed to create a UI layout that changes the offset of the minimap. This is a good start, but I am still not clear on how to do it for console skins. Which speaking of...
5. Made an attempt at changing the console skins. Nothing happened. I am wondering what I may have done wrong.
In an attempt to change the console skins, I went to the consoleskinselectionframe and tried changing the following parts you see in bold. This is new exact copied layout of the original with all the changes in bold.
When I did this, absolutely nothing happened, however I have a feeling that I may be looking in the wrong place though. If this is the wrong place, what would be the place I need to look at to change the consoles?
6. Is it possible to load models a little at a time as the game progresses?
The mod I have made has a very large file size. The file size is around 650 mb right now. Usually it takes people a while to load before they can join which is difficult for getting lobbies filled. I wondered if it could be possible to spread the loading time out as the game progress, making certain models load only at certain times and not all at once.
Would you mind elaborating on this more if you don't mind me asking? My issue is that I don't know what to look for. I searched up the liberator compare unit behavior count validators and had a look at them. I am just not clear what I should be paying attention to with regard to these. What is the link between these and caster history?
My other question for today is about launching missiles at points.
2. How to launch missile at specific points using data?
For the caterpillar unit, I wanted to have it drop eggs from each segment like a swarm host launches their locusts. What I am unclear on is how to launch the missiles at a specific point on the ground. My guess is that I need a persistent to set offsets for this, so I tried looking at the early part in this thread where you were explaining how to get crashing debris to drop at random points. If this is the way, I must be doing something wrong or maybe it does not need to be this complicated.
3. How to prevent a glaze from stemming to other models.
There is a group of composite models that I made which I want to apply glazes, but I only want the glazes applied to certain models. I think you may have told me about this a while ago, but I was a bit confused. Its probably very simple to do, but I am not too clear about it. How would I prevent glazes from also applying to attached models?
Alright. That helped a lot. 1 and 2 are solved. I am getting so many issues related to that solved today. 3. I am a tiny bit confused about, but I think I gather how this is done except for the caster history part. In caster history I noticed these categories:
If I was to guess which one of these to use I would suspect modifier, but I am not quite sure which one to use. As for the part about not needing to search, I think I get why now since it is supposed to be indicated in the issue order part.
I am going to give this a try soon. By the way, I managed to get the caterpillar unit working that I was talking about with you. I have some new questions related to attached models today:
1. How to set a death animation for attached models?
Whenever one of the units I've made with attached models dies, all the attachments just instantly disappeared. I'd largely prefer if their death animation played as well. For the attached models, I already have Unitdeath>animationbrackstop.BSD, but this is not accomplishing it alone.
2. How to have attached units show up in placement models?
Self explanatory. Whenever place one of the base units that uses an attachment only the original base model will show up.
3. How to distinguishing two of the same unit when using orders for a unit to move to a unit.
I got the caterpillar unit working, but there is a problem now. Whenever there is two or more of these catapillar units in use, the caterpillar segments that have the issue orders will attempt to move to both existing units. I need some sort of way for to issue an order for a segment to follow another segment even if there is more than one of that unit on the field.
Now one thing I should point out. The method I used for issuing the segments to move to each other and this could be why I am running into problems. I do it by following these steps:
A. Caterpillar segments each have a behavior that periodically searches with an issue order to move to the the specified caterpillar segment. The search range is 500 if that matters. Aquire flags are set on the search and issue orders.
B. Caterpillar segments will only follow if the unit is moving.
One thing to note is that no persistents or forward vectors have been used in this method.
In regards to launching units with no ammo unit, what sort of mover would apply in this case? I assumed that when a missile was launched, the ammo unit specified the mover. Or does the apply force effect basically act as the mover in that case?
Your welcome! I was looking at your other projects too. All of the projects clearly have lots of love put into them. We humans are naturally curious and seek uncover hidden gems around us and build amazing things from dust(or gems is also nice). Glad to see these projects are getting the attention they deserve.
1. Good to know. I will be taking another crack at this once I get another list of issues out of the way. One way or another, I want to understand how this is done and do it right.
_______________________________________
2. How would I set the integers for buttons?
I know how to create variables and set them as well as the difference between local and global variables. What I do wonder though is how I would indicate each specific button to set the integer to. I am assuming that I would need to get this information in the UI editor? If this is the case, what might be the place to find the proper ids of the buttons?
3. How to change the names and actions of the buttons in the game menu?
There has been people who've made drastic UI and menu changes like these, but I am not necessarily looking to make things this drastically different. I mainly want to know how to change those menu buttons that say save game, load, quit game, options etc except for multiplayer. I am assuming that to add new ones I'd probably need to do things in the UI editor.
4. How to detect when a player says a phrase or single word then do an action?
I want to add certain types of menus and features that can be opened by typing words into the chat bar. I've seen some mods detect what people say then do certain actions based on it. Would you happen to know how this is done?
I've been trying to see if it is possible to create a custom hotkey profile for use in custom melee mods because some people have said they would love it if this could be done. So for I've only seen one possible relevant command in the trigger editor called"Set Dialog item hotkey". Maybe this might require some knowledge of the UI editor to do?
0
In reply to DrSuperEvil:
One simple question today about Alleys HD Creep. I wanted to know how to apply this in the editor. A while ago I knew how to do this, but I forget since its been a while.
0
In reply to DrSuperEvil:
Alright. I have a number of more questions for today, but first things first. Talv has made a very good point. Most of the discussion here has been UI discussion. I decided to create another thread in the UI section and move all the UI discussion there. You can find my UI questions here:
https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/development/ui-development/233410-ui-questions-and-answers
What I am going to do is make a table of contents at the first part of this thread and the data thread so it can help other people find useful information. I do have some trigger related questions so I will ask those here.
1. Linking Boss bars to units in mods?
I want to set things up so that a boss bar appears when a hero is spawned. Now the issue I am running into is that when I try to use the event" Unit is Created", it only allows a player to specify a unit that is located on a map. I need some sort of way to indicate that I want a boss bar to a appear when such and such unit spawns that will work with mods.
2. Setting up icons next to player names chat?
Now there is already a few ways and ideas I have about how to do this that could work, but I wanted to check with you since you have more experience about what may possibly be the most ideal way to go about it. There is a ranked mode in my mode. I wanted to display a small icon next players when they speak in chat showing their rank. I wondered what the most ideal way would be to setup an icon like this.
3. Using image numbers for my countdown timer?
For my countdown timer that starts the game, right now I am simply using an integer variable that repeatedly gets modified over time until it hits zero. I have action that sets it to display as text, but what method would I use if I want the integer to show actual image numbers as it counts down?
4. How to move a dialog to another location?
But not instantly. I want to know how to move a dialog to another location, preferably with adjustable acceleration. I tried using move dialog, but it moves the dialog to the target offset instantly and I would prefer it to be gradual.
0
I am currently under the process of working on a very large project with lots of complicated stuff involved. Recently I've been attempting to through ally learn and understand UI. Since I have lots of questions I am likely to ask here, I will be creating a table contents as the thread progresses so others reading this can learn from what is said here. I prefer to keep most of my questions confined to mega threads for organizations purposes. So starting with todays first question and first topic. This first question is a follow up from my discussion with Dr.Superevil here. https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/development/triggers/231907-a-number-of-questions-about-trigger-related-issues?page=3
Table of Contents:
Post #1:
1. How to remove that move animation of these UI Calldown panels without causing the animation to be stretched?
2. Changing Alerts based on race?
1. How to remove that move animation of these UI Calldown panels without causing the animation to be stretched?
This happens whenever I remove this:
or this section of code:
Now I've concluded that what I want to do is hide the console ui and fill in the missing pieces by adding UI Models. This is because when you change the race of a player, one also has to change the alert sounds, the generic uis and fill in lots of other stuff. I am not quite sure how to do all of this yet so I am looking into this method should I not be able to figure it out that soon. Anyways what I want to know is how I can show that call down panel model it moving at all, but without it stretching either like seen.
2. Changing Alerts based on race?
This might be the wrong section for this as this is technically not a UI question, but people here may know this one. I've learned how to change the console his based on race, but what I am not clear on is how to change the alerts based on race. Alerts such as "You need more supply depots". My gut is telling me it is done a similar way to consoles, but I am unsure how and what information is needed.
0
In reply to MaskedImposter:
0
Specifically the thing I am confused about is how to specify if a player has won. I am familiar with how to make banks, but I am not sure how to tell the bank to save the wins a player makes. Something like Player Victory then do such and such actions.
0
In reply to Talv_:
0
In reply to acidragoon:
0
In reply to DrSuperEvil:
<Frame type="Portrait" name="Portrait">
<Anchor side="Top" relative="$parent" pos="Min" offset="0"/>
<Anchor side="Bottom" relative="$parent" pos="Max" offset="0"/>
<Anchor side="Left" relative="$parent" pos="Min" offset="0"/>
<Anchor side="Right" relative="$parent" pos="Max" offset="0"/>
<BorderImage val="PortraitBorderImage"/>
<BackgroundImage val="PortraitBackgroundImage"/>
<AcceptsMouse val="false"/>
<UseTransition val="false"/>
<UseAlternateTime val="false"/>
<ModelLink val="1testmodel"/>
The possible cause of the broken buttons is that I did no link the new models. I am going to try this.
2. How to change the size and offset off UI portraits?
Just as an experiment I tried to move the displayed call down panel models to the bottom of the screen. When I did this, they disappeared. I assume that it is because they need to be within portraits to be seen. My guess so far would be: <Width val="---"/> and <Height val="---"/>, but maybe it might be something done via triggers in this instance.
3. What causes the call down panel to move down?
So far my guess is that it might be be some sort of move command in the ui setup. I am unsure which yet. I looked at the animation and concluded it could not be the animation of the model itself since the model doesn't seem to move during animation.
4. Are the modified command panel buttons created from casters or are those simply created in the UI?
Simple question.
A quick breakdown of what I think I've learned so far in terms of UI:
A. How to hookup UI and then perform actions
B. How to link a caster unit to display buttons
C. How to use UI to display an image, label and button on the screen, but I have not tried models yet from scratch.
D. A somewhat vague idea of how to alter different things when linking command buttons like avoiding showing the cancel buttons, whether it has hotkeys or not, but I still have a lot to learn.
E. How to overwrite certain types of existing UI. So far I managed to create a UI layout that changes the offset of the minimap. This is a good start, but I am still not clear on how to do it for console skins. Which speaking of...
5. Made an attempt at changing the console skins. Nothing happened. I am wondering what I may have done wrong.
In an attempt to change the console skins, I went to the consoleskinselectionframe and tried changing the following parts you see in bold. This is new exact copied layout of the original with all the changes in bold.
=======================================
CONSOLE SKIN PREVIEW PANE
=======================================
-->
<Frame type="ConsoleSkinCacheFrame" name="ConsoleSkinPreviewPaneTemplate" template="CollectionPreviewPane/CollectionPreviewPaneTemplate">
<Frame type="Frame" name="DisplayContainer">
<Frame type="Frame" name="PreviewContainer">
<Anchor side="Top" relative="$parent" pos="Min" offset="4"/>
<Anchor side="Bottom" relative="$parent" pos="Max" offset="-4"/>
<Anchor side="Left" relative="$parent" pos="Min" offset="4"/>
<Anchor side="Right" relative="$parent" pos="Max" offset="-4"/>
<Frame type="Image" name="BackgroundImage">
<Anchor side="Top" relative="$parent" pos="Mid" offset="0"/>
<Anchor side="Bottom" relative="$parent" pos="Mid" offset="0"/>
<Anchor side="Left" relative="$parent" pos="Min" offset="0"/>
<Anchor side="Right" relative="$parent" pos="Max" offset="0"/>
<ScaleHeightToTexture val="True"/>
<Texture val="@UI/SC2_UI_Collection_HUDs_large_consolezerg_classic"/>
<StateGroup name="RaceState">
<DefaultState val="Zerg"/>
<State name="Protoss">
<When type="Property" frame="$ancestor[@type=ConsoleSkinCacheFrame]/RewardCacheFrame" Race="Prot"/>
<Action type="SetProperty" Texture="@UI/SC2_UI_Collection_HUDs_consoleprotoss_classic"/>
</State>
<State name="Terran">
<When type="Property" frame="$ancestor[@type=ConsoleSkinCacheFrame]/RewardCacheFrame" Race="Terr"/>
<Action type="SetProperty" Texture="@UI/SC2_UI_Collection_HUDs_consoleterran_junker"/>
</State>
<State name="Zerg">
<Action type="SetProperty" Texture="@UI/SC2_UI_Collection_HUDs_large_consolezerg_classic"/>
</State>
</StateGroup>
</Frame>
When I did this, absolutely nothing happened, however I have a feeling that I may be looking in the wrong place though. If this is the wrong place, what would be the place I need to look at to change the consoles?
6. Is it possible to load models a little at a time as the game progresses?
The mod I have made has a very large file size. The file size is around 650 mb right now. Usually it takes people a while to load before they can join which is difficult for getting lobbies filled. I wondered if it could be possible to spread the loading time out as the game progress, making certain models load only at certain times and not all at once.
0
In reply to DrSuperEvil:
Would you mind elaborating on this more if you don't mind me asking? My issue is that I don't know what to look for. I searched up the liberator compare unit behavior count validators and had a look at them. I am just not clear what I should be paying attention to with regard to these. What is the link between these and caster history?
My other question for today is about launching missiles at points.
2. How to launch missile at specific points using data?
For the caterpillar unit, I wanted to have it drop eggs from each segment like a swarm host launches their locusts. What I am unclear on is how to launch the missiles at a specific point on the ground. My guess is that I need a persistent to set offsets for this, so I tried looking at the early part in this thread where you were explaining how to get crashing debris to drop at random points. If this is the way, I must be doing something wrong or maybe it does not need to be this complicated.
3. How to prevent a glaze from stemming to other models.
There is a group of composite models that I made which I want to apply glazes, but I only want the glazes applied to certain models. I think you may have told me about this a while ago, but I was a bit confused. Its probably very simple to do, but I am not too clear about it. How would I prevent glazes from also applying to attached models?
0
In reply to DrSuperEvil:
Alright. That helped a lot. 1 and 2 are solved. I am getting so many issues related to that solved today. 3. I am a tiny bit confused about, but I think I gather how this is done except for the caster history part. In caster history I noticed these categories:
If I was to guess which one of these to use I would suspect modifier, but I am not quite sure which one to use. As for the part about not needing to search, I think I get why now since it is supposed to be indicated in the issue order part.
0
In reply to DrSuperEvil:
I am going to give this a try soon. By the way, I managed to get the caterpillar unit working that I was talking about with you. I have some new questions related to attached models today:
1. How to set a death animation for attached models?
Whenever one of the units I've made with attached models dies, all the attachments just instantly disappeared. I'd largely prefer if their death animation played as well. For the attached models, I already have Unitdeath>animationbrackstop.BSD, but this is not accomplishing it alone.
2. How to have attached units show up in placement models?
Self explanatory. Whenever place one of the base units that uses an attachment only the original base model will show up.
3. How to distinguishing two of the same unit when using orders for a unit to move to a unit.
I got the caterpillar unit working, but there is a problem now. Whenever there is two or more of these catapillar units in use, the caterpillar segments that have the issue orders will attempt to move to both existing units. I need some sort of way for to issue an order for a segment to follow another segment even if there is more than one of that unit on the field.
Now one thing I should point out. The method I used for issuing the segments to move to each other and this could be why I am running into problems. I do it by following these steps:
A. Caterpillar segments each have a behavior that periodically searches with an issue order to move to the the specified caterpillar segment. The search range is 500 if that matters. Aquire flags are set on the search and issue orders.
B. Caterpillar segments will only follow if the unit is moving.
One thing to note is that no persistents or forward vectors have been used in this method.
0
In reply to DrSuperEvil:
0
In reply to EDHRIANO:
Your welcome! I was looking at your other projects too. All of the projects clearly have lots of love put into them. We humans are naturally curious and seek uncover hidden gems around us and build amazing things from dust(or gems is also nice). Glad to see these projects are getting the attention they deserve.
0
In reply to DrSuperEvil:
0
I've been trying to see if it is possible to create a custom hotkey profile for use in custom melee mods because some people have said they would love it if this could be done. So for I've only seen one possible relevant command in the trigger editor called"Set Dialog item hotkey". Maybe this might require some knowledge of the UI editor to do?