Okay, because I destroyed part of my last mod (accident when I was updating the files), I figured I wouldn't bother with the problems I had at the time and start this over as a fleet mod since 90% of the problems I had were based around ground units at the time. I thought I'd go here and ask for help on a few specific ideas and problems I have been having before foolishly trying and destroying my mod (again...)
First being the idea of using the Nydus Canal as a building that sets up a temporary wormhole that decays over time. What I had in mind is something like the exit structure can't be attacked, but will decay over time (through triggers or something) without destroying the entrance building when it dies. Would there be a possible way to set this up? Or is the system that causes the entrance and exit to die together hard-coded?
Second is, anyone who saw my last attempt at a mod would have seen that my custom sprites didn't convert over well... The colors were all blended together and any textures I tried putting on them wouldn't be noticeable in-game because they would blur out to the point of looking like a solid colored model and look about the same as their untextured counterparts. If it helps, I use Blender to make my models and I can upload the images before compilation and the compiled GRP files.
Another idea I had involves screwing with the siege tank (which didn't go well in the past.) I was thinking about turning it into a ship that can attack, but can also deploy into a unit producing structure. Wondering if this is possible. I know how I would set this up if I were to try it, just want to know if someone else has tried this before and if it worked.
Also, I am curious to know if there are any good sound editing programs out there I can use that are free or can be purchased as a local store (online purchases are not possible for me at this moment) for a reasonable price. I'm going to try to talk a few of my friends into helping with the voice acting, but I would like to try my hand at making own sound effects for this.
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First being the idea of using the Nydus Canal as a building that sets up a temporary wormhole that decays over time. What I had in mind is something like the exit structure can't be attacked, but will decay over time (through triggers or something) without destroying the entrance building when it dies. Would there be a possible way to set this up? Or is the system that causes the entrance and exit to die together hard-coded?
This is incredibly hard-coded. However, I might be able to create a similar effect using a hacked Recall effect. I'll need to think about it.
Another idea I had involves screwing with the siege tank (which didn't go well in the past.) I was thinking about turning it into a ship that can attack, but can also deploy into a unit producing structure. Wondering if this is possible. I know how I would set this up if I were to try it, just want to know if someone else has tried this before and if it worked.
That should be possible, but there is an easier way. Just use a Carrier. It will need IsWorking and WorkingToIdle animations in iscript.bin, but otherwise all that you need to do is give it a train unit button and edit the reqs for the unit.
I dunno about your other two questions.
If you ever want to talk about modding, feel free to hit me up on MSN.
Also, you should probably check out modcrafters.com and broodwarai.com.
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Problem with using the carrier for that one is I already had plans for it. Plus there isn't much else I had planned I can use the siege tank for.
EDIT: Though that does give me new ideas for the carrier to add to what I already had planned.
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You can also use the Reaver, hero Carrier, or hero Reaver.
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I have plans for those units as well actually. Reason I chose the tank was because it can transform and no other units I have require that.
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Okay. Then just flag the Siege Mode as a building and give it the construction buttons. It will need IsWorking and WorkingToIdle animations as well.
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That was what I had in mind. I'll probably make a quick mod to test the idea out to make sure I can get it working.
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Problem I'm trying to fix now is the color. Since SC runs in 256 color mode and my video card doesn't even have the settings to run that low anymore, I'm trying to figure out how I can get Blender (program I make the models of my ships in) to render in 256 color mode if that's even possible. I've already tried applying the palette from a valid StarCraft sprite and it only distorted the color just as it did before back when I was still (stupidly) using RetroGRP.
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>be faceless void >mfw I have no face
I'm not sure that you CAN get blender to render 256, certainly not with the correct palette though. Try rendering with a BMP? Anyway, the easy way to convert to the unit palette is to paste your BMP on top of a UNIT BMP that you already extracted from the MPQ. It won't look exactly the same( as it won't use the same colours anymore ) but it shouldn't look too horrible. Then use SFGRP or whatever to make it a GRP.
Red classic.
"In short, their absurdities are so extreme that it is painful even to quote them."
PyMS and ProTRG developer
I've made a few units using Blender. You just have to realize you only have a specific palette with a limited amount of colors, so dont use colors that are not in that palette... Making your textures use the unit palette should help render in mostly the correct colors, then almost any image editor can apply the correct palette to the resulting BMP (or use the tried and tested method of copy+paste on top of an extracted BMP as zany said above).
That was what I was using to test out the right colors. Really close to getting it to work for one of my models.
Probably would work better if I redid the model using grey colors instead of that greenish grey I liked.
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