Hi guys. Ever since I found about modding SC I've been working on this mod, adding and removing balance/gameplay changes I wanted into StarCraft. At one point I even tried to replicate SC2...but it became convoluted and I quit. Then I learned about GPTP and started experimenting with how far I could go with plug-ins. This is the result.

StarCraft: Transition is a mini-mod/add-on of sorts for StarCraft. It contains only 1 new unit, *almost* no new graphics, *almost* no new spells, etc. It has some neat plug-in hacks and balance changes, so try playing versus the improved melee AI! If it doesn't seem good enough, try playing vanilla SC, it has different AI scripts. (For SC vanilla maps I recommend Icarus and Circuit Breaker)

Download SCT 1.1. I also built a homepage for the mod.

Features that fellow modders might find interesting:

• Optical Flare is now a sight range increasing buff. It also makes little blinky eyes appear on the units every few seconds!
  
• An answer to the stimpack problem in vanilla StarCraft.
  
• Speaking of which, Stim Packs now has cool visual effects.
  
• Shield Batteries are much more useful now. Tip: try a Gateway-Battery expand.
  
• Guardians are much, much stronger now. Guess why?
  
• Try casting Plague on a bunch of Goliaths.
  
• Workers auto-harvest when rallied to minerals/vespene. Also, SCVs can auto-repair!
  
• And more!
  

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Nov 17 2012, 1:40 am by RadiganP.

Good work, you should consider releasing a mod with just UI/unit behavior improvements though. Rallying into bunkers would also be useful and in that vein.
Did you have any luck making siege mode queue-able? I remember that didn't really work by just ticking some boxes.

Edit: and SCVs need some way to turn off auto-repair, either a proper button like Cloak/Decloak, or give them Hold Position so they can stay put without randomly repairing stuff.

Rallying into bunkers shouldn't be difficult. All it needs is an additional check for target unit type, and to assign the proper order ID.

Queuing Siege Mode? It seems that queue-able orders (i.e. move, attack, load, cast spell) always have some sort of target, which must be hardcoded into SC...I'll look into assembly a bit though. EDIT: I discovered that making Siege Mode queueable in orders.dat can cause a bug. A Siege Tank that is queue-ordered to transform to siege mode twice or more times will "freeze" after transforming once, never being able to return to tank mode again. Until I solve this issue, I am not going to enable this in my mod.

And yeah, toggling auto-repair would be great, but I can't imagine how to implement the buttons to do it. Hold position would work though. I'll try to change it in v1.02.
Currently I just MOVE-click SCVs on each other so they stay put.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Apr 4 2013, 12:52 pm by pastelmind.

Hi Pastelmind,
I have waiting to see on what kind of project you have been working. And this looks really nice!

Our mods have some similarities, I also have started my mod trying to include SC2 stuff and mechanics such rally points for harvest, balance some units (like scouts, tanks, ghost), improve the gameplay and try to make the game more realistic. But lately I tried to make some different than SC2, Im still including some of the units/mechanics, and stuff that I consider appropriated (even some stuff from HotS) but trying different abilities/roles for the SC2 units.

I have played some matchs so here is some feedback:
I really like the air units changes, specially the scout and wraith/valkirie.
Some of the new spells are interesting, like ocular implants and the new shield battery. The consume change seems nice also.
The venomous damage its a nice addition and fits lore wise.

From my point of view of the zerg race, I dont feel right with the changes for zergling and hydralisk.
Zergling costing 50 minerals, using 1 supply each and having only 10 extra hp, doesnt feels balanced (even with the other units changes). Maybe reducing its cost to 37.5 (75 for 2)?
Hydralisk, they now do more and venomous damage, cost more, but have the same durability and use 2 supply. They are easily killed by splash weapons or spells (storm, plague, irradiate), making those weapons devastating in some situations. And the increased cost make harder to rebuild your army.
The increased supply of those units also accelerates the overlord production at the beginning, so still need some extra hatcheries to maintain the larvae count.
Zerg suppose to be a race with cheap and expendable units. This change seems to go in the SC2 direction of zerg. I dont like how hydras and roach are in SC2 (just my opinion).

For queen, I also have considering make this unit a detector, I dont like that zerg have free detection denying almost any cloak attack. Still not decided about how to solve this issue. But I like how you do it.

Other change that Im not sure is the Reaver. I also reworked this unit to deal explosive damage and make it more bulky (and added a new ability for the next version), but the speed increase might make them OP.
In original BW zerg have the hardest mach up against corsair /reaver. Now reaver moves faster and are more bulky, and corsair easily counter mutalisk. Queen now can help against reavers, but corsair also counter queens (and telepathic trace help to hunt them down). Guardians will help for sure, but revaers can retreat easily now.
So im afraid that this protoss composition can be even stronger against zerg.

Some small bugs I found:
Fiend weapon use the weapon vehicle upgrades instead of infantry.
Disabled medic and valkyrie production button have switched their tool tips (i.e. Medics said �Valkyrie: requires armory�)

Thats all for now.

About rally point to bunker I have implemented that in my upcoming version, but the units stay stupidly outside the barrack if the bunker is full, so you will need to check the bunker load space to give the proper order to make units move if the bunker is full.

I will follow this for future updates. Also, great work on the page

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Nov 2 2012, 1:25 am by RavenWolf.

Didn't know about those bugs. Thanks for the report!

The Zergling/Hydra supply thing was because (1) I wanted to buff Zergling HP while keeping its DPS low and (2) I came across a blizzard employee interview a long time ago, which said that they slightly regret making Zerglings 0.5 supply to begin with. I think with Adrenal Glands at Lair tech, Zerglings are still cost-efficient. Also Hydras seem to be good against most Terran units (except Siege Tanks).

Personally I don't like venomous damage though. It's a lame attempt to fix PvZ imbalances. I'd replace it with normal damage (or something else) if I could

The Reaver was buffed so it could move around with the rest of the Protoss army. Shuttle + Reaver is powerful but it's vulnerable to Scourges, even with Corsair support.

As for Queens, here's a crazy idea I'm pondering:

(1) Make Zerg have no detection
(2) Make Plague and Ensnare affect burrowed units
(3) Make Ensnare super cheap (50 or 25 energy), no need to research, but weak (don't affect cooldown, only 25% speed reduce).


Edit: TF-, apparently checking the "can be queued" box in orders.dat is enough to make Siege Mode and Burrow queueable. As for queuing Tank Mode and Unburrow...I guess it would be possible if Siege Mode tanks/burrowed units were given attack/patrol/move buttons in the first place.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Nov 2 2012, 8:37 am by RadiganP.

The detection relies only on spells for zerg idea might be fun, but it a doubled edge weapon considering that both spells affect your units too. And detection will be countered by feedback and EMP.

Queen with detection I think is the best option, but I personally want to have each race different, every detector is different and have different roles (Observer: stealthy scout, SV: support and offensive caster, Overlord: transport and supply). Turning queens into detectors kind of overlap with SV. So what im thinking is to turn queen into detector/caster for zerg and make Dropship to be the terran detector (also this will make every transport different). But this might require changes in SV and Dropship stats, and even name and graphics changes.

Medic disabled tooltip says 'Valkyrie requires: Armory'.

SC: Transition 1.1 is available. (Download link at first post)

Change log:

• Bug Fixes
  • Medics and Valkyries should have their tech requirements in the tooltip displayed properly.
    
  • Fiends receive damage bonus from Terran Infantry Weapons upgrades.
    
• Game Changes
  • General
    • Workers now have Hold and Patrol buttons.
      
  • Terran
    • Siege Mode can be queued (as the last order in the order chain).
      
    • Battlecruiser build time: 133 -> 120 seconds.
      
  • Zerg
    • Burrow can be queued (as the last order in the order chain).
      
    • Lurkers can now use Hold Position while burrowed.
      
    • Ensnare no longer affects unit speed, but instead increases attack cooldown by 100% (i.e. attack speed reduced by 50%).
      
    • Corrosive Acid (aka Acid Spores debuff) no longer affects attack cooldowns.
      
  • Protoss
    • Shield Batteries will recharge up to 200% shields for all Protoss units.
      
    • Overcharged shields do not degenerate back to 100%.
      
    • Arbiters now have a cool anti-air attack! See the unit page for details.
      
    • Arbiter build time: 160 → 120 seconds.
      
    • Corsairs have been given reduced damage and cooldown, making it harder to kill Scourges.
      
    • Carrier build time: 140 → 120 seconds.
      

Personally I have come to hate the Valkyrie being a transport/fighter, it's just too gimmicky. Perhaps I will change it in the next version.

Corrosive Acid's main use was to increase attack cooldowns. Why did you change that? I don't know if the armour-melting aspect of it is going to be very strong on its own.

Hm, yeah, you kinda nerfed an already underused unit there. People rarely bother with Devourers as is.

Also I hope you're not set on not making a version with just AI/interface improvements.

The Corrosive Acid change was to differentiate it from Ensnare. I wanted Ensnare to be a firepower-reducing spell rather than a slowing spell, but then it would be too similar to how the Acid Spores works. Examine the Devourer changes:

• Cost: 250m / 150g reduced to 150m / 125g
  
• HP: 250 reduced to 150
  
• Armor: 2 reduced to 1
  
• Size: Large changed to Medium
  
• Cooldown: 100 reduced to 60
  
• Corrosive Acid: No longer slows, duration reduced from 80s to 40s
  

I think the cost reduction + cooldown reduction is enough to offset the HP/armor/Corrosive Acid nerf. This way the Devourer is less of a support unit, and more of an anti-armor fighter. Morphing Mutalisks into Devourers actually increases their DPS AND durability at the same time.

@TF-: I would gladly do so, but mind you, the AI scripts are not my own--I've been using Ashara AI and Unleaded AI scripts taken from BWAPI. Also the micro AI/interface improvements are limited to:

• Auto-harvest/auto-enter bunkers on rally
  
• Smart-suicidal Scourge (no overkill)
  
• Auto-repair for idle SCVs
  
• Patrol/Hold buttons on workers
  
• Allow queueing spells
  

If people do want this stuff (for playing campaigns, I guess?) I'll cook up something in a few days.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Nov 21 2012, 2:23 am by RadiganP.

Ah, makes sense in that context, it's a decent change if it gets people to make more devourers I think.


Sounds good, and it would be pretty useful for campaigns, yeah.

Any updates on this project?

Edit: Removed old version; A new version of QoLMod is available.

Happy April Fools! But this post is not a joke.

TF-, if you are still waiting for this, I am sorry my promised "minimalist mod" is so late. Over a year! I lost the source to the original files and had to rebuild many things from scratch. Well, here goes:

Introducing...QoLMod v1.0

What is it?

QoLMod (short for "Quality-of-Life Mod") is a simple collection of graphical and mechanical changes for StarCraft: Brood War. You can use QoLMod as a starting point for your own StarCraft mod, or as an unofficial patch with minor tweaks for improving the game.


What improvements?

Oh, just a few things here and there.

• Orders.dat changes: Fixed highlighting for some buttons / allow queueing most spellcasting orders (i.e. Psi Storm, Consume, Spider Mines, etc.).
  
• GRPs / iscript changes that add visibly different explosion effects for dud Scarabs and Spider Mines (AKA Visual Dud Mines):
  
• Smart Suicide Scourge EXE edit / accompanying iscript changes: Scourges will never be wasted again when A-moved!
  
• FireGraft button set changes that add patrol / hold buttons to workers
  
• Auto-Repair on Idle plugin v1.1: Idle SCVs automatically move to repair friendly units (but not allied ones) within a 128px radius. (You can issue the Hold command to tell them to stay put)
  
• Smart Rally plugin v1.1 (mostly compatible with other plugins): Workers auto-harvest when rallied to minerals or gas. Units can also enter transports (and bunkers) by rallying on them.
  

Any Pics?

[attach=9151] [attach=9150]
This is what a Spider Mine looks like when it explodes (left) and when it is defused (right).

[attach=9152]
Dud Scarabs show grey explosions, so you don't have to click on the enemy units to check their HP.

[attach=9154]
A group of Scourges a-move into some unfortunate Overlords. Normally, all of the Scourges would be wasted, but Smart Suicide prevents overkill.


Great! Can I use this to play with my friends?

Ah, there's the catch: QoLMod has not been tested thoroughly over LAN and/or unofficial B.NET servers. Obviously you can't play with people who don't have QoLMod; even if they do, there is a chance that some plugin/EXE edit might interfere and cause a desync. Battle.Net is also known to aggressively block EXE changes and hacks, including most plugins.


How do I include this feature in my mod?

The \source\ and \bin\ subfolders in the ZIP file contains *almost* everything you need to import these features into your mod. C++ code, iscript source, GRP files, etc.


[attach=9153]

Attachments:

Post has been edited 7 time(s), last time on Apr 7 2013, 7:27 pm by pastelmind.

EXE edits, .dat edits, and iscript edits are not compatible with default SC, but two people running this mod should be able to connect to Battle.net and play a game.

Looks great man, kudos for pulling through.
I did have one hitch though, I played a free for all for a good while but it locked up at some point, thing is I can't tell whether it's this mod or the crash bug that SC has when you run it fullscreen on Vista/XP. Is there any way to run this windowed through DxWnd or Chaoslauncher?
I actually did find something but it didn't work for me, the new exe does not run http://www.staredit.net/topic/12137/1/

I'm not sure. I have never heard before about this Vista/Win7 problem, or the registry fix. Could you post the error log file in the \Errors\ subdirectory?

It didn't make one unfortunately, there's only old error logs in there.

By the way, when patrolling SCV by let's say a terran blockade and it's getting attacked, will they auto repair the blockade?
And will it be possible to assign patrol to multiple spots for the same unit?
I tried it on SC and never found it working.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Apr 2 2013, 9:54 pm by Raygoza.

No. By idle, I meant SCVs that are stopped. Normally you don't want units on patrol to move outside their patrolling path, right? Just moving them close to the blockade will do the trick.

As for multi-patrol, I don't think it's possible to replicate SC2's 'looping' path behavior, though I have been proven wrong before.