Simple Datediting

Foreword

This is a basic tutorial on how to use DatEdit. It's a tad outdated, so feel free to edit it with newer information and screenshots.

This tutorial was originally created by Killer_Kow(MM) at the [MM]odding resources, at Corboland.

Simple Dat Editing!

Here you will learn to:

1) give a unit shields
2) change a unit's weapon
3) change a unit's spell.

The programs you will need are:

Datedit
WinMPQ
MPQDraft

We'll start by giving the marine shields.

First, open Datedit.

Find the marine entry under the "units" tab. If you want to change the view, go View> Sort by Origin. Find what works best for you.

When you have the marine selected, it will look like this:

http://www.maplantis.org/storage/wiki/DatEdit/pic1qs4.png (img: failed to get size)

Under the "Vital Statistics" section, find the "Shields" box. Check the flag (a flag is a checkbox) next to it, and set the number to 50. Also, set the marine's Hit Points to 50. You can modify its existing armor using the "Armor" box. The "upgrade" menu shows which upgrade will upgrade the Marine's armor.

That's all that we'll do here. Go to file>save as and save the file as units.dat. The name you save it as MUST correspond to the tab you are working in (units in this case).

Now, we'll change the marine's weapon. We could change its weapon in the "weapons" section in the Marine's units.dat, but instead, we'll fully customize his attack.

To find the marine's gauss rifle, you could look through the list under the weapons tab, but there's an easier way! Since we're already in the marine's unit entry, we can click the "Jump ->" button next to his weapon name. See the screenie:

http://www.maplantis.org/storage/wiki/DatEdit/pic2ij1.png (img: failed to get size)

Either Jump will work, seeing as they point to the same weapon.

You'll end up seeing this:

http://www.maplantis.org/storage/wiki/DatEdit/pic3jt2.png (img: failed to get size)

Let's make the marine fire lasers. Under "Graphical Properties", set "Graphics" to "Burst lasers". Change the icon to whatever you feel is fitting. set the "Behaviour" to "Flies to Target".

These should be self-explanatory. Leave the missile as "Normal".

Again, do File>Save as and save the file as weapons.dat. Remember, it MUST correspond to the tab you're working in.

Now that we've done this, let's change a unit's spell. Unfortunately, we can't change the marine's stimpack, but we CAN change the ghost's lockdown ability.

For something fun, let's let the ghost call down a long-range arclite shock strike as you would have been able to in SC: Ghost.

Switch to the "Orders" tab. Find the "Magna Pulse" order. Why the lockdown order is called that is beyond me, but its true.

Under "Order Options", set "Weapon" to "Arclite Shock Cannon (Edmund Duke)". You can also change THAT weapon, but we'll leave it how it is.

Save as orders.dat. Don't make me remind you again.

Congratulations! You've finished your .dat work. Now to compile it to an MPQ!

Open WinMPQ.

Press the "New" button. Save it as whatever you want. This one doesn't matter. Press the "add" button. Find your files, and select them. When you press "open", a little box will pop up. Type in "arr\" (without the "") and confirm your choice. All .dat files work like this.

When all your files are in, close WinMPQ. It saves automatically.

Running Your Mod

Open MPQDraft.

Press "Load MPQ Patch".

Select Starcraft, Starcraft again, and press next. Browse for your MPQ, find it, ensure that the little box is checked, and press next, and then finish.

Enjoy your mod!

External Links

The original tutorial, at Corboland.

Terrain

A map's terrain is its landscape. Terrain's most basic function is to limit where ground units can walk and where structures can be built. Well-placed terrain can add aesthetic appeal to a map.

Tiles (Squares)

The most basic unit of terrain is the tile. Tiles are rectangular 32x32 pixel images. Each tile has certain properties, such as which parts of it are walkable, what elevation (low, medium, or high) it is at, and whether or not structures can be built on it. In StarEdit, X-tra Edit, or SCMDraft 2, you can toggle the tile grid by pressing alt+g. Only third-party map editors allow you to alter individual tiles of terrain.

Usually, tiles are combined into predefined groups of isometric pieces (ISOM, see below). However, third-party editors allow users to assemble tiles in unusual ways to create custom terrain formations called "extended terrain" or "blends". (See "Extended Terrain", below, for more information.)

ISOM

Isometric terrain, or ISOM, is the normal unit of terrain; this is the level that StarCraft's built-in Campaign Editor can work with. Tiles are assembled to form isometric terrain, and are designed to look like pieces of such terrain. When placing terrain normally, you manipulate isometric pieces rather than individual tiles.

Brushes

So far, brushes are only usable in two map editors: StarForge and SCMDraft 2. Brush files are collections of brushes, or groups of tiles -- they are like palettes for terrain. Brush files make it easy to reuse and share blends. SEN has a forum topic where useful brushes can be shared.

To open SCMDraft 2's brush dialog, go to Windows > Brush Palette. Brushes can be opened by clicking Open File, and selecting a brush. Multiple brushes can be opened at a time. To use a blend, simply select it in the Brush Palette window, and then click on the map to apply it. To create a new brush, select the appropriate tiles, type a name into the text field on the Brush Palette window, and then click Add Brush. Brush files can be saved by clicking Save File on the Brush Palette window.

Extended Terrain

Generally, any configuration of terrain tiles that cannot normally be placed in StarEdit is called extended terrain. Extended terrain usually refers to blended terrain tiles (placing tiles individually, but choosing ones that match each other on the edges). Typically, simple "square terrain" (using individual tiles with no regard as to how they blend together) is not considered to be extended terrain.

Common types of extended terrain

Custom ramps

Custom ramps are often made. The most common kinds of custom ramps are backwards ramps and ramps between two types of terrain that normally cannot connect. Lengthened and shortened versions of standard ramps have also been made.

A backwards ramp on the Space tileset:

Stacked cliffs

Stacked cliffs are relatively easy to create on most tilesets. On Badlands and Jungle, stacked cliffs can be created with ridiculous ease. Simply take the tops of Dirt-to-Water cliffs, and paste them over the tops of Dirt-to-High-Dirt cliffs. Then, copy the middle and top sections of Dirt-to-High-Dirt cliffs, and paste those just above the Dirt-to-Water tops.

This diagram shows how stacked High Dirt cliffs are pieced together.

Custom doodads

Custom Doodads come from a variety of tiles. While the term is mostly used to refer to terrain constructed from Doodad tiles, it can also refer to non-doodad-based terrain that can be used in a similar fashion to doodads.

Here is a custom doodad built by mirroring two opposite-facing doodads on the Jungle tileset.


Here is another example: a large tree. The tree's trunk was constructed from Cliff Doodad tiles. The leaves and branches came from Sprites.

Square terrain

Square terrain is terrain placed tile-by-tile, with little regard for how well the tiles blend. It is often used for interiors on maps.

Here is an example of square terrain, used for an interior in Leeroy_Jenkins' Middle of the Ocean RPG.

High-Low

On tilesets such as Jungle and Badlands, there are two types of terrain that look (almost) identical, the grass.


Good references for extended terrain include:

• Falkoner's Terrain Compilation
  
• WoodenFire's Crescent Dyne RPG map (which is included in Falkoner's Terrain Compilation, but it is such a big project that it deserves to be stressed out)

Starcraft 1.14 Memory Map

Note: This article has poor formatting. Help Maplantis by improving the formatting of this article and removing it from the Article Request/Cleanup page.

Start	Length	Description
511800	240 (60*4)	Action function pointer table
511BA0	12	Load information for Mapdata.dat
.
5126E0	144 (12*12)	Load information for Upgrades.dat
512770	16	Data alignment
512780	72 (12*6)	Load information for Portdata.dat
5127C8	16	Data alignment
5127D8	132 (11*12)	Load information for Techdata.dat
51285C	12	Data alignment
512868	288 (24*12)	Load information for Weapons.dat
.
512c30	648 (54*12)	Load information for Units.dat
512eb8	16	Data alignment
512ec8	228 (19*12)	Load information for Orders.dat
512FA8	16	Data alignment
512FB8	72 (6*12)	Load information for Sprites.dat
513000	16	Data alignment
513010	168 (14*12)	Load information for Images.dat
.
513178	1090	Units.dat Build Requirements
5135BA	6	Data alignment
5135C0	838	Upgrade.dat Upgrade Requirements
513906	2	Data alignment
513908	318	Techdata.dat Research Requirements
513A46	2	Data alignment
513A48	688	Techdata.dat Usage Requirements
513CF8	1324	Orders.dat Requirements
.
5144A0	60 (5*12)	Load information for Sfxdata.dat
.
514A40	84 (7*12)	Load information for Flingy.dat
514A94	12	Data alignment
514AA0	96 (24*4)	Condition function pointer table
514BF0	11264	start of Button Sets
5177F0	3000 (250*12)	start of Unit->Button Set table
.
5183A8	2736 (228*12)	start of Unit->Status Function table
.
51AAF8		Starcraft.exe location string
.
51B4A0		Starcraft.exe location string
.
51BA00		Broodat/Stardat.mpq location strings
.
51BC20		Starcraft.exe location string
.
51BD38		Patch_rt.mpq location string
.
52E548	325120 (5080*64)	Image array
.
57E0B8	48 (12*4)	Player minerals
57E0E8	48 (12*4)	Player gas
57E118	48 (12*4)	Player gas score
57E148	48 (12*4)	Player minerals score
57E178	4	Unknown
57E17C	12 (12*1)	Player controller
57E188	12 (12*1)	Player race
57E194	8 longs	Unknown
57E1B4	1 long	Player 1 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1B8	1 long	Player 2 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1BC	1 long	Player 3 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1C0	1 long	Player 4 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1C4	1 long	Player 5 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1C8	1 long	Player 6 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1CC	1 long	Player 7 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1D0	1 long	Player 8 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1D4	1 long	Player 9 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1D8	1 long	Player 10 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1DC	1 long	Player 11 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1E0	1 long	Player 12 gives vision to (in bits)
57E1E4	1 long	Player 1's colour
57E1E8	1 long	Player 2's colour
57E1EC	1 long	Player 3's colour
57E1F0	1 long	Player 4's colour
57E1F4	1 long	Player 5's colour
57E1F8	1 long	Player 6's colour
57E1FC	1 long	Player 7's colour
57E200	1 long	Player 8's colour
57E204	1 long	some counter
.
...		Unknown.
.
57E244	2736 (12*228*1)	Unit availability (unit+player*228)
.
...		Unknown.
.
580DDC	48 (12*4)	Men produced (does not include pre-placed units) by player
580E0C	48 (12*4)	Men owned by player (cumulative count, includes pre-placed units)
580E3C	48 (12*4)	Men (or units??) lost by player
580E6C	48	Unknown
580E9C	48 (12*4)	units score by player
580ECC	48 (12*4)	Kill score
580EFC	144 (3*12*4)	?? structures constructed ?? (1 long each for 12 players, seems to be repeated 3 times)
580F8C	48 (12*4)	?? structures lost ??
580FBC	48 (12*4)	?? structures razed ??
580FEC	48 (12*4)	buildings score
58101C	48 (12*4)	razings score
58104C	48	Unknown
58107C	48	Unknown
5810AC	48 (12*4)	Factories lost
5810DC	48	Unknown
58110C	48 (12*4)	Zerg supply
58113C	48 (12*4)	Zerg supply used
58116C	48 (12*4)	Zerg supply max
58119C	48 (12*4)	Terran supply
5811CC	48 (12*4)	Terran supply used
5811FC	48 (12*4)	Terran supply max
58122C	48 (12*4)	Protoss supply
58125C	48 (12*4)	Protoss supply used
58128C	48 (12*4)	Protoss supply max
5812BC	48 (12*4)	Custom score (1 long each for 12 players)
5812EC	10944 (228*12*4)	Number of units on the map (player + unit*12)
583DAC	10944 (228*12*4)	Number of units on the map (player + unit*12)
58686C	10944 (228*12*4)	Player kill counts (player + unit*12)
58932C	10944 (228*12*4)	start of deaths table (player + unit*12), 4 bytes each)
58BDEC	288 (12*24*1)	Techs available by player (SC techs only [0-23], tech+player*24)
58BF0C	288 (12*24*1)	Techs researched by player (SC techs only [0-23], tech+player*24)
.
58C050	552 (12*46*1)	Upgrade max by player (SC upgrades only [0-45], upgrade+player*46)
58C278	552 (12*46*1)	Upgrades researched by player (SC upgrades only [0-45], upgrade+player*12)
.
58C578	8 (8*1)	Force membership of each player
58C580	4 (4*1)	Force flags
58C584	120 (4*30)	Force names (30 bytes each, null-terminated strings)
58C5Fc	144 (12*12*1)	Player alliances (First 12 bytes are player 1's alliances, next 12 are player 2's, etc)
58C68C	48 (12*4)	Mission objectives string index for each player
58C6BC	4	Countdown timer value
58C6C0	4	Elapsed game time
58C6C4	4	Unknown
58C6C8	4	Unknown
58C6CC	4	Unknown
58C6D0	4	Leaderboard computer players enabled
58C6D4	1	Unknown
58C6D5	1	Unknown
58C6D6	2	Unknown
58C6D8	4	Unknown
58C6DC	4	Unknown
58C6E0	8 (8*1)	Pauses left for each player
.
58CC08	32	Switch states (1 bit per switch)
58CC28	5100 (255*20)	Locations (In [longs]: X Start, Y Start, X End, Y End, [shorts]: String, Flags)
58E014	4	Countdown timer paused
58E018	240 (12*20*1)	Tech available by player (BW techs only [24-43]) tech + player*20)
58E108	240 (12*20*1)	Tech researched by player (BW techs only [24-43]) tech + player*20)
.
58E240	180 (12*15*1)	Upgrade max by player (BW upgrades only [46-60]) (upgrade + player*15)
58E2F4	180 (12*15*1)	Upgrade researched by player (BW upgrades only [46-60]) (upgrade + player*15)
.
59B048	260 (65*4)	MapData.dat string pointers (points beyond data segment)
59BC70	571200 (1700*336)	UnitNode table
.
628140	90000 (2500*36)	Sprite array
.
653144	61 (61*1)	Upgrades.dat - upgrade max
653188	122 (61*2)	Upgrades.dat - mineral cost base
653208	122 (61*2)	Upgrades.dat - gas cost factor
653288	122 (61*2)	Upgrades.dat - gas cost base
653308	122 (61*2)	Upgrades.dat - unknown
653388	122 (61*2)	Upgrades.dat - time factor
653408	122 (61*2)	Upgrades.dat - mineral cost factor
653488	122 (61*2)	Upgrades.dat - label
653508	122 (61*2)	Upgrades.dat - Icon
653584	61 (61*1)	Upgrades.dat - Broodwar flag
6535C8	122 (61*2)	Upgrades.dat - time base
653644	61 (61*1)	Upgrades.dat - race
.
653Be0	88 (44*2)	TechData.dat - Unknown 5
653C38	88 (44*2)	TechData.dat - Gas cost
653C90	88 (44*2)	Techdata.dat - mineral cost
653CE8	88 (44*2)	Techdata.dat - Label
653D40	88 (44*2)	TechData.dat - unknown 6
653D98	44 (44*1)	TechData.dat - researched
653DC8	88 (44*2)	TechData.dat - energy cost
653E20	88 (44*2)	TechData.dat - research time
653E78	88 (44*2)	TechData.dat - icon
653ED0	44 (44*1)	TechData.dat - race
653EFC	44 (44*1)	TechData.dat - broodwar flag
653F28	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - damage factor
653FB0	260 (130*2)	Weapons.dat - target error message
654140	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - explosion type
6541C8	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - icon
6542D0	260 (130*2)	Weapons.dat - splash inner
6543D8	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - attack angle
654460	520 (130*4)	Weapons.dat - minimum range
654668	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - offset y
6546F0	520 (130*4)	Weapons.dat - missile sprite
6548F8	260 (130*2)	Weapons.dat - damage amount
654A00	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - coldown delay
654A88	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - missile type
654B10	260 (130*2)	Weapons.dat - splash medium
654C18	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - upgrade group
654CA0	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - type
654D28	260 (130*2)	Weapons.dat - label
654E30	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - special attack
654EB8	520 (130*4)	Weapons.dat - maximum range
6550C0	260 (130*2)	Weapons.dat - damage bonus
6551C8	260 (130*2)	Weapons.dat - splash outer
6552D0	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - launch spin
655358	130 (130*1)	Weapons.dat - offset x
6553E0	260 (130*2)	Weapons.dat - attack type
.
65D660	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - max hit air
65D748	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - vespene cost
65D910	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Armor
65D9F4	4 (4*1)	Unknown
65D9F8	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - What sound start
65DBC0	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Comp AI unit type
65DCA8	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - custom name
65DE70	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - build time
65E038	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - starting direction
65E120	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - broodwar flag
65E208	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - subunit 1
65E3D0	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - transport space
65E4B8	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - restriction flags
65E680	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - subunit 2
65E848	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - shield amount
65EA10	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - movement type
65EAF8	912 (228*4)	Units.dat - construction animation
65EE88	212 (106*2)	Units.dat - sound yes end
65EF60	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - Staredit availability flags
65F128	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - air weapon
65F210	1824 (228*8)	Units.dat - Unit boundaries (RECT structs)
65F930	212 (106*2)	Units.dat - Pissed sound end
65FA08	212 (106*2)	Units.dat - Ready sound
65FAE0	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Action type
65FBC8	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Size
65FCB0	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Human AI Init Action
65FD98	912 (228*4)	Units.dat - Hit points
660128	384 (192*2)	Units.dat - Addon location
6602A8	912 (228*4)	Units.dat - Building dimensions
660638	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - What sound end
660800	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Seek range
6608E8	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Comp AI Init Action
6609D0	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - Portrait ID
660C80	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Unit sight range
660D68	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Ground attack action
660E50	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - Build score
661018	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Armor upgrade group
661100	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Ground weapon
6611E8	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Group flags
6612D0	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - Mineral cost
661498	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Ait attack action
661580	212 (106*2)	Units.dat - Unknown
661658	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - Unknown
661730	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Unknown
661818	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Unknown
661900	456 (228*2)	Units.dat - Destroy score
661AC8	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Special ability flags
661E58	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Transport size
661F40	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Unit graphic
662028	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Max hit ground
662110	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Supply produced
6621F8	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Unit has shield
6622E0	228 (228*1)	Units.dat - Idle action
6623C8	192 (96*2)	Units.dat - Infestation unit
662488	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Flag 4
662548	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Use weapon targeting
662608	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Flag 12
6626C8	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Flag 11
662788	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Animation
662848	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Tech
662908	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Group
662A88	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Can be interrupted
662B48	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Flag 7
662C08	378 (189*2)	Orders.dat - Flag 9
662CC8	378 (189*2)	Orders.dat - Label
662E48	378 (189*2)	Orders.dat - Emulated order
662F08	378 (189*2)	Orders.dat - Flag 10
662FC8	378 (189*2)	Orders.dat - Flags
663148	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Flag 8
663208	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Flag 5
6632C8	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Weapon
663388	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Flag 2
663448	189 (189*1)	Orders.dat - Flag 3
663508	387 (387*1)	Sprites.dat - Selection circle
663690	387 (387*1)	Sprites.dat - unknown
663898	387 (387*1)	Sprites.dat - HP bar length
663A20	387 (387*1)	Sprites.dat - Selection circle offset
663BA8	1034 (517*2)	Sprites.dat - image index
663FB8	517 (517*1)	Sprites.dat - visible
6641C0	3996 (999*4)	Images.dat - overlay 4
6651C0	999 (999*1)	Images.dat - floats
665548	3996 (999*4)	Images.dat - overlay 3
6664E8	3996 (999*4)	Images.dat - GRP file name
667488	999 (999*1)	Images.dat - Palette
667870	999 (999*1)	Images.dat - Palette type
667C58	3996 (999*4)	Images.dat - Overlay 2
668BF8	3996 (999*4)	Images.dat - Overlay 1
669B98	999 (999*1)	Images.dat - Shadow turns
669F80	3996 (999*4)	Images.dat - Overlay 0
66AF20	999 (999*1)	Images.dat - Unknown
66B308	3996 (999*4)	Images.dat - Overlay 5
66C2A8	999 (999*1)	Images.dat - image turns
66C690	3996 (999*4)	Images.dat - iscript
.
6C7240	209 (209*1)	Flingy.dat - movement control
6C7318	836 (209*4)	Flingy.dat - acceleration
6C7660	418 (209*2)	Flingy.dat - turning style
6C7808	209 (209*1)	Flingy.dat - turn radius
6C78E0	836 (209*4)	Flingy.dat - speed
6C7C28	209 (209*1)	Flingy.dat - unknown
6C7D00	418 (209*2)	Flingy.dat - sprite index

Modifying Supply Limits

Ever wanted to expand the 200 unit limit? Now you can!

Modifying Supply Limits

This really isn't that difficult... It just requires you to look a bunch of crap up in lists.

Note: Some things will add to another race's supply limits... (such as in my example screenshot the zerg have 1/2) I haven't looked into it very much, so I'm not exactly sure what causes it specifically.

1. Decide what you want your values to be.
As an example, I'll use Terran 1000 max with an initial 100 available for player 1.

2. Subtract 200 of the Max (and Max only!) as it is already available.
1000 - 200 = 800.

3. Use the Supply Modifier Unit List to find values that add up to what you want. Be sure to take note of whether or not what you are using is a building or unit as we will use this later!
"Nuclear Missile 400 Unit" Two will add up for my 800 Max.
"Citadel of Adun 100 Building" 100 for my initial available.

4. Use the Player Look-up List for the players you want.
Player 1:
Terran Available for Building: 109
Terran Limit for Unit: 217

5. Place your unit.
Place two Nuclear Missiles for player 217.
Place one Citadel of Adun for player 109.

http://www.maplantis.org/storage/wiki/SupplyLimit2.png (img: failed to get size)

Supply Modifier Unit List

Note: Units which do not add anything (0) have been removed. Resources have also been removed as they would require a player greater than 256 to use. They only add 5 anyways. ;)

Code

Player Look-up List

Note: For Player 5 and above, the Protoss Limit for units will require a player number greater than one byte. This is not possible. These are in square brackets.
Players 9-12 are useless and not included in this list.

Code

Player Look-up Form

Help you be more lazy. ;)
Supply Modification Lookup (External Link)

Ammo Systems

Ammo Systems

You'll find these kinds of triggers in some UMS maps-- particularly realistic horror (such as Raccoon City) and GTA maps. It can be pretty frustrating to implement this instead of a real Ammo System because it doesn't actually detect when a player shoots, but when a player kills a unit.

Regardless, this system makes it so you have to watch your ammo gauge, because if you don't you'll be caught in some crossfire without any ammo. Usually you'll be shooting at units with one-shot kills (with notable exceptions) and no buildings. Note: You cannot completely disable a unit from firing at all because the player can manually firing by clicking on the attack button and clicking on the target (although with hyper triggers, it makes doing this much harder with most units). Most of the time, you should set it so that the minerals and the gas is their ammo gauge - Minerals for the ammo in their current clip, and gas for clips they have stored.

Ammo Triggers

Ammo Initialization

Quote

Players
Force 1

Conditions
Always

Actions
Modify resources for Force 1: Set to 6 Ore //Ore is used as ammunition
Modify resources for Force 1: Set to 2 Gas //while Gas is used as Ammo Clips

This makes it so that they'll have six shots to start off with, and 2 extra clips, meaning 18 shots.

Ammo Usage

Quote

Players
Force 1

Conditions
Current Player Kills score is At least 1 //NOTE: This detects a player's kill, not a player's shot.

Actions
Modify score for Current Player: Set to 0 Kills //Resets the kill score to prevent endless loops.
Modify resources for Current Player: Subtract 1 Ore //Uses up ammo per kill.

There you go. This will take away ammo from the unit's ammo gauge.

Ammo Reload

Quote

Players
Force 1

Conditions
Current Player accumulates exactly 0 Ore //0 Ammo
Current Player accumulates at least 1 Gas //and at least 1 Ammo Clip are prerequisites for reloading.

Actions
Preserve Trigger
Display for current player: "Reloading..."
Set All Players to Ally // Temporarily allies the enemy to prevent free kills.
Wait for 2500 milliseconds //Reloading wouldn't make sense if it was instant (although I recommend you use Death Counters as timers)
Modify resources for Current Player: Set to 6 Ore
Modify resources for Current Player: Subtract 1 Gas
Set Force 2 to Enemy //Remarks enemies as hostile so you can shoot again.

You can take out the Wait trigger if you want. The Force 2 in the 2nd Set Alliance after the reload could be the enemies that you're firing at. Anyways, a player has to run out of ammo, doesn't he?

Out of Ammo

Quote

Players
Force 1

Conditions
Current Player accumulates exactly 0 Ore and Gas

Actions
Preserve Trigger
Set All Players to Ally

This is best used with Hyper Triggers.

Ammo Reload

Quote

Players
Force 1

Conditions
Current Player brings at least 1 men to 'retrieve ammo location'

Actions
Modify resources for Current Player: Add 3 Gas

And that's it. If you want to keep that location to always give the player ammo, preserve trigger.

Anti-Lifting off

The Terran building's Liftoff ability cannot be disabled directly, but there are several ways to prevent players from moving their buildings.

Simply destroying buildings that lift off is probably the easiest method. This can be done by placing enemy air attackers near the buildings, or by creating an air-only location over the buildings and killing anything that enter it. If you destroy a player's building for lifting off, you may want to recreate it on the ground.


Another way is to disable the buildings with the Set Doodad State action. This cannot be used on the Command Center, Starport, or Science Facility. Disabled buildings are unable to liftoff, but their other functions are disabled as well.

Placing the buildings as Unit Sprites and checking their Disabled property will also prevent them from lifting. As with the above method, disabling Liftoff this way will also disable all of the building's other functions. This can be used on all of the buildings. Additionally, this will cause the buildings to appear half-built.


Lastly, you can allow buildings to lift off, but move them back or destroy them if they leave a designated area. One thing to remember about doing this is that the Move Unit and Order actions are unable to effect buildings that have been given an order to land.

Damage Order of Operations

Damage Order

To determine how much damage an attack will do to a unit, follow these steps.

1. If the unit has shield HP, subtract shield armor upgrades from the damage.
2. Apply the damage to the shield HP.
3. If any damage remains, subtract the unit's armor from the damage.
4. If the damage is Explosive or Concussive type, modify it based on the unit's size.
Explosive damage deals 100% to large units, 75% to medium units, and 50% to small units.
Concussive damage deals 25% to large units, 50% to medium units, and 100% to small units.
5. Apply the remaining damage to the HP. If the remaining damage is one-half or less, it will do a half-point of damage.

Example 1:

Siege Tank (70 damage, explosive) attacks a Zealot (60 shields, 100 hit points, 1 armor)

1. 70 damage is reduced by 0. (No shield armor upgrades)
2. 60 shield points are removed from the zealot. 10 damage remains.
3. 10 damage is reduced by 1. (Zealot base armor)
4. The damage is Explosive type and the Zealot is small. 9 damage becomes 4.5 damage.
5. 100 HP reduced to 96.5.

Example 2:

Hydralisk (10 damage, explosive) attacks a Matriarch (300 hit points, 3 armor, medium size)

1. 10 damage is reduced by 0. (No shield armor upgrades)
2. 0 shield points are removed from the Matriarch. 10 damage remains.
3. 10 damage is reduced by 3. (Matriarch base armor)
4. The damage is Explosive type and the Matriarch is medium (75% damage). 7 damage becomes 5.25 damage.
5. 300 HP reduced to 294.75.

Example 3:

Ghost (10 damage, concussive) attacks a Siege Tank (150 hit points, 1 armor, large size)

1. 10 damage is reduced by 0. (No shield armor upgrades)
2. 0 shield points are removed from the Siege Tank. 10 damage remains.
3. 10 damage is reduced by 1. (Siege Tank base armor)
4. The damage is Concussive type and the Siege Tank is large (25% damage). 9 damage becomes 2.25 damage.
5. 150 HP reduced to 147.75.

Spell damage:

All spells except for Yamato Cannon and Nuke ignore unit armor. Yamato Cannon does 260 explosive damage to a single target. Plague also ignores Protoss shields and does damage directly to the unit or buildings HP. See the 3 spell pages for full details, including damage and duration, for all spells and abilities.
See also: Spells (Terran), Spells (Protoss), Spells (Zerg).

Automatic Doors

The Installation tileset's door doodads can be opened and closed with the Set Doodad State action.
When a door is disabled it opens and becomes walkable. When a door is enabled it closes and become a barrier.

In many maps, doors will open when a ground unit comes near them, and close when the unit moves away. In fact, when ordering a units to the far side of a door, they will expect the door to open for them, and walk up to it, rather than trying to find a path around the door. Doors, however, will not open and close automatically; triggers must be created for this to occur.

The first step in creating an automatic door is to place the door and create a location over it. You may want to set the location to ground-only to prevent air units from opening the door.


If you place the door as a doodad, it will belong to Player 12, and you will need to reference Player 12 or All Players in your Set Doodad State action.
If you place the door as a unit, take note of which player owns it or use All Players.

Simply disabling the door when a unit is near and enabling it when the unit leaves may not be good enough. This can cause the door to behave very strangely, particularly if you are using Hyper Triggers. To prevent this problem, we will use a switch for each door. The switch will keep track of whether the door is open or closed at any given moment, so we don't accidentally enable or disable it needlessly.

You 'open door' trigger should look something like this:

Quote

Conditions:
'Door 1' is Cleared.
All Players brings at least 1 [men] to 'Door 1'.

Actions:
Preserve trigger.
Set 'Door 1'.
Disable doodad state for Left Upper Level Door for All Players at 'Door 1'.

Then, the close door trigger:

Quote

Conditions:
'Door 1' is Set.
All Players brings exactly 0 [men] to 'Door 1'.

Actions:
Preserve trigger.
Clear 'Door 1'.
Enable doodad state for Left Upper Level Door for All Players at 'Door 1'.

Make sure to choose the correct type of door.

Using this method, your automatic doors will be nearly fool-proof. If a unit moves in and out of the door's location very rapidly it is possible for the door's animations to mess up. This problem can be prevented by giving the open and close triggers a cooldown time.

Burrow Detection

Burrow Detection

First off you will need a 1x1 pixel location. You can create one with StarForge. It should be a tiny dot (not a grid square); we will name that 1x1 pixel location "PL".

You can easily create a Pixel Sized location by changing the coordinates of the ending position of the location in SCMDraft2:
http://maplantis.org/storage/wiki/scmd2pixel.PNG (img: failed to get size)

Now have another unit placed elsewhere where it wont interfere with the map. I will use a Zerg Drone in my example. Make a location around it. I'll call it "Recall".

What we are doing is we are constantly moving (teleporting) a unit to a 1x1 pixel location. Since there is also another unit there, it wont be able to move (teleport) there. If it is able to move (teleport) there, that means the unit is burrowed.

Quote

Conditions
-Always.

Actions
-Center location labeled 'PL' on Unit owned by Player at 'Anywhere'.
-Move all Zerg Drone for Player Comp at 'Anywhere' to 'PL'.
-Preserve trigger.

Quote

Conditions
-Player Comp brings at least 1 Zerg Drone to 'PL'.

Actions
-Actions if the unit is burrowed.

Quote

Conditions
-Player Comp brings exactly 0 Zerg Drone to 'PL'.

Actions
-Actions if the unit is not burrowed.

Quote

Conditions
-Always.

Actions
-Move all Zerg Drone for Player Comp at 'Anywhere' to 'Recall'.
-Preserve trigger.

The order of these triggers matter, so do not change them.

Example Map:
http://www.staredit.net/?file=274

Dark Swarm Firing System

Dark Swarm Firing System(or Disruption Web)

Despite what many people think, it's actually a lot more complex than it seems to be... unless you only intend to use it for one player. The real trick is how to handle shot conflicts, as there is no way to tell who casts a dark swarm/disruption web in the game except by who is closest to it. Anyway, here's how to accomplish the basic trick:

Quote from Dark Swarm

==Players==
-All players.

==Conditions==
-All players brings at least 1 dark swarm to location Anywhere.

==Actions==
-Move location Shot on dark swarm at location Anywhere.
-Remove 1 dark swarm at location Shot for All players.
-Play wav gunshot.wav.
-Create 1 terran wraith for current player at location Shot.
-Kill 1 terran wraith for current player at location Shot.
-Preserve trigger.

All italized actions are optional.

Quote from Disruption Web

==Players==
-All players.

==Conditions==
-All players brings at least 1 disruption web to location Anywhere.

==Actions==
-Move location Shot on disruption web at location Anywhere.
-Remove 1 disruption web at location Shot for All players.
-Play wav gunshot.wav.
-Create 1 terran wraith for current player at location Shot.
-Kill 1 terran wraith for current player at location Shot.
-Preserve trigger.

All italized actions are optional.