I can say that I'm relatively new at actual modding of starcraft, having only written aiscripts in the past.
I also will add that I'm not your average tinkerer either and I generally catch on to the complicated stuff quickly.

So anyway, heres the deal:
I've got alot of ideas for cool new tech and upgrades to research (mainly for terran because they're by far my favorite) but i'm not sure how to go about making NEW tech from scratch.... instead of just replacing the original upgrades with renamed ones that were tweaked in DatEdit and TblPad...

This is my cry for help - first and foremost, I'd like to have an upgrade available at the academy that would replace all marines gauss rifles with "laser rifles" a.k.a. burst lasers... and have it require a science facility first.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

The answer to that is simple. You don't.
Its impossible, sorry.

Polaris is right. Unfortunately, as it is, StarCraft modding is limited. You've just happened to think of one of the things that everyone has wanted to do, but is impossible.

DAMN....
Okay I've fully accepted that it is impossible, but my thirst for knowledge is forcing me to ask, why??
Just curious as to what gets in the way, mostly so i can know how many of my other "great" ideas are also impossible

Our current tools simply aren't capable. To put it simply: some things in StarCraft are what we call 'hardcoded'. This basically mean that it's impossible to change without extensive change to the memory. So unless you're an expert programmer, you're dead out of luck.

I had a hunch that the reason i couldn't seem to find the things i wanted to edit was because it was hardcoded... Thats disappointing.

I do have another question, however.
What would have to be done to make a new buildable marine unit that had burst lasers and such and still have the original marine available?

It depends how extensively you'd like to do it. It'd be very easy to, for example, replace the firebat using only DatEdit. But to add a new button (and requirements) would require the use of FireGraft. There are tutorials kicking around for all of these things (I think, anyway), so have a look around and see what you can find.

True it would only take a matter of moments to replace the firebat, but my goal is to expand on starcraft instead of altering it, if you know what I mean.
Firegraft is definitely on my "to download" list, and I have noticed a copious number of tutorials.

I have one final question, unfortunately: would it be sufficient to simply add this new unit into the AIScript to get the AI to use them? That just seems too simple to me.. Unless they're just a copy of a marine with an altered weapon- then they'd behave the same.
I think I answered my own question.

Thanks for the help.
I'll post again if I have any more complications.

You can't technically add units. You'd be replacing an unused one, most likely (such as Jim Raynor, for an easy example). For the AI, you'd have to edit the .ini file (can't remember the name, I'm a tad rusty). The help file that comes with SCAIEdit has a wonderful section on this aspect of AIEditing.

Okay. I had considered replacing heroes as an easy alternative. Too bad that somewhat limits what you can add.

Scratch that last part. That was the long work day talking. I was thinking that a hero that was a battlecruiser could only be a battlecruiser....Duh.

There are plenty of units to replace, don't worry too much about it. Good luck in your modding endeavors.

I must be getting overtired... but how would I go about making said replaced Raynor available at the barracks?
I've got DatEdit, Firegraft, TblPad, and probably everything else you could imagine.

First, ensure that your SC is downgraded to 1.15.1 (or FG won't work properly).

Open FireGraft. Create a new file, etc. That's the easy part.

Go to button sets. Find the entry for the barracks. This is easily done using the search function at the bottom. Now, there are a few ways you can add the button.

The first way is to use the 'add' dropdown menu. It is located at the top right. Find the 'train unit' thingy and choose Jim Raynor. Then you have to choose a button position for the unit. It works like this:



I'd use 5, personally. Alternatively, you could copy and paste (as new) the Marine entry, and change the Requirement variable and the Action variable to match with Jim Raynor instead of the Marine.

Once you have the button, you'll have to change the unit's requirements. Go to the .dat requirements tab.

Find the Jim Raynor (Marine) entry. You'll notice it is blank, and the "Used" checkbox is blank. Check that checkbox, and we'll add some requirements. Right click on the 'end of list' that just appeared for you, and press 'add item'. First, we want Jim to be built from a barracks, so we'll need two lines that look like this:



So go ahead and add another line by right clicking "end of list" and adding another. (By doing it on the 'end of list', it ensures that your new item is added at the end. It's how I prefer to do it.) On your first item, go to your dropdown menu at the bottom and select 'current unit is'. Then select the second one. With this one we have to find the barracks. But, you'll notice you have a bit of trouble finding it among the options you have. There are two little buttons at the bottom that are labelled "Opcode" and "Paramater". Opcodes are things that identify a type of requirement, such as "Current unit is", or "Must not be lifted off". Parameters are units, upgrades and techs. So, switch that to Parameters, and then find that barracks.

In a similar fashion to those, add "Is not lifted off" to your list. This is pretty self-explanatory.

Finally, we want the unit to require the Science Facility (or if you don't, this is a good learning experience anyway ). To make a unit require something, we simply have to add that parameter without a single opcode. So add a new item, and simply change it to "Science Facility". It should now look like this:



Go ahead and save your file as an .exe. When prompted to add an MPQ archive to the file, choose yes, and select the MPQ you added your .dat files to. (Alternatively, you can edit the firegraft produced MPQ using WinMPQ directly).

Play around with other things in Firegraft, and look at other units for examples to try new things (for example, look at the lurker to see how to make a unit require tech, etc). Have fun.

Well described KK. Simple, easy to understand and to the point. I'd really like to see a place where all these tutorials scattered around the community could reside and be expanded on. I started a wiki at our site. Unlike a lot of SC wiki's, this one is truly open to be edited by ANYONE. The outline is a bit scatter-brained right now tho. I wish i had more time and better writing skills.

Link us to your custom Ai script, and I'll be sure to try it out as well as add it to our database. If it's any good, I'll be sure to include you in any future projects such as BWAI as well.