spell editting and corrupted .slks

alright, I decided to stop theorizing and actually TRY a spell. So, I decided to add a SINGLE ability to the AbilityData.slk

I modified the .slk by adding the new info, modified the appropriate .txt files then stuck em in a "Units" folder in the Warcraft 3 folder.

Then i opened up the World Editor and low and behold there aren't ANY abilities if any kind any more.

I remember this happened to a bunch of other people and the conclusion was that the slk was corrupted. What does that mean and what do i do next?

what causes the slk to become corrupted?

Well the simplest answer is we don't know. (Rather I don't, but if anyone else does please share it with me :P) It could be any number of reasons. It could also be the .txts that are corrupted. I've never had the problem myself even though I've spent some time trying to duplicate the error on purpose to discern the cause. Try removing the .txts. If nothing happens then you know it's definitely the .slk, as technically the names of edited abilities can show up in WE without the .slk. It may also be something to do with the tools used to edit the files, they may 'accidently' modify the data when saving. And certain .txt formats may corrupt the txt files.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

~kharma

Make sure your SLK and texts are correct
Make sure the SLK is NOT OPEN in Excel or whatever when opening the WE.
Make sure the file has a new name and code but still has a ability type code of its predecessor

Hakujin

I had some problem with excell corrupting slks, mostly UnitUI slk. I now edit all slks in excell 97 instead of 2000 and use only the simplest editing functions. However, most people seem to get by with no problems.

It is quite possible you made an error somewhere though. There are a multitude of silly mistakes you could make to spoil the mod. Something as simple as leaving the file open while trying to save it to the mod as an above poster replied. I recommend starting over once.

thanks for the advice guys. One thing that it could be is that I'm using this Open Office thing instead of excel. It can save things as slks but whenever i do so it gives me this message about possibly losing some info along the way or something. Maybe its the slk editting program.

A question: if you corrupt it once do you have to start over from scratch or can you just change the thing and check to see if its working?

I tried OpenOffice... and it bloats the slks to double the size of one saved in excell. That is probably your problem.

I wouldn't try to fix it once it is corrupt; you don't know where the problem is and even if you get it working once, the problem may come back later.