Problem with unit upgrades

In the map im makeing, the orcs are a custom race with a custom tech tree, how ever the riflemen upgrades require a keep to upgrade them.... is there anyway to change this?

Yes, there are actualy a couple of ways of going about this.

In order to do this, your going to need an MPQ extractor. There are a couple in the downloads section under tools, I recomend WinMPQ.

Now open the War3.mpq file and extract the Units\HumanUpgradeFunc.txt file.

Open HumanUpgradeFunc.txt in a text editor of your choice (I personally use notepad.)

Now you have to locate the entry for the Long Rifles. It'll look like this:

[Rhri]
Art=ReplaceableTextures\CommandButtons\BTNDwarvenLongRifle.blp
Buttonpos=1,2
Requires=harm

Next you have to change the Requires= line to what ever you want the upgrade to require (If you don't want the upgrade to require anything just leave it to read Requires=). BUT, you have to use the 4 letter code for whatever building that happens to be.

To find the 4 letter code for the buildings, look in the OrcUnitStrings.txt file (this too can be extracted from the War3.mpq file)

For Example: If you wanted the rifle upgrade to require an Orc Stronghold you would change the line to read:
Requires=ostr

Now that you've edited the HumanUpgradeFunc.txt file, save your changes.

This next part is the most important part:

Once you've completed you're map and saved it, open the 'mapname'.w3m file in WinMPQ. Next, import your edited version of HumanUpgradeFunc.txt into Units\ using the Add function.

Note: If you make any changes to the map and save them at any time after you add HumanUpgradeFunc.txt into the .w3m file, you will have to re-add HumanUpgradeFunc.txt into the .w3m file.

Note2: By going about changing the upgrade this way, now the Humans will no longer have the ability to research this upgrade (unless you left the upgrade requirements empty.)

As I mentioned, there is another way to go about what your doing, you could create you're own Rifle Upgrade for the Orcs from scratch, but that is MUCH more complex and time consuming.

If you want to know how, feel free to drop me an e-mail at [email protected] and I'll go into the gorey details of creating you're own custom upgrades from scratch.

Maybe you could base the Great Hall/Stronghold/Fortress off the town hall first, then change the model and unit created.

Ok #1 i dont wanta replace anything useing MPQs
and #2 i couldnt anyway because i cant seem to run MPQ2k =(

are there gona be any programs that will do this kind of thing?

um....

#1 Any future program that might does this WILL replace stuff using mpq's
#2 mpq2k is a very simple program to use. Most people get confused and just try to run "mpq2k.exe" in windows, which effectively does nothing since mpq2k requires parameters to run. You need to run the program in DOS or create a shortcut to mpq2k with the parameters you need and simply run the shortcut.

( I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist copying your style =P )

I find WinMPQ a very helpful tool. It has a GUI so you don't have to stare at an DOS prompt and wonder, "OK, now what?" It is in the Downloads/Tools section.

Hey I'm doing basically the same thing and find the method Morningstar described not working. I wanted the rifle upgrade to require a Keep. So I changed the line to this: "Requires=hkee". Saved and inserted into map file. It's in the map file as "Units\HumanUpgradeFunc.txt" Is this correct? Any idea why it's not working? Thanks.

Actually the 'longer' way that I was refering to was to create and entirely new upgrade. I've done it.

The bummer is, in order to get it to work you have to modify the AbilityData.slk file, which we all know, the only way to get changes in that file to work is to replace the AbilityData.slk in your War3.mpq (or use the reghack and put it in the proper directory, the resule is the same either way.)

That's really freakin odd. If it's ok with you, e-mail me your map ([email protected]) and I'll take a look and see if I can't sift out why it's not working. What you've done should work.. works for me all the time.

CyberTootie, I got your map and I figured out what was wrong.

First off, you didn't do anything wrong in terms of the file editing.

The problem turned out to be a wacky (and still yet understood) bug that deals with your maps loading screen.

The bug goes like this: If your loading screen is set to anything other than Default any modified .txt or .slk files imbeded in the map will be ignored and the game will use the default files in the War3.mpq.

Before you ask, no, I have no clue how to fix this problem... last I checked, no one has figured out the why's of the problem, or how to fix it. The only workaround that currently IS known is to change the loading screen back to 'Default'.

Hope that helps.

OK. Thanks for your help! Which screen shows up is no big deal.

Still didn't work.... grr Well I'm about to just allow players to build a damn... whatever it's called so players can research the damn upgrade. Heh. If you want to look at it again I attached it to the unit sound post.

That odd, because I was able to get it to work.

Here's what I did....

1) I removed the custom 'Long Rifle Unit'
2) I changed the Loading screen 'Use Default Screen'
3) Saved the changes.
4) I imported 'HumanUpgradeFunc.txt' into the map as Units\HumanUpgradeFunc.txt using WinMPQ.
5) I reopend the map in the World Editor and did a Test Map.

I attached the version that I was able to get working.
Have a look/give it a try.

The attachment = nothing. (0 bytes) Anyways I did the steps, but after deleting the long rifle unit, there's a portrait there of some guy and says missing tooltip. But that's beside the point because it still doesn't work. Would you e-mail me what you have @ [email protected]. Thanks.

(I'm also thinking.. did it only work when loading from the editor? If that is the case then there's a whole new set of questions...)