Making map settings for Level 4 skills

Ok, no doubt like many other people out there, I've played through the TFT Orc RPG campaign and thought "wouldn't it be cool to make custom settings to power up _all_ the Hero abilities for melee battles".

I've nearly finished my not-so-epic task now, as the TFT ability editor is pretty damn comprehensive. However, I'm stuck on a couple of points.

- The ability editor has a text string size limit that truncates some of the more complicated abilities. This is particularly relevant on the 'Learn' tooltip, where I want to add exciting text to describe that extra 100pts of damage a skill is going to do at Level 4 =). I can work around this by replacing the numerical references (eg <AHtb,DataA1>) with the actual values (eg 100) to squeeze an extra couple of characters, but that's not ideal. Anyone know how to break this limit? Its not a hard game limit as some existing in-game strings are truncated and only partially visible in the editor.

- It would be quite sweet to make my new settings the game default (at least for SP), rather than have to import them into every map. Can I extract full .slk/.txt files from the .w3x files after using the WE to edit map settings?

- Less technical, but I'd like to make my Level 2 Avatar (Mountain King) ability use a larger model than Level 1. Unfortunately, there's no 'scaling factor' function in the Avatar spell data in the WE ('Area of effect' is in there, but it doesn't seem to do much). Also, since the Avatar isnt a separate unit like the NE demon form, I can't just edit a unit scaling factor. So, I'm stumped - I guess the Avatar colors and size increase are hardcoded. Anyone else have any luck with this?

I guess I'll be done soon, and I'll post up my finished files somewhere. I figure there must be a few others wasting their time doing this too =)

- Haps

It is easy to respond if you number your questions.

For your Question on extra character for the learn tooltip which is very similar to my last thread about making a hero that had six hero abilities. You can go read it if you like. 8)
The file that controls the number of characters that the editor allows is the AbilityMetaData.slk in the War3Patch.mpq. However it does not limit the number of characters by a specific number. Instead there are three values used: TTName,TTDesc, and TTUber. The TTName values limits char. to 96, TTDesc to 255, and your new favorite TTUber to 299. Through the .slk you can't go higher than 299, but you can extend names and plain tooltips to 299 char. by changing the max values in the AbilityMetaData.slk to TTUber. Extended tooltips are then still are 299 though.

The messier way to do this is to change a already existing spell by editing the string.txt for that spell. Say change you are changing storm bolt for the mountain king. You go into the HumanAbilityStrings.txt and find storm hammer which is:

// Storm Bolt
[AHtb]
Name=Storm Bolt
Tip=S|cffffcc00t|rorm Bolt - [|cffffcc00Level 1|r],S|cffffcc00t|rorm Bolt - [|cffffcc00Level 2|r],S|cffffcc00t|rorm Bolt - [|cffffcc00Level 3|r]
Ubertip="Throws a magical hammer at a target enemy unit, dealing <AHtb,Data11> damage and stunning the target for <AHtb,Dur1> seconds.","Throws a magical hammer at a target enemy unit, dealing <AHtb,Data21> damage and stunning the target for <AHtb,Dur2> seconds.","Throws a magical hammer at a target enemy unit, dealing <AHtb,Data31> damage and stunning the target for <AHtb,Dur3> seconds."
Hotkey=T
Researchtip="Learn S|cffffcc00t|rorm Bolt - [|cffffcc00Level %d|r]"
Researchubertip="A magical hammer that is thrown at an enemy unit, causing damage and stunning the target. |n|n|cffffcc00Level 1|r - <AHtb,Data11> damage, <AHtb,Dur1> second stun. |n|cffffcc00Level 2|r - <AHtb,Data21> damage, <AHtb,Dur2> second stun. |n|cffffcc00Level 3|r - <AHtb,Data31> damage, <AHtb,Dur3> second stun."
Researchhotkey=T

Then you change stuff to be as long as you like, hopefully.


If you don't want to change a spell, but make a new one and don't mind getting messy then you can creat a new spell outside of the WE by editing .slk's and .txt's. There are tutorials for that.



YOUR 2ND QUESTION

You are going about it the wrong way. You don't want to use the WC III WE to edit your spells if you want it for multiply maps. You should edit and or create the spells outside the editor. You then import your edited files into any map you want with a .mpq editor. If you want to use your spells for SP(any melee map) then you can change the files that are in your War3Patch.mpq(or whatever .mpq it is). But i would difinitely back it up. You probably have to switch it with the original everytime you want to play MP instead of SP.


QUESTION # 3

I looked in the abilitydata.slk for avatar and the area of effect is where the value for the factor of size increasement is stored. So editing that .5 is the only way to change the size. I don't see much of a difference either and using anything but a 0 to the left of the decimal point freezes the unit.


If you finish your map i would like to play it.

Thanks dude, I'll stick to numbering everything in future!

Just to make sure I've understood, I think this is an executive summary of your points.

(1) There's no way to make the World editor give me more than TTUber (299) characters. I did try hacking the AbilityMetaData.slk to have a max limit of '999' rather than 'TTUber', but unsurprisingly, that just crashes the UE.

(2) I'm probably wasting my time making my settings in the WE and should stick to .slk editing instead.

(3) Avatar, is as I suspected, a hardcoded piece of &$£%.

OK, here's a map file, mostly tested =) I've extended all Hero abilities as follows

- all basic abilities have a level 4, with similar balance to the Orc RPG campaign - a level 4 skill is ~50% more powerful than a level 3 skill
- all ultimate skills have a level 2, which is ~50% more powerful than the level 1 skill.
- all heros have access to an attribute bonus ability

The settings are intended to be portable between maps (via the WE import/export feature), so that I can play SP melee games on any map with the possiblity to level up to some uber-powerful heros.

Now, one more question, which is probably of general interest :

The WE allows configuration of a number of gameplay constants, for example MaxHeroLevel. These can be changed on a per-map basis, but aren't imported/exported via the object settings.

What .slk file, if any, can I edit to force changes to these constants in the default game settings?

Units\MiscMetaData.slk in war3x.mpq contains the WE editing information for the constants, and that lists the .slk source for the data as 'Profile'. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a profile.slk anywhere =(

y dont u use medimophesis (wrong spelling) but make the guy larger and the skin stone form so taht it would be like avatar

Question #1 - Yes there is no way to make the normal WE give you more than 299 char. but you can have almost unlimited char. by editing and embeding key .txt files.

Question #2 - I don't know how good you are with editing files, but to use the same setting for multiply maps it is difinitely better to edit the .slk's and .txt's. It is more challenging because they values are less explained, but there are little red triangles that give tips on what the field value changes (they were originall for bliz employees, but help modders and editors alot, too.

Question #3 :(

You said "The settings are intended to be portable between maps (via the WE import/export feature), so that I can play SP melee games on any map with the possiblity to level up to some uber-powerful heros."
You can't export anything but the files that you import.
:( So you can't export your settings. You can only copy them on paper or something. This is why editing .slk's and .txt's is better. You only have to do it once.

Last Question - I couldn't find where the value is. Usually i think Profile referes to a .txt file. I think the default is a hard-coded default value since in RoC you couldn't edit it. I still glad they allowed it to be in at all though. Prolly made a lot of RPG makers happy.

I think you did a very thorough job of editing the spells completely and in a balanced manner. I would't mind have the limit of heros increased or some custom units added either. I like seeing all the 12 button boxes filled with commands/spells. Its so empowering.:D