Starfall Animations

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know how to change the graphics on the starfall target animation(the animation that hits the units). I have tried to edit the ART in the Spell editor for the target and I tried editing the buff file for it, I also tried pulling out the spell,looping at the top... I have tried most things and it still comes up with the stars, I can get the effect of starfall aka the casters animation correct just cant get the stars to go away. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Are you trying to make a custom ability based on starfall?

Because to me it seems that each and every variant will still use the original Starfall<target> buff (different caster arts works fine) no matter what I do. If you change that, it works (modify the field in the buff that is filled out already), but then all starfall spells will use that.

I have already tried this and it does not work. The stars still fall instead of the fire that I want.

I have tried it 3 times and I can't seem to get it to work at all, is there only certain mdl and mdx files that the buff will work with cause I have tried.

Extract the NightElfAbilityData(or something like that).txt from the .mpq. Then go and change the art in there. If you tell me what you want it changed to, I could do it for you.

First off I don't like touching slk files because of past experiences I have had of screwing them up. Also I have tried the Rain of Fire animation and it didn't work though I will try again and post back.

I HAV UR ANSWER, i was once confused about this. here goes...

first open the war3.mpq or war3x.mpq im not sure sry i forgot, then find the file ' NightElfAbilityFunc.txt' extract it to somewhere. open the one u extracted and find starfall. change the target art to whatever and dont screw up, don put something wich doesnt make sense....ok
then save it and import it into ur map. right click on it and go to edit or properties or someting. it sais use custom path, tik that box and change the text, it should say war3mapimported\nightelf ability func.txt.
just change that to NightElfAbilityFunc.txt. there u hav it.
:ggani:

When I said SLK files I meant anything in the war3.mpq files.

Is there anyway to override it with triggers maybe?

just changing the buff art and effect art works for me...

Sigh....newbies everywhere today, oh well, give me a chance to up my post count a bit or something.

You do NOT want to change target art(which is the art that is shown when the spell HITS the target, and starfall has none by default IIRC so putting something there doesnt do anything to starfall), or the buff art(which is the art shown on the unit while the unit is under a buff effect, which again, starfall isn't affected by), you want to change the PROJECTILE art, which is the art of anything the spell fires at it's target. Simply change the projectile art to the projectile art for rain of fire(like he said, it has to be a projectile that can fall downward if I'm not mistaken), then you have a starfall thats actually more of a "meteor" fall.

Finally someone whos knows what they are talking about! Thank You!

Ok, so this dood seems to know what he is talking about, but they failed to mention which thing to add the projectile art too.

Which aspect am i suposed to add the projectile art to?

Do i add it to the unit? (attack 1 or 2?)
Do i add it to the ability?
Do i add it to the buff?
Do i add it to the effect?

Thanks ahead of time.

In case your courious, I am trying to change Starfall and turn it into Waterfall, an ultamate skill for my water elemental hero that i am creating. Here is what i want the final product to look like:

1) I want it to have the functionality of starfall (channeling spell)
2) But have the special effects of Monsoon (that AOE spell with rain and lighting)
3) Also I want the stars from starfall to be Water Elemental Projectial Art.
4) And finaly, I want the impact effect on targeted units to produce the NagaBulidingDeath special effect (the one that looks like a big splash of water)

Any help you can give me getting this done will be awsome.

what u do, is u go to buffs, press ctrl+f, and look for starfall. theres 2 of em. or u can just do a custom buff based off of starfall( ifooled around and made sf with lightning heheh)

Ok, hmm, that might be a bit tough, as I have never seen the stock monsoon before, and therefore dunno if the effects your talking about are caster art, or projectile art. If theyre caster art, just stick them in the caster art slot and they will replace the pillar of light+crescent moon that appear on the caster during starfall. If theyre projectile art(I.E. they are what hits the targets) then youd have to make triggers to display it. The Nagabldgdth effect will have to be attached via triggers as well, simply set it to play the animation on any unit that is hit with starfall, when it's hit with starfall.

And you change the projectile art for the ability, NOT the buff. The buff is just a targeting placeholder for the spell, to help people with custom spells based off starfall crate effects on all units in the AOE, that arent projectile effects.(I.E. rain of fire based of starfall, rains meteors, and they use a trigger so that any unit with the starfall buff gets the special effect of fire attached to their model while they have the buff. Or another example, is shadowstrike. It's buff is the DoT damage, and the spell is the strike damage, although both are set in the spell's data. The shadowstrike little shadow overhead attachment is also part of the buff, as its a lingering effect, which is what buffs are for)

If you want to make them all water projectile arts, that might not be doable. You can try using the water elemental attack animation, but if I'm not mistaken the only reason the stars fall with starfall is because thats what theyre programmed to do. Thats also why the Infernal meteor falls from the sky, even though in Tides of Blood the spell is based off stormbold, which is a caster-target hovering projectile.

You can try, in other words, but it might instead hae the water elemental attacks flying out of the caster into the targets, instead of from the sky. I would use the Blizzard projectile art instead, that looks water-y but still has the "falling" animation. Personally I think youre tacking too many animations on one spell though, might cause horrendous lagg. If I were you I would instead make it a REALLY big AoE blizzard centered around the caster, set triggers to make it channeling, and set allowable targets to enemy only, that way it's basically more "waterfall" looking, and less "water droplet" looking. Again, might cause a lot of lagg, but less than the 3+ effects per unit youre thinking of doing. Plus it would look a lot smoother, though it would cause some view blockage each wave. Not that that wouldnt be funny to see, mind.

WOW Thanks for ALL the info Dawg. I will be trying all these things tonight. Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!