Probably a newb question...

Well i was making one spell "Half-Demon Blood" which is a passive ability that gives the hero bonus health regeneration. I was originally going to use an edited Unholy Aura, but remembered one of the heroes with Half-Demon Blood already had a spell which used an edited Unholy aura. I tried to use "Aura of Blight" but that didnt work so i finally gave in and used "Item Life Regeneration"

well the spell shows up in the units list for researching/learning the spell but after that it disappears. The unit does recieve the increased healing rate, but the picture (I chose orb of slow for the icon) wont show up. I tried to attach a buff and see if that'd show up in the middle window for the hero but that didnt work, and thatd have only been a temporary solution anyway...


So.. Is there a way i can make the icon show up after its researched, and if not, what other ability should i base this off of?

Um, well since it is a item based spell, you need to set its matrix, its possible that you have once its reserached, it shows up at 0,0 meaning the first spot, you need to have it one of these to show up.

X is the first number Y is the second

This is the matrix that bliz has of their button area
^0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3
| 1,0 1,1 1,2 1,3
| 2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3
Y X------->

heh that took awhile....

usually hero abilitys are on the bottom row of the matrix

which is: first button= x2,y0 2nd= x2,y1 3rd= x2,y2 4th= x2,y3

Hope this helps even if it isn't your problem

I already put it on x2 y2 and it didnt work :-( But thanks for explaining the matrix to me cause i never fully understood it, i'll have to copy that into word or something so i dont lose it

That matrix is incorrect, he has X and Y reversed. its like this:

0 1 2 3
1 + + +
2 + + +

Like a graph starting in an upperleft corner, so the hero abilitys would be in

X=0 Y=2
X=1 Y=2
X=2 Y=2
(and the ultimate being in)...
X=3 Y=2

The problem is that 95% of item abilities don't have icons. Any ability that is only on an item is this way. The health regeneration, as you noted, *does* work. What you'll have to do, if you want to have an icon for it, is make a dummy icon and replace the dummy with a new dummy with each level of the real ability. I've been using Pillage as my dummy ability, since it doesn't really overlap with anything else you might want to use. Just make sure you don't mess with Pillage too much, because one of the fields will crash the game if it's set to 0. If you just alter the Targets to None, you should be fine. Make a dummy for each level of the hero ability, and replace each dummy with the new one via trigger. I can give you a trigger that works if you are unsure how to do that.

You could also opt the use the upgrade method.

Just make a dummy hero ability making sure it has no effect on the hero. Then give the hero a custom upgrade you make with the healing effect you want. Just set the levels to correspond with the text you'd write on your dummy ability. Then whenever the dummy ability is learned, increase the upgrade level via triggers. Drawback is using upgrades is not reversable.

Umm, since unholy aura isn't an actively used spell, it should not clash. The only reason having two abilities with the same base spell screws up is because they use the same ordercode and the unit will attempt to use both spells when either spell is used. So, as long as you change the buff for each unholy aura spell, it should not clash.

Ahh so the auras wouldnt clash? Thanks I'll do that since i can honestly say im so stupid with triggers id prolly screw things up worse than they were...

Thanks everyone for your help :-D

Well I'm not saying it WON'T clash, I just don't think it will :)

There might still be a problem with overlapping auras not being stackable (like vampiric aura and scourge bone chimes) but I figure if you change the buffs it might work. At most you'd have to make the unholy aura spell affect only other units and this current spell you're working on affect only self.

The two spells work together ^_^

Well one thing is the 2 spells based off each other heal differently...
One increases the heal rate of everyone around the hero
And the other increases the heal rate of the hero only

So that prolly helped make em not clash ^_^;;
Thanks again everyone for your help

hmmmm

The confusing thing about this is that usually (When I use them), item abilities work! they are handy for creatures with weak spells. anyway, a solution could be to somehow make a healing spell passive and constant with no animation. like a rejuvination that lasts forever! im not sure.. but i think its worth a try!