Spell Editing (with Abilitydata.slk)

Import it the same way you exported it with your mpq editor.

Sup. As most of you probably know, with 1.04, AbilityData.slk was put into war.mpq file (i think it was that one anyways... im not sure cuz i already extracted it). With it you can change data, ie make holy bolt do 5000000 damage and whatnot... and i saw a map where the size of blizzard was changed to very huge and the cost of blizzard changed to 1. (Here is a link to a thread where it can be downloaded) I was wondering how you apply an slk file to a specific map... information would help me and others im sure a lot. :D

AbilityData.slk has been inside of War3.mpq since the beginning, its nothing new. Its just new that we're able to place it inside a map to override any patches.

when you open up the file (Microsoft Excel) just scroll down to Holy Light then scroll right. You will see little red arrows, these are pointer tips. One of them shows you the Healing it does. Set that do whatever you want, I'm not too sure there's a limit but set it something easy like 2000-5000-8000 for each level. Follow the red arrows.

Save it, then import it into the map of your choice. Now you can try out Holy Light. Now, if you edit the map and saved after importing the AbilityData.slk then the imported file will be erased and you have to do it again.

awesome, thanks. maybe im dumb, but i have no idea how to import it into the map, i tried going into the map and doing "import strings" and then forcing it to import an slk but that had absolutely no effect...

ok... thx... now i need to find an mpq editor that imports... by the way, do i open up the map with the mpq editor or what? i dont really have an idea where to start...

U can get winmpq or mpq2k, thats the best.

awesome! i got it to work perfectly now except for where my changes dont take effect sometimes for some reason... im sure ill figure it out

thanks for helpin me out and puttin up with my dumbassness guys

Where do i find AbilityData.slk at? Could someone post a copy

i know this is repetitive, but could someone teach me how, step by step, to edit spells? when i open up war3.mpq all i get is gibberish. thx in advance

Z-Z get MPQView and open war3.mpq and find abilitydata.slk and export it.

ixidor: Theres already a lot of spell guides out there.

But i guess i can write down a quick guide...

[glow=strength=10,color=Green]Spell Editing for beginners[/glow]

Some programs to get:
MPQView
MPQ2k or some other MPQ program
Warcraft III?
Excel (good to have, u can use other programs that works the same way too)

---===Getting files===---

1. Open up MPQView and open archive war3.mpq (its in your WC3
folder)

2. Set filter to .txt and get the files:

Humanabilityfunc.txt
Humanabilitystrings.txt
Nightelfabilityfunc.txt
Nightelfabilitystrings.txt
Orcabilityfunc.txt
Orcabilitystrings.txt
Undeadabilitystrings.txt
Undeadabilityfunc.txt

3. Set filter to .slk and get Abilitydata.slk too.

All the txt files decides the graphics and name of the spells and with the abilitydata.slk u can change for example damage etc.

First off: Decide what spell to edit and open up the files that is connected to it (for example the starfall spell is a Nightelf spell so open up Nightelfabilityfunc.txt and Nightelfabilitystrings.txt) and abilitydata.slk

Lets say we edit the holy light spell. Start with opening up Humanabilityfunc.txt Humanabilitystrings.txt and abilitydata.slk

In the Humanabilityfunc.txt you can see this:

// Holy Light
[AHhb]
Art=ReplaceableTextures\CommandButtons\BTNHolyBolt.blp
Researchart=ReplaceableTextures\CommandButtons\BTNHolyBolt.blp
Buttonpos=0,2
Researchbuttonpos=0,0
Targetart=Abilities\Spells\Human\HolyBolt\HolyBoltSpecialArt.mdl
Order=holybolt

//Holy Light= Spells name.
Art= this is what button that will be used for this spell
Researchart= Same.
Buttonpos= This is where the spell button is when your hero got the skill. For example 0,2 will be
[ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][X][ ][ ] at the X (assuming that is where all the buttons is ingame.)
Researchbuttonpos= Dont bother.
Targetart= This is what art the spell will have on the target.
Order= Dont bother here either.

So type in whatever u want here, whatever u want to change.
Now open up abilitydata.slk and scroll down until you find the holy light spell. There wil be a looot of numbers here but just look around and u will find out what to do. There are small red pointers there, they are tips. This is the funny part, here you can edit the damage, level requirment and everything, almost. In this spell the damage done and damage healed are the same, so if you type 600 in the damage cell then the damage healed on living units will be 600.

In the Humanabilitystrings.txt you can edit áll the things that will appear in the tooltip, so edit whatever u want here too.

And lastly, make a new map with a lvl10 Paladin in the middle and some skeletons nearby and save it and paste it in your MPQ2K folder for example. (this only applies for mpq2k, i think that ones the best.) make a new folder in your MPQ2k folder named Units. Put all your edited files there (the Humanabilityfunc.txt, Humanabilitystrings.txt and Abilitydata.slk)

Now you have you have to implant your edited files into your map.

Open up a DOS prompt (in XP choose Start>Run and type cmd) and go to your MPQ2k folder. Type
mpq2k.exe a yourmapname.w3m Units\*.*

Now run your map, and test your spell. Hope it works! Some things to remember:
Do not have spaces in your map name when using MPQ2k.
Do not save your map after the files have been added, if you do you have to add them again by typing as above.

Email: [email protected]

thx!!

Glad i can help.

Ok. I am on XP and i type CMD and whatever. Now do I Just enter my folder my double clicking or Do i type something to goto the MPQ2K folder? And I forgot the what the line ment some.

C:>Mpq2k\Mpq2k = To locate where mpq2k is.

C:>Mpq2k\Mpq2k a = Adding or Replacing.

C:>Mpq2k\Mpq2k a DF9999Obsticle.w3m. = Map of my name but i am not sure if i need it to put it in to the mpq2k folder along with other files.

C:>Mpq2k\Mpq2k a DF9999Obsticle.w3m DemonHeadhunter.blp(Am i suppose to put it blp or what?) File that is being import.

C:>Mpq2k\Mpq2k a DF9999Obsticle.w3m DemonHeadhunter.blp Units\Demon\DemonHeadhunter\ And This is what i dunno.

Can someone really try put this together so i can copy it and put it in my map?

ok i found every thing and i know how to put it in game but on the AbilityData.slk i dont have excel and if i open it with note pad it looks like this

C;Y1;X1;AABond: :Allows for duplicate entries of an ability with different spell data.
C;X2;AABond: :Defines the class ID that determines the general behavior of the ability.
C;X3;AABond: :Specifies the code used to look up tooltips & art.
C;X4;AFGilson: :Put the Hero name and the ability name here
C;X5;AAvailable for use in editor? :
C;X6;ABwood: :Hero ability?
C;X7;ABwood: :Item ability?
C;X8;AArbitrary text to determine display order in editor
C;X9;AABond: :Signifies whether any research dependency checks are performed. Set to 1 for player abilities and 0 for creep abilities.
C;X10;AFGilson: :number of levels ability has, limit of 3
C;X11;AFGilson: :what level a Hero can first purchase the ability
C;X12;AFPearce: :The target types this ability can target.
C;X13;AFGilson: :in seconds
C;X14;AFGilson: :in seconds
C;X15;AFGilson: :in seconds
C;X16;AFGilson: :in seconds
C;Y2;X14;ADLawrence: :Duration, in seconds, of each wave.
C;X15;ADLawrence: :Duration, in seconds, of each wave.
C;X16;AFGilson: :this cooldown sets, with cast time, when in the continuous cycle of waves the next can go
C;X18;ADLawrence: :Area of effect, at first level.
C;X20;ADLawrence: :Number of waves, at first level
C;X21;ADLawrence: :Damage per wave, at first level.
C;X22;ADLawrence: :Number of shards per wave, at first level