Item Cooldown Visualization

How in the world do you make it so an item that is permanent but has an ability you cast shows its cooldown? The cooldown time works properly - but it does not show the cooldown occuring (so you have no idea when the cooldown is completed).

You can always make a trigger add the other things to the hero when they pick it up/remove when they drop.

That's the only way I know of.

I'm not sure what you mean.

Curiously I have made an potion (with charges) and put it in the same cooldown group and it shows the cooldown properly. Why does the permanent item simply not show a cooldown? It also doesn't show the mana that is needed to use it!

I have noticed that custom usable items sometimes don't show their cooldowns, and it is annoying although by no means debilitating for your map. Out of curiousity, what abilities have you noticed that don't show cooldowns?

In my experience (which is not very extensive, so I may be wrong), items only show the cooldown if the active ability of the item is the first one on the list of the abilities the item has. I know moving the activated ability to the first place in the abilities list worked for me when item's weren't displaying cooldown in my EoW map.

The ability that I was trying to add to an item was the "temporary speed bonus" ability.

I got it to work thanks to Anitarf - evidently it just had to be at the top of the ability list.

Thanks!

We need to have a sticky thread of this sorta stuff, interetsing tidbits that arnt really FAQ worthy but would be extremly useful to many mappers and risk being lost in the depths of time

another example would be...

The Stormcrow-flying-height-through-triggers trick

Wait, wait, what, what? You're right, these things do get lost, I have no idea what that trick is.

I have been copying many interesting things I found on the forums into a word file myself, because I knew I otherwise wouldn't be able to find them again months afterwards. However, I have done so only with big things like tutorials or, a good example, lists of hidden icons/models. I haven't done the same for such little things that you can easily remember; I didn't need to write them down for myself. However, it would be really good for others if I did and put it up in the open somewhere, together with everybody else. The way it is now, I only remeber such interesting facts when somebody specifically asks about them.

Whatever the solution is - is should be searchable. The search option for this forum is not particularrly helpful in finding what you need.

You prolly do know of the trick Anitarf, its the one where if you give a unit storm crow morph (the abilty) and then take it away (through triggers) you can then use triggers to modify that units height above the ground (even if it is a ground unit).

For example. The subject of the trigger is a generic footman with no changes.

Using Animation - Set flying height to 300 at rate 10
Will do nothing

However

Add Ability - Storm Crow Form
Remove Ability - Storm Crow Form
Animation - Set flying height to 300 at rate 10

Will cause the same footman to raise gracefully into the air!

Say, would that work on buildings too?

/me envisions a spell that makes an enemy tower shoot up into the air and explode.
^_^