Turn a stand/death graphic into a passive graphic for channeling?

Hi, i have a channeling spell that i have modified to put a graphic like "Abilities\Spells\Undead\Unsummon\UnsummonTarget.mdl" on a unit.. however when i stop channeling the spell the graphic doesn't stop at the same time and i've noticed that this seems to happen with all graphics that have a Stand/Death animation rather than ones that have only one animation.. such as starfall's effect animation.. which stays only as long as the channeling goes on.

with using other animations, they stop according to how long their STand animation plays for.. so what i'm wondering is.. how do i change this to the same kind of animation of starfall .. so i'd be able to stop it playing the instant the spell stops..?

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ok.. nm about there being a difference in channeling spells not having death/birth animations.. just checked again to be sure..

so what makes an animation looping as long as a spell is in effect compared to other graphics/arts that disapear only after being played once...?

okay i heard from someone something about editing the mdl to take out some command called 'nonlooping'... what is this and how do i get to it. i know nothing of mdl... how do i edit this? what program i need? where do i find out how to take out 'nonlooping'?

uh.. does editing mdl's mean anyone can play my map still on bnet or what? will this increase filesize much?

Questions involving mdl's are probably best posted in the modelling section of these forums. As to increasing file size - well it shouldn't do much, cause you'll see if you look around the modelling and animation forums that mdls are just models - each and every unit and their spells and missiles have an mdl. When you have created the new model, you'll just have to import it into your map - so it won't affect playability on battlenet per se. Maps like DotA and ToB include many custom models.

Asking in that forum may help if what you have heard is indeed correct.

At best guess, cause by no means am I an expert at modelling, you'll probably need Yobgul's File Converter - Oinkerwinkle has a tutorial in the modelling and anim forums that has links to all the files that you'll ever need for modelling. You'll need an extractor as well.

I'm guessing that after extracting the model in question from the war3.mpq archive, eg with an mpq editor or something, it is in mdx form. Using the file conversion program you convert it to mdl and then you can open it as a txt doc. Then you can make your change.

Hope that helps.

yeah, thanks a lot. now i'm heading in right direction.