Unit Indexer Spell Template

[Magtheridon96]

• Unit - Create 1 Dummy (Vexorian, Anitarf, Infrane) for Neutral Passive at CenterPoint facing 0.00 degrees

lol (Although I have no idea who Infrane is xD)

This looks pretty good Bribe
Maybe now people would use UnitIndexer more

Btw, After converting UnitIndexer to Jass and implementing it, my systems started running faster (Deprecated AIDS)

 

[Bribe]

lol that is the dummy unit designed by those three guys but the accidental hidden
message here is pretty funny now that I see it

 

[EvilCrizpy]

I use your Unit Indexer for that cloud spiral spell;
But i dont preload the spells;

So was wondering, what does the preload actually do, sorry for being abit empty minded

 

[Bribe]

Preloading the spell prevents lag on the first cast if the spell wasn't already on an
existing here when the map was first loaded. Quite important with the spell is to also
also preload dummy units and the special effects. Now if you do this right the dummy
unit in the map is the last dummy unit you ever need, for anything. The demo map does
not preload the special effect because I wanted to keep things as simple as possible for
users, but any real spell I highly recommend it because it keeps things seamless all
throughout the game.

 

[BlackRangerXIII]

Nice convertion of a UnitIndexer to GUI, Bribe.
Good work
5/5,DC,+rep

 

[EvilCrizpy]

Preloading the spell prevents lag on the first cast if the spell wasn't already on an
existing here when the map was first loaded. Quite important with the spell is to also
also preload dummy units and the special effects. Now if you do this right the dummy
unit in the map is the last dummy unit you ever need, for anything. The demo map does
not preload the special effect because I wanted to keep things as simple as possible for
users, but any real spell I highly recommend it because it keeps things seamless all
throughout the game.

Ohh right; see that makes more sense now,
Cheers for explaining that; when i get chance shall add preload to my Cloud Spiral then,
so its easier for people who are you using your System, to get a better idea of spells.

 

[baassee]

It's usually not the hero spell itself that needs to be preloaded but dummy spells that the triggered spell uses as they might be "added" to the hero. This will 'cause a heavy "first cast lagg" when a dummy ability is added to a unit for the first time and thus added to a dummy unit at first will make it preloaded and safe to use for the next add which might be your hero unit.

EDIT:

I think it's worth to mention that Playable map area in this line will not leak as it's a predefined region. Else way I think this is good enough.

Set CenterPoint = (Center of (Playable map area))

PS to Mag -> Ever tried fixing AIDS? I think I've done it once or twice for my maps although I cannot find it now when I speak about it (And use Nest's UnitIndexer!)

EDIT2:

Are we allowed to upload resources that uses your UnitIndexer Bribe? Maybe I can code GUI again then hehe.

 

[Bribe]

The point "center of map area" leaks, because it creates a new location every time.

Yeah spells can use unit indexer, that's why I made it.

I'm trying to figure out why my current test map is crashing during the load process, can
anyone help me with this?

Current map is now attached.

 

[baassee]

The point "center of map area" leaks, because it creates a new location every time.

Yeah spells can use unit indexer, that's why I made it.

I'm trying to figure out why my current test map is crashing during the load process, can
anyone help me with this?

Current map will be attached in just a moment.

You seem to be tired my friend.

I think it's worth to mention that Playable map area in this line will not leak as it's a predefined region

Crashes whaaaat?

 

[Bribe]

I know the region itself doesn't leak, why would I bother to mention it though?

The map is now attached to that post, I don't have any idea why it is crashing when
I try to load the game. Maybe it has something to do with the preloading I'm doing but
I can't see why.

 

[EvilCrizpy]

I see something;

• Unit - Cause TempUnit to damage TargetUnit, dealing TesterSpell_Damage[ID] damage of attack type Spells and damage type Unknown

Sometimes it is not a good idea to use the tempunit, Lets say the unit is not in sight of the unit; So in the Fog Of War area; sometimes you wont get the exp;
Also; you want the unit to charge to the caster; not away from the dummy unit;
so i would recommend changing it to;

• Unit - Cause TesterSpell_Caster[ID] to damage TargetUnit, dealing TesterSpell_Damage[ID] damage of attack type Spells and damage type Unknown

Also use a different variable in the loop trigger;
Maybe

• Set TempID = (Custom value of (Picked Unit))

 

[baassee]

As new people / un-experienced people might think this is a leak

I'll check it out.

EDIT:

It's not preloading spells part.

EDIT2:

LOL I DISABLED EVERYTHING AND IT STILL CRASHES.

EDIT3:

Restored everything to defaults and it still crashes.

 

[Bribe]

I figured out the crash, it is in Gameplay Constants I set the hero max level so high that
it causes a crash

 

[Magtheridon96]

PS to Mag -> Ever tried fixing AIDS? I think I've done it once or twice for my maps although I cannot find it now when I speak about it (And use Nest's UnitIndexer!)

Actually, I'm using Bribe's UnitIndexer converted to vJASS xD
Nestharus' has LUA scripts (I'm never ever going to use them because once, they made a map of mine unplayable :S)

 

[Bribe]

Keep in mind that GUI Unit Indexer does not deindex units when they are still in the game
so things like "Is Unit Hero", "Level of Unit", "Position of Unit" will not work. Nestharus'
Unit Indexer uses LUA scripts to generate a copy of the "Defend" ability to detect the
moment the unit leaves the game. I use this trick in "Unit Event" you just set an event
where DeathEvent becomes equal to 3.00.

Anyway not to get too much into it, you can avoid Nestharus' mess of LUA scripts by
copy and pasting the defend ability and creating a global constant integer called
ABILITIES_UNIT_INDEXER set to the rawcode of that ability. That's what I had to do
originally with it. Same went for AutoIndex and AIDS, their object mergers were not
working for me.

I am doing a lot more work in GUI lately because of two main reasons: 1) NewGen does
not support the full GUI, so vJass resources are not going to be compatible with GUI
resources, and 2) NewGen does not work with a lot of antivirus software and doesn't
work at all on Macs.

 

[SanKakU]

why gui if almost all of it set variables comments and custom script? gui is ugly and hard to read :/

 

[Bribe]

GUI is easy to read if you know how, same with JASS. Weren't you the guy who
didn't like to indent your code?

Anyway, it's GUI because that means you can automatically create unknown variables
when pasting trigger data - when pasting custom script you don't get that benefit.

 

[Magtheridon96]

Anyway not to get too much into it, you can avoid Nestharus' mess of LUA scripts by
copy and pasting the defend ability and creating a global constant integer called
ABILITIES_UNIT_INDEXER set to the rawcode of that ability. That's what I had to do
originally with it. Same went for AutoIndex and AIDS, their object mergers were not
working for me.

Works for me ^^

 

[Bannar]

Come on, 18 comments already and not even one 5/5 (= Gogo GUI giant.
GUI is easy to read, especialy for guys who are used to GUI. If you are high in War3 programing (vJass) but have problems with foundaments (GUI) - it's shame for you. The graphic user interface was here, and always will be since it's what you see after opening the WE for the first time.

EDIT: Sorry for that 'game' mistake - polish shortcuts :S

 

[Magtheridon96]

game user interface

*graphic user interface

GUI is easy if:
- You know how to clear leaks
- You know how to use variables to increase efficiency
- You know dynamic indexing

Hashtables arent really a must since they're like 8x slower (Not 2x)

 

[Bribe]

Hashtables are a must in GUI because two main reasons: a lot of spells are written using them, and a they are two dimensional indexing which is invaluable for complex data attachment. They are also the only way to store non-local regions, boolexprs, trackables and other things in GUI.

 

[baassee]

The really main issue with spells made with hashtables in GUI is that they require 1hash/spell (if you don't fix this on your own) and a map with lots of triggered spells equals to lots of hashtables

Anyway I'll stop OT now.

 

[Bribe]

Makes sense, baassee, I guess that's one argument for using Unit Indexer. But I still think
it's best for people to use whatever indexing system is preferred for them, Hanky's is the
fastest that I know of, and some people really like using hashtables. My personal opinion
is that using a unit indexer is the most readable way to do it.

 

[baassee]

Yeah of course the user should use whatever they want (except they cannot use standard paladon indexing anymore). Hanky's indexing is really good, so are D4RK_G4ND4LF's it's like struct indexing in vJASS but in GUI (reffering to Dynasti's tutorial, this was before T32 was invented?)

 

[Bribe]

The indexing I did with Unit Indexer is as good as it gets, using perfect struct indexing and
a doubly linked list. That's why I just recommend people to create a dummy unit for each
spell instance instead of doing their own indexing, and also using a unit group instead of
using a stack or linked list of their own. This at least saves you from having to create
the same indexing thing over and over per spell.

 

[Magtheridon96]

"1 Hash/spell"
That's actually why I don't like hashtables in GUI :S
The only workaround is to hard code each and every spell to take data from a certain key range in one hashtable.

 

[Bribe]

That's way too much work to ask for a GUI person, most spells don't even need a
hashtable if Unit Indexer is in the map as it is. If you avoid systems that spam
hashtables then the 255 limit is pretty much unreachable any way.

 

[baassee]

Timeconsuming is the word you seek.

 

[SanKakU]

GUI is easy to read if you know how, same with JASS. Weren't you the guy who
didn't like to indent your code?

Anyway, it's GUI because that means you can automatically create unknown variables
when pasting trigger data - when pasting custom script you don't get that benefit.

i really don't understand your reasoning. you can make the variables easily in vjass. is this meant to be regular war3 editor compatible.

and anyway it's not that i can't read gui....it's just so timeconsuming to read...i don't have that kind of time. i'd rather read vjass or even cjass, much faster to read that stuff.

 

[Bribe]

>> is this meant to be regular war3 editor compatible.

That's exactly it. You just can't expect everyone to have NewGen. A lot of antivirus
stuff has problems with it, and it doesn't even work on Macs.

I also got very tired of the broken pJass parser which doesn't compile things that do
get compiled in normal World Editor.

 

[SanKakU]

to be more specific...macs can't run the new gen editor. that's a pity. i forget about that since i don't own a mac.

 

[RiotApe]

sorry for being a noob, but what exactly does this do? other than helping us make the spells MUI, can you explain how exactly does it help make our spells MUI?

 

[Bribe]

It makes the spells MUI because you create a unique unit for each cast of the spell and adds the units to a group.

Each unit has a unique ID that can be used as array indices.

So when you loop through the group, you will be able to access data specific to each cast of the spell.

It is really strange to explain with words, it would be better with an illustration so I may end up creating one some time. I am just really behind on everything because work, life, many existing projects of mine that need to be updated/completed, etc.

 

[RiotApe]

awesome, please pm when you do upload an illustration or something which can help NOOBS like me to understand more

 

[xIceShotx]

This is highly recommended, i might use it xD, 5/5 + rep]
btw, does this work with spells that has "waits" in it?

 

[Bribe]

You'd use it quite similar to using a hashtable, using waits will still have the same MUI problems as you'd expect.

 

[phuc1570]

MUI=Multi-Units Interface, correct? Kinda spell that conjures a lot of dummies casting a skill/some skills multiple times. The spell can be area effect, single effect but return something special in front of players' eyes?. If I understand it correctly.

 

[Bribe]

It doesn't have to do with spells being AOE or not. MUI = Multiple-unit-instanciability. Means that more than one unit can cast the spell at the same time without your triggers overwriting each others' data.

 

[phuc1570]

Thank you for MUI explanation. So the idea is to get more than one units cast the spell simultaneously.
Conventionally, I made 2-3 orders for 2-3 units casting the spell, let's say
issue unit1 an order1
issue unit2 an order2
They are not casting the same time I guess though there is no TriggerSleepAction. Since there is a sequence in those orders I believe. Is it right your system is used to get rid of this?
One way I know is to get units in region/range (they are under spell effect), issue dummies orders to every picked unit. I issue 2 dummies orders to 4 enermy units in that range, then each dummy will do 4 orders, 8 altogether. Any comment on this?

I don't read through your system at the moment, but I appreciate you could explain the core idea of your system.
Thanks.

 

[Goblintrain]

OMFW!!! I just ruined a months work of work by importing these triggers into my map!

I guess that's what i get for messing with stuff i don't know a damn thing about!

 

[Bribe]

Only the UnitIndexer script was supposed to be imported, the rest were just examples...

 

[FUJI]

So as you said that this is like a hashtable.. saving/loading datas. It only changes the GetHandleId to Custom Value of Unit right???. So this system will make all the GUI MUI Hashtable User like me to be easier and faster in the code??

Is this Unit Indexer is efficient enough??

 

[Rasamayu]

Lets check this