A couple newbie questions

[Braininthejar]

Well, a single one now. But I will add more in the same place as they appear, to avoid spamming threads.

As you can guess at the title I am pretty much a beginner in this. The most sophisticated things I was able to make so far was some reinforcements coming to the rescue with heroic music when the timer strikes zero or setting portals to act as waypoints (so that the one the hero has most recenly visited gets activated and "paired" with the one in the starting village.)

Now I have been trying to make a small campaign - I wanted to make a two-way connection between maps (like the extra areas in Founding of Durotar)
I have managed to make a "save and change map" trigger and it loads the next map ok.

But when I want to make a "save and load" trigger for the same save filename, it exits to the main campaign screen.

What could I be doing wrong? ( I have checked for typos. I think there must be something in the basic principles that I am missing)

Perhaps there is a tutorial for that here somewhere? most of what I could find here that related to the topic was "how to put heroes into caches".

 

[Braininthejar]

Hmm... questions get answered and mine slides down the line. I guess I could have picked a more catchy title. Or is my question unlcear / difficult ?

 

[GunSlinger]

im guessing unclear

 

[Braininthejar]

So, to put it differently:

Question 1

I am looking for a way to get characters between maps that would work both ways, allowing a character to "enter a dungeon" and then return to the map he came from and continue his adventure there.(the FrozenThrone bonus campaign contains many of these) There are tutorials here but there are hundreds of them - could someone point me to the right one? Or perhaps someone is able to explain it here on the spot?

Question 2

I have been trying to make a custom ability, to have my character summon a monster to his aid. I used the beastmaster's "summon bear" ability and worked from there. I created a custom monster and made the ability summon it.

However, when the monster summons and I select it, there is a "time remaining" blue bar in its stats (like with all summoned units) and it still sais "Bear". - How can I edit it?

 

[GunSlinger]

Question 1:
try saving the unit in a game cache.
Question 2:
trigger it:

• Untitled Trigger 001
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Finishes casting an ability
  • Conditions
    • (Ability being cast) Equal to Name of ability
  • Actions
    • Unit - Create 1 Unit for (Owner of (Triggering unit)) at (Position of (Triggering unit)) facing Default building facing degrees

 

[Braininthejar]

1 So I really am not clear. moving a hero between maps is a separate issue that I will tackle tonight. My question is:

I can set a trigger in map A that activates map B. This one is simple.
I can make a trigger in map B that sends me to map A but that starts it from the beginning.
So - I am looking for a way to save and restore map A so that when I "return" from map B I can continue from where I left off?

2 So, there is no way of getting rid of the original summon's name from the progress bar? It has to be done through triggers?

 

[Braininthejar]

Yay, found the solution to problem 2 by myself - to change the name displayed on the progress bar, one needs to edit the 'buff' associated with the summoning. Its such little accomplishments that I am in this for.

Still, problem 1 remains. Anyone ?

 

[watermelon_1234]

I haven't actually tried to make this before, but I think this tutorial will help.

 

[Braininthejar]

Thanks for your help. I have made a lot of progress today.

So the, another question:

Creating new abilities. the active ones have been easy so far.

But now I have been trying to make a passive one and got stuck. What I am trying to achieve is an ability that gives the unit a passive life drain (healing it by a percentage of the damage it causes) with some aura-like visual effect around it.

preferrably through abilities rather than triggers

 

[watermelon_1234]

You could use Vampiric Aura and edit the ability to give the unit a special effect. Make sure to set the Targets Allowed field to self. Note that you need to edit the Art - Target fields in the ability, not the buff for the visual effect. This will only work if the unit is a melee unit.

Alternatively, you could use the Item Life Steal ability. Note that this is an orb effect though so it won't stack with other orb effects like Envenomed Weapons. (I'm not sure if Vampiric Aura is also an orb effect as well.) I think this ability also changes the missile for ranged units though I'm not sure if that can be removed.

Both abilities heal on damage dealt by attacks, not spells. You'll probably need to trigger it if you want healing from both attacks and spells.

 

[Braininthejar]

Projectiles won't be nessessary - I am trying to make a Diablo II blood golem ( a shrunk, red-tinted mountain giant, with a water elemental soundset for an occassional wet sound and a modified buff that makes him burst into gore when the summoning effect ends).

Now I need some way for it to heal its master. I have been looking for a way to "cast from hitpoints" - so that he can heal by hurting himself. But perhaps using the tauren "spirit link" will be simpler...

 

[Braininthejar]

Fun fact - special abilities partaining to life force (such as vampiric aura and spirit link) don't work on self-inflicted wounds.

Anyway, I tried the orb version and it works, though it displays neither the skill icon nor the visual effect I tried to implement. While I am spending my evening on this delightful puzzle, I have a question - is it actually possible to pay for abilities with life rather than mana?

 

[-SoulBurn]

There's an edit button on your posts

is it actually possible to pay for abilities with life rather than mana?

With triggers, yes.

Projectiles won't be nessessary - I am trying to make a Diablo II blood golem ( a shrunk, red-tinted mountain giant, with a water elemental soundset for an occassional wet sound and a modified buff that makes him burst into gore when the summoning effect ends).

As long as i remember, in Diablo 2 your golem had no lifespan (lived 'till death). You can base you summoning ability on "Misha" from beastmaster then. It summons a unit with endless lifespan and limits the number of summoned units to 1.

 

[Braininthejar]

Edit: found the solution myself, making the question embarassing. post deleted.