Adding hero abilities

[Wow_WhatANoob]

Okay, I'm trying to figure out how to add learnable hero abilities for a Hero Builder-type map.

I can't find anything to make them actually learnable though. Using Unit - Add Ability just adds the ability at level 1 and doesn't make it increasable. Enfo's Team Survival did it though, so there's either some way to make it learnable, or fake it well enough that it seems like the real thing. Unfortunately, being a "protected" map and all, I can't figure out how they did it. The most I can figure out from the JASS script is that they Add Ability is used for SOMETHING involved with adding it.

Ideas anyone?

 

[Angelusz]

Well, i'd use another trigger, which allows you to change the availability of certain abilities.

I'm not sure where it is in the editor (can't open my editor atm) but there's a trigger which lets you enable/disable abilities and upgrades.
Go find out

 

[Wow_WhatANoob]

I thought of that, except the maximum number of hero abilities that I can set for a single unit is 5, so I couldn't just add a bunch and then enable. Judging by some typecodes from the w3a and some variable names, I'm guessing it uses Engineering Upgrade somehow, which would explain the 4-slot limit, but I'm still not sure...

 

[Panto]

Well, it won't show up on the learning submenu, but if you make a multi-level unit ability and add it to the unit, you can set its level using the new Unit - Set Level of ability for Unit actions.

The reason that adding the hero ability to the hero with the Add action doesn't allow you to level it is that it's being added as a unit-style ability.

To expand on that a bit, hero abilities can be added as Unit abilities in the Unit Abilities field, and vice versa. The game will treat anything in the Hero Abilities field of the unit in the object editor as a learnable hero ability. This is because the only physical difference between these abilities is how the game decides to use them. And, unfortunately, there's no action to add an ability to a unit that is considered to be a hero ability, and therefore there's no way to make it show up in the learning submenu.

 

[Angelusz]

Well, it won't show up on the learning submenu, but if you make a multi-level unit ability and add it to the unit, you can set its level using the new Unit - Set Level of ability for Unit actions.

The reason that adding the hero ability to the hero with the Add action doesn't allow you to level it is that it's being added as a unit-style ability.

To expand on that a bit, hero abilities can be added as Unit abilities in the Unit Abilities field, and vice versa. The game will treat anything in the Hero Abilities field of the unit in the object editor as a learnable hero ability. This is because the only physical difference between these abilities is how the game decides to use them. And, unfortunately, there's no action to add an ability to a unit that is considered to be a hero ability, and therefore there's no way to make it show up in the learning submenu.

points finger at Dota, i've got an unprotected version of dota 5.xxx i'll see what i can find in there for ya.

 

[Eusira]

I have it too. It's version 5.5. If it is protected, it is still quite vulnerable and I have cracked it with WinMPQ. Otherwise, Panto is completely right. Just make triggers to check like every X levels. But ripping map ideas are bad unless you create some of your own

 

[Angelusz]

I have it too. It's version 5.5. If it is protected, it is still quite vulnerable and I have cracked it with WinMPQ. Otherwise, Panto is completely right. Just make triggers to check like every X levels. But ripping map ideas are bad unless you create some of your own

ripping ideas = bad
looking at how something is done to understand the mechanism = good

 

[Wow_WhatANoob]

points finger at Dota, i've got an unprotected version of dota 5.xxx i'll see what i can find in there for ya.

I have it too, but DotA simply has certain learnable abilities create other unit-type abilities.

I know other methods can be used to set the level of the skills, I had one all set up, but I recently played Hero Builder Team Survival, and it actually had selected skills learnable exactly like real hero abilities, because as far as I can tell, they WERE real hero abilities.

HBTS appears to use Engineering Upgrade somehow (judging by the var names in the .j file, and seeing the EU base code several times in the .w3a file), and I'm suspecting it basically adds it as a unit ability to convert base hero skills (i.e. skills that only exist to be "upgraded") into actual useful hero skills.

Of course, this also restricts it to a slot-based system where spells can't be completely mixed-and-matched (without making 5 sets of identical EUs), so I'm still trying to figure out if something better is possible. I'm also wondering why it doesn't actually show an EU icon, unless there's a way to make it not appear.

And of course, if not, figure out an efficient way of handling the skill upgrades, since I want them to be customizable and chosen, not auto-upgraded. I'll use a dialog-based system if needed, but obviously I'd rather go for the real thing.

But ripping map ideas are bad unless you create some of your own

I know that. As far as I'm concerned, ideas will be stolen whether they can be stolen verbatim (i.e. copying it out of the map) or stolen in concept and remade. I had already laid out the groundwork for the skill/learning system, but if it's possible to make it all work nearly identical to the real deal, I'm going for it.

As for creating some of my own, I'm planning to mix together several map themes (hybrid hero builder/AoS with an emphasis on defense building to add entrenchment and siege to the mix) to create something new and interesting, because if I don't.... well, then the map just sucks and no one will play it anyway.