Advanced Ability Animations

[Bribe]

This would probably make more sense as something that inserts into Spell System, to avoid having to configure two separate things for spells. If you want, I could add some //! runtextmacro optional statements inside of Spell System, like I did with Damage Engine, to allow your system to be optionally supported and integrated.

 

[Uncle]

This would probably make more sense as something that inserts into Spell System, to avoid having to configure two separate things for spells. If you want, I could add some //! runtextmacro optional statements inside of Spell System, like I did with Damage Engine, to allow your system to be optionally supported and integrated.

Sounds good to me, I don't really have much attachment to this, it's quite simple after all.

 

[stalkerfox]

Thank you so much for making this GUI friendly! <3

 

[Devalut]

Insanely useful!

 

[Antares]

An option to pass the animation type either by string or by index would be great. While index gives you more control, it is also more cumbersome in a case where a string would suffice.

I expected the mana to get deducted when the cast sequence starts, since that's the case with Flamestrike. Adding back the mana cost to the Holy Light in the test map would clarify that. It might also be worth noting in the documentation that a spell cast this way cannot be aborted with a movement command until it is finished.

Since the AAA__Cast_Time variable should match the Casting Time field of the ability, you should be able to remove it and retrieve the casting time with BlzGetAbilityRealLevelField(abi, ABILITY_RLF_CASTING_TIME, GetUnitAbilityLevel(caster, abilityId) - 1).

A pure JASS register function would be nice to have.


A nice light-weight system to give more control over spell animations and cast duration.

Approved.

 

[xorkatoss]

bro I was not expecting this



nice little system, definitely unique.

 

[Aldeia]

Noticed a little bug.
- If adding an "Alternate" tag to the unit. Then casting a spell tied to the system -> it will move the unit in his non-alternate form after the cast.

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Can be fixed by ordering the unit to move to his own position after finishing the cast (this way the alternate animation will re-cast itself after the spell is finished - maybe something like this could be implemented into the system where you can give the creator an option to set a variable is the spell is using alternate animations - to order the unit to move to his own position after cast - or something in this lines.

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I also don't understand how to make use of the spell efficiently in my case.
So i have a heal - it is casted instantly by default - but i want to play a custom animation when casting it - and i don't really understand how to do it.

 

[Uncle]

Noticed a little bug.
- If adding an "Alternate" tag to the unit. Then casting a spell tied to the system -> it will move the unit in his non-alternate form after the cast.

---

Can be fixed by ordering the unit to move to his own position after finishing the cast (this way the alternate animation will re-cast itself after the spell is finished - maybe something like this could be implemented into the system where you can give the creator an option to set a variable is the spell is using alternate animations - to order the unit to move to his own position after cast - or something in this lines.

---

I also don't understand how to make use of the spell efficiently in my case.
So i have a heal - it is casted instantly by default - but i want to play a custom animation when casting it - and i don't really understand how to do it.

Thanks for pointing this out, I just fixed it in the latest update (1.3). I've added 4 new variables which are meant to address the problem.

The first 3 variables are alternate versions of the animation index, duration, and cast time variables:
AAA__Anim_Index_Alt
AAA__Anim_Duration_Alt
AAA__Cast_Time_Alt

These are optional and can be registered along with the original variables. When your unit has the "alternate" tag it will use the values provided by these instead, allowing you to have two sets of animations per Ability (standard and alternate).

The last variable is an Ability Code called AAA__Alt_Ability which must be added/removed along with the "alternate" animation tag. For example:

• AAA Demo Add Tag To Demon Hunter
  • Events
    • Player - Player 1 (Red) types a chat message containing add as An exact match
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • -------- Tell the AAA system that this Unit has the "alternate" tag: --------
    • Animation - Add the alternate animation tag to Demon Hunter 0006 <gen>
    • Unit - Add AAA__Alt_Ability to Demon Hunter 0006 <gen>

• AAA Demo Remove Tag From Demon Hunter
  • Events
    • Player - Player 1 (Red) types a chat message containing remove as An exact match
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • -------- Tell the AAA system that this Unit no longer has the "alternate" tag: --------
    • Animation - Remove the alternate animation tag to Demon Hunter 0006 <gen>
    • Unit - Remove AAA__Alt_Ability from Demon Hunter 0006 <gen>

I rely on this custom ability to detect that the unit has the "alternate" tag. Unfortunately, there's no native way to do this or I would have simply done something like this in my code: If unit has "alternate" tag Equal to True.

Although, I suppose this approach is more flexible since the "alternate" tag isn't even necessary to get access to the alternate animation.

 

[Uncle]

I meant to do this sooner and completely forgot... Part of the reason why I avoid uploading resources.
Anyway, I updated the map to v1.4 which should cover just about everything.

An option to pass the animation type either by string or by index would be great. While index gives you more control, it is also more cumbersome in a case where a string would suffice.

Makes sense, I added the AAA__Anim_String and AAA__Anim_String_Alt variables which allow this behavior. They will be used if an integer Index is not provided.

I expected the mana to get deducted when the cast sequence starts, since that's the case with Flamestrike. Adding back the mana cost to the Holy Light in the test map would clarify that. It might also be worth noting in the documentation that a spell cast this way cannot be aborted with a movement command until it is finished.

The mana cost being paid during the "Starts the effect of an ability" stage is the default behavior that I think a user would expect. That's the case for 99% of abilities. I'll add a note though. I'll also add a note about the cancelling issue - which I can't seem to fix. The caster won't even fire a Point order during the "Begins channeling" phase so I can't detect and override the behavior. The user can still issue a Stop order to interrupt the cast, which may actually be preferred, I just wish I could allow both methods for cancelling.

Since the AAA__Cast_Time variable should match the Casting Time field of the ability, you should be able to remove it and retrieve the casting time with BlzGetAbilityRealLevelField(abi, ABILITY_RLF_CASTING_TIME, GetUnitAbilityLevel(caster, abilityId) - 1).

Yeah, I was originally going to do this but decided against it for whatever reason. I deleted the Cast_Time variables and added this functionality.

A pure JASS register function would be nice to have.

I added two new functions, AAA_Register() and AAA_Register_Alt(). These avoid the need for the GUI variables. A pure Jass user could get rid of all of the GUI related stuff if they modified the code and deleted the variables in the Trigger Editor.

 

[Antares]

Good changes! I would expect nothing less from a Triple-A system!

 

[Uncle]

I also don't understand how to make use of the spell efficiently in my case.
So i have a heal - it is casted instantly by default - but i want to play a custom animation when casting it - and i don't really understand how to do it.

Apologies for glossing over this and responding so late. Are you by any chance still struggling with the system? I go into great detail in the description above (see requirements, HOW TO USE THE SYSTEM, and the preview image). If you provide more details then I could probably come up with a solution.

Note that a truly "instant" ability like Berserk will NOT work with this system nor should it. If you wanted something like Berserk to play an animation then you can accomplish that pretty easily:

• Berserk Animation
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
    • (Ability being cast) Equal to Berserk
  • Actions
    • Animation - Play (Triggering unit)'s death animation

Note that this animation will be interrupted if your unit takes any action or is already in the middle of an action like moving/attacking.

I don't think this is what you're talking about, though.