I've taken a different approach on this one, to be honest. I don't know exactly how familiar you are with triggers or programming in general, but I ended up using a hashtable in order to make it work. I believe that's the easiest way to achieve this.
I'd like to explain a few things about variables in general, then introduce you to the hashtable. Later, it's going to be easier to understand the rest of the triggers.
ARRAYS:
As you may know, a variable is capable of storing a value for you until you overwrite it with another, or simply setting it to null.
-
-------- I'm going to be using an integer data type from now on --------
-
Set Score = 0
-
-------- Then, I'll increase its value every time I kill an enemy unit --------
-
Set Score = (Score + 1)
-
-------- However, this way is quite hard to work with variables for multiple players, --------
-
-------- because I don't want to create a new variable with the same purpose just for another player --------
-
Set ScoreP1 = 0
-
Set ScoreP2 = 0
-
-------- It would be a pain in the #&*% to work with them like that.
Now, you need to do such task - Increase and store a value for each player whenever a certain event fires. What do you do? Generally, you would just go to the variable editor and create an array variable.
-
Set Score[X] = 0
Pretend that the variable
Score[X] will store the amount of enemy units killed by a player (
X is the number of a player).
-
Score
-
Events
-
Conditions
-
((Triggering unit) belongs to an enemy of (Owner of (Killing unit))) Equal to True
-
Actions
-
Set Score[(Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit)))] = (Score[(Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit)))] + 1)
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-------- If I were to use a leaderboard or multiboard, it would be easy to know how many units have been killed by a player --------
Now, what If I were to store the amount of kills and deaths of a specific player in the same variable?
I'd need a 2D array variable, i.e.:
-
Set Score[x][y] = z
With it, I can map it like this:
-
Set Score[PlayerNumber][0] = value
-
Set Score[PlayerNumber][1] = value
Where [0] could be used for counting the number of kills, and [1] for deaths. This way, you can control your data easily instead of creating 2 different array variables for this purpose. Unfortunately, Warcraft 3 does not support 2D array (matrices). Even though, there are people out there with a cool trick where you simulate a 2D array, but this is not what we want for now.
With all that info in mind, I can now talk about the hashtable:
HASHTABLE:
A hashtable is like a 2D array variable, but it can also store many different data types (integer, real, boolean, unit, special effect, etc...) at once.
In Warcraft 3, you need to initialize a hashtable before you can use it. People generally initialize a hashtable as soon as the map finishes loading.
-
Hashtable - Create a hashtable
-
Set variable_Hashtable = (Last created hashtable)
This is how a hashtable looks like in GUI whenever you want to store a value in it:
The very first value is the number that you want to save in your hashtable. The
second and third values are basically 2D array - I'll tell you something else about them later [
*].
-
Hashtable - Save 0 as 1 of 1 in Hashtable
-
-------- which is the same as --------
-
Set Integer[1][1] = 0
Now that you know how to store an integer value in a hashtable, I'll tell you how to load that value whenever you want to use it:
As you can see, whenever you want to use a value stored in a hashtable, you use the
Hashtable - Load... function.
Now, I'll store the player kills and give them 50 gold as soon as they slay 10 enemy units:
-
Score
-
Events
-
Conditions
-
((Triggering unit) belongs to an enemy of (Owner of (Killing unit))) Equal to True
-
Actions
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of (Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit))) from Hashtable) + 1) as 0 of (Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit))) in Hashtable
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(Load 0 of (Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit))) from Hashtable) Equal to 10
-
Then - Actions
-
Player - Add 50 to (Owner of (Killing unit)) Current gold
-
Else - Actions
Which is the same as:
-
Score
-
Events
-
Conditions
-
((Triggering unit) belongs to an enemy of (Owner of (Killing unit))) Equal to True
-
Actions
-
Set Score[(Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit)))][0] = (Score[(Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit)))][0] + 1)
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
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If - Conditions
-
Score[(Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit)))][0] Equal to 10
-
Then - Actions
-
Player - Add 50 to (Owner of (Killing unit)) Current gold
-
Else - Actions
Unfortunately, both codes look like a real mess, and I didn't even need to add many actions for that. Since the braces of an array [ ] and the last two values of a hashtable only accept integer data, we can take advantage of that and use a temporary integer variable in order to organize the code a little bit. Another cool thing is that we are not going to be repeating ourselves by simply calling that function once.
-
Score
-
Events
-
Conditions
-
((Triggering unit) belongs to an enemy of (Owner of (Killing unit))) Equal to True
-
Actions
-
Set killer = (Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit)))
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of killer from Hashtable) + 1) as 0 of killer in Hashtable
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(Load 0 of killer from Hashtable) Equal to 10
-
Then - Actions
-
Player - Add 50 to (Owner of (Killing unit)) Current gold
-
Else - Actions
Which is the same as:
-
Score
-
Events
-
Conditions
-
((Triggering unit) belongs to an enemy of (Owner of (Killing unit))) Equal to True
-
Actions
-
Set killer = (Player number of (Owner of (Killing unit)))
-
Set Score[killer][0] = (Score[killer][0] + 1)
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
Score[killer][0] Equal to 10
-
Then - Actions
-
Player - Add 50 to (Owner of (Killing unit)) Current gold
-
Else - Actions
Now you can save and load data from your hashtable. It works the same way for the other data types too (unit, special effect, point, destructible, real, boolean, etc...).
THE MAGIC:
The best thing about hashtable is that you can combine it with another function which returns the
unique id of every handle present in the game.
You may be wondering now: What's a handle? A handle is, basically, any object present in your map; It's a data type that all objects (other data types) are derived from. Here's a small list of handles:
- unit
- item
- destructible
- special effect
- lightning
- point/location
- and many more.
This list of mine is really small if compared to all existent handles. You can find a complete list
here.
It's even possible to declare a new handle variable and do this:
-
Set varHandle = (Triggering Unit)
All right, straight to the point:
As I've mentioned: Every object in the game has a unique id. You can take advantage of that, and use it in a hashtable. By doing that, you won't interfere another value present in a hashtable, which might belong to another handle.
In GUI, some map-makers would do this to get the handle id of a unit:
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Score
-
Events
-
Conditions
-
((Triggering unit) belongs to an enemy of (Owner of (Killing unit))) Equal to True
-
Actions
-
Set varHandle = (Killing unit)
-
-------- Increment +1 for the killing unit in the hashtable --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of (Key varHandle) from Hashtable) + 1) as 0 of (Key varHandle) in Hashtable
The function in the hashtable that gets the handle id is here:
(Key varHandle)
The problem with this is that you're always calling the function that gets the handle id of a unit every time you use it in a hashtable. Personally, even if I'm creating anything in GUI, I would store the unique id in an integer variable, and then use it in the hashtable - It won't be calling the same function multiple times.
-
Actions
-
Set HandleID = (Key (Killing unit))
-
-------- Increment +1 for the killing unit in the hashtable --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of HandleID from Hashtable) + 1) as 0 of HandleID in Hashtable
Cool, now that we have used a handle id in order to store some value in our hashtable, we need to obtain the same handle id later. Otherwise, we won't get the desired value when we need it. As for the units, you can add them to a Unit Group, and then use it to get the handle id as soon as you want to.
Consider the following example: A unit will be healed 3 times within some duration when it kills an enemy unit. Every time the unit is healed, it needs to wait 1.5 second for the next instance.
Trigger A:
-
UnitKills
-
Events
-
Conditions
-
((Triggering unit) belongs to an enemy of (Owner of (Killing unit))) Equal to True
-
Actions
-
Set Unit = (Killing unit)
-
Set HandleID = (Key (Killing unit))
-
-------- If you're wondering: "Why are you using "Picked Unit" again?" --------
-
-------- Because GUI is bullshit. I can't select any other variable (that's not a handle data type) whenever I'm in a handle function parameter --------
-
-------- But you can use the custom script, and get the handle id through it --------
-
Custom script: set udg_HandleID = GetHandleId(udg_Unit)
-
-------- Check if loop trigger is turned off. If so, turn it on. --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(HealKillers <gen> is on) Equal to False
-
Then - Actions
-
Trigger - Turn on HealKillers <gen>
-
Else - Actions
-
-------- I'm adding the number of instances that will heal the killer later (3) --------
-
Hashtable - Save 3 as 0 of HandleID in Hashtable
-
-------- And also some interval between instances so that the unit won't receive all instances at once --------
-
Hashtable - Save 1.50 as 1 of HandleID in Hashtable
-
-------- If killing unit is in the group, that means it is regenerating life already. --------
-
-------- Then, I'll avoid attaching a second special effect to it in order to not cause any memory leak. --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(Unit is in UnitGroup) Equal to False
-
Then - Actions
-
Unit Group - Add Unit to UnitGroup
-
Special Effect - Create a special effect attached to the chest of Unit using Abilities\Spells\NightElf\Rejuvenation\RejuvenationTarget.mdl
-
Hashtable - Save Handle Of(Last created special effect) as 2 of HandleID in Hashtable
-
Else - Actions
Trigger B:
-
HealKillers
-
Events
-
Time - Every 0.50 seconds of game time
-
Conditions
-
Actions
-
-------- Check if group is not empty. If it's empty, turn off this trigger --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(UnitGroup is empty) Equal to True
-
Then - Actions
-
Trigger - Turn off HealKillers <gen>
-
Skip remaining actions
-
Else - Actions
-
-------- Loop/Enumerate --------
-
Unit Group - Pick every unit in UnitGroup and do (Actions)
-
Loop - Actions
-
Set Unit = (Picked unit)
-
Set HandleID = (Key (Picked unit))
-
-------- If the number of instances is greater than 0 --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(Load 0 of HandleID from Hashtable) Greater than 0
-
Then - Actions
-
-------- If the interval is greater than 0, the unit should wait until it's equal to 0, so we can heal the unit --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(Load 1 of HandleID from Hashtable) Greater than 0.00
-
Then - Actions
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 1 of HandleID from Hashtable) - 0.50) as 1 of HandleID in Hashtable
-
Else - Actions
-
-------- Reset interval --------
-
Hashtable - Save 1.50 as 1 of HandleID in Hashtable
-
-------- Decrease the number of instances --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of HandleID from Hashtable) - 1) as 0 of HandleID in Hashtable
-
-------- Increase killer life --------
-
Unit - Set life of Unit to ((Life of Unit) + 25.00)
-
Else - Actions
-
-------- There's no more instance left. Remove the unit from the group --------
-
Special Effect - Destroy (Load 2 of HandleID in Hashtable)
-
Unit Group - Remove Unit from UnitGroup
-
Hashtable - Clear all child hashtables of child HandleID in Hashtable
* Remember when I said I would talk about
those 2 values of the hashtable? Well, you have to be careful with them. In GUI, the
first one is considered as the "child", and the
second one is considered as the "parent".
"What's that for?"
Well, after you're done using a handle in a hashtable, their data will still remain there. Then, you can use a function that clears that "branch" up from the hashtable.
-
Hashtable - Clear all child hashtables of child HandleID in Hashtable
It takes the HandleID and will remove every data related to it that you stored in the hashtable.
That's it for the hashtable. I hope you have a better understanding about it.
All right, I will try to explain a bit the steps I've taken so far in order to make your income work.
Income - Triggers:
I've used different triggers/events in order to: Configure how the income should work, detect whenever an Orc Burrow loads/unloads a peon, and - at last - a periodic event to give players some gold per peon.
Here's all the events that I used, and I'll try to explain why I chose them:
-
-------- TRIGGER A --------
-
Time - Elapsed game time is 0.00 seconds
-
-------- TRIGGER B --------
-
Unit - A unit Is loaded into a transport
-
-------- TRIGGER C --------
-
Unit - A unit Dies
-
Unit - A unit Is issued an order targeting an object
-
Unit - A unit Is issued an order with no target
-
-------- TRIGGER D --------
-
Time - Every 60.00 seconds of game time
Trigger A:
This is one of the very first events that will run as soon as your map finishes loading. It's going to load a few variables and initialize your hashtable. I need to do this in order to not repeat myself whenever I'm using variables that are constant, such as: amount of gold per peon (2), store which unit type is going to give gold for every peon in it (Orc Burrow).
Trigger B:
This one is quite easy. It's when a peon enters an Orc Burrow unit, then I just increase a certain value that will be used later when a player is about to receive some income.
Trigger C:
This one decreases the value mentioned above whenever: a player orders a burrow to unload a peon, unload all peons (ordering a burrow to cast Stand Down ability), or when the Orc Burrow unit dies.
Trigger D:
This one is basically the income interval. I just load that "certain value" and multiply it by the constant variable "GoldPerPeon".
NOTE: The trigger C might seem to be a little bit complicated, because it's the one that has the most events at once.
Now, here's some detailed information about the triggers.
Variables:
Code:
OBI_AllowMessage (Boolean) : If set to true, the player will see a message when they receive their income.
OBI_Burrow (Unit-type) : Orc Burrow
OBI_GoldPerPeon (Integer) : Constant variable, it's the number that will be multiplied by the number of peons in a burrow.
OBI_Hashtable (Hashtable) : Hashtable - hehehe
OBI_KeyA (Integer) : Parent of hashtable. This is used for storing the amount of peons per burrow.
OBI_KeyB (Integer) : Parent of hashtable. This one stores the values related to the player (Current number of peons).
OBI_Message (String) : Currently as showing as: "Income: %d", where %d is amount of gold a player will receive.
OBI_Player (Player) : Temporary variable.
OBI_Unit (Unit) : Temporary variable.
Hashtable - Childs and parents:
Child: 0 - Parent: 0 - This counts the number of active orc burrows; It's used for turning on/off the trigger D (loop).
Child: 0 - Parent: OBI_KeyA - It always uses the handle id of an Orc Burrow. I'm doing this in order to store the amount of peons inside an orc burrow, so that when it dies or unloads all peons, I'll know how many of them were in it.
Child: 0 - Parent: OBI_KeyB - Used for counting all active peons that belong to a specific player.
Order Ids:
Code:
852047 - Unload (via UI)
852113 - Stand Down (Unload all)
The triggers:
Trigger A:
-
OBI Init
-
Events
-
Time - Elapsed game time is 0.00 seconds
-
Conditions
-
Actions
-
-------- Adjust your income below --------
-
Set OBI_Burrow = Orc Burrow
-
Set OBI_GoldPerPeon = 2
-
Set OBI_AllowMessage = True
-
Set OBI_Message = |cffffcc00Income:|r
-
Trigger - Add to OBI Loop <gen> the event (Time - Every 2.00 seconds of game time)
-
-------- - --------
-
Hashtable - Create a hashtable
-
Set OBI_Hashtable = (Last created hashtable)
Trigger B:
-
OBI Register Peons
-
Events
-
Unit - A unit Is loaded into a transport
-
Conditions
-
(Unit-type of (Transporting unit)) Equal to OBI_Burrow
-
Actions
-
Set OBI_Unit = (Transporting unit)
-
Custom script: set udg_OBI_KeyA = GetHandleId(udg_OBI_Unit)
-
Set OBI_KeyB = (Player number of (Owner of OBI_Unit))
-
-------- Increment the number of peons in this orc burrow --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of OBI_KeyA from OBI_Hashtable) + 1) as 0 of OBI_KeyA in OBI_Hashtable
-
-------- Increment the total number of active peons for this player --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of OBI_KeyB from OBI_Hashtable) + 1) as 0 of OBI_KeyB in OBI_Hashtable
-
-------- Is this the first time a peon enters this orc burrow? --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(Load 0 of OBI_KeyA from OBI_Hashtable) Equal to 1
-
Then - Actions
-
-------- Is the loop trigger turned off? --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(OBI Loop <gen> is on) Equal to False
-
Then - Actions
-
-------- Turn it on --------
-
Trigger - Turn on OBI Loop <gen>
-
Else - Actions
-
-------- Increase the number of active orc burrows --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of 0 from OBI_Hashtable) + 1) as 0 of 0 in OBI_Hashtable
-
Else - Actions
Trigger C:
-
OBI Unregister Peons
-
Events
-
Unit - A unit Dies
-
Unit - A unit Is issued an order targeting an object
-
Unit - A unit Is issued an order with no target
-
Conditions
-
(Unit-type of (Triggering unit)) Equal to OBI_Burrow
-
Actions
-
Set OBI_Unit = (Triggering unit)
-
Custom script: set udg_OBI_KeyA = GetHandleId(udg_OBI_Unit)
-
Set OBI_KeyB = (Player number of (Owner of OBI_Unit))
-
-------- Time to distinguish which event triggered this trigger --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(Load 0 of OBI_KeyA from OBI_Hashtable) Greater than 0
-
Then - Actions
-
Custom script: if GetTriggerEventId() == EVENT_PLAYER_UNIT_DEATH or GetIssuedOrderId() == 852113 then // If the Orc Burrow just died or cast Stand Down
-
-------- Discount peons currently working by the number of peons that were in this burrow. --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of OBI_KeyB from OBI_Hashtable) - (Load 0 of OBI_KeyA from OBI_Hashtable)) as 0 of OBI_KeyB in OBI_Hashtable
-
-------- Reduce the number of active orc burrows. --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of 0 from OBI_Hashtable) - 1) as 0 of 0 in OBI_Hashtable
-
-------- Clear some data up from the hashtable related to this orc burrow. --------
-
Hashtable - Clear all child hashtables of child OBI_KeyA in OBI_Hashtable
-
Custom script: elseif GetIssuedOrderId() == 852047 then // The other events run within this block
-
-------- Only one peon left the orc burrow (player ordered it to leave through command card) --------
-
-------- Reduce the number of peons for this burrow and the player. --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of OBI_KeyA from OBI_Hashtable) - 1) as 0 of OBI_KeyA in OBI_Hashtable
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of OBI_KeyB from OBI_Hashtable) - 1) as 0 of OBI_KeyB in OBI_Hashtable
-
-------- This burrow has no more peons in it? --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(Load 0 of OBI_KeyA from OBI_Hashtable) Equal to 0
-
Then - Actions
-
-------- Reduce the number of active burrows by 1 --------
-
Hashtable - Save ((Load 0 of 0 from OBI_Hashtable) - 1) as 0 of 0 in OBI_Hashtable
-
-------- Clear its data from hashtable --------
-
Hashtable - Clear all child hashtables of child OBI_KeyA in OBI_Hashtable
-
Else - Actions
-
Custom script: endif
-
-------- Note that this is outside the custom script IF/THEN/ELSE --------
-
If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
-
If - Conditions
-
(Load 0 of 0 from OBI_Hashtable) Equal to 0
-
Then - Actions
-
-------- There's no active orc burrows. Turn this trigger off --------
-
Trigger - Turn off OBI Loop <gen>
-
Else - Actions
-
Else - Actions
Trigger D:
-
OBI Loop
-
Events
-
Conditions
-
Actions
-
For each (Integer OBI_KeyA) from 1 to 12, do (Actions)
-
Loop - Actions
-
Set OBI_Player = (Player(OBI_KeyA))
-
-------- Load the total number of active peons this player owns. --------
-
Set OBI_KeyB = ((Load 0 of (Player number of OBI_Player) from OBI_Hashtable) x OBI_GoldPerPeon)
-
Player - Add OBI_KeyB to OBI_Player Current gold
-
-------- Am I allowed to tell the players how much gold they've just received? --------
-
-------- Keep in mind that the player must have, at least, 1 active peon. --------
-
Custom script: if udg_OBI_AllowMessage and GetLocalPlayer() == udg_OBI_Player and udg_OBI_KeyB > 0 then
-
Custom script: call DisplayTextToPlayer(udg_OBI_Player, 0, 0, udg_OBI_Message+I2S(udg_OBI_KeyB))
-
Custom script: endif
NOTES:
- The variables OBI_KeyA, OBI_KeyB, and OBI_Player are temporary, and also used in the loop.
- The trigger A gives Trigger D the periodic event.
- In trigger C, I used the function GetTriggerEventId() in order to know which event triggered those actions.
- Trigger C again - The function GetIssuedOrderId() returns the order id of an orc burrow; Very important to determine which order the orc burrow executed (Unload all / a peon).
That's *it*! I hope this helps you in your future projects and/or triggers from now on. I probably committed many mistakes regarding the English language (RIP).
If something is not clear yet, let me know.
Take care!
