Getting set up with everything to code well in 2023?

[~Void~]

Hey friends,

I haven't made any code in the World Editor since like 2012. Back then, I remember it was all about vJASS and there were all these helpful tools on WC3C to mod the editor for ease of programming and expanding the functionality of JASS. I think we used Jasshelper? I remember downloading a bunch of plugins and whatnot to set up the editor to code.

I'm wondering what people are doing these days with Reforged and all that. How are people programming for WC3 these days? Do people still use vJASS? I want to get back into it, but I don't know where to start anymore. What should I download, and where do I find it? WC3C seems to be dead... so are these things hosted somewhere else? Is anyone updating them? I've searched around but found a lot of dead links and software that hasn't been updated in years...

Thanks!

 

[Elprede]

JassHelper is now integrated with the vanilla World Editor, so you can continue using vJASS systems and snippets if you so desire. For syntax highlighting in the World Editor, TESH is still available for this purpose. Hive member looking_for_help has updated it for Reforged. For coding outside the World Editor, I use Better Triggers in the Tools resource forum to compile the code.

 

[Retera]

I'm wondering what people are doing these days with Reforged and all that.

The more I try to understand the technology, the more crazy I seem to be.

If you're just coming back, here's my advice:

1. Step one is to pick a Warcraft III version where you will be playing with others. Reforged has replaced Frozen Throne officially, so if you wish to play Frozen Throne with a friend using the official client the only way to do this is to enter your Frozen Throne CD key to redeem a free copy of Reforged engine, to then play this engine with friends, as you may have already gathered. However, the Reforged client code has problems that are difficult to express until you've spent time with them -- here is a video where I vent for a while using an AI generated voice that tries to describe some of the problems if you're interested.
   1. Some folks choose Reforged client for the easy multiplayer and easy access to new players
   2. Some folks choose older backups of older game versions, but then I'm not sure how they play multiplayer since outside of LAN those versions don't have official servers
   3. Some folks choose Warcraft 3 Community Edition that is a modded version of Patch 1.29 client getting maintained by some Hive members to be able to play maps made on Reforged map editor but using the old Frozen Throne client and its menus, and a custom server. I think it's pretty new and still under construction but I didn't personally try it, because....
   4. I choose to rewrite the game from scratch to incrementally earn my freedom because I want to be done with Activision, but almost nobody uses what I am making because it doesn't work as well yet and is missing tons of features because it's a remake
2. Once you know your target game version, you can pick which language you choose to use to make a map:
   1. Up until the pre-reforged Patch 1.31, the only language supported in map script was JASS. Starting on Patch 1.31 and on into Reforged, the Warcraft III game engine was upgraded to optionally support maps loading either LUA script or JASS script as their map script.
   2. vJASS compiles to JASS (can get good syntax highlighting from TESH as mentioned by others)
   3. WurstScript compiles to JASS (can get good syntax highlighting from VSCode)
   4. TypeScript can compile to LUA (Can get good syntax highlighting from VSCode)
   5. C# can compile to LUA (I've heard of this but never personally tried it)
   6. etc

(As historically a JASS user myself, now when I am rewriting an open source emulator of the game I am using JASS not LUA, so we can consider it similar to the older patches in terms of what it supports in case if in the future you were ever going to be crazy enough to try the rewrite project, but maybe you're not that crazy.)
So you can see that the number of options is expanding over time. But I think as the options expand more and more, everyone does things a little bit differently. Until eventually, I get to make fun of them all in a beautiful YouTube parody that breaks our common minds, because the evil social media is taking over everyone's mind.