[Mapping] Making a map with 4+ race

Level 2
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
4
How to make extra races work

Hi guys, at first im going to say thad this, what is often here called is impossible, isnt impossible.
It took me a lot of work to get extra races work with out replacing any normal race, but there are still some little things to fix like a the win/defeat condition like a normal match, and that the replaced units allways move some pixel, but we can handle this last things as community i think.
And so far i am focusing in first line at the triger, and editor work because im pretty bad at creating balanced units. Also this tutorial is based on a map for up to 8 players.

Usefull custom race creation tutorial overview:
Custom Race Creation: Advanced Mechanics
You should be also aware that every Custom Hero and every Custom Altar must exist 2 times.
One free version (0 gold;0 wood), and one regular. In fact i choosed that at the begging the Altars who be build before u picked ure first hero are changed to the free ones (there is an variable and a trigger wich i show u at a later time wich check this). After the training of ure first Hero the free Altar changes back to the regular one and the trained free hero is replaced with the one with normal costs, so there is no difference in playing.

Initzialisation:
At first we are going to delete in the Melee Initialization this two points:
  • Melee Game - Create starting units (for all players)
  • Melee Game - Enforce victory/defeat conditions (for all players)
For the reason that there are no starting units (because u can choose an race in dialog menu), and thad u dont get viewed to every one because the custom townhalls dont work for that trigger even if u listed them up.

Pick a race dialog menu:
Now im gonna show how it could look like, for those of you wich don't know how to create a dialog i put a link right below:
Basics of a Dialog


At first we need to create 1 Dialog (choise) variable and 7 Dialog Buttons (a-f).
In fact 1 Dialog Button each race.

the buttons:
  • Buttons
    • Events
      • Map initialization
    • Conditions
    • Actions
      • Wait 0.05 seconds
      • Dialog - Change the title of wahl to Races
      • Dialog - Create a dialog button for wahl labelled Human
      • Set a = (Last created dialog Button)
      • Dialog - Create a dialog button for wahl labelled Orc
      • Set b = (Last created dialog Button)
      • Dialog - Create a dialog button for wahl labelled Undead
      • Set c = (Last created dialog Button)
      • Dialog - Create a dialog button for wahl labelled Nightelf
      • Set d = (Last created dialog Button)
      • Dialog - Create a dialog button for wahl labelled Highelf
      • Set e = (Last created dialog Button)
      • Dialog - Create a dialog button for wahl labelled Feel Orks
      • Set f = (Last created dialog Button)
      • Dialog - Create a dialog button for wahl labelled United Trolls
      • Set g = (Last created dialog Button)
the menu:
  • Menu
    • Events
      • Map initialization
    • Conditions
    • Actions
      • Wait 0.10 seconds
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 1 (Red) controller) Equal to User
        • Then - Actions
          • Dialog - Show choise for Player 1 (Red)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
          • Melee Game - Create (Race of Player 1 (Red)) starting units for Player 1 (Red) at (Player 1 (Red) start location) (Include Heroes)
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 2 (Blue) controller) Equal to User
        • Then - Actions
          • Dialog - Show choise for Player 2 (Blue)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
          • Melee Game - Create (Race of Player 2 (Blue)) starting units for Player 2 (Blue) at (Player 2 (Blue) start location) (Include Heroes)
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 3 (Teal) controller) Equal to User
        • Then - Actions
          • Dialog - Show choise for Player 3 (Teal)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
          • Melee Game - Create (Race of Player 3 (Teal)) starting units for Player 3 (Teal) at (Player 3 (Teal) start location) (Include Heroes)
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 4 (Purple) controller) Equal to User
        • Then - Actions
          • Dialog - Show choise for Player 4 (Purple)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
          • Melee Game - Create (Race of Player 4 (Purple)) starting units for Player 4 (Purple) at (Player 4 (Purple) start location) (Include Heroes)
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 5 (Yellow) controller) Equal to User
        • Then - Actions
          • Dialog - Show choise for Player 5 (Yellow)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
          • Melee Game - Create (Race of Player 5 (Yellow)) starting units for Player 5 (Yellow) at (Player 5 (Yellow) start location) (Include Heroes)
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 6 (Orange) controller) Equal to User
        • Then - Actions
          • Dialog - Show choise for Player 6 (Orange)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
          • Melee Game - Create (Race of Player 6 (Orange)) starting units for Player 6 (Orange) at (Player 6 (Orange) start location) (Include Heroes)
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 7 (Green) controller) Equal to User
        • Then - Actions
          • Dialog - Show wahl choise Player 7 (Green)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
          • Melee Game - Create (Race of Player 7 (Green)) starting units for Player 7 (Green) at (Player 7 (Green) start location) (Include Heroes)
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Player 8 (Pink) controller) Equal to User
        • Then - Actions
          • Dialog - Show choise for Player 8 (Pink)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
          • Melee Game - Create (Race of Player 8 (Pink)) starting units for Player 8 (Pink) at (Player 8 (Pink) start location) (Include Heroes)
Futhermore this trigger secure thad if there is no human player, the KI get the race wich was choosen in the game menu.

the race placement:
  • Choose Race
    • Events
      • Dialog - A dialog button is clicked for choise
    • Conditions
    • Actions
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Clicked dialog button) Equal to a
        • Then - Actions
          • Melee Game - Create Human starting units for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) (Include Heroes)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Clicked dialog button) Equal to b
        • Then - Actions
          • Melee Game - Create Orc starting units for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) (Include Heroes)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Clicked dialog button) Equal to c
        • Then - Actions
          • Melee Game - Create Undead starting units for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) (Include Heroes)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Clicked dialog button) Equal to d
        • Then - Actions
          • Melee Game - Create Night Elf starting units for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) (Include Heroes)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Clicked dialog button) Equal to e
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Create 1 Ratsturm for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) facing Default building facing degrees
          • Unit - Create 5 Worker (Blood Elf) for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) facing Default building facing degrees
          • Player - Limit training of Archmage Hochelfen to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Blood Mage (Hochelfen) to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Ranger to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Paladin to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Archmage free to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Blood Mage free to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Ranger free to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Paladin free to 1 for (Triggering player)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Clicked dialog button) Equal to f
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Create 1 Great Hall to for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) facing Default building facing degrees
          • Unit - Create 5 Fel Orc Peon for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) facing Default building facing degrees
          • Player - Limit training of Blademaster to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Blademaster free to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Warlord to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Warlord free to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Warlock to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Warlock free to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Pit Lord to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Pit Lord free to 1 for (Triggering player)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Clicked dialog button) Equal to g
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Create 1 Great Hall for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) facing Default building facing degrees
          • Unit - Create 5 Peon for (Triggering player) at ((Triggering player) start location) facing Default building facing degrees
          • Player - Limit training of Avatar to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Avatar free to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Beastmaster to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Beastmaster free to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Shadow Hunter to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Shadow Hunter free to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Pit Lord to 1 for (Triggering player)
          • Player - Limit training of Pit Lord free to 1 for (Triggering player)
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing

Altar and Hero training:

As told above we are now going to the abuse of the no free Hero problem.
For thad i've even got a solution.
First of all we need (in this scenario) 8 Integer Variants (p1-p8).
These are set to 0 at will only used to count to 1.


Here is one example of the Altar script (you have to make this for every race):

  • altar
    • Events
      • Unit - A unit Finishes construction
    • Conditions
      • (Unit-type of (Constructed structure)) Equal to Chaos Altar
    • Actions
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • And - All (Conditions) are true
            • Conditions
              • (Owner of (Constructed structure)) Equal to Player 1 (Red)
              • p1 Equal to 0
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Replace (Constructed structure) with a Chaos Altar free using The old unit's relative life and mana
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • And - All (Conditions) are true
            • Conditions
              • (Owner of (Constructed structure)) Equal to Player 2 (Blue)
              • p2 Equal to 0
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Replace (Constructed structure) with a Chaos Altar free using The old unit's relative life and mana
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • And - All (Conditions) are true
            • Conditions
              • (Owner of (Constructed structure)) Equal to Player 3 (Teal)
              • p3 Equal to 0
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Replace (Constructed structure) with a Chaos Altar free using The old unit's relative life and mana
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • And - All (Conditions) are true
            • Conditions
              • (Owner of (Constructed structure)) Equal to Player 4 (Purple)
              • p4 Equal to 0
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Replace (Constructed structure) with a Chaos Altar free using The old unit's relative life and mana
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • And - All (Conditions) are true
            • Conditions
              • (Owner of (Constructed structure)) Equal to Player 5 (Yellow)
              • p5 Equal to 0
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Replace (Constructed structure) with a Chaos Altar free using The old unit's relative life and mana
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • And - All (Conditions) are true
            • Conditions
              • (Owner of (Constructed structure)) Equal to Player 6 (Orange)
              • p6 Equal to 0
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Replace (Constructed structure) with a Chaos Altar free using The old unit's relative life and mana
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • And - All (Conditions) are true
            • Conditions
              • (Owner of (Constructed structure)) Equal to Player 7 (Green)
              • p7 Equal to 0
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Replace (Constructed structure) with a Chaos Altar free using The old unit's relative life and mana
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • And - All (Conditions) are true
            • Conditions
              • (Owner of (Constructed structure)) Equal to Player 8 (Pink)
              • p8 Equal to 0
        • Then - Actions
          • Unit - Replace (Constructed structure) with a Chaos Altar free using The old unit's relative life and mana
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
This one check if the Integer is 0, and if is the altar changes to the one with the free heroes.

The first hero placement:
Furthemore here are we changing the free hero to the normal, it is there fore that you get the first hero for free, but have later to take the repair costs like regular.
The annoying thing about this is, thad u have to redo the Action if/then/else Condition for every single custom hero.
And this is the part were the above called Integer gets count to 1 and the replacing of the altars stops.
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Finishes training a unit
  • Conditions
  • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
    • If - Conditions
      • (Unit-type of (Trained unit)) Equal to Blademaster free
    • Then - Actions
      • Unit - Replace (Trained unit) with a Blademaster using The old unit's relative life and mana
      • Unit - Replace (Triggering unit) with a Chaos Altar using The old unit's relative life and mana
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Owner of (Trained unit)) Equal to Player 1 (Red)
        • Then - Actions
          • Set p1 = 1
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Owner of (Trained unit)) Equal to Player 2 (Blue)
        • Then - Actions
          • Set p2 = 1
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Owner of (Trained unit)) Equal to Player 3 (Teal)
        • Then - Actions
          • Set p3 = 1
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Owner of (Trained unit)) Equal to Player 4 (Purple)
        • Then - Actions
          • Set p4 = 1
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Owner of (Trained unit)) Equal to Player 5 (Yellow)
        • Then - Actions
          • Set p5 = 1
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Owner of (Trained unit)) Equal to Player 6 (Orange)
        • Then - Actions
          • Set p6 = 1
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Owner of (Trained unit)) Equal to Player 7 (Green)
        • Then - Actions
          • Set p7 = 1
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Owner of (Trained unit)) Equal to Player 8 (Pink)
        • Then - Actions
          • Set p8 = 1
        • Else - Actions
          • Do nothing
    • Else - Actions
      • Do nothing
Now we are going to the last point wich is are the Gameplay Constants:

Gameplay Constants:

- first go to Advanced -> Gameplay Constants
- then click the box "Use Custom Gameplay Constants"
- now move to the line: "Techtree - Depemdemcy Equivalents"
- to open the tabs you need to double click them


Editing these:
Techtree - Depemdemcy Equivalents - Altar (add here you're Custom Altar's)
Techtree - Depemdemcy Equivalents - Hero (add here you're Custom Hero's (just the regular ones!))
Techtree - Depemdemcy Equivalents - Tier 1 Hall ( add here you're basic townhall's)
Techtree - Depemdemcy Equivalents - Tier 2 Hall ( add here you're advanced townhall's)
Techtree - Depemdemcy Equivalents - Tier 3 Hall ( add here you're maximum townhall's)

You can add up to Tier 9 Hall if you like to advance the game more and more, but 3 Hall's are the basic.

Last but not least the missing features were i require you're help:

The first thing is, as i told at the beginning, that the replaced Altar's allways move some pixel's wich doesnt look nice ( because there get replaced 2 times until you have the first hero).

The second thing is the hardest i think: the win/defeat conditions.
In fact i can't get one to work wich is like the regular one.
The only thing i got for now is this pretty poor trigger:

  • win/defeat
    • Events
      • Unit - A unit Dies
    • Conditions
      • And - All (Conditions) are true
        • Conditions
          • (Count structures controlled by (Owner of (Dying unit)) (Exclude incomplete structures)) Equal to 0
          • (Count non-structure units controlled by (Owner of (Dying unit)) (Exclude incomplete units)) Equal to 0
    • Actions
      • Game - Display to (All players) the text: ((Name of (Owner of (Dying unit))) + was defeaten!)
      • Game - Defeat (Owner of (Dying unit)) with the message: defeat!

Postscript
I hope thad you enjoyed my tutorial and that it will help you to make 4+ Race maps on mass.
At least I am waiting for some feedback and i hope you guys can help me out with the last problems.
For the totally interessted ones i am uploading my done work so that every on can take a look at it.
But be warned: i made this map (and i don't know why) half in my native language (german) and half in english.
 

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Level 3
Joined
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Messages
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I will check this out and if you are interested, I can tell some hints, I am currently working on an altered melee with (currently planned) 8 custom races (4 redesigned original and 4 totally new and unique), expanded techtrees, new features.
If you are interested, we can even work together
 
Thanks for the submission! You have a lot of cool ideas, but I think there are a lot of ways to improve this tutorial:
  • Formatting: some headers, only use colors for emphasizing small things (e.g. headers), put the lists in list tags, fix spelling/grammar
  • A lot of these triggers could be condensed, especially if you use player indices to reduce all the if/then/else statements.
  • I think you'll want to consider adding things to separate yourself from the existing guides on this topic:
How to: Create a Full-working Custom Race
Custom Race Creation: Advanced Mechanics

I like that you had triggers for defeat and such. But they could be improved. And handling all the weird cases like allied forces, revealing players, etc. Some of it is covered in this post if you need help:
How to: Create a Full-working Custom Race
 
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