Special Effect Z

[Spellbound]

Is there some way (hacky or otherwise) to set a special effect's Z positioning without having to resort to dummy units?

 

[IcemanBo]

No. Usually they have one dummy unit imported, and attach various of model effects to it, so one dummy unit can be used for all effects.

 

[Chaosy]

Make an invis unit attach effect to chest and change flying height.

 

[Spellbound]

Guys...

without having to resort to dummy units

I'm already using Vexorian's dummy.mdx, but that's still a unit. Too much overhead.

 

[IcemanBo]

Is there some way (hacky or otherwise) to set a special effect's Z positioning without having to resort to dummy units?

No.

Too much overhead.

Then not possible. That's why we use dummy units for everything like missiles, particles, and all.

 

[Spellbound]

That's unfortunate.

PS: didn't WEU make something with moveable special effects, or am I misremembering?

 

[Aniki]

Yup.

 

[IcemanBo]

^Oh, for static effects it seems like a good alternative.

 

[Chaosy]

Clever method. Same as setting Z for trackables, yeah?

 

[DracoL1ch]

or memory hack

 

[Spellbound]

Well I'm certainly going to test this, but:

Note: Creating too many at a time can cause short lag spikes. If this occurs, you may want to switch to use invisible dummy units instead.

... which is exactly what I'm doing, so prolly not going to work :/

I wonder what if you just move the platform around, though... can you move platforms around?

 

[KILLCIDE]

If creating too many dummy units causes lag, then recycle them or use a dummy recycling system.

 

[Spellbound]

I used MissileRecycler and it actually lagged more for some reason. Thay being said, SpecialEffectZ works beautifully if you destroy the effect as you create it. While calling call AddSpecialEffectZ("model string", x, y, z) create lag spikes if you spam it, doing call DestroyEffect(AddSpecialEffectZ("model string", x, y, z)) doesn't create a single framedrop. It's a life-saver.

 

[Dr Super Good]

In Warcraft III only using inefficient and hacky dummy units will work. That or custom models which are already offset by some amount.

In StarCraft II one or more SiteOps can be used to displace attachment points as desired. Additionally entire Actors can be displaced in any axis (not if attached to something that refreshes attachment point positions).