The Spice Must Flow

[MagusTheGrim]

...says the title. Basically, I want to make a Dune-themed map, and want to make melange a resource. I pretty much just don't know how to make it visible, but it seems to me that I'm not the only one who will use custom resources in the future. As such, I'd like to request that someone build a tutorial to teach about resources. Pathable resources which appear on sand, corpse resources, and... er... k, yeah, maybe noone else cares.

Any help would be good.

 

[M0RT]

Well if you'll use only one resource, you could replace minerals.

Otherwise: To show custom resource/terrazine in resource panel, add them to resource list for each race you use (Data Editor - Races - field called "Resources used" or whatever).

Then change the icon by importing a new icon over the old one (use same path).
Also you need to change error messages concerning your resources. I am not sure whether these are in "Alerts", but if you could find them, you can change both text and sound there. (by default, insufficient custom resource "message" is "c_insufficientCustomResource" with no sound.)

 

[MagusTheGrim]

That's the part I know how to do. It's getting anything visible, preferably a reddish 2d powder decal. Even the guides on how to make typical custom units havent worked for me, followed to the letter. I can't change what an actor's unit is, even by changing the value on the top right.

 

[M0RT]

Oh, you meant resource units.
Linking actors to units is bugged sometimes (I suspect campaign dependency, no proof though), try setting the actor's unit token field, placing the unit and restarting editor or testing the map. If it doesn't show then, you are doing something wrong.

I am not sure you can use decals as unit model, as it propably doesn't have any clickable parts (don't know the correct technical term for that ). If that was not an issue (units would still be able to auto-target), I would use the Invisible model for the unit, and use the Decal actor as attachment. Gonna try if it works...

EDIT: Turns out you can use decals as regular unit models, works fine. Also, it seemed to me that the actor->unit link is broken always, so just reload map.

 

[MagusTheGrim]

K, yeah, like I was trying to say, the token field is set. It just doesn't change which unit the actor references, after multiple reloads. This is using a zealot as a test.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Modify the actor event field. Set the events to trigger on the new unit type.

The token modification way is unreliable and obscures the actual mehancis behind how actors work.

Actors get created at certain events goverened by their 3 even fields. In the case of unit actors they usually are created when their corrosponding unit type is created and destroyed likewise. It is possible to make the same unit actor be created for multiple units via adding multiple creation events but with different unit types.

Ofcourse there are more than just unit creation events and actor creation actions. You can do all kinds of stuff like make units change colour or even throb in size.

 

[MagusTheGrim]

Well, using the events field seems to have solved all my problems. Thanks!

EDIT:
Right, next issue: these things need to be worth a lot less than 1500 minerals. Can't find where that's changeable.

 

[MagusTheGrim]

Would still like to know how to set the amount of spice per deposit to say 5 or 30.

 

[JackRCDF]

You can edit the amount of minerals in a preplaced mineral patch by right clicking it and going to the resources tab. However, I can't remember how to change the default amount in the data editor. Will post back if/when I find out more info.

 

[MagusTheGrim]

Currently melange is placed by a trigger. I could probably change the property with a trigger, but I'd prefer not to.

EDIT: nvm, found the behavior.