New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

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JanuszPawulon
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New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by JanuszPawulon »

I just got started with modding SC1 and have a few questions.
1)I want my ghost heroes to have EMP Shockwave. I figured out how to do it in Firegraft by taking this ability from Magellan(Science Vessel) and giving it to Duran + adding buttons of course. Is there a way to give Duran EMP ability while Magellan would still keep it?
2)How to edit labels such as unit, tech, weapon names, ranks like "Private", "Corporal" etc.
3)Where's the data about spells stored? I've seen mods on youtube with SC2 units recreated perfectly - reapers jumping over the cliffs etc. This would probably require some asm coding so it's way too hard for me. Just asking, main reason for this is that I'd like to give Tassadar(templar) blink ability (like stalker in sc2).
4)Is there a .pal palette file for icons that works with PSP? The ones from GRP editors don't work with it. I want to draw some new icons but they don't work ingame since the palette is wrong.
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IskatuMesk
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by IskatuMesk »

1 - Adding the buttons to one unit doesn't remove it from the other. Been a while, but you may need to modify the requirements appropriately.
2 - tblpad and various tbl files from localization 0 in the patch_rt mpq.
3 - This definitely sounds like a reverse engineering deal. Can't tell you how hard it would be to get into as I never really tried. Worth asking the people who did it rather than me.
4 - Here's my psp files from the good old days. I can't tell you what is what or how to do things anymore because, honestly, I've forgotten. www.gameproc.com/meskstuff/Palettes.rar For good measure, here's my old scripts, too. www.gameproc.com/meskstuff/Scripts-Trusted.rar

Sorry I can't be of any more help. Good luck!
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JanuszPawulon
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by JanuszPawulon »

IskatuMesk wrote:1 - Adding the buttons to one unit doesn't remove it from the other. Been a while, but you may need to modify the requirements appropriately.
I'm not talking about buttons, I'm talking about dat requirements.
Image

Let's say I want my ghosts to shoot yamato. Besides button editing I need to change one of the parameters (Is hero and enabled, Battlecruiser, Norad II (Battlecruiser), etc.) to Terran Ghost. This way I'm taking away Yamato from BC or a single BC hero and giving it to ghosts. Is there any way to add a new opcode/parameter, so ghosts would be able to use yamato and all the cruisers would still keep it?
Another question: how to apply a .pal file to multiple images at once? While making new portraits I'm struggling with applying it to each image separately. If I wanted to make a cutscene I'd have to spend an eternity to apply palette to ~5k images.
And the last question for now: Is there a way to make my own .chk files work? I did a map in staredit, then changed its extension to .chk and replaced 1st Terran mission in Brood War with it. Now when I click on terran, nothing happens instead of showing the mission list.
Thanks for the other stuff, especially palettes.
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IskatuMesk
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by IskatuMesk »

I remember you just being able to rightclick add requirements options.

psp has a batch process function that lets you run a script with it.

I don't know about chk files. Never messed with those.
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by Church »

JanuszPawulon wrote:And the last question for now: Is there a way to make my own .chk files work? I did a map in staredit, then changed its extension to .chk and replaced 1st Terran mission in Brood War with it. Now when I click on terran, nothing happens instead of showing the mission list.
Renaming the map directly to a .chk file will not work. An .scm or .scx map file is actually a storage container, meaning the .chk file is inside it. The easiest thing you can do is use scmdraft, use save as, and select chk from the list. If I remember right, you can also open the map file using WinMPQ or a similar program and just extract the .chk file, but try scmdraft first.
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by JanuszPawulon »

Thank you very much, opened it with WinMPQ and now it works with sounds, changed unit names etc.
And another question: I have trouble replacing original sprites with my own. I wanted to change one of the critter's sprites with my own and it doesn't work. My image has the same resolution and SC unit palette applied to it in PSP. It looks like this after compiling to grp:
Image
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IskatuMesk
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by IskatuMesk »

The bmps must be a very specific format (I think OS/2). Also, I'd use shadowflare's grp converter to make the actual grps, and retrogrp only to preview them.
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by JanuszPawulon »

Ok, I managed to add some of my sprites, thx. Now I'm trying to modify other stuff - animated menu buttons in smk format, etc. I have no idea what palette I should apply to make it work. Should I do it only in PSP or mess with Smacker palette settings?
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IskatuMesk
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by IskatuMesk »

All menus/backgrounds have specific palettes for their areas.

That said, I have never messed with those ones in particular, so I'm not sure.
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by Lavarinth »

You can also extract a palette from your animation and replace the original one to better fit your animation. It's been over a decade that I try this, however, so I don't recall the process. It's entirely possible to replace palettes, this is what would aid with the loading screen issues when funky colors appeared.
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IskatuMesk
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by IskatuMesk »

I think you need to replace all elements that are associated with that menu with that palette. I never tried it myself.
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Re: New to modding Starcraft - some noob questions.

Post by JanuszPawulon »

It turned out to be incredibly simple. All I needed to do was to use the original .smk file as a palette source for smacking my edited file.
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