Campaign Creations

Well I've tried very hard to work these things out on my own and searched all over for answers. So I'm asking for expert assistance.
A few problems and questions...

1) I can't seem to get transmissions to play no matter what.
Even with [condition always, action play transmission]. It is set to the correct current player when I test it. Ultimately want it to run as, [condition player brings unit to location, play transmission]. I suspect there is something I don't know about the function of transmissions.

2) Does the use of switches cause any lag?
Do switches add some significant load to the speed of the trigger system? Do maps in general run better without or as few switches as possible? Just to note, I am using NO wait states at all anywhere in the map, except the hyper trigger trick. I had a series of simple switches and the map showed a certain kind of lag every game. When I took them out it went away.

Switches looked like this.
[condition: player brings unit to location. action: set switch 1]
[condition: switch 1 set. action: display message. clear switch 1]

Had about 10 of those and they didn't run all that often, but they still seemed to lag the map.

3) How can I get computer controlled units to cast spells?
Wanting Sci.Vessels to cast Def.Matrix preferably only during battles. And queens to cast snare when encountering enemy.
I haven't been able to find any detailed info on exactly how AI scripts work and how to implement them.
I found descriptions of what some of the AI scripts are supposed to do, but no details on how they work or how to implement them correctly.

4) Is there any way to load triggers and AI scripts into SCMdraft?
It seems SCMdraft is the only editor I can get to run on Vista.

5) I saw a post mentioning that only a certain number of triggers can run simultaneously per player. Where can I find some detailed info about this?
How many max? What exactly is meant by simultaneously? How can I know if I have more triggers than can run simultaneously?

Thanks in advance.

1) Are your settings set to show subtitles/text for transmissions in StarCraft under Sound options I think it was? If not, they wont show.

2) All triggers have a slight MINOR lag that's hardly even noticeable. This includes switches. Don't worry about them unless you need PRECISE timing which is very rare.

3) You can't through triggers, if you're looking for that since the title is "map edit problems." Custom AI scripts should be able to, though.

4) Load triggers? You can create triggers like any other editor can IN SCMdraft, I believe. I haven't delved much into it. I doubt you can with AI Scripts though.

5) It's not like one or two. First are you creating a map that is SO intense in triggers that this matters to begin with?

re.1) Even with subtitles turned on transmissions won't play under any circumstance.

re.3 & 4) So I can't work with AI scripts using SCMdraft? What is required to work with Ai scripts, Xtra Editor? Where can I DL Ai scripts to tell computer controlled units to cast spells? Is there an online resource with detailed instructions for creating and using Ai scripts?

re.5) Not that intense really. I just want to know how much I can add before it starts to affect game play.

1) Transmissions should play no matter what (with the "Always display" box checked). The only thing I can think of is is maybe the trigger doesn't work - the conditions aren't being met? If you have other actions in the same trigger like create unit or order unit and those actions ARE taking place then I have no idea.

Kidz.Gone.Wild wrote:3) How can I get computer controlled units to cast spells?
Wanting Sci.Vessels to cast Def.Matrix preferably only during battles. And queens to cast snare when encountering enemy.

The short answer is there's probably no way to do that. You may be able to get some results if you're using modified files with MPQDraft or SCMLoader and use DatEdit to edit units.dat and/or orders.dat, but for the most part that stuff is hardcoded.

AI scripts can't really do the job; there are certain AI scripts you can use to have spells cast but it only works for dweb, recall and nuke, and only if you use triggers to set a specific location as the target at a specific time, not as a general thing to say "have units of this type use this spell on this type of nearby unit when this thing happens to it"

For example I recall with one of Iskatumesk's AI scripts, someone asked him how he made defilers spam dark swarm everywhere, and his reply was that the only reason that happened was his AI made the computer player build more defilers than normal, and the AI is apparently hardcoded to spam dark swarm like that anyway just you don't notice it because it has less defilers.

Kidz.Gone.Wild wrote:4) Is there any way to load triggers and AI scripts into SCMdraft?
It seems SCMdraft is the only editor I can get to run on Vista.

You can run AI scripts with the trigger actions "Run AI script" and "Run AI script at location". You can add new AI scripts if you're using a custom MPQ and use SCAIEdit, and SCMdraft should be able to load them to include in the list if you create a new profile (when you open SCMDraft) that includes your custom MPQ - but this probably isn't what you're after, since AI scripts can't make units use matrix more often etc.

Kidz.Gone.Wild wrote: Well I've tried very hard to work these things out on my own and searched all over for answers. So I'm asking for expert assistance.
A few problems and questions...

1) I can't seem to get transmissions to play no matter what.
Even with [condition always, action play transmission]. It is set to the correct current player when I test it. Ultimately want it to run as, [condition player brings unit to location, play transmission]. I suspect there is something I don't know about the function of transmissions.

Transmissions, Centerview and Wait triggers run on a timer. If the same player has a lot of such triggers assigned to it, one of them will run and only after it's finished the next one will be checked by the editor. Example - assume that these two triggers are given to the same player (the human one, since it makes no sense to display transmissions for computer players):
Conditions:
- Switch 1 is set
Action:
- Send Transmission to player for 15.000 miliseconds

Conditions:
- Switch 1 is set
Action:
- Wait for 2.000 miliseconds
- Create 1 Terran Marine for player at blah blah blah

What is intended here is, of course, to create the marine 2 seconds after the transmission starts. However, since the two timers stack, the transmission will play (15 seconds) and only then the second trigger will apply (2 seconds later, a marine will be created). 

The way to get rid of this is to assign the second trigger to a computer player. Each player has his own "Wait" timer, so the human player should get all triggers with "transmissions" while the others get the "Waits", to prevent this from happening. Also don't assign triggers to Forces or to Rescuable/Neutral players: they will often not work. Multiple "Waits" assigned to the same player will stack and not work properly, so if you have several triggers with "Wait" that are supposed to take place at around the same time, assign them to different players.

Also, obviously the computer players should all have their start locations or their triggers won't run.

2) Does the use of switches cause any lag?
Do switches add some significant load to the speed of the trigger system? Do maps in general run better without or as few switches as possible? Just to note, I am using NO wait states at all anywhere in the map, except the hyper trigger trick. I had a series of simple switches and the map showed a certain kind of lag every game. When I took them out it went away.

Switches looked like this.
[condition: player brings unit to location. action: set switch 1]
[condition: switch 1 set. action: display message. clear switch 1]

Had about 10 of those and they didn't run all that often, but they still seemed to lag the map.

This is most likely due to the use of Wait triggers, which are commonly used after Display Text Message. Other than that, the trigger checker runs on a timer of approximately 2 seconds, so your triggers won't be checked that often. Some people use "hypertriggers" to get rid of this, refer to www.staredit.net for an explanation.

Getting rid of your problem with these messages could be tricky, but if I recall correctly, Display Text Message seems to have a built-in timer, so you could remove the "Waits" and see how it goes. You could try playing a sound effect or something if it works instead of displaying messages - this will get rid of the evil Wait timer.

About switches causing lag, I only noticed this in my veeeeery old and slow comp: what causes lag is apparently something related to the trigger checker, which applies every ~2 seconds in the game. My maps usually weren't too switch-heavy, although the triggers often had switches as conditions, so the theory that switches cause lag might be right.

3) How can I get computer controlled units to cast spells?
Wanting Sci.Vessels to cast Def.Matrix preferably only during battles. And queens to cast snare when encountering enemy.
I haven't been able to find any detailed info on exactly how AI scripts work and how to implement them.
I found descriptions of what some of the AI scripts are supposed to do, but no details on how they work or how to implement them correctly.

Only through scripts, I think. Queens seem to use Ensnare/Broodling when attacked and I've seen Vessels using DMatrix as well, but I haven't studied their behavior enough to understand how it works. I know that stationary Medics, Arbiters and Templar will always cast Flare/Stasis/Storm when attacked by ranged units though.

4) Is there any way to load triggers and AI scripts into SCMdraft?
It seems SCMdraft is the only editor I can get to run on Vista.

5) I saw a post mentioning that only a certain number of triggers can run simultaneously per player. Where can I find some detailed info about this?
How many max? What exactly is meant by simultaneously? How can I know if I have more triggers than can run simultaneously?

Thanks in advance.

Sorry, can't help you with 4.

About 5, I'm sure that the limit is quite high, since my maps are a triggerfest and I'm yet to find any trigger limits. It's always wise not to overload a single player with triggers, though (it can be hell to fix and it can cause Wait problems as well).

I'd be more worried about location, doodad or string limits than trigger ones.

2) Does the use of switches cause any lag?
Do switches add some significant load to the speed of the trigger system? Do maps in general run better without or as few switches as possible? Just to note, I am using NO wait states at all anywhere in the map, except the hyper trigger trick. I had a series of simple switches and the map showed a certain kind of lag every game. When I took them out it went away.

Simple triggers with switches should never lag the game. Only when you create/move units and other similar actions should slow down the game.

5) I saw a post mentioning that only a certain number of triggers can run simultaneously per player. Where can I find some detailed info about this?
How many max? What exactly is meant by simultaneously? How can I know if I have more triggers than can run simultaneously?

Considering that maps can contain thousands of triggers and they can be checked 12 times per second by using hypertriggers I don't think that there is a limit to how much can run at the same time.

3) How can I get computer controlled units to cast spells?
Wanting Sci.Vessels to cast Def.Matrix preferably only during battles. And queens to cast snare when encountering enemy.
I haven't been able to find any detailed info on exactly how AI scripts work and how to implement them.
I found descriptions of what some of the AI scripts are supposed to do, but no details on how they work or how to implement them correctly.

Download the attachment and run it in Sc (it's protected, no opening with the editor). It should show you how can you get units to cast spells. Yeah, it's not a joke. That's all you can do, except if you edit the AI but I think these behaviours are hardcoded. As it was mentioned you can order units to use the recall, the disruption web and the nuke, nothing else.

(The map is not mine, I just downloaded it as a part of tutorial map pack.)