Mod Help

[livingshadow198]

Hey everyone,

I attempted to make my first mod, following the tutorial I came across in a link here on the forums - I can look it up again if anyone wanted to see it.

However, I'm either a totally dumb blonde or I am just doing something wrong: I have created the MPQ and also created a self-executing MPQ with the MPQDraft program or WinMPQ, whichever one is the last program used to make the mod 'work'. As near as I can tell, I did everything right but when I go to run it, Starcraft stops working (before it even loads).

I don't know if this would be Windows Vista Data Security junk preventing the mod from running (as near as I can tell, it shouldn't be that) or if I am just doin' somethin' wrong. The folder system the mod is in is the tutorial one: I created a folder on the Desktop, 'Modding Home', put a new folder in 'My First Mod', then the folder 'arr' where the mpq/selfexecuting file(s) are. I've even tried to put them in the Programs>Starcraft folder to run them, to no avail.

My mod is simply one that turns Protoss carriers (and their interceptors) to permanently stealthed units, makes them detector units and has them regenerate HP. I also did the same for the Photon Cannons and Dark Archons.

If anyone could help me, it'd seriously be much appreciated.

D

[livingshadow198]

Well, it seems like I have everything right - except that Starcraft continues to keep 'not working'. I am beginning to believe it's WindowsVista's damn Data Security crap that won't let the mod run. I've tried to deselect the Starcraft folder as being 'read only' but the system keeps remarking the folder as read only and when I try to turn off Data Execution Prevention for Starcraft, it refuses to let me do so.

Anyone know what I can do to get my mod to work? Vista is pissing me the hell off...

[U-238]

It probably is an issue with Vistas security. People with starcraft have been having a lot of problems with vista. Either it's that they can't get starcraft to install, they can't run mods, or they can run starcraft but if they start a map the game crashes/freezes.

Currently there's really no patch or anything that can fix it. So your best bet is to try and monkey with some security settings. (and this may or may not work)

Or you could just downgrade to XP. :P

[livingshadow198]

I may have just turned the security thing off. Found a site that stated how to do it, supposedly, in Command Prompt. Have to restart my computer to see. Be back in 10.

[livingshadow198]

Ok, it worked! :)

Running Starcraft now. Mods are active, no crashing. :)

(So other Vista users, it's that damn data execution prevention that you need to turn off).

[Kawagata]

Edit button the bottom right of your posts are there for a reason.

[ZeratulStukov]

I got the idea of this... and I'm glad for you it finally worked... But if you can, post it here or send it to StarCraft.org :) plz

[livingshadow198]

But if you can, post it here or send it to StarCraft.org

I'm not sure what 'it' was. If you meant how I resolved the issue, I followed these instructions off of a Windows Vista Support site (I didn't save the URL):

Disable Data Execution Prevention (DEP)
Viruses and other security threats can control your PC by executing code from within memory. To prevent damage, the Data Execution Prevention (DEP for short) feature monitors program applications to ensure they use protected memory in a safe manner. Any incorrect usage, by an application, of protected memory and Data Execution Prevention steps in and automatically closes the application.
While DEP, by default, only monitors Windows programs and services, it is possible to increase protection by having DEP monitor all applications on your PC.
As DEP monitors activity in the background you may not have actually experience DEP close a program down. On the other hand, you may have already experience DEP at work because it closed down an application that you actually trust.
Like all security features, it is not recommended that you turn these features off. It is better, if possible, to work with the security feature. In many cases there are options available whereby a trusted program that constantly causes DEP to block it can actually be allowed to execute without the need to completely shut down the security feature completely.
Regardless of how good or how essential a security feature is there is always going to a minority of users' that want to shut it down completely. These instructions, therefore, are for those that cannot live with DEP.
Disable
1/ Click the Start Button
2/ On the Start menu Click All Programs
3/ On the All programs menu Click Accessories
4/ From the Accessories menu Right Click on the Command Prompt and, from the drop down menu, Select 'Run as administrator'
5/ If the User Account Control feature pops up you will need to either press the Continue button or else provide UAC with the details it requires
6/ When the Command Prompt window opens type: bcdedit.exe/set {current} nx AlwaysOff and press Enter
7/ If all has gone well you should see a message saying that 'The operation completed Successfully.'
8/ Close down the Command prompt window and Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
Enable
If, at a later time, you want to re-enable DEP proceed as follows:
1/ Click the Start Button
2/ On the Start menu Click All Programs
3/ On the All programs menu Click Accessories
4/ From the Accessories menu Right Click on the Command Prompt and, from the drop down menu, Select 'Run as administrator'
5/ If the User Account Control feature pops up you will need to either press the Continue button or else provide UAC with the details it requires
6/ When the Command Prompt window opens type: bcdedit.exe/set {current} nx AlwaysOn and press Enter
7/ If all has gone well you should see a message saying that 'The operation completed Successfully.'
8/ Close down the Command prompt window and Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

Hope that helps - feel free to submit this to the proper sites/people to further assist any other WindowsVista people(s). :)

D

[ZeratulStukov]

sry... i meant, Submit the mod here :)

[livingshadow198]

Oh, ok.

I'm a new modder so it wasn't anything fancy - I simply changed carriers, dark archons, interceptors and battlecruisers to being permanently cloaked detectors with regenerative abilities. Newbie stuff, I'm sure.

I'd supply it but I'd already changed the file - I'm trying to get the carriers/interceptors to have the biggest possible range. I want them to be at the same range (or 1-2 more than) as siege tanks (in siege mode) and guardians/devourers. At the moment, it's a bugged mod - I keep getting runtime memory errors now. As soon as I get the kinks worked out (assuming I do), I'll link it to get a 'newbie' rating on my 'l3et/leet' modding skills. :D

D

[ShadowFlare]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mpqdraft

Use that version instead of what you are using. The problem is with the previous version of MPQDraft, not Starcraft or Vista. Blizzard wouldn't have marked Starcraft.exe as compatible with Data Execution Prevention if it wasn't.

[livingshadow198]

I still can't seem to accurately get the Protoss Photon Cannons ranges to an equal (or greater) distance to that of siege tanks/devourers/guardians.

I've looked at those numbers in the editing program, Arsenal III. I thought they were a base of 11-12 so I attempted to modify the cannon range to 13. I received memory errors when I warp one in. I edited them to 12 and had the same problem.

Anyone know how to edit the range bug-free? I'm fresh out of ideas. >.<

[U-238]

Yea, use this. (http://www.warboards.org/showthread.php?t=31232&highlight=DatEdit+1.5) Arsenal3 is out of date. (really wish they'd keep the modding stuff on starcraft.org up to date. I'll have to rattle AJ's cage about that.)

[NoobOfLore]

I need help...What would cause a mod to crash a ways into the game with no apparent cause?

[Ling666]

Thanks livingshadow. I've been looking for how to turn that off for a long time. I hate vista.

An error in the mod would mess up the game NoobOfLore, or your computer possibly.

[livingshadow198]

Thanks, guys.

That new file worked but I found out what I was doing wrong. I was changing the sight value instead of the weapons.dat STS Photon cannon range. :D

My new mod has the cannons at the right range but I bugged up and made terran battlecruisers stealth/regenerating so now comp terrans, when fighting 6 of them, do some serious damage to me, since my cannons won't detect them until they get to within the sight range, heh. :)

[ShadowFlare]

Thanks livingshadow. I've been looking for how to turn that off for a long time. I hate vista.

An error in the mod would mess up the game NoobOfLore, or your computer possibly.

They changed just a little bit about that feature in Vista, but it wasn't a new feature in Vista at all. It was added in XP Service Pack 2.

[Ling666]

Hmmm, I'd never noticed it with XP. Maybe I had a different version.

[Aqo]

Or you could just upgrade to XP. :P
Fixed.

[livingshadow198]

I modded my cannons for a range of 30 (5-6 more than any other range) and set the game on auto, basically, so I could sleep while my miners mined away - I love playing to the end, when the computer runs out of minerals...

Well, I woke up and had a surprise. Despite such a far range, the 7 computers had managed to storm one of my bases and wiped the entire thing out. I didnt bother watching the replay, that would have been 6-7 hours long. Somehow, though, they destroyed everything, lol. Kind of sucks.

So now I'm changing the cannon range to 50. :D

[ZeratulStukov]

LOL Man :D :D :D
Anyway, can you please post the mod here ??? :)

[Basan]

May I warn ya (LivingShadow') that putting the range of a unit above 11 usually brings some adverse side effects? ;)

[U-238]

The sight range yes however the weapon range can be "infinite". (aka: 0-255)

And LivingShadow. Just because your units weapon range is set to 50. That does not mean that they'll start firing when a unit reaches the 50 range unit mark. They'll only fire at what they can see. (and increasing any units sight range above 11 will cause the game to crash)

[livingshadow198]

Oh, I know that. The only 'cheat' I use is 'war aint what it used to be' so I sweep away enough fog of war to let the weapons attack. The 'sight' range is for clearing fog of war. If it's clear, they attack. I know this because I've tried it.

As for setting it at 250, that'd be crazy.... I'm going to try it. And sure, I'll post the mod - if you'll tell me A) where to upload it at (free site, please - I'm broke. :D) and B) how to link it. It'd be two - the units.dat and weapons.dat mod files.

[U-238]

well, providing it's under 500kb (.5 MB) you can just use the "Manage Attachments" feature on warboards here to upload it. However if it's larger than that you can use a simple filehost like mediafire (http://www.mediafire.com/).

[livingshadow198]

Ok, there's the mod in *.mpq format that I used - my first mod eva'. Again, it only makes all Terran and Protoss units regenerate (slowly). I haven't figured out to mod-edit the regenerating properties to speed the regeneration up yet - if anyone has an idea, let me know.

In this one, the Protoss Carriers and Shuttlecraft are also permanently cloaked and detectors. I think I mod'ed the carriers shields/hp to 1,000 too (but it's not much of a change if you play with no cheats - I still lose quite a lot of them when/if I go on the offense). The Photon Cannons are also permanently cloaked (still beatable - Terran comps scan/sweep the area and their battlecruisers take 'em out very easily. I think the cannons also got their shields/hp modded to 1k.

The last edit I did in this one was changing (most) Terran buildings/units and (most) Protoss building/unit costs to 20ore and 20gas. The only exception, for natural reasons, are the refineries/extrators/assimilators.

I didn't mess with any Zerg stuff. I don't do too much with them. I want to mod the Zerg Guardians movement speed, to make them faster, but don't know how to do it. I looked over the stats in DatEdit, but I didn't see a movement 'speed' option.

D

[ZeratulStukov]

:( can you post exe plz???

[livingshadow198]

Don't know how to turn it into an exe and I just tried to upload, I think, a sempq. *.exe files can't be uploaded. You should be able to just use the *.mpq and mpqdraft, right?

[U-238]

Change it to *.exe and stick it in a *.zip file.

Ok, there's the mod in *.mpq format that I used - my first mod eva'. Again, it only makes all Terran and Protoss units regenerate (slowly). I haven't figured out to mod-edit the regenerating properties to speed the regeneration up yet - if anyone has an idea, let me know.

That value is not changeable in Datedit. You'll need to use Firegraft (http://www.stormcoast-fortress.net/downloads/firegraft/) for that. (though it only supports 1.15 for now)

[livingshadow198]

Ok, I'll try to winzip and post my mod later.

I have v1.15.1.1 - but it doesn't look like Firegraft works with that version? Tried opening it, it's a no go so far?

[U-238]

1.15.1 doesn't work yet. The update has been "coming" for two months now. -.- (another case I'm going to have to get on)

[Twitch6000]

1.15.1 doesn't work yet. The update has been "coming" for two months now. -.- (another case I'm going to have to get on)
Don't start that crap again its not DoA's fault ok.Besides if you were truly into moidding you would get the 1.15 version and just downgrade to exe edit and play your mod.

Infact if you can tell me what in the heck is so ard about downgrading or adding a new gateway,for you to mod or play your mod please do.Voy,me,killer,and the rest of us have been wondering why you all think its so hard :/.

[U-238]

The point is, it's not hard for anyone who's used to doing that. However when you get a bunch of little nooby modders that are wondering why "Firegraft doesnt work!!!!1111one!!11!" then you have to explain the whole downgrading process it gets rather old rather quickly.

[Twitch6000]

Dude my point is atleast everyday I got to one of the starcraft mapping sites.I see it mainly on this one complaining(yes complaining) about how hard downgrading and adding a server is.
When it is all easy.When I started modding that for me was easier then modding itself :/.