Dem0nS1ayer
03-30-2008, 12:49 PM
Here's a tutorial I made a while back about how to use most of the features on SCMDraft 2. This tutorial does include descriptions of triggers, and I know that Polkaman just recently made a tutorial about that, so it may look like you're reading the same thing twice. BUT, this tutorial includes more than just triggers.
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SCMDraft 2 Map Making Tutorial
Before you begin to read this, look at the third post and download a map editor called SCMDraft 2. The latest version should be version 0.8.0. If you already have SCMDraft 2, but do not have that version, open the editor and click on Advanced and click on Check for updates.
—Basic SCMDraft 2 Need-To-Know—
Triggers- A trigger is a necessity for UMS maps. No UMS map can be made without it. To create a trigger, click on Triggers, and click on Classic Map Triggers. All triggers include the following:
Players- This tells the map what player the trigger should be executed for. You can choose from, player 1, player 2, player 3, player 4, player 5, player 6, player 7, player 8, player 9, player 10, player 11, player 12 (neutral), current player, foes, allies, neutral players, all players, force 1, force 2, force 3, force 4, and non allied victory players. Players 9-11 are neutral players so they don’t really count.
Conditions- This tells the map what should happen for the trigger to be executed. Examples: Player brings unit to location. If this condition is set, the map won’t execute the trigger until the player brings a unit to a certain location.
Actions- This is what the map will execute once the condition has been met. Some triggers include: Kill all unit for player, Create units, Set countdown timer, center view, ect…
Here’s a list of all the conditions (with explanations).
Accumulate. This condition states that the trigger will not be executed until the player accumulates (gathers) a certain amount of minerals.
Always. This condition means that the action will be executed as soon as the game starts. If there is another condition that goes with the ‘always’ condition, the game will wait until both conditions are met before it executes the action. You may see this condition for triggers such as:
Players:
All players.
Condition:
Always.
Current Player commands at most 0 buildings.
Action:
End scenario in defeat for current player.
You may also see this condition for triggers that create units as soon as the game starts. If the condition is Always, and the Action is Create unit at location, the unit will be created at that location as soon as the game starts.
Bring. This condition means that the trigger will not be executed unless the player brings a certain number of units to a certain location.
Command. The trigger will not be executed unless the player commands a certain amount of units.
Command the Least. This trigger will not be executed unless the current player has the least amount of a certain unit.
Command the Least At. The trigger will not be executed unless the current player commands the least amount of units a certain location.
Command the Most. This is the same as “Current player commands the least unit.”, but now the current player must command the most amount of units.
Command the Most At. This is the same as “Current player commands the most unit at ‘location’.”, but the current player must command of most amount of units at a certain location.
Countdown Timer. The countdown timer must be at a certain second for the trigger to work.
Deaths. The trigger will only work if the current player has suffered a certain amount of deaths.
Elapsed Time. The trigger will only work if the actual scenario is at a certain amount of seconds.
Highest Score. These “points” include:
Buildings- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of buildings.
Custom- This can be used, for instance, in a defense game. The amount of customs would display what level you are on in the game.
Kills- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of kills of a unit (men).
Razings- This trigger will only work if the player has killed the most amounts of buildings.
Total- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of everything combined.
Units- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of units.
Units and Buildings- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of units and buildings combined.
Kill. The player has to kill a certain amount of units for the trigger to be executed.
Least Kills. The player must have the least kills of a certain unit for the trigger to be executed.
Least Resources. The player must have the least amount of either ore, gas, or ore and gas for the trigger to be executed.
Lowest Score. The player must have the lowest amount of buildings, customs, kills, razings, total, units, or units and buildings for the trigger to be executed.
Most Kills. The player must have the most amount of kills of a certain unit for the trigger to be executed.
Most Resources. The player must have the most amount of either ore, gas, or ore and gas for the trigger to be executed.
Never. The trigger will never be executed.
Opponents. The player must have a certain amount of opponents left in the game for the trigger to work.
Score. The player’s score must be at a certain amount for the trigger to be executed.
Switch. A switch is something that many map makers seem to have problems with. Simply put, a switch is used to remember something. If the condition is that the player brings a certain unit to ‘location’, the action can be “set switch 1”. When you go to make the next trigger, the condition can be “switch 1 is set”, and the action can be “create 1 unit at location”.
Here’s a list of all the actions (with explanations).
Center View. The game will center your view at a certain location.
Comment. A comment can be used to shorten the appearance of a trigger. Let’s say, for instance, you had a trigger that consisted of lots of actions. These actions made the trigger look really long. If you used the comment action, the trigger would appear to be a short statement. For instance, if I was making a trigger that would create units, I may make the comment say, “Create Units”, and that’s all I would see until I click on it. Then I would see the whole trigger.
Create Unit. This action will create a certain unit at a certain location.
Create Units with Properties. This is the same as Create Units, but the trigger will let you make the unit be either invincible, cloaked, burrowed, hallucinated, or lifted.
Defeat. This will simply end the game in defeat for the current player.
Display Text Message. This will display a message written by the map maker. In most defense games where you have a wave of cloaked units, a message may appear saying, “Remember to get detectors!” That would be an example of displaying a text message.
Draw. This will simply end the game in a draw for the current players.
Give Units to Player. This will give a certain amount of units at a certain location to a certain player.
Kill Unit. This will kill a certain amount of units.
Kill Unit at Location. This will kill a certain amount of units at a certain location.
Leaderboard (Control at Location). This will create a label for the player with the most amount of a certain unit at a certain location. A label is found at the top left corner of you screen. If player 5 had the most Marines, the label may say, “Most Marines Controlled” and player 5 would be at the top.
Leaderboard (Control). This will show a label for the most units controlled by a certain player throughout the whole map.
Leaderboard (Greed). This will show a leaderboard for the player who is closest to gathering a certain amount of ore and gas.
Leaderboard (Kills). This will show a label for the most kills of a certain unit.
Leaderboard (Points). This will show a label for the most points.
Leaderboard (Resources). This will show a label for the most resources gathered.
Leaderboard Computer Players(State). This will either enable, disable, or toggle the use of computer players in the leaderboard.
Leaderboard Goal (Control at Location). This will show a label for the player who has the closest of amount of a certain unit at a certain location required.
Leaderboard Goal (Control). This will show a label for the player who has the closest amount of a certain unit required.
Leaderboard Goal (Kills). This will show a label for the player who is closest to a certain amount of kills required.
Leaderboard Goal (Points). This will show a label for the player who is closest to a certain amount of points required.
Leaderboard Goal (Resources). This will show a label for the player who is closest to gathering a certain amount of resources required.
Minimap Ping. This will show a ping on your minimap at a certain location.
Modify Unit Energy. This will change the amount of energy a unit has at a certain location.
Modify Unit Hanger Count. This will modify the amount of hangers a unit has. For example modifying a Carrier’s hanger to 6 will allow the player to build up to 6 Interceptors.
Modify Unit Hit Points. This will modify the amount of hit points a certain unit has at a certain location.
Modify Unit Resource Amount. This allows you to change the amount of resources a mineral block or vespene geyser at a certain location has.
Modify Unit Shield Points. This will modify the amount of shield points a certain unit has at a certain location. This can obviously only be used for Protoss units.
Move Location. This will move a location onto a certain player within another location. If you had a big location that a unit was standing in, and a small location that was somewhere else, you could move that small location onto the unit in the big location. This could be useful for making transmissions and centering the view onto that unit.
Move Unit. This will move a certain unit from one location to another.
Mute Unit Speech. This will mute the anything that a unit says when you click on it or order it to do something.
Order. This will make a certain unit at a certain location either move, attack, or patrol to another location.
Pause Game. This will make the game completely still. This means that you cannot move your view onto another part of the map, you can’t move your mouse, all units will stop doing whatever they are doing, and you will not be able to chat with others.
Pause Timer. This will pause the countdown timer, not the game itself.
Play WAV. This will allow you to play a WAV, or sound. You can insert sounds to your map by clicking on Scenario and then clicking on Sound Editor.
Preserve Trigger. This will continuously repeat the trigger. This is useful for massing games, where the player brings the “Masser” to a beacon, and all his units go to that player’s base. You can stop the trigger by clearing a switch that has been set in that trigger.
Remove Unit. This will remove the unit from the map. How is it different than just kill the unit? No blood or gore, that’s how. J
Remove Unit at Location. This will remove a unit at a certain location from the map.
Run AI Script. AI scripts will make things in the maps do stuff, such as turning on shared vision for a player. There are too many to list here, so look at them when you get the chance.
Run AI Scripts at Location. This will run an AI script at a certain location. Be careful though. Even though a script is there, it may not work at a certain location. Sharing vision, for instance, will show you everything that a certain player has, not just what he/she has in that location.
Set Alliance Status. This will set a certain player/force to either enemy, ally, or allied victory.
Set Countdown Timer. This will either create, add seconds, or subtract seconds from a countdown timer.
Set Deaths. This will change the amount of kills a certain unit has. For instance, if a unit has 255 kills, you could change it so that the unit only has 25 kills.
SetDoodadState. This will only work for certain doodads. You can access these certain doodads by clicking on Units, then Neutral, then Doodads. These doodads will be like the installation doors and wall-mounted traps. You can either disable, enable or toggle them. Disabling them will stop them from doing anything. Enabling them will have them work normally. I’m not really sure what toggling does, so ask someone else about that.
Set Invincibility. This will let you make units immortal, mortal, have them be… toggled?
Set Mission Objectives. This will set the mission objective, duh!
Set Next Scenario. This is really only necessary when making campaigns. This trigger will load a certain map after the current map has been completed.
Set Resources. This will change the amount of ore and gas a player has. You can either add, subtract, or set the amount of resources they have.
Set Score. This will set the score for the current player.
Set Switch. This will set, clear, or toggle a certain switch.
Talking Portrait. In the box next to the “Menu” button, you will see a certain unit for a certain amount of seconds.
Transmission. This will create a message. To do this, you will need to play a sound, have a portrait from a certain location, and set the message for a certain amount of seconds.
Unmute Unit Speech. This will make it so that you can hear what the units are saying.
Unpause Game. This will unpause the game so that you can now move, talk and look at different parts of the map.
Unpause Timer. This will unpause the game timer.
Victory. This will simply end the game in victory for the current player.
Wait. This will make the game wait a certain amount of milliseconds before it continues with the actions. 1000 milliseconds equal 1 second, just in case you didn’t know.
Location- A location is an area of the map. Most triggers need a location for the conditions and actions to work. To create a location, chose the “location” layer (hotkey is ctrl + l) and click and drag to make it. It will appear as a blue square. To rename the location, double click on it or click on it and press enter.
Forces- A force is a certain team of players. You have a total of 4 forces, and you can put the players in different forces, depending on who you want to be allied. You can also change the force name, so instead it being “Force 1”, it could be something like “Sunken Defenders” for the Sunken Defense maps. **NOTE** Computer players cannot be in the same force as human players.
—Advanced SCMDraft 2 need-to-know— (Well, not really advanced, but whatever…)
Have you ever wondered why you are able to create buildings in less than a second in some maps? Well, it’s because the map maker has changed the build time for the buildings.
Messing with Unit Properties
To change the name, hit points, armor, and build time can all be done by first clicking on Scenario and then clicking on Unit Settings. From here, you can select any buildings/unit and mess with its properties.
Upgrades and Techs
How can you make it so that you’re able to research your upgrades up to 255? First, click on Unit Settings and then Upgrade Settings. From here, you can choose any upgrade from any race. To make upgrades upgradeable to 255, click on an upgrade (ex. Infantry Armor). Its starting level should be at 0 and its max level should be at 3. Change the max level to 255. This can only be done on advanced editors.
To have techs like cloak and burrow already available when you start the game, click on Scenario and then Tech Settings. When you click on a tech, it should be set to “enabled” for all players. This means that all players have to research the ability in-game to use it. If you want it to be already researched or disabled for all players, simply lick on the box that’s next to “disabled” or “researched”. If you want to have the tech vary for each player, uncheck the box that says, “Use default” next to the certain player. The box next to that will then become white and you can change the tech settings.
Unit Properties
If you want a unit to be invincible, burrowed, hallucinated, cloaked, or lifted, click on that unit and press “Enter”. Then check the boxes that enable the unit to do what you desire.
Strings- A string is a basically any location, force, name, or unit. For it to show up as a string, it has to be customized. You can access strings by clicking on Scenario and then String Editor.
String Editor. The string editor is basically used to make your words colorful (at least, I think that’s all it’s used for…). To make something colorful, click on it from the black box with green words. The statement or word that you clicked on will then show up in the white box. From there, you can add color. The color codes will be listed along side the right portion of the editor. The names of the colors will be in that color. If you wanted to change the word to player 1’s red, you would just type in <08> right before the word. The word would then show up as red. You can also do this when you use the display message action, but it will not show you what each color looks like.
WAV Editor- To add sounds to your map, either click on one of the sounds already there and click Add File, or click on browse, choose a sound from your computer, and then click on Add File. The sound will then appear on the top part of the editor, which means that’s in the map.
Map Properties
To change the name, description, and player characteristics, first click on Scenario and then Map Properties. To change the name, write the desired name in the “Map Title” area. To change its description, write the desired description in the “Map Description” area. If you want to change the color of each player, change who it is controlled by, if it’s being used or not, or its race, simply click on those things where the “Player” options are. By clicking on “Owner”, you can change who is controlling the player. “Unused” means that it is not used in the game at all, “Rescuable” means that the units will become yours once you get near them, “Neutral” means that they will become unused, but still in the map, like Player 12, “Computer” means that the computer will be using it. The units being used by a computer will not move or do anything unless ordered to by using triggers. If you want the computers to build units and expand their bases like they do in melee games, use the AI Script called, “(race) (difficulty) at (location).” This is used if you do not want the computer to build units that are only available on Starcraft: Broodwar.” To let the computers use units from Broodwar, use the AI scripts called “Expansion (race) (difficulty) at (location).” You can chose from difficulties like easy, medium, hard, or insane. If the player is set to human, the player will obviously be controlled by the person playing.
By clicking on “Race”, you can change whether they are Terran, Zerg, Protoss, Independent (don’t know what that means), Neutral, User Select, Inactive or Human. By clicking on “Color”, you can choose what color each player will be. You can choose from red, blue, teal, purple, orange, brown, white, yellow, green, pale yellow, tan, dark aqua, pale green, bluish grey, pale yellow (again?), and cyan. There are other colors, like black, that you can choose from by replacing the color name with a number like 25.
Map Revealers
Placing map revealers for a certain player will mean that the player will be able to see the part of the map where the map revealer was placed. Note: The map revealer will not be seen during the game, but it will be there unless it’s removed. To place map revealers all over the map for the players, click on Scenario, then Place Map Revealers. Another box will appear, and from there you can choose to place map revealers for players 1-8, or for all players. To take away all the map revealers, click on Scenario, then Remove Map Revealers. Click on which player’s map revealers you want to remove, and they’ll all disappear.
Fog of War
Fog of War is the area that you cannot see. If you disable fog of war, the player that it’s disabled for will be able to see the whole map. You can also get rid of the fog of war in some areas of the map by selecting the fog of war layer (hotkey it ctrl + f). After you do that, that area on the map will look like the player already discovered that area.
Terrain
To change the terrain, use the terrain layer (hotkey is ctrl + t). You will originally be set to isometrical, which is the blocky terrain. If you look at you bar on the top of SCMDraft 2, you will see a box that say “Isometrical”. If you click on that box, you can change it to “Rectangular”, which is the small rectangle terrain, “Subtile”, which doesn’t really do anything, “Tileset Index”, which will give you every part of every terrain and doodad in little tiny squares, and “Copy/Cut/Paste”, which will allow you to copy terrain and paste it onto the map. To do this, right click when you’re in the terrain layer. You will now be in the copy/cut/paste layer. Left-click and drag on the terrain to make the blue box. After doing so, copy the terrain (hotkey is ctrl + c) and then press ctrl + v on any map to paste the copied portion. Copying the terrain, will only copy the terrain, not the doodads or units, unless you click on “Include Doodad Tiles” in the Copy Cut Paste section under Options.
Sprites
Sprites are effects that will show up in the game. An example of a sprite would be the lightning that appears when a high templar casts Psionic Storm. You can access the sprites by click on Sprites, or by being in the sprite layer (hotkey is ctrl + g). Be careful, some of the “unknown” sprites will crash your game instantly.
Illegally Placing Units
To stack units or place them in illegal spots, click on Options and then Units. Then click on “Stack”. To place units or buildings on terrain such as water, click on Options and then Units. Then click on “Place Units Anywhere” or “Place Buildings Anywhere”.
—Other Useful SCMDraft 2 Tips—
Randomize Minerals- This will change a mineral type to a different type. For instance, if you have a type 1 mineral, it may be changed to a type 2 mineral. The amount of resources will still be the same, but the appearance will change.
Mirror-X, Y, XY
Mirrors are used to make parts of the map have the exact same terrain. If you check Mirror-X and create terrain on one side of the map, the same exact terrain will be created directly across from it. If you check Mirror-Y and create terrain on one part of the map, the same exact terrain will be created either directly above it or directly below it, depending on where the original terrain is. If you check Mirror-XY and create terrain on one part of the map, the same exact terrain will created directly diagonal of it.
And that’s about all that I can think of right now. Hope this helped!
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SCMDraft 2 Map Making Tutorial
Before you begin to read this, look at the third post and download a map editor called SCMDraft 2. The latest version should be version 0.8.0. If you already have SCMDraft 2, but do not have that version, open the editor and click on Advanced and click on Check for updates.
—Basic SCMDraft 2 Need-To-Know—
Triggers- A trigger is a necessity for UMS maps. No UMS map can be made without it. To create a trigger, click on Triggers, and click on Classic Map Triggers. All triggers include the following:
Players- This tells the map what player the trigger should be executed for. You can choose from, player 1, player 2, player 3, player 4, player 5, player 6, player 7, player 8, player 9, player 10, player 11, player 12 (neutral), current player, foes, allies, neutral players, all players, force 1, force 2, force 3, force 4, and non allied victory players. Players 9-11 are neutral players so they don’t really count.
Conditions- This tells the map what should happen for the trigger to be executed. Examples: Player brings unit to location. If this condition is set, the map won’t execute the trigger until the player brings a unit to a certain location.
Actions- This is what the map will execute once the condition has been met. Some triggers include: Kill all unit for player, Create units, Set countdown timer, center view, ect…
Here’s a list of all the conditions (with explanations).
Accumulate. This condition states that the trigger will not be executed until the player accumulates (gathers) a certain amount of minerals.
Always. This condition means that the action will be executed as soon as the game starts. If there is another condition that goes with the ‘always’ condition, the game will wait until both conditions are met before it executes the action. You may see this condition for triggers such as:
Players:
All players.
Condition:
Always.
Current Player commands at most 0 buildings.
Action:
End scenario in defeat for current player.
You may also see this condition for triggers that create units as soon as the game starts. If the condition is Always, and the Action is Create unit at location, the unit will be created at that location as soon as the game starts.
Bring. This condition means that the trigger will not be executed unless the player brings a certain number of units to a certain location.
Command. The trigger will not be executed unless the player commands a certain amount of units.
Command the Least. This trigger will not be executed unless the current player has the least amount of a certain unit.
Command the Least At. The trigger will not be executed unless the current player commands the least amount of units a certain location.
Command the Most. This is the same as “Current player commands the least unit.”, but now the current player must command the most amount of units.
Command the Most At. This is the same as “Current player commands the most unit at ‘location’.”, but the current player must command of most amount of units at a certain location.
Countdown Timer. The countdown timer must be at a certain second for the trigger to work.
Deaths. The trigger will only work if the current player has suffered a certain amount of deaths.
Elapsed Time. The trigger will only work if the actual scenario is at a certain amount of seconds.
Highest Score. These “points” include:
Buildings- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of buildings.
Custom- This can be used, for instance, in a defense game. The amount of customs would display what level you are on in the game.
Kills- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of kills of a unit (men).
Razings- This trigger will only work if the player has killed the most amounts of buildings.
Total- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of everything combined.
Units- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of units.
Units and Buildings- The trigger will only work if the player has the most amount of units and buildings combined.
Kill. The player has to kill a certain amount of units for the trigger to be executed.
Least Kills. The player must have the least kills of a certain unit for the trigger to be executed.
Least Resources. The player must have the least amount of either ore, gas, or ore and gas for the trigger to be executed.
Lowest Score. The player must have the lowest amount of buildings, customs, kills, razings, total, units, or units and buildings for the trigger to be executed.
Most Kills. The player must have the most amount of kills of a certain unit for the trigger to be executed.
Most Resources. The player must have the most amount of either ore, gas, or ore and gas for the trigger to be executed.
Never. The trigger will never be executed.
Opponents. The player must have a certain amount of opponents left in the game for the trigger to work.
Score. The player’s score must be at a certain amount for the trigger to be executed.
Switch. A switch is something that many map makers seem to have problems with. Simply put, a switch is used to remember something. If the condition is that the player brings a certain unit to ‘location’, the action can be “set switch 1”. When you go to make the next trigger, the condition can be “switch 1 is set”, and the action can be “create 1 unit at location”.
Here’s a list of all the actions (with explanations).
Center View. The game will center your view at a certain location.
Comment. A comment can be used to shorten the appearance of a trigger. Let’s say, for instance, you had a trigger that consisted of lots of actions. These actions made the trigger look really long. If you used the comment action, the trigger would appear to be a short statement. For instance, if I was making a trigger that would create units, I may make the comment say, “Create Units”, and that’s all I would see until I click on it. Then I would see the whole trigger.
Create Unit. This action will create a certain unit at a certain location.
Create Units with Properties. This is the same as Create Units, but the trigger will let you make the unit be either invincible, cloaked, burrowed, hallucinated, or lifted.
Defeat. This will simply end the game in defeat for the current player.
Display Text Message. This will display a message written by the map maker. In most defense games where you have a wave of cloaked units, a message may appear saying, “Remember to get detectors!” That would be an example of displaying a text message.
Draw. This will simply end the game in a draw for the current players.
Give Units to Player. This will give a certain amount of units at a certain location to a certain player.
Kill Unit. This will kill a certain amount of units.
Kill Unit at Location. This will kill a certain amount of units at a certain location.
Leaderboard (Control at Location). This will create a label for the player with the most amount of a certain unit at a certain location. A label is found at the top left corner of you screen. If player 5 had the most Marines, the label may say, “Most Marines Controlled” and player 5 would be at the top.
Leaderboard (Control). This will show a label for the most units controlled by a certain player throughout the whole map.
Leaderboard (Greed). This will show a leaderboard for the player who is closest to gathering a certain amount of ore and gas.
Leaderboard (Kills). This will show a label for the most kills of a certain unit.
Leaderboard (Points). This will show a label for the most points.
Leaderboard (Resources). This will show a label for the most resources gathered.
Leaderboard Computer Players(State). This will either enable, disable, or toggle the use of computer players in the leaderboard.
Leaderboard Goal (Control at Location). This will show a label for the player who has the closest of amount of a certain unit at a certain location required.
Leaderboard Goal (Control). This will show a label for the player who has the closest amount of a certain unit required.
Leaderboard Goal (Kills). This will show a label for the player who is closest to a certain amount of kills required.
Leaderboard Goal (Points). This will show a label for the player who is closest to a certain amount of points required.
Leaderboard Goal (Resources). This will show a label for the player who is closest to gathering a certain amount of resources required.
Minimap Ping. This will show a ping on your minimap at a certain location.
Modify Unit Energy. This will change the amount of energy a unit has at a certain location.
Modify Unit Hanger Count. This will modify the amount of hangers a unit has. For example modifying a Carrier’s hanger to 6 will allow the player to build up to 6 Interceptors.
Modify Unit Hit Points. This will modify the amount of hit points a certain unit has at a certain location.
Modify Unit Resource Amount. This allows you to change the amount of resources a mineral block or vespene geyser at a certain location has.
Modify Unit Shield Points. This will modify the amount of shield points a certain unit has at a certain location. This can obviously only be used for Protoss units.
Move Location. This will move a location onto a certain player within another location. If you had a big location that a unit was standing in, and a small location that was somewhere else, you could move that small location onto the unit in the big location. This could be useful for making transmissions and centering the view onto that unit.
Move Unit. This will move a certain unit from one location to another.
Mute Unit Speech. This will mute the anything that a unit says when you click on it or order it to do something.
Order. This will make a certain unit at a certain location either move, attack, or patrol to another location.
Pause Game. This will make the game completely still. This means that you cannot move your view onto another part of the map, you can’t move your mouse, all units will stop doing whatever they are doing, and you will not be able to chat with others.
Pause Timer. This will pause the countdown timer, not the game itself.
Play WAV. This will allow you to play a WAV, or sound. You can insert sounds to your map by clicking on Scenario and then clicking on Sound Editor.
Preserve Trigger. This will continuously repeat the trigger. This is useful for massing games, where the player brings the “Masser” to a beacon, and all his units go to that player’s base. You can stop the trigger by clearing a switch that has been set in that trigger.
Remove Unit. This will remove the unit from the map. How is it different than just kill the unit? No blood or gore, that’s how. J
Remove Unit at Location. This will remove a unit at a certain location from the map.
Run AI Script. AI scripts will make things in the maps do stuff, such as turning on shared vision for a player. There are too many to list here, so look at them when you get the chance.
Run AI Scripts at Location. This will run an AI script at a certain location. Be careful though. Even though a script is there, it may not work at a certain location. Sharing vision, for instance, will show you everything that a certain player has, not just what he/she has in that location.
Set Alliance Status. This will set a certain player/force to either enemy, ally, or allied victory.
Set Countdown Timer. This will either create, add seconds, or subtract seconds from a countdown timer.
Set Deaths. This will change the amount of kills a certain unit has. For instance, if a unit has 255 kills, you could change it so that the unit only has 25 kills.
SetDoodadState. This will only work for certain doodads. You can access these certain doodads by clicking on Units, then Neutral, then Doodads. These doodads will be like the installation doors and wall-mounted traps. You can either disable, enable or toggle them. Disabling them will stop them from doing anything. Enabling them will have them work normally. I’m not really sure what toggling does, so ask someone else about that.
Set Invincibility. This will let you make units immortal, mortal, have them be… toggled?
Set Mission Objectives. This will set the mission objective, duh!
Set Next Scenario. This is really only necessary when making campaigns. This trigger will load a certain map after the current map has been completed.
Set Resources. This will change the amount of ore and gas a player has. You can either add, subtract, or set the amount of resources they have.
Set Score. This will set the score for the current player.
Set Switch. This will set, clear, or toggle a certain switch.
Talking Portrait. In the box next to the “Menu” button, you will see a certain unit for a certain amount of seconds.
Transmission. This will create a message. To do this, you will need to play a sound, have a portrait from a certain location, and set the message for a certain amount of seconds.
Unmute Unit Speech. This will make it so that you can hear what the units are saying.
Unpause Game. This will unpause the game so that you can now move, talk and look at different parts of the map.
Unpause Timer. This will unpause the game timer.
Victory. This will simply end the game in victory for the current player.
Wait. This will make the game wait a certain amount of milliseconds before it continues with the actions. 1000 milliseconds equal 1 second, just in case you didn’t know.
Location- A location is an area of the map. Most triggers need a location for the conditions and actions to work. To create a location, chose the “location” layer (hotkey is ctrl + l) and click and drag to make it. It will appear as a blue square. To rename the location, double click on it or click on it and press enter.
Forces- A force is a certain team of players. You have a total of 4 forces, and you can put the players in different forces, depending on who you want to be allied. You can also change the force name, so instead it being “Force 1”, it could be something like “Sunken Defenders” for the Sunken Defense maps. **NOTE** Computer players cannot be in the same force as human players.
—Advanced SCMDraft 2 need-to-know— (Well, not really advanced, but whatever…)
Have you ever wondered why you are able to create buildings in less than a second in some maps? Well, it’s because the map maker has changed the build time for the buildings.
Messing with Unit Properties
To change the name, hit points, armor, and build time can all be done by first clicking on Scenario and then clicking on Unit Settings. From here, you can select any buildings/unit and mess with its properties.
Upgrades and Techs
How can you make it so that you’re able to research your upgrades up to 255? First, click on Unit Settings and then Upgrade Settings. From here, you can choose any upgrade from any race. To make upgrades upgradeable to 255, click on an upgrade (ex. Infantry Armor). Its starting level should be at 0 and its max level should be at 3. Change the max level to 255. This can only be done on advanced editors.
To have techs like cloak and burrow already available when you start the game, click on Scenario and then Tech Settings. When you click on a tech, it should be set to “enabled” for all players. This means that all players have to research the ability in-game to use it. If you want it to be already researched or disabled for all players, simply lick on the box that’s next to “disabled” or “researched”. If you want to have the tech vary for each player, uncheck the box that says, “Use default” next to the certain player. The box next to that will then become white and you can change the tech settings.
Unit Properties
If you want a unit to be invincible, burrowed, hallucinated, cloaked, or lifted, click on that unit and press “Enter”. Then check the boxes that enable the unit to do what you desire.
Strings- A string is a basically any location, force, name, or unit. For it to show up as a string, it has to be customized. You can access strings by clicking on Scenario and then String Editor.
String Editor. The string editor is basically used to make your words colorful (at least, I think that’s all it’s used for…). To make something colorful, click on it from the black box with green words. The statement or word that you clicked on will then show up in the white box. From there, you can add color. The color codes will be listed along side the right portion of the editor. The names of the colors will be in that color. If you wanted to change the word to player 1’s red, you would just type in <08> right before the word. The word would then show up as red. You can also do this when you use the display message action, but it will not show you what each color looks like.
WAV Editor- To add sounds to your map, either click on one of the sounds already there and click Add File, or click on browse, choose a sound from your computer, and then click on Add File. The sound will then appear on the top part of the editor, which means that’s in the map.
Map Properties
To change the name, description, and player characteristics, first click on Scenario and then Map Properties. To change the name, write the desired name in the “Map Title” area. To change its description, write the desired description in the “Map Description” area. If you want to change the color of each player, change who it is controlled by, if it’s being used or not, or its race, simply click on those things where the “Player” options are. By clicking on “Owner”, you can change who is controlling the player. “Unused” means that it is not used in the game at all, “Rescuable” means that the units will become yours once you get near them, “Neutral” means that they will become unused, but still in the map, like Player 12, “Computer” means that the computer will be using it. The units being used by a computer will not move or do anything unless ordered to by using triggers. If you want the computers to build units and expand their bases like they do in melee games, use the AI Script called, “(race) (difficulty) at (location).” This is used if you do not want the computer to build units that are only available on Starcraft: Broodwar.” To let the computers use units from Broodwar, use the AI scripts called “Expansion (race) (difficulty) at (location).” You can chose from difficulties like easy, medium, hard, or insane. If the player is set to human, the player will obviously be controlled by the person playing.
By clicking on “Race”, you can change whether they are Terran, Zerg, Protoss, Independent (don’t know what that means), Neutral, User Select, Inactive or Human. By clicking on “Color”, you can choose what color each player will be. You can choose from red, blue, teal, purple, orange, brown, white, yellow, green, pale yellow, tan, dark aqua, pale green, bluish grey, pale yellow (again?), and cyan. There are other colors, like black, that you can choose from by replacing the color name with a number like 25.
Map Revealers
Placing map revealers for a certain player will mean that the player will be able to see the part of the map where the map revealer was placed. Note: The map revealer will not be seen during the game, but it will be there unless it’s removed. To place map revealers all over the map for the players, click on Scenario, then Place Map Revealers. Another box will appear, and from there you can choose to place map revealers for players 1-8, or for all players. To take away all the map revealers, click on Scenario, then Remove Map Revealers. Click on which player’s map revealers you want to remove, and they’ll all disappear.
Fog of War
Fog of War is the area that you cannot see. If you disable fog of war, the player that it’s disabled for will be able to see the whole map. You can also get rid of the fog of war in some areas of the map by selecting the fog of war layer (hotkey it ctrl + f). After you do that, that area on the map will look like the player already discovered that area.
Terrain
To change the terrain, use the terrain layer (hotkey is ctrl + t). You will originally be set to isometrical, which is the blocky terrain. If you look at you bar on the top of SCMDraft 2, you will see a box that say “Isometrical”. If you click on that box, you can change it to “Rectangular”, which is the small rectangle terrain, “Subtile”, which doesn’t really do anything, “Tileset Index”, which will give you every part of every terrain and doodad in little tiny squares, and “Copy/Cut/Paste”, which will allow you to copy terrain and paste it onto the map. To do this, right click when you’re in the terrain layer. You will now be in the copy/cut/paste layer. Left-click and drag on the terrain to make the blue box. After doing so, copy the terrain (hotkey is ctrl + c) and then press ctrl + v on any map to paste the copied portion. Copying the terrain, will only copy the terrain, not the doodads or units, unless you click on “Include Doodad Tiles” in the Copy Cut Paste section under Options.
Sprites
Sprites are effects that will show up in the game. An example of a sprite would be the lightning that appears when a high templar casts Psionic Storm. You can access the sprites by click on Sprites, or by being in the sprite layer (hotkey is ctrl + g). Be careful, some of the “unknown” sprites will crash your game instantly.
Illegally Placing Units
To stack units or place them in illegal spots, click on Options and then Units. Then click on “Stack”. To place units or buildings on terrain such as water, click on Options and then Units. Then click on “Place Units Anywhere” or “Place Buildings Anywhere”.
—Other Useful SCMDraft 2 Tips—
Randomize Minerals- This will change a mineral type to a different type. For instance, if you have a type 1 mineral, it may be changed to a type 2 mineral. The amount of resources will still be the same, but the appearance will change.
Mirror-X, Y, XY
Mirrors are used to make parts of the map have the exact same terrain. If you check Mirror-X and create terrain on one side of the map, the same exact terrain will be created directly across from it. If you check Mirror-Y and create terrain on one part of the map, the same exact terrain will be created either directly above it or directly below it, depending on where the original terrain is. If you check Mirror-XY and create terrain on one part of the map, the same exact terrain will created directly diagonal of it.
And that’s about all that I can think of right now. Hope this helped!