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[Avaleirra]

So it has now been three years since I last logged onto thehelper.net.

At the time I was using the wc3 world editor.

I'm just wondering how different the SC2 map editor is compared to the wc3 one and how hard it will be for me to adapt (extremely rusty)

 

[Varine]

It's significantly more advanced and complicated. It's not really 'adapting' through a transition; it's a totally different thing altogether.

 

[Jokker]

I came from WC3 editor. So did x-maul. It is pretty hard but not impossible. You will be very familiar with terrain & triggers. Any kind of data (abilities, units and so on) is a story of its own.

But if you are patient and read some guides, I am sure you will be making progress fast

 

[Dave312]

I also came from the WC3 editor. Really the only new aspect is the data editor. Everything else stays pretty much the same as WC3 just with some minor improvements. As Jokker said, just read some tutorials/guides and you should be able to pick up the major aspects of the Data Editor

 

[X-maul]

It's really not that complicated once you learn it (lol). The learning curve, however, is pretty steep.

What I would suggest you to do, is to look at how the current abilities and units in the data editor is set up. Once you figure that out, it get's a lot more easy.

But yes, as Jokker said, it's a good thing to read some guides on how to get started.

This is a very good guide to start with

 

[ManyTimes]

Trigger Editor:
More options, functions, variable-types, local and global variables [even static and constants]...
Takes a bit longer to create @default triggers", such as a dialog. Some of the rapid developement from World Edit is lost, but the logic "events, conditions and actions" stays the same.

Terrain Editor:
Lowering, raising cliffs, chosing tiles is more or less the same. Placing of units and regions
(now you can also place Points/Locations, so no need to remove point-memory-leaks, and no longer need to "center of region"). Learning where and what all the neat doodads/destructibles are, is a chapter on its own though.

Data Editor:
They've messed this one up, totally.
Any triggered spell in wc3 is now "possible" within the Data Editor, for the cost of friendlyness and rapid mapping.

Bit "rant":
Why some fields like "Combat - Amount (the damage an object does)" requires to be double clicked (or enter on the field), to popup a dialog, to then fill the value in a textbox, to then click "Ok" in the dialog, instead of having the field "Combat - amount" be a textbox... Its lazyness (not by my side, but the programmers...).

Here is an example of what objects that are required to be changed for creating one unit with one ability (Sc2 vs Wc3):

Wc3 list:          Sc2List
Ability          Ability + Button, Behavior, Effects, Model, Actor...
Unit            Unit + Behaviors, Effects, Weapon, Actor, Model, Movers...

Last in the ranting section, I want to say something about the tooltips:

Level 1: 100dmg
Level 2: 200dmg

Clicking OK in the tooltip-dialog after you wrote the above, then entering the tooltip dialog again:

Level1: 100dmg\nLevel2: 200dmg

Hello readability! The same happens when adding colors to tooltips:

<c val="000000">D</c><c val="000000">i</c><c val="000000">s</c><c val="000000">t</c><c val="000000">a</c><c val="000000">n</c><c val="000000">c</c><c val="000000">e</c><c val="000000"> </c><c val="000000">D</c><c val="000000">a</c><c val="000000">m</c><c val="000000">a</c><c val="000000">g</c><c val="000000">e</c><c val="000000">
</c><c val="000000">
</c><c val="000000">L</c><c val="000000">e</c><c val="000000">v</c><c val="000000">e</c><c val="000000">l</c><c val="000000"> </c><c val="000000">1</c><c val="000000"> </c><c val="000000">1</c><c val="000000">0</c><c val="000000">0</c>

Yes, this did happen in World Edit too, but... Remember that this cannot be undone, there is no "undo" option (at least not on this computer's editor), and readability is totally gone.

Why they have not seperated colors (solid or gradient) and text into two different fields, and why they add "\n" within the tooltip itself (which they did not in Wc3 if you clicked Enter [if I remember correctly], is above my understanding (not really, its lazyness, I bet). While I am at it: Why having a 55 seconds drop time in-game for arcade, and its not editable? Small things, huge impact. My point? Do not add colors to tooltips, let them be white.

Comment:
I have two computers, computer 1 does not have the option "View" > "Show Advanced Fields", but it is able to show the coloring tool for tooltips and a button to toggle it.
Computer 2 does have the "Show Advanced Field" option, but the coloring tool is missing, and no toggle button to turn it on or off... Strange, my fault? Right... Anyways, I'll stop there.

Summarize:
Learn the difference between copy and duplicating a unit
Learn how a unit it attached to other objects.
Learn when you need to create something from "scratch" [right click > Add New Effect] versus searching and copying/duplicating an effect.
Finding the "game play constants" as World Edit calls them, is "hidden" everywhere within the Data Editor.

It will not be too difficult (nothing really is, it's all about time, if you can afford investing your time...), your experience does come in handy, but there are a lot of new things to figure out, which will take time. No idea if there are anyone out there who hasnt touched any editor before, and still goes strong within the GE... But start in the Data Editor!