Tutorial General - Custom Structures / Buildings, Builders, and Build Abilities

[Gryffin]

After much trial and error and use of other tutorials, I have finally discovered the definitive method of creating a custom Structure or Building, as well as custom Build abilities for each of the races. I feel that there is no single tutorial that completely describes this process, so I've created one for you. I hope this tutorial will be of use to you, and that people will stop being forced to post the same question in the forums. Enjoy.

Custom Protoss Structure

1. Duplicate Probe
2. Check Ability: Probe Build (Probe)
3. Check Actors: Probe and ProtossConstruction
4. Suffix everything (Custom)
5. Duplicate Pylon
6. Check Actors ProtossBuildingBirthSmall (Unnamed) and Pylon
7. Suffix everything (Custom)
8. Open the field Cost – Cost for the Pylon and change the Minerals to 0 (Zero).
9. From the Abilities tab, select the custom build Ability: Probe Build (Probe)(Custom)
10. Open Ability-Info+
11. Double-click Warp in Pylon
12. Remove Requirements with the Red X (not present for Pylon).
13. Scroll to the bottom and change the field Info-Unit to Pylon (Custom).

Custom Terran Structure

1. Duplicate the SCV
2. Check Ability: SCV - Build (SCV)
3. Check Actors: SCV and Terran Construction
4. Suffix everything (Custom)
5. Duplicate the Missile Turret
6. Check the Actor Missile Turret
7. Suffix both (Custom)
8. Change the value for Minerals in Cost – Cost to 0.
9. From the Actors tab, select the Actor Missile Turret (Custom)
10. Open Events – Events+
11. Select the Action for “UnitConstruction.MissileTurret2.Start” ; The Action's Name is: “Create MissileTurret2.Build”
12. At the bottom of the right frame, select the Type radio button, Actor.
13. From the drop-down box, select “Missile TurretBuild (Unnamed)”
14. From the Abilities tab, select the Ability SCV- Build (SCV) (Custom)
15. Open Ability-Info+
16. Double-click Build Missile Turret
17. Remove the Requirement by pushing the Red X in the bottom right-hand corner of the Requirements section.
18. Scroll to the bottom, and change the field Info – Unit to Missile Turret (Custom).

Custom Zerg Structure

1. Duplicate the Drone
2. Check Ability: Drone – Morph Unit (Drone ? Zerg Buildings)
3. Check Actors: Drone; Zerg Construction Progress; Zerg_Building Morph Start
4. Suffix everything (Custom)
5. Duplicate the Spawning Pool
6. Check the Actor Spawning Pool
7. Suffix both (Custom)
8. Change the value for Minerals under Cost – Cost to 0.
9. From the Abilities tab, select the Ability: Drone – Morph Unit (Drone ? Zerg Buildings)(Custom)
10. Open Ability-Info+
11. Double-click Spawning Pool
12. Remove the Requirement by pushing the Red X in the bottom right-hand corner of the
13. Requirements section.
14. Scroll to the bottom, and change the field Info – Unit to Spawning Pool (Custom).
15. From the Actors tab, select the Actor: Spawning Pool (Custom)
16. Open Events – Events+
17. Select the Action for: “UnitConstruction.SpawningPool2.Start” ; the Action will be named: “Create SpawningPool2Build”.
18. At the bottom of the right frame, select the Type radio button, Actor.
19. From the drop-down box, select “Spawning Pool Build”
20. Create a Creep Tumor on the Terrain to test the building.

Entirely Custom Builder
It's important also to learn how to create a custom builder unit, ability, and structure from scratch. This tutorial will teach you how to create an Archon that constructs a Mothership with the Terran Construction style (is locked while constructing and freed when finished). The entire tutorial is below, broken into sub-sections.


Unit and Actor

1. Duplicate the unit, the Archon, checking the Archon actor, as usual.
2. Suffix both the unit and actor "(Custom)".
3. Duplicate the unit, Mothership, checking it's Mothership Actor as well.
4. For the Mothership Unit, open the field "Ability - Abilities+".
5. Press the green X on the right to add an ability.
6. Set the drop-down box to "Build in Progress". Structures have this ability natively.
7. But since the Mothership is not a structure, we need to add the ability manually.
8. This will allow the Mothership to be constructed properly.
9. Open the field "Cost - Cost", and set the values for Minerals and Vespene both to zero.
10. Also set the value for the field "Stats - Supply" to zero. Supply is how much "Food" a Unit requires to be trained.

Buttons

1. Select the Buttons tab.
2. Create a new Button by right-clicking and selecting "Add Button".
3. Name the Button "Build". Name the ID "ArchonBuild".
4. Prefix the Button "Archon - ". And suffix the button "(Custom)".
5. Open the field "Icon" and click the Browse button.
6. Select an appropriate Icon. I recommend: "btn-command-protoss-buildstructure.dds"
7. Copy and paste the Icon field value to the field "Alert - Icon".
8. Create a second Button by right-clicking and selecting "Add Button".
9. Name the Button "Build Mothership". Suggest an ID.
10. Prefix the Button "Archon - ". And suffix the button "(Custom)".
11. Set the "Icon" and Alert - Icon" fields to the value: "btn-unit-protoss-mothership.dds"

Build Abilities

1. Select the Abilities tab.
2. Create a new Ability by right-clicking and selecting "Add Ability".
3. Name the Ability "Build", and name the ID "ArchonBuild".
4. Set the Ability Type to "Build".
5. Press OK to create the Ability.
6. Prefix the Ability "Archon - ". Suffix the Ability "Custom".
7. Set the field "Ability - Construction Mover" to "Construction".
8. Open the field "Ability - Info +".
9. Double-click the top option, "Build 01".
10. Using the drop-down box, set the value for "Info - Button - Default Button" at the top to "Archon - Build Mothership (Custom)".
11. Scroll to the bottom of the dialog, and set the field for "Info - Unit" to "Mothership (Custom)".
12. Immediately below this, set the value for "Info - Time" to 20. This is the building's construction time, in seconds.
13. Press OK on both dialogs to save.

Progress / Construction Ability

1. Duplicate the Ability "Terran Construction".
2. Rename the Ability: "Archon - Construction (Custom)".
3. Open the field "Events - Events+".
4. Select the Event "Abil.TerranBuild.BuiltStart"
5. On the right side, for the "Source Name" drop-down box, select the Ability "Archon - Build (Custom)".
6. For the drop-down box "Sub Name", select "Built Start".

Birth Actors

1. Select the Actors tab.
2. Duplicate the Actor "ProtossBuildingBirthLarge".
3. Suffix the Actor "(Custom)" and remove the "Copy" moniker from the Name.
4. Open the "Event - Events +" field.
5. Right-click on the Event "UnitConstruction.Nexus.Start", and click "Remove Selection".
6. Right-click in white space and select "Add Event".
7. For the drop-down box "Message Type", choose "Construction".
8. For "Source Name", choose "Mothership (Custom)".
9. For "Sub Name", choose "Start".
10. From the left-side bar, select the Action attached to the Event, called "ActionImpact".
11. For the drop-down box "Message Type", choose "Create".
12. Press OK to save your changes.

Unit Abilities

1. Open the Units tab.
2. Select your Unit "Archon (Custom)".
3. Open the field "Ability - Abilities +".
4. Add a new Ability with the green X, and set the Ability to "Archon - Build (Custom)".
5. Open the field "Ability - Command Card +".
6. Select the bottom-left gray tile.
7. Click the green X button to add a new button.
8. From the new dialog, select "Archon - Build (Custom)". DO NOT select the Ability "Build Mothership".
9. For the "Command Type" drop-down box, select "Submenu".
10. For the "Command Card" drop-down box, select "2".
11. Still in the "Ability - Command Card +" dialog, select "2" from the "Command Card" drop-down box at the TOP of the dialog.
12. Select the top-left gray tile.
13. Click the green X at the right side of the dialog to add a button.
14. From the new dialog, search for and select the button "Archon - Build Mothership (Custom)".
15. For the "Command Type" drop-down box, choose "Ability Command".
16. For the "Ability" drop-down box, choose "Archon - Build (Custom)".
17. For the "Ability Command" drop-down box, choose "Archon - Build Mothership (Custom)".
18. Press OK to save your additions.

That's All!

 

[Miz]

Its a nice reference sheet but if you could include some images it would be perfect.