PrisonLove
Hard Realist
- Reaction score
- 78
Okay I’m going to show you guys how to make a grenade type spell. This is not an introduction to dummy units or dummy spells, I’m assuming you know how to make them. You also need basic triggering knowledge for this.
What do I mean by this? Well, a grenade type spell (as far as I’m concerned) is a spell in which a unit throws a projectile to a target location, and then the projectile explodes, damaging everything in an area.
Screenshots from my map, Space Orcs!
1. Setting Everything Up
Now, to do this we’re going to need to make three abilities, and 2 dummy units. Here’s the spells we’ll need:
The caster’s dummy ability (based off of channel)
A projectile ability for one dummy (based off of acid bomb)
An ability to deal the damage for the other dummy (based off of thunderclap)
Then we need two dummies:
A traditional dummy with the locust ability
A copy of that dummy, except without locust (I’ll explain why later)
Now at this point you may be asking yourself, “why not just trigger the damage?”
Well, here’s my answer. It’s much easier just to create a separate ability with all of the levels and damage amounts you want, and then order a dummy unit to cast it. Otherwise, we’d have to come up with some type of formula and use if/then/else statements to trigger the damage. I think that having a dummy use and ability is much easier. The only drawback to this is that there is spell damage reduction. However, since we’re making a spell that should happen anyway. Also, if you’re a fan of using raw data in tooltips, it makes it easier to change the tooltips. We also avoid using unit groups which is a plus.
Okay now on to the good stuff.
I’m assuming you know how to make dummy casters. So make them, give one locust and keep the other one without locust but all the same properties. You need one without locust because we’re going to have dummy 1 “acidbomb” dummy two; therefore, dummy 2 needs to be vulnerable.
So for the custom acid bomb spell, make it so that it deals no damage, has no duration, no AoE (very important), no negative effects, etc. the only thing we need is the projectile art. Set it to what you want. I prefer the Human Battleship projectile. Make sure the spell can target friends (VERY important). Make sure the mana cost and cooldown are 0 and such.
Now we need to make our thunderclap spell.
Q: Why are we using thunderclap and not warstomp?
A: Well, this is a matter of preference but, Thunderclap will not break channeling spells so if you set the duration to .01 the side effects will not take place. Also you can set the debuffs to 0.
So for thunderclap, set the targets to what you want (I have it set so that it can target ALL ground units). Set the debuffs to 0 (unless you want a disorienting grenade) and set the damage to what you want. Make sure the mana cost and cooldown are 0 and such.
Now we want to make our dummy ability for the caster, complete with mana, cooldown, and tooltips. I suggest using channel with a targeting image. Make sure the AoE of your dummy ability and thunderclap are the same!
Okay so our abilities and dummy units are all set, now its time to start triggering!
2. The Triggering
First we need to set up our basic spell trigger (I’ve titled my spell, Grenade Launch):
now it’s on to the slightly harder part – the actions. What we’re going to do is create two dummies. One at the location of the caster (which is dummy 1 mentioned before) and another at the target point of ability being cast (the vulnerable dummy). Then we’re just going to give them the needed abilities, set them to the needed levels, and give them some expiration timers to remove the leak.
So here’s what our actions are going to look like for now
So all we’ve done is set the points, add the units, add the abilities and the expiration timers, and set the dummies to variables. We need to set them to variables because in a few lines we’re going to have a wait, at which point we can no longer use Last Created Unit. Its also just much easier to refer to the dummies if their in variables.
The next part of this trigger will be creating the projectile and dealing the damage. Now, what we’re going to do is order TempUnit to “acidbomb” TempUnit2. This will give us our projectile. Then we’re going to wait the distance between TempPoint and TempPoint2 divided by the projectile speed of the acid bomb projectile. Then we just order TempUnit2 to “thunderclap” and add some nifty special effects. Not too hard right. So lets take a look at the actions now:
Now you may have noticed something odd in that trigger:
This special effect is one I imported for the purpose of my spell. If you don’t have a custom explosion to use I suggest using neutral building explosion.
Now just for one more thing. We need to remove all of those nasty leaks. So we add this to the end of the code:
so lets take a look at the whole trigger:
Congratulations! You’ve just made a grenade type spell. But those of you who are more advanced may be saying to yourself “wait, that’s not MUI!” and you’re right it’s not. So the next part of this tutorial will show you how to make it MUI. You could make this MPI by simply making the variables arrays but I’m going to show you MUI, and I’m going to be using JASS.
3. Making it MUI
Don’t be frightened. This is extremely basic JASS and does not require any third party editor stuff like newgen or vJASS. THIS IS NOT AN INTRODUCTION TO JASS. So if that’s what you’re looking for please don’t read on, although I strongly believe that even those with no knowledge of JASS may be able to do this,
Okay, first things first, lets go to edit and convert our trigger to custom text (be sure to save a GUI copy). We should get something like this:
Now for those of you who are not skilled in JASS (not that I am), you may be saying to yourself “What the F***!” Don’t worry it’s not that bad. All we’re going to do is edit some of that text.
The first step to making this MUI (and really the only one) is to add in the local variables. So take a look at the section of the trigger that says:
we’re going to be working with that section. Okay, now to add the local variables. Just under that heading ^^ we need to put:
Now I’ll explain what all of that is. Local units are variables that are specific to each function. So everytime the trigger fires, no matter how many times at once, the local variables always refer to different units. So all we’ve done is set up our local variables. Now, you may have noticed that TempUnit and TempUnit2 aren’t set to anything. That is because we will set them later; however, all local variables must be declared in the beginning of a function so we have to state them, even though we are setting them later.
For setting the TempUnits, you would have to set them immediately after they are created like so:
I feel I should mention raw codes in this tutorial. ‘h005’ in the code above is the raw code for the locust dummy unit we are creating. ‘h006’ is the dummy unit that is vulnerable. Also, A00J is the rawcode of our casters ability, A00K is our acid bomb ability, and A00L is our thunderclap spell. THESE WILL BE DIFFERENT FOR YOU! So don’t fret when you notice that. Just swap my raw codes with yours. You can find the raw codes for your units and abilities by going to the object editor and hitting ctrl+D. everything will convert to its raw code. Now we may continue.
So now all you would have to do to make this MUI is replace every instance of GetTriggerUnit(), udg_TempPoint, udg_TempPoint2, and GetLastCreatedUnit(), with their respected variables.
So after replacing everything, your trigger should look like this:
And there you go. You now have a leak free, MUI grenade type spell in JASS!
Some of you may have noticed that I’ve added those three null lines at the end of the trigger. This is done to prevent them from leaking, it’s not mandatory, but it’s definitely good for your map and something you should do.
Okay so you’re done. Or are you? We’re going to take this a step further and make the code much more efficient. This section is for those slightly more experienced JASSers so if you feel uneasy, do not read on. Once again, I am not giving a full JASS tutorial, it is assumed that some of these things are already known to the reader.
4. Efficiency
All I’m going to do is swap some native functions for the BJ functions, and reduce that miserable conditions line.
Lets take a look at that condition function:
Ew, that looks nasty and bulky. Lets change that around to look a bit cleaner
ah, that looks much better and it does the same exact thing!
Now I’m going to show you how to make setting the TempUnits more effective and how to more effectively destroy special effects. They have the same concepts, we’re going to be combining two lines into one.
So let’s take a look at these two lines:
We’re going to combine these two to set TempUnit while the unit is being created, instead of creating the unit and then setting TempUnit. The only purpose for this, as is everything in this section of the tutorial, is to make the code smaller and more efficient. So let’ synthesize those two lines into:
The same applies to destroying special effects:
There, we’ve just saved a couple of lines of code.
Now to swap for BJs with natives. You may have noticed that some functions have a BJ after, such as:
So what? Well, a BJ function calls a native function into play, so therefore, we can make things run faster and smoother by calling the native instead of the BJ right? It’s like asking your mom to get you a drink from the fridge, you get the drink much faster if you get it yourself. You don’t have to wait for your mom to get it and bring it back. So what we’re going to do is fetch the function ourselves instead of asking mom to do it.
So the native function that UnitAddAbilityBJ calls is:
wait a minute? That looks the same as the other except with no BJ. Well, it is, and the statements were swapped as well. I’m not going to list all of the natives for you, you can do that yourself. You may also have to rearrange the statements in order to get the natives to work. Just remember that native functions NEVER have a BJ in them. So atfter you do all of that your code should look like this:
Congratulations you’re finished! That wasn’t so hard was it?
The specific grenade ability we made in this tutorial is an ability for a hero of mine in my map Space Orcs!, an AoS style map which will be out for Beta testing very soon so keep a look out. This code can be imported straight into any map, just make sure you have the custom abilities, and dummies set in. The two things that you have to look for if you copy and paste are:
1) Change the raw codes of dummy units and abilities
2) Make sure you replace my imported custom effect with something else otherwise you WILL get an error!
Hope someone found this useful!
Credit for Tauren Marine model in screenshot goes to General_Frank
Credit for explosion model in screenshot goes to Will_the_Almighty
==========Demo Map==========
View attachment Grenade_Launch_Test_Map.w3x
*note* You'll notice that the raw codes and special effects in this map are different then in the above code. This is because I made the map after the fact, due to requests, and this is still the exact effect we've been trying to achieve; the only differences are the special effects and the raw codes.
What do I mean by this? Well, a grenade type spell (as far as I’m concerned) is a spell in which a unit throws a projectile to a target location, and then the projectile explodes, damaging everything in an area.
Screenshots from my map, Space Orcs!
1. Setting Everything Up
Now, to do this we’re going to need to make three abilities, and 2 dummy units. Here’s the spells we’ll need:
The caster’s dummy ability (based off of channel)
A projectile ability for one dummy (based off of acid bomb)
An ability to deal the damage for the other dummy (based off of thunderclap)
Then we need two dummies:
A traditional dummy with the locust ability
A copy of that dummy, except without locust (I’ll explain why later)
Now at this point you may be asking yourself, “why not just trigger the damage?”
Well, here’s my answer. It’s much easier just to create a separate ability with all of the levels and damage amounts you want, and then order a dummy unit to cast it. Otherwise, we’d have to come up with some type of formula and use if/then/else statements to trigger the damage. I think that having a dummy use and ability is much easier. The only drawback to this is that there is spell damage reduction. However, since we’re making a spell that should happen anyway. Also, if you’re a fan of using raw data in tooltips, it makes it easier to change the tooltips. We also avoid using unit groups which is a plus.
Okay now on to the good stuff.
I’m assuming you know how to make dummy casters. So make them, give one locust and keep the other one without locust but all the same properties. You need one without locust because we’re going to have dummy 1 “acidbomb” dummy two; therefore, dummy 2 needs to be vulnerable.
So for the custom acid bomb spell, make it so that it deals no damage, has no duration, no AoE (very important), no negative effects, etc. the only thing we need is the projectile art. Set it to what you want. I prefer the Human Battleship projectile. Make sure the spell can target friends (VERY important). Make sure the mana cost and cooldown are 0 and such.
Now we need to make our thunderclap spell.
Q: Why are we using thunderclap and not warstomp?
A: Well, this is a matter of preference but, Thunderclap will not break channeling spells so if you set the duration to .01 the side effects will not take place. Also you can set the debuffs to 0.
So for thunderclap, set the targets to what you want (I have it set so that it can target ALL ground units). Set the debuffs to 0 (unless you want a disorienting grenade) and set the damage to what you want. Make sure the mana cost and cooldown are 0 and such.
Now we want to make our dummy ability for the caster, complete with mana, cooldown, and tooltips. I suggest using channel with a targeting image. Make sure the AoE of your dummy ability and thunderclap are the same!
Okay so our abilities and dummy units are all set, now its time to start triggering!
2. The Triggering
First we need to set up our basic spell trigger (I’ve titled my spell, Grenade Launch):
Trigger:
- Grenade Launch
- Events
- Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
- Conditions
- (Ability being cast) Equal to Grenade Launch (Heavy Machine Gunner)
- Events
now it’s on to the slightly harder part – the actions. What we’re going to do is create two dummies. One at the location of the caster (which is dummy 1 mentioned before) and another at the target point of ability being cast (the vulnerable dummy). Then we’re just going to give them the needed abilities, set them to the needed levels, and give them some expiration timers to remove the leak.
So here’s what our actions are going to look like for now
Trigger:
- Actions
- Set TempPoint = (Position of (Triggering unit))
- Set TempPoint2 = (Target point of ability being cast)
- Unit - Create 1 dummy unit for (Owner of (Triggering unit)) at TempPoint facing Default building facing degrees
- Set TempUnit = (Last created unit)
- Unit - Add grenade projectile to TempUnit
- Unit - Add a 6.00 second Generic expiration timer to TempUnit
- Unit - Create 1 dummy unit (vulnerable) for (Owner of (Triggering unit)) at TempPoint2 facing Default building facing degrees
- Set TempUnit2 = (Last created unit)
- Unit - Add grenade explosion to TempUnit2
- Unit - Set level of grenade explosion for TempUnit2 to (Level of Grenade Launch (Heavy Machine Gunner) for (Triggering unit))
- Unit - Add a 6.00 second Generic expiration timer to TempUnit2
So all we’ve done is set the points, add the units, add the abilities and the expiration timers, and set the dummies to variables. We need to set them to variables because in a few lines we’re going to have a wait, at which point we can no longer use Last Created Unit. Its also just much easier to refer to the dummies if their in variables.
The next part of this trigger will be creating the projectile and dealing the damage. Now, what we’re going to do is order TempUnit to “acidbomb” TempUnit2. This will give us our projectile. Then we’re going to wait the distance between TempPoint and TempPoint2 divided by the projectile speed of the acid bomb projectile. Then we just order TempUnit2 to “thunderclap” and add some nifty special effects. Not too hard right. So lets take a look at the actions now:
Trigger:
- Actions
- Set TempPoint = (Position of (Triggering unit))
- Set TempPoint2 = (Target point of ability being cast)
- Unit - Create 1 dummy unit for (Owner of (Triggering unit)) at TempPoint facing Default building facing degrees
- Set TempUnit = (Last created unit)
- Unit - Add grenade projectile to TempUnit
- Unit - Add a 6.00 second Generic expiration timer to TempUnit
- Unit - Create 1 dummy unit (vulnerable) for (Owner of (Triggering unit)) at TempPoint2 facing Default building facing degrees
- Set TempUnit2 = (Last created unit)
- Unit - Add grenade explosion to TempUnit2
- Unit - Set level of grenade explosion for TempUnit2 to (Level of Grenade Launch (Heavy Machine Gunner) for (Triggering unit))
- Unit - Add a 6.00 second Generic expiration timer to TempUnit2
- Unit - Order TempUnit to Neutral Alchemist - Acid Bomb TempUnit2
- Wait ((Distance between TempPoint and TempPoint2) / 700.00) seconds
- Unit - Order TempUnit2 to Human Mountain King - Thunder Clap
- Special Effect - Create a special effect at TempPoint2 using war3mapImported\ShrapnelShards.mdx
- Special Effect - Destroy (Last created special effect)
- Special Effect - Create a special effect at TempPoint2 using Abilities\Spells\Other\Incinerate\FireLordDeathExplode.mdl
- Special Effect - Destroy (Last created special effect)
Now you may have noticed something odd in that trigger:
Trigger:
- Special Effect - Create a special effect at TempPoint2 using war3mapImported\ShrapnelShards.mdx
This special effect is one I imported for the purpose of my spell. If you don’t have a custom explosion to use I suggest using neutral building explosion.
Now just for one more thing. We need to remove all of those nasty leaks. So we add this to the end of the code:
Trigger:
- Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_TempPoint)
- Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_TempPoint2)
so lets take a look at the whole trigger:
Trigger:
- Grenade Launch
- Events
- Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
- Conditions
- (Ability being cast) Equal to Grenade Launch (Heavy Machine Gunner)
- Actions
- Set TempPoint = (Position of (Triggering unit))
- Set TempPoint2 = (Target point of ability being cast)
- Unit - Create 1 dummy unit for (Owner of (Triggering unit)) at TempPoint facing Default building facing degrees
- Set TempUnit = (Last created unit)
- Unit - Add grenade projectile to TempUnit
- Unit - Add a 6.00 second Generic expiration timer to TempUnit
- Unit - Create 1 dummy unit (vulnerable) for (Owner of (Triggering unit)) at TempPoint2 facing Default building facing degrees
- Set TempUnit2 = (Last created unit)
- Unit - Add grenade explosion to TempUnit2
- Unit - Set level of grenade explosion for TempUnit2 to (Level of Grenade Launch (Heavy Machine Gunner) for (Triggering unit))
- Unit - Add a 6.00 second Generic expiration timer to TempUnit2
- Unit - Order TempUnit to Neutral Alchemist - Acid Bomb TempUnit2
- Wait ((Distance between TempPoint and TempPoint2) / 700.00) seconds
- Unit - Order TempUnit2 to Human Mountain King - Thunder Clap
- Special Effect - Create a special effect at TempPoint2 using war3mapImported\ShrapnelShards.mdx
- Special Effect - Destroy (Last created special effect)
- Special Effect - Create a special effect at TempPoint2 using Abilities\Spells\Other\Incinerate\FireLordDeathExplode.mdl
- Special Effect - Destroy (Last created special effect)
- Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_TempPoint)
- Custom script: call RemoveLocation(udg_TempPoint2)
- Events
Congratulations! You’ve just made a grenade type spell. But those of you who are more advanced may be saying to yourself “wait, that’s not MUI!” and you’re right it’s not. So the next part of this tutorial will show you how to make it MUI. You could make this MPI by simply making the variables arrays but I’m going to show you MUI, and I’m going to be using JASS.
3. Making it MUI
Don’t be frightened. This is extremely basic JASS and does not require any third party editor stuff like newgen or vJASS. THIS IS NOT AN INTRODUCTION TO JASS. So if that’s what you’re looking for please don’t read on, although I strongly believe that even those with no knowledge of JASS may be able to do this,
Okay, first things first, lets go to edit and convert our trigger to custom text (be sure to save a GUI copy). We should get something like this:
JASS:
function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Conditions takes nothing returns boolean
if ( not ( GetSpellAbilityId() == 'A00J' ) ) then
return false
endif
return true
endfunction
function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Actions takes nothing returns nothing
set udg_TempPoint = GetUnitLoc(GetTriggerUnit())
set udg_TempPoint2 = GetSpellTargetLoc()
call CreateNUnitsAtLoc( 1, 'h005', GetOwningPlayer(GetTriggerUnit()), udg_TempPoint, bj_UNIT_FACING )
set udg_TempUnit = GetLastCreatedUnit()
call UnitAddAbilityBJ( 'A00K', udg_TempUnit )
call UnitApplyTimedLifeBJ( 6.00, 'BTLF', udg_TempUnit )
call CreateNUnitsAtLoc( 1, 'h006', GetOwningPlayer(GetTriggerUnit()), udg_TempPoint2, bj_UNIT_FACING )
set udg_TempUnit2 = GetLastCreatedUnit()
call UnitAddAbilityBJ( 'A00L', udg_TempUnit2 )
call SetUnitAbilityLevelSwapped( 'A00L', udg_TempUnit2, GetUnitAbilityLevelSwapped('A00J', GetTriggerUnit()) )
call UnitApplyTimedLifeBJ( 6.00, 'BTLF', udg_TempUnit2 )
call IssueTargetOrderBJ( udg_TempUnit, "acidbomb", udg_TempUnit2 )
call TriggerSleepAction( ( DistanceBetweenPoints(udg_TempPoint, udg_TempPoint2) / 700.00 ) )
call IssueImmediateOrderBJ( udg_TempUnit2, "thunderclap" )
call AddSpecialEffectLocBJ( udg_TempPoint2, "war3mapImported\\ShrapnelShards.mdx" )
call DestroyEffectBJ( GetLastCreatedEffectBJ() )
call AddSpecialEffectLocBJ( udg_TempPoint2, "Abilities\\Spells\\Other\\Incinerate\\FireLordDeathExplode.mdl" )
call DestroyEffectBJ( GetLastCreatedEffectBJ() )
call RemoveLocation(udg_TempPoint)
call RemoveLocation(udg_TempPoint2)
endfunction
//===========================================================================
function InitTrig_Grenade_Launch takes nothing returns nothing
set gg_trg_Grenade_Launch = CreateTrigger( )
call TriggerRegisterAnyUnitEventBJ( gg_trg_Grenade_Launch, EVENT_PLAYER_UNIT_SPELL_EFFECT )
call TriggerAddCondition( gg_trg_Grenade_Launch, Condition( function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Conditions ) )
call TriggerAddAction( gg_trg_Grenade_Launch, function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Actions )
endfunctionNow for those of you who are not skilled in JASS (not that I am), you may be saying to yourself “What the F***!” Don’t worry it’s not that bad. All we’re going to do is edit some of that text.
The first step to making this MUI (and really the only one) is to add in the local variables. So take a look at the section of the trigger that says:
we’re going to be working with that section. Okay, now to add the local variables. Just under that heading ^^ we need to put:
JASS:
local unit caster = GetTriggerUnit()
local unit TempUnit
local unit TempUnit2
local location TempPoint = GetUnitLoc(caster)
local location TempPoint2 = GetSpellTargetLoc()Now I’ll explain what all of that is. Local units are variables that are specific to each function. So everytime the trigger fires, no matter how many times at once, the local variables always refer to different units. So all we’ve done is set up our local variables. Now, you may have noticed that TempUnit and TempUnit2 aren’t set to anything. That is because we will set them later; however, all local variables must be declared in the beginning of a function so we have to state them, even though we are setting them later.
For setting the TempUnits, you would have to set them immediately after they are created like so:
JASS:
call CreateNUnitsAtLoc( 1, 'h005', GetOwningPlayer(GetTriggerUnit()), udg_TempPoint, bj_UNIT_FACING )
set TempUnit = GetLastCreatedUnit()I feel I should mention raw codes in this tutorial. ‘h005’ in the code above is the raw code for the locust dummy unit we are creating. ‘h006’ is the dummy unit that is vulnerable. Also, A00J is the rawcode of our casters ability, A00K is our acid bomb ability, and A00L is our thunderclap spell. THESE WILL BE DIFFERENT FOR YOU! So don’t fret when you notice that. Just swap my raw codes with yours. You can find the raw codes for your units and abilities by going to the object editor and hitting ctrl+D. everything will convert to its raw code. Now we may continue.
So now all you would have to do to make this MUI is replace every instance of GetTriggerUnit(), udg_TempPoint, udg_TempPoint2, and GetLastCreatedUnit(), with their respected variables.
So after replacing everything, your trigger should look like this:
JASS:
function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Conditions takes nothing returns boolean
if ( not ( GetSpellAbilityId() == 'A00J' ) ) then
return false
endif
return true
endfunction
function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Actions takes nothing returns nothing
local unit caster = GetTriggerUnit()
local unit TempUnit
local unit TempUnit2
local location TempPoint = GetUnitLoc(caster)
local location TempPoint2 = GetSpellTargetLoc()
call CreateNUnitsAtLoc( 1, 'h005', GetOwningPlayer(caster), TempPoint, bj_UNIT_FACING )
set TempUnit = GetLastCreatedUnit()
call UnitAddAbilityBJ( 'A00K', TempUnit )
call UnitApplyTimedLifeBJ( 6.00, 'BTLF', TempUnit )
call CreateNUnitsAtLoc( 1, 'h006', GetOwningPlayer(caster), TempPoint2, bj_UNIT_FACING )
set TempUnit2 = GetLastCreatedUnit()
call UnitAddAbilityBJ( 'A00L', TempUnit2 )
call SetUnitAbilityLevelSwapped( 'A00L', TempUnit2, GetUnitAbilityLevelSwapped('A00J', caster) )
call UnitApplyTimedLifeBJ( 6.00, 'BTLF', TempUnit2 )
call IssueTargetOrderBJ( TempUnit, "acidbomb", TempUnit2 )
call TriggerSleepAction( ( DistanceBetweenPoints(TempPoint, TempPoint2) / 700.00 ) )
call IssueImmediateOrderBJ( TempUnit2, "thunderclap" )
call AddSpecialEffectLocBJ( TempPoint2, "war3mapImported\\ShrapnelShards.mdx" )
call DestroyEffectBJ( GetLastCreatedEffectBJ() )
call AddSpecialEffectLocBJ( TempPoint2, "Abilities\\Spells\\Other\\Incinerate\\FireLordDeathExplode.mdl" )
call DestroyEffectBJ( GetLastCreatedEffectBJ() )
call RemoveLocation(TempPoint)
call RemoveLocation(TempPoint2)
set caster = null
set TempUnit = null
set TempUnit2 = null
endfunction
//===========================================================================
function InitTrig_Grenade_Launch takes nothing returns nothing
set gg_trg_Grenade_Launch = CreateTrigger( )
call TriggerRegisterAnyUnitEventBJ( gg_trg_Grenade_Launch, EVENT_PLAYER_UNIT_SPELL_EFFECT )
call TriggerAddCondition( gg_trg_Grenade_Launch, Condition( function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Conditions ) )
call TriggerAddAction( gg_trg_Grenade_Launch, function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Actions )
endfunctionAnd there you go. You now have a leak free, MUI grenade type spell in JASS!
Some of you may have noticed that I’ve added those three null lines at the end of the trigger. This is done to prevent them from leaking, it’s not mandatory, but it’s definitely good for your map and something you should do.
Okay so you’re done. Or are you? We’re going to take this a step further and make the code much more efficient. This section is for those slightly more experienced JASSers so if you feel uneasy, do not read on. Once again, I am not giving a full JASS tutorial, it is assumed that some of these things are already known to the reader.
4. Efficiency
All I’m going to do is swap some native functions for the BJ functions, and reduce that miserable conditions line.
Lets take a look at that condition function:
JASS:
function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Conditions takes nothing returns boolean
if ( not ( GetSpellAbilityId() == 'A00J' ) ) then
return false
endif
return true
endfunctionEw, that looks nasty and bulky. Lets change that around to look a bit cleaner
JASS:
function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Conditions takes nothing returns boolean
return GetSpellAbilityId() == 'A00J'
endfunctionah, that looks much better and it does the same exact thing!
Now I’m going to show you how to make setting the TempUnits more effective and how to more effectively destroy special effects. They have the same concepts, we’re going to be combining two lines into one.
So let’s take a look at these two lines:
JASS:
call CreateNUnitsAtLoc( 1, 'h005', GetOwningPlayer(caster), TempPoint, bj_UNIT_FACING )
set TempUnit = GetLastCreatedUnit()We’re going to combine these two to set TempUnit while the unit is being created, instead of creating the unit and then setting TempUnit. The only purpose for this, as is everything in this section of the tutorial, is to make the code smaller and more efficient. So let’ synthesize those two lines into:
JASS:
set TempUnit = CreateNUnitsAtLoc( 1, 'h005', GetOwningPlayer(caster), TempPoint, bj_UNIT_FACING )The same applies to destroying special effects:
JASS:
call DestroyEffectBJ( AddSpecialEffectLocBJ( TempPoint2, "war3mapImported\\ShrapnelShards.mdx" ) )There, we’ve just saved a couple of lines of code.
Now to swap for BJs with natives. You may have noticed that some functions have a BJ after, such as:
JASS:
call UnitAddAbilityBJ( 'A00K', TempUnit )So what? Well, a BJ function calls a native function into play, so therefore, we can make things run faster and smoother by calling the native instead of the BJ right? It’s like asking your mom to get you a drink from the fridge, you get the drink much faster if you get it yourself. You don’t have to wait for your mom to get it and bring it back. So what we’re going to do is fetch the function ourselves instead of asking mom to do it.
So the native function that UnitAddAbilityBJ calls is:
JASS:
call UnitAddAbility( TempUnit, 'A00K' )wait a minute? That looks the same as the other except with no BJ. Well, it is, and the statements were swapped as well. I’m not going to list all of the natives for you, you can do that yourself. You may also have to rearrange the statements in order to get the natives to work. Just remember that native functions NEVER have a BJ in them. So atfter you do all of that your code should look like this:
JASS:
function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Conditions takes nothing returns boolean
return GetSpellAbilityId() == 'A00J'
endfunction
function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Actions takes nothing returns nothing
local unit caster = GetTriggerUnit()
local unit TempUnit
local unit TempUnit2
local location TempPoint = GetUnitLoc(caster)
local location TempPoint2 = GetSpellTargetLoc()
set TempUnit = CreateUnitAtLoc( GetOwningPlayer(caster), 'h005', TempPoint, 270.00 )
call UnitAddAbility( TempUnit, 'A00K' )
call UnitApplyTimedLife( TempUnit, 'BTLF', 6.00 )
set TempUnit2 = CreateUnitAtLoc( GetOwningPlayer(caster), 'h006', TempPoint2, 270.00 )
call UnitAddAbility( TempUnit2, 'A00L' )
call SetUnitAbilityLevel( TempUnit2, 'A00L', GetUnitAbilityLevel(caster, 'A00J') )
call UnitApplyTimedLife( TempUnit2, 'BTLF', 6.00 )
call IssueTargetOrder( TempUnit, "acidbomb", TempUnit2 )
call TriggerSleepAction( ( DistanceBetweenPoints(TempPoint, TempPoint2) / 650.00 ) )
call IssueImmediateOrder( TempUnit2, "thunderclap" )
call DestroyEffect( AddSpecialEffectLoc( "war3mapImported\\ShrapnelShards.mdx", TempPoint2 ) )
call DestroyEffect( AddSpecialEffectLoc( "Abilities\\Spells\\Other\\Incinerate\\FireLordDeathExplode.mdl", TempPoint2 ) )
call Rem oveLocation(TempPoint)
call RemoveLocation(TempPoint2)
set caster = null
set TempUnit = null
set TempUnit2 = null
endfunction
//===========================================================================
function InitTrig_Grenade_Launch takes nothing returns nothing
set gg_trg_Grenade_Launch = CreateTrigger( )
call TriggerRegisterAnyUnitEventBJ( gg_trg_Grenade_Launch, EVENT_PLAYER_UNIT_SPELL_EFFECT )
call TriggerAddCondition( gg_trg_Grenade_Launch, Condition( function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Conditions ) )
call TriggerAddAction( gg_trg_Grenade_Launch, function Trig_Grenade_Launch_Actions )
endfunctionCongratulations you’re finished! That wasn’t so hard was it?
The specific grenade ability we made in this tutorial is an ability for a hero of mine in my map Space Orcs!, an AoS style map which will be out for Beta testing very soon so keep a look out. This code can be imported straight into any map, just make sure you have the custom abilities, and dummies set in. The two things that you have to look for if you copy and paste are:
1) Change the raw codes of dummy units and abilities
2) Make sure you replace my imported custom effect with something else otherwise you WILL get an error!
Hope someone found this useful!
Credit for Tauren Marine model in screenshot goes to General_Frank
Credit for explosion model in screenshot goes to Will_the_Almighty
==========Demo Map==========
View attachment Grenade_Launch_Test_Map.w3x
*note* You'll notice that the raw codes and special effects in this map are different then in the above code. This is because I made the map after the fact, due to requests, and this is still the exact effect we've been trying to achieve; the only differences are the special effects and the raw codes.
