The Object Editor ~ Guide & Glossary
Aka, The Object Editor for Noobs
If you want to find something in this guide quickly, use Ctrl + F.
Introduction
What is the Object Editor? WHAT IS THE OBJECT EDITOR? Meh. The Object Editor is one of the most flexible tools in the World Editor, next to the triggering panel. It is from here that you create and edit almost all aspects of the game. From units to doodads to upgrades. This guide will get you associated to the Editor, and it is not just for newcomers. It is also a reference section, that describes most, if not all, of the data strings you can edit.
Disclaimer
I am quite aware of the already-existing Unit Editor tutorial on the main website. This is designed to be more, and is not competing as a replacement.
1) Accessing The Object Editor
Open up World Editor (obviously). The Object Editor is the helmet icon located on the toolbar at the top. The helmet looks like this:
Click on the icon to open the Object Editor, or press the hotkey F6.
2) Getting Acquainted
You will be greeted by four tabs: Units, Items, Destructibles, Doodads, Abilities, Buffs/Effects, and Upgrades. Each tab contains its respective objects, and each can be fully edited to your liking. I will take you through the tabs from right to left, since that order seems to go from the simplest to the most complex.3) Upgrades
For starters, unlike the doodads and units where there are certain "types" of objects, such as "Environment", "Water", "Special", "Hero", etc, you should know that all upgrades are based off of the same one thing, so, when making an upgrade, you can base it off of any of the already-existing ones. Though it may be more convenient to base it off of an upgrade that is closest to what you wish to create. Here is the glossary for the upgrades section.Art - Button Position (X): The horizontal position of the icon in the command card.
Art - Button Position (Y): The vertical position of the icon in the command card.
Data - Effect 1: Accesses a dropdown menu, which you can use to select the desired effect of the upgrade.
Data - Effect 1 - HP Bonus/Lumber Harvest Bonus/Etc: This field changes, depending on what you select for the effect.
Data - Effects 2, 3, and 4: Can be optionally enabled/disabled by changing the effect from "None" to something else.
Stats - Applies To All Units: Self explanatory.
Stats - Class: This determines what class of units the upgrade applies to.
Stats - Gold Base: The starting amount of gold for the initial upgrade. It is also the base amount when adding it with the increment to determine the cost in later levels.
Stats - Gold Increment: By how much the upgrade increased in gold cost per tier. This field can be left at 0 if the upgrade has only one level.
Stats - Levels: The amount of levels in the upgrade. This goes in coordination with the cost increments.
Stats - Lumber Base: The same as the gold base, just for the lumber cost.
Stats - Lumber Increment: The same as the gold's increment, just for lumber.
Stats - Race: In truth, the race means nothing but the interface sounds. Whichever race you pick, is whatever voice you will hear for "Research Complete", "Not Enough Gold", etc. Its only other use is for keeping upgrades organized in the folders in the left panel of the object editor.
Stats - Time Base: The base of how much time it takes to research this.
Stats - Time Increment: How much the research time increases for each level of the upgrade.s
Stats - Transfer With Unit Ownership: Ehm...I honestly don't know. You can probably figure it out, though.
Techtree - Requirements: Required structures/upgrades to allow the researching of this upgrade.
Techtree - Requirements - Levels: Required levels of the required upgrades to allow the researching of this upgrade.
Text - Editor Suffix: A suffix for the upgrade, that appears only in the World Editor. Helps for organization.
Text - Hotkey: The hotkey used to start researching this upgrade.
Text - Name: Self explanatory, again.
Text - Tooltip: This is where the "research/buy/train" text would be. It is the top line of the upgrade's tooltip, where it says its name and colors the hotkey in.
Text - Tooltip - Extended: This is the description of the upgrade. It is the lower half of the tooltip.
4) Buffs
First of all, one thing that some people don't understand, is that buffs are not the spell affect. Aka, if you gave a unit the Blizzard buff, it won't take damage from Blizzard. A buff is merely the icon that appears in a unit's "Status" section. It consists of an icon, text explaining the unit's ailment, and sometimes a special effect to go with the unit. Again, I will guide you through all the entries, so that you can comprehend them and create buffs on your own.Art - Effect: This mainly exists in summoned unit spells. This effect is the special effect that shows when the summoned unit expires.
Art - Effect Attatchment Point: The attatchment point of the effect above. Usually this is left blank.
Art - Icon: The icon that appears to represent the buff.
Art - Lightning: This is the lightning effect that strikes the unit with the buff.s
Art - Missile Arc: This is the arc that the projectile (if any exists) makes when fired at the target. Arcs are usually less than 1.00.
Art - Missile Homing Enabled: Do you want the projectile to follow the target or not?
Art - Missile Speed: The speed of the projectile. "Fast" is usually around 1k.
Art - Required Spell Detail: The detail if the effect. Most skills leave this at "low". I doubt you can truly see a difference.
Art - Special: The death animation of the summoned unit. Some spells use this instead of Art - Effect.
Art - Special Attatchment Point: The attatchment point of the above FX.
Art - Target: The main effect that appears on the unit.s
Art - Target Attatchment Point #: The attatchment point of the above FX.
Art - Target Attatchments: The amount of attatchments in the buff.
Sound - Effect Sound: The sound that plays on the targeted unit.
Sound - Effect Sound (Looping): Self explanatory.
Stats - Is An Effect: Effects, unlike buffs, do not have an icon and text description on afflicted units.
Stats - Race: Again, this is mostly for the organization.
Text - Editor Suffix: A suffix for the buff, that appears only in the World Editor. Helps for organization.
Text - Name (Editor Only): Self explanatory, again.
Text - Tooltip: The name of the buff. The top half of the tooltip.
Text - Tooltip - Extended: The bottom half of the tooltip, where the description goes.
