What did Heart of the Swarm add to the Map Editor?

New Texture Sets

  • Char Fortress (Volcanic)
  • Char Marsh
  • Daelaam Ark (Starship)
  • Immortal Forge (Space Platform)
  • Kaldir (Ice)
  • Korhal City
  • Korhal Platform
  • Korhal Wastes
  • Moros (Installation)
  • Phaeton (Desert)
  • Skygeirr Lab (Space Platform)
  • Skygeirr Platform (Space Platform)
  • Umoja (Installation)
  • Zerus (Jungle)

New Objects

This list is HUGE, so instead I will tell you how to find what items were added or modified. Open the SC2 map editor, and choose a new document. Select Arcade Map, Choose the Heart of the Swarm dependencies, Include Campaign Data. You can pick any map for this, it doesn't chage what models are available.

Hit F7 to open the Data tool. Right next to the search bar you can select your data source to narrow down the list of items it gives you. Choose Swarm.SC2Mod or Swarm.SC2Campaign to see the list of all items that were added or modified.

Editor Updates

All the HotS editor functionality updates and bug fixes were rolled into WoL as well, so there aren't any HotS updates that you wouldn't get in this category if you don't buy HotS.

However, there were a ton of updates made when HotS released.

General

  • A new preload Info dialog has been added for defining game data, asset files, and banks to be preloaded in-game. This is accessible from the Map/Mod menus in all modules.
  • Added color preferences for text preview display.
  • The Arcade Info dialog has been renamed tBattle.net Info. This info is now available for non-arcade maps as well.
  • New SC2Interface files:
    • Mods can now optionally be saved as SC2Interface files as long as they don’t have any data which affects gameplay.
    • Mod gameplay/interface status can be checked using the Mod > Mod Status window.
  • New Export Locales and Import Locales commands have been added. These are available under the Map/Mod > Locales sub-menu. These can be used to export and import localized text to and from text files.
  • The Dependency dialog now includes a display of the full dependency chain resulting from the requested dependencies. Dependency reference checking and validation now accounts for the full chain properly in all cases.
  • The Dependency dialog now issues a warning when Multi mods are used in conjunction with Story mods. These are designed to be mutually exclusive and could cause a variety of problems in game when combined.
  • Added toolbar button size preference.
  • Automatic backups for documents saved as component lists will now properly save multiple backup files.
  • Tutorial game variant will not be changed when other variants are added or removed.
  • Fixed various issues with downloading dependency data from Battle.net when opening a document.
  • Fixed issues with team settings in variants for maps with a large number of players.
  • Fixed an issue where the editor could crash if the user’s build was not completely downloaded.

AI Module

  • A new Attack Wave Graphs window is now available from the Data menu, for visualizing attack wave cost/supplies vs. time.

Cutscene Module

  • Added Cutscene Frames. Cutscene frames are dialog items you can play a cutscene in.
  • New Properties have been added:
    • Animation Element:
    • Right-Aligned: Animations can now specify that they always end at the end of the block.
    • Weight: The blend value for this animation block.
  • Director Node:
    • Reverb: The reverb to set while playing back the cutscene.
    • Auto Destroy on End: When disabled, the cutscene will not be destroyed when it ends, but instead it will pause on the final frame.
  • Sound Node:
    • Non-Seeking: If enabled, causes the sound to not change its current time when the current time jumps.
    • Speaker Mix: You can now set and animate the speaker mix values.
  • Fade Node
    • Priority: Allows you to specify the priority level of a fade when multiple scenes attempt to control fade.
  • Terrain is now automatically imported when starting the Cutscene Module.
  • Active Light Nodes will now search for a light suffixed with "_Low" if graphics options are set to Medium or Low.
  • New icons added for all node types!
  • Added a new "Time Follows Edits" mode under the edit menu that causes the timeline cursor to always follow the edited block.
  • Sound Improvements:
    • Added Sound Group Nodes: These folder-like nodes allow you to add sound nodes to them then set properties for all sounds inside the group at once.
    • Volume and pitch properties are now treated as multipliers instead of absolute values.
    • Setting sound index t-1 now causes it to pick a new variation each time it plays.
    • Sounds now properly fade out after their blocks end.
    • Sounds can now specify Active Shots.
  • Value changes that represent less than 0.1% of a difference no longer create new keys in auto key mode.
  • You can now add multiple cutscene filters when playing back a cutscene.
  • Cutscenes are now played back in Replays.
  • Fixed several issues related to Undo/Redo.
  • Fixed several issues related to element linking.
  • You can now place or move objects at height zero if there is no terrain visible.
  • Actors with conversation nodes will now animate when not in view, allowing dialog to play at the correct time.
  • Active Light elements no longer change the light one frame late.
  • You can now chain together bookmark jumps.
  • You can no longer use non-Ascii characters in Cutscene Names or Bookmark Names.
  • You can no longer rename the (Previewer) scene.
  • Scenes with very large linking webs should now load much faster.
  • Fixed a bug where models would sometimes continue to draw when switching cutscenes.
  • Editing curve values should now preserve custom curve tangents.
  • Previewing from other modules will now set the Cutscene Module back to the (Previewer) scene.

Data Module

  • Added the Data Navigator Window. This new window visualizes how objects are linked to one another.
  • Each tab in the Data Module now remembers its own view mode.
  • Model Preview Panes now animate with the model's default animation, making effects easier to identify.
  • New data types have been added: Herd, Herd Node
  • User Type fields defining user links can optionally specify a required user type
  • Added a new Select in Palette command.
  • Added F2 support for renaming objects.
  • “Show Advanced Values” is now “Show Basic Field Labels”. Instead of hiding advanced fields, it adds “(Basic)” to the name of basic fields and sorts them to the top.
  • Fixed size arrays are now edited as one control for each array entry rather than using a list-based UI.
  • “Show Default Values” is now “Sort Fields By Source”. Instead of hiding default values, it will sort values in the order: Active Document, User Mod, Blizzard Mod, Core Mod.
  • Added field hint tooltips to dropdowns for enum type fields.
  • Structure sub-fields now properly display composite field hint tooltips.
  • Many new field hints added for Abilities, Actors, Effects, and Units.
  • Ability and Weapon Arc data values now accept 360 as values.

Overview Manager

  • Added a new Jump To Instances command in the context menu for jumping from function definition to corresponding calls.
  • Added a new Show Global Links Only option in the View menu for seeing global trigger elements directly in the Used By links.

Terrain Module

  • A new Diamond region shape has been added.
  • A new Diagonal Selection option has been added in the Tools menu for selecting objects and terrain along the diagonal grid.
  • A new View option has been added for displaying normal/upgraded creep, under View > Show Terrain > Show Creep Upgraded.
  • Units marked as Initially Hidden will use an alpha fade effect in the editor display.
  • Palette existing objects lists now include a Group filter and column, and context menus for Add To Group and Remove From Group.
  • The Water palette now includes a Height slider for adjusting the height of the current water template.
  • No Fly Zones now have three color states: Normal (no overlap), Overlap (hard radii overlap), and Warning (only soft radii overlap). For best pathing performance, avoid the Warning state.
  • Foliage density maximum reduced to 2.0 per cell. Anything larger than this significantly impacts game performance.
  • Added "Force Occlusion Hide" to placed doodads, which forces doodads to be transparent if units are behind it.
  • Painted pathing visibility is now properly tied to visibility of the Pathing layer.
  • Distance measurement now accounts for ramps properly.

Trigger Module

  • Added a Preview button for previewing sounds directly from parameter dialog.
  • A View History Navigation option, including Back and Forward commands, is now available from View > History sub-menu.
  • A new Explorer view has been added for seeing global elements referenced by the currently selected element, available under View > Show Explorer.
  • A new Smart group display has been added, which opens a second group only when an element is explicitly viewed via double-click or View Selection command. This is toggled under View > Show Groups.
  • Libraries defined in the active document are now shown in the Triggers list rather than the Libraries list. The Libraries list will only contain read-only dependency libraries.
  • Elements can now be dragged and dropped from one library to another. This will include updating all usage of those elements in the active document.
  • A new view option has been added for setting default input focus on search fields vs. lists, available under View > View Options > Default focus On Search Fields.
  • Eliminated excessive delays when modifying functions which are heavily used in the document.
  • Comments can now be moved/pasted into switch cases.
  • Ability Commands using Any or All sub-types will now show all possible parameter values.
  • Unit trigger events now properly handle using a unit array element for the unit parameter.
  • Last Created functions now return an empty value if the last creation failed, rather than the result of the previous creation.
  • Invalid effect ids will no longer be treated as "any effect" in events.
  • Data conversations with choices will now run properly in game, as long as cinematic mode is enabled.
  • Fixed an out of memory crash that could occur when adding a region to itself using triggers.
  • It is now possible to copy triggers across libraries inside the same mod.