Simple Dat Editing
This is a basic tutorial on how to use DatEdit. It's a tad outdated, so feel free to edit it with newer information and screenshots.
This tutorial was originally created by Killer_Kow(MM) at the [MM]odding resources, at Corboland.
Simple Dat Editing!
Here you will learn to:
- give a unit shields
- change a unit's weapon
- change a unit's spell.
The programs you will need are:
We'll start by giving the marine shields.
First, open Datedit.
Find the marine entry under the "units" tab. If you want to change the view, go View> Sort by Origin. Find what works best for you.
Under the "Vital Statistics" section, find the "Shields" box. Check the flag (a flag is a checkbox) next to it, and set the number to 50. Also, set the marine's Hit Points to 50. You can modify its existing armor using the "Armor" box. The "upgrade" menu shows which upgrade will upgrade the Marine's armor.
That's all that we'll do here. Go to file>save as and save the file as units.dat. The name you save it as MUST correspond to the tab you are working in (units in this case).
Now, we'll change the marine's weapon. We could change its weapon in the "weapons" section in the Marine's units.dat, but instead, we'll fully customize his attack.
To find the marine's gauss rifle, you could look through the list under the weapons tab, but there's an easier way! Since we're already in the marine's unit entry, we can click the "Jump ->" button next to his weapon name.
Either Jump will work, seeing as they point to the same weapon.
Let's make the marine fire lasers. Under "Graphical Properties", set "Graphics" to "Burst lasers". Change the icon to whatever you feel is fitting. set the "Behaviour" to "Flies to Target".
These should be self-explanatory. Leave the missile as "Normal".
Again, do File>Save as and save the file as weapons.dat. Remember, it MUST correspond to the tab you're working in.
Now that we've done this, let's change a unit's spell. Unfortunately, we can't change the marine's stimpack, but we CAN change the ghost's lockdown ability.
For something fun, let's let the ghost call down a long-range arclite shock strike as you would have been able to in SC: Ghost.
Switch to the "Orders" tab. Find the "Magna Pulse" order. Why the lockdown order is called that is beyond me, but its true.
Under "Order Options", set "Weapon" to "Arclite Shock Cannon (Edmund Duke)". You can also change THAT weapon, but we'll leave it how it is.
Save as orders.dat. Don't make me remind you again.
Congratulations! You've finished your .dat work. Now to compile it to an MPQ!
Open WinMPQ.
Press the "New" button. Save it as whatever you want. This one doesn't matter. Press the "add" button. Find your files, and select them. When you press "open", a little box will pop up. Type in "arr\" (without the "") and confirm your choice. All .dat files work like this.
When all your files are in, close WinMPQ. It saves automatically. Running Your Mod
Open MPQDraft.
Press "Load MPQ Patch".
Select Starcraft, Starcraft again, and press next. Browse for your MPQ, find it, ensure that the little box is checked, and press next, and then finish.
Enjoy your mod!
