Q: How to edit a protected map and make it playable/savable?

[humbleman]

First, forgive me if this is not how I'm supposed to ask questions.

I tried to do enough research before asking...

(btw, Hello, people! this is my first post on this site! )




So... from what I've understood, even though I can deprotect the map,

It's nearly impossible to recover the triggers.

I successfully deprotected one map, but I couldn't save it nor play it in game.

But I'm pretty sure there gotta be a way to fully deprotect the map and recover the triggers...

I mean, there are so many people who deprotect the maps and continue updating it...


Is there a guide for "deprotecting a map and fully recover the triggers, and make it playable/savable after editing it?"

[Vegas]

It will be rare to find any newer maps that have the triggers. The art of protecting a map will remove these triggers leaving only the raw triggers in place for the game itself. It is possible to deprotect a map and have it save-able, and doing this it is also possible to add triggers in raw fashion, or add actual triggers you would use in world editor. This is how someone could continue working on an abandoned map.

A way to continue editing an old map is to extract the war3map.j file (the raw triggers) and learn to code in jass.
You could create a new map in World editor and start creating your own triggers. When you save your map, extract the war3map.j file from it. Then add those triggers to the appropriate area in the abandoned map.

[humbleman]

Thanks for the comment, Vegas!

dang, so it IS impossible to recover the triggers.. huh?


One question, is there any guide regarding this topic? (how to continue working on an abandoned map)

[Vegas]

Learning jass would help 100% to further work on a map.
If you know how to use W.E.,then you could try my method of adding the new jass info to the old. To do this you could read the tutorial How to insert cheatpack.

[humbleman]

I see. So it is still possible to work on a protected map...

From what I understand, other than editing terrain, it is possible to edit everything without having to deprotect the map.

Is that correct?

[Vegas]

Yes, you can edit everything. You have to be careful adding any new text to units or abilities., like their descriptions. this will add a line of text to a different file in the map. This can change the text in the entire map.

What you can try is exporting the war3map.w3a, w3i, w3t, w3u, and wts from your map.
Open World Editor and import all the files to the appropriate area. (W3a to abilities for example).
You should now be able to import the strings(wts). This is where your text is placed. Whenever you edit anything into this temporary map, it will add to this file, keeping the text for the entire map in-line.
When you are done editing, save the map. extract all the files, the same ones that I showed you. Import them back into the other map. hopefully things will work out.

[null]

You won't regret learning and get accustomed to Jass, it'll not only save you time but it will also open more doors for you. And as Vegas mentioned, you can also import the object data, then export and import them into the mpq.

[humbleman]

Thanks, Vegas and null!

So this is what I did :

1. I opened mpq editor, opened the map I wanted to edit, and used listfile.

2. It showed war3map.xxx files.

3. To see if this method works, I extracted war3map.w3a and opened it in World Editor.

4. I went to object editor (f6), and then went to ability settings.

5. I changed the description of one item ( the item with pink name. apparently that's custom name).

6. Since my goal is to translate this map, I changed one item's description into Korean.

7. I imported the file back to mpq editor. (by using add files)

8. I put the edited map into my warcraft downloaded maps directory.

9. HERE's the problem. I launched W3:Frozen Throne to see if I can host the map. But there was no map I edited. The map disappeared.


I broke down the process I took. If you don't mind, could you check and tell me which part I messed up?

Geez, sorry for bothering you guys.

p.s. If there is a walkthrough guide/video for this process, please give me a link!

[Vegas]

I'm no pro at any mpq editor so I cant hep you in that department. Hopefully one of the members here can point you in the right direction. I THINK you have to "Flush File".

A small reason why it may not be working is because you edited the text without having the strings file imported as well. When you change this it deletes the old text/entry, and creates a new one. Then text in-game doesn't correspond the the proper unit.

You're not bothering us, this is what this forum is for. You could have simply requested the map to be cheated/translated/edited, but you chose to get information and learn how to do it yourself. That's great!

[owner123]

If you post the map, I can take a look. There are a lot of things that can make the map disappear, unfortunately, a lot of it is just trial and error.

If a tutorial would help I can make one. I've translated a protected map and edited many others. Didn't seem like there was much interest in this before.