StarDraft FAQ, First Edition

I decided to write this after receiving so many emails with many of the same types (and in some cases identical) questions. This will save (hopefully) both of us some time.
If you don't see your question on here, or the answer I gave isn't enough, be sure and let me (King Arthur) know by emailing me.

1. What is StarDraft?
   
2. I can't see a difference when loading StarCraft with the patch loader, and StarCraft normally. What could be wrong?
   
3. Does Stardraft work with Spawn versions?
   
4. Will the finished version support command line arguments (so you can start it from a shortcut without having to enter a lot of stuff and click buttons etc)?
   
5. Can you add additional units (as opposed to only modify exsisting ones)?
   
6. Can Heroes be made producable (ie, Protoss train Dark Templars)?
   
7. Can any building be made to produce something (say, turrets or bunkers)?
   
8. Can SCVs be made to repair Protss/Zerg buildings?
   
9. Can Drones and Probes be made to repair things?
   
10. Can the speed of units be changed, including the Terran flying buildings?
    
11. Can Protoss and Zerg buildings be given liftoff capability?
    
12. Can loading capabilities of shuttles be changed?
    
13. If you give units new weapon abilities does the computer know how to use them?
    
14. Can buildings be given weapon ablities?
    
15. Can additional weapon types be created(as opposed to only modifying exsisting ones)?
    
16. What happens if someone without the mod tries to join a mod, does the game crash, or are you simply told the version is incompatible?
    
17. Can unit's ranks be changed?
    
18. Is cheating possible with Stardraft?
    
19. My SCVs won't build anything - why is that?
    
20. Why does the game crash on me when running a modified version?
    
21. Why are the colors on my new graphic screwed up?
    
22. How do I get new unit graphics into StarCraft
    
23. Can I add graphics/sounds/movies to the game instead of replacing them?
    
24. Will source code be released for StarDraft?
    
25. Does StarDraft cost anything? What was the Demo all about?
    
26. When will add-in utilites be available for StarDraft?
    
27. Why are we talking to Blizzard about StarDraft?
    
28. Will StarDraft support compressed archives full of patched files?
    
29. Can AI's be added?
    
30. Can SCVs/Drones/Probes carry different amounts of resources?
    

1. What is StarDraft?
   Very simply, StarDraft in its present incarnation is little more than a patch loader, in that it will replace any file in the MPQ archive that you know the filename, extension, and directory of. In most cases, you will want to extract and edit the existing file from the MPQ archive, and doing so will require (for now) MPQ View. StarDraft will eventually exist as an archive extractor, patch loader, and editor (not of the files in the mpq archive, but the ones extracted from it).
2. I can't see a difference when loading StarCraft with the patch loader, and StarCraft normally. What could be wrong?
   Unfortunately, any number of things could be wrong:
   
   • Check the file names of all of the files you are using. If any of them do not match exactly files inside the mpq archive already, then the patch loader will not load them for you.
   • Make sure that the file, if the filename and extension are correct, is in the proper directory. For instance, if you installed the StarDraft patch loader to "c:\ploader\ploader.exe" then the patch directory must be: "c:\ploader\patch\" any files not contained in "\patch" or its subdirectories will not be loaded, even if their filename/extension is correct.
   • Files must be in their correct subdirectory of the "\patch" directory. For instance, if I am replacing the marine's graphics, I would place the new "marine.grp" file here: "c:\ploader\patch\unit\terran\marine.grp" assuming that "c:\ploader" contains the ploader.exe and pload32.dll files.
3. Does Stardraft work with Spawn versions?
   Although it hasn't been tested on Spawned versions, there is no reason I can think of that it wouldn't work properly. It has been tested over Battle.net (which is where almost all Spawned games take place) and it works fine there, so long as both people are running the same version.
4. Will the finished version support command line arguments (so you can start it from a shortcut without having to enter a lot of stuff and click buttons etc)?
   A good idea, but this version won't support command-line arguments. Future versions, however, probably will, now that it has been suggested. (I also tend to think that would be a useful ability)
5. Can you add additional units (as opposed to only modify exsisting ones)?
   I have not fooled around with everything possible yet in StarCraft data files, so I really can't give you an answer at this point except that we probably would have to stick with the same # of units that Starcraft was designed for. Granted, some of the empty unit spots may be taken up by Brood Wars, but plenty remain, and once we can figure out how to get StarEdit to accept the unused units as valid ones, then we should be all set.
6. Can Heroes be made producable (ie, Protoss train Dark Templars)?
   This will probably be possible once I can figure out the structure of the file orders.dat that is contained in the StarDat.mpq archive. I am assuming that the orders, etc are in there, or at the very least something should be in there that will help me to understand how to add/change commands.
7. Can any building be made to produce something (say, turrets or bunkers)?
   At first I thought this question asked if these buildings could produce food, which I think can be done. However, giving orders/commands to buildings/units without them will be complicated and time consuming, just like it was with WarCraft II.
8. Can SCVs be made to repair Protss/Zerg buildings?
   My guess is that there is a flag somewhere in the exe, units.dat, or orders.dat that says which buildings the SCV can repair, or at the very least define which buildings are terran (and therefore repairable).
9. Can Drones and Probes be made to repair things?
   This depends on whether the necessary info I would need to change is in the orders.dat file or in the EXE. If it is in the orders.dat file, it will be much easier (and faster) to change than if it is in the EXE.
10. Can the speed of units be changed, including the Terran flying buildings?
    Undoubtedly this is a variable (somewhere) in the sprites.dat file, which has not even really been given more than a cursory glance by me. Most units have no speed variable - they simply change the delay rates between the display of frames. I would imagine that this will be possible once I figure out sprites.dat (the equivalent of WarCraft's 278 (animation) file - I think).
11. Can Protoss and Zerg buildings be given liftoff capability?
    This may be a flag in the units.dat file which I haven't found yet. The Commands for the building would also need to be changed, and that requires knowledge of the orders.dat file that I don't have at this time.
12. Can loading capabilities of shuttles be changed?
    Yes. I demonstrated with the bunker screenshot that this was possible. The limitations are, however, that only 8 units can be displayed as in the shuttle when you click on it (or in the Bunker, Overlord, Dropship)... even though you can have up to 255 units in a transport at one time... (1 dropship with 255 wraiths seems... evil :) You are also limited to placing units in the bunker that have a specific bunker wireframe stablished already (or a "Blank" message wireframe - visible in the Battlecruiser-in-bunker screenshot).
13. If you give units new weapon abilities does the computer know how to use them?
    In all of my testing the computer has attacked as viciously as before with the new weapons I assign units. They will attack with anything that they can. Even when adding that additional weapon to the ghost, it will use one as its ground weapon, and the other as the air weapon. The problem is that you cannot give a weapon to a unit that StarCraft never had one defined for - at least I don't think so. Doing so would require several changes (if it is possible):
    
    • The unit graphics would need to have attack animations added in the appropriate spots
    • The sprites.dat file (or the animation file - wherever it is) would need to be chaged to allow the attack graphics to be displayed for that unit.
    • Commands would need to be changed - either in orders.dat or the EXE (wherever they turn up) to add the attack command to the unit's commands.
    • The right-click commands might need to be changed... but I don't know if Blizzard even put them in anywhere - they could have simply hard-coded that any unit that doesn't have an attack command automatically uses his move command, and that any unit with an attack command automatically attacks if you right-click a unit, rather than define them for each individual unit like Warcraft II did.
14. Can buildings be given weapon ablities?
    Nope. Except for the buildings that already have the weapons (Spore colony, Sunken colony, Missile Tower, Photon Cannon) only units originally given attack abilities by Blizzard can be made to attack. See the above question's answer for information on how you might go about adding attack abilities to units.
15. Can additional weapon types be created(as opposed to only modifying exsisting ones)?
    Strictly speaking, no, but I believe that there are some unused units who have weapons defined in there, which I think you can use (somehow - haven't figured out how yet). You can of course give existing or unused weapons new missile sprite graphics. Using the unused units in the game would require that commands be given to them, they have appropriate stats like other normal units, and have all of their animation frames defined.
16. What happens if someone without the mod tries to join a mod, does the game crash, or are you simply told the version is incompatible?
    The person who "offends" Battle.net first is dropped from the game, and this continues until either one player is left, or the last group of people all have the mod. This is because of a desyncing error that Battle.net reports. If one person's game says that it can attack much faster than before, and with a new weapon, and the other person's game doesn't, Battle.net treats this as a syncing problem and drops whomever causes the game to desync first. So you can play with people with out the mod - but the second you try out something exclusive to your Mod, the game will crash. That includes if the person who doesn't have the Mod tries to attack _you_ (the person with the mod) with units that they haven't modified (but you have).
17. Can unit's ranks be changed?
    Yes, I have found the section in the units.dat file that allows this to happen. Ranks cannot be changed during the game yet, although since Merlin and I are working on getting map tiles to change during the middile of the game with scripting abilities, it may be possible to change unit ranks in the same manner after it has a given # of kills, for example. It also may be possible to make the unit into a hero-type unit that could be used in later campaigns.
18. Is cheating possible with Stardraft?
    I am not going to lie to you - yes it is. However, if you are careful you don't have to worry about it. First of all, all people in a multiplayer game must be running the same versions of the modified files. If they aren't, then the person who causes the games to desync (because one rate of fire, for example is different in one dat file then the other) will be dropped from the game. In 90% of cases, this will be the person attempting to cheat. However, if the person who doesn't have the modified files tries to attack you with a unit that you have modified the stats of, he will be dropped from the game.
    You can change the default stats of any unit/building in the game, and in doing so give the appearance of cheating. However, for things to work properly, you both have to have the modified files... So fortunately Battle.net makes cheating very difficult in that respect. Another thing - have some common sense. You don't have to play with anyone using modified StarCraft files. In fact, I wouldn't reccomend doing so unless/until they explain to you what changes have been made. Otherwise, you could be credited with a disconnect if you cause the server to drop you from the game. We have not found any instances of where one person can play when using modified files against a person who isn't and not be dropped when they do something that requires information that was modified.
    Blizzard will probably not be too helpful, either, to people who are credited with disconnects because they are dropped from a modified game that they didn't have the files of, or if they lose to a person because they weren't aware of the modifications they were using. The same is true of Camelot Systems... we just made programs that were intended to make Total Conversions and other improvements, etc possible. The results of cheating are beyond our control and are not our responsibility to worry about.
    If you are suspicious of modified files people are sending you, and fear that you may be disconnected, please keep in mind that you can still play regular StarCraft, even with patched files on your computer, just because of the nature of the patch program.
19. My SCVs won't build anything - why is that?
    If you set the weapon of the SCVs to something other than what they were originally given, then you may find that the SCVs are in fact killing their own buildings as they create them. That's because technically the blue sparks that you see are part of the SCV's attack sequence, and so if you modify them, flags that the SCV may have on its regular weapon to disable damage when building could be missing when you copy over another weapon on top of it.
20. Why does the game crash on me when running a modified version?
    More than likely you have a modified file that has either a variable set to an invalid value, or a file saved in the wrong format. To correct this, either extract the original version of the file from the StarDat.mpq archive, the patch_rt.mpq archive, or the Install.exe archive on the CD, and make your modifications one at a time, testing each after you make it until you find the source of the problem, or you can try saving the file in an alternate/correct format.
21. Why are the colors on my new graphic screwed up?
    There are two causes to this problem that I have run across:
    
    • You aren't using the proper palette file/palette file format. Solution: Extract/obtain the proper palette, convert and optimize it with PalEdit, load the file in PaintShopPro, select Load Palette, then "Maintain Indexes" to make sure that all of the colors are correct. If not, you will need to then fix up the image (not the palette) assuming the palette is correct.
    • Blizzard has saved all of its images as 256 color files, so if you have saved at a higher resolution, it will look distorted as well (since the palettes cannot be properly applied). Simply decrease the number of colors and you should be all set.
22. How do I get new unit graphics into StarCraft
    This is a somewhat complicated process right now, but hopefully it will be made easier with the advent of add-in utilities for StarDraft. Right now, you have to obtain a copy of WarDraft - yes, the WarCraft II editing utility, convert the appropriate .grp file you have already extracted from the MPQ archive and the appropriate palette, and save the necessary bitmap, layout, and mask files. Make your changes to the bitmap, making sure that you use colors already in the image's palette. Make sure the bitmap is saved in 256 color format. When converting to/from GRP files, you should select color #67 as the transparency/background color if you pick one, since that is the color that StarCraft uses as the Transparent color. It is a charcoal gray shade. Then, simply place the .grp in the patch subdirectory where appropriate. (Example: if I was going to replace the marine's graphics, the replacement graphics would be placed in: "patch\units\terran\" where patch is the subdirectory of wherever you have ploader.exe installed.
23. Can I add graphics/sounds/movies to the game instead of replacing them?
    I am currently expirimenting with a method of doing this. The methodology I am using should be sound, and I should find out in a couple of days if it works or not. Please don't write me asking how I am going to do it, since it won't be worth my time explaining it if it turns out not to work. So be patient for now. I am optimistic that it will work to add sounds and graphics to the game, but not so confident about movies or portraits...
24. Will source code be released for StarDraft?
    This question was originally posed by StarHack, and then re-iterated several times by programmers interested in seeing how we implimented StarDraft. I can tell you this - that StarDraft is not an MPQ importer - it simply allows you to run patched files off of a subdirectory on your hard drive (one subdirectory per copy of patch loader) as if they were part of the MPQ archive. This does have its advantages, however, since you can still play the original game. In any case, Camelot Systems has no plans to ever release the source code to StarDraft. Source code and/or file specs will be released for each of the add-in utilities that will be published by Camelot Systems following the release of StarDraft.
25. Does StarDraft cost anything? What was the Demo all about?
    No, StarDraft and all of its associated add-ins are/will be free. In fact, all software available from Camelot Systems is made available to everyone without cost or obligation. The StarDraft Demo was created to wet the collective appetites of TC creators and StarCraft fans alike, demonstrating that as tough as the MPQ archive might appear at first, the capabilities do/will exist to impliment most reasonable changes. The Demo was not time-limited, but was restricted to loading/patching only files with the .pcx or .wav extension.
26. When will add-in utilites be available for StarDraft?
    As soon as we figure out file formats and have the time to program the add-ins, the programs will be released. Right now only one add-in exists, Arsenal, which allows editing of Weapons, Upgrades and Special Abilities. A section for editing Units is being added right now by me (King Arthur). Arsenal will be made available eventually for download, following some clean-up and insertion of error- and bounds-checking routines by me. Merlin will be developing Arsenal II from my dat file specs, and this version will include all of the features of Arsenal with additional capabilities as they are needed/discovered. Arsenal II should support all of the files that Arsenal makes.
27. Why are we talking to Blizzard about StarDraft?
    Shortly after we first were able to load patched files, Merlin, Moneran, and I realized that cheating might be possible if you modified some files contained in the MPQ archives. We therefore contacted Blizzard to ask them for file names and/or extensions that we should not allow modification of. We sought only to help keep Battle.net intact and the Ladder system from collapsing, not to limit per se what everyone could do. After extensive testing on Battle.net and in Single player games, we determined that Battle.net cheating will be limited to players playing with the same patched files, and in Single player games, the cheating possibility already exists through cheat codes.
28. Will StarDraft support compressed archives full of patched files?
    StarDraft will eventually support the use of CWAD files (akin to the PWAD files of Doom customizations). Right now the support for the CWAD files does not exist, but future versions will have it, as well as a CWAD Manager to compress/decompress/create the CWAD files. CWAD files will be compressed and allow you to share multiple compressed files with another user. There will also be a sort of directory-like structure inside the CWAD files that will allow you to simply place the CWAD in the patch directory, point StarDraft to that CWAD file, and then run the patch loader. Specs and/or source code on the CWAD files and the CWAD manager will not be released, due to the fact that CWAD files will be used in MAGE.
29. Can AI's be added?
    At this time, the entire format of AIscript.bin, the file that contains the AI programs (we believe) has not been determined, and therefore we cannot say positively that AI's can be added to the game successfully. As with the other files however, we will continue to look at them and attempt to determine their format.
30. Can SCVs/Drones/Probes carry different amounts of resources?
    I have a few theories on this one. In Warcraft, there was a section of the EXE which had the values in it for the amount of resources that one peon or peasant could carry, and the various upgrade values. So one theory would suggest that these values are in the EXE somewhere. Another theory would suggest that the values for the amount of minerals and gas they can carry are in the Units.dat file somewhere. There are many variables in there that have an unknown use, and one of them very well could be the amount of resources carried.