/------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Simple Overlapping System (2x for units) (w/ Example) | | Apr.13.2007 (post-patch 1.14) | | By Angelfarto @ U.S. East Battlenet Server | \------------------------------------------------------------------/ O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O X TO VIEW THIS TUTORIAL CORRECTLY X O O X PLEASE SET YOUR FONT TO "FIXEDSYS" X O O X AND TURN OFF "WORDWRAP" X O O X.........................THE X's AND O's SHOULD LINE UP......................X O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O /!!!!!!! Note !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\ | | | Please have SCXE (SC-Xtra) 2.6 (or 2.5) installed | | before following this tutorial | | | | Get SCXE at: http://stormcoast-fortress.net/ | | | \!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/ You've come here to learn how to overlap (aka lap) text. This tutorial explains an easy-to-follow system of lapping text. This system currently works on: [Unit Names] This system does NOT work on: [Force Names] [Map Name] [In-Game Text] [Mission briefings] [Transmission text] Let's get right into it. There's a simple formula to use when you want to do 2x overlaps, on two words that are the same length: [b][c]text[f][c]text[t*][s*] Formula? What is this math class? No. I say 'formula' because each of these bracketed symbols represents a variable, and this variable can be substituted with a value. (See Table B below) In plain english, all YOU will have to do is look up certain numbers in Table A below, and plug them into this formula, and voila, the text you want overlapped will be overlapped. Sounds easy? Well lets see a basic example. Important steps have a plus "+". If you really have no idea how to overlap, I'd recommend even reading the lines in-between the pluses. | Lets try lapping the text "Bounder", on a zergling unit. | | First, open up SC Xtra, and edit a zergling's properties: | | Scenario->Unit and Hero Settings.. | Zerg Units->Zerg Ground Units->Zerg Zergling | | Now allow the editing of the unit name: | | Uncheck "Use defaults for Zerg Zergling" at the top | Uncheck "Use Default" at the bottom, under Custom Name | | Erase the default text that's there (Zerg Zergling). | | Now we can start using the formula. | + So what is [b]? I use [b] to represent the 'back' character | (which you could think of as just a keyboard key that isn't on | your keyboard) So it's a good thing Xtra includes this character | for you. | | Double click (select) the black bar next to "O back" | on the righthand panel. | | Copy this character (hit Ctrl+C) | | Select the empty text box and paste it there (hit Ctrl+V). | (a black bar should show up the the text box. If not, you | didn't select it correctly on the righthand panel) | + Next in the formula is [c]. This is just any color you want | the text to be. (since this is next to the 'back' character, | this color will appear to be 'behind' the 'front' text, which | we will get to soon.) | | So choose any color, say White. | | Select the bar next to White, copy it, then paste it into the textbox. | + Now we type our text: Bounder | | The next 3 steps in the formula are the same as we have just done. | The only difference is [f], and also the color you choose. | + [f] is the 'front' character. copy this from the panel and | then paste it into the textbox. | + [c] - copy and paste another color (let's try Red) | (since this color is next to the 'front' character, | it will appear to be above our white text from before) | + Type our text one more time: Bounder | (It's important that you type the SAME EXACT text as before. | There are ways of overlapping different text nicely. | However, this tutorial covers lapping of the same text.) | | Now comes the fun part (and the heart of this system) | + [t*] - This is zero or more 'tabs' (the button that IS on your keyboard). | + [s*] - Zero or more spaces (the spacebar) | | The order matters, so we need to get a 'tab' character first. | | Open up Notepad (comes standard in Windows) or any other | text-application, and type the Tab key into a blank document. | | Select this tab (hold shift & press left) or (click and | drag over it with mouse) | | Copy it. (Ctrl+C) | | But now we need to know how many to paste. | + Count the # of letters in our text: Bounder = 7 letters. | | Goto the bottom of this tutorial, look under Table A. | | Look at the row where the column "Length" = 7: | | Length Tabs Spaces | (# chars) [t*] [s*] | ============================== | 7..............4.......2 | + 4 tabs, and 2 spaces, for a 7 letter word. | | Goto the textbox in Xtra, and paste the tab 4 times. | (these should show up as black bars) | | Now press the spacebar twice. | | That's it! You're done. The finished product should look like: | | "||Bounder||Bounder|||| " | | | If you want to check out your first lap, place a zergling for Player 1 | on the map, a P1 start location & a P2 start location. Delete all | triggers. Move P2 to Force 2, and make P2 a computer. Save the map. | Load it up in Starcraft and be amazed! Congrats =] And that's how you use this system. Let's recap the important ideas: - Count the # of letters in your text, and reference the row in Table A with this number. - The text in back and in front must be the same length. - The color next to 'back' appears underneath & the color next to 'front' appears above. - The colors you use are up to you. Play around with them. See my tutorial "Colors 1.14" on Angelfarto.com to get an updated list of colors compatible with Broodwar patch 1.14. /!!!!!!!!!!!! Advanced Note !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\ | | | The table below is not perfect! Sometimes you have to fix your laps. | | | | 'Thin' letters can throw off the # of tabs you need. | | for example: i l . ] 1 ! etc.. | | | | The same goes for 'wide' letters: W M % etc.. | | | | If you ever try to lap something and it doesn't work | | the first try, then remember this fact: | | | + if the FRONT text is shifted to the LEFT, REMOVE a tab. | | | + if the FRONT text is shifted to the RIGHT, ADD a tab. | | | | | | Remove/add one tab at a time when trying to fix your laps. | | | | It's easy to tell which text is in front if you make the | | back & front different colors! | | | + Btw, thin letters usually make you add tabs, and | | wide letters make you remove tabs. | | | \!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/ Once you get your text overlapped correctly, play around with the colors. (They don't have to go directly after the back/front characters. And you can put more (or less) then two colors in too!) Just don't run out of room - Unit Names max out at 40 characters (colors, tabs, spaces and letters included) /----- Patch 1.14 notes -------------------------------------------------\ | | | The Broodwar Battlenet patch version 1.14, released in mid-2006, | | denied the use of the 'back' & 'front' characters, (and also the | | invisible color) from being used in map names. Any map hosted online | | that has any of these characters in its map name cannot be played by | | more than one person. | | | | Also, colors, back & front are not recognized (and are ignored) in | | force names. However, unlike map names. these maps can still be played | | multi-player. | | | | Though patch 1.14 has given authors a little more then 20 new | | colors to use on in-game text, hundreds of UMS maps were left | | unplayable online (due to the popularity that map-name-overlapping had | | received before the patch's release). | | | | If you have an old, map-name-lapped map that you would love to be | | able to play with your friends again, please visit: | | | | http://www.angelfarto.com/sc/php/scmu.php | | | | StarCraft Map-Unlapper (SCMU) is a program that allows editing of | | the map name only, on many .scx and .scm maps. The simple idea behind | | it is to remove any incompatible characters in the map name and then | | re-save the map, making the map playable online once again. (And yes, | | this program works on protected maps as well, but does not remove, nor | | alter the original protection in any way.) | | | | Fight the power. And have fun lapping. | | | \------------------------------------------------------------------------/ /-------------------------\ | Table A - 2x Unit Names | \-------------------------/ Length Tabs Spaces (# chars) [t*] [s*] ============================== 1..............6 or 7...2 2................6......2 3................6......2 4................5......2 5................5......2 6................4......2 7................4......2 8................3......2 9................2......2 10...............2......2 11...............2......2 12...............1......2 13...............0......0 14...............0......0 # of tabs vary heavily depending on how many wide & thin letters were used /-------------------------\ | Table B - Formula 2x | \-------------------------/ [b][c]text[f][c]text[t*][s*] [b] - the "back" code [c] - any color code text - the characters to overlap [f] - the "front" code [t*] - 0 or more tabs. (y'know, the tab button on your keyboard) (copy & paste tabs using Notepad) [s*] - 0 or more spaces /-----------------------------------------\ | | | http://www.angelfarto.com/ | | | | Angelfarto at yahoo dot com | | | | Angelfarto aka lil-farto @ U.S. East | | | \-----------------------------------------/