Posted by dOoBiX on February 26th, 2011 at 12:16 am
There is now patch 1.3.0 on the StarCraft II Public Test Region! A ton of changes are in this update, including Grandmaster League, improvements to the Custom Games section, changes to the Observer/Replay user interface, and more. Check out the spoiler below for the full patch notes.
A new Grandmaster League has been added for 1v1 ladders. This league represents the Top 200 players in each region.
Players are automatically drafted into Grandmaster League shortly after a new season starts, and will remain in the Grandmaster league until the end of the season. If a Grandmaster player’s available bonus points get too high due to inactivity, they will be automatically removed from the league and a replacement player will be drafted in.
The Grandmaster League can be viewed by all players through the new Leagues & Ladders > Grandmaster tab
The bonus pool has been reduced for arranged teams.
Leagues will now be locked during the final weeks of the season. As a result players will not accumulate additional bonus points and will not be promoted or demoted out of their current division during this period.
This will allow players to focus on moving up in their current league without being promoted during the final weeks of a season, and having to fight their way up from the bottom ranks of their new higher league.
Players can still utilize any points they previously accumulated.
Ladder data from the prior season can be viewed through the new Leagues & Ladders > Last Season tab.
New league icons have been introduced to indicate division rank. These will indicate the Top 8, 25 and 50 players in each division.
Loss counts are no longer displayed in Profile and Ladder pages for players below Master League.
Join Custom Game
Several improvements have been made to the Join Custom Game section:
The Details panel has been removed from this page. Map details are now shown inside a tooltip for each game.
Players can now bookmark their favorite custom games! The number of times a game has been bookmarked will be shown in that game’s tooltip.
Games are now organized into several pages to make finding your desired game type easier:
Featured: Our team is always on the lookout for new games that are lots of fun. Our latest favorites are shown on this page.
Most Popular: Shows all game types, with the most played games sorted to the top.
By Category: This page allows you to browse through Custom Games based on Category.
Up & Coming: This page highlights games that other players are recommending, but haven’t yet become popular.
Fun or Not: From this page you can automatically join a random new Custom Game. After the game, players using Fun or Not are asked to recommend the map (or not). Recommending maps helps get them onto the Up & Coming page.
Recently Played: The last several games you’ve played are shown here. Use this to quickly get back into games you play often, or to easily bookmark a game you enjoyed playing.
Bookmarks: Use this page to view your Bookmarked maps.
A search option has been added to the Join Custom Game interface.
Observer and Replay UI
New panels are now available when observing or viewing a replay of 1v1 games. These panels can be toggled via hotkeys which are shown under the Leader Panel drop-down.
Player Name Panel: Displays the players’ name, team color, race, and supply count.
Stat Comparison Panels: Shows a head-to-head comparison of players’ Resources, Army Supply, Units Killed, or APM.
In 1v1 observed games, both players’ resource rows are shown in the upper right at the same time.
You can now toggle between player unit colors and team unit colors when watching a replay or observing.
Achievements
All achievements in the “Wings Of Liberty: Hard” and “Wings Of Liberty: Brutal” series now show a checklist of what missions you have completed and no longer display a progress bar.
“Liberty Completionist Hard” and “Liberty Completionist Brutal” achievements are now the final achievements in the “Wings Of Liberty: Hard” and “Wings Of Liberty: Brutal” series.
Game Options
A new Control tab is available from the Options Menu. You’ll find Mouse, Keyboard and Scrolling options within this new menu.
A new menu option is available in the Gameplay tab to change the behavior of Control Group Buttons. These can now be set to ignore mouse clicks or be hidden completely.
The existing menu option under the Gameplay tab for Menu Bar Clickable now also supports hiding the Menu Bar.
Balance
GENERAL
Players can no longer hide units by setting them in a close proximity patrol (Viking flower).
PROTOSS
Mothership
Units leaving the Mothership’s Vortex are now un-targetable and immune to damage for 1.5 seconds.
High Templar
Khaydarin Amulet upgrade (+25 starting energy) has been removed.
Zealot
Charging Zealots will now hit fleeing targets at least once.
TERRAN
Battlecruiser
Movement speed increased from 1.406 to 1.875.
Bunker
Build time increased from 35 to 40 seconds.
Tech Lab
Stimpack upgrade research time increased from 140 to 170 seconds.
ZERG
Infestor
Health increased from 90 to 110.
Fungal Growth
Stun duration decreased from 8 to 4 seconds.
Damage increased by +30% vs. armored units.
Now fires a missile instead of being instant cast.
StarCraft II Editor Improvements
Improved loading times for some custom maps with complex tech restrictions.
The compiled script memory has been split into a separate block from the global/local stack block. Additional improvements will be made to provide more memory space in the future.
Command card editor and actor event editor will now be less vulnerable to data errors from changes made in future patches.
The game cursor now remains visible while loading maps.
Additional options can now be configured using the command card editor.
Additional cheats are now available in-game when using Test Document.
Additional data is now saved out by the data editor to overrides made in arrays of structures to try to prevent unintended changes made to the original data from breaking it.
Debug outputs are now displayed in the editor and in-game when using Test Document.
Reworked Game Variants dialog to be more user-friendly:
General tab has been removed. This text did not appear anywhere in game.
Attributes tab has been split into Game Attributes and Player Attributes.
Attribute UI now more closely reflects the game lobby.
Default values are now enforced as necessary based on Player Properties.
New trigger actions have been added:
Set Camera Data: Changes the active camera data settings, as defined in the Data module.
Show/Hide Resource: Shows or hides the specified resource in the UI.
Lock/Unlock Status Bar: Forces or resets all status bars for a player to a specified state.
Set Random Seed: Sets the random game seed to the requested value.
Enable/Disable Selection Type: A new UI Editor action to disable the various ways that players can change their selected unit.
New trigger functions have been added:
Convert Game Hotkey: Looks up hotkey as text.
Convert Game Asset: Looks up asset path as text.
Add On Child: Returns the child unit attached to the specified parent.
Add On Parent: Returns the parent unit attached to the specified child.
Catalog Entry Is Default: Returns if the specified entry is a default.
Catalog Field Value Get As Integer: Converts the requested field data into an integer, if possible.
Test Document preferences can now configure an explicit random seed value.
Automatic backup feature (Preferences > Documents) now includes a User Folder location option, which corresponds to a folder named EditorBackup within your StarCraft II documents folder.
Units can now specify a revive cost that will override an ability specific cost. Revive cooldowns & charges located on the unit will now be attached to the unit being revived.
Instant larva-style training will now charge resources properly.
Upgrades modifying units produced by Arm Magazine, Build, Merge, Morph, Train, and Warp Train abilities are now fully supported.
The Chance field in effects is now upgradeable.
Support for browsing Battle.net “Featured” and “Up And Coming” maps in the Open Document window has been added.
Added a text preview pane to the text editing controls.
Added additional states to behaviors, Set Unit State, and Unit Classification Check triggers to determine if a unit is detectable or shown by a radar.
Added armor to the Unit Property and Unit Type Property triggers.
Added Weapon Damage and Weapon Speed Multiplier triggers.
Added support to refresh all buffs of the same type when adding a new instance by using the new “Refresh Stack” flag.
Added a “Wait to Spend” flag, which is enabled by default, to effect abilities so configure whether orders wait until a cooldown or charge becomes available before they create their effect.
Added an “Offset Area by Angle” flag to search effects to adjust the angle of the search based on the locations involved.
Added an Idle Command to unit data to configure what order the unit performs when idle.
Added an actor message to allow models to change their hit-testable status.
The Player Property and Modify Player Property triggers can now disable the cost for each resource type.
Bug Fixes
Battle.net
Fixed a bug where some Bronze players weren’t gaining enough points for wins and were losing too many points for losses.
Gameplay
StarCraft II will continue running if corrupt textures/models/sounds are encountered.
Conversation skipping and trigger skipping now share the same hotkey.
The notification that a player left the game during a paused game is no longer delayed until the game is unpaused.
Cheat codes now only accept official names.
Unit response sounds are now updated immediately when the selection changes.
Unit death will no longer show units on the other side of line of sight blockers that weren’t already visible.
Units now follow a transport if the transport fills up and they have no other orders.
Units inside a bunker no longer disappear if the bunker is destroyed and surrounded by force fields.
Units can now be revived multiple times.
Hero buttons are now displayed while a hero is dead if they are revivable. Clicking on the button while a hero is dead will either select the building reviving it or cycle between buildings that can.
Revivable abilities now show revivable units all the time. If they cannot currently be revived, the buttons are shown disabled.
The revive ability now works with multiple dead units.
Revived units now properly dispatch a trigger event when killed again.
Added additional information to unit tooltips in the tech trees.
An alert has been added when MULEs expire.
An alert has been added when the Chrono Boost buff expires.
An alert has been added when the Spawn Larva buff expires.
Fixed an issue with not being able to land where you just lifted off if there was a nearby unit.
Fixed an issue where you could push hold position units by move/hold position spamming.
Fixed an issue to prevent force fields from pushing units during construction.
Fixed an issue with Creep destroying more foliage than it should, and made foliage destruction by creep faster.
Fixed an issue with custom global hotkeys in grid profiles overlapping with unit command buttons.
Fixed an issue placing Terran add-on buildings when multiple buildings were selected.
The stalemate timer will now reset when any player gathers resources, researches an upgrade, produces a unit, constructs a building, or destroys an enemy building.
Additional stalemate warnings are no longer displayed when the game ends in a stalemate.
Flying cloaked units are no longer revealed as detected when shown through the fog of war.
Vespene Geysers that are taken by your opponent and are under the fog of war no longer randomly flash on and off on the mini-map.
Enemy buildings completed while being revealed due to friendly unit death will now properly create snapshots in the fog of war.
Casting Neural Parasite on a Zerg Egg will not cancel the spell until after the egg completes its transformation.
Changes made to autocast abilities while a unit is under the affects of Neural Parasite are now reset to their default state when Neural Parasite ends.
Queuing multiple targets with 250mm Strike Cannons will no longer result in the Thor being stuck until the cooldown ends.
SCVs can no longer resume construction on buildings while inside bunkers.
Workers gathering minerals can no longer continue to harvest minerals if they are pushed away by a force field.
Orders issued to unload units from a Medivac onto itself can now be canceled if the Medivac is scanning for units to heal.
The Harvester count in the income leader panel now updates correctly.
Bi-directional transformations (i.e. those used by Vikings, Siege Tanks, and burrowing units) are no longer shown in the production leader panel.
The resources from salvaged bunkers are no longer counted towards the resources lost in the units lost leader panel.
The Mute OS Microphone button has been removed from the voice options page.
Tech trees now show icons for units that are produced by a building and display the names for units that are unlocked by a building.
Using Edit Box Trigger Dialogs should no longer generate trigger errors.
Media keys can no longer be bound to a custom hotkey.
Hotkeys configured in a mod are now loaded properly without having to open the Hotkeys menu.
Mouse-based hotkeys are now handled properly when the cursor is over the mini-map.
Mouse-based hotkeys bound with modifiers are now displayed correctly in the Hotkeys page.
The hotkey for the Cancel button is now displayed when targeting with an ability if the Command Hotkey Text option is enabled.
StarCraft II Editor
Fixed an issue where editor control files could not be loaded in all languages.
Fixed an issue with pasting text values in the editor.
Fixed an issue where certain data fields would not list all possible values.
Fixed an issue where the editor would crash after pasting a placed unit.
Fixed a crash using the Unit Weapon Firing validator.
Player Properties will no longer allow all 16 players to be User/Computer, which is not supported.
Animations in the previewer will now display using localized text.
Game and player versions of the cooldown & charge triggers now interpret time values correctly.
Sounds played simultaneously for multiple players via the Play Sound trigger can now be heard properly.
Increasing the maximum number of charges with an upgrade no longer increases the current number of charges.
Setting a unit’s training progress to 100% will no longer cancel the training.
Posted by dOoBiX on February 15th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.2.1
General
Matchmaking has been updated to better match players queuing with pre-made teams in 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 brackets.
Bug Fixes
General
Fixed an issue where the title of a conversation window was scaling rather than truncating.
Fixed an issue where the Match History score screen was displaying “Null” for the map info for all games played before Patch 1.2.
Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause players to be improperly disconnected from a game.
(Mac) Fixed an issue that would cause the Control key to become stuck when holding Control and minimizing the game window, then going back to the game window and attempting to use Control+1 to create a control group.
Maps
Fixed an issue with foliage that would die and become visible through the fog of war when a player spawned as zerg.
StarCraft II Editor
Fixed an issue where copied-and-pasted units were not set to the correct height in-game.
Fixed an issue where the table view scroll-bar position was reset when switching objects.
Fixed an issue where secondary sort priorities were not working properly. Model name is now the secondary sort so that models are listed in alphabetical order after being sorted by the mod they are contained in.
Yes, the big patch we’ve been waiting a long time for is finally out! This patch 1.2.0 has tons of changes to StarCraft II, and Battle.net too, including: Battle.net chat channels, Master League, and stalemate detection. We have been able to test this patch on the PTR server, but now it is finally released for the normal servers. You can check out the patch notes below in the spoiler, and get on SC2 and start playing!
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.2.0 – Show ▼
General
Battle.net Chat Channels have been added! Players can now join others in both public and private channels.
Added in-game chat bar command to whisper to other players. Using the “/w” command will open up a list of available friends, party members, chat channels, and other players within your current game.
Added Battle.net option to auto-join previous private channels.
Added Battle.net option to prevent chat channel text from appearing in in-game chat display.
A new Master League has been added! This league now represents the highest tier of players.
Customizable Hotkey Support has been added.
Stalemate Detection has been added. This will end the game in a tie for all remaining players if no players have income, production, or destroyed structures for three consecutive minutes. A countdown timer will now appear when the game detects this scenario.
An Extreme graphics option is now available. Players can now configure screen space ambient occlusion.
Additional Improvements and Changes
Several help dialogue and tech tree improvements have been made:
In-game help is now available in Battle.net.
The help dialog’s tech tree has been improved.
Unit information in the help dialog now displays abilities and upgrades.
Several Save/Replay File dialogue improvements have been made:
Added ability to sort replays and saved games by name and date.
Added ability to right-click and rename a replay or saved game from within the game interface.
Added a new tab for auto-saved games and unsaved replays.
Added an option to permanently save all replays. Checking this option will mark all unsaved replays as being saved.
Added visibility for where replays and saved games are being saved to.
Added a “Show in Folder” button which will open the location where a replay or saved game is stored on your computer.
Camera following behavior for observers and replays has been improved.
The System Alert panel has been moved to the top of the screen and the duration of most system alerts has been reduced.
Mouse buttons can now be bound to the Push-To-Talk hotkey.
A hotkey indicator option has been added to show the primary hotkey on top of command buttons.
When selecting a Vespene geyser, the number of current harvesters will be displayed in the info panel.
Added an option to disable any error sounds. The Response Sounds checkbox now controls whether unit-specific audio is used for error sounds instead of a generic buzz.
Added Game UI layout per-map overrides. Map makers can now use custom UI layout files to create new UI or override existing game UI.
Added a toggle button to the in-game replay panel to Show or Hide the timeline/duration information.
Added hotkey to Pause/Resume game for both single player and multiplayer (Pause/Break key).
Balance
GENERAL
Players can no longer block off ramps with two 2×2 buildings.
PROTOSS
Hallucination research time decreased from 110 to 80.
Observer
Cost decreased from 50/100 to 25/75.
Phoenix
Build time decreased from 45 to 35.
Void Ray
Now deals 20% more damage to massive targets.
Flux Vanes speed upgrade removed.
TERRAN
SCV
Repairing SCVs now assume the same threat priority as the unit they’re repairing.
SCV construction movement has been made more consistent.
StarCraft II Editor Improvements
Map locale management has been added.
Further editor tips and hints have been added.
New trigger functions, actions, and events have been added:
New trigger functions:
Verify Bank – used to verify that a bank’s signature is intact.
New trigger actions:
Bank Option – used to change options for banks including adding a signature.
Remove Inventory Item – used to instantly remove a requested item from an inventory.
Set Visibility Type Of Text Tag – used to control whether fog or black mask hides the tag.
New trigger events:
Mouse Moved – sent in response to the mouse being moved in the game world.
New unit properties have been added:
Carried Minerals, Carried Vespene, Carried Terrazine, and Carried Custom Resource.
Bounty (XP) – used to grant experience when a unit is killed.
New Effect Used event property has been added: Life, Shields, and Energy changed.
Copy/paste support has been added to the upgrade editor.
Behaviors can now be replaced by either the shortest duration (the original method) or by farthest distance.
Behavior abilities can now properly charge the player using the ability instead of always charging the owner.
Right clicking an item in an inventory will now have the icon appear immediately next to the cursor.
Font Style Files can now be added to Mods and Maps using the FontStyleFileArray field in GameUIData. Existing styles can have their individual attributes overridden or entirely new styles can be added.
UI Layout files can now be added to Mods and Maps using the CustomLayoutFileArray filed in GameUIData. Most existing frames can be modified or overridden and entirely new templates can be added which can be created from the Dialog system within the Editor.
Attributes and values can now be hidden in the game lobby and can be configured through Game Variants.
The mouse wheel now scrolls the control under the cursor.
Copied doodads now retain their height offset.
Attribute and Veterancy behaviors now normalize vitals when new levels are applied.
Mouse clicks & highlights are now allowed while in relative camera mode.
Edit boxes are now available for trigger dialogs.
The game will now properly find custom imported files within mods.
Maps can now depend on even more mods.
Dialog Items can now be hooked up from already existing frames within a created Panel.
Change Focus commands are now available in the Trigger module View menu for switching input focus directly to different areas.
The water editor layout has been improved.
Effect offsets can now optionally contain a Z component.
Added a new type of Dialog Item called Panel. Panels are containers for other dialog items to help with grouping and hierarchy.
Added new UI to insert text tags for data references, unit info, and hotkeys.
Added an effect range to the effect ability to restrict how far away the effect can be placed. This will allow effects to behave like the Stalker Blink effect.
Added a behavior flag to suppress fidgeting.
Added a new stalemate melee option to determine whether the stalemate detection checking is enforced.
Added a new “Creator” player to effects. It will be set to the player issuing an order if available.
Added a new type of item that can use an effect ability.
Added a validator that checks to see if a unit can path to a point.
Added a validator that checks if there is a cliff between two points.
Added MinimapRenderPriority to CActorUnit and MinimapRenderPriorityList to CActorGlobalConfig. This allows custom map makers to define the render priorities of units on the minimap.
Added a Locale sub-menu in the Mod menu for changing the active text locale for the current document.
Added a Mod Info dialog in the Mod menu for more easily changing mod name and description text.
Added a Modify Locales dialog (also in Locale sub-menu) for adding or removing text locales.
Added an Editor Tips dialog in the Help menu (and optionally on start up) with tips for using the editor effectively.
Bug Fixes
Gameplay
General
All diagonal ramps are now the same with regards to unbuildable locations at the bottom of the ramps.
Critter health bars are now hidden unless highlighted or selected (if status bars are set to show when units are selected).
Orders can no longer be canceled by clicking on the info panel in challenges before the challenge begins.
Text tags are now paused when the game is paused.
Autocast state for abilities will now reset to the default state when unit ownership is permanently changed.
Autocast repair will now charge the player requesting autocast functionality.
Repair will now clear its autocast state if the owning player leaves the game.
Harvest orders no longer end if an order is queued while waiting to return cargo.
Harvesting units no longer avoid enemy units.
Hold position units no longer automatically move out of the way when placing a building.
Enemy units no longer show passive buttons in the command card.
Missiles are no longer affected by Vortex.
Actors with a large number of create events no longer crash the map.
Fixed an issue where cliff jumping units were able to traverse unpathable terrain.
Fixed an issue with units trying to get out of the way so buildings can be constructed.
Fixed an issue with harvesting units bypassing force fields.
Fixed an issue where melee units were unable to attack a colossus when it was on a cliff.
Fixed an issue where larva would not wander around.
Fixed an issues where loading a saved Challenge could improperly overwrite the best score.
Fixed an issue with animation stutters when flying units are separating.
Fixed an issue where units could push opposing units when they shouldn’t have been able to.
Added “Detector” text to the info panel for units which can detect cloaked or burrowed units.
Added combat reveal tinting to help show that combat reveal units cannot be hit.
Protoss
Protoss structures can no longer be powered without a power source if constructed while powered by a Warp Prism under the effects of Neural Parasite.
Mass Recall can no longer target larva or eggs.
Fixed an issue where units that were picked up by a Graviton Beam would still block pathing on the ground.
Fixed an issue where a Zealot could burn its Charge cooldown without actually moving.
Terran
Changed the position of the Select Builder button on Terran buildings, and changed the hotkey to Q.
SCVs can no longer continue construction on a building from inside an adjacent bunker.
Fixed nuke dot not being visible all the time.
Fixed an issue where you could see an enemy MULE drop pod in some cases where you didn’t have vision of the target location.
Fixed an issue where a Medivac would be able to continue healing a unit that was stuck in a Graviton Beam if the Medivac had started healing the unit before it was picked up by the Graviton Beam.
Fixed an issue where a Thor would continue to channel 250mm Strike Cannons on an uplifted Terran building if it lifted off at just the right time.
Fixed an issue where a Thor could get stuck channeling if a player queued up multiple targets for 250mm Strike Cannons.
Fixed an issue where SCVs could continue repairing at a short range even though the structure they were repairing was blocked by Force Fields.
Zerg
Creep will now spread evenly in all directions.
The Burrow and Cancel Neural Parasite buttons have been moved on the command card.
Fixed an issue with Ultralisk unable to attack a row of sensor towers.
StarCraft II Editor
The “For Each Real” and “For Each Integer” actions will now correctly execute once when the starting and ending bounds are equal while the increment is also zero.
Items dropped from an inventory will now use their default height when dropped.
The View Script command will now view library scripts if the library list has focus.
Carried and equipped item behaviors and weapons are now restored properly when a unit is revived.
Publish dialog now updates storage information after removing a published file in the Managed Published window.
Dropdowns now correctly select items as you type using partial matching.
Standard dependencies can no longer be modified in the Dependencies dialog (only added or removed).
Camera following can no longer be disabled via hotkeys if it was requested via triggers.
Fixed an issue with editing stylized text values when using system locales other than English.
Fixed an issue with Veterancy experience share filters.
Fixed an issue when editing mover data where values were not being saved correctly.
Fixed an issue that prevented certain changes to angle values.
Fixed an issue where selection circles would drop when a flying unit was over a cliff.
Fixed an issue where the scroll bar for tree views could disappear.
Fixed an issue where triggers setting the mouse relative could result in the mouse being stuck in relative move mode.
Fixed an issue where setting the color of a dialog item of type label wasn’t working.
Fixed a crash that could occur while editing upgrade values.
Fixed text truncation with Set Text actor message.
Fixed display of ability command links in the Overview Manager.
Fixed many areas where English text was displayed instead of localized text.
Fixed a crash when destroying a persistent effect.
Posted by dOoBiX on December 22nd, 2010 at 10:31 pm
If you still have not tried out StarCraft II, you may now rejoice because Blizzard has released the StarCraft II Demo for everyone to download, free of charge. It has no time limit and does not expire. This demo lets you play the first three missions of single player, and also has a skirmish mode against a computer opponent.
Posted by dOoBiX on December 10th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
The Public Test Region has been out for about a week now, and I guess Blizzard has decided to undo a few things they’ve changed, such as the fungal growth and bunker build time changes. Other than those small undoes, this patch includes a bunch of bug fixes. The full patch note is below:
Several changes have been made to the PTR:
• Sound effects will no longer pop or cut off if buildings are rapidly selected.
• Fixed a display issue so the number of harvesters on a Vespene Geyser node will now increment correctly for all occasions.
• Using ALT-F4 during the opening cinematic will no longer crash the game.
• Fixed an issue where the auto-detection system was defaulting graphics to a lower resolution than recommended.
• Fixed a frequent Out of Memory crash for 32-bit OS systems on the PTR.
• Fixed a case where public chat channels wouldn’t show up on the list.
• Added a drop-down selector to switch channel instances.
• Chat channel throttles have been adjusted to allow for a more natural chatting experience.
• Bunker build time has been reverted to the original 35 seconds.
• Fungal Growth has been reverted to the previous functionality and can once again target air units.
• Holding down a key will once again issue multiple orders.
SCBuildOrder is not only faster than Evolution Chamber, but it can also optimize the build orders for all three races: Protoss, Zerg, and Terran. So if you want to know the fastest build order to get a certain unit out, you should try this program out. One more thing – there may be some errors or unfinished coding because it’s not the final version yet, so you should always check the official site to download the latest versions.
Blizzard has released a pretty big StarCraft II patch today – version 1.2.0 PTR. This includes many game changes, bug fixes, and new features. One of the most wanted features since SC2 came out is now available: Chat rooms! Unit/building hotkeys are now customizable, and there is an Extreme graphics option which is higher than Ultra. Check the spoiler below for the entire patch notes:
— Players can now join others in both public and private channels.
— Added in-game chat bar command to whisper to other players. Using the /w command will pop up an auto-complete list which includes: friends, party members, chat channels, and other players within your current game.
• Added a Battle.net option to auto-join previous private channels.
• Added a Battle.net option to prevent chat channel text from appearing in the in-game chat display.
Custom Maps
• Map makers can now use custom UI layout files to create new UI or override existing game UI.
Gameplay
• Stalemate Detection has been added:
— The game will end in a tie for all remaining players if no players have income, production, or destroyed any structures for three consecutive minutes.
— A countdown timer will now appear when the game detects this scenario.
• Several help dialogue and tech tree improvements have been made:
— In-game help is now available in Battle.net.
— The help dialog’s tech tree has been improved.
— Unit information in the help dialog now displays abilities and upgrades.
• Selecting different units in quick succession will now fade out existing replies to play the most recent reply.
• When selecting a Vespene Geyser, the number of current harvesters will be displayed in the info panel.
Graphics
• An Extreme graphics option has been added:
— Players can now configure screen space ambient occlusion.
— Unit information in the help dialog now displays abilities and upgrades.
Interface
• Customizable Hotkey Support has been added.
• Mouse buttons can now be bound to the Push-To-Talk hotkey.
• System Alert panel has been moved to the top of the screen – duration of most system alerts has been reduced.
Added a hotkey to Pause/Resume game for both single-player and multiplayer (Pause/Break key).
• Added a toggle button to the in-game replay panel to show or hide duration information.
• Added a hotkey indicator option to show the primary hotkey on top of command buttons.
• Added an option to disable any error sounds. The Response Sounds checkbox now controls whether unit-specific audio is used for error sounds instead of a generic buzz.
Leagues and Ladders
• A new Master League has been added.
— This league now represents the highest tier of ladder players.
Replays
• Several Save/Replay File dialogue improvements have been made:
— Prints current directory name above file list.
— Added sort order icons to Name and Date columns.
— Added the ability to rename.
— Added filters for Autosave and Unsaved.
— Added an option to permanently save all replays. Checking this option will mark all unsaved replays as being saved.
• Camera following behavior for observers and replays has been improved.
Balance
• PROTOSS
— Hallucination research time decreased from 110 to 80.
— Observer
Cost decreased from 50/100 to 25/75.
— Phoenix
Build time decreased from 45 to 35.
— Void Ray
Now deals 20% more damage to massive targets.
Flux Vanes speed upgrade removed.
• TERRAN
— Bunker
Build time decreased from 35 to 30.
This is only a temporary change for the patch 1.2.0 PTR.
— SCV
Repairing SCVs now assume the same threat priority as the unit they’re repairing.
SCV construction movement made more consistent.
• ZERG
— Infestor
Fungal Growth no longer affects air units.
StarCraft II Editor
• Map locale management has been added.
• Further editor tips and hints have been added.
• Copy/Paste support has been added to the upgrade editor.
• Modifed the Locales dialog (also in the Locale sub-menu) for adding or removing text locales.
• Locale sub-menu is now available in Map/Mod menu for changing the active text locale for the current document.
• The game will now properly find custom imported files within mods.
• Maps can now depend on even more mods.
• Mod Info dialog is now available from the Mod menu for more easily changing mod name and description text.
• Change Focus commands are now available in the Trigger module View menu for switching input focus directly to different areas.
• Font Style Files can now be added to Mods and Maps using the FontStyleFileArray field in GameUIData. Existing styles can have their individual attributes overridden or entirely new styles can be added.
• UI Layout files can now be added to Mods and Maps using the CustomLayoutFileArray filed in GameUIData. Most existing frames can be modified or overridden and entirely new templates can be added, which can be created from the Dialog system within the Editor.
• Dialog Items can now be hooked up from already existing frames within a created Panel.
• Attributes and values can now be hidden in the game lobby, configured through Game Variants.
• Editor Tips dialog in the Help menu (and optionally on start up) improved with tips for using the editor effectively.
• Created a new type of Dialog Item called Panel. Panels are containers for other dialog items to help with grouping and hierarchy.
• The water editor layout has been improved.
• The mouse wheel now scrolls the control under the cursor.
• Copied doodads now retain their height offset.
• Effect offsets can now optionally contain a Z component.
• Attribute and Veterancy behaviors now normalize vitals when new levels are applied.
• Mouse clicks and highlights are now allowed while in relative camera mode.
• Edit boxes are now available for trigger dialogs.
• Right clicking an item in an inventory will now have the icon appear immediately next to the cursor.
• Behaviors can now be replaced by either the shortest duration (the original method) or by farthest distance.
• Behavior abilities can now properly charge the player using the ability instead of always charging the owner.
• New trigger action have been added:
— Set Visibility Type Of Text Tag, used to control whether fog or black mask hides the tag.
— Remove Inventory Item, used to instantly remove a requested item from an inventory.
— Bank Option, used to change options for banks including adding a signature
— Bounty (XP), used to grant experience when a unit is killed.
• New trigger function: Verify Bank, used to verify that a bank’s signature is intact.
• New trigger event: Mouse Moved, sent in response to the mouse being moved in the game world.
• New Effect Used event property: Life, Shields, and Energy changed.
• Added new UI to insert text tags for data references, unit info, and hotkeys.
• Added an effect range to the effect ability to restrict how far away the effect can be placed. This will allow effects to behave like the Stalker Blink effect.
• Added a behavior flag to suppress fidgeting.
• Added a new stalemate melee option to determine whether the stalemate detection checking is enforced.
• Added a new “Creator” player to effects. It will be set to the player issuing an order if available.
• Added a new type of item that can use an effect ability.
• Added a validator that checks to see if a unit can path to a point.
• Added a validator that checks if there is a cliff between two points.
• Added MinimapRenderPriority to CActorUnit and MinimapRenderPriorityList to CActorGlobalConfig. This allows custom map makers to define the render priorities of units on the minimap.
Bug Fixes
General
• Harvest orders will no longer end if an order is queued while waiting to return cargo.
• Harvesting units no longer avoid enemy units.
• Fixed an issue with units trying to get out of the way so buildings can be constructed.
• Hold position units no longer automatically move out of the way when placing a building.
• Fixed an issue with harvesting units bypassing force fields.
• Fixed an issue where melee units were unable to attack a colossus when it was on a cliff.
• Fixed an issue where larva would not wander around.
• Fixed an issue where loading a saved challenge could improperly overwrite the best score.
• Fixed an issue where animation stutters when flying units are separating.
• Added “Detector” text to the info panel for units which can detect cloaked or burrowed units.
• Added combat reveal tinting to help show that combat reveal units cannot be hit. All diagonal ramps are now the same with regards to unbuildable locations at the bottom of the ramps.
• Enemy units no longer show passive buttons in the command card.
• Critter health bars are now hidden unless highlighted or selected (if status bars are set to show when units are selected).
• Orders can no longer be canceled by clicking on the info panel in challenges before the challenge begins.
• Missiles are no longer affected by Vortex.
• Autocast repair will now charge the player requesting autocast functionality.
• Autocast state for abilities is reset to the default state when unit ownership is permanently changed.
• Repair will now clear its autocast state if the owning player leaves the game.
• Actors with a large number of create events no longer crash the map.
• Text tags are now paused when the game is paused.
Protoss
• Protoss structures can no longer be powered without a power source if constructed while powered by a Warp Prism under the effects of Neural Parasite.
• Mass Recall can no longer target larva or eggs.
• Fixed an issue where units that were picked up by a Graviton Beam would still block pathing on the ground.
• Fixed an issue where a Zealot could burn his Charge cooldown without actually moving.
Terran
• Changed the position of the Select Builder button on Terran buildings, and changed the hotkey to Q.
• Fixed nuke dot not being visible all the time.
• Fixed an issue where you could see an enemy MULE drop pod in some cases where you didn’t have vision of the target location.
• Fixed an issue where a Medivac would be able to continue healing a unit that was stuck in a Graviton Beam if the Medivac had started healing the unit before it was picked up by the Graviton Beam.
• Fixed an issue where a Thor would continue to channel 250mm Strike Cannons on an uplifted terran building if it lifted off at just the right time.
• Fixed an issue where a Thor could get stuck channeling if a player queued up multiple targets for 250mm Strike Cannons.
Zerg
• The Ultralisk’s arc-shaped damage area is now centered at the front of the Ultralisk instead of at its center.
• Fixed an issue with the Ultralisk being unable to attack a row of sensor towers.
• The Burrow and Cancel Neural Parasite buttons have been moved on the command card.
• Creep will now spread evenly in all directions.
• Fixed an issue where Larva could produce units by holding down hotkeys.
StarCraft II Editor
• The “For Each Real” and “For Each Integer” actions will now correctly execute once when the starting and ending bounds are equal while the increment is also zero.
• Standard dependencies can no longer be modified in the Dependencies dialog (only added or removed).
• Publish dialog now updates storage information after removing a published file in the Managed Published window.
• The View Script command will now view library scripts if the library list has focus.
• Dropdowns now correctly select items as you type using partial matching.
• Fixed an issue with editing stylized text values when using system locales other than English.
• Fixed an issue when editing mover data where values were not being saved correctly.
• Fixed an issue that prevented certain changes to angle values.
• Fixed an issue where the scroll bar for tree views could disappear.
• Fixed an issue where triggers setting the mouse relative could result in the mouse being stuck in relative move mode.
• Fixed an issue where setting the color of a dialog item of type label wasn’t working.
• Fixed text truncation with Set Text actor message.
• Fixed a crash that could occur while editing upgrade values.
• Fixed display of ability command links in the Overview Manager.
• Fixed many areas where English text was displayed instead of localized text.
• Fixed an issue where selection circles would drop when a flying unit was over a cliff.
• Veterancy experience share filters have been fixed.
• Carried and equipped item behaviors and weapons are now restored properly when a unit is revived.
• Items dropped from an inventory will now use their default height when dropped.
• Fixed a crash when destroying a persistent effect.
• Camera following can no longer be disabled via hotkeys if it was requested via triggers.
Note that this patch is only for testing in the Public Test Region right now, which is a completely different server from what we were normally playing on. To play in the PTR, you need to run the “StarCraft II Public Test” shortcut icon, and you will need to create a new character. Running the regular StarCraft II shortcut icon will just bring you to your normal server that you’ve been playing on, which is still v1.1.3 as of this post’s time.
Posted by dOoBiX on November 23rd, 2010 at 2:08 am
Check out HuskyStarcraft’s Banelings song, a parody of Baby by Justin Bieber. I must say that this video was pretty well made. Thanks for the tip Elliot Yoon!
Posted by dOoBiX on November 15th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
BlizzTV is a lightweight open source content aggregator made by Blizzard fans. You can use this to stream the latest game (i.e. StarCraft II) videos, vods, feeds, and events on your desktop. It’s only in beta version right now, and we should expect more features in later versions.