Find out information about Warcraft III World Editor. Software that manipulates objects in a 3D world. It can be part of a development system for creating 3D objects or part of a computer game for building a 3D. Now that i had some time to test the Reforged World Editor for Warcraft III Reforged it is time to make a review. Not everything is in the editor yet but most of the functions are. And what surprised me the most was that it looks the same as the old world editor from 2002.
Pretty much what the title says, when i try to open world editor it opens the loading screen for 2-4 seconds, and then shuts down again. I've tried launching it on 1.23, 1.26 and 1.27, whilst the individual versions were the only WC3's on my computer. HiveWE is a fully custom 3rd party world editor. It's completely separate from the original editor and is open-source! Features: Open and view Warcraft III maps. Edit the terrain. Edit the pathing map directly! Change the tileset to up to 16 tiles. Fly around in first or third person camera.
Warcraft III World Editor
Overview
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion The Frozen Throne shipped with a world editor that took customization farther than any other Blizzard game had up to that point and while dreams of a World of Warcraft editor are tantalizing, it seems that Warcraft fans will have to settle for this for a while.
The editor allows users to create custom games that mostly range through the RTS and RPG genres. There is somewhat of an assumption that the game will be a RTS level, since this was the campaign editor used by Blizzard while creating the game and its expansion. Even so, sending the scenario in the direction you want is more or less straightforward.
The bulk of the world creation is done using a simple and intuitive point and paint style tool panel. Using this interface, the user can place and edit any finished terrain, units, buildings, regions, cameras, and what they call doodads (trees, rocks, bushes, skeletons, fire pits, etc.).
A large circular brush is raising the ground level.
In terms of cinematic capabilities, the editor excels. The camera palette allows the user to create pre-made view points and the trigger system allows them to be manipulated. Everything one might expect a camera to do, the editor can do it.
A pre-set camera focuses on an NPC.
Speaking of the triggers… What are they exactly? Triggers define reactions to specific events in the game. Unit deaths, attacks, map initialization, region interactions, item collection, etc. can all activate triggers. Then, if the conditions are met, the trigger will run the set actions. The events, conditions, and actions are wide in variety and you can find more or less whatever you need. Rarely, custom scripts must be used for changes in basic gameplay. For this, the user must apply JASS, the world editor’s proprietary language.
Triggers program game behavior with a large library of preset events, conditions, and actions.
If the built in models, units, AI, abilities, etc. are not enough for your creation, they can all be edited and custom forms can be created. Changes in color, size, speed, strength of units, duration, area of effect, behavior of abilities, and things of that nature can all be manipulated. The spreadsheets may look daunting, but if the user is familiar with the nature of Warcraft III, almost every cell is self explanatory. For the others,there is community support.
The spreadsheets are easier to understand than they appear.
Difficulty
The World Editor is fairly intuitive for anyone who is familiar with the game, but may prove to be a challenge otherwise. The trigger system makes basic functionality easy to implement and manipulate, but changes in basic gameplay require knowledge of their proprietary language. Unfortunately, working with triggers often takes a considerable amount of time.
For single player RPGs and simple multiplayer games one could quickly dive right into creation and come out with something decent, but for larger multiplayer experiences there are leaks to consider. Leaks are memory hogging temporary units, regions, effects, etc. that are no longer being used, but which the game does not know to destroy. This can lead to lag, slowdown, and disconnections. Fortunately, there are community resources that can explain leaks and how to get rid of them in more detail.
Cost
$40 as part of the Warcraft III Battle Chest. An older, less functional version comes packed with the original Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, which retails at $30.
Customizability
In terms of RPG and RTS style games, this editor provides an extremely high amount of customization. All the many models and effects used in the game are available for use by the editor and can be utilized in a wide variety of situations. Want to attach a swarm of flies to a character’s weapon? You can do that. Want to have mortar teams shoot primitive airplanes at people while getting struck by lightening? You could do that too.
However, those are abilities that one might find in a (strange) iteration of one of the genres listed above. Creating completely unique forms of gameplay would require extensive use of JASS (their home grown coding language) or very clever use of triggers and custom units/effects.
Warcraft 3 World Editor Not Opening
When to use it
The Warcraft III World Editor is great for showcasing or honing your abilities in scenario and quest creation, world building, level design, dialog writing, character design (in terms of personality and abilities more than in appearance), organization, or even voice acting.
You shouldn’t use it if you’re looking to create completely original gameplay. There are mods out there with somewhat unique gameplay, but efforts might better be spent with a different creation tool when deviating far from the RTS and RPG genres.
Warcraft 3 World Editor Mac
Summary
Pros:
Fairly intuitive
Huge library of models, effects, and abilities
Well organized
Cheap (you might already have it)
Cons:
Warcraft 3 World Editor Guide
Mostly limited to RPG and RTS style gameplay
Heavy changes in basic gameplay require coding
Could be faster (higher end quest and dialog creation would be nice)