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Note: some people who first look at the build order overlay think it is an attempt to gain an advantage in ladder games. Well no it is not. The purpose of the build order overlay is for both skilled and casual players to practice build orders on their own more effectively. Of course, skilled players who spend a lot of time practicing different build orders or coming up with new ones will find this tool more helpful.
Update: Just made a quick release to address some XP and non-English language setting issues. Link is still below.
Hello everyone,
I made this utility app (called RUK) for sc2 and I'm confident that almost everyone will find it to be useful.
Currently, it has 3 complete features:
- Voice-activated Build Order overlay
- Key Remapper
- Replays Manager
It is free and always will be. So please try it out and give me some feedbacks.
I just wrote up an article talking about the usage of this app on a fan site I'm developing:
http://www.screborn.com/ruk/
You can also download the app and look at some screenshots there. In case you still want to read on, I'll copy paste some of the stuff I wrote in that article.
Key Remapper
This interface allows users to remap their keys on the keyboard to other keys. For example, they can map the tilde key (the one to the left of 1) to BACKSPACE. BACKSPACE in sc2 cycles through your current bases. After the mapping, you can use Tilde instead. You click on the Turn On Mapping button for the mapping to take place. And you can add or delete mappings using the Add and Delete buttons.
Replays Manager
Upon first usage, the controls in this interface are disabled. User needs to locate their replays folder to enable this interface. You do that using the Replay Folder button. After your Replays folder is located, all your replays will be pulled to the list box on the left. When you select (click on) one of them, the map, matchup, and player names will be shown on the right side. You can also select a replay and use the Save As button to save it somewhere else. The Save As dialog will conveniently rename the file to something more descriptive (i.e. premium (P) vs Reborn (Z) on Steppes of War.SC2Replay).
Voice-activated Build Order overlay
This feature draws your Build Orders on top of your SC2 window. And it does so using your voice. So if you have inputted a build order with phonetic "3 rax timing push" and say to your microphone "3 rax timing push", the corresponding build order will be shown on the screen. This overlay does require SC2 to be run in fullscreen windowed mode.
This feature is extremely good in situations where you need to pull off a perfect opening using some build that you don't usually use and remember. It is also very helpful when you need to practice a build and you don't want to alt-tab or look at somewhere away from the screen.
Currently on the ladder, many players just do the same build over and over and over and over again. This is because they have a build that they are most comfortable with and will feel less secure if they opt for something else. To me this is also a memory/practice issue. So hopefully, this build order overlay will make players comfortable with every single build order they have in the Utility Kit.
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Is all of this in compliance with Blizzard's rules?
Will definitely try it out if so.
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As far as I know, yes it is 100% legit. It doesn't read or modify game memory. Nor does it use any kind of key stroke macro.
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The build order overlay seems fairly useful, however why the key remapper. You can change your hotkeys ingame anyway.
Also since you said it was a legit program (ie. does not edit game files or memory) then your key mapper has to work by simply picking up when the user presses X key and sending a keypress for Y key instead? So assuming you remap something which already has a function on Y, then you would end up executing both actions as SC2 probably picks up the first keypress as well.
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Even though it does not edit game files or memory, I'm not sure this is 100% legit mostly because of the key remapping thing that can be abused. Don't know for sure though.
Will try this out  thanks.
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On November 08 2010 17:26 Beider wrote:
The build order overlay seems fairly useful, however why the key remapper. You can change your hotkeys ingame anyway.
Also since you said it was a legit program (ie. does not edit game files or memory) then your key mapper has to work by simply picking up when the user presses X key and sending a keypress for Y key instead? So assuming you remap something which already has a function on Y, then you would end up executing both actions as SC2 probably picks up the first keypress as well.
The original Key/Event is suppressed.
Actually, changing the in-game keys is not that easy. Try changing the BACKSPACE key.
With this app, you can easily map Tilde (`) to BACKSPACE (which cycles your bases). A lot of zerg players do this for easier larvae injection.
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On November 08 2010 17:30 Bibzball wrote:Even though it does not edit game files or memory, I'm not sure this is 100% legit mostly because of the key remapping thing that can be abused. Don't know for sure though. Will try this out thanks.
Ah no need to worry. =)
Blizz already said in starcraft2.com forum that this kind of key remapping is legit.
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Still at work so can't test it right now.. I've read about the Extractor timer. Nice idea. Is there an zerg injection timer as well? Or even better, can I configure my own timers?
And what about the speech recognition? If it misses it and give me the wrong BO, can I close it and open another? Same thing if for some reason I need to leave my current BO, can I easily remove the list from the screen?
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On November 08 2010 18:52 Malhavoc wrote:
Still at work so can't test it right now.. I've read about the Extractor timer. Nice idea. Is there an zerg injection timer as well? Or even better, can I configure my own timers?
And what about the speech recognition? If it misses it and give me the wrong BO, can I close it and open another? Same thing if for some reason I need to leave my current BO, can I easily remove the list from the screen?
Yup for all your concerns. You can clear the overlay with command "Clear Build Order" (I need to remember to put it in the usages). You will also be able to configure your own timers as much as you want.
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Talking about 'bending the rules' I tried to find an application (magnifier) which could make my minimap full screen on my second monitor.
I have awful awful eyesight and I'd love the minimap larger on another display.
I found something which worked but it had a 1 second lag to updating and it was repeatedly flashing, so useless 
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On November 08 2010 19:21 abrasion wrote:Talking about 'bending the rules' I tried to find an application (magnifier) which could make my minimap full screen on my second monitor. I have awful awful eyesight and I'd love the minimap larger on another display. I found something which worked but it had a 1 second lag to updating and it was repeatedly flashing, so useless
Haha that's pretty funny if it's true.
But anyhow the overlay thing is really useful if you spend time practice a lot of build orders with friends. You can give it a shot if you don't believe me. =)
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Can you map stuff to mouse button 4 and 5?
With that I mean 'Windows mouse button 4" and 5.
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Site is down?
Sounds like a pretty awesome util though!
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Another concern: what if I'm doing 2v2 and I use the mic to talk with my friend? Is this application going to spam me with possibile BO/timers interpretations of what I'm saying to my friend? If it's so, it would be nice to have an option to activate its speech recognition feature just when I'm keeping a specific button pressed.. a sort of Push-to-talk-to-the-application.
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in my opinion stuff like this kills the idea behind the game
yes everyone could use this support, but not everyone is using it.
that being said: for me everyone not using this is the real winner of the match.
especially if the player beats someone that uses overlayed build orders.. or remapped keys 
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This seems extremely useful, I'll definitely be taking a look when I get home. How good is the voice recognition?
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On November 08 2010 20:32 loadme wrote:in my opinion stuff like this kills the idea behind the game yes everyone could use this support, but not everyone is using it. that being said: for me everyone not using this is the real winner of the match. especially if the player beats someone that uses overlayed build orders.. or remapped keys
Someone knowing the BO by his own will always be better than one using this. I'm planning to use this, but just as a mean to easily learn BOs and being able to play without it. I could just practice a LOT of build orders in solitaire, but this way I can practice AND play and the same time. Much better.
As for remapped keys, it's just unbelievable that Blizzard isn't allowing this on it's own. There's nothing inherently wrong in remapping to your likings.
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On November 08 2010 19:24 CreepGin wrote:Show nested quote +On November 08 2010 19:21 abrasion wrote:Talking about 'bending the rules' I tried to find an application (magnifier) which could make my minimap full screen on my second monitor. I have awful awful eyesight and I'd love the minimap larger on another display. I found something which worked but it had a 1 second lag to updating and it was repeatedly flashing, so useless Haha that's pretty funny if it's true. But anyhow the overlay thing is really useful if you spend time practice a lot of build orders with friends. You can give it a shot if you don't believe me. =)
The version on the right is some kind of 3'rd party "magnifier" tool - but it was laggy, flashing and so on. However the idea is sound.
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Tried the application. Loads, but when I turn on voice recognition, it crashes with this error (notice: i've got Italian Windows7, translating error from italian into english):
System.InvalidOperationException: The Grammar Language chosen does not correspond to the speech recognition one.
From what I've read around, .NET uses by default, for the grammar, the installed OS's language. Unfortunately for me, italian speech recognition is not existent for the italian language. You should manually set it up to english by code; this should hopefully fix the problem.
Something like this:
+ Show Spoiler +GrammarBuilder builder = choices.ToGrammarBuilder();
11 builder.Culture = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US");
12 Grammar grammar = new Grammar(builder);
13 sre.LoadGrammar(grammar);
14 sre.SetInputToDefaultAudioDevice();
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tested and works like advertised.
can be a bit slow to start up.
files manager pretty basic, would be nice to load games directly from there.
build order and reminder are pretty niche and probably wont get much use, but neat.
Suggest you just use "clear build".
edit - tried the create build order, here is a basic 3gate blink build you can add:
http://www.screborn.com/buildorder/9jn
could use upgrades/cronoboost, but not essential due to notes.
just imagine I put in boost probe, then wg, then blink.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.shackpics.com/files/iPhoneUpload_cwnorvgh5dij7lgybuag.jpg)
