We're pleased to announce that a number of upcoming StarCraft II Patch 2.1 additions are now available for testing in the Public Test Realm. Anyone with a StarCraft II license and the Battle.net Desktop App can participate, and we're kindly requesting your help in testing some of the improvements we highlighted during the StarCraft II Update Panel at BlizzCon earlier this month. We'll have more information to share with you about each feature soon, but those of you who are eager to try out these additions can read on to find an overview of what you're able to test right now, as well as how to gain access to the PTR.
Extension Mods
We're very excited to introduce Extension Mods to map developers and players alike in the PTR. Extension mods will help streamline the mod creation process for map developers and allow players to more easily find and play their favorite mods.
As a map developer, you'll no longer need to recreate the parameters of your mods every time you want to see how they'll play out on a new map. You can create Extension Mods using the StarCraft II Editor and publish them to Battle.net to allow players to apply them to any map in the Custom Games list.
As a player, you may be excited to know that hunting around the Custom Games menus trying to find which maps have been published with your favorite mod already applied is a thing of the past. Now, you can head to the Custom Games list, choose any map your heart desires, click the "Create with Extension Mod" button, and select a mod from the dropdown list to start enjoying the freedom to play whatever you please.
It's true I am very excited about extension mods and the possibilities they present for the future. But at this time I still do not think it is possible to convert GameHeart into an extension mod. Unfortunately GameHeart uses something called an 'observer ID' to send data to observers that it doesn't send to players (such as the logos, or the icons over buildings showing what they are producing).
Observer IDs have to be setup manually in each map, and by default a map has no observer ID at all. It is possible for a map maker to setup a map so it works perfectly both with and without GameHeart, but it actually isn't super simple to do so and we would never be able to get all map makers to do that, thereby defeating the purpose of extension mods with GameHeart.
As far as I can tell so far while playing around with the patch Blizzard has not changed how observer IDs function. I have sent them some documentation detailing the issue and why I would like them to change it so hopefully they will do so in the future. I have sent them a lot of things over the last month or two with bugs or suggestions and they have responded really well to them and fixed many of the things I requested. So it is certainly possible they might make a change to this but it isn't actually a bug so I am not sure.
Circumventing the observer ID is possible, but it's messy. And the whole point of the new GameHeart is to avoid all of the messy workarounds I was forced to use in the original version.
Clan and Group Additions
You and your friends can now coordinate more easily using the new Events tab found on Clan and Group windows in the Test Realm. Group and Clan owners and officers can now access an Event Calendar to schedule meet-ups for anything they wish, whether it be a clan war or an Arcade play session. Simply select the Events tab on your Clan or Group window, hit the "Create Event" button, and then fill out the date, time, title, and a description to set up a new event.
Clans and Groups can now further show off their club identities on Battle.net by creating and uploading a club icon, which will display in the Groups browser, as well as on the Clan or Group window. Additionally, Clans can create and upload a custom image to replace the decals that appear on the terrain surrounding clan members’ town hall structures in-game. Head over to your Clan or Group's Info tab and hit the "Edit Info" button if you'd like to add flair to your club with a custom icon. (Decals must be square images with size less or equal than 256x256, both PNG or JPG are acceptable, GIF is not)
You'll be able to delight in fifteen years of StarCraft nostalgia by rocking out to the classic StarCraft and Brood War soundtracks while you play StarCraft II in the PTR. Navigate to the Sound tab in the Options menu (F10) and select the StarCraft/Brood War, StarCraft II, or both soundtracks using the “Soundtrack” dropdown list. Then, fire up a game of StarCraft II in any non-Campaign mode to get the tunes flowing.
It’s no fun being stuck waiting on lobby hosts who have seemingly abandoned their duty to get the game started. We understand that this can be a frustrating experience, which is why we've implemented a process to boot inactive players from public Arcade and Custom Game lobbies, whether or not they're the host.
Players in public game lobbies will now be prompted to respond after a short period of inactivity and will be kicked from the lobby if they remain unresponsive. If the booted player was the lobby host, a new host will be selected from the remaining players so that you can get back to the action as soon as possible.
How to Get In
Accessing the Public Test Realm is easier than ever with the Battle.net Desktop App. Once you've installed and run the App, select StarCraft II from your list of games to get started. Next, click the region selection box above the Play button, choose "PTR: Heart of the Swarm" from the dropdown list, and hit Install. Once your installation is complete, just hit Play to launch the PTR and start digging in to all of the goodies mentioned above.
If you'd like to switch back to the current version of StarCraft II, simply exit the client and head back to the Battle.net App to swap the region selector back to your preferred Battle.net region. You can pick up the Battle.net Desktop App by downloading it for free using the button below.
(Please note that the Public Test Realm can only be accessed through the Battle.net Desktop App as outlined above. Attempting to launch “StarCraft II Public Test.exe”, found in your StarCraft II installation folder, will no longer grant entry into the PTR.)
Due to an issue discovered during internal PTR testing, Mac users will unfortunately be unable to access the Test Realm at this time. Thank you for your patience as we work diligently to resolve this issue for the release of StarCraft II Patch 2.1.
If you have any feedback you'd like to share with us, head over to the PTR Discussion forum (coming very soon) and start up a conversation with others or contribute your thoughts to an existing thread. We'd like to remind you that not everything in the PTR is finalized just yet and you may encounter a few bugs during testing. Please help us squash any bugs you happen to catch in the Test Realm by reporting them on the PTR Bug Report forum (also coming very soon).
Thank you very much for helping us test these upcoming features in the Public Test Realm. Your feedback will be vital during this extended testing period as we prepare to roll out StarCraft II Patch 2.1 at a later date.
You'll be able to delight in fifteen years of StarCraft nostalgia by rocking out to the classic StarCraft and Brood War soundtracks while you play StarCraft II in the PTR. Navigate to the Sound tab in the Options menu (F10) and select the StarCraft/Brood War, StarCraft II, or both soundtracks using the “Soundtrack” dropdown list. Then, fire up a game of StarCraft II in any non-Campaign mode to get the tunes flowing.
On December 04 2013 11:52 Dreamer.T wrote: Classic soundtrack sounds great. If they add war3 music in, that would make my day so hard, even though it makes no sense to do so.
Lol that would be awesome if they added in all that music from the Blizzard games. Doubt it will happen though.
On December 04 2013 11:52 Dreamer.T wrote: Classic soundtrack sounds great. If they add war3 music in, that would make my day so hard, even though it makes no sense to do so.
Lol that would be awesome if they added in all that music from the Blizzard games. Doubt it will happen though.
Wow, I confess I didn't actually understand what an "extension mod" really was until now but holy crap they sound really useful, especially for something like GameHeart. Now I understand why the creator of GameHeart was looking forward to them so much lol
Hell, it's about time. I've been refreshing TL.net constantly since Blizzcon in hopes of seeing the PTR come up. I hope the BW music gets uploaded somewhere soon because I'm eager to indulge myself in it. I also can't wait for a KT Rolster fan group to pop up with a logo so I can rep some KT flair on ladder.
On December 04 2013 14:17 ShowTheLights wrote: installed the PTR. no new sc1 music wtf
Have you checked through the options? Apparently, the BW music can only be played when bundled with the sc2 music, so there might be some waiting and RNG involved.
It is only BW, only SC2, or both.
Blizzard should just remove the trumpet SC2 Protoss music. Terribad...
On December 04 2013 14:17 ShowTheLights wrote: installed the PTR. no new sc1 music wtf
Have you checked through the options? Apparently, the BW music can only be played when bundled with the sc2 music, so there might be some waiting and RNG involved.
It is only BW, only SC2, or both.
Blizzard should just remove the trumpet SC2 Protoss music. Terribad...
? so you can just select the BW music to have the sc1 music.
On December 04 2013 14:17 ShowTheLights wrote: installed the PTR. no new sc1 music wtf
Have you checked through the options? Apparently, the BW music can only be played when bundled with the sc2 music, so there might be some waiting and RNG involved.
It is only BW, only SC2, or both.
Blizzard should just remove the trumpet SC2 Protoss music. Terribad...
? so you can just select the BW music to have the sc1 music.
The rest of the SC2 soundtrack is passable.
On December 04 2013 12:59 ElMeanYo wrote: People actually listen to the music in their games?
Seems like you never really played BW. SC2 music is just background music. BW music is an actual part of the game.
On December 04 2013 14:17 ShowTheLights wrote: installed the PTR. no new sc1 music wtf
Have you checked through the options? Apparently, the BW music can only be played when bundled with the sc2 music, so there might be some waiting and RNG involved.
It is only BW, only SC2, or both.
Blizzard should just remove the trumpet SC2 Protoss music. Terribad...
? so you can just select the BW music to have the sc1 music.
Not sure why the calendar doesn't have an option for recurring events. It would make it easier to just say every Saturday or Thursday or whatever is practice day from such and such a time rather than having to input it for every weekend.
On December 04 2013 14:17 ShowTheLights wrote: installed the PTR. no new sc1 music wtf
Have you checked through the options? Apparently, the BW music can only be played when bundled with the sc2 music, so there might be some waiting and RNG involved.
It is only BW, only SC2, or both.
Blizzard should just remove the trumpet SC2 Protoss music. Terribad...
? so you can just select the BW music to have the sc1 music.
The rest of the SC2 soundtrack is passable.
On December 04 2013 12:59 ElMeanYo wrote: People actually listen to the music in their games?
Seems like you never really played BW. SC2 music is just background music. BW music is an actual part of the game.
Seems like you never really played SC2 Terran.
All purakushi does is whine about SC2, it's pretty stupid that he hates this game so much yet he follows and posts about it all the time.
On December 04 2013 14:17 ShowTheLights wrote: installed the PTR. no new sc1 music wtf
Have you checked through the options? Apparently, the BW music can only be played when bundled with the sc2 music, so there might be some waiting and RNG involved.
It is only BW, only SC2, or both.
Blizzard should just remove the trumpet SC2 Protoss music. Terribad...
? so you can just select the BW music to have the sc1 music.
The rest of the SC2 soundtrack is passable.
On December 04 2013 12:59 ElMeanYo wrote: People actually listen to the music in their games?
Seems like you never really played BW. SC2 music is just background music. BW music is an actual part of the game.
Seems like you never really played SC2 Terran.
It's decent, but it doesn't touch BW music.
Edit: This "re-mastered" version sounds weird. Very noticeable differences in some parts that they should have just left alone. Other differences are kind of cool, though.
On December 04 2013 15:32 mangofrancesco wrote: All purakushi does is whine about SC2, it's pretty stupid that he hates this game so much yet he follows and posts about it all the time.
Actually, I like SC2. I just complain about things that I don't like, just like everyone else does about anything, in general.
Hmm... the only thing I was really excited for was the BW soundtrack. Although the remastered versions are an improvement from the SC2 music, to be honest they are still a lot less exciting than the original BW music.
Players in public game lobbies will now be prompted to respond after a short period of inactivity and will be kicked from the lobby if they remain unresponsive. If the booted player was the lobby host, a new host will be selected from the remaining players so that you can get back to the action as soon as possible.
are you fuckign serious? now i'll have to be ingame and waiting instead of alt tabbing and doing other stuff? there go all the maps out of the window, that are a little unpopular. good thinking blizzard. who wants to wait 10 minutes staring at the fucking lobby? implement it for HOST ONLY or you will kill a lot of maps, because players will be bootet/ don't even want to hassle with it. it's just not worth it to spend minutes of time to play some arcade game.
On December 04 2013 17:41 DusTerr wrote: damn it, i need the b.net desktop app?
It's actually pretty nice. If nothing else, there is no more need to log in every time you open a Blizzard game as the Battle.net Desktop Client logs you in automatically :-)
While I am not interested in extension mods, clan support, or afk lobby hosts (all good things for the game, nonetheless), the fact that they add the SC1 soundtrack to my ladder games is fucking awesome. I think this will reignite my will to ladder. Great news!
On December 04 2013 18:08 deacon.frost wrote: Just a question to the soundtrack info. Is it original remastered or recorded with orchestra again?
Thanks!
There are three original ones, plus a fourth track unavailable in the soundtrack CD (from the original game tho), the fourth one seems re-recorded since there are some quite noticeable differences.
Oh dear lord please let me deactivate decals. If cstrike spray decals from back in the day are any indication, this will be absolutely intolerable.
Edit: And neither here nor on reddit did I see a single post about someones actual clan logo, so I'm pretty sure people will use it to display childish bullshit pretty much exclusively.
Are you able to deactivate the clan logo to show your normal decal? not that i really care, loving the clan decals :D ) but i guess some people would like to keep that optional...
Atm there's no way to deactivate the Decals :/ but i can swear by gods, the old ones and the new that by the end of the PTR Blizzard will have added a way to hide the custom decals.
On December 04 2013 20:20 blackone wrote: Oh dear lord please let me deactivate decals. If cstrike spray decals from back in the day are any indication, this will be absolutely intolerable.
Edit: And neither here nor on reddit did I see a single post about someones actual clan logo, so I'm pretty sure people will use it to display childish bullshit pretty much exclusively.
On December 04 2013 20:20 blackone wrote: Oh dear lord please let me deactivate decals. If cstrike spray decals from back in the day are any indication, this will be absolutely intolerable.
Edit: And neither here nor on reddit did I see a single post about someones actual clan logo, so I'm pretty sure people will use it to display childish bullshit pretty much exclusively.
On December 04 2013 16:21 KeksX wrote: What happened to this?
Now it looks like this
I liked the first one much better imho.
Posting this again because I think the decals are really lame. The stuff they showcased at Blizzcon was awesome, this is just a direct copy of something we already have (Gameheart), so WTF Blizz?
Why did you show us the cool hovering thiingies when all you really did was make an option to upload custom decals?
Posting this again because I think the decals are really lame. The stuff they showcased at Blizzcon was awesome, this is just a direct copy of something we already have (Gameheart), so WTF Blizz?
Why did you show us the cool hovering thiingies when all you really did was make an option to upload custom decals?
I don't see how gameheart having it means they should not add it. This is for the players view, not observers.
On December 04 2013 16:21 KeksX wrote: What happened to this?
Now it looks like this
I liked the first one much better imho.
Posting this again because I think the decals are really lame. The stuff they showcased at Blizzcon was awesome, this is just a direct copy of something we already have (Gameheart), so WTF Blizz?
Why did you show us the cool hovering thiingies when all you really did was make an option to upload custom decals?
Lol they added this in to because of game heart and to make the mod more inclusive and useful. Why do some people hate fun stuff that is sort of dumb? Why so serious?
Thanks! I only got to try out Terran last night. Time to listen at work <3
Curious to see what other differences there are.
Terran 4, the orchestral Terran track, is really weird and worse than the original imo. Maybe there was a big in mixing; the sound is muffled and the balance is strange.
Otherwise, all the other songs sound the same as their BW versions, sometimes better just from the higher fidelity.
Players in public game lobbies will now be prompted to respond after a short period of inactivity and will be kicked from the lobby if they remain unresponsive. If the booted player was the lobby host, a new host will be selected from the remaining players so that you can get back to the action as soon as possible.
are you fuckign serious? now i'll have to be ingame and waiting instead of alt tabbing and doing other stuff? there go all the maps out of the window, that are a little unpopular. good thinking blizzard. who wants to wait 10 minutes staring at the fucking lobby? implement it for HOST ONLY or you will kill a lot of maps, because players will be bootet/ don't even want to hassle with it. it's just not worth it to spend minutes of time to play some arcade game.
Man, this is some overreaction. If there is a sound for it, it's no problem. DotA 2 does exactly the same.
Other than that, I sure hope the decals can be disabled and while they are at it, do the same to unit skins.
Thanks! I only got to try out Terran last night. Time to listen at work <3
Curious to see what other differences there are.
Terran 4, the orchestral Terran track, is really weird and worse than the original imo. Maybe there was a big in mixing; the sound is muffled and the balance is strange.
Otherwise, all the other songs sound the same as their BW versions, sometimes better just from the higher fidelity.
Yeah, as far as I can tell, there's basically no difference (aside from fidelity) between BW and these "re-mastered" versions other than Terran4, which is quite noticeably different. They definitely changed the balancing, especially increasing the presence of the drums and decreasing the trumpet/orchestra. Personally, I like the original more. Kind of odd how this is the only track with any/noticeable changes.
We'll get used to it. It's still awesome that they added it for us.
Thanks! I only got to try out Terran last night. Time to listen at work <3
Curious to see what other differences there are.
Terran 4, the orchestral Terran track, is really weird and worse than the original imo. Maybe there was a big in mixing; the sound is muffled and the balance is strange.
Otherwise, all the other songs sound the same as their BW versions, sometimes better just from the higher fidelity.
Yeah, as far as I can tell, there's basically no difference between BW and these "re-mastered" versions other than Terran4, which is quite noticeably different. They definitely changed the balancing, especially increasing the presence of the drums and somewhat decreasing the trumpet/orchestra. Personally, I like the original more. Kind of odd how this is the only track with any/noticeable changes.
On December 04 2013 10:58 juicyjames wrote: Classic StarCraft Soundtrack
You'll be able to delight in fifteen years of StarCraft nostalgia by rocking out to the classic StarCraft and Brood War soundtracks while you play StarCraft II in the PTR. Navigate to the Sound tab in the Options menu (F10) and select the StarCraft/Brood War, StarCraft II, or both soundtracks using the “Soundtrack” dropdown list. Then, fire up a game of StarCraft II in any non-Campaign mode to get the tunes flowing.
On December 04 2013 16:21 KeksX wrote: What happened to this?
Now it looks like this
I liked the first one much better imho.
Posting this again because I think the decals are really lame. The stuff they showcased at Blizzcon was awesome, this is just a direct copy of something we already have (Gameheart), so WTF Blizz?
Why did you show us the cool hovering thiingies when all you really did was make an option to upload custom decals?
Lol they added this in to because of game heart and to make the mod more inclusive and useful. Why do some people hate fun stuff that is sort of dumb? Why so serious?
Ah cmon he is kinda right here, i mean it's not BAD but they showed BETTER stuff, that is kinda dumb.. But whatever, BW music yay!
Posting this again because I think the decals are really lame. The stuff they showcased at Blizzcon was awesome, this is just a direct copy of something we already have (Gameheart), so WTF Blizz?
Why did you show us the cool hovering thiingies when all you really did was make an option to upload custom decals?
I don't see how gameheart having it means they should not add it. This is for the players view, not observers.
Look at my first picture I posted there. THAT is what was supposed to be coming. It's okay if they want to add other stuff as well, but I find it lame that they did not implement what they promised us to implement..
@Plansix: I'm not saying it's dumb and they shouldn't do it, I'm saying it's dumb that they promised to make something entirely different (adding 3D Decals that represent your clan) but instead made something that we already have (and thus don't really need). It's a redundant feature.
I'm all for adding new fun stuff, but I really really wanted to see the 3D Decals because I think they were badass!
Posting this again because I think the decals are really lame. The stuff they showcased at Blizzcon was awesome, this is just a direct copy of something we already have (Gameheart), so WTF Blizz?
Why did you show us the cool hovering thiingies when all you really did was make an option to upload custom decals?
I don't see how gameheart having it means they should not add it. This is for the players view, not observers.
Look at my first picture I posted there. THAT is what was supposed to be coming. It's okay if they want to add other stuff as well, but I find it lame that they did not implement what they promised us to implement..
@Plansix: I'm not saying it's dumb and they shouldn't do it, I'm saying it's dumb that they promised to make something entirely different (adding 3D Decals that represent your clan) but instead made something that we already have (and thus don't really need). It's a redundant feature.
I'm all for adding new fun stuff, but I really really wanted to see the 3D Decals because I think they were badass!
But we don't already have this, for the vast majority of players playing for fun, and now tournaments can have team decals on WCS maps as well.
Posting this again because I think the decals are really lame. The stuff they showcased at Blizzcon was awesome, this is just a direct copy of something we already have (Gameheart), so WTF Blizz?
Why did you show us the cool hovering thiingies when all you really did was make an option to upload custom decals?
I don't see how gameheart having it means they should not add it. This is for the players view, not observers.
Look at my first picture I posted there. THAT is what was supposed to be coming. It's okay if they want to add other stuff as well, but I find it lame that they did not implement what they promised us to implement..
@Plansix: I'm not saying it's dumb and they shouldn't do it, I'm saying it's dumb that they promised to make something entirely different (adding 3D Decals that represent your clan) but instead made something that we already have (and thus don't really need). It's a redundant feature.
I'm all for adding new fun stuff, but I really really wanted to see the 3D Decals because I think they were badass!
But we don't already have this, for the vast majority of players playing for fun, and now tournaments can have team decals on WCS maps as well.
Well I guess thats cool, but still... ... 3D Decals..
So I quit SC2 after like 4 months with the option to wait out all patches and expansions to return once the game is in its final (and hopefully acceptable) state. This patch is the first glimmer of hope the game might actually interest me again some day. Now they only have to patch in BW units and gameplay and I will be back on the ride!
I'm definitely going to use stuff from my current Osu! skin. Mostly collected from [Nightcore HD] <--Best combo bursts evaah! heheehhehe + Show Spoiler +
On December 05 2013 02:55 PanzerElite wrote: I'm definitely going to use stuff from my current Osu! skin. Mostly collected from [Nightcore HD] <--Best combo bursts evaah! heheehhehe + Show Spoiler +
Can't wait till this goes live.
This is a prime example of what I absolutely don't want to see in my Starcraft...
Is the soundtrack only remastered, as in, nothing is different except it's a completely new mastering?
If so, what is the point of downloading highly compressed music files of it - the loss in quality from compression should make it sound the same as the original master. This package is 64MB, that sounds like 160kbps OGG audio files at best. that's the best case scenario and it's good, but i still feel it's quite low considering the purpose of all this is to listen to a cleaner, higher fidelity version.
On December 05 2013 02:55 PanzerElite wrote: I'm definitely going to use stuff from my current Osu! skin. Mostly collected from [Nightcore HD] <--Best combo bursts evaah! heheehhehe + Show Spoiler +
Can't wait till this goes live.
This is a prime example of what I absolutely don't want to see in my Starcraft...
haha, im gonna make as much cc's as possible every game
On December 05 2013 03:15 Nightsz wrote: I converted the the BW music from an OGG format to an mp3 format at 320kbit/s quality for those who are too lazy.
On December 05 2013 03:15 Nightsz wrote: I converted the the BW music from an OGG format to an mp3 format at 320kbit/s quality for those who are too lazy.
First of all, thank you for having good intentions. Unfortunately . . . erm, you transcoded from one lossy format to another, (inferior), lossy format. You've made a huge mistake. Here is a visual representation of what that does.
On December 05 2013 02:55 PanzerElite wrote: I'm definitely going to use stuff from my current Osu! skin. Mostly collected from [Nightcore HD] <--Best combo bursts evaah! heheehhehe + Show Spoiler +
Can't wait till this goes live.
This is a prime example of what I absolutely don't want to see in my Starcraft...
Kill the CC, problem solved. Also, its not "your Starcraft".
On December 05 2013 03:15 Nightsz wrote: I converted the the BW music from an OGG format to an mp3 format at 320kbit/s quality for those who are too lazy.
First of all, thank you for having good intentions. Unfortunately . . . erm, you transcoded from one lossy format to another, (inferior), lossy format. You've made a huge mistake. Here is a visual representation of what that does.
On December 05 2013 03:15 Nightsz wrote: I converted the the BW music from an OGG format to an mp3 format at 320kbit/s quality for those who are too lazy.
First of all, thank you for having good intentions. Unfortunately . . . erm, you transcoded from one lossy format to another, (inferior), lossy format. You've made a huge mistake. Here is a visual representation of what that does.
That is a bit of a harsh comparement. I mean he only re did it once, that video is extreme not to mention the loss in quality is lots and lots less then what you lose by upload to youtube. Are the files originaly in ogg in the game files if so there is no other sorce to go from.
On December 04 2013 18:11 Ghanburighan wrote: I laughed out loud at this:
I have a strong feeling that the extension mods will have very limited usefulness primarily due to the problem of resource placement and the use of custom resource units, custom grid sizes etc. MavercK mentioned this in another thread, if you load up SC2BW on a current map you won't have the right mineral lines or grid placement. Another example, a mod I am working on right now uses trees that can be mined - if trees are nowhere on the map then you will not get the proper resources. I think these mod extensions could potentially have problems, and at the very best will limited only to "melee mods". Not saying it's a bad idea, just that I don't see how they can possibly implement it for anything more complex than a UI mod or a rebalanced melee mod.
On December 05 2013 03:15 Nightsz wrote: I converted the the BW music from an OGG format to an mp3 format at 320kbit/s quality for those who are too lazy.
First of all, thank you for having good intentions. Unfortunately . . . erm, you transcoded from one lossy format to another, (inferior), lossy format. You've made a huge mistake. Here is a visual representation of what that does.
That is a bit of a harsh comparement. I mean he only re did it once, that video is extreme not to mention the loss in quality is lots and lots less then what you lose by upload to youtube. Are the files originaly in ogg in the game files if so there is no other sorce to go from.
Obviously it's harsh, he used Youtube to transcode 1000 times. But you just don't transcode music, period. Encoding wrecks the quality already. Transcoding is taking something that's wrecked and then wrecking it again.
Edit: I'm sure Blizzard didn't just leave all the tracks in the Starcraft II directory as .ogg files that anybody could copy & paste. The files would have been encrypted and obfuscated within the game data, making them impossible to directly access. The only way to properly copy the music is to let the game play the music and run a program to record the DirectSound buffer and save it as a lossless format file, (preferably flac). Then divide the file into individual tracks. Then, if you want to, the lossless files can be encoded to whichever lossy format you prefer to make them smaller at the cost of quality, (160kbps OGG is one of the best compromises of quality/file size).
Is the soundtrack only remastered, as in, nothing is different except it's a completely new mastering?
If so, what is the point of downloading highly compressed music files of it - the loss in quality from compression should make it sound the same as the original master. This package is 64MB, that sounds like 160kbps OGG audio files at best. that's the best case scenario and it's good, but i still feel it's quite low considering the purpose of all this is to listen to a cleaner, higher fidelity version.
Remaster is also a new mix. The horns and drums on terran 4 sound way different for example.
Speaking of realms... for some reason when I try to play Sc2, I get onto the NA server just fine, but if I try to get onto the Korea server for harder opponents and better practice, I cant log on. It just shows that my internet is not working but it is working just fine because I can go on NA and browse the internet. Any suggestions?
On December 05 2013 03:15 Nightsz wrote: I converted the the BW music from an OGG format to an mp3 format at 320kbit/s quality for those who are too lazy.
First of all, thank you for having good intentions. Unfortunately . . . erm, you transcoded from one lossy format to another, (inferior), lossy format. You've made a huge mistake. Here is a visual representation of what that does.
That is a bit of a harsh comparement. I mean he only re did it once, that video is extreme not to mention the loss in quality is lots and lots less then what you lose by upload to youtube. Are the files originaly in ogg in the game files if so there is no other sorce to go from.
Obviously it's harsh, he used Youtube to transcode 1000 times. But you just don't transcode music, period. Encoding wrecks the quality already. Transcoding is taking something that's wrecked and then wrecking it again.
Edit: I'm sure Blizzard didn't just leave all the tracks in the Starcraft II directory as .ogg files that anybody could copy & paste. The files would have been encrypted and obfuscated within the game data, making them impossible to directly access. The only way to properly copy the music is to let the game play the music and run a program to record the DirectSound buffer and save it as a lossless format file, (preferably flac). Then divide the file into individual tracks. Then, if you want to, the lossless files can be encoded to whichever lossy format you prefer to make them smaller at the cost of quality, (160kbps OGG is one of the best compromises of quality/file size).
As far as I know there is no such encryption process regarding the resource files of SC2, all music, sound and texture files are just there for you to extract.
On December 04 2013 18:11 Ghanburighan wrote: I laughed out loud at this:
I have a strong feeling that the extension mods will have very limited usefulness primarily due to the problem of resource placement and the use of custom resource units, custom grid sizes etc. MavercK mentioned this in another thread, if you load up SC2BW on a current map you won't have the right mineral lines or grid placement. Another example, a mod I am working on right now uses trees that can be mined - if trees are nowhere on the map then you will not get the proper resources. I think these mod extensions could potentially have problems, and at the very best will limited only to "melee mods". Not saying it's a bad idea, just that I don't see how they can possibly implement it for anything more complex than a UI mod or a rebalanced melee mod.
I think i can solve this however by using triggers to evaluate the spawn location and move them before player units/structures are created. I'll need to remove the second gas extractor as well using this method. It should all be fine. I'm pretty happy with the extension system. It's one of the best features they've implemented since Launch.
This is quite a pathetic effort from Blizzard. It's not that these changes are bad. In fact, most people agree they are positive changes. But they simply don't matter. These are minor, insignificant and trivial features.
However, this is also what they showed off at Blizzcon--their big guns. No other announcements were made. So clearly, Blizzard is running out of ideas, no in-game streaming, no tournament support, no ladder improvements, and their priorities are all wrong.
To sum up Blizzard's weak and uninspiring patch:
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. -Michelangelo
On December 05 2013 14:31 paralleluniverse wrote: This is quite a pathetic effort from Blizzard. It's not that these changes are bad. In fact, most people agree they are positive changes. But they simply don't matter. These are minor, insignificant and trivial features.
However, this is also what they showed off at Blizzcon--their big guns. No other announcements were made. So clearly, Blizzard is running out of ideas, no in-game streaming, no tournament support, no ladder improvements, and their priorities are all wrong.
On December 05 2013 14:31 paralleluniverse wrote: This is quite a pathetic effort from Blizzard. It's not that these changes are bad. In fact, most people agree they are positive changes. But they simply don't matter. These are minor, insignificant and trivial features.
However, this is also what they showed off at Blizzcon--their big guns. No other announcements were made. So clearly, Blizzard is running out of ideas, no in-game streaming, no tournament support, no ladder improvements, and their priorities are all wrong.
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. -Michelangelo
You're way to cynical about this. They didn't release those features because they are not finished with them yet, and they didn't announce them at Blizzcon because they aren't yet done in a state where they can be shown to the public and given a release window in the foreseeable future.
If you had been paying attention during these last few years, Blizzard generally announces features when they're pretty much finished enough to be tested and released soon after their announcement. The patch 2.1 features were all simple enough to be announced and tested now. Seeing how those other desired features are more complex projects, I'm not surprised to not hear about them simply because they're probably not done enough to be unveiled to the public yet.
On December 05 2013 16:20 Jonoman92 wrote: Well, I haven't touched sc2 is about a year or so. Good to see they are taking steps to do things that should've been done upon release of WoL.
Do they STILL not have shared watchable online replays? Or did they add that a while back? Don't remember.
On December 05 2013 16:20 Jonoman92 wrote: Well, I haven't touched sc2 is about a year or so. Good to see they are taking steps to do things that should've been done upon release of WoL.
Do they STILL not have shared watchable online replays? Or did they add that a while back? Don't remember.
they added watching replays together
They added shared replay watching and also play from replays. These are great features.
Only problem is... there are no replays.
As far as I can tell major tournaments don't release their replays, there aren't many places on the internet to get replays, so the only replays that this is really used on is your own replays, and other people don't really want to watch your replays. And there's no custom games list for replays so you can only use it with SC2 friends, which many people don't have.
This patch should not be big because it is just a .1 update, would be bad if it was 2 to 3. The problem is that it took 9 (?)months to come out.so I am not expecting anything major untill LotV which we really have no idea when will be released.
On December 05 2013 16:20 Jonoman92 wrote: Well, I haven't touched sc2 is about a year or so. Good to see they are taking steps to do things that should've been done upon release of WoL.
Do they STILL not have shared watchable online replays? Or did they add that a while back? Don't remember.
they added watching replays together
They added shared replay watching and also play from replays. These are great features.
Only problem is... there are no replays.
As far as I can tell major tournaments don't release their replays, there aren't many places on the internet to get replays, so the only replays that this is really used on is your own replays, and other people don't really want to watch your replays. And there's no custom games list for replays so you can only use it with SC2 friends, which many people don't have.
Replays are out there you just have to check around, most of these were found at the bottom of liquipedia pages like this http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/HomeStory_Cup/7 (scroll to the bottom) Except for the WCS ones which i just happened to remember a post about them a while back and googled it.
On December 05 2013 16:20 Jonoman92 wrote: Well, I haven't touched sc2 is about a year or so. Good to see they are taking steps to do things that should've been done upon release of WoL.
Do they STILL not have shared watchable online replays? Or did they add that a while back? Don't remember.
they added watching replays together
They added shared replay watching and also play from replays. These are great features.
Only problem is... there are no replays.
As far as I can tell major tournaments don't release their replays, there aren't many places on the internet to get replays, so the only replays that this is really used on is your own replays, and other people don't really want to watch your replays. And there's no custom games list for replays so you can only use it with SC2 friends, which many people don't have.
But tournaments do release replays, even WCS release replays. "This Week in SC2" always have a replays section for tournament/pro-gamer replay packs.
I was under the impression that each 2.x patch is major patch and 2.1.y patches are minor. The changes list seem to be rather underwhelming to be honest. Let's see how it pans out.
BW music is long waited and hoped feature though. Give me back the epic hydra acid spit/siege tank sounds too!
On December 05 2013 21:52 nukkuj wrote: I was under the impression that each 2.x patch is major patch and 2.1.y patches are minor. The changes list seem to be rather underwhelming to be honest. Let's see how it pans out.
BW music is long waited and hoped feature though. Give me back the epic hydra acid spit/siege tank sounds too!
The biggest change in 2.1 is in fact Arcade going F2P which is simply way more important than a lot of features. Chat improvements? Automatic tournaments? Those are great features that the game should have but those are also more appealing the core players, which probably don't outweigh opening the door to more casual players to expand the player base, a thing Starcraft II might need right now.
wait... classic soundtracks but not classic units responses ? no "advisor theme" ? i know i'm spoiled but... i want the Overmind (not the annoying, creepy shrew) telling me once again to "SPAWN MORE OVERLORDS !" right away boss ! and while i'm at it, imagine if we could customize the sounds, would be so kewl ! "you need more farms !", zealots saying "zog zog" ah well :/
On December 05 2013 22:02 leopardb wrote: wait... classic soundtracks but not classic units responses ? no "advisor theme" ? i know i'm spoiled but... i want the Overmind (not the annoying, creepy shrew) telling me once again to "SPAWN MORE OVERLORDS !" right away boss ! and while i'm at it, imagine if we could customize the sounds, would be so kewl ! "you need more farms !", zealots saying "zog zog" ah well :/
I'd prefer Abathur or Stukov or SC2 Ovrermind from protoss campaign, SC1 was too robotic
On December 05 2013 14:31 paralleluniverse wrote: This is quite a pathetic effort from Blizzard. It's not that these changes are bad. In fact, most people agree they are positive changes. But they simply don't matter. These are minor, insignificant and trivial features.
However, this is also what they showed off at Blizzcon--their big guns. No other announcements were made. So clearly, Blizzard is running out of ideas, no in-game streaming, no tournament support, no ladder improvements, and their priorities are all wrong.
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. -Michelangelo
Their priorities are spot on. Streamlining the arcade (the most popular part of BW and WC3) and making it F2P. Making mods easier to multiply. Leveraging the enormous power of their map editor, comfortably the best in the business. Giving those fans who stayed on BW music which is a little thing that adds a lot of value.
On December 05 2013 03:15 Nightsz wrote: I converted the the BW music from an OGG format to an mp3 format at 320kbit/s quality for those who are too lazy.
First of all, thank you for having good intentions. Unfortunately . . . erm, you transcoded from one lossy format to another, (inferior), lossy format. You've made a huge mistake. Here is a visual representation of what that does.
That is a bit of a harsh comparement. I mean he only re did it once, that video is extreme not to mention the loss in quality is lots and lots less then what you lose by upload to youtube. Are the files originaly in ogg in the game files if so there is no other sorce to go from.
Obviously it's harsh, he used Youtube to transcode 1000 times. But you just don't transcode music, period. Encoding wrecks the quality already. Transcoding is taking something that's wrecked and then wrecking it again.
Edit: I'm sure Blizzard didn't just leave all the tracks in the Starcraft II directory as .ogg files that anybody could copy & paste. The files would have been encrypted and obfuscated within the game data, making them impossible to directly access. The only way to properly copy the music is to let the game play the music and run a program to record the DirectSound buffer and save it as a lossless format file, (preferably flac). Then divide the file into individual tracks. Then, if you want to, the lossless files can be encoded to whichever lossy format you prefer to make them smaller at the cost of quality, (160kbps OGG is one of the best compromises of quality/file size).
Blizzard have never done it like that. I have extracted music from original SC and then it was in wav, Warcraft 3 was mp3 (really low quality) WoW is also mp3 and all you needed to get music from those games have been a mpq reader. I just now checked a SC 2 install and same here using a mpq reader and the music files are indeed in .ogg files from the start.
On December 05 2013 22:02 leopardb wrote: wait... classic soundtracks but not classic units responses ? no "advisor theme" ? i know i'm spoiled but... i want the Overmind (not the annoying, creepy shrew) telling me once again to "SPAWN MORE OVERLORDS !" right away boss ! and while i'm at it, imagine if we could customize the sounds, would be so kewl ! "you need more farms !", zealots saying "zog zog" ah well :/
i will make a mod with all the old sounds, only works on hosted maps and not on ladder but w/e
On December 04 2013 18:11 Ghanburighan wrote: I laughed out loud at this:
I have a strong feeling that the extension mods will have very limited usefulness primarily due to the problem of resource placement and the use of custom resource units, custom grid sizes etc. MavercK mentioned this in another thread, if you load up SC2BW on a current map you won't have the right mineral lines or grid placement. Another example, a mod I am working on right now uses trees that can be mined - if trees are nowhere on the map then you will not get the proper resources. I think these mod extensions could potentially have problems, and at the very best will limited only to "melee mods". Not saying it's a bad idea, just that I don't see how they can possibly implement it for anything more complex than a UI mod or a rebalanced melee mod.
I think i can solve this however by using triggers to evaluate the spawn location and move them before player units/structures are created. I'll need to remove the second gas extractor as well using this method. It should all be fine. I'm pretty happy with the extension system. It's one of the best features they've implemented since Launch.
That's a good idea but sounds like a pain to set up a trigger that can actually handle all the different possibilities. Based on the resources spontaneously moving around in the pictures, it seems like maybe they were already trying to implement something like that? Hopefully they are one step ahead of me and I'm totally wrong!
On December 06 2013 06:06 Existor wrote: Can anyone explain me why everyone is so much requested and waited for just BW music? It's just music, also you can use it in media player.
Right now it looks like you were not able to listen to it at all and only from ingame (BW) soundtrack. -_-
On December 06 2013 06:17 TheFish7 wrote: Maybe next they can remaster the old cinematics.
Reason?
Existor wtf what reason do people need to be excited about anything, rofl? It's just something cool - and I gotta be honest the SC2 soundtracks (with the exception of Terran themes) suck ass compared to BW (zerg bias).
You'll be able to delight in fifteen years of StarCraft nostalgia by rocking out to the classic StarCraft and Brood War soundtracks while you play StarCraft II in the PTR. Navigate to the Sound tab in the Options menu (F10) and select the StarCraft/Brood War, StarCraft II, or both soundtracks using the “Soundtrack” dropdown list. Then, fire up a game of StarCraft II in any non-Campaign mode to get the tunes flowing."
On December 06 2013 06:17 TheFish7 wrote: Maybe next they can remaster the old cinematics.
Reason?
Existor wtf what reason do people need to be excited about anything, rofl? It's just something cool - and I gotta be honest the SC2 soundtracks (with the exception of Terran themes) suck ass compared to BW (zerg bias).
I mean why you are happy like BW soundtrack was never available for free and now you got it since 15 years? This is just music, which especially already played in your media players since SC2 was released. Whats the difference?
Or the ingame soundtracj have some magic thingy so it's different from player music?
On December 06 2013 06:17 TheFish7 wrote: Maybe next they can remaster the old cinematics.
Reason?
Existor wtf what reason do people need to be excited about anything, rofl? It's just something cool - and I gotta be honest the SC2 soundtracks (with the exception of Terran themes) suck ass compared to BW (zerg bias).
I mean why you are happy like BW soundtrack was never available for free and now you got it since 15 years? This is just music, which especially already played in your media players since SC2 was released. Whats the difference?
Or the ingame soundtracj have some magic thingy so it's different from player music?
On December 06 2013 06:17 TheFish7 wrote: Maybe next they can remaster the old cinematics.
Reason?
Existor wtf what reason do people need to be excited about anything, rofl? It's just something cool - and I gotta be honest the SC2 soundtracks (with the exception of Terran themes) suck ass compared to BW (zerg bias).
I mean why you are happy like BW soundtrack was never available for free and now you got it since 15 years? This is just music, which especially already played in your media players since SC2 was released. Whats the difference?
Or the ingame soundtracj have some magic thingy so it's different from player music?
much more convenient in game obviously
why? you can't even rearrange the song list or set eq etc
also, damn it, my battlenet client isn't showing the PTR region Zzzz
EPT
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