Some of you might have heard of me from over at AoKH. Well I thought I would stop by and let you know about a little trick I have developed for AOK that might work for SWGB. I don't know if anyone has discovered this yet for SWGB, but if you guys haven't then your in for a treat.
I’ve not tested it with SWGB, but I’m sure it will work the same. Anyway, below is a transcript of the document included for this trick. If anyone here has AOK-TC I suggest you try the utility out. If not then you should get in the editor and give it a go. Naturally you will need to use something from SWGB, and not having any experience with this myself I can't suggest what to use. If it does work for SWGB then you can have some great fun with it. You can find the AOK-TC download Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all that celebrates it. EDIT: A friend has just emailed me to say this works for SWGB, he used one of the many "plants" in the Gaia others list, placed 256 of them, and then any unit placed in this location became invisible. Introduction. How does it work? How to achieve the trick. Doing the trick your self. Any draw backs? [This message has been edited by Berserker Jerker (edited 12-25-2004 @ 06:09 PM).]
----------From the download, note this is for AOK so you need to alter it to suit SWGB------
The Invisible Tile! By Berserker Jerker and Dragon Gaming Design Network. For further information, or any questions regarding the template, please visit
This is one trick I have developed over some time, I have refined and simplified it, and created this template for everyone to make it as simple as possible. The trick is a single tile that can hold any amount of units or buildings that are totally invisible, can't be selected, and only a mark on the mini map gives it away slightly.
In AOK the graphics for any unit or building can be removed, yet the unit or building will still remain, although not visible. The reason it happens is the game engine can only generate graphics for up to 256 units in a single tile, programmers will know that number well. After this strange things start to happen, and the graphics are no longer displayed for any unit that is placed on the tile. Now with this in mind it is entirely possible to take advantage of this, and create a single tile that holds a unit/building that can't be seen.
First you need to place 256+ items in a single tile, "plants" in the Gaia others list are ideal for this as they can be placed on top of each other without difficulty. Or you can also use "DEBRI" found in the Gaia others list if you un-hide this with Genied2. Just place one and keep clicking in the same location 256 times, or map copy them from this template and you'll have 250+ already placed on top of each other. The tile now has too much info for the game engine to cope with, and any further units/buildings placed in this tile will be totally invisible. Note: Some buildings such as Castles will remove the items placed and hence the tick will fail, for this reason it's best to use buildings/units that only occupy a single tile, or perform the trick with something other than plants that doesn't get removed by placing a building over it. All this means you can hide a unit/s for renaming, have towers that shoot from nowhere and can't be seen, or totally hide a unit for the "hold off unit", and many more things besides.
This template helps explain and show the process, you will find 256 Plants in a single tile at several locations. Just map copy these to your scenario, (I have placed a single tile of Dirt terrain to highlight the location to map copy for DEBRI. You may need place a few more plants/DEBRI in the same location as map copying seems to only copy 250 things in a single tile on some machines. Then simply place the unit/building you want to hide, remembering to set any triggers for the hidden unit before you place them (Drag and drop) in the invisible tile. Note: Plants are in a "half tile" so to hide a unit/building you need to place the unit slightly to the right of the plants.
There is only two drawback to this trick, the high number of plants in one spot can create Lag, for this reason it's best to only perform the trick once or twice in your scenario, or use the DEBRI option as this doesn't cause as much lag. Another solution is to perform the trick in different locations, as lag is only experienced while the plants are on screen. The trick also doesn't seem to work for some Gaia objects placed in the editor. They do hide, but show up once the game starts. If you need Gaia units hidden, then change the ownership to Gaia from another player using a trigger instead of using a Gaia unit.