[StarCraft] Transparent Pane Drawing (v1.15.2)

[Perma]

Here are a few functions I wrote up for drawing transparent window panes in Starcraft. The first function is used to draw a box based on the parameters you pass to it. The box is quite solid, like the original Starspeak interface.

Drawing Solid Boxes

.data

BWFXN_DrawBox           dd 004E18E0h

.code

DrawBox proc x:DWORD,y:DWORD,w:DWORD,h:DWORD,clr:BYTE

        mov cl,clr
        mov byte ptr ds:[006CF494h], cl
        push h 
        push w 
        push y
        push x
        call dword ptr [BWFXN_DrawBox] 
        ret

DrawBox endp

invoke DrawBox, xcoordinate, ycoordinate, width, height, color

Many users felt that a transparent box would be much more useful and visually appealing that a solid one. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to uncover a native function that Starcraft used to adjust the alpha on drawn objects. So instead, I created a function that would mathematically draw a series of lines to give the illusion of transparency.

In addition to drawing lines spaced one pixel apart, the function also draws a border around the object. You can adjust the inner and border colors to your liking.

Drawing a Transparent Box

DrawTransparentBox proc         x:DWORD,y:DWORD,w:DWORD,h:DWORD,clr:BYTE,midclr:BYTE

        pushad
        mov edx, y
        mov eax, h
        add eax, edx
        mov ebx, eax
        .while edx < ebx
               pushad
               invoke DrawBox, x, edx, w, 1, midclr
               popad
               add edx, 02h
        .endw
        invoke DrawBox, x, y, w, 2, clr
        invoke DrawBox, x, ebx, w, 2, clr
        invoke DrawBox, x, y, 1, h, clr
        mov eax, x
        mov ebx, w
        add ebx, eax
        invoke DrawBox, ebx, y, 1, h, clr
        popad
        ret

DrawTransparentBox endp

invoke DrawTransparentBox, xcoordinate, ycoordinate, width, height, bordercolor, innercolor

[Jiggie=#1]

OOOO this will be very useful, thx a lot!
Any chance on telling me how you got the address used to draw the box?
I doubt I would figure it out and I like to convert the hacks I code just in case of a new patch

[Perma]

Originally Posted by Jiggie=#1

Any chance on telling me how you got the address used to draw the box?

Actually I think it was Kc who originally found that function a few patches ago. If you're simply converting it, there's no need to reinvent the wheel. You can just create a disassembly of both versions and cross reference them.

[Arcanite]

Woah looks nice. Great job Perma =)

[saren]

To the best of my ability to find it, SC lacks a native ability to adjust alpha levels on anything drawn in game. Sprites are given a visible and not-visible flags though, that dictate if they appear or not to whomever.

[Perma]

Originally Posted by saren

To the best of my ability to find it, SC lacks a native ability to adjust alpha levels on anything drawn in game. Sprites are given a visible and not-visible flags though, that dictate if they appear or not to whomever.

Guess it wasn't just me then.

[p00onu]

There is a linked list in the game that contains the sprites to be drawn vs the sprites not to be drawn.

[K? Pŕo?ćtiόnŹ]

How did I find the DrawBox fxn? When starcraft is drawing the minimap and it is drawing the tiny little blocks to represent units it calls that drawbox fxn, and when I was working on my maphack I stumbled on it and bam, there it is.

[blaze420]

this help me alot ty

[Arcanite]

I fail to understand where you got this from:

BWFXN_DrawBox dd 004E18C0h

What function does this address need to be and how would you go about finding it?

Besides that I pretty much understand all of the concept of this, so go me.

[Perma]

Kc explained how he found the box drawing function.

Originally Posted by K? Pŕo?ćtiόnŹ

How did I find the DrawBox fxn? When starcraft is drawing the minimap and it is drawing the tiny little blocks to represent units it calls that drawbox fxn, and when I was working on my maphack I stumbled on it and bam, there it is.

[dt]

Originally Posted by Perma

Actually I think it was Kc who originally found that function a few patches ago. If you're simply converting it, there's no need to reinvent the wheel. You can just create a disassembly of both versions and cross reference them.

http://www.bwhacks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=826

That's when I found the drawing functions. 08-23-2004.

[Perma]

Originally Posted by dt

http://www.bwhacks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=826

That's when I found the drawing functions. 08-23-2004.

I mean in our uh.. era. You hush, old timer.

[p00onu]

Originally Posted by dt

http://www.bwhacks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=826

That's when I found the drawing functions. 08-23-2004.

You wouldn't happen to still have the pic would you?

[dt]

Why, you don't believe me?

[Arcanite]

Thanks for the link, interesting stuff =)