StarCraft II Data Helper

StarCraft II Data Helper is a Windows desktop tool for analyzing and optimizing StarCraft II catalog XML in .SC2Map, .SC2Mod, extracted component folders, and standalone XML files.

Main goal: make SC2 data cleanup safer and faster without hand-editing every catalog file.

Download the latest build from Releases

What it does

• Analyze XML catalogs, references, duplicate bodies, unused chains, assets, localization, and archive metadata
• Build and update typed Data Collections for supported editor catalog objects
• Preview and safely remove unused data objects and whole unused data-object chains
• Find exact duplicate XML bodies, redirect references, and merge safely
• Preview and apply Rename To Standard operations for unit-family style data
• Run Import Cleanup for unused imported files in folders or archives
• Run Deep Cleanup for stale strings, redundant default fields/nodes, broken actor events, dependency review, and archive/helper trash
• Scan binary model-like imports for embedded asset references before deleting textures, sounds, layouts, or models
• Review asset-size/duplicate audits, trigger/Galaxy performance hotspots, and semantic duplicate data-object candidates
• Show full XML source with syntax highlighting
• Open an Optimization Wizard for batch review before apply

Main feature: Data Collection

The tool can create or update DataCollectionData.xml and preserve existing collections instead of recreating the file from scratch.

Supported workflow:

• detect related families from real catalog links
• reuse existing CDataCollection, CDataCollectionUnit, CDataCollectionAbil, and CDataCollectionUpgrade
• add missing DataRecord entries for supported real objects
• keep existing records, metadata, and unrelated XML nodes
• update archive (listfile) when needed
• default to UnitAbilWeapon mode, creating separate Unit, Ability, and Weapon collections where the data supports it

The tool works with real SC2 object IDs. It can also handle non-standard naming when the map already contains existing custom IDs outside the CollectionID@Child style.

Safety

Destructive operations are preview-first and backup-first.

• No blind automatic deletion
• Duplicate merge redirects references before delete
• Unused-object cleanup skips unsafe rows instead of stopping the whole batch
• Rollback is used on apply failure
• Archive mode stays conservative when binary references cannot be proven
• Data Collection records are preserved even when related objects are deleted

Main tools

Unused Data Objects

Find catalog data objects with no incoming XML references and no script/text usage. Whitelisted, protected, and referenced objects are blocked. Linked unused subgraphs can be removed as chains when every incoming XML source is also part of the selected deletion set.

Duplicate Merge

Detect exact duplicate normalized XML bodies for the same object type, preview reference redirects, then keep one object and remove the duplicate safely. Duplicate Merge is enabled by default in the Optimization Wizard.

Import Cleanup

Find unused imported files separately from catalog object cleanup. This covers assets such as .dds, .m3, .ogg, .wav, .tga, .layout, and related files when they are not referenced by Data XML, layouts, triggers, preload data, or game strings. In archive mode the wizard materializes cleanup-relevant archive entries into its workspace before apply, so direct .SC2Map and .SC2Mod optimization can remove proven unused imports from the packed file. Editor-managed map files such as Minimap.tga, LightingMap.tga, and PreloadAssetDB.txt are protected even when normal XML references do not point to them.

Binary model-like files such as .m3 are also scanned for printable embedded asset paths. This protects textures and related imports that are referenced only inside model payloads rather than in XML.

Deep Cleanup

Find and optionally apply safe cleanup outside data-object and import deletion:

• stale localization lines for object IDs that no longer exist
• redundant attributes that duplicate a local parent object's value
• redundant direct XML child nodes that duplicate a local parent object's node
• broken actor event XML nodes that reference only missing typed IDs
• temporary, report, backup, and pending helper files
• dependency metadata as review-only candidates

Dependency removal is intentionally review-only because hidden editor/runtime links can break a map even when XML references look unused.

Deep Cleanup also reports review-only optimization hints that are useful for manual work but are not safe to auto-apply:

• byte-identical imported assets and unusually large imported assets
• frequent trigger/Galaxy timer patterns and unit-group scan hotspots
• semantic duplicate catalog objects that match after ignoring editor-only text, icon, tooltip, and category fields

These checks follow the same general direction as community SC2 tooling such as Talv's Plaxtony and sc2-galaxy-toolkit: Galaxy, Trigger XML, Layout XML, and GameData should be analyzed as structured SC2 data instead of treated only as plain text. This project does not vendor that TypeScript code.

Rename To Standard

Preview and apply rename plans for unit-family style data, including archive mode. This remains review-first because many maps use custom naming rules.

Optimization Wizard

Build one batch plan, review every step, apply changes, refresh analysis, then close the wizard. One unsafe unused-chain row no longer cancels the whole apply; it is skipped and reported while the rest of the selected safe work continues.

When archive optimization rewrites an MPQ-backed .SC2Map or .SC2Mod, the archive writer also attempts a best-effort compact/repack after replacements or deletions. If StormLib cannot safely compact a legacy archive, the already verified rewrite is kept instead of failing a valid cleanup.

Typical usage

1. Open an .SC2Map, .SC2Mod, folder, or XML file
2. Run Analyze
3. Review Data Collection, Unused Data Objects, Import Cleanup, Duplicate Merge, or Optimization
4. Preview the change
5. Apply only after checking the result

Build from source

Requirements:

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• CMake 3.24+
• Qt 6.5+ with Widgets, Concurrent, and Test
• Visual Studio 2022 or another C++20 compiler

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build --config Release
ctest --test-dir build -C Release --output-on-failure

Release executable:

build/Release/SC2DataHelper.exe

Notes

• Always test the optimized copy in StarCraft II Editor
• XML analysis cannot prove every binary/runtime reference inside archives
• This is a community project and is not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment