Using the Tile and Palette Editor
The Tile Editor can be used to create both Tiles and Level Palettes from scratch, or to modify Tiles/Level Palettes that already exist or that were imported using the Level Ripper.
There are two ways to enter the Tile Editor:
The pointer, represented by an arrow, is moved by the mouse.
There are ten basic functions within this editor:
General Options
Color, "Layer", and Palette Selection, Adding, and Deleting
Tile Graphic Drawing and Manipulation
Solidity Selection
Tile Solidity Drawing
Tile Attributes
Tile Animation
Color Editing
Color Animation
Palette Rotation
General Options
Save Tiles
Left-click to save all existing Tiles, "Level Palettes", and all of their settings to the current Tile File. This file must have been loaded by Script, or by the "-editfiles" or "-tilefile" command-line parameter, but doesn't need to have already existed.
Tile Select
Level Editor
Exit
Left-click to exit Editor Mode and return to Gameplay Mode.
Color, "Layer", and Palette Selection, Adding, and Deleting
Colors
At the upper-right corner is the 64-entry Palette Table.
The currently-selected Palette Entry is surrounded by a white box.
The letter "T" marks the "transparent" color, also referred to as the "backdrop color", which is Index 0.
Anything drawn to the screen behind the Tile will show through wherever this color is drawn, unless the Tile is drawn to an "Opaque" Tile Plane.
Left-click any entry in the Palette Table to select the color for drawing or editing.
Palette entries 64-69 (the first 6 colors "Obj1" "layer" of the "Global Palette") are modified for use by the editor. They will revert back to their original "Global Palette" settings when gameplay is resumed.
At the upper-left corner is an 8x8 "Fat Bit" grid, showing the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile, magnified 8x.
Right-click any area within the grid to "pick up" the color that is used by that part of the Tile.
"Layers"
Only 64 colors are displayed on the Palette Table at a time.
Each of the four sections of the full 256-color Palette are referred to as "Layers".
As a product of E02's Palette system, there are two types of "Layers":
- Level Colors- These are colors that come from the interchangeable "Level Palettes" that are saved with the Tile File, are editable, and can be made to animate. There are 1, 2, or 3 of these, depending on whether
the currently-selected "Level Palette" is set for 64, 128, or 192 colors, respectively. They correspond with the screen palette in this way:
0/? - Palette indexes 0-63
1/? - Palette indexes 128-191
2/? - Palette indexes 192-255
- Object Colors- These are a fixed set of colors that were loaded from an image file as the "Global Palette", are not editable, and cannot animate. There is only one of these if the currently-selected "Level Palette"
is set for 64 or 192 colors, and there are two if it is set for 128 colors. They correspond with the screen palette in this way:
Obj1 - Palette indexes 64-128
Obj2 - Palette indexes 192-255
Left-click the up or down arrow beside the word "Lyr" to select a different "Layer" of the Palette.
Right-click the up or down arrow beside the word "Lyr" to change the "Level Palette" size.
Palettes
More than one "Level Palette" may be stored with one set of Tiles.
These Palettes are not available for drawing all at the same time; they are swapped in and out, which changes the colors that are used for displaying any existing art.
Left-click the up or down arrow beside the word "Pal" to select another Palette to work with.
Right-click the up or down arrow beside the word "Pal" add a new Palette to the end of the list, or to delete the last Palette on the list, respectively.
Tile Graphic Drawing and Manipulation
At the upper-left corner is an 8x8 "Fat Bit" grid, showing the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile, magnified 8x.
The letter "T" marks the "transparent" color, also referred to as the "Backdrop Color", which is Index 0.
Anything drawn to the screen behind the Tile will show through wherever this color is drawn, unless the Tile is drawn to an "Opaque" Tile Plane.
Just to the left of the "Fat Bit" grid are two smaller boxes, the upper box showing an actual-size version of the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile, and the lower box showing an actual-size version of the Solidity Map for the currently-selected Tile.
Left-click the upper box to select Tile Graphic Drawing. When selected, the actual-size Tile will be surrounded by a flashing box.
Left-click and drag across the grid to draw the currently-selected color to the Tile.
Right-click any area within the grid to "pick up" the color that is used by that part of the Tile.
Press "M" to mirror the current Tile Frame image Horizontally. Hold "spacebar" to Mirror all Frames of the currently-selected Tile.
Press "F" to flip the current Tile Frame image vertically. Hold "spacebar" to Flip all Frames of the currently-selected Tile.
"Copy Frame" will copy the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile to the Tile clipboard.
"Clear Frame" will fill the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile with "transparent" color.
"Paste Frame" will paste the contents of the Tile clipboard to the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile.
Hold "Ctrl" while selecting "Paste Frame" to "merge" the Tile Clipboard image with the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile, placing the new
image "above" the old (the old image will show through any "Transparent" pixels in the new image).
Hold "spacebar" while selecting "Paste Frame" to "merge" the Tile Clipboard image with the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile, placing the new
image "below" the old (the new image will show through any "Transparent" pixels in the old image).
Solidity Selection
Marked by the word "Solids", the 4-entry Solidity Type Table is just below the 64-entry Palette Table at the upper-right corner.
Left-click any of the four Solidity Types to select it for drawing to the tile.
Tile Solidity Drawing
At the upper-left corner is an 8x8 "Fat Bit" grid, showing the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile, magnified 8x.
Just to the left of the "Fat Bit" grid are two smaller boxes, the upper box showing an actual-size version of the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile, and the lower box showing an actual-size version of the Solidity Map for the currently-selected Tile.
Left-click the lower box to select Solidity Map Drawing. When selected, the actual-size Solidity Map will be surrounded by a flashing box, and the Tile Graphic in the "Fat Bit" grid will be overlayed with the Solidity Map.
Left-click and drag across the grid to draw the currently-selected Solidity Type to the Tile.
Right-click any area within the grid to "pick up" the Solidity Type that is used by that part of the Tile.
Tile Attributes
Each Tile has two script-readable properties:
Floor Type
This value specifies the currently-selected Tile's "Floor Type" setting. This has no specific meaning to E02,
but may be set to any value between 0 and 255, and can be read by using the
???_Get_Tile_Info_From_??? Script Commands
so that Players and Objects can be made to react differently to different terrain.
Left-click the up or down arrow to change the "Floor Type" setting by 1.
Right-click the up or down arrow to change the "Floor Type" setting by 10.
This value may also be modified from within the Level Editor, where it is shown in Hex form. This editor displays the value in Decimal form.
Angle
This value specifies the currently-selected Tile's "Angle" setting.
Left-click the up or down arrow to change the "Angle" setting by 1.
Right-click the up or down arrow to change the "Angle" setting by 10.
This value may also be modified from within the Level Editor, where it is shown in Hex form. This editor displays the value in Decimal form..
Tile Animation
Tiles may be made to animate by assigning them more than one "Frame" (graphic), and a list of "Pause" values that specifies how many Game Frames should
pass before the Tile displays the next Frame.
The Frame counter runs separately from the Pause counter, meaning that one "Pause Value" may be used for the entire animation (all Frames will display for equal times), the number of "Pause Values" may equal the total number of display Frames (each Frame can display for a different amount of time, which will be the same every time that Frame is displayed), or the number of "Pause Values" may have no direct relation to the total number of display Frames (each Frame will display for a different amount of time, which will change every time the Frame is displayed).
Solidity is not affected by Animation; each Tile only has one Solidity Map, regardless of the number of Frames it has. One way to achieve "Tile Animation" that also changes the Solidity (and other properties) of the terrain might be to use the Func_Copy_Plane_Section Script Command to modify certain level areas at regular intervals.
Left-click the words "Tile Animation" once to activate the Animation of Tiles within the Tile Editor, and once more to stop Tile Animation in the Tile Editor.
Right-click the words "Tile Animation" to cause all Tiles to reset their animation state. This may be desired after editing Tile Animation Frames and settings, so that
any edited Tiles will be synchronized with the rest of the set when Animation is activated.
Current Frame
This value specifies the ID number of the currently-selected Frame of the currently-selected Tile.
Left-click the up or down arrow to select a different Frame of the currently-selected Tile for editing.
Total Frames
This value specifies the total number of Frames that are defined for the currently-selected Tile.
Left-click the up or down arrow to add a new Frame to the end of the list, or to delete the last Frame from the list.
Total Pauses
This value specifies the total "Pause Values" that are defined for the currently-selected Tile.
Left-click the up or down arrow to add a new "Pause Value" to the end of the list, or to delete the last "Pause Value" from the list.
Current Pause
This value specifies the ID number of the currently-selected "Pause Value" of the currently-selected Tile.
Left-click the up or down arrow to select a different "Pause Value" for editing.
Pause Value
This is the value of the currently-selected "Pause Value" of the currently-selected Tile.
Left-click the up or down arrow to change the value of the "Pause Value" by 1.
Right-click the up or down arrow to change the value of the "Pause Value" by 10.
Color Editing
General
The letters "R", "G", and "B", just below the 64-entry Palette Table at the upper-right corner, mark the Red, Green, and Blue color components of the currently-selected Palette Entry.
Left-click the up or down arrows beside any of the three letters to change that component's value by 1.
Reverting
Just below the letter "R", below the 64-entry Palette Table at the upper-right corner, are two white-outlined boxes filled with color. The box to the right is the current color
setting for the currently-selected Palette Entry, and the one to the left is the "unmodified" version of that Palette Entry (the
color settings that the entry was set for when it was last selected, before any modifications were made).
Left-click on the left box to revert the currently-selected Palette Entry to the color setting shown in that box.
Color modifications will be lost after a revert, and the original color setting will be lost when another Palette Entry is selected.
"Water"
The word "Water" marks the color that is used to automatically generate the colors for the "Water Effect"
when the "Level Palette" is set for 64 colors.
Left-click this color to select it for editing. When selected, it will be surrounded by a white box.
This color can be edited and reverted the same way as any standard color.
PCX Pal Import
This option allows the importation of 64 colors from an image file that must be named either "import.pcx" or "import.tga", which must be placed in the Program Folder.
Left-click up or down arrows to change the source color index (0-63, 64-127, 128-191, 192-255).
Left-click the option name to import the selected palette range from the image to the currently-selected "Palette Layer".
Color Animation
"Color Animation" is distinct from Palette Rotation in that a single Palette Entry cycles through "Frames" of color.
Both systems may be used at the same time.
Left-click the words "Palette Animation" once to activate Color Animation and Palette Rotation within the Tile Editor, and once more to stop Color Animation and Palette Rotation in the Tile Editor.
Right-click the words "Palette Animation" to cause all color indexes to reset their animation state. This may be desired after editing "Color Frames" and settings, so that
any edited Palette Entries will be synchronized with the rest of the set when Animation is activated. This does not reset "Palette Rotation"; "Palette Rotation" cannot be "reset"
Total Colors
This value specifies the total number of "Color Frames" the currently-selected Palette Entry has.
Left-click the up or down arrow to add a new "Color Frame" to the end of the list, or to delete the last "Color Frame" from the list.
Current Color
This value specifies the ID number of the currently-selected "Color Frame".
Left-click the up or down arrow to select a different "Color Frame" for editing.
Delay For Next
This value specifies the number of Game Frames that must pass before the currently-selected "Color Frame" is swapped-out for the next.
Left-click the up or down arrow to change the Delay value by 1.
Palette Rotation
"Palette Rotation" is distinct from Color Animation in that several Palette Entries will "Rotate" left
or right by one entry within the given section of the Palette. Both systems may be used at the same time.
"Palette Rotation" may only occur within one "Layer"; it may not span across "Layers".
Left-click the words "Palette Animation" once to activate Color Animation and Palette Rotation within the Tile Editor, and once more to stop Color Animation and Palette Rotation in the Tile Editor.
Right-click the words "Palette Animation" to cause all color indexes to reset their animation state. This may be desired after editing "Color Frames" and settings, so that
any edited Palette Entries will be synchronized with the rest of the set when Animation is activated. This does not reset "Palette Rotation"; "Palette Rotation" cannot be "reset"
Rotate To
When any one Palette Entry is selected, it may be set to "Rotate To" any other Palette Entry that is listed afterward. This value
specifies the last Palette Entry that will be "rotated" in the section that starts with the currently-selected Palette Entry.
Left-click the up or down arrow to change the last Palette Entry in the rotation series. This selection may only go forward,
but increasing this setting beyond the end of the currently-selected "Layer" will cause it to "wrap around", and be listed with a "-" symbol.
This means that the rotation will occur "backward", from right-to-left. To change the rotation back to left-to-right, lower this setting beyond the currently-selected Palette Entry,
and the "-" symbol will disappear.
Rotation Delay
This value specifies the number of Game Frames that must pass before the Palette section beginning with the currently-selected Palette Entry will "rotate" by one each time.
Left-click the up or down arrow to change the Delay value by 1.