(shouting)

SMW Central's VLDCX [time up]

would you like to participate in some fun contests? would you like to create some fun contests? well ^_^
User avatar
Money
Posts: 467
Joined: 13 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Money »

So I ended up cobbling together a graphic that works and looks good, which is nice. However, now I have a different question: Is there any way to use both rails and diagonal cave lava in the same sublevel through vanilla means?
User avatar
Koopster
judge of u
Posts: 193
Joined: 9 years ago
Location: is there anybody in there?

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Koopster »

MoneyMan wrote:So I ended up cobbling together a graphic that works and looks good, which is nice. However, now I have a different question: Is there any way to use both rails and diagonal cave lava in the same sublevel through vanilla means?
You can make both look right. Set the tileset to one that makes diagonal lava work (since it's a lot more complex) and use ExAnimation to animate the rails.
But I'm not certain if the conveyor tiles will function... probably not :/
Image
User avatar
Money
Posts: 467
Joined: 13 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Money »

Koopster wrote:
MoneyMan wrote:So I ended up cobbling together a graphic that works and looks good, which is nice. However, now I have a different question: Is there any way to use both rails and diagonal cave lava in the same sublevel through vanilla means?
You can make both look right. Set the tileset to one that makes diagonal lava work (since it's a lot more complex) and use ExAnimation to animate the rails.
But I'm not certain if the conveyor tiles will function... probably not :/
Aight, if i can make line guides and diagonal lava work together i should be p good. I was afraid line guides were tileset specific. Luckily I don't think I'll need convayor belts in the level. Thanks.
User avatar
idol
its only scary if its wet
Posts: 298
Joined: 7 years ago
First name: idol
Pronouns: she/her

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by idol »

you want the line guides and the diagonal lava? they're both tileset specific. they won't work together i don't think.

your best bet is to have the tileset set to rails, and then exanimate the diagonal lava and have them all act as normal lava or something. it's a bit lame, but i don't think you can have both at once
Last edited by idol 7 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Ivy
Posts: 2387
Joined: 10 years ago
Pronouns: any
Contact:
https://ivy.talkhaus.com/

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Ivy »

I cringed at the prospect of exanimating the diagonal lava; there's gotta be like 16 unique tiles for it
3DS FC: 2793-0650-7690 | Switch: SW-2766-9108-9399 | Steam: ivysaur1996 (ivy)
User avatar
Money
Posts: 467
Joined: 13 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Money »

idol wrote:you want the line guides and the diagonal lava? they're both tileset specific. they won't work together i don't think.

your best bet is to have the tileset set to rails, and then exanimate the diagonal lava and have them all act as normal lava or something. it's a bit lame, but i don't think you can have both at once
Oh. Well damn it. That puts a damper on things.
User avatar
idol
its only scary if its wet
Posts: 298
Joined: 7 years ago
First name: idol
Pronouns: she/her

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by idol »

can you explain your idea for your level? you can pm me if you want to keep it a secret.
User avatar
Money
Posts: 467
Joined: 13 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Money »

idol wrote:can you explain your idea for your level? you can pm me if you want to keep it a secret.
As weird as it sounds it's about 45 degree angles, and stuff that moves in that way. I was planning on using lineguides to have obstacles that move periodically along a diagonal area, and diagonal lava fits with the theme. Diagonal slopes would play a large part in the level's gameplay and aesthetic, which i dont think the lineguide tileset has?
User avatar
Ivy
Posts: 2387
Joined: 10 years ago
Pronouns: any
Contact:
https://ivy.talkhaus.com/

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Ivy »

MoneyMan wrote: As weird as it sounds it's about 45 degree angles, and stuff that moves in that way. I was planning on using lineguides to have obstacles that move periodically along a diagonal area, and diagonal lava fits with the theme. Diagonal slopes would play a large part in the level's gameplay and aesthetic, which i dont think the lineguide tileset has?
I'm ready for Triangle Land 2.

edit: For real, though, Triangle Land apparently exanimated some of the diagonal lava tiles (and replaced munchers? weird that mario didn't die instantly). seems like that's your best bet.
3DS FC: 2793-0650-7690 | Switch: SW-2766-9108-9399 | Steam: ivysaur1996 (ivy)
User avatar
Money
Posts: 467
Joined: 13 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Money »

Ivy wrote:
MoneyMan wrote: As weird as it sounds it's about 45 degree angles, and stuff that moves in that way. I was planning on using lineguides to have obstacles that move periodically along a diagonal area, and diagonal lava fits with the theme. Diagonal slopes would play a large part in the level's gameplay and aesthetic, which i dont think the lineguide tileset has?
I'm ready for Triangle Land 2.

edit: For real, though, Triangle Land apparently exanimated some of the diagonal lava tiles (and replaced munchers? weird that mario didn't die instantly). seems like that's your best bet.
Yeah i saw todays levels and was like "this is weirdly pertinent". I'm thinking of having the actual diagonal looking bits not do anything, but hiding lava tiles on the tiles directly below them (looking like red lava filler squares). Would that work? Also, are there any tilesets that have both line guides and upside down slopes? I can probably deal if not, but it would be ideal to have them both.
User avatar
Ivy
Posts: 2387
Joined: 10 years ago
Pronouns: any
Contact:
https://ivy.talkhaus.com/

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Ivy »

MoneyMan wrote: Yeah i saw todays levels and was like "this is weirdly pertinent". I'm thinking of having the actual diagonal looking bits not do anything, but hiding lava tiles on the tiles directly below them (looking like red lava filler squares). Would that work? Also, are there any tilesets that have both line guides and upside down slopes? I can probably deal if not, but it would be ideal to have them both.
yep that would work nicely. https://youtu.be/ksMEJAaV_jU?t=8m38s
based on this, the lava is actually munchers, and the diagonal lava tiles don't have any hitbox. You can definitely make the lava act like real lava (tile 3 I think) instead of munchers, though.
3DS FC: 2793-0650-7690 | Switch: SW-2766-9108-9399 | Steam: ivysaur1996 (ivy)
User avatar
EvilMariobot
Posts: 43
Joined: 7 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by EvilMariobot »

Okay, I've got YYCHR up and running, and I have all the graphics before me. Now, how do I copy and paste them back in LM as things I can use as tiles and whatnot?

Like I said, I'm going to need to use enemy sprites as tiles, and I'm going to replace some sprites with others.
User avatar
Ivy
Posts: 2387
Joined: 10 years ago
Pronouns: any
Contact:
https://ivy.talkhaus.com/

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Ivy »

EvilMariobot wrote:Okay, I've got YYCHR up and running, and I have all the graphics before me. Now, how do I copy and paste them back in LM as things I can use as tiles and whatnot?

Like I said, I'm going to need to use enemy sprites as tiles, and I'm going to replace some sprites with others.
You need to make a folder where the graphics dump was, called "ExGraphics", and save copies of the graphics you are editing to that folder. Name them starting with "ExGFX80.bin". Then in the level editor, inject the ExGraphics with the golden mushroom button (on the row of 4 mushrooms). You might want to reload the level to make sure they are available.
Then, select the red poison mushroom and enable graphics bypassing if you have not already. To one of the unused FG3 or BG2 slots, assign your ExGraphics file. Now you can access these bonus graphics in your Map16 8×8 selector mode to create 16×16 blocks for foreground or background use!
3DS FC: 2793-0650-7690 | Switch: SW-2766-9108-9399 | Steam: ivysaur1996 (ivy)
User avatar
EvilMariobot
Posts: 43
Joined: 7 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by EvilMariobot »

Ivy wrote:
EvilMariobot wrote:Okay, I've got YYCHR up and running, and I have all the graphics before me. Now, how do I copy and paste them back in LM as things I can use as tiles and whatnot?

Like I said, I'm going to need to use enemy sprites as tiles, and I'm going to replace some sprites with others.
You need to make a folder where the graphics dump was, called "ExGraphics", and save copies of the graphics you are editing to that folder. Name them starting with "ExGFX80.bin". Then in the level editor, inject the ExGraphics with the golden mushroom button (on the row of 4 mushrooms). You might want to reload the level to make sure they are available.
Then, select the red poison mushroom and enable graphics bypassing if you have not already. To one of the unused FG3 or BG2 slots, assign your ExGraphics file. Now you can access these bonus graphics in your Map16 8×8 selector mode to create 16×16 blocks for foreground or background use!
Ah, NOW we're in business!

Any advice on sprite replacement?
User avatar
Ivy
Posts: 2387
Joined: 10 years ago
Pronouns: any
Contact:
https://ivy.talkhaus.com/

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Ivy »

EvilMariobot wrote: Any advice on sprite replacement?
This is a lot trickier. First you have to save the sprite file you want to edit as an exgraphics. For example, if you want to start with the Castle spriteset, open GFX03 in YYCHR. Notice that in Lunar Magic, castle sprites such as Bony Beetle and Dry Bones say SP4=03 on the sprite preview menu. This refers to the slot that you will be inserting your custom graphics to, in the same menu that you did the tilesets, as well as the default tileset that the sprite appears correctly on (graphics 03).
Find the other sprites you want. A hoppin' flame uses SP4=02 according to Lunar Magic. Naturally, in vanilla, you have to pick between the forest (02) or castle (03) to get their respective enemies looking correct. This is the workaround:
Open in a new window of YYCHR the GFX02. Observe that the hoppin' flame exists in the top rightmost 16×16 squares of the spritesheet. Copy these two squares by selecting a rectangle around them with right mouse button and CTRL+C. (edit: There are also fire particles in there that need to be copied.)
Now go back to the castle graphics in your other YYCHR window. Paste these hoppin' flame into the exact same tiles that they came from. Sadly, this overwrites the Thwomp images in the castle sprite set. (as well as another thing thanks to the fire particles...) Essentially, you cannot have both Thwomps and Hoppin' Flame simultaneously without one looking weird. There are a lot of sacrifices that have to be made with this technique which can only be fixed with ASM or hex editing (not vanilla).
Anyways, once you have found a combination that works, such as this castle sprite sheet with flames instead of thwomps, save your spliced graphics as a new ExGFX. You may already have ExGFX80 from last time, so this would be ExGFX81. You then inject as usual, and in the graphics bypass red poison mushroom menu, replace (in this example) SP4 with your new ExGFX81.
Most sprite sets use the SP4 slot, so it's valuable real estate. Finding things that work together can be tricky and fun. The key thing is knowing which sprites use which locations in SP4 (or SP3).
3DS FC: 2793-0650-7690 | Switch: SW-2766-9108-9399 | Steam: ivysaur1996 (ivy)
User avatar
EvilMariobot
Posts: 43
Joined: 7 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by EvilMariobot »

Ivy wrote:
EvilMariobot wrote: Any advice on sprite replacement?
This is a lot trickier. First you have to save the sprite file you want to edit as an exgraphics. For example, if you want to start with the Castle spriteset, open GFX03 in YYCHR. Notice that in Lunar Magic, castle sprites such as Bony Beetle and Dry Bones say SP4=03 on the sprite preview menu. This refers to the slot that you will be inserting your custom graphics to, in the same menu that you did the tilesets, as well as the default tileset that the sprite appears correctly on (graphics 03).
Find the other sprites you want. A hoppin' flame uses SP4=02 according to Lunar Magic. Naturally, in vanilla, you have to pick between the forest (02) or castle (03) to get their respective enemies looking correct. This is the workaround:
Open in a new window of YYCHR the GFX02. Observe that the hoppin' flame exists in the top rightmost 16×16 squares of the spritesheet. Copy these two squares by selecting a rectangle around them with right mouse button and CTRL+C. (edit: There are also fire particles in there that need to be copied.)
Now go back to the castle graphics in your other YYCHR window. Paste these hoppin' flame into the exact same tiles that they came from. Sadly, this overwrites the Thwomp images in the castle sprite set. (as well as another thing thanks to the fire particles...) Essentially, you cannot have both Thwomps and Hoppin' Flame simultaneously without one looking weird. There are a lot of sacrifices that have to be made with this technique which can only be fixed with ASM or hex editing (not vanilla).
Anyways, once you have found a combination that works, such as this castle sprite sheet with flames instead of thwomps, save your spliced graphics as a new ExGFX. You may already have ExGFX80 from last time, so this would be ExGFX81. You then inject as usual, and in the graphics bypass red poison mushroom menu, replace (in this example) SP4 with your new ExGFX81.
Most sprite sets use the SP4 slot, so it's valuable real estate. Finding things that work together can be tricky and fun. The key thing is knowing which sprites use which locations in SP4 (or SP3).
So, I can't just paste over the existing things in YYCHR, can I.
All I'm fixing to replace are:
Key
Active Grab Block (as in, the flashing block)
Falling Spike

also, moderate edits to Big Boo.

User avatar
Ivy
Posts: 2387
Joined: 10 years ago
Pronouns: any
Contact:
https://ivy.talkhaus.com/

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Ivy »

EvilMariobot wrote: So, I can't just paste over the existing things in YYCHR, can I.
All I'm fixing to replace are:
Key
Active Grab Block (as in, the flashing block)
Falling Spike

also, moderate edits to Big Boo.

You do replace the existing things in your sprite sheet, assuming you don't want to use anything that's being replaced. Just make sure to save and insert this modified graphics as an ExGfx. Since you are only doing reskins, you don't need to worry about keeping functionality of the sprites you are merging from.
3DS FC: 2793-0650-7690 | Switch: SW-2766-9108-9399 | Steam: ivysaur1996 (ivy)
User avatar
EvilMariobot
Posts: 43
Joined: 7 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by EvilMariobot »

Ivy wrote: You do replace the existing things in your sprite sheet, assuming you don't want to use anything that's being replaced. Just make sure to save and insert this modified graphics as an ExGfx. Since you are only doing reskins, you don't need to worry about keeping functionality of the sprites you are merging from.
I am keeping the functionality of the originals (falling spike hurts, Key can be carried and stood on, etc.)
So, it's their positions on their original respective sheets I'm putting them in on the new sheet?

I may need visual aids for this (wall o' text fries robot CPU)
User avatar
idol
its only scary if its wet
Posts: 298
Joined: 7 years ago
First name: idol
Pronouns: she/her

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by idol »

ok well you're not getting visual aid bcuz im on mobile

export gfx and exgfx in lunar magic.

this tells you the contents of each gfx file

the active grab block is the same sprite tile used by turn blocks when you hit them i believe. they're gfx0 i think? just copy that file and rename it exgfx80. find what you want to replace it and the key with in the other gfx files and just copy them overtop their files in exgfx80.

the falling spike is in the castle tileset. i believe it and big boo use parts of the same tiles, so they cannot be used together. if you want to replace the falling spikes, find the castle gfx file, copy it, paste it in the ex graphics folder n rename it exgfx81. so on n so forth.
User avatar
EvilMariobot
Posts: 43
Joined: 7 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by EvilMariobot »

idol wrote:ok well you're not getting visual aid bcuz im on mobile

export gfx and exgfx in lunar magic.

this tells you the contents of each gfx file

the active grab block is the same sprite tile used by turn blocks when you hit them i believe. they're gfx0 i think? just copy that file and rename it exgfx80. find what you want to replace it and the key with in the other gfx files and just copy them overtop their files in exgfx80.

the falling spike is in the castle tileset. i believe it and big boo use parts of the same tiles, so they cannot be used together. if you want to replace the falling spikes, find the castle gfx file, copy it, paste it in the ex graphics folder n rename it exgfx81. so on n so forth.
Okay, that's what I thought. It hit me the other day that that's what it might be. Also, thanks for telling me what to look for for the active block.
User avatar
EvilMariobot
Posts: 43
Joined: 7 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by EvilMariobot »

Sorry for the double post.

I'm looking to make an invisible object that acts like a door, can I just make an invisible object and give it the "Act As" of the two parts of a door?
User avatar
Ivy
Posts: 2387
Joined: 10 years ago
Pronouns: any
Contact:
https://ivy.talkhaus.com/

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Ivy »

EvilMariobot wrote:Sorry for the double post.

I'm looking to make an invisible object that acts like a door, can I just make an invisible object and give it the "Act As" of the two parts of a door?
yeah, tiles 1F and 20 for the top and bottom, respectively
3DS FC: 2793-0650-7690 | Switch: SW-2766-9108-9399 | Steam: ivysaur1996 (ivy)
User avatar
EvilMariobot
Posts: 43
Joined: 7 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by EvilMariobot »

I want to use Switch blocks, but the "Add Objects" window doesn't display them, "Insert Manually" gives me the wrong objects which are garbled, to boot, and I can't use the Map 16 versions, because they aren't affected by Switch Palaces.

Abandoning that idea. Guess I can save it for another level (maybe)
User avatar
EvilMariobot
Posts: 43
Joined: 7 years ago

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by EvilMariobot »

Okay, let's talk ExAnimations. I'm looking for a simple two frame animation within two 8x8 tiles.
User avatar
Koopster
judge of u
Posts: 193
Joined: 9 years ago
Location: is there anybody in there?

Re: SMW Central's VLDCX

Post by Koopster »

ExAnimations are ez

First, in the red poison mushroom window, load in AN2 an ExGFX file that contains the frames of your animation.
You can see the original animated tile frames in the 8x8 editor (question block with shadow button) by pressing Ctrl+Shift+PageDown and going down a few pages. They're on pages 0x5 and 0x6, tiles 500 through 67F. 68F to 6FF is the ExGFX you load in AN2.
Arrange your frames in a similar fashion to the line guide ends (that are in page 0x6, bottom left corner). They work basically like what you want to set up - except they have 4 frames rather than 2.
Now to animate, click on the SMB3 brick. Set the type to "2 8x8s: line", set the frames amount to 2, set the destination to somewhere in the pages that are usable by map16 (anything between 000-2FF that's not being used), and for the frames, put the tile number of the leftmost tile of each frame (for a practical example - if I wanted to animate the line guide ends, I would, of course, set the frames amount to 4 instead, and input 640, 650, 660 and 670 as the frames).

Hope this wasn't a terrible explanation!!!
Image
Post Reply