Difference between revisions of "SonED2 Manual/Level Editor"
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The Level Editor is used for editing the layout of normal gameplay levels. Levels are built by placing "Chunks" onto the level grid with the cursor. "Chunks" are either 256x256 pixels or 128x128 pixels wide and tall depending on the game they came from, and are built from 16x16 "Blocks", which are built from 8x8 Tiles. They are built through use of the Tile Editor. | The Level Editor is used for editing the layout of normal gameplay levels. Levels are built by placing "Chunks" onto the level grid with the cursor. "Chunks" are either 256x256 pixels or 128x128 pixels wide and tall depending on the game they came from, and are built from 16x16 "Blocks", which are built from 8x8 Tiles. They are built through use of the Tile Editor. | ||
| − | + | == Status Display == | |
'''Screen Position''': The X and Y position of the top-left corner of the screen, shown in hex as with the in-game debug. | '''Screen Position''': The X and Y position of the top-left corner of the screen, shown in hex as with the in-game debug. | ||
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'''Scroll Speed''': The number of pixels that the screen will move when the arrow keys are used | '''Scroll Speed''': The number of pixels that the screen will move when the arrow keys are used | ||
| − | + | == Level Editor Functions == | |
| − | |||
'''Drawing to the level''': To draw the currently selected chunk into the level, click the left mouse button after moving the cursor to the desired position. | '''Drawing to the level''': To draw the currently selected chunk into the level, click the left mouse button after moving the cursor to the desired position. | ||
Revision as of 03:07, 7 September 2008
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| Main Article |
| See Also |
| SonED2 |
The Level Editor is used for editing the layout of normal gameplay levels. Levels are built by placing "Chunks" onto the level grid with the cursor. "Chunks" are either 256x256 pixels or 128x128 pixels wide and tall depending on the game they came from, and are built from 16x16 "Blocks", which are built from 8x8 Tiles. They are built through use of the Tile Editor.
Status Display
Screen Position: The X and Y position of the top-left corner of the screen, shown in hex as with the in-game debug.
Plane Size: The Width and Height of the current plane, measured in chunks, shown in hex.
Current Chunk: The currently-selected chunk. This chunk is displayed as the cursor, and will be inserted into the level when "drawing"
Chunk at Cursor: The ID of the Chunk that is currently placed at the level position under the cursor
Solid ???: This entry describes which of the two solidity paths is being drawn over the level, and whether or not the corresponding angle values are shown
Objects ???: This entry describes how the objects are currently being displayed relative to the high/low planes of the level
Scroll Speed: The number of pixels that the screen will move when the arrow keys are used
Level Editor Functions
Drawing to the level: To draw the currently selected chunk into the level, click the left mouse button after moving the cursor to the desired position.
Toggling "Loop" tile: In Sonic 1 type games, "loops" are kept track of by an array stored in the program that holds two Chunk IDs per level, specifying which two Chunks can act as "loops". "Loop" Chunks in this game type should be stored once with solidity traveling up the right side, and then visually identical copy stored in the immediately following Chunk with solidity traveling down the left side. The Chunk must also be "flagged" within the level layout. To do this, hover over the Chunk and press Spacebar. A Chunk who's ID reads greater than 0x80 (in "Chunk at Cursor) is "flagged", and one that reads less is not flagged. The ID that should be entered into the array (manually) is the Chunk's real ID plus 0x80 (128). This does not apply to Sonic 2 type games, as they use a dual-path method rather than swapping Chunks
Selecting A Chunk: To select a chunk for drawing, use the A and Z keys to cycle through the list, right-click the map to "pick up" the chunk that is under the cursor's current position, or use the "Chunk Selector" in the Tile Editor.
Moving around the level: To scroll around the level area, use the arrow keys to scroll by the "scroll value", or use the scrollbars surrounding the window. In full-screen mode, moving the mouse pointer to the edges of the screen will also scroll. When used in conjunction with the arrow keys, the speed will double.
Resizing the level: Holding CTRL while pressing the arrow keys will change the level size. Left and Down increase Width and Height, Right and Up decrease Width and Height. (This is level data size, not gameplay boundary size)
Other modes: The "Editors" menu has options to switch to any of other editing modes available to a project using this Level Editor. The following keys also have the same effect:
- L - Level Editor Plane A (foreground)
- P - Level Editor Plane B (background)
- O - Object Editor
- I - Tile Editor
Altering scroll speed: The H and N keys increase and decrease the number of pixels that the screen will scroll when using the arrow keys or moving the mouse to the screen edges in full-screen mode.
Viewing Controls: The following keys affect other viewing options:
- Q - Disable Solidity viewing
- W - Display Solidity Path 0 Over Level
- E - Display Solidity Path 1 Over Level (Sonic 2 and above)
- R - Toggle angle view when viewing solidity path
- T - Change object viewing status:
- -Disabled
- -Below High Plane (Game View, some objects "hidden")
- -Above High Plane (Objects on top, total visibility)
- Y - Toggles the "Low" plane on or off
- U - Toggles the "High" plane on or off
Translucent Cursor: The chunk cursor can be made translucent by selecting the "Translucent Cursor" option in the "Editor" menu, so that the tile currently placed at the cursor's position shows through the tile that is currently selected for drawing. This option may only be toggled in Windowed mode because it determines whether or not full-screen mode uses a high color setting. Turning on this option and then switching to full-screen will allow translucency in full-screen mode, however, leaving this option off will cause full-screen mode to use 8-bit color, which is faster.