Pixi, CFG Editor updates and more!

Pixi & CFG Editor news

An update has been posted here.

Hello hello,
this C3 I decided to do something too!
There are 3 things I decided to show off today.

• New Pixi update in collaboration with lx5
• Fully new CFG Editor rewrite in C++, complete with old missing features and new LM3.30 features.
• SMWMapLens, a new Visual Studio Code extension that can help you write ASM faster and with less hassle.

New Pixi update contents:

This Pixi update's biggest change is that it now contains support for a few more sprite types than usual:

• Minor extended sprites
• Smoke sprites
• Bounce sprites
• Spinning coin sprites
• Score sprites

Most of these sprites are very obscure however since they were rather easy to implement we figured out "why not?" and implemented them anyway.
Lx5 did all the ASM work and I did all the C++ side of the code. You can get a preview build of this new version of Pixi here.
This build is a preview and as such may contain bugs, this is also partially why I'm sharing it, so you all can help test it.
In case you find bugs, please report them in this thread or in the #pixi channel in SnesLAB.

Some simple gifs that showcase the various new sprite types (keep your eyes open to see what's the custom sprite!):


This version of Pixi also fixes a few bugs present in the previous version, namely:

• Filenames with spaces can now be used in list.txt
• Extended cape interaction routine now processes other sprites after the first
• Map16 file was copied incorrectly.

New CFG Editor rewrite

This all-new CFG Editor rewrite is a thing that I wanted to do for the longest time.
The current CFG Editor lacks in features and is very buggy, you can crash it in just 2 clicks!
This new one aims to fix all of the lacking features of the old one as well as remove most of the bugs.
This new CFG Editor also supports all the new Lunar Magic 3.30 features, like the ability to add GFX Information to your sprite displays or the ability to decide the display type based on the extra byte.

It's also currently a WIP, it has a few known bugs (most important one is not being able to correctly move 8x8 tiles in the display view), and I'm working on making it fully functional asap.

You can grab it here
Some sample images of the new CFG Editor:




As you can see the GUI is mostly exactly like the old one, the reason for this is that I didn't want to alienate users too much while at the same time bringing some very needed QoL fixes and features.

Visual Studio Code extension

This extension allows you to have descriptions of ram/rom addresses from SMW when you hover with the cursor over them in your ASM file.
It's pretty self explanatory.
It also offers a search in the side bar that allows you to search addresses for ease of use instead of having to go to SMWC and use the respective maps.
It is best paired with Lx5's extension for asar's syntax highlight that you can get here

You can download my extension here

A demonstration of how it works:



All of what was showcased here can be found open sourced on github:
Pixi
CFG Editor rewrite and its installer
SMWMapLens

I was wondering when the new CFG editor would be out 👀

Implementing miscellaneous sprite types into PIXI is really neat, it's good to have more alternatives to pull off various effects. Although my pipe dream would be that they're all merged onto one single set of tables. I guess that's a challenge for the next 10 years of SMW hacking or so.

I don't use VS for ASM so I guess the last one isn't so useful for me, but boy does it look useful. Though I guess I can get around changing tabs constantly between Notepad++ and the RAM map since I'm so used to it anyways.

Really cool stuff overall!

Nice, I've waited for new sprite types into PIXI since I was born. Also new CFG editor sounds like a dream come true.


You should do this for next C3 ;)

Out of all of this I think I'm moreso looking forward to the cfg editor since I haven't figured out how to really make my own sprites yet, however an update to pixi is always welcome in my eyes.

do all of my uni assignments and I will

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As someone who loves to squeeze everything out of the extra bytes when possible and have sufficient display icons for sprites I make, these new features will be incredibly helpful. The CFG editor's been a nightmare to use for a long time and it's great to see it made properly functional.

While I can't say I've worked with those sprite types before, I'm certainly interested to give it some experimentation and having them insertable through Pixi will make that much easier.

I was actually thinking of doing something with a minor extended sprite (editing the boo stream) so I'm glad that you've made them insertable!

What advantages does SMWMapLens have over Vice's SMW extension? I've been using that for a while and I recommend it to anyone who does asm. Not having to use Notepad++ is glorious.

My extension is a lot more accurate, it pulls updated data from SMWC's maps every time you launch it, Vice's extension only works for long addresses, mine works for any address, ROM/RAM, and even defines, as you can see in the gif. (e.g. !C8 will find $7E00C8 and display it to you). It also the search in the sidebar, I suggest trying it out to see the differences.


Some various updates on stuff:
lx5 made a little WIP page with all the needed documentation for the new sprite types, as well as a little folder with some test sprites that coders can experiment with. You can see the page here and the folder here.

The CFG Editor already received some updates with a few bugfixes and I'd honestly say that it's read to test. It may have some small GUI issues that affect borders if your screen has 125% scale instead of 100%. Please feel free to try it out and report bugs. The link to download is still the one on the main post, since it automatically updates, just re-download it if you already downloaded it.

no support for using the extra bits as a sprite number high byte, 0/10

Good idea adding more sprite types. I'm sure that people will get some use out of them. In particular, adding custom effect/ambient sprites without taking up extended or cluster slots would be nice. Also, how does the new CFG editor handle sprite displays being different depending on the extra byte values?

----------------

I'm working on a hack! Check it out here. Progress: 64/95 levels.

whenever you implement it, I accept PRs, to misquote: "not hard, learn C++"

The new CFG Editor handles by adding a new field in the json file that's generated. You can test it out yourself by download it and trying it out. The new field is supposed to be parse-able by Pixi whenever I get around to fixing+merging this PR

great news! thank you!
gg

I remember when I was making my CLDC level last year I definitely spent a little time in the CFG editor trying to make my sprites display properly. I think I only ever ended up with partial success, but I'm going to blame that on the old CFG editor being wonky. I won't have any excuses now! Great work on all of this!

Let's be honest: The CFG Editor was the only janky thing left from PIXI so having it revised like the inserter was really needed. Good work on that one!

+1 to the other sprite type support. I really love to see more custom bounce sprites considering they're one of the most versatile sprites beyond those which PIXI already supports (I mean, I did update Custom Bounce Sprites but that's because of their usefulness).

I'll always be happy to see updates to such widely used tools.
I've always wanted to dabble more with the CFG Editor so now that is has been updated I'll have to give it a go again for when it comes to editing sprites.

I wish good luck in finishing the new PIXI and CFG editor.
I'm looking forward for this...

The VS Code extension is an absolute treat (I didn't even know syntax highlighting one existed lmao). I've not touched ASM for a while, and only started using VS Code in the last few months, so only really used Notepad++ and Brackets (more recently-ish) for ASM. But I have this ready and installed for when I decide to touch some ASM.

Thank you Atari!