Lunar Magic suggestions and discussion (LM v2.52)

This thread is for suggesting features for future versions of Lunar Magic, discussing the development of the program, mentioning ideas, and pointing out any bugs that may crop up. Just making suggestions here is no guarantee that FuSoYa will take any of them, obviously, but at least they will be out there.

I'll start the discussion by making a couple suggestions of my own. First, one thing I've wanted to see in Lunar Magic for quite a while is custom tooltips for objects, something similar to the custom sprite tooltips that showed up in version 1.65. What with version 1.82 and the new ObjecTool out, I think it's time. Sure, proper tooltips for normal objects might be hard to do, since they can be sized all sorts of ways with a variety of tiles, but I think at least having them show rectangles and lines to indicate where the object's tiles are (think EggVine) would be doable. This way, every object wouldn't show up as the same glitched mass of tiles whose size always changes by one tile each time; it would be possible for a non-45-degree slope, an object sized in 32x32 blocks instead of 16x16 ones, or an object that uses the height bits for object type to show up properly. Even without having the actual graphics there, just having the object be the proper size and shape would be quite useful. Extended objects, on the other hand...well, I don't see why tooltips for extended objects would be any more difficult to make than tooltips for sprites. In fact, if anything, they'd be easier, since there would be no extra bits to worry about and all tile offsets would have to be divisible by 0x10. I think tooltips for extended objects that even show the correct graphics for them could—and should—be made. (The "add 0x8000 to the tile number to make it translucent" rule would still apply.)

Another suggestion I had, much less complicated, is making it possible to transfer global ExAnimation between ROMs. I know you can do that with level-specific ExAnimation since it's saved in the .mwl files, but when a person has to port to a new ROM (and almost everyone will), he/she will have to redo all the global ExAnimation.

In fact, that brings up another thing: It should also be possible to save the overworld to an external file. While transferring is easier than it used to be, I still think this is something to consider.

I also thought of another big thing: Layer 3. Lunar Magic has very little Layer 3-related editing ability. We have at least two tools that can edit Layer 3 images, we have a patch that can insert Layer 3 ExGFX, we have a patch that can insert custom stripe images and another that can insert any tilemap as a compressed ExGFX file, we have one that puts the status bar on the sprite layer so it doesn't conflict with Layer 3 backgrounds...so why isn't any of this stuff in Lunar Magic yet? It would be incredibly useful, especially for those who aren't skilled enough to insert Layer 3 backgrounds with the existing resources.

That's all I have right now...let's get some more ideas!

Edit: Approximate frequency table for suggestions:

more features in the palette editor - 9
   - importing specific colors of a palette
   - importing only certain palette rows
   - copying blocks of colors
   - getting rid of the hardcoded colors so that global palettes can use all 256
more Layer 3 stuff - 9
   - Layer 3 ExGFX
   - Sprite Status Bar
   - better compression
No Sprite Tile Limits - 6
   - button that sets all 0x200 levels' sprite memory to 10
minor fixes, such as andy_k_250's Fix-All patch - ?
   - Ice Man's HDMA fixes
   - Death Swooper tilemap
   - keyhole windowing
   - line-guided sprite X position
   - note block interaction glitch (?)
   - coin over question-mark block
   - turn block bridge X-flip
   - hurtfix (fixes a minor bug with the hurt and animated hurt blocks when hit from the sides)
   - turn block fix (blocks 12A and 12B)
   - Charging Chuck's arm (correct the palette)
   - Wendy's bow (fix the graphic flip)
   - Magikoopa palette correction (the lightest blue color in Magikoopa's fade-in/fade-out palette table was inverted in the original game for some reason)
   - Piranha Plant fixes (whether it should use the default empty space or set freespace for the fix)
undo button - 5
more powerful Map16 editor - 5
zoom feature (for the overworld?) - 5
saving overworld to external file - 4
ExGFX Revolution - 4
F9 -> change foreground Map16 page - 3
other hacking tools integrated into Lunar Magic - 3
   Sprite Tool
   Addmusic
better documentation for the ASM hacks it installs - 2
ability to use unheadered ROMs (.sfc) - 2
custom object tooltips - 2
overworld ExAnimation - 2
refreshing the overworld graphics on every submap change - 2
search box for the object and sprite insertion windows - 2
option to change the image type for saving levels as images - 2
Map16 pages for overworlds ("Map8"?) - 2
VWF patch - 2
multi-midway points - 2
dsx.asm - 2
sprite tooltips dependant on X position - 2
shared subroutine patch - 2
save multiple, specific levels to a file - 2
status bar editor built into LM - 2
built-in HDMA editor - 2
LC_LZ2/3 compression for backgrounds (Layer 3 and possibly Layer 2) - 1
levelnum.asm - 1
saving "View" settings on editor close - 1
ability to use all overworld palettes fully - 1
option to disable overworld animation - 1
swap all instances of a certain tile in a background with a different one - 1
list of modified sublevels - 1
sprite tooltips dependant on extra byte(s) - 1
player ExGFX - 1
modifying the slot a Map16 page uses - 1
cluster sprite patch - 1
1/2-Player Only - 1
changing the titlescreen and intro music in LM - 1
set the titlescreen graphics to an ExGFX file - 1
other "Lunar" tools built into LM - 1
"change the value of tile numbers for this Map16 Tile (in hex)" - 1
moving objects that utilize screen exits moves the screen exit also (if moved to a different screen) - 1
use any sublevel for a level's midway entrance - 1
reload overworld sprites on every submap switch - 1
"a message that pops up if you are using a sprite that is incompatible with the current sprite memory" - 1
"Check if the rom file exists in the recent file list, if not, it will be removed from the list." - 1
OWASM - 1
LevelASM - 1
separate Luigi GFX - 1
"objects" for the background - 1

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

Actually, yeah, No More Sprite Tile Limits would be another good one. There are literally no disadvantages to patching it (barring other patches hijacking the same place), since setting the sprite memory to something other than 10 will bypass the new code entirely. It would also be nice, if that were added, to make Lunar Magic set the sprite memory of every sublevel to 10 automatically upon installation of the patch (this would only happen once, so the user could still change them later if necessary).

I don't think integrating the VWF patch or Sprite Tool into Lunar Magic would be a very good idea, personally. There are plenty of people who don't use the former, and the latter really should be its own entity, unless we someday compile an all-in-one SMW hacking suite that includes a variety of tools. The ExGFX Revolution patch and dsx.asm are debatable.

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

The word is debatable. XD

My own suggestions would be:

-Tooltips for normal/custom sprites that can change its description by x/y position. Perhaps even by level?
-Automatically apply fixes (Swooper Death Bat tilemap fix, misplaced tile on the keyhole "iris in" effect, line-guided sprites x position fix, etc.).
-Check if the rom file exists in the recent file list, if not, it will be removed from the list.
-If possible, a zoom feature for the overworld.

Custom overworld sprite graphics. Trust me, while the Overworld sprite editor is easy to use, the hex editing bit is a pain, especially as my recent experience shows editing the overworld in Lunar Magic again tends to edit said values right back to the defaults.

So allowing sprite graphics changing for overworld via Super GFX bypass would help immensely.

Other things I'd suggest would be:

1. Cluster, dynamic and Romi's sprite patches as default. My experience with these is quite honestly, they're a pain to figure out at first, and I've seen literally hundreds of newbies struggle with the dsx patch and stuff like definition.asm, that it'd probably be a public service to allow them just to be inserted like any other sprite in sprite tool immediately without use of Xkas.

2. Undo button? God I sometimes miss that, especially when messing with the overworld and forgetting that copy + paste sticks the tile in the top left corner. Consider overworld tiles delete anything they're pasted over, not having an undo button is a disaster waiting to happen if you're using overworld ExGFX.

3. No sprite tile limits as default. I've never seen anyone apply this patch well, even when I asked other long time coders to try it on a hack I was making. It'd be much easier as a menu option.

4. F9 to change map16 page for foregrounds. Good God, this is needed NOW. Because unless you use the exact same pages as the sample levels, it means sample levels on this site for foreground GFX are entirely useless. You should ideally be able to select a whole bunch of tiles, click F9, insert the number of tiles to add until it matches the foreground page you use and have the foreground from the sample level up and running in minutes. At the moment, because of this not existing, I had to spend about three hours messing around with Donkey Kong Country ExGFX and a copy of the ROM to get my Oil Drum Alley themed level to even look remotely like it's meant to, and I still can't figure out the format of the Chainlink Chamber graphics. This functionality would have saved hours....

Note: Heck, I'd say the above lacking feature is why so many use Super Mario All Stars graphics, they're the easiest to assemble correctly.

5. Easy way to list modified level values. That would be helpful, especially when I use a really obscure level number for a level I'm working on and forget the number, meaning I have to export all levels and go through all the modified ones one at a time via trial and error. It'd be nice to have a list come up showing the number/value in hex of every level you modified.

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For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.

Mmm..let me see,some bug fixes in the SMW engine,like:

1.note block interaction glitch problem.
2.Coin over ? block fix.

And other cuality optimizer patches like:

1.no sprite tile limits.
2.?

I don' have a clue about one more optimizer gameplay patch,because the fast rom patch is already included in LM.

And the ability to edit layer 3 (apart of the title screen)could be a nice touch.

Ooh, I forgot about that one. Seconded...although the X/Y position thing would no longer be necessary once the new Sprite Tool comes out.


I agree.


Yes. YES.


Romi's sprite patch? You mean the subroutine ones? That's another that could go either way in my opinion, but if I ever finish my shared subroutine patch (there didn't seem to be much interest in it...), I think that would be more worthwhile than just inserting GetDrawInfo and SubOffscreen.


Ain't that the truth. I don't even want to think how hard it would be to rip a Donkey Kong Country foreground, even with edit1754's tool, and get even a halfway decent Map16 page. The Map16 editor is supposed to get a rehaul, but I don't know any specifics. One thing I've done in the past with sample levels is, after inserting the Map16 page, if it's the wrong page, I open up the .mwl file with a hex editor and find+replace the number of the page used in the sample level with the number of the page I used. Obviously, there is some potential for error (such as if that number occurs in a place where it isn't the high byte of the Map16 number), but it works okay.


Yeah, it seems like most fixes as small as the Death Swooper tilemap and keyhole tile should be in Lunar Magic already, especially since FuSoYa already put in a few of them, like the "Mario Start!" palette fix. In fact, almost everything in andy_k_250's Fix-All patch could be included. (Another one I'd suggest is the Turn Block Bridge X-flip fix at $01B79D.)

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

The only thing I'd really like to see is a more powerful Map16 editor.

Currently, you can only select one tile at a time, and to edit it, you've got to press a button, change its properties, hit OK, and right-click on the tile again, and you can't even see if that right-click did anything when you didn't change the tile's appearance. The ability to select multiple tiles at once would be a great help, as would a "Edit attributes for all selected tiles" button. "Copy", "Cut" and "Paste" buttons to quickly move a bunch of tiles would also be a nice addition, "Draw", "Fill" and "Erase" tools are debatable.

That's currently all I wish for really.

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Another thing that would be very useful when it is time to import a palette, you can specify / select the colors you want. And it would be quite useful to edit several map16 together (editing palette, flip x, y, etc.)

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Here's an idea then... how about an option to export or import specific palette rows? That'd be really useful for many, many graphics, especially for sprites, where you often need to change palette F but not anything else. The current practice (manually changing every colour to use sprite palettes with more than the default graphics sets) takes way too long, and sprites by certain people (Dahnamics, carol, etc) use so many different colours that editing the palette for them involves changing a whole palette row.

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For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.

Yeah, why don't we just include every single patch in the patches section? That patch is far too specialized to be included within LM.

Another thing I forgot to mention. I am definitely seconding this. (Ever try putting the YI sprite palettes in several levels? It's quite a pain in the butt.) Besides importing, it would also be really nice to be able to copy and paste entire palette rows.

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

I second sprite status bar. It'd fix the palette overwriting problems with 90% of the graphics section near instantly as a default feature, because you could just click a single option and immediately activate the feature for a level, allowing use of certain graphics here without many changes.

Or in other words, any graphics by ankiti, ghettoyouth and the default SMB3 and YI fortress backgrounds would finally look right and work properly in all hacks. Because let's face it, these are the common examples of what graphics people use that overwrite the status bar.

An option to change the title screen and intro music via just editing the levels they use would be good as well. I know (and have) edited this in a hex editor, but it'd be much easier if they could be set like any other custom music.

And while this would be too hard, an option to set the title screen letter graphics file via Super GFX bypass would be nice. Then you could somehow use a background and foreground for the sample level AND an ExGFX file for the title screen font/a picture.

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For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.

Hm, you know what I just thought of, though? The problem with the sprite status bar is that it would cause trouble for anyone who edits the status bar even the slightest bit. (Especially if they use the Super Status Bar!) Other than that, it's not a bad idea, but that would definitely be a problem.

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

True, but that could be solved (aka, put a status bar editor in Lunar Magic itself, like the overworld/title screen/credits editor).

There should also be an option to, if using it... choose what palette row the status bar uses. Problems solved, you just set it to use the one row your foreground, background and sprite graphics don't need.

Other possibilities:

1. Ability to move screen exits via moving the relevant object in the level. So if you move the pipe/door used, the screen exit comes with it. And if you copy it, maybe an option to also copy the screen exit settings.

2. An option to move the midway entrance level? It'd be nice if like the multiple midway point patch, you could choose what level's midway entrance each level uses, so you could have the midway point restart the player in a sub level.

3. Option to actually save multiple levels to file. Not 'export every modified level', but 'choose what levels to export'. Maybe even an option to save current level to file along with all connected sub levels used.

4. Proper overworld sprite usage. As in, instead of them replacing default stuff, maybe have it work like the regular sprite list and have it so you can manually add custom sprites to the overworld the same way as in levels. Plus, you could then have default overworld sprites and custom ones at once.

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For gaming news and Wario discussions, check out Gaming Reinvented and Wario Forums respectively.

As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.

Actually, that is possible in the most recent versions of Lunar Magic. That brings up something else, though...currently, overworld sprites load only once in the game. It might be nice if they reloaded every time you switch submaps unless they were set not to, which would also make it possible to have more than 16 total overworld sprites.

And hm...you know something I just thought of? It actually would be possible to make a pipe or door that creates its own screen exit, thanks to object 2D. The screen exits in Lunar Magic are nothing but extended objects, after all.

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