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Lunar Magic suggestions and discussion (LM v2.52)

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All I want right now is a feature to modify the slot a map 16 page uses. Basically to make tileset combining less frustrating...
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First, probably something that would makes BGs easier to assemble without sample levels if you change the Map16 the tiles it uses. Maybe a "switch tile" feature where you can swap all of one tile with the one you moved it to. Let's say a BG was using page 42, but you wanted to move it to page 43 but it already has tiles on it and you need to change the arrangement. Let's say we start with Tile 4200 and move it to tile 43A2. The BG normally still uses tile 4200 in the place you want to use it. Well, with this feature, you would be able to have the program swap all instances of tile 4200 on the level's BG with tile 43A2 for example. Then it would be done for all of the other tiles. This is much easier for more complex BGs when it's hard to assemble them manually.

Another thing I'd want is a layer 3 editor. It would support ExGFX and it could be used on a per-level basis. Though we already have the Stripe Image Uploader Patch and Racing Stripe (Terra Stripe doesn't have ExGFX support) for this though this would be useful as a Lunar Magic feature nonetheless.
A lot of users are using some new MISC GFX that uses a custom palette, for example a SMB3 Mario. Almost every GFX requires a custom palette, so it's gave with the normal SMW Mario pal. And now, you need to paste the SMB3 Mario pal into every custom GFX palette to don't get a wrong Mario in chocolate levels. It makes people use less custom graphics and it really should be fixed in LM. Just a new extras that can export and import a single palette bar!

EDIT: Lol, the custom palette does not change the sprite palettes even when it is changed. But this post still have a sense because if you wanna a SMB3 Brick GFX for a throw block, you'll need to replace the red color from palette 7 with a blue or something other. Then you will need to replace it in every custom GFX.
...Huh?
Would levelnum.asm (the patch that stores the sublevel number to $010B-$010C) be worth adding to Lunar Magic? It's a small hack, and it seems like it could be useful for quite a few things.

Also, to the category of "patches that are probably too specific to be added but would still be useful", add multi-midway points. I have a version of that that does not require any secondary exits, so if it should actually be worth adding to Lunar Magic, it would probably be a better option.

Custom sprite tooltips dependant on the extra bytes would also be nice, although that could be trouble. (Seems to me, though, that you could just put a line of text for each extra byte setting, the newline character being the separator.)

Edit: Okay, I've made a list of suggestions, arranged roughly in order of frequency mentioned. (My methods are not exact due to inspecificity and the like, but it should give anyone an idea.)

No Sprite Tile Limits - 6
   - button that sets all 0x200 levels' sprite memory to 10 - 1
more features in the palette editor
   - importing specific colors of a palette - 2
   - importing only certain palette rows - 5
more Layer 3 stuff - 5
   - Layer 3 ExGFX - 1
   - Sprite Status Bar - 2
minor fixes
   - Death Swooper tilemap - 1
   - keyhole windowing - 1
   - line-guided sprite X position - 1
   - note block interaction glitch (?) - 1
   - coin over question-mark block - 2
   - turn block bridge X-flip - 1
more powerful Map16 editor - 3
   - editing several Map16 tiles together - 1
saving overworld to external file - 4
zoom feature for the overworld - 3
ExGFX Revolution - 3
undo button - 3
custom object tooltips - 2
Map16 pages for overworlds ("Map8"?) - 2
VWF patch - 2
multi-midway points - 2
dsx.asm - 2
F9 -> change foreground Map16 page - 2
sprite tooltips dependant on X position - 2
shared subroutine patch - 2
save multiple, specific levels to a file - 2
levelnum.asm - 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
overworld ExAnimation - 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
status bar editor built into LM - 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
Sprite Tool in some form (huh?) - 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

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I'm working on a hack! Check it out here. Progress: 64/95 levels.
I feel including too many things will turn Lunar Magic from a level editor into a hacking suite, which, as far as I know, isn't its intention. The way I figure it, the only things that should be added are things that would be virtually impossible or extremely difficult to do without a GUI (ExGFX, Map16, etc) or things that would have a universal positive impact with very little sacrifice (fixing the Mario Start! screen or animated water tiles, for example). It'd be nice to see the VWF Dialogues Patch, multiple midway points, or dsx.asm integrated, I suppose, but they aren't really needed and would turn Lunar Magic from a level editor to a SMW editor (that, and it would then become that much more difficult to edit those included patches).

Just my two cents, anyway.
I should get a new layout.

Probably won't, though.
Here are some other minor fixes:

-Hurtfix (fixes a minor bug with the hurt and animated hurt blocks when hit from the sides)
-Turnblock 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)
^ Added those to the list of minor fixes in the first post, although most of them are in the Fix-All patch, and I mentioned before that most of the stuff in it should be included in Lunar Magic. Specificity helps, I guess...maybe I should list the flying red coin thing, too?

Hm...the Piranha Plant fixes remind me of something else: Ice Man's HDMA fixes. Would they be worth including in Lunar Magic as an option? (If so, it would be nice if Lunar Magic could automatically enable priority on all the pipe Map16 tiles, too...) The Piranha Plant fixes won't do me personally any good since I'm using my own custom sprite version of the plant, and I'd recommend others to do the same if you're not using the HDMA fixes. While I haven't tested it, I imagine a normal Piranha Plant with the HDMA fix and priority enabled on pipes would work just as well as the custom sprite with neither of those. But I digress. It seems like at least some of the stuff in the HDMA fix patch might be good to include as an option, though.

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I'm working on a hack! Check it out here. Progress: 64/95 levels.
Okay, I have another minor thing to suggest: In custom sprite lists, the number of characters used for sprite number is apparently hardcoded to 2. Although I haven't tried 1, when I tried 3, I ended up with a mess. It seems to be that just checking for the tab character would suffice, not checking for a defined number of characters.

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I'm working on a hack! Check it out here. Progress: 64/95 levels.
One more thing I came up with, altough more of a bug report than an actual feature request:

After copying colors in a palette using the "hold Ctrl" method, the normal method ("click on the color, hit OK, right-click on the target spot") doesn't work anymore. Instead of the color you just selected, it copies the last color selected with Ctrl instead. This is probably badly-worded, so just try it for yourself - try copying a color while holding Ctrl, then try doing it the "normal" way, and you'll see what's wrong.

Not sure if that's actually intentional, but I see no harm in "fixing" this.


 

What about a feature that lets you play the current level music.

I also agree with the powerful map 16, it would make things alot easier.
Originally posted by Diegh0st
What about a feature that lets you play the current level music.

Eh, how would that work? I guess it'd be possible (although inefficient) to have LM play the original SMW tracks, but how is it supposed to find custom music? You can't expect it to automatically find the corresponding Addmusic folder (not to mention the fact there's lots of different versions floating around), look for the current level's TXT file, magically turn it into an SPC and play it.

I don't think it's that much of a hassle to just run the ROM and listen to the song yourself (and make an SPC if needed).


 

Originally posted by WhiteYoshiEgg
Originally posted by Diegh0st
What about a feature that lets you play the current level music.

Eh, how would that work? I guess it'd be possible (although inefficient) to have LM play the original SMW tracks, but how is it supposed to find custom music? You can't expect it to automatically find the corresponding Addmusic folder (not to mention the fact there's lots of different versions floating around), look for the current level's TXT file, magically turn it into an SPC and play it.

I don't think it's that much of a hassle to just run the ROM and listen to the song yourself (and make an SPC if needed).


Meh, i guess you are right i hate that i wasnt thinking it so well. Its easier just grab an spc player for customs and play it while desining the level.
Originally posted by Dotsarecool
Zoom x2 and x4. Especially on the overworld. With a huge screen resolution, the overworld is really hard to select and build accurately. This could apply to the tile pickers as well.


I can DEFINITELY get behind that one. My eyes aren't the greatest eyes in the world, so it's hard for me to work with the Overworld Editor. That's why the overworld in Super Mario Bros. 5 is on the blocky side.
Quintesson Judge: Silence, or you will be held in contempt of this court!
Hot Rod: I have nothing but contempt for this court!
- Transformers the Movie (1986)

My suggestion: Making a F9 option for the FG like the BG (aka adding x amount to multiple tiles at the same time).

This could be very usefull when you download rips with sample levels, as it will save time, or if you have to re-arrange your level and place it on another map16. Elsewise, you have to place the tiles manually all over again.

- OW exanimation.
- layer 3 & exgfxRevolution.
- Level & OWasm
And maybe even a (Sprite) status bar editor?


And maybe a small bug pointing out here, but sometimes when I set to much exanimations in 1 level (In my case it was with my Ardy lightfoot when I made it have more then about 0F animations) the exanimation screws up entirely, both in LM and in-game.







   

My Rips/Exgfx:
01|02
Originally posted by WhiteYoshiEgg
After copying colors in a palette using the "hold Ctrl" method, the normal method ("click on the color, hit OK, right-click on the target spot") doesn't work anymore. Instead of the color you just selected, it copies the last color selected with Ctrl instead. This is probably badly-worded, so just try it for yourself - try copying a color while holding Ctrl, then try doing it the "normal" way, and you'll see what's wrong.

Not sure if that's actually intentional, but I see no harm in "fixing" this.


It's intentional. If there's a color on the windows clipboard, it will always take precedence over the old internal method for copying colors. You're actually supposed to hold Ctrl to copy colors with right click now, but it's still optional since it doesn't harm anything and some people might still be used to just right clicking. While it could be adjusted, it might just throw someone else off if they're used to copying between copies of LM without holding Ctrl on right click....


Originally posted by BlackEagle766
And maybe a small bug pointing out here, but sometimes when I set to much exanimations in 1 level (In my case it was with my Ardy lightfoot when I made it have more then about 0F animations) the exanimation screws up entirely, both in LM and in-game.


Can you provide a sample level/hack to demonstrate this?
Here's a new one...

Full use of all palettes for the overworld. Really, we should in a future version be able to make an overworld like Brutal Mario's or Toad's World without having to use some kind of overworld ASM. And it should display correctly in Lunar Magic.

Also, an option to disable overworld animation or the animation used for event tiles. Because as it is now, it's playing havoc with my custom overworld ExGFX, and it seems like something that would be so simple to have an option for.

The patch to refresh the overworld graphics upon entering a submap even if you use the door/bridge/paths to get there would be nice too, that way we could have custom ExGFX for each submap easily.

Finally, a way to copy blocks of colours on palette rows. Maybe holding CTRL and left clicking each colour copies all the colours you select at once? That way, you could paste in the redrawn palettes even easier than using palette rows.
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As for Mario's Nightmare Quest? Well, it's currently on Fusion Gameworks, ROM Hacking.net or the GCN at the moment.
Palette editor selections and copy/paste.

Ex:
I open the palette editor in one level, highlight all of palette one and half of palette two. I click "copy", close the window, and go to another level. I open the new level's palette, and click "paste". Only the selected colors are pasted, while the rest of the level palette is left intact.

Integrated insertion for everything.

Really, most of the programs hackers use are command line things. It should be easy to make them into Lunar Magic buttons. Imagine how useful it would be to have buttons for "Insert Custom Music" and "Insert Custom Sprites"? Maybe it wouldn't be the best for those actually making the music and sprites, but 90% of hackers work with stuff that has already been created and tested by someone else.
Added some more updates to the first post based on the last few. It seems that the most common feature people want is a more flexible palette editor, with the ability to do things like highlight a certain portion of the palette and copy/paste entire blocks. More Layer 3 editing ability and No Sprite Tile Limits (which surprises me) are close behind, and a substantial number of people have mentioned making the Map16 editor more powerful. I have to say, I'm disappointed that not many other people are supporting me on the custom object tooltip thing, though. (The framework is already there...how hard could it be? I'm going to have a lovely time making levels out of Yoshi's Island graphics and having the objects not even show up with the correct dimensions, let alone the correct graphics...) Oh well, I guess.

Hmm...what about reorganizing the original game's animation frames to make them easier to edit? I made a patch that sort of does this, but it's not customizable enough to release.

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I'm working on a hack! Check it out here. Progress: 64/95 levels.
@Lucas: Couldn't have agreed more. I have yet to figure out why FuSoYa doesn't just create a few more buttons that start launch those processes (slogger/sprite tool/xkas/etc), because really those tools are used by pretty much every hacker. Doesn't even require that much effort either.

Quote
Palette editor selections and copy/paste.

I was just about to post the same thing after I read cheat-master30's post. We should be able to select certain palettes and copy/paste them to and from the clipboard rather than one at a time.
Also, if Ice Man's HDMA fixes were to be inserted, there should also be an option for automatically setting the priority bit of all pipe Map16 tiles.

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