Editing Tutorial - Basic Graphics Editing for Metroid 1 - (Using Tile Layer Pro)

[Grimlock]

Editing Tutorial - Basic Graphics Editing for Metroid 1 - (Using Tile Layer Pro)

Note: back up your ROM before any graphics editing session.

Requires the following actions:
1. Rom Expansion
2. Graphics editing with Tile Layer pro
3. Combo and Structure editing in Editroid (F7 to open editor)
4. Copying of edited tiles in Tile Molester

Tutorial assumes the following:
1. You are working with an Expanded ROM
2. You have download and installed Tile Layer Pro
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/108/
3. You have limited to no experience with Tile Layer Pro
4. You have downloaded and installed Tile Molester
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/991/
5. You have limited to no experience with Tile Molester


1. Open Project and ensure it is expanded

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Open Project and ensure it is expanded, if not:
Expand:


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2. Open CHR usage editor

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Open "Editors>CHR Usage Editor":

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3. Adjust CHR usage settings

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Expanding created 4 copies of all of the areas graphics tiles and has them preset to cycle one after another.  When editing new graphics and creating your new layout/area you want to keep it simple and just work in the first frame.  Animations should generally be one of the last things you work on:

Default "CHR Usage":



Adjusted "CHR Usage":

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4. Open Tile layer Pro and open your ROM

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Open Tile layer Pro and open your ROM File you intend to edit.
(Note: Leave Editroid open with the same ROM)



Tip: Go to "View>Zoom" and select 4X to zoom in if you desire a larger view of the tiles.



Tip: You can make the window taller but avoid making it wider as it makes editing more difficult.

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5. Locate your tiles in Tile Layer Pro with assistance from the Structure Editor in Editroid

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In Editroid select a structure in the area you intend to edit graphics for and press "F7".  This will open the structure editor.  If you compare the tile window on the far left to the graphics in Tile Layer Pro it can help locate the tiles easier.  (Example: Brinstar Tiles).

Tip: Press right once in Tile Layer Pro to shift the tile view over one tile to make it display the tiles in the same order as the structure editor in Editroid.



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6. Explanation of duplicated tiles (4 sets per area)

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Once you find the tiles you are looking for in Tile Layer Pro you will find that there are 4 sets of identical tiles one after the other.  These represent the four frames of animation we adjusted in the "CHR Usage" screen in step 3.  The game will literally cycle ALL of the tile graphics, that means once you get to your animation phase in your hack you will be able to make any combo animate as you desire.  For now though I would highly recommend that you don't do any work with the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th frame of animation until you are absolutely certain that you are confident in your tile set.  You can copy the entire first frame of tiles and paste them to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th frame in "Tile Molester" once you are ready.

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7. Explanation of the working palette in Tile Layer Pro

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The palette in Tile Layer Pro doesn't change the colors in the game, it's just there to represent the color slots, you can use whatever color you want or that you find helpful.  The actual colors are chosen in Editroid.  The far left color (Black) represents transparency.

Default:



Custom Greyscale:



Adjusted to look similar to a palette in Editroid:



Tip: Once you have a working palette selected in Tile Layer Pro you can copy the palette choices over the tile arranger "Palette>Transfer to Arranger" (The tile arranger has a separate working palette than the ROMs tile window):

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8. Explanation of the Tile Arranger

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The tile arranger is used to paint the tiles from the ROMs tile window into a more usable and visually appealing layout.  Consider this your work table.  Left click any tile in your tile window and right click to paint in onto the Tile Arranger window.  Left click to select a tile on the tile arranger.



In the image you can see the familiar Metroid block is assembled from four pieces (8x8 tiles), the common order in the Metroid ROM is upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right.  Together they form a 16x16 combo.



Examples of the some of my earlier tile work using the Tile Arranger:



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9. Selecting and editing tiles

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Tiles may be selected for editing by left clicking on them in the large ROM tile window or left clicking on the ones you painted onto the Tile Arranger.  Simply click on one of the colors in the Palette Editor and then click on the pixel you wish to paint in the Tile Editor window.
You may also left click + Hold to drag/copy any tile to a new tile location.  This also works if you want to drag from the arranger to your ROM tile window.  You can also use this method to drag a tile from a different game into your ROM (Copy graphics from other games).
In this example the upper left corner of the block is selected and displayed in the "Tile Editor":

Tip: Left click a color to load it to the left mouse button and right click a color to load it to the right mouse button.  This allows you to work with 2 colors at a time.



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10.  Tile editing example

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Example edit:  Here I did a quick drag/copy of the block tiles to the previously black/unused tiles and edited them in order to create some additional blocks that can add variation in the game.

(This is a quick edit for demonstrational purposes; you should give your edits more attention and detail)

Drag copied:



Edited to create variation in the floor:

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11.  Saving your work

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Save your file after you edit your tiles:

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12:  Editroid "File has changed" warning window (and what to do)

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With Editroid open you will see a notification window open.  Under most circumstances you will want to press "Reload Patterns Only".  After you select this option the window will close and your graphics will update in the editor.  I would recommend that you save in Editroid immediately after selecting "Reload Patterns Only" (Don't forget this save step or you'll learn the hard way). 

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13:  Using your new graphics in Editroid

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Press "F7" to open your structure editor.  You should now see the edited graphics on the left tile window.  Build your combos with your new tiles and add them to your structures as needed.  You may also create new structures as memory allows.

Basic combo editing tutorial:

To paint the tiles from the left window to the center combo editor simple click on the tile then hold shift and click on one of the combos in the center area to place the selected tile in a combo.  A second method will allow you to place 4 tiles simultaneously.  If your tiles are in the following order (as seen in set 8) upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right, you can select the first tile in the pattern and control click  on a combo slot and it will fill all four tiles in place.  To change the structures just select one in a game screen and select a center combo in the structure editor and paint it onto the structure on the far right window.  All of the garbled combos are free to use.

Structure Editor with new tile combos created:




Adjusted Structure with new floor tiles to create variation:



To create a new structure click on the window you intend to add it to, press "," to add a structure, select it.  Then click on the little green "+", red "-" button and select "New Structure"

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14:  Additional Tile Information:

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If you want to edit the enemy sprites or the player sprites you will find the player and enemy sprites for the first play through displayed above the tiles used for the second play through.  You can have different enemies if you like after the game is beaten once.



When editing tiles keep in mind that certain tiles have certain physics properties, Air, Door, Solid, Breakable:


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15:  Basic Tile Molester Instructions

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Back up your ROM before you attempt using Tile Molester, it can be easy to copy over tiles unintentionally.
When you are done with your area and you think you won't be adding many more tiles use Tile Molester to copy your first frame edited graphics tiles over the other frames containing the default "vanilla" Metroid tiles.  Simply scroll down in the ROM until you are viewing the full set of frame 1 tiles (press right once to line up the tiles properly so they are in the same order as they are displayed in the Editroid structure editor).  Drag a selection over all of the tiles and click the copy button:



Immediately press the "Esc" (Escape) key to unselect (Don't forget this step or you'll learn the hard way).  Use your down arrow key to scroll down to your next frame you wish to copy your tiles to.  Ensure you are viewing the full existent of the next frame.  Press the paste button followed immediately by the ESC key.

TIP: Always press the ESC key because any selected tile or pasted tile is floating over the other tiles, if you press an arrow key or scroll with the scroll bar you'll be moving the tiles over other tiles you probably don't want to write over.  Always press "ESC" to drop the tiles into position.  You can copy/paste smaller selections of tiles (in the same ROM or between multiple ROMS) and move them into position after pasting them while they are still selected and floating without the risk of dropping them in the wrong position.
Continue this process on the remaining frames.  After that you can save the ROM and open it in Tile Layer Pro to edit the individual tiles across the frames to create animations.

TIP: Don't forget to change the CHR Usage back to its default values when you begin editing your animations:

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16.  Basic Animation instructions

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Make sure you have your CHR usage settings back to their default values for the areas you intend to edit animations in:



You can paint the tiles from the various frames onto the Tile Arranger and edit them to create animations:

Example of the Tile arranger displaying some animations from the hack Metroid Incursion:

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If you have any questions of would like clarification please post in this thread and I will edit and expand this tutorial as required.  In the future I will create some additional tutorials to cover more advanced graphics editing techniques.

[Grimlock]

Additional Graphics Editing Resources:

I'm going to use this second post to add additional links to graphics editing resources that are relevant to the tutorial.


Here's a video by "RIGG'd Games" that covers general NES graphics editing in Tile Layer Pro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMACSQjyRDs

[Quietus]

That didn't seem to work for me, likely because of the mobile bit. Try this:

Code Select Expand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMACSQjyRDs

[Grimlock]

That didn't seem to work for me, likely because of the mobile bit. Try this:

Code Select Expand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMACSQjyRDs

Thanks for pointing that out.   :yay:

[PKstarship]

I don't have Tile Layer Pro, but this thread has inspired me to make some sprite edits for some NES games.

[Quietus]

I don't have Tile Layer Pro

This is very easily remedied.

[PKstarship]

I don't have a PC but I do have Tile Layer for DOS. I might make some crappy sprite edits for Metroid or something. I've also thought about changing Super Mario 3's graphics to that of Mario 1, and making a hack based around that.

[Meeptroid]

I don't have a PC but I do have Tile Layer for DOS. I might make some crappy sprite edits for Metroid or something. I've also thought about changing Super Mario 3's graphics to that of Mario 1, and making a hack based around that.

Hey, I would play that shit, its still cool, considering I HAVE seen your pixelart work

[Grimlock]

I've also thought about changing Super Mario 3's graphics to that of Mario 1, and making a hack based around that.

Funny you should mention that, I just recently came across an old unfinished (presumably abandoned) graphics hack for SMB3 where they started replacing the graphics with SMB 1 graphics.  It was in a torrent I downloaded several years ago, if you're interested I can upload it to dropbox.

EDIT:  I also discovered 6 previously unreleased incomplete M1 hacks, maybe I'll post them in a thread here if anyone wants to pick them up, I would guess they are all over 10 years old.  Graphics and level hacks.

[PKstarship]

Wow, thanks, that would be awesome! So far I've changed the points graphics to mario 1 style using only my memory, not importing tiles (I've played that much Super Mario Bros.) :^_^: it's gonna be a bit difficult to edit Mario though, his graphics area is a total disaster, it's hard to make sense of it...

[Meeptroid]

I've also thought about changing Super Mario 3's graphics to that of Mario 1, and making a hack based around that.

Funny you should mention that, I just recently came across an old unfinished (presumably abandoned) graphics hack for SMB3 where they started replacing the graphics with SMB 1 graphics.  It was in a torrent I downloaded several years ago, if you're interested I can upload it to dropbox.

EDIT:  I also discovered 6 previously unreleased incomplete M1 hacks, maybe I'll post them in a thread here if anyone wants to pick them up, I would guess they are all over 10 years old.  Graphics and level hacks.

Grimlock, please do release them, I might be able to help spruce them up and make them some type of mini-hack, and it could help me understand Editroid a bit more

[ThatSpoiler]

I am unable to find a copy of Tile Molester that will work with my computer. Are there any good alternative programs?

[Quietus]

There are quite a few. I'd suggest checking through the list on romhacking.net. :^_^:

[Grimlock]

You actually don't need tile molester, at the time of writing this tutorial I was unaware of the ability to copy and paste larger selections of tiles with Tile Layer Pro.  You can right click plus drag to select multiple tiles, then ctrl + c to copy, then press ctrl + v to paste.  Watch the video I posted, I believe it mentions it as well.  So in short, disregard tile molester.

[Flower]

You actually don't need tile molester, at the time of writing this tutorial I was unaware of the ability to copy and paste larger selections of tiles with Tile Layer Pro.  You can right click plus drag to select multiple tiles, then ctrl + c to copy, then press ctrl + v to paste.  Watch the video I posted, I believe it mentions it as well.  So in short, disregard tile molester.

Hey that's interesting, because i was already thinking about what could be the advantages of tilemolester, as i was already copy-pasting with tlp, and it works out well.
Never forget to backup in advance! Misplaced graphic tiles ain't fun.

[ThatSpoiler]

Thanks for the help!

I've also learned what happens if you forget to change the CHR Usage settings: SURPRISE ANIMATIONS!

I loaded up my hack and watched as my screen flashed back and forth between these images:

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[Grimlock]

Nice graphics, start a thread for your project when you're ready so we can see what you're cooking up.  :cool:

[Flower]

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YEAH, i like that, too!  :cool: