SMILE JX [new poll]

[Quietus]

Just adding my vote for the return of the original UI.

[Scyzer]

I do much prefer the old UI over the parlor one, but parlor does have some ups over the old one, like how the options were grouped up (something I've expanded with in RF).
You could always make it a selectable option to change the UI, then just keep both. XD

[Black Falcon]

Old UI, pretty much.
The new UI has its advantages, too, but it still needs some work.
Maybe some kind of mix between old and new, also maybe customizable options if it isn't too much work.

[Quietus]

Some of the options would certainly be better with instant access button.  Things like tile size, exporting a screenshot, and turning on and off scroll areas or BTS.  Buttons that can be pressed or toggled would be easier for those.

[P.JBoy]

Do whatever you want, just make sure there exist hotkeys; furthermore, if they could be made customisable, well that would be just swell

[Scyzer]

if they could be made customisable, well that would be just swell

I guess you could say... that would make you just swell up in the pants.
:D

[Rothlenar]

Something I noticed with 2.82:

I attempted to change the amount of ammo (Value textbox) you get from picking up a Missile Tank inside of an item orb (First Missile Expansion in Vanilla) to 000A in the PLM menu.

When I went to test this simple change, sure enough it gave me 10 missiles. As soon as I walked into the room where the Morph Ball is (again, Vanilla), or walked back into the missile room, the game crashes.

I don't remember 2.50 having this problem.... Sooooo...

*tiptoes over to the Smile 2.50 download*

At any rate, I thought I should let you know about this issue.

[Corruptor]

Instead of the big button for ROM related stuff and whatever the other big button is for up in the top left, it looked like this:

i think I like this look better.

[JAM]

Something I noticed with 2.82:

I attempted to change the amount of ammo (Value textbox) you get from picking up a Missile Tank inside of an item orb (First Missile Expansion in Vanilla) to 000A in the PLM menu.

When I went to test this simple change, sure enough it gave me 10 missiles. As soon as I walked into the room where the Morph Ball is (again, Vanilla), or walked back into the missile room, the game crashes.

I don't remember 2.50 having this problem.... Sooooo...

*tiptoes over to the Smile 2.50 download*

At any rate, I thought I should let you know about this issue.

I thought, I've fixed that. Perhaps I did it but later restored the code from one of backups. Thanks for the bug report. It will be fixed very soon. Intermediate version 2.82.2 will be released with no new features (yet), just bugfixes.

And remember to use backups. I'm talking about programs too. Just don't delete old version ATM when new version is out. I'm still using SMILE 2.3 for hacking, JX when I need new features and even SMILE 1.0 when I need to edit text at map like lore, so you're not alone.

I do much prefer the old UI over the parlor one, but parlor does have some ups over the old one, like how the options were grouped up (something I've expanded with in RF).
You could always make it a selectable option to change the UI, then just keep both. XD

Maybe some kind of mix between old and new, also maybe customizable options if it isn't too much work.

Well, currently 94% are for old HUI (Hacker's User Interface). Nevermind, inside joke.
But you guys and girls gave me idea. Return old UI, but make 2 menu options: Classic one and Parlor one (menu in classic style, but grouped like in Parlor. ROM menu will be instead File menu and possibly Room menu will be added with 2 options: Save Room and Reload Room with confirmation to each option). Menu style will be swithed somewhere in Options near TileSize.

What do you think, guys and girls?

[Quietus]

Personally, I'd like a mix.  I'd like the old menus back, with all of the options contained therein, but with big, fat, obvious buttons for common tasks.  Open Lunar Magic, and you'll see exactly what I'm on about.  Things like saving your room should be a big button, but things like editing the game's behaviour doesn't really need it.

[Scyzer]

Pffft. Saving room should be Ctrl S.
Which is exactly what I did. u mad bro?

[Quietus]

Nah.  Keyboard shortcuts are absolutely fine, and I use a few myself.  I guess the point is that SMILE isn't just for use by the gurus, though, so making it user-friendly is the key.

[Quote58]

I agree with scyzer that ctrl s would be fine. However you'd need to make it extremely clear to people new to smile.

[Mon732]

Well, currently 94% are for old HUI (Hacker's User Interface). Nevermind, inside joke.
But you guys and girls gave me idea. Return old UI, but make 2 menu options: Classic one and Parlor one (menu in classic style, but grouped like in Parlor. ROM menu will be instead File menu and possibly Room menu will be added with 2 options: Save Room and Reload Room with confirmation to each option). Menu style will be swithed somewhere in Options near TileSize.

What do you think, guys and girls?

I haven't used JX or seen the user interface but I like the sound of what you've described.

[JAM]

Well, looks like I will need to make another poll. But old menu style will be restored no matter what. Maybe with addition of buttons. That is the topic of next poll. And "Save Room" shortcut will be there. Perhaps done using Ctrl+S combination (but with prompt as it is now). And maybe Ctrl+R for refrash the room with prompt too.

[Rothlenar]

I thought, I've fixed that. Perhaps I did it but later restored the code from one of backups. Thanks for the bug report. It will be fixed very soon. Intermediate version 2.82.2 will be released with no new features (yet), just bugfixes.

And remember to use backups. I'm talking about programs too. Just don't delete old version ATM when new version is out. I'm still using SMILE 2.3 for hacking, JX when I need new features and even SMILE 1.0 when I need to edit text at map like lore, so you're not alone.

Heh. No worries there. I've learned my lessons with a recent hard drive wipe. Take it from someone who is studying to be a programmer.

Well, looks like I will need to make another poll.

You should put in person701's SMILE Guide in there. :D It got me on the right track with SMILE hacking. ^_^

[personitis]

Before that guide goes anywhere, it needs to be seriously rewritten. I also wanted to expand it to things beyond SMILE at one point. Wonder if I'll ever get back around to that....

[Scyzer]

Well, you could actually host an updating help/text/whatever file on the internet, but only as long as the download address is ALWAYS the same. Then each time you run RF, it could update it's own files, blah blah. Could put the SMILE guide in, then whenever you want to add/change something, JS would update as well automatically for everyone.

[JAM]

Well, you could actually host an updating help/text/whatever file on the internet, but only as long as the download address is ALWAYS the same. Then each time you run RF, it could update it's own files, blah blah. Could put the SMILE guide in, then whenever you want to add/change something, JS would update as well automatically for everyone.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of auto-updating. I prefer to control what will be updated and when and I don't like when programs live their own lifes. And sometimes it'll be just annoying (at least for me) because I may open SMILE 20 times per day and I'm not always online.

P.JBoy
I've checked the data about your patch. If I change byte that is checked right now, then my patch will be unsupported. I decided to add your patch to Binary Patches supported by SMILE in next version if you don't mind. And PLM repoint will be done in few clicks with no need to mess with ASM patch.



Version 2.82.2 is done!
Intermediate version contains just bugfixes. More stable than 2.82
(Yes, it was done 07.12.12, just had no time to upload it)
Changes since v2.82:

• Fixed run-time error "373". It happens if you're changed mdb.txt file between SMILE loads when working on different hacks. This bug is not allowing SMILE to run in attemt to load the room that not exists in file mdb.txt. Now in that case the very first room in the list will be loaded.
• Fixed bug causing the game crash after entering the room with already collected PLM with graphics used in CRE (Missile, Super Missile, Power Bombs, Energy Tank). If you have modified this PLM, zero word was saved to 3rd byte of item code causing the crash.

[personitis]

Personally, I'm not a big fan of auto-updating. I prefer to control what will be updated and when and I don't like when programs live their own lifes. And sometimes it'll be just annoying (at least for me) because I may open SMILE 20 times per day and I'm not always online.

You understood we're talking about a help file and not the program itself, correct?

[personitis]

I come bearing bugs/issues (also bump). I've been using JX 2.82.2 fix for three days now and it seems I'm finding something new everyday. :heheh:

1.) While doing some repointing, I came across "Run-time error '9': Subscript out of range." This isn't the problem. However when I booted SMILE back up, it tried to open the same ROM, couldn't do it, then gave me the same error, and closed back out. I would suggest that if this is to happen (SMILE trying to open a broke ROM like such) that on start-up, JX warns you of an error, then prompts you to open another ROM instead of just closing out.

Just for the record, I was able to fix my problem, but if something else would happen that isn't as easily fixed as mine was, this could reduce the hassle to re-install SMILE so it doesn't try to open the same ROM.

2.) When you choose Open New ROM and either close out of the window or cancel choosing a ROM, SMILE gives the "Must select ROM" message then closes. This is kind of silly.

3.) If using the map editor to navigate from room to room, I found that when you choose a room that is overlapped with another room, the "Choose room" dialogue/selecting window that appears shows up under the map editor. This makes clicking on another window in SMILE not possible, which in turn makes is impossible to just click out of SMILE. I had to use my task manager to end process. :neutral:

4.) Finally, this one's just kind of quirky. I use 2x3 view. If I were to open a "1 by x" sized room it would look fine, seen below.
[spoiler][/spoiler]
However, the moment I try to use the scroll wheel to navigate the room, it immediately does this:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Edit: 2/8/2013
5.) When using the number keys to specify a BTS value, the first number is input, but you have to re-click on the little box that pops up to input the other number. Example: I press '0' over a block, the small window pops up with a 0 in it, but I must re-click then press '4'. SMILE 2.5 had it so that you can simply type 04 and not have to re-click (just trying to elaborate).

Edit: 2/11/2013
6.) If F4 and/or F5 are used to turn off PLMs/Enemies, when you reload the room or load another, they are not turned off. A second press of those keys will turn them back on, and another press will turn them back off. So, when SMILE is told to turn them off and not display, when you switch rooms they are displayed again but SMILE is still in the "off state" so pressing the key again will turn it back to the "on state."

That does it for bug reports. I'll update this post if I run across any more. Happy hacking y'all.

[JAM]

Thanks for your findings!
I'll try to fix at least some of these bugs in next release. As for your guide, I'd like to include it in the SMILE program files in every release (with all credits given to you). If you still have a wish to work on it...

[JAM]

Show must go on!
Finally, the next version after long break. In short, added 3 major features that should'd be in SMILE long time ago... First, you don't need to be "a Genius" to edit 98% of game's palettes. Second, added a code that tracks on used space and allowed space when working in Graphic Editor. Minus one newbie killer. Yeah, this is horrible when you're editing something and only some time after realising that the something is screwed... And third, now you can track how many free space you have when working on something in Graphic Editor. Enjoy! =)

Changes since v2.82.2:

• In a Beauty Salon all palettes (except Samus' ones) are loaded from the editable text file. All known palettes and a few not known (for now) are added to this file.
• I'm a Genius is now a clickable checkbox.
• Now when clicking to "Export Palette" you can export all colors from selected palette by clicking "Yes" in the dialog window.
• No more endless Samus.tpl overwriting when exporting the palette. Now palette will be saved to the file containing hack name (optional), palette category and type. Something like "Super Metroid Hack Kraid damage gradients.tpl". In case you're a genius, expect to get filename like "My Super Hack 12E359-3F.tpl".
• Filename of tiletable of SCENERY when exporing now will contain tileset number like "My Super Hack_SCENERY_7.ttb".
• Detected and fixed the bug causing the program to load palettes from $FFxxxx addresses when the actual address is between $8000 and $FFFF.
• "Samus" Suit in Beauty Salon is renamed to "Power" as it actually is.
• Unknown Palette FX1 of Crateria is renamed to "Flash dark purple" as it actually is.
• "Flash orange" in FX1 of Crateria is renamed to "Glow-red/orange" similar to one in the Brinstar FX1 list.
• Added the code to Graphics Editor that give the user warning if next palette, tile table or tile graphics will be overwrited when editing palette, tile table or exporting the new SCENERY graphics.
• Used / allowed space is now displayed at the top of the Graphic Editor window, like when editing the room.

[MetroidMst]

Something else that popped into my head while in another topic that might be useful to add.

It would be nice if somewhere in SMILE it told you how much enemy GFX data you have used/available. For instance, trying to put a bunch of enemies into a single room, or combining them with bosses can cause their GFX to bork up completely because it has too much in the table. (Or wherever it is stored.) So a counter that lets people know if they are under the limit would be something else that could be added.

It isn't a huge deal, as you can simply keep fooling around with enemies/bosses until you find out it works, or that it will never work. But it still might be nice to have as a reference.

[Smiley]

If you're in the map editor and press E to open a room when there are multiple rooms in the same spot, the room selection dialog still appears under the map editor and it practically freezes SMILE. JAM, I am disappoint. :nowai:

Other than that, I really like this, 'specially the palette stuff.