BMP to GFX & Vice Versa

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Making the topic here as it didn't seem appropriate for Engine Works, but feel free to move it back there if it's deemed okay.

Basically, I'm very interested in a way that would let me work on .gfx files using MS Paint. I've heard of methods that allow you to convert them into BMP files, edit them as you need, and then reconvert them, but I've no idea how that works. I tried Google repeatedly from time to time and never got anything that looked helpful. I use TLP, and it does have an Import BMP option, so that only strengthens the impression that it must be possible to do what I'm wanting to do.

I hope I'm explaining this properly... Also this is in regards to respriting bosses and enemies and such, if anyone was curious as to why I'm interested in this. Some bosses like Kraid and Crocomire are in mismatched pieces in the SCE of various tilesets, and being able to work on them in a proper graphics program like Paint would be a lot easier than going in and doing the tiles individually, at least for me. Well, perhaps "proper graphics program" is the wrong word, maybe one that feels more comfortable would be better.

[Zhs2]

MathOnNapkins made a utility just for this purpose. Does what it says on the tin, although he has distinguished it as beta software and it doesn't come with any documentation...

[Lunaria]

Does this tool only make a bitmap to import into TLP or does it draw the graphics into some sort of file that is just to open as is in any tilelayer?

[Zhs2]

Not sure if it does vice-versa, but it definitely converts a bitmap to an importable .bpp file (which is really just a renamed .gfx file.)

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Ah, now this is interesting. I guess this is what Silver was talking about when he said "MoN" but I didn't get the chance to ask him what MoN meant. I'll give this a try when I start working on it again tonight, thanks.

[Crashtour99]

To be precise, it spits out 3 files:
.4bpp (SNES graphics file that can be loaded up in a tile editor)
.asm file (not sure what this is for, but it makes one for something)
.pal file (yep it produces a palette file as well)

Some notes on using it:
Padding pixels for if you are importing a tile sheet that has the tiles spaced out (like the ones you might find on Metroid Fan Mission).  Use this to remove those extra pixels between the spaced out tiles.
Be sure to set your clear/background color otherwise it won't put all those clear/empty tiles in the graphics file it produces.

I haven't figured out how the merge palettes option works just yet, so play around with it.

Note: it doesn't always work with every .bmp or .png so on some you may be SOL (yes it does .pngs as well).

[Qactis]

Please note I have YET to successfully open a .4bpp file from MON's program in TLP. Though they open in yy-chr just fine. The complimentary .pal file also does not open in TLP (I think?). I used to use TLP for everything too, until I started using yy-chr and I like yy-chr a whole lot more. There's more tools for drawing (such as rectangle boxes paint buckets line tools and such) and yy-chr supports a lot more files than TLP does.

MON's program spits out a differently ordered palette with each conversion you make, so it's best to photoshop all your tiles before you save them and put them intoa  64x64 file then load that into bmp-snes for best results. I personally like to open said area you're ripping graphics from and make a save-state there because you can actually load that into your tile editor, edit the tiles with it, then export it as a palette to import into SMILE.