Super Metroid/SMILE Help Thread

2009-06-25 04:36:38 pm

Go ahead. Stare.

Quote from omegawaffle:

Hey thanks dude but one more question is there a non-phazon corruption related way to increase a room size cause i need to

Look into the moon-edit faq. It is huge, but reading all of that will help you out a lot. Increasing room size is pretty easy. You will need to find free space in a hex editor, free space is when everything shows up as FF FF FF FF FF. Once you find that you will need to figure out what bank it is in and plug it into the level data pointer in SMILE. Make sure you note the location in the level entries document included in SMILE so you can have an acurate guide of how much space you have.

I would recomend expanding your rom first, and then using the bank you just made as your starting point, so you don't accidentally screw something else up. To expand the rom, I think you click on tools in SMILE and I believe the option is right there.

Quietus

2009-06-25 07:39:25 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

I have two questions, if I may:

1. To enlarge any of the rooms, I need to first expand the ROM in SMILE, then use a hex editor to point to the new, blank space, but how exactly do you do this?

2. How do you make tiles that Samus can go behind / in front of? I've noticed that sometimes she is in front of the tiles, like the grass, yet some, like x-ray, she'll go behind.

MoogleEmperor

2009-06-25 08:09:46 pm

2, You can change whether a tile is drawn in front of or behind Samus by going to the graphics editor in SMILE, selecting the tile you wish to change, and clicking on its sections; if the section has a small red square on it it'll be drawn in front of Samus. Note that putting a foreground tile in Layer 2 won't stop it from being drawn in front of Samus.

Sadiztik Fish

2009-06-25 10:12:15 pm

OMG FLAN!!!!!!!

Quote from MoogleEmperor:

if the section has a small red square on it it'll be drawn in front of Samus.

Other way around. Imagine the red square is samus. If there is a red square, then that part is drawn behind the square (and thus behind samus). If there's no square, it's drawn in front.

Quietus

2009-06-26 05:16:59 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Thanks, guys, but how does one tell whether the tiles are foreground, background, et cetera? Trial and error?

What I mean is, if I have the same tile, but wanted Samus to run in front of some, behind others, and have some as the solid 'level' layer, how would I achieve that? I gather that the foreground ones are just x-ray tiles, as Samus goes behind them like she does secret areas, but what about the others?

Jathys

2009-06-26 08:06:05 am

Quote from Quietus:

Thanks, guys, but how does one tell whether the tiles are foreground, background, et cetera? Trial and error?

As just mentioned... Go into the graphics editor and select the tile in question. If the tiles are in front of the red box, the tiles are in front. If the tiles are behind the red box, the tiles are behind... (Yet another feature that was obvious to me, but apparently not so much so to others)

Want a tile to be in front sometimes and behind sometimes? You're going to have to make a copy of that tile somewhere else in the tile sheet with the attributes you need it to have (click on a square in the large tile view and it will go forwards/backwards). Be fore warned though... Unless you know how to move the graphic sets, I wouldn't add too many new tiles. Tile tables get overwritten somewhat easily if you add too much.

Quietus

2009-06-26 08:22:56 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Thanks, Jathys. I'm fortunate in that my hack is retro themed, so a lot of my tiles are simple and symmetrical, so I can flip the same tile a lot of ways resulting in me having more space for various tiles.

On a similar note (I didn't see it), does SMILE have the facility to rotate tiles? I know I can achieve this in TLP, but as stated above, a number of my tiles could be used to cover any number of angles.

Jathys

2009-06-26 10:23:20 am

Quote from Quietus:

Thanks, Jathys. I'm fortunate in that my hack is retro themed, so a lot of my tiles are simple and symmetrical, so I can flip the same tile a lot of ways resulting in me having more space for various tiles.

On a similar note (I didn't see it), does SMILE have the facility to rotate tiles? I know I can achieve this in TLP, but as stated above, a number of my tiles could be used to cover any number of angles.

As for flipping.... You see the buttons to the horizontal and vertical axis of each piece of the 16x16 tile (large view).... Click the horizontal one to flip it horizontally... Click the vertical one to flip it vertically... Again, people need to play with smile more.

As for saving space by flipping the same tile a lot... You may save space for the actual tiles, but NOT in the tile table. You change the tile used by changing a byte. You also change its flip by changing a byte. Whether you opt to flip the 8x8's or simply add more to the gfx portion of your tile sheet, you're still changing the same number of bytes.

[quote="Quietus"]Thanks, Jathys.  I'm fortunate in that my hack is retro themed, so a lot of my tiles are simple and symmetrical, so I can flip the same tile a lot of ways resulting in me having more space for various tiles.

On a similar note (I didn't see it), does SMILE have the facility to rotate tiles?  I know I can achieve this in TLP, but as stated above, a number of my tiles could be used to cover any number of angles.[/quote]
As for flipping.... You see the buttons to the horizontal and vertical axis of each piece of the 16x16 tile (large view).... Click the horizontal one to flip it horizontally... Click the vertical one to flip it vertically... Again, people need to play with smile more.

As for saving space by flipping the same tile a lot... You may save space for the actual tiles, but NOT in the tile table.  You change the tile used by changing a byte.  You also change its flip by changing a byte.  Whether you opt to flip the 8x8's or simply add more to the gfx portion of your tile sheet, you're still changing the same number of bytes.

Acheron

2009-06-26 11:35:52 am

Acclaimed Threshold

Constant Sorrows

You can flip tiles, but you can't rotate them. I suspect this is a limitation of the SM engine, not Smile.

Kejardon

2009-06-26 01:33:43 pm

Embarrasing Fact: Power suit made by lowest bidder

actually it's a limitation of the SNES. Unless you intend to rotate the graphics via code, but that's going to use more VRAM

Quietus

2009-06-26 05:04:48 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Yeah - I was asking specificaly about rotating, but thanks for the info about the tile table.

Draconis Kenjishiya

2009-06-27 09:00:32 am

All things considered, I shouldn't be awake. x.x

I'm trying to add PLMs to a room. I've got it figured out, and I've read the FAQ, but I had an issue last night (luckily I backed up) and I want to see what I did wrong.

Ok, I opened up my rom in Windhex32, and went to offset 78000. I found where all the FFs started (it was 7E9B0) and I put E9B0 as the PLM pointer for the room I'm trying to edit, and hit "No" when the prompt showed up. But when I went to the add/delete pointer function, it was already at max 32 PLMs, even though there were only 3 in the room already...o.O

Any ideas?

Jathys

2009-06-27 09:14:38 am

Quote from Draconis Kenjishiya:

I found where all the FFs started (it was 7E9B0) and I put E9B0 as the PLM pointer for the room I'm trying to edit, and hit "No" when the prompt showed up. But when I went to the add/delete pointer function, it was already at max 32 PLMs, even though there were only 3 in the room already...o.O

By the "add/delete pointer function", I assume you meant the +/- plm function?

In any case... READ the prompt that pops up:

Quote:

Copy data (when applicable) to the newly pointed to locations?
YES = copies data to the newly pointed to location.
NO = just change the pointer, using the data that's already at the new location.
(Hint: If just pointed to data you want to use, choose NO)

Choosing "NO" in your case means that the PLM data you're using is FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF to the end of the bank. PLM data does not come to an end until it sees a 0000. Either reduce the number of PLM's in the room (and then, of course, select the proper types as they are currently unknowns) -or- Choose "YES" next time.

Hint: Choose "YES" when you're pointing to a blank area and need data put there... "NO" when you're pointing to an area that already has data that you don't want overwritten.

[quote="Draconis Kenjishiya"]I found where all the FFs started (it was 7E9B0) and I put E9B0 as the PLM pointer for the room I'm trying to edit, and hit "No" when the prompt showed up. But when I went to the add/delete pointer function, it was already at max 32 PLMs, even though there were only 3 in the room already...o.O[/quote]

By the "add/delete pointer function", I assume you meant the +/- plm function?

In any case... READ the prompt that pops up:
[spoiler="The prompt"]
[quote]Copy data (when applicable) to the newly pointed to locations?
YES = copies data to the newly pointed to location.
NO = just change the pointer, using the data that's already at the new location.
(Hint: If just pointed to data you want to use, choose NO)[/quote]
[/spoiler]

Choosing "NO" in your case means that the PLM data you're using is FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF to the end of the bank.  PLM data does not come to an end until it sees a 0000.  Either reduce the number of PLM's in the room (and then, of course, select the proper types as they are currently unknowns) -or- Choose "YES" next time.

Hint: Choose "YES" when you're pointing to a blank area and need data put there... "NO" when you're pointing to an area that already has data that you don't want overwritten.

Quietus

2009-06-27 10:03:04 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

I've noticed that some of the tiles appear to come with BTS attached, and you get Power Bombs displayed or something, but is there a way to place the tile, yet remove the BTS, so it's just blank?

Deep_Space_Observer

2009-06-27 10:13:54 am

Double click on the tile and choose what you want it to be when you place it.

Quietus

Edit history:

Quietus: 2009-06-27 07:43:13 pm

2009-06-27 10:17:38 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Thanks, DSO - that's been bugging me for weeks. laugh new

EDIT: Are certain tiles unable to be edited? The reason I ask is the following: The tile on the left is my tile in SMILE, but when it's placed it looks like the one on the right... (Orange line just separates the two)

Also, some seem to have black backgrounds, despite using the transparent colour in the top left-hand corner. Is this normal?

EDIT 2: Never mind. Perhaps SMILE had had enough of me for one day, as closing and reloading SMILE sorted it... Eh?

attachment:

Tile.png

Draconis Kenjishiya

Edit history:

Draconis Kenjishiya: 2009-06-27 10:42:26 pm

2009-06-27 09:55:18 pm

All things considered, I shouldn't be awake. x.x

Quote from Jathys:

Hint: Choose "YES" when you're pointing to a blank area and need data put there... "NO" when you're pointing to an area that already has data that you don't want overwritten.

Iiiiiiiii'm dumb XD thanks mate.

Ah, new question. Save Points: WTF?! Or rather, I know nothing about them and would like to be pointed in the right direction. A thwack over the head and a "read this" would be helpful, even. Basically, I need to know how to set Samus to respawn where I put the save point, instead of where it was originally. I know how to make the PLM and about save point indexes. The "area load station" option is what baffles me.

daltone

Edit history:

daltone: 2009-06-28 01:33:24 am

2009-06-28 01:09:03 am

Burrrp!

I cant find anything on this with the search but,
i added fx1 (water) to the bomb torizo room and i changed the pallet to 48 and normal water,
used water settings, but the water is always invisible, i tried everything i can think of checking other rooms with water in a clean rom. any suggestions?

EDIT: Dur... i got it...
how would i get the bomb torizo to walk up a slope and on top of other blocks and back down?

EDIT2: wow bad night, got it to work as well, sorry wasted space...

SMILEuser96

2009-06-28 03:48:24 am

Samus...? Is that you?

Quote from Draconis Kenjishiya:

Save Points: WTF?! Or rather, I know nothing about them and would like to be pointed in the right direction. A thwack over the head and a "read this" would be helpful, even. Basically, I need to know how to set Samus to respawn where I put the save point, instead of where it was originally.

Go to Edit -> Area Load Stations. Choose the Save Point index for your save point. Now, just change the Scroll X and Scroll Y to correct values. For example, if the save point is in screen 5,2 (6th screen from left and 3rd screen from top of the room) set the values to 0500 and 0200. Samus Y (from top) and Samus X (from middle) changes Samus' position on the screen when you load from there. Play with them until Samus appears where she should

Hint: Save stations should always be horizonally in the middle of the screen, so you don't have to do anything with Samus X
Hint2: They also should be in 1x1 rooms, like in original SM. No need to do anything with Scroll X and Y
Note: The top left screen of the rooms is 0,0, not 1,1. That's why screen 5,2 actually is 6th and 3rd screen.

[quote="Draconis Kenjishiya"]
Save Points: WTF?! Or rather, I know nothing about them and would like to be pointed in the right direction. A thwack over the head and a "read this" would be helpful, even. Basically, I need to know how to set Samus to respawn where I put the save point, instead of where it was originally.
[/quote]
Go to Edit -> Area Load Stations. Choose the Save Point index for your save point. Now, just change the Scroll X and Scroll Y to correct values. For example, if the save point is in screen 5,2 (6th screen from left and 3rd screen from top of the room) set the values to 0500 and 0200. Samus Y (from top) and Samus X (from middle) changes Samus' position on the screen when you load from there. Play with them until Samus appears where she should

Hint: Save stations should always be horizonally in the middle of the screen, so you don't have to do anything with Samus X
Hint2: They also should be in 1x1 rooms, like in original SM. No need to do anything with Scroll X and Y 
Note: The top left screen of the rooms is 0,0, not 1,1. That's why screen 5,2 actually is 6th and 3rd screen.

Draconis Kenjishiya

Edit history:

Draconis Kenjishiya: 2009-06-28 07:54:42 am

2009-06-28 07:36:01 am

All things considered, I shouldn't be awake. x.x

Awesome. Thanks mate.

Hm. It isn't working. Let me show you:

I'm putting a save point in the Wrecked Ship from the save point it was in to an area in a large room (3x7). The saved statistics are like this:
(Wrecked Ship) Index: 00
ACB3 -- Room ID
A240 <-- 0000
0000 -- Unknown
0000 -- Scroll X
0100 -- Scroll Y

As far as I can tell, when I load up the save point, the map shows nothing, and when I load it, I seem to appear in the old save room, just in a different area of it so the tiles glitch rediculously:

SMILEuser96

Edit history:

SMILEuser96: 2009-06-28 09:20:38 am

2009-06-28 08:26:39 am

Samus...? Is that you?

Oh, your save point is in another room than it originally was. First open the room you have the save point in. Then go back to Edit -> Area Load Station. Click ''Room ID''. Click ''Use CURRENT room for this load station''. Save. Then go to a room that has door leading to the room that has the save point in. Hover your mouse over the door and press 'D'. Door editing screen appears. Click ''Use Current Door To Point Save/Load Point''. That should do it.

If you still have problems, ask someone who's more experienced.

Draconis Kenjishiya

2009-06-28 07:22:25 pm

All things considered, I shouldn't be awake. x.x

Awesome, I got them working. Final question:
How do I figure out the Samus X (from middle) configuration? My save point is off to the left, at X (01). From what I can tell, a Save Point "off to the left" by a single X digit or two is FFE0, but...I've no idea how to figure that out.

Also, for anyone who knows: how do I get the treadmills to work? o.O I set the tiles down as they appear in already-made Wrecked Ship rooms, but when I test them, they don't animate (yes, I checked that off in FX1) and the treadmill fails to do anything.

MetroidMst

2009-06-28 08:41:56 pm

Go ahead. Stare.

Treadmills won't work unless the main boss is dead/power is on. That might be your problem.

Sadiztik Fish

2009-06-29 12:00:53 am

OMG FLAN!!!!!!!

For whoever asked the question about water in Torizo's room:

Torizo makes his own FX1 (so do a lot of bosses), which overwrites ANY FX1 in that room. You can't put water in Torizo's room without changing the enemy AI.

@ Quietus:
That problem you had with the tile appearing differently in SMILE and the table is cause you had layer2 turned off. The older versions of SMILE didn't refresh the tilemap when you placed a tile and layer2 was off. So if you place a tile over another, the previous one will show through any transparent areas of the new tile, and the colors will be mixed together. You'll easily see this when placing slopes. You can easliy fix it by keeping layer2 on (or just switching it on then off again). Though the new version of SMILE fixes this problem anyway.

Quietus

2009-06-29 07:31:24 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Quote from Sadiztik Fish:

That problem you had with the tile appearing differently in SMILE and the table is cause you had layer2 turned off... ...You can easliy fix it by keeping layer2 on (or just switching it on then off again).

Thanks. I also found that just exiting the room and entering again does the same thing.