8 replies to this topic

[OrangeGamer]

This is kind of an odd request, but I'm wondering on how one exactly goes about creating their own tileset in VX Ace, and wondering if there were any templates for this sort of thing available at all yet. I'm also very sorry if this is the wrong section.

I've only ever dabbled in making modifications to existing RPG Maker XP tilesets. I believe the proportions are different grid-size-wise for VX and VX Ace, however. If it helps, I'm looking to create maps for characters that are taller than the VX default as well. I think the size would mean two grid squares for doors and whatnot, but I don't know the area that VX uses for each tile-size pixel-wise.

Secondly, I'm a bit confused on how VX Ace works mapping-wise yet. XP had the layers tab handy in the top, and I haven't yet had the time to really sit down and grit into Ace. Is the layers tool still at the top menu bar? Or is there some other way of layering since I see many tileset pages that are items that would all go on the same, or similar layer. From seeing those sorts of things, it makes me think that tileset A, B, C, and D, etc are the different layers in VX Ace maybe? Sorry for that base of a question.

But at any rate, if anyone can help- I'd be extremely ecstatic. I have some specific ideas in areas of my game, and since I'm learning to go from digital painting to spriting anyhow, I figured I would attempt to ask some of the more experienced spriters/tilesetters/artists here for some info and tips on going about this.

Also, I'm seeing a lot about "shift-clicking" and "parallax" which I don't think was in XP. Any handy-dandy tutorials on those anywhere?

Thanks!

[Dagny]

Shift-clicking and parallaxing were available in XP (and before that), but they weren't necessary as often because XP's mapping system was a lot more intuitive. You don't need tutorials on them:

Shift-clicking is a basic feature of the RM series that is recently being talked more often about because the way that the VX RTP is arranged: when you hold down the shift button, you can prevent autotiles from tiling. Also if you hold shift when you select a tile from the map with the right mouse button, you can "stamp" it without worrying about it distorting any autotiles. You'll get the feel for it after just a couple minutes of practice.

Parallax mapping isn't as big or complex or novel as people make it out to be: all it means is that you draw your map on a panorama and set it as the background image to a blank map.

Secondly, I'm a bit confused on how VX Ace works mapping-wise yet. XP had the layers tab handy in the top, and I haven't yet had the time to really sit down and grit into Ace. Is the layers tool still at the top menu bar? Or is there some other way of layering since I see many tileset pages that are items that would all go on the same, or similar layer. From seeing those sorts of things, it makes me think that tileset A, B, C, and D, etc are the different layers in VX Ace maybe? Sorry for that base of a question.

VX and Ace has a bad mapping system, especially when compared to the layers used in 2K, 2K3 and XP. Ace does have layers, but they are invisible—you cannot toggle between them. Most tiles in TileA will be on the bottom layer, and everything else will be on the second layer. There are only two layers for mapping (people will argue that there are more, but they are talking about layers that are uneditable and/or have no effect on the mapping itself, like the mini-layers within TileA1's autotiles or the shadow layer).

Anyway, I made up some templates for creating tilesets for my own use—I'll upload them.

Okay, I made these for RPG Maker VX when it first game out, but most of it should apply to Ace:

http://finalbossblue..._tiletemplates/

You can see the images there, and each one has an explanation image as well.

Edited by needles, 17 March 2012 - 12:28 AM.

[Shaz]

VX Ace still uses the 32x32 pixel tile size, same as XP. So you COULD use the XP tilesets and adjust them to the right size for Ace (Ace uses fixed size tilesets that are wider than XP - XP's are only half the width, but they can go as far as the eye can see in the vertical direction).

The main difference with the tiles themselves is that, since Ace only gives you two layers, anything on the A layer should not have transparency, unless it's part of an A1 tile that will automatically go on top of another A1 tile. Have a good read through the RPG Maker VX Ace > Reference Material > Resource Standards > Tilesets section of the help file. I learned a lot by going through that v.e.r.y slowly.

Here is a tool I created with the intention of converting a lot of XP tilesets over to Ace. But you can use it to create Ace tilesets from VX tilesets, or by mixing and matching XP, VX and Ace tilesets. Really, anything can go in that "source image" box. There is no documentation, but I'm happy to answer any questions if you start using it and get stuck:
http://www.ezmash.ne...ceConverter.zip

Here's the blurb I wrote on the VXAce forum about it:

Spoiler

You can create animated autotiles from animated autotiles, regular autotiles, tilesets and charsets.
You can remove a background to add transparency, you can add a background to a transparent tile to give it a different appearance, and you can replace backgrounds (though they might need a little manual tweaking afterwards).
You can even overlay tiles on top of each other to give a non-animated tile an animated element.

Column 1, top row - a straight conversion of an XP autotile to a VX Ace autotile.
Column 1, rows 2, 3 and 4 - a straight conversion of the XP desert water autotile, the same autotile with the background removed, and the same autotile again with the background switched to a cobbled stone.

Column 2, rows 1, 2 and 3 - lava cave autotile, earth cave autotile, new autotile with the background from the earth cave and the lava from the lava cave.
Column 2, bottom row - waterfall with an animated fairy from a charset ... if for some reason you want to have an animated fairy hovering in front of your waterfall.

Right hand side - animated waterfall split into 3 tiles (VXAce waterfall animation is only one tile high, so to get the top and bottom of the waterfalls as we have them in XP, we need to use 3 autotiles).

And here's how they look in the game.

Spoiler

No instructions are included, so I'll provide a quick walkthrough here:

Spoiler

• Start by loading an RMXP image (animated or regular autotile, character or tileset) and choosing its type from the drop-down list box
• Select the cells you want to copy
• Choose the tileset to copy to, and the cell you want to copy into
• Click Convert
• Repeat until you're done
• Save your files

Some hints:

• You can remove, add or change the background of your tiles by choosing a single tile in the source image and clicking Source or Target Bg before selecting the tiles to copy, and setting the Background option (Ignore, Add, Remove, Replace) from the dropdown list.
• You can create a composite image by combining several tiles into one by changing the Overlay option.
• Check the Direct Copy box to copy the tiles exactly as they are (background and overlay options apply here) rather than trying to do any conversion. This will allow you to include existing VX and VX Ace tiles in your new tilesets.
• When doing a Direct Copy, you can offset the X and Y positions - handy if you want to move things around a little (more useful on tiles B-E).
• Autotiles can be created from autotiles, characters and tilesets. Sheets A5 and B-E are designed to only copy from tilesets using Direct Copy.
• Select a small area from the source tileset and a large area in the target (A5 and B-E only) and check the Fill box to have the pattern repeated (good for adding a background prior to overlaying other tiles).
• Select a 4x5 tree tile from the source tileset, a single cell in the target tileset and check the Invert box to have it create a "forest group" for you - placing these side by side on your map will give you lots of trees, like a forest, without wasting any valuable layers. Adding a background to it will let you put it on tile A5 so VX Ace puts it on the background layer.
• The undo button will only undo the last action on each tab.
• There is no prompt to save - if you change a tilesheet and close the application, you'll get no warning about losing saved data.

What's Next?:

• Characters
• Icons
• Longer Undo trail (10x, 20x, unlimited?)
• Save warning on exit

Edited by shaz, 17 March 2012 - 12:39 AM.

[OrangeGamer]

Wow, thanks for all this help! Glad that I didn't miss a layer tool or anything, since I though that had been the case initially. The templates and tools linked are also looking pretty helpful. And yeah, I knew about the XP method of it, but I thought there was some change for VX that made it completely different. I guess it just ends up being kinda different, but that's exactly the info I was looking for. Same on the parallax.

Hopefully, I can give back to the community more for this once I start crafting some tiles. I'm definitely planning on doing that.

Edited by EntranseStudios, 17 March 2012 - 12:52 AM.

[Celianna]

Moved to support, since this is not really a resource request, but a request for help

[Touchfuzzy]

Don't know if this will help you, but I also wrote this a while back for the official blog: http://blog.rpgmaker...of-an-autotile/

I've been meaning to write a part 2 that included a lot of the other types of autotiles, and more advanced tricks with making them, but the Ace release has swamped me.

[OrangeGamer]

Moved to support, since this is not really a resource request, but a request for help

Thanks! I was unsure since it's also a template request, which was filled awesomely.

And yeah, the autotile tutorial will also be super helpful. I figured I better get the hang of at least importing some more basic things first, but I'll be trying it all.

[Cassiopeia]

Shaz, I've downloaded your converter and I'd love to use it for characters sprites, but other than in your screenshot I don't have tabs for "Character" and "Icon". Instead there's an "XP" tab to the right of "E".
Don't these features work yet?

[Celianna]

Cassoppeia please do not hijack someone else's thread, make your own support thread for this.

I am closing this in case of any other unwanted bumps.