How to use VX/Ace tiles next to XP ones

[Avery]

I've put this into non- maker specific because it is related to two RTPs.

I've already written a similar tutorial in German two years ago. I just want to say that this is not a perfect solution and of course some things can't be converted and there are always some style issues. But nevertheless it is much better doing this before putting the stuff together without any changes.

It only works that way. You can fake the pixelated style, but you can't let the XP tile look like they were drawn without actually redraw them.


Of course you need to own RMXP and VX or Ace to be allowed to use the tiles like this


This Map makes absolutly no sense, it's just for showing purpose ^-^'
But still, you see it the huge difference.

A start - the floor:

Spoiler

The XP-RTP is pixelated, the Ace one is painted. We also have differences in saturation and contrast.
Gladly both things are easy to change ~(°-°~)



Here we have the floor I used above. I just limited tha amount of colors (19 in that case) what gives a more pixelated look. Then I lowered the contrast a little.
And that's it.

Similar pieces you can treat the same way:

Spoiler

Sometimes you have to be careful:
You have to remove the shadow of the objects first, XP uses a different style. And sometimes you can just use the palette of a similar XP-object and index your Ace-object to that palette. be careful to lower the contrast first!

And: those proportions won't fit at all...

Spoiler

If you are lucky there is already a similar object in the XP-RTP you can use as base. In that case I replaced the stand with the XP one and treated just the coat the same way as the above objects. I also made it a little longer.


Another major differece is that Ace is much more connected to the 32*32 grid. I made the fireplace wider and gave it more depth.
I also recolored it to the colors of the wall and added outiles until I was satisfied with the result.


Another simple for the necessary size change.

Special case: that structure just sucks when it's indexed...

Spoiler

The Ace wood (and some other structures) just can't be changed without still looking weird next to XP ones. In some cases you can just replace those parts with XP counterparts.

 

[_Shadow_]

You really made an interesting tutorial there.

I wish it was that easy for XP assets too, but it isn't.

Kudos! though! Great tutorial!

 

[Gothic Lolita]

Pretty helpfull, I need to do something similar. 
But only oppossite way, make VX Ace ones look like XP.
I guess it would be the same. 
And never seen the german post, maybe because I'm relativly new here.

Anyway it's are really awesome and helpfull post, thank you for sharing. :3 (\s/)

 

[Sharm]

Don't you mean make XP look like Ace, Myu? Because this one is for making Ace look more like XP.


This is an interesting tutorial. I would have thought it'd be easier to make XP look like Ace than the other way around, but I've never given it a try.

 

[Gothic Lolita]

Don't you mean make XP look like Ace, Myu? Because this one is for making Ace look more like XP.

No no, I meant, if it's the same to make for example "modern tileset" converted to the RPG Maker XP.

Since it's a VX Ace Tileset, I need to convert it. (\s/)

But it's indeed a usefull tutorial. <3 /)

 

[Sharm]

I'd assume anything made to match the RTP would be the same, so Lunarea's and Celianna's modern stuff would both be converted in the same fashion.

 

[Avery]

Thank you

Is there anything you'd like to see if it's possible to be converted?

 

[Gothic Lolita]

Mostly I need to do the modern tileset of VX Ace and futuristic to be converted to XP.

I could try doing it for myself. The first try doesn't look so bad. But I need to lower contrast and stuff too.
Because XP is a bit darker and not so super sharp like VX Ace. (\s/)

 

[sapiboong]

Can you make a tutorial on the opposite?

Making XP tilesets look more VX Ace. I love how XP tilesets are more detailed, but I love VX Ace color palette. 

Anyway, great tutorial! 

 

[Gothic Lolita]

I guess you can simply just add more contrast to the palettes. It could work. 
Didn't tried it yet, but it worked for VX Ace to lower the contrast to get a XP look like tileset. (\s/)

 

[Tigersong]

Very nice tutorial, Avery. It might help if you included some examples of how to adjust the contrast in an image-editing program.

 

[Kes]

If you are using Gimp, select 'Colors' from the top menu bar.  The 4th item on the drop down menu is 'Brightness/contrast'.  It has slider bars, or you can click on the little button on the right.  Have an XP item that you are trying to match next to your Ace one.  Select your Ace graphic, and move the bar until you are satisfied that it is as near as you can get.  PhotoShop has similar.