OcRam - Star Tile Fix plugin [RMMV]

[OcRam]

Introduction

All who have used larger than 1 tile sprites, have propably strugled with star (*) tiles. Star (*) tiles are ALWAYS drawn above characters even if character stands in FRONT of it.

This plugin will fix star tiles Z index based on Y coordinates!

For example large trees are usually marked with many star (*) tiles: If your big character is in front of tree then tree is BEHIND your big char!

No configurations needed - This is plug'n'play plugin!

For SUPER complex star (*) tiles and very BIG characters OcRam_Passages is recommended (like buildings which have irregular shapes and non-star tiles mixed with star (*) tiles).

NOTE: Import this plugin below OcRam_Passages if it is used!

Spoiler: Video on YouTube

Terms of Use
Non-commercial: Free to use with credits to 'OcRam' for using this plugin.
Commercial use: See details below

Spoiler: Commercial use details

License must be obtained BEFORE you start to DISTRIBUTE your game. Even if you obtain commercial license; copyrights still remain as they are. NOTE: If you gain money with your game by any means (crypto-mining, ads, purchase incomes, micro-transactions etc...) it is considered commercial use of this plugin!

License types (licenses are per project):

• Standard: 4.99 EUR - Paid in full (credits to ”OcRam” is required for using this plugin)
• No credits: 39.99 EUR - Paid in full (credits not required)

To obtain license:
Mention which plugin license you want to purchase and your project name.
PayPal link: https://paypal.me/MarkoPaakkunainen

To obtain several licenses with discount: Each license purchased will reduce next plugin price by 2€ until minimum price of 2€ per license. Discounts can be used on any OcRam -plugin.

After payment: I will send you verification e-mail that you may use this plugin commercially in project: [Your_project_name_here] with [license_type].

 

[coticka]

@OcRam
'this_character.anchorX' is not a function. I have it at the bottom of my plugins.
Not sure why it's not working properly. Really great work though.

 

[Candacis]

Hey, this plugin is so helpful for bigger sprites. Thank you for creating it!
@OcRam I was wondering, if you would be porting this to MZ, too?

 

[OcRam]

Thank you for the message,

And sorry for the late answer. I am not sure yet when I get time to do it. But I Will upload it to https://ocram-codes.net when I get it done.

 

[Candacis]

@OcRam

Awesome, happy to hear! I think your plugin is invaluable, if you want to use big sprites.
Can't wait to purchase a lifetime license for this.

Oh, maybe put the MV plugin on the website, too? I'm not seeing it on your list.

 

[ShadowDragon]

@OcRam when I use the star fix plugin for test purpose for a parallax ground,
and tiles I used to overlay the "above character" marked with * in tileset,
and when in front 1 tile before, it still draws it above which shouldn't.

while Ocram passages is OFF at the moment, I have placed it below.
even when I put the plugin on TOP, the result is the same somehow.

anything I did wrong?


(I use version 1.01)

 

[OcRam]

@OcRam when I use the star fix plugin for test purpose for a parallax ground,
and tiles I used to overlay the "above character" marked with * in tileset,
and when in front 1 tile before, it still draws it above which shouldn't.

while Ocram passages is OFF at the moment, I have placed it below.
even when I put the plugin on TOP, the result is the same somehow.

anything I did wrong?

View attachment 187459
(I use version 1.01)

Thank you for the message,

Wow! I didn't remember that also events may have *tile graphics

I have written this plugin only for maps with tileset mapping. But I'll try to find some time to make this plugin support also events with *tiles.

Edit: Try to put "Same as character level" (and through = true) - I got it to work as intended.

 

[ShadowDragon]

I uhave tileset because some are bigger than 1 tiles, 3 width,
2 hight, or 3 widrth, 4 height. so I try that way, if that works, but
it can be more difficult when using as een event on the spot. or placed
a schest behid this object, so it doesn't be always convience to place 9 events
for 1 tree and repeat the process.

while this one is behind the fence, it wont work, so behind it works correctly,
but there will be spots that have exacly this issue, so I keep that one in mind.

if the plugin is updated to let tileset with "star" let me know, for the main time,
I use the option above for crucial spots that require it

thank for the clarification.

 

[OcRam]

I uhave tileset because some are bigger than 1 tiles, 3 width,
2 hight, or 3 widrth, 4 height. so I try that way, if that works, but
it can be more difficult when using as een event on the spot. or placed
a schest behid this object, so it doesn't be always convience to place 9 events
for 1 tree and repeat the process.

while this one is behind the fence, it wont work, so behind it works correctly,
but there will be spots that have exacly this issue, so I keep that one in mind.

if the plugin is updated to let tileset with "star" let me know, for the main time,
I use the option above for crucial spots that require it

thank for the clarification.

Hi,

Umm... now I'm bit confused - are you using parallax mapping, tileset mapping or some kind of combination of both?

Because:

In first message "when I use the star fix plugin for test purpose for a parallax ground" - this refers to parallax mapping.

But last message gave me feeling that you are using also tileset mapping?

Plugin should auto-detect all star tiles in your tileset and draw all tiles based on y-axis without any events IF tileset mapping is used. Do you got any screenshots/video for related tileset and/or possible events? I'm clearly missing something here.

 

[ShadowDragon]

it's a combi "parallax ground" (through map) and any items that should be
"above character" is set in the tileset editor to * setting so I can simply
place those from the B, D, E tileset and place them.

this B is custom made, so it's easier placed on the map.
If I cant more, I use D and E, but some items, become custom, like pushable object,
chests, etc will also from the editor.

its not as parallax "overlay" in this case.

 

[OcRam]

it's a combi "parallax ground" (through map) and any items that should be
"above character" is set in the tileset editor to * setting so I can simply
place those from the B, D, E tileset and place them.

this B is custom made, so it's easier placed on the map.
If I cant more, I use D and E, but some items, become custom, like pushable object,
chests, etc will also from the editor.

its not as parallax "overlay" in this case.

Ok,

I have now tried it again with combined parallax/tileset map and everything was working there for me... Big Character is drawn above tree and when going behind that tree characters are drawn behind it (and ground is parallax mapped).


Can you repeat that issue in new - or in OcRam demo -project? Or can you send me the tileset settings where the issue is?

 

[ShadowDragon]

this is simple the editor settings, character I use 48x96 in on the 4x2 actorsheet
if that counts as big characters? unless specify solo with !$ in front?

this is really basic, smae thing happen with just that plugin, so it not sure though.

 

[OcRam]

this is simple the editor settings, character I use 48x96 in on the 4x2 actorsheet
if that counts as big characters? unless specify solo with !$ in front?

this is really basic, smae thing happen with just that plugin, so it not sure though.

Thank you for the message,

Ok... now I know what's wrong. Plugin will auto-detect trees and stuff. Now that there is only star tiles in that tileset plugin will consider whole tileset as 1 huge clump of 'tree'.

This is because this plugin has one fancy feature "auto groupping" this makes it possible to swap z-index at the same time with all tiles belonging to same group. Like in that video below.


I could see if can make plugin parameter "Disable auto groupping", but then it will sort only 1 tile above. So characters bigger than 2 tiles won't work as intended... And example in mentioned video would have also small clitches...

But as an immediate solution: use whole graphics (also non-star tiles) in your tilesets.

 

[ShadowDragon]

I made it that way because all is above, but I can set the bottom part
to O and X (both 3 lines) and see if that works, I did not know it would group
the full B as "trees" while some stars can be furniture, crates, and other
stuff, I try it later this day and see if that solves it and report back.

EDIT:
when bottom B is 3 lines X and 3 lines O and below the trees O as well,
the problem persists. I dont know why though.

 

[OcRam]

I made it that way because all is above, but I can set the bottom part
to O and X (both 3 lines) and see if that works, I did not know it would group
the full B as "trees" while some stars can be furniture, crates, and other
stuff, I try it later this day and see if that solves it and report back.

EDIT:
when bottom B is 3 lines X and 3 lines O and below the trees O as well,
the problem persists. I dont know why though.

Hmm... do you got now any star tiles in tileset?

Example of standard MV trees:


Then some larger trees (please note that star tiles always break vertically before next "group" of star tiles start - this makes auto grouping possible while some other star tile fix plugins require some regions / terrain tags OcRam_Star_Tile_Fix doesn't need any of those - only tileset formatted this way).

 

[ShadowDragon]

all bottom parts are placed on the ground, and only the upper layer is placed
which has the star.

this way, to gain more control on the walking path, so I can place all X which is
impassable walk through, specially because of the auto 3 layer function,
I cannot go over, so I make the ground fully parallax, so only the top part is required.

if I cant get this to work, than I can use the passages plugin if that can draw normally.

I love the plugin because if you are in front and use O, but you can only walk LRD,
but not Up, than I dont know if that works too.

I doubt the passages plugin would reconize normally by region if player is in front?

 

[OcRam]

all bottom parts are placed on the ground, and only the upper layer is placed
which has the star.

this way, to gain more control on the walking path, so I can place all X which is
impassable walk through, specially because of the auto 3 layer function,
I cannot go over, so I make the ground fully parallax, so only the top part is required.

if I cant get this to work, than I can use the passages plugin if that can draw normally.

I love the plugin because if you are in front and use O, but you can only walk LRD,
but not Up, than I dont know if that works too.

I doubt the passages plugin would reconize normally by region if player is in front?

Actually in Passages plugin 'higher ground' star tiles are sorted by y axis like in this plugin, but these plugins (passages <> star tile fix) have very different purposes.

Passages main purpose is to create kind of 2.5d effect (higher and lower ground + cover tiles). While this plugins' sole purpose is to sort star tiles by their y axis (with 'correctly' formatted tileset).

O tiles should work also as "group" separator like X tiles - as long as not all of tiles are star tiles in one tileset

 

[ShadowDragon]

the I try to use the O tile to the test because I need those alot of edge places of object.
and adjust my B set as well if that is required, which I didn't know, just because
it say the "star" checks the Y of the player, so that way, all stars works if the player
is in front of this object, so I reformat the tileset and come back later if it did the job.

EDIT:
after reconstruct and place "invisible" O tiles, with UP blocked, it does work, but
it does NOT work if a X is placed above it somehow, luckely, I dont have a blockade
above it, but it does the job, so a O tile or X MUST be place before it in order to work
correctly.

something to keep in mind when using a fully parallax Ground, thank for the
explaination between star and tileset

edit2:
@OcRam I did some different testing, but as soon as you use the side one
of a tile, the rest X below, which is a sort of seperator, it will break the Y axis:
The "green" tile is only UP blocked, but the rest X, so it breaks the * when
placed under the LOG on the tile below.

this is basicly weird if the tile if set to O and does the same, it has
a different effect and I dont know why. but it should be have the
same effect when using the same below the log if setting is the
the same.

is there something that can be done that is reconized?
or a bit similair like your Ocram_Layers with a custom tileset or use that
one to be reconized for "star" below, others above?

otherwise, it can be troublesome if you need to place different tiles,
just to make this work all over the map where required.

 

[Yosiei]

Is it just me or the plugin doesnt work? I have passage plugin. And this plugin is at the lowest. I'm using passage to do the same as this one as what this plugin intend to do. But im in a situation that i cant use passage plugin so i came here but it doesnt work.


Just like this. In the fist photo passage plugin works fine but in the second when im in 62 its fine but the moment i press down or left my character goes below the tile 63 so i need this plugin. Any idea how can i make this work?

 

[retrofiction]

Hey, I'm having an issue. I'm using tall character events on my map. Essentially they're statues that you can push around between some 96x96 crates (upper part has * passability).
When I start the game everything works as intended, the lower part of the statues is hidden by the upper part of the crates, the upper part of the statues is above the tiles with * passability. But as soon as I start pushing the statues around and change their Y coordinates, it doesn't work anymore. When I push the statues behind crates that have a lower Y value than the statue event had when I started the game, the statues are now above them.
Its hard to explain, here is a screenshot:


This doesn't affect the player however. I'm guessing for some reason the whole star passability thing isn't updated for events on the map as often as for the player? Is there a way to fix it?