Table of Contents
Editing Rooms Part 1
These guides will help you understand the basics of working with SMILE with some of the basic features you will be using in your hack. Editing layer 1, layer 2, and the usage of slopes. These are your building blocks on which you'll be putting everything on top of, so having a good knowledge of how to handle these is vital.
Layer 1
COMING
Layer 2
[SMILE 2.5] You can access layer 2, or the background layer by pressing F1 with SMILE active. This deactivates layer 1 and allows access to layer 2. If the room is set to use a BG Pointer, you will notice your cursor won't highlight any of the tiles. This is because the room technically doesn't have an editable layer 2 BG. If the room uses a custom background, you will be free to change the tiles as you see fit. You can switch any room to use a custom layer 2 background or to use a BG Pointer for the background.
Giving a Room a BG Pointer
[SMILE 2.5] If you are looking to give one of your rooms a new BG Pointer, or to switch a custom Layer 2 room to use a BG Pointer, follow these steps.
- Changing an existing BG Pointer - This is the simplest process to do. Let's say you want room 7AEDF to have the bubble background found in room 7ACB3. In room 7ACB3, open the pointers window (Edit > Pointers), and find the value next to the BG_Data. The value is BF83. So now we go into room 7AEDF and open the pointer window (Edit > Pointers) and locate the BG_Data value. We want to change the current pointer from BF68 to BF83. Hit Save Pointers, and this will bring up a window asking if you want to copy data. Hit No, then hit cancel on the pointer window and save your room. (File > Save Room) Now when you test your room, you will see it no longer has the fuzzy tile background loaded, but the bubble tile background. (NOTE: This will work for any room, however, if you try to give a Crateria room this background, the tiles will not work. A background pointer is using tiles in the tilesheet in a pre-determined pattern, and since the Crateria tilesheet does not have bubbles at that location, it will pull seemingly random tiles to fill in the space. There is an included image as an example.)
- Changing from a custom background to a BG Pointer - There are a few steps involved in this process. Our first goal is to remove the custom second layer. To do this, go to Tools > Background Editor > Remove Layer 2 Background. The next step is to make the game look to use a BG Pointer. To do this, go to Tools > Background Editor > BG Layer 2 Scrolling. This will open up a window, and at the top of the window is a drop down menu telling the game what to look for. If a room is using a custom layer 2, the menu will say “Layer 2 background (custom)”. To make it use a pointer, open the menu, and select “Use BG_Data Pointer” and then click on Keep Changes. The next step is to open your pointers window (Edit > Pointers) and enter your background pointer on the BG_Data line. Save your room, and you're done!
Giving a Room a Custom BG
[SMILE 2.5] If you are looking to make your own custom background in a room, this guide will help you to get things set up. If the room you want to do a custom background already uses a custom background, such as many rooms from Maridia, then you simply have to press F1 on your keyboard to deactivate layer 1, and you can begin editing the background in the room.
- Changing a BG Pointer to a custom BG - We have a few steps to go through in order to make a room use a custom layer 2 background instead of a pointer. To start, go to Tools > Background Editor > BG Layer 2 Scrolling. This will open up a new window. At the top you'll see a drop down menu, and it'll show “Use BG_Data Pointer”. Click on the menu and select the second option of “Layer 2 background (custom)”, then click Keep Changes. Next, go back to Tools > Background Editor > ADD Layer 2 Background. This gives the room a layer 2 background you can get to by pressing F1. It will initially look like a bunch of Power Bomb doorcap corners are everywhere. Don't panic, this is because SMILE needs a tile to fill in the new editable space, and it is merely grabbing the first tile available to auto-fill it in. The final step is to open the pointers window (Edit > Pointers) and finding the BG_Data line. Enter 0000 for the value, save, and hit No when it asks if you want to copy the data over. Your room is now set to use a custom layer 2 background that you build yourself!