k i already solved my problem

Hi everyone,
I just downloaded and installed the RPG starter Kit and WOW is it cool! I just have one quick question on the starter kit... How can i make maps for. I know that it uses a tile engine and i am currently using a tool called Mappy to make maps... Though how do i import them? T

Thanks everyone!

Have you read this tutorial?

Yes, i have read that tutorial but still it really doesnt mention anything about making maps... I heard about using Tile Studio and then using some thing called a RPGgame.tsd... Anyone have any information on that?


EDIT: Nevermind i found it.

I think that we need an official set of tools for this kit. Tile Studio works, but that feels more like a workaround. EvilNando's XNA Map Editor seems like an ideal solution, but that needs more XML hand-editing in exchange for better user interface. Since there's a lot of parameters specific to this engine, it would be nice to have a map editor that let us fill those in and not have to manually edit the XML.

If the original starter kit developer isn't going to do any more documentation or specialized tools, then I think that some of us should work together on a set of tools. In theory, a unified toolset could make this kit rival ASCII's RPGMaker series.

Sean McCafferty:

If the original starter kit developer isn't going to do any more documentation or specialized tools, then I think that some of us should work together on a set of tools.

Go for it.

hey guys i have a new questen - hope u can help me :)

when we start the rpg game, the first thing we see is the mainquestline - i deleted this code, so that the quest doesnt pop off when the game starts.


so... how can i make, when i talk to sheddar the wise the first time, than the quest line / or a single quest starts?

thx

Hey everyone... I just have another real quick question...

BTW i am using tile studio.



I have a new problem whenever i run the game with my new map the tree tiles have big black spots though in the editor it looks perfectly fine.

Here is a link to a picture of the problem:

http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mapproblem12312rn7.jpg

Thanks!

It's the way that the game is loading the graphics. You have to actually go into the image file and set those black areas to be transparent. Gimp does this quite well, just select the area with the continuous areas tool (magic wand) and hit delete. Save as PNG.

Whoops i think i might of found my problem... I had the tile file saved as a .bmp not a .png which was the origional file format.

EDIT: It wasnt that... I guess ill will give gimp a try... but also i dont think understand the actual tile itself does have black areas, only when it is rendered in the game... Did you look at my screenshot?

Also could someone post a screenshot of one of their maps in Tile Studio.

Thanks!

Tile Studio is doing its transparency by color key, which isn't saved on the map file. The XNA RPG engine does its transparency with PNG transparency. Layer 3, the object layer, is rendered below the player with transparency taken into account. Layer 4 is the same, but above the player. Layers 1 and 2 are rendered normally, without transparency.

I've started working on a "toolkit" of sorts. At the moment, it's just a multi-document interface application with a modded version of CastleTileMapEd. The tile selection feature is almost useless if you're using more than a few tiles, so I really want to put in a full preview of the current tileset with mouse selection and marquee selection. I also don't want to restrict this to just maps, so if anybody's written an editor for ANY of the content in the engine, I'd love to add it to the "dev suite."  -Download-

Sean McCafferty:

Tile Studio is doing its transparency by color key, which isn't saved on the map file. The XNA RPG engine does its transparency with PNG transparency. Layer 3, the object layer, is rendered below the player with transparency taken into account. Layer 4 is the same, but above the player. Layers 1 and 2 are rendered normally, without transparency.

I've started working on a "toolkit" of sorts. At the moment, it's just a multi-document interface application with a modded version of CastleTileMapEd. The tile selection feature is almost useless if you're using more than a few tiles, so I really want to put in a full preview of the current tileset with mouse selection and marquee selection. I also don't want to restrict this to just maps, so if anybody's written an editor for ANY of the content in the engine, I'd love to add it to the "dev suite."  -Download-

thanks for the fixes you mentioned to me, by the way. i'll keep you posted of my updates so you can keep this toolkit up to date with my updates to CastleTilemapEd.

EDIT:you might want to take my idea (I sent the reply to your comment on my Youtube link after I posted this, actually, and it didn't come to me until I was nearly done with that) into consideration, that would really help get this going

Really awesome program... Though it is really unconvienant for large tile sets... I had to sit there for 5 mins to get to the end of the tile set... I have a suggestion of making a better tile selection system.

So anyway back to my main problem... How can i fix my problem of some of the sprites having black background

Did you read Sean McCafferty's post above?

Click my -download- link again and download the new build. TheAnaconda put in a tile selector and I patched it into my toolkit. It won't fix your transparency issues, but it'll be easier to make the maps.

I'm going to set up a SourceForge project for this, if anybody's interested in contributing. I'll make a new thread in the starter kit forum later.

Do any of you guys have tranparency issues? How can i fix this transparency issue... what do i have to do? Is it a problem with the actual tile set or with the engine, cause i am using the ForestTileset which came with the RPG kit.

Try replacing the file with an original copy and see if it still happens.

What layer do i set the ground and what layer for the tree's?

Also i replaced the old file with the new file, and the new file has a lot of tiles with white backgrounds.

The bottom layer should be everything on the ground, no transparency. The middle layer I believe will have transparency, and it's under the characters. The top layer should also have transparency, and it's rendered on top of the characters.

PROPER PROCEDURE FOR ADDING TRANSPARENCY TO YOUR TILESET IN GIMP:

1. Open your tileset.
2. Use the magic wand or the similar-color tools to select what you want to be transparent.
3. On the Insert drop-down menu, select Invert.
4. CUT the selection.
5. Delete the current layer. It's got a white background.
6. Make a new layer, and make sure that it's transparent (gray checkerboard pattern)
7. PASTE into the new layer.
8. Save as PNG, and add to your project, make sure the filename is referenced in the map, etc.
9. ???
10. Profit!

OMG SEAN THANK YOU SO FREAKIN MUCH!!!!! I FINALLY GOT IT TO WORK AND THERE IS NO WHITE OR BLACK THANK YOU!!!! Also i have another suggestion for your map editor... I think you should make it so when u import a tile set you can set their size like 64x64 or 32x32.


EDIT: Ummmm well what about collision... how do you make a tile so you cant walk over it, in your editor?

Binsky3333:

OMG SEAN THANK YOU SO FREAKIN MUCH!!!!! I FINALLY GOT IT TO WORK AND THERE IS NO WHITE OR BLACK THANK YOU!!!! Also i have another suggestion for your map editor... I think you should make it so when u import a tile set you can set their size like 64x64 or 32x32.


EDIT: Ummmm well what about collision... how do you make a tile so you cant walk over it, in your editor?

tile size change can be done, in fact will need to be done and the tile size setting for the map file will need to be restored. as of right now I just have it set automatically to 64x64 in the XML file because I don't use it at all in my project, instead loading different resolutions and setting it dynamically based on current screen mode (32x32 for 480p, 64x64 for 720p, and 96x96 for 1080i/p).

each of the layers is accessible from the four buttons along the top, next to "Save" in CastleTilemapEd original and "Save-Point" in XNA RPG Toolkit. the buttons B (Bottom layer), M (middle layer), H (high layer), and Tr (for Transparency), the Tr layer is the collision layer. when the layer is active it will show an overlay of the collision, with anything impassible having a pink haze over the tile. to set it you just pick any tile other than tile zero and draw it, it will automatically convert any higher value down to 1. the fifth of those buttons (using a default graphic at the moment) is an eraser, sets the tile for that layer to -1, effectively erasing the tile completely

So THAT's what the 5th button does... I thought that was the blocking tool, with transparency being an extra layer or something.

I personally get around the tile size by scaling my tiles to 64 for use in the editor, and whatever they are in-game is a separate file. It's the map data that's important. Still, a few buttons to change the interpreting tile size for the editor would be nice.

Whenever i set the tile size to 64x64 in the XML file generated by seans program, all the tiles get messed up and the tile sprite changes.

Binsky3333:

Whenever i set the tile size to 64x64 in the XML file generated by seans program, all the tiles get messed up and the tile sprite changes.

what image are you using for the tiles?