================================= SSLEd - Subspace Level Editor v1.11 Notes ================================= Disclaimeroids --------------------- - I'm not affiliated with Burst or VIE in any way. I can't fix your server problems or anything like that. I can't tell you why you blow up (unless I happen to be the one that blew you up). I don't have any more access to the source code or other game internals than any of you. So I can't help you cheat, nor would I if I could. - Likewise Burst is not affiliated with me in any way, so asking them questions about this editor is not likely to do anybody much good. A good rule of thumb would be: If you can reproduce the problem in the game's internal editor, then it MIGHT be a question for Burst. (It could also be a goofy LVL file) - Burst has made revisions to the LVL file format, and I'm sure they will make more. I cannot guarantee any compatibility between the editor and future versions of the game. - This editor is distributed as-is, without any warranty of any kind. You use it at your own risk, and I won't be responsible for any damage you might do to your files, computer, electrical wiring, small pets, hypothalimus or anything else with it. - I reserve any and all rights I can concievably get away with. If there's any way to make money off this, I want some of it. Even if there isn't I want some anyways. In general though you're free to use SSLEd for personal use for free. - Cut and paste a really strict license agreement from some other software here, but cross out their name & write mine in. - By using this software you agree to use this software. - So There. Requirements --------------------- - The editor uses standard GDI calls for graphics. This is both good news and bad news. The good news is that Direct Draw, and any headaches associated with it are not necessary to use the editor. The bad news is that people use Direct Draw for a reason: GDI's palette management and display performance aren't terribly good. - Your video mode should be at least 256 colors. The editor has not been designed to run at 16 colors, nor has it ever been tested in such modes. 'Unexpected behavior' may result from using the editor in 16 color modes. - The game was written on a relatively fast machine (166 MHz Pentium w/ 32 MB RAM). That's also the only platform with signifigant first hand testing. The program SHOULD work on much slower machines, but there may be unforseen problems. Compatibility with the built in editor --------------------- - I'm not sure if Subspace uses the clipboard for its cut & paste, but I am sure that you won't be able to cut and paste between the two programs. I'm also not sure whether SSME uses the clipboard, but again I'm pretty sure it can't go to/from SSLEd. - The editor produces LVL files which appear to be viable with game versions through 1.29. - The internal editor stores tiles in the order in which they were added to the map. SSLEd no longer does this. Tiles are stored sorted by their y and x positions. This should make no difference at all in the game. Tile Resources --------------------- The editor looks for tile bitmap resources in this order: - Any tiles embedded in the LVL file (static tiles only) - If present the game's RESOURCE.DLL will be used for static or animated tiles (assuming the resource IDs don't change). - Internal resources - these are the same as the default tiles for version 1.29 of the game. Editing Tilesets with SSLEd --------------------- SSLEd now has some primitive tile editing ability. This is intended primarily for touch up work. If you plan to make a new tileset from scratch, then you'll probably want to use a real bitmap editor. Two new windows have been added for this purpose: - The brush detail window provides a close up, pixel by pixel view of the currently selected tile brush. - The palette window shows the colors the editor is using (up to 256). If the current tile can be edited, this window will show the colors available for drawing in the tile. To edit a tile: - Select the tile you wish to edit in the tile window. - Select a color from the palette window. - Paint in the brush detail window. If you can't seem to change the tile make sure it meets these criteria: - It must be from the main set of tiles (not the animations). - You must be using a custom tile set. - The brush must be a single tile brush (not a selection). - The available colors are limited to those originally in the tileset. At this point there is no mechanism for adding or changing palette entries. - If your display is in a 256 color mode, then the available colors are further restricted to those colors that were actually in use in the tileset when it was loaded. Caveats for importing tile sets: --------------------- NOTE: For the official (and more accurate) word on tile sets see Rod's scenario page. This editor doesn't have any facilities for editing the tile sets themselves, but it does allow you to attach an externally created tile set to a level. To add a tile set, you should create the tiles in a graphics editor. When the file is ready, choose 'Attach tile set' from the File menu. Setting up a custom tile set does NOT let you change how the tiles act. It only lets you change how they look. The door tiles will still be doors whether they look like force fields or empty space. While the editor can read existing LVL files with custom tile sets fairly well, importing a new tile set is currently what programmers refer to as a kludge. And its a pretty big one at that. At this point it is not difficult to break. Here are some guidelines to help you avoid seeing SSLEd guts all over the place: - For best results use the tile set template provided on Rod's Scenario page. SSLEd does NOT check for the correct palette on imported BMPs. In fact it may correct bad palettes within the editor, that the game will show very poorly. - The Import tiles option will check the selected BMP for appropriate size and palette depth, and will warn you about incompatibilities. It will still attach that tile set to the level though. Unless you are sure what you're doing, you should probably restore the default tiles if you get any warnings. - If you want to load someone elses tile set DO NOT just rename the LVL to BMP and try to load it. While doing so WILL add the tile set to your level file, it will ALSO merge their entire level into yours. While this may sound kinda interesting, it also causes the editor to error out rather nastily. Choices in the 'Options' window: --------------------- - "Reset Window Size" If the window somehow gets sized off the screen this will reset the window to 600x400. - "Undo enabled" When this is enabled you can undo your changes. ** DISABLED ** - "Enable tile animation" If you have a slower machine, you may want to turn this option off. Animated tiles only animate at the 1:1 and 1:2 zoom levels. Only these zoom modes are affected by this check box. Doors will also animate under the same conditions. - "Reload last file on startup" This determines whether the editor starts a new session with the last file you were working with. - "Make backups of saved files" When a level file is saved, this option will cause the old version to be saved with the same name, but with a BAK extension. If a BAK file already exists, it is overwritten without any warning. NOTE: if you save twice, the original version of the file is effectively gone. Keyboard interface --------------------- The keyboard interface is not currently "complete". That is, there operations that can be performed by mouse that cannot be done by keyboard. The keypad can be useful for navigating around the screen though. Here is an incomplete list of keys the editor understands: Esc Exit PgUp Similar to hitting the page up area on the scroll bar PgDn Similar to hitting the page down area on the scroll bar Home Similar to hitting the page left area on the scroll bar End Similar to hitting the page right area on the scroll bar Arrows These may move the mouse highlight around, and scroll if you get near the edges. Not terribly effective at the moment. Grey + Zooms out one click (actually the regular + does too) Grey - Zooms in one click (yeah they're cheap accelerators) F1 Switches to the Select tool F2 Switches to the Paint tool F3 Switches to the Line tool F4 Switches to the Rectangle tool F5 Switches to the Filled rectangle tool F6 Switches to the Ellipse tool F7 Switches to the Filled ellipse tool The menu bar shows most of the other key mappings. For Registry Snoopers --------------------- All the editor's registry entries are somewhere under (something like) HKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/Psychic Software/Subspace Level Editor Any or all of this information can safely be wiped at any time. SSLEd doesn't register any of the fun OLE stuff SSME does. Known 'Features' ----------------- The line, rectangle, and ellipse algorithms are geared towards regular sized tiles. Using them with large tiles (stations, warps and large asteroids) will produce interesting, but unproductive results. This applys to areas selected into a brush as well. Making very large (100x100 or larger) filled rectangles is possible in the editor. For example you can fill an entire zone with 'safe' tiles. While the editor can deal with this, Subspace will bog down if you do so. Undo has been disabled for the time being. Large animated tiles partially off the left or top edge of the screen do not animate correctly, and may be drawn improperly. Drawing through the middle of a large tile (thus erasing it) doesn't refresh properly. If the editor crashes, it may leave files in the TEMP directory. Maybe its the debugging process, but I've been getting a whole lot of temporary files. Any files named SLEnnnn.TMP (nnnn is some number) are from the editor. Minimizing the program causes the palette to be lost. I'm sick of dealing with the palette code so I'm not going to fix it for now. The brush detail window works no matter what size the brush is, but it can easily get too big for the screen. It doesn't redraw terribly quickly either. If you're using anything larger than 1 tile, you may want to hide it. The palette window doesn't have pure colored boxes in 256 color modes. Shortcomings that bother me ----------------------------- Editing with the keyboard hasn't kept up with the mouse interface. The zooming and scrolling interface isn't bad, but there is no way to actually change anything using the keyboard at this point. Error handling is a bit erratic. The Tools / Tiles windows are being changed, but they're still not very manageable. Other stuff I've considered but haven't had time to do ---------------------- I've considered the ability to save selections to disk for commonly used structures. It would be pretty simple to do I just haven't done it. I've considered intelligent line drawing stuff, but I'd need to figure out how the tiles would be grouped. This is further complicated by the custom tile sets. I've gotten a request to show stars like the game. Troubleshooting bad LVL files ---------------------- If Subspace complains about your level, then it is probably corrupt. To avoid starting over from scratch, try these: - Restore the backup version of the file (filename.BAK). Its always a good idea to make regular backups of your work. - This may be a bit slow, but copy the entire level to the clipboard then paste it into a new level. You may want to do this in several large chunks. - Remove the custom tile set, then re-add it from a fresh BMP. Reporting problems ---------------------- The latest version of the editor will usually be available through my web page at http://www.primenet.com/~farweb/subpage.htm You can send bugs or enhancement requests to me at farweb@primenet.com but I can't guarantee anything beyond reading it and in most cases responding eventually. If its really urgent, find me in the game and kill me a couple times. I'm usually in Speed zone nowadays, but dueling & chaos west are also possibilities. Please be patient. I am only able to work on SSLEd when not overwhelmed with real work. This means that progress is intermittent, and some bugs/features may take a while to get to. --- Pastor of Muppets