[cwags55]

Ok, so I appreciate everyone bringing me up to speed with sprites. Now I am wondering what is the quickest and easiest way to edit graphics(char sets and palettes) when using SMZX mode 2?

[Xx*SaturnineMatthias*xX]

Well, when I'm using SMZX2 I usually use pal_ed (it was bundled in with MegaZeux 2.69c) to do the palettes and the normal MZX char editor to make the charsets.

I find pal_ed to be better than palzor and other more complicated pal editors as it allows you to see both the whole palette and the colours you'd get with a particular colour combination.

[Dr Lancer-X]

With SMZX 2, I often autogenerate my palettes with a program. With SMZX 3, I use my own software.

[asiekierka]

Give that SMZX mode 2 & 3 software out to us.
You can give it out to ME, even w/o docs.

This post has been edited by asiekierka: 31 December 2006 - 08:34 AM

[cwags55]

Yeah Lancer, that would be awesome.

[LogiCow]

I think SMZX should be reserved for special effects, cutscenes and generally more advanced stuff. Making a game in SMZX mode is time consumming, and generally an artistic and management nightmare.

SMZX mode isn't useful unless you have a solid engine with large sprites and a dedicated artist to draw sprites.

[Dr Lancer-X]

Hardly. I managed to make a decent use of SMZX drawing all the game graphics by myself in the DoZ!

[cwags55]

The way I figure it... If we have the capability we might as well use it, or at least try to use it.

Multi color sprite animations aren't that much harder than 2 color MZX animations.

Therefore, Lancer, you should hook me up with your tools so I can make some incredible graphics. (faster/easier)

[Dr Lancer-X]

They really are specialised, single-use things.. but since a bunch of people have asked about them, I might see what I can do to throw some properly usable tools together.

[cwags55]

That would be awesome. I am so impressed with your SMZX work, I'd love to implement your tools in my upcoming games.

[Old-Sckool]

What is color 4 set to in SMZX 2 and what is it used for? The help file is too technical for me to understand.

[Exophase]

This might sound mean, but if you don't get it then you're pretty much not ready to use it. It's just rather raw and technically oriented to really use at all; understanding the help file and actually making anything with it is pretty much on the same level. (that, and I think the help file is really explained in the best way we could manage)

[Frobozz]

Somebody should just make a step-by-step tutorial for using each SMZX mode. But since that will never happen, you'll have to live with the helpfile. Funny but I think it is far easier to modify MZX to load a bitmap than to mess with SMZX.

[LogiCow]

Heh, yeah. Nowadays I'd rather load a BMP in MZX directly than convert SMZX graphics to charsets.

This post has been edited by LogiCow: 02 January 2007 - 04:10 AM

[Frobozz]

Hrm. You just gave me an idea. Someone should embed Mr_Alert's conversion tool into MegaZeux. Then simply have a command that loads a bitmap and puts it on the screen.

[LogiCow]

Considering that I was loading a 80x1000 picture in realtime in Fritz Blitz, I don't think any built-in command is necessary. If anything, it takes away your ability to fix BMP stuff on the spot with robotic, and grab the BMP palette along.

[Old-Sckool]

Exo, I understand it for the most part, but I just don't know how color 4 works. Maybe if I give you a simple problem..
Say I set a custom block to color 99. That's 63 in hex
so color one = 66 hex or color 102
color two = 63 hex or the color I selected
color three = 33 hex or color number 51
What would color four be, and would any of these colors change if they were in the overlay? As of this post I don't have the help file to look at.

Logi, could you teach me how to use the file counters to load BMPs sometime? I'd really like to make a F-Zero type game.

This post has been edited by Old-Sckool: 02 January 2007 - 05:44 AM

[Dr Lancer-X]

You've got it slightly wrong:
With colour c63:

colour 1: 66
colour 2: 63
colour 3: 36
colour 4: 33

[Frobozz]

LogiCow, on Jan 1 2007, 11:51 PM, said:

Considering that I was loading a 80x1000 picture in realtime in Fritz Blitz, I don't think any built-in command is necessary. If anything, it takes away your ability to fix BMP stuff on the spot with robotic, and grab the BMP palette along.

Except his tool attempts to display a 640 by 350 grayscale bitmap on the screen by dithering and whatnot. It spits out a CHR file to be used.

[T-Bone]

I've never touched the Super MZX Modes. But I want to start soon. It actually does seem complicated to me. Perhaps when I get some real time to work with it I'll figure it out. Would be awesome though if we had a tutorial for mode 2.