Tool: [Alpha] (MEH) Map Editor of Happiness

[CosmicBlazer]

Basically the premise of this D/N system is that you can specifically control your palettes for each time of day. So, after applying a filter using the dialog that will be added, you can go into each individual palette and tune things up. In this case, I modified the windows to use a separate palette which will glow at night (the existing one is used by ponds, so directly changing that one would cause ponds to glow yellow). You can also specifically select the color of tinting to use, which will result in better tones, which can be as soft or as harsh as you'd like.

Okay thank you very much. This made me understand it even better thank you.

 

[Gorrioncillo]

when will this new feature available to download and use??? I do not want to rush you, but i want to test it, thanks

 

[Shiny Quagsire]

when will this new feature available to download and use??? I do not want to rush you, but i want to test it, thanks

I'm currently predicting it will be done between 2-3 weeks. Although as of now it will properly load the map palettes and change automatically when the time changes, and in MEH all that's done is that it can view palettes for different times of day and apply an unchangable night filter to the current time using a debugging button (only temporary though, ie it's just for testing atm). It should also be noted that the additional 0x600 palette bytes have to be added manually at this point, although I might fix that soon for testing.

So basically, all that's left are these things:

• Overworlds, either filter or nonfilter based
• Fixing SFX like grass stepping animations and footprints in sand
• battle backgrounds, and a way to specifically do this (perhaps another automatic dialog?)
• All the UI work in MEH, and an automatic conversion tool

Also, it just occurred to me that I haven't actually implemented anything to stop the loading of different palettes indoors. I was actually thinking about leaving a partial Day/Night cycle indoors, where it will have a morning and afternoon tint and at night it will use the daytime palette. (so Day > Morning > Day > Evening > Day > Etc). I was also thinking it might be useful (for storyline/other reasons) to have a forced time of day, where you could force the time to be night, evening, or day for a specific part of the game. This could be useful for storyline reasons, but also for something like a power outage or something in a building where you could use the unused night palette indoors for that darkness effect. And you could even have the palette change be instant, making it be a very realistic power outage. Plus, with the ability to change individual palettes, you could even change the entire palette to whatever you want, so it wouldn't even have to be dark. It could be a red tint for an alert or something.

 

[HidoranBlaze]

So if I'm understanding this correctly, the non-filter option for overworlds will give us the option of fine-tuning the palettes of the overworlds to fit in with the palettes of the maps, while the filter option will make overworld editing easier, at the cost of making the overworlds look somewhat out of place? In that case, I'd probably prefer the non-filter option. That said, if you're having difficulties with the non-filter option, I wouldn't necessarily mind having a filter option; it's just that the former option sounds better to me right now.

 

[PrimeEchoes]

I've got a question about the Day/Night system. Will it also include seasons at some point as well?

 

[Shiny Quagsire]

So if I'm understanding this correctly, the non-filter option for overworlds will give us the option of fine-tuning the palettes of the overworlds to fit in with the palettes of the maps, while the filter option will make overworld editing easier, at the cost of making the overworlds look somewhat out of place? In that case, I'd probably prefer the non-filter option. That said, if you're having difficulties with the non-filter option, I wouldn't necessarily mind having a filter option; it's just that the former option sounds better to me right now.

After doing a filter system, yes, I can actually agree with you on that one. At least with the current palette:

It might look better if you had a proper palette to go with it, but obviously this isn't a proper palette, and uses a much more complicated mixing algorithm than the bit shift one I used there. I'll see if I can tweak it a bit so that it's not as dark.

EDIT:
This actually looks much better than I thought it would:

So I'll definitely be keeping it as an option for the lazy (which may or may not include myself). Obviously it's not as color accurate, but it's still a viable option. Although I still need to actually make it change depending on the time, and have different filters for different times.

Also, bonus zombie filter I had while developing:

I've got a question about the Day/Night system. Will it also include seasons at some point as well?

Possibly, as of now the RTC is suitable as a drop-in replacement for primal's system, which included a seasons byte. All that would be needed would be the proper hooks for seasonal tiles/palettes/maybe blocks. However, this is of low priority at the moment, but it may or may not be added if enough people show support.

 

[Shiny Quagsire]

OK, small updates and big twists, but I ported MEH's color mixing algorithm to the GBA. What does this mean to us? Well, we can have the best of both worlds with overworld palettes now, at minimal CPU overhead using a C port of the filter-based overworld code. As of now, the only regressions are that the black/white filter used in the "Previously on your quest..." will cause the game to crash, although this is fixable (I just haven't done it yet). The upsides include the ability to specifically filter in the exact colors used by the map on loading the overworlds, in real time. The difference can be seen side by side below, with the left being the old filtering and the right being the new filtering:

As you can see, the right side is much more color accurate and less "dark" looking. This also means that we have a proper fix for afternoon palettes in which the overworld is an ugly red color. Below you can see the difference, and it is very evident:

So basically, this will most likely be the method used to render overworlds. I probably won't do it for maps though because it would eliminate the possibility of tuning palettes specifically as well as other issues. Although the idea of a smooth day/night cycle does sound somewhat appealing. Might do it as a test or something, my only concern is how the CPU will actually handle it since the mixing algorithm uses a lot of floating point calculations which are generally CPU intensive, especially when you're mixing 256ish colors all in one go.

 

[ipatix]

If floating point math is too intense, why not use fixed point math? Since fixed point numbers are integer based they work as fast as regular math but they offer you a lot of additional processing speed over the slower floating points ones if the CPU doesn't have an FPU.

 

[Zapdos86]

Ok, this looks pretty cool even though I have no idea what it is for. Your probably thinking why did I come to this thread in the first place? Well, I was just curious is all. I was just wondering if you were going to make like a guide on how to use all of this, for like noobs.

 

[Shiny Quagsire]

Ok, this looks pretty cool even though I have no idea what it is for. Your probably thinking why did I come to this thread in the first place? Well, I was just curious is all. I was just wondering if you were going to make like a guide on how to use all of this, for like noobs.

I might make a guide or something. Basically all that's going on now is that I'm making a D/N system to replace the current ones available.

Also, small developments, but I've decided to take a large 180 on this whole Day/Night project. As of now, the plan was to have a hybrid nonfiltered/filtered system, where you can tweak everything to your liking and MEH being the large figure in the process. Then I got to thinking (and I teased the idea in my last post) "Why not have a smooth transitioning system?"

So with some brain poking from danillS I came to this idea: Have one, single base palette, then depending on the current time, apply a filter. After the filter, apply a color mask with all the color tweaks you want (lamps, lights, etc) on top of the filter, which would basically allow you to do all the usual color modifications as before. And for the colors of each time, my plan is to have 4 base colors, and then use a piece of C code to generate a large, 72 color gradient which will change every 20 minutes. Just as a test, I created this small GIF in MEH which displays what such a system could look like over time:

Here's another image with the color gradient of the grass over time:

And since we aren't filtering colors every frame like other D/N systems like primal's system, the performance hit is minimal with a much better visual appeal. The current gif is without the lights being applied though, so I might attempt to add that in and see what it looks like. But as of now, this is where this Day/Night system is going, and I think I like it.

EDIT:
Here's a good image of what it might look like with lights:

 

[slawter666]

So with some brain poking from danillS I came to this idea: Have one, single base palette, then depending on the current time, apply a filter. After the filter, apply a color mask with all the color tweaks you want (lamps, lights, etc) on top of the filter, which would basically allow you to do all the usual color modifications as before. And for the colors of each time, my plan is to have 4 base colors, and then use a piece of C code to generate a large, 72 color gradient which will change every 20 minutes. Just as a test, I created this small GIF in MEH which displays what such a system could look like over time:

EDIT:
Here's a good image of what it might look like with lights:

So if I'm understanding this correctly this is a gradual change in the "levels of light" if you will meaning a more realistic transition between day and night time. That's perfect, my biggest gripe with the Gen III games is that they feel old and dated but this in itself will make them feel so much more advanced. I hope you keep coming up with more innovations as you're doing a fantastic job so far.

 

[Ghostr4z3r]

I think you should hold the design of MEH close to the Amap design, cause people are accustomed to Amap. Sure you should add some new things and give it your own personally touch, but I (and many others) don't want to learn a new program if I can use a program that actually does nearly the same.

I hope you will add the Worldmap editor again, but I would love to see it much more simplier.
I like the idea of a Connection tab.

One last question: Will this be available for all languages?

Sry if some question were already asked, but I was to lazy to read all of this. I apologize for that!

oh and sorry for my very very very bad english, I know its ♥♥♥♥ :D

 

[Gorrioncillo]

this is really fantastic, more that waht i was waiting for, i also hope for a tutorial of how to use it,

 

[GreyBidoof]

Just a question, will future updates include support for placing extra Pokemon that have been added with G3HS?

 

[CoGuLaHnE]

I have some suggestions. I have not actually downloaded this program, so please excuse me if I suggest something already in the program.

Suggestions for this program:
-When arranging events and sprites in the event editor, make it so that it automatically opens that particular event Script Editor Advance.
-Have the program be cross-compatible with Gen III Rom Hacking Suite. For example, if more Pokemon are added in that program, or if the names are changed, your wild Pokemon editor will automatically include the updated list.

Question:
Right now, I am going to edit with Advance Map 1.9.2 because this program is still in alpha. When I decide to migrate over to this program when it becomes awesomely superior, will my map files transition smoothly?

 

[CosmicBlazer]

Patiently waiting for this awesome tool to be completed so I don't have to use A-map anymore.;-;

 

[tttom64]

Just a question, will future updates include support for placing extra Pokemon that have been added with G3HS?

I'm pretty sure that's the whole point of the program. I haven't done it myself, but if you edit the INI file, you can change the amount of Pokémon that the program's supports or something like that.

 

[Tyroz]

I have been following this for a long while, and I honestly cannot wait until the program is fully functional. I did want to say Welcome Back! It is June 21st, so it'll be nice to have you back.

 

[Shiny Quagsire]

Alrighty, it's that time again for the weekly-ish update. First off, I'm back after a bit of an abrupt absence. Took me a bit to get back into the ropes of things but here I am again. Woo.

First matter of business, the Day/Night system. I've officially dubbed it "Wizard", because with this system a palette is never late, nor is it early; it arrives precisely when it needs to. As such, here's some good news in regards to Wizard. First off, the gradient system is pretty much in 100% for maps and overworlds, and it looks great. I also managed to get the color algorithm optimized enough so that it doesn't cause any lag while switching maps, at a slight cost of inaccuracy in color mixing (Luckily it's not too bad a difference though).

Also, on another note, I fixed the issues with grass animations (and other things like footsteps, hopping, etc). Turns out all those effects use the same B/W palette loader that I used to hook for my color mixing, so all it took was a slight modification to the existing routine and it worked:

So basically all that's left is for me to do a few tweaks to the system for accuracy (ie no tinting indoors and restoring the existing palette tints like black/white and sepia), battle backgrounds, and a UI for MEH to wrap it all up. After I get the initial UI done, the Emerald port will begin, which I'm hoping won't be too difficult but I could be wrong, since Emerald doesn't seem to have the same hooks as Fire Red for black/white stuff.

In regards to battle backgrounds, what do you guys want for that? I don't think color tinting would work all too well with battle backgrounds (although I can give it a shot), so I was thinking of having 4 specific time-of-day battle backgrounds, and then a slight color tint on the Pokemon sprites so that they aren't glaringly bright.

 

[Danny0317]

Alrighty, it's that time again for the weekly-ish update. First off, I'm back after a bit of an abrupt absence. Took me a bit to get back into the ropes of things but here I am again. Woo.

First matter of business, the Day/Night system. I've officially dubbed it "Wizard", because with this system a palette is never late, nor is it early; it arrives precisely when it needs to. As such, here's some good news in regards to Wizard. First off, the gradient system is pretty much in 100% for maps and overworlds, and it looks great. I also managed to get the color algorithm optimized enough so that it doesn't cause any lag while switching maps, at a slight cost of inaccuracy in color mixing (Luckily it's not too bad a difference though).

Also, on another note, I fixed the issues with grass animations (and other things like footsteps, hopping, etc). Turns out all those effects use the same B/W palette loader that I used to hook for my color mixing, so all it took was a slight modification to the existing routine and it worked:

So basically all that's left is for me to do a few tweaks to the system for accuracy (ie no tinting indoors and restoring the existing palette tints like black/white and sepia), battle backgrounds, and a UI for MEH to wrap it all up. After I get the initial UI done, the Emerald port will begin, which I'm hoping won't be too difficult but I could be wrong, since Emerald doesn't seem to have the same hooks as Fire Red for black/white stuff.

In regards to battle backgrounds, what do you guys want for that? I don't think color tinting would work all too well with battle backgrounds (although I can give it a shot), so I was thinking of having 4 specific time-of-day battle backgrounds, and then a slight color tint on the Pokemon sprites so that they aren't glaringly bright.

Oh god, that looks sexy great.

I have a suggestion, when opening MEH and looking for a ROM can you make it that it only shows .gba files instead of all files?