Keen: Modding

This is a great editor. I'm definitely switching from K:N.
Just one request: Could you implement a feature that automatically fills the borders with the BLOCK/bottom of map/edge of map tiles? Srsly, it takes forever to do it yourself.

*Looks at map in TED*

*Changes map size*

*Fills border in 30 seconds*


Wouldn't you need a setting for which tile it uses? I know I change the edge of map tiles for convenience or just lazyness, and I hate the 2x2 BLOCK tiles since they waste valuable tile space.

When I tried to open my original GAMEMAPS.CK4 of Version 1.4, it always said "Fatal run-time error: bad file number (-1)".

Next I copied the GAMEMAPS.CK4 and MAPHEAD.CK4 which were supplied with the Omegamatic into my game folder, and the editor was now able to display the map. However, I keep getting an error called "RF_CheckForAnimTile: No free spots in tile array" when I try to edit the world map (just slightly) and run the game thereafter. I once tried to edit a level, resulting in the game to crash. Any idea how this might happen? Is this editor limited to certain versions of CK(4)?

You probably couldn't open your original gamemaps.ck4 because the unmodded game doesn't come with an external maphead file that TOM needs to read the levels - it is originally in the executable but is extracted so we don't actually have to modify the exe.

The RF_CheckForAnimTile problem is the result of not patching in the maphead file that's generated when your levels are saved. This lets the game know where each level is in the gamemaps file. You can do this by setting up a patch file for use with CKPatch. If that's a little intimidating, grab this ready to go folder with everything you need. Be sure to always run the go4.bat file in there, never the executable from now on since just running the exe doesn't start up CKPatch.

Lastly, welcome to the forums, Carsten. Looking forward to seeing the levels you make. :)


edit: oops, didn't see you there, Nospike:

Nospike wrote:This is a great editor. I'm definitely switching from K:N.

Muahaha another convert.

Nospike wrote:Just one request: Could you implement a feature that automatically fills the borders with the BLOCK/bottom of map/edge of map tiles? Srsly, it takes forever to do it yourself.

As Lass explained, this would have to rely on knowing just where in the tileset the BLOCKs are, which isn't too great if you change the location in your mod. This feature will most likely pop up as soon as I get my act together and implement Mindbelt-esque config files. Until then, keep in mind that the BLOCKs are purely cosmetic - as long as you have a border of two tiles along every edge it doesn't matter what tiles you use.

Will TOM ever be able to extract MAPHEAD files from the executable? It's not too hard when you know what to look for, this may be useful if you support games like Biomenace or Dangerous Dave.

Aaaah! :) It's working so far. Thanks a lot!

I'm going to rage for ten minutes here.

TOM needs to support rectangles with an origin on the bottom and/or right edge, as opposed to only the top-left.

Or at least, simply do nothing instead of CRASHINGFFF every time I go to draw a rectangle from a different corner resulting in NEGATIVE RECTANGLE FURY>

superstealthedit wrote:It would be so so stupid to let something like this go unfixed. x.x

A negative rectangle?

But how could you? It would... then it... when?


x.x

Wait a minute. Maybe this is why TOM crashed on me the other day. It would be just stupid to let something like this go unfixed.

Also, I can't open instantcarma'd levels correctly, the levels I have load the background tiles fine, but not the foreground or sprites. Also level 1 is said to be 0x0 in size.

Small question: How do I manually select a tile for drawing without having to copy it from somewhere? Unfortunately, the help file does not open under Win7 :(

Edit: Seven days later...hello? Anybody home? :(

I'd like to know this too, but Mink is a slow and ponderous creature.

Carsten: Press spacebar to bring up the tile palette and then use [1] [2] [3] to navigate between the back-/foreground/info planes, respectively. What type of error do you get with the help file? It works fine for me on 64-bit Windows 7. If worst comes to worst I'll just upload a regular html readme.

Lass: CK Guy's original Instant Carma! output files in this insane non-standard format. This may be supported in the next version, but I don't know yet. I think his newer version is a lot nicer, but I haven't checked its output yet. Also, implementing the script files a la Mindbelt is next on the agenda, so hopefully that means support for non-Keen games.

ALSO happy Keen Day! Version 1.0 is finally ready. It comes with a lot of new features - notably Dreams level editing, Keen:Next mode, and undo along with bug fixes (no more negative rectangle fffury). Check out the readme for more updates.

levellass wrote:I'd like to know this too, but Mink is a slow and ponderous creature.

Indeed, it's been almost eight (!) months since the last release.

Thank you very much :) Why is that feature so totally hidden though?

Edit: The download is working fine now...

Lass: CK Guy's original Instant Carma! output files in this insane non-standard format.

I thought it just added a 4-byte carmack header to the MAPTEMP data?