Keen: Galaxy editor - it's here

Utilities for editing Keen:Galaxy and Keen:Dreams levels.
Mink
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Post by Mink »

Wait what, Tulip. All the planes are already handled separately just like in TED5/TPT3 - use [1], [2], [3] to toggle the activity of back/fore/info respectively to toggle their activity. Same goes for visibility (this uses [4], [5], [6] though). And as for copy/paste, I've already implemented those, and it works quite nicely (or at least I think so) based on which planes are active. That show active plane option does sound nifty; it shall be added in short order.

And yeah, Lemm, that's TOM's fault, not WINE's (glad to here it runs fine under that, though). I'm still trying to figure out ways to optimize the decompression of the gamemaps file, so hopefully the start up time can be cut down by a couple more seconds (and hey, it's a lot faster now than it was before).

Edit: Oh, and re undo, that would indeed be awesome, but I imagine it'll be fairly complex, so we'll see.
Mink
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Post by Mink »

Release Five is done. This now has the 'view only active planes' mode you mentioned, Tulip, but not much else is new - this is mostly just polishing it up - fixing bugs, adding the help file and the spiffy icon (thanks to Herry Jerry for making it).
levellass
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Post by levellass »

So it's about done now?

Also, you could always have a 'decompressing tiles into memory' countdown like TED5 uses, it's mostly there just to distract the user while everything's being loaded.
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Tulip
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Post by Tulip »

Ok maybe it's just me but I run into several problems:

- numbers 1,2,3 are to toggle planes 1,2,3 activity, numbers 4,5,6 visibility if I got that right, however, once the 4,5,6 visibility was used once, the 1,2 and 3 buttons seem to change their function to visibility too.

- Why did the earlier versions display the foreground tiles according to their mask, and the new one looks like in K:N with all the ugly black borders?
Mink
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Post by Mink »

Haha, yeah, but I'd much rather have it actually be faster. :-P

And no, I'd say this isn't even close to being done with all the features you guys have suggested/I'm hoping to add. This release was mainly for the docs so that people unfamiliar with TED5/TPT3 will be able to understand its maybe-initially-confusing interface.

Edit (didn't see your post there, Tulip): Hrm, I can't seem to reproduce that visibility bug - are you sure you're not in view active layers only mode? The activity-toggles change visibility too when that's on.

And re that whole no transparency thing: I had disabled it to test something and... kind of just forgot to re-enable it. *embarrassed emotikeen* Fixed that, and reuploaded to the same spot - I don't think that even warrants a minor version change.
lemm
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Post by lemm »

Mink wrote:Haha, yeah, but I'd much rather have it actually be faster. :-P

What is slowing it down so much?
Draik
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Post by Draik »

Mink wrote:reuploaded to the same spot - I don't think that even warrants a minor version change.
YET AGAIN MINK DECIEVES US ALL WITH HIS RELEASE NUMBERING
levellass
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Post by levellass »

What is slowing it down so much?

Basically? Decarmackizing levels. This is be why TED5 keeps a maptemp file.
Mink
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Post by Mink »

levellass wrote:What is slowing it down so much?

Basically? Decarmackizing levels. This is be why TED5 keeps a maptemp file.
Yeah, pretty much this. I know a maptemp-esque file would be quick, but that's a rather less-than-ideal solution. I can definitely see areas where the current approach can be optimized - I had foolishly been trying to decarmackize the gamemaps files saved through TOM, even though TOM only saves with RLEW, and there are also a couple ways to cut down on a few seconds in the level-drawing routine (which would help reduce the wait when switching levels).
Draik wrote:YET AGAIN MINK DECIEVES US ALL WITH HIS RELEASE NUMBERING
:-0
Mink
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Post by Mink »

Okay, I've done a lot of optimization of the loading routine and fixed the aforementioned 'trying to decarmackize when not actually carmackized' thing in release six, so it is at least slightly faster in starting up, but it looks like we're nearing the limit of just how much time can be sliced off; perhaps it will need a progress bar - I really don't want to have to bother with maptemps and stuff (it would make saving all the more convoluted for the user). Besides, I know it's not ideal, but a ten second or so wait when you start the program isn't too bad since you only have to sit through it once per editing session.

Also of note are two new Mindbelty tools: flood fill (that actually doesn't fill every single tile unlike K:N) and the extremely helpful link tool. No more remembering the coordinates and pressing enter! (Although that's still in for the world map and some other cases).

Edit: I don't know how I've forgotten to mention this so many times, but copying from the tile palette has been supported since version 0.4 .
levellass
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Post by levellass »

Copying from the palette?

Also, can you just not Carmackize on saving? That way you only get the long load with the original, carmackized maps.
Mink
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Post by Mink »

That's what I'm already doing! No carmackization involved at all, hence the the 'trying to decarmackize when not actually carmackized' problem that's since been rectified. Loading up an already-saved gamemaps file is substantially faster compared to the original, but it's still at least a 10+ seconds wait (at least on my machine).

And copying from the palette = exactly what it sounds like: being able to copy a chunk of tiles off the bg, fg, and info tile palettes a la TED5. Um, not sure if that's what you're asking...

Edit: Actually, I think a good chunk of the wait can be chalked up to inefficiencies in loading the tile bitmaps and applying the mask to the foreground one. Should be easy enough to fix.
Mink
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Post by Mink »

Well it took way longer than I had planned, but release seven is up. Not too much in the way of new features (those are 'coming soon'), except now you should be able to add and delete all levels with no errors and (big news!) the load-time is now actually actually down to TPT3's (Yes this means I totally lied back there when I said it was already comparable to TPT3 - oops!). And you won't believe how I cut the time down: I had been applying the masking pixel-by-pixel instead of in two big 'copy/pastes' - talk about stupid!
lemm
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Post by lemm »

I am wondering if you would consider adding CK456TLI tileinfo editing into TOM, perhaps sometime down the road. It might be more convenient to have one application for both programs, firstly for maintenance of source (if new flags discovered, or new ones to be invented), and secondly for developing a mod/levelpack. Furthermore, they are both written in Euphoria, so you could reuse the code. Furtherfurthermore, the Maphead and the Tileinfo are really just one contiguous segment linked in the keen exe, suggesting to me that tileinfo is really part of the maphead. This would mean there would be 3 programs for editing the map, graphics, and sounds, and the patcher to bind it all together.
levellass
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Post by levellass »

And other Keenlike games could have their tileinfo supported, I know most of how they work, and in general they're simpler than Keen.
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