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Blankboard
04-16-2002, 07:12 AM
-I cant get the magic meter to look right
-How do you work the layers
-in depth explanation of complicated story screens
-Why is my sound not working on the 192 beta...music works..no sound



If someone can answer thes I would appreciate it:grad:

C-Dawg
04-16-2002, 10:26 AM
Originally posted by Blankboard

-How do you work the layers
-in depth explanation of complicated story screens


These have to be the most asked about topics by people who have actually opened ZeldaClassic and read the readthrough. The problem is, Blankboard, there is no easy answer to these questions. Layers can be used in a million different ways, and story screens can be set up in even more. I'll attempt to give you the basics.

====== LAYERS =======
When you go the Layer menu, you'll see a Layer Numbers and the cooresponding Map and Screen. Layer Number controls at what "height" the layer appears. Consider the screen you are working on to be Layer Zero. Layers 1 and 2 appear ABOVE Layer Zero, but BELOW all sprites. (Enemies, items, link). Layers 3 and 4 appear ABOVE ground-based sprites like Link and walking enemies, but BELOW flying items and enemies. Layers 5 and 6 appear ABOVE all sprites. All Layers appear above all Layers set to a lower "height".

The Map and Screen tell the game 1) whether to use that layer and 2) which screen to look at for the layer data. If the Map field is set to 00, the layer is turned off. If you put values into these fields, the game will look to the Map and Screen you specify to draw that Layer. Note that if you want lower layers to show through, you need to have tiles on the screen you have specified as a layer drawn with the transparent color. (Looks like a little "x")

If you press PageUp to access the Layer menu, you see a few radio buttons and checkboxes. The currently selected radio button tells you what layer you are currently editing. With this feature, once you set a Map and Screen for a layer, you dont have to actually GO to that screen to edit it; just click the radio button. The checkboxes control whether that layer is displayed in the editor- useful for editing things that you want hidden under a layer.

Some final things to know about layers;

1) The Walkability of combos on Layer 1 and 2 AFFECT LINK. This is, in my opinion, and unneccesary annoyance, but there it is. It most cases, make sure anything on a layer is totally walkable, just in case. Also, combos on Layer 1 will COVER UP TILE WARPS. If there is a stair combo on Layer Zero, and a walkable floor tile on Layer 1 placed directly above it, Link won't go into the warp.

2) Layers can all use different combo pages; this allows you, in a workaround way, to use more combos than normally allowed to draw your screens. However, all Layers will use the Level Pallete of the Dmap the player is currently on, so make sure they all work on the same Pallete.

3) The new betas have some new features when dealing with layers; transparency, and apparently X and Y offsets, but I dont really know how to use these correctly yet.


========== STORY SCREENS ===========

In GENERAL, this is the idea; put Link on a screen where when you press a direction, perhaps any direction, Link is instawarped to a different screen with new graphics and new text. Cover up Link with Layers and use a Link-tiled combo to make it look as if he's standing still.

Since DarkNation has been rad enough to stick in a Text Linking feature, you dont need to worry about this unless you want the combos on the screen to change; for screen animation, or to show the characters doing different things.

Hope this helps. I'm also going to post the layer stuff over in the Tutorial Addition thread if there isnt one there already, cause I'm tired of people asking.

-C

Blankboard
04-17-2002, 07:42 PM
Oh ok thanks

PrismDreamer
04-18-2002, 01:26 AM
One small note: At least in v1.92 build 104, walkable tiles on layer 1 do not stop Link from warping if there is a warp tile underneath them on layer 0. This is how I hide all of my warps for branching effects and conversation screens.