Lazy Tilesets

Lazy Tilesets

2015.10.21

by Shaz

Introduction

This plugin allows you to export, import, and copy tileset slots and flags, to save the tedious task of setting them all up manually. It also avoids the issue that happens when you accidentally try to use a tileset image in the wrong slot.

How to use

Add to your plugins folder (file name does not really matter, but I call mine LazyTilesets.js). There are no parameters or plugin commands.

To export your tileset settings, add <lzexport: filename> to your tileset's note box and launch your game. Close when the title screen appears. A new file with the specified filename and .MVTileset extension will have been created in your img/tilesets folder. If you use the same filename in lzexport tags on multiple tilesets, they will overwrite each other - be careful not to do this. Now you can send the .MVTileset file to others who want to use the same tileset, and they can use that to load all the settings instead of having to do it manually.

To import tileset settings from a file, add <lzimport: filename> to your empty tileset's note box and add the same-named .MVTileset file to your img/tilesets folder. Launch your game. Close when the title screen appears. Close your project and reopen, without saving. All the tileset slots and flags will have been populated into the previously empty slot.

To copy tileset settings from one tileset to another, add <lzcopy: #> to your empty tileset's note box, where # is the tileset id (no leading zeros). Launch your game, close when the title screen appears. Close your project and reopen, without saving. All the tileset slots and flags will have been copied from the specified tileset into the previously empty slot.

You can fine-tune the import and copy options to cause them to only copy selected slots, by adding the slot IDs before the closing tag. For example, <lzimport: filename A1 A2 A3 A4 A5> will import only the A slots from the specified filename, leaving the rest as they are, and <lzcopy: 3 B C D E> will copy only slots B-E from tileset 3 into the current tileset slot.

For further control, you can import or copy the B-E tabs and place them in different slots by adding the from:to slot IDs separated by a colon. For example,
will import the B slot from the named file, but place it into the D slot of the current tileset, and <lzcopy: 3 C:E> will copy tileset 3's C slot into the current tileset's E slot.

Combined, you can do something like this:


to import the whole tileset in the named files, and then replace slots D and E with slots B and C from tileset 3.

You cannot use multiple similar tags on a single tileset - if you want to do that, you will need to do it in several passes.

Plugin

Download from pastebin

Credit

- Shaz

Terms

- free for use in commercial games

Notes

- this is a development plugin and should be removed once your tilesets have been configured correctly. This plugin should not be shipped with your game.

Excellent to see this on MV! Hopefully since MV is still new this will get a whole lot more attention. Awesome job Shaz.

THANK YOU! Did this exist for Ace? I always wanted this, and couldn't believe it wasn't built-in. I really hope all tile makers use this (especially for paid tiles).

Yes, it did exist for Ace.  Some of the store packs had the files.

Dang. Well I just checked some of my "DLC" packs, and the DS, Modern, and Farm tiles don't seem to have any files or mention the script. The Farm readme says you have to manually set passability. Anyway, I hope it becomes standard for new packs!

If you can find someone who already has those packs in a project and has set the flags, they could run the exporter and you can use the resulting file with the importer.

However, the packs you've mentioned are all for Ace, not for MV.

Right, I know. I was just checking to see if I missed any mention of the Ace script, but it doesn't look like I did. Your stuff is too good to be hidden away! :) Now that I've switched to MV, I'm not going to use any of the Ace stuff.  If the new MV tilesets don't have these files, we'll have to start a thread for the community to create them.

Ok it's not working for me.


I don't see any .mvtileset files in the img/tilesets folder.


:)

can you please add a screenshot of your img/tilesets folder?  Set view to Detail, sort by file name and make sure file extensions are not hidden.  I tried it just as you've got it, and it worked fine.


Also, your img/tilesets folder isn't read-only by any chance, is it?  When your game starts and you get to the title screen, can you please check to see if there are any errors in the console?

Ok here are some more screenshots. I saw that the folders were to set to read only. I unchecked that option and I still couldn't get plugin to work. As for the console.. it says "Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token *" without the quotes. 

Could you please screenshot the console?  And check that your project, the img folder, and the img/tilesets folder ALL have the read-only flag unchecked?  Maybe go to your main project folder, set it to not read-only, and check the option that allows you to apply that setting to all the subfolders.

All files have the read only flag unchecked.

Ok I finally found a solution. I downloaded the plugin from mvplugins.com the first time. This time, however, I downloaded the plugin from this thread. Everything works fine now.


:p


Shaz I appreciate the time you spent on this issue hehe. :D

Unusual.  MVPlugins.com points to here, so if you downloaded it from mvplugins.com, you downloaded it from here.  And there have been no updates.  I wonder if you had some mods to your previous version - maybe commented out the lines that created the files or the line that kicked everything off, rather than just disabling the plugin?


Anyway, it's working so, so all is good.

I have been trying for ages to get this to work with the POP Slasher tileset. Ive followed all of the import instructions and i have not been able to get it to work. I have the MVtileset in the img/tilesets folder, i have the plugin switched on and I have been putting the code in the notes box. But when I close the project (without saving) and reopen, my tileset just doesnt appear. :(

Did you add the notes to the tileset tabs, then save, then run the game? You have to save and run, to get the plugin to work. Then you close the game AND the editor, to force it to reload.

Please show a screenshot of your Tilesets tab, so the notes can be seen, and a screenshot of your tilesets folder, with file extensions visible, and the .MVTileset files in view. Detail view will be best for this.

I wasn't saving the project before running the game. So i tried that but now it gives me an error when i try to run the game instead of coming up with the title screen.

@Peanut4242

thanks for the screenshots. They're really helpful. I actually ran into this issue myself about a week ago but didn't have time to investigate it. I wondered if it was just me as nobody else had reported any issues.

I think I've solved it, so could you please redownload the plugin from the link in the first post and replace the version you have now with the new one? All your steps are correct, so if you just grab the new version then follow those same steps, you should be okay.


The commands used in the StorageManager to get the path to the current project had been changed, but that was between 1.0.0 and 1.3.1 - guess it shows how many people have (not) been using my plugin, or have had the issue but not bothered reporting it :(

It works brilliantly now!! Thanks for your help Shaz!! :D:D

I just want to thank you so much for this. I was getting carpal tunnel having to fix everything after deciding to change some tilesets around, and once I figured out how to use this, I was able to fix like 75% of my tilesets in a few minutes!