I don't think it's possible from the menu but will ask, just in case.
With the tool, you can create nametable. Then from this content, you can create meta sprites, which is interesting. What I would like to know is if I can show sprite/metasprite over the name table data so I can test some highlight when designing title screen or other complicated screen? I think it's not possible and I don't thing there is any other tools that allow to do it and generate such data?
Am I wrong? My goal it to use real sprite data to test how it look and export that information in OAM format, if possible.
edit:
After more search on the net, some people asked similar question and nes screen tool is for backend only (except for metatiles). Is there any other tools for that then, hmm.. Will continue to search.
It's good to have a "sandbox" file that you can quickly throw graphics and sprite definitions into, and compile, and look at.
I also take screenshots from NES S T, and paste them into GIMP or photoshop. Then I take that into Tiled. I kind of wrote about my process in my tutorial.
Here's some screenshots of Tiled with metasprites layered over BG metatiles.
https://nesdoug.com/2018/09/11/21-finished-platformer/
This would be a great function to have in NST. I've found myself wanting that in the past. Maybe a third tab where the user can play around positioning sprites/metasprites on top of and behind the nametable.
dougeff wrote:
I also take screenshots from NES S T, and paste them into GIMP or photoshop. Then I take that into Tiled. I kind of wrote about my process in my tutorial.
Yeah, I don't use the screen tool as an art tool at all.
I would draw the sprite and background in GIMP or maybe Aseprite. The screen tool is good for assembling it into an NES data format, but not good for drawing.
Pyxel edit is even better because it is truly tile based. Unless aseprite can do it and I'm not familiar with the functionality.
I guess for editing sprite then nes screen tool wouldn't be appropriate (it did help to fix a few tiles from the background), it just for making composite screen like title screen with sprite highlight, it would have been nice to been able to show sprite/metasprite on top of some name table data and save the sprite data after.
Maybe someday it would be a nice to have a tool like that but it is for specific needs though.
Last time I did NES specific graphics I used yy-chr as usual. But as I've used pyxel edit for my windows gamemaker game this year, I've learned that it would be the best tool for this. In it BGs are tiles, and you can simulate sprites on top/under the bg easily. It doesn't have NES limitations or NES palette system (althought it does have a NES palette), but if you know your way around the NES you can do those limitations yourself, much like when working with GIMP and Photoshop, and then transfer it all to NST.
Now if only NST could allow for drawing directly on the nametable and the tiles being updated in real time...
Looks like Pyxel Edit is $9 for the full version. Maybe I will check it out soon.
Pyxel Edit cannot save in indexed color format. Many other conversion tools require indexed color format.
Hummm I think the workflow works best with CTRL+A, CTRL+C and CTRL+V on yy-chr. This worked perfectly on my test now. It's faster than saving/exporting to files and opening/importing files. NST doesn't allow pasting though, which is another of its limitations.
https://imgur.com/a/mZG1itD
Nes screen tool was made with some borland tool but if someone would want to update it does any open tool exist to edit the UI? I remember rainwarrior mentioning something in another thread regarding compile but I'm not sure it had anything regarding UI.
I explained it in
that post but the UI is the primary thing that is Borland-specific in that code. The actual code part could probably change compiler pretty easily.
Ah, it was that thread. Thanks to point it back. My memory is failing me these days ^^;;;
When you make a tool, the framework always become an issue at a later stage. Like my first editor, c# seemed like a great idea at the time but now it's not easily portable so I'm stuck with code that is too platform specific and cannot be re-used. UI framework that are easy to use and multi-plaform are hard to get by. Tried wxWidgets and it could be acceptable but the amount of work required to a simple winform was a lot more. But with the latest VSStudio on an old machine.. Many anything else is faster
it's became so much heavier compared to vs2008 and .net 2.0.
This could be an interesting subject to talk about in a general thread regarding UI framework today compared to 10 years ago
