+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| visine v2.0 BETA 1, 03/11/2001 - Mega Man II level editor DOS |
| Copyright (c)2000, 2001 -= Fx3 =- Compiled with DJGPP/Allegro |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+

I didn't write this editor with ROM hacking as goal, but to learn more
(always) about the NES gfx engine. Well, after some stupid errors such
as 'del *.*' and 'y', here's what I coded in C... my 1st level editor!

This is an *unofficial* Mega Man II level editor.

Feel free to create your own Mega Man II levels, use your mind... 
But please, give me credit, drop me an e-mail.

LICENSE: freeware.
WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. Use it at your own risk,
_never_ distribute this package within the ROM image.

* PLEASE, REPORT ME BUGS YOU MAY FIND...

=============================================================================
INDEX OF ~\megaedit.txt

1) Intro / Features
2) The editor
3) Keys
4) Credits
=============================================================================

What's new:
-----------

Version 2.0 BETA 1 (11/03/2001)
- BETA version, use it at your own risk;
- Added object support (enemies and items, still no gfx);
- Fixed Wily levels edition (last level has bad objects, do not touch them);
- Fixed boss screen editor;
- Fixed level color editor, added palette cycles;
- Major code cleanup and optimizations, tons of bugs fixed.

Version 1.00 (09/17/2000)
- Initial revision.

=============================================================================

1) Intro / Features
-------------------

- visine for eyes... Mega Man ][ level edition!

The current features are added:

* All 8 robots and Wily levels are editable;
* Full level color edition (palettes and attribute table);
* Object support (enemies and items are editable, still no gfx);
* Boss screen editor (no sprites yet).

The missing features:

* Graphics when editing objects;
* Tons of other changes you can do in the game...

Requirements:

* MOUSE driver installed;
* Mega Man II ROM image (megaman2.nes: 262160 bytes) in the same directory.

=============================================================================

2) The editor
-------------

- You may notice that a 4x4 group of tiles appears many times in a level.
Each one of these groups is a STRUCTURE of 32x32 pixels. Each level has
64 structures per page (screen).

- The level is displayed in 256x240 pixels (standard NES screen).

- In the right side, you have the STRUCTURE SELECTOR displaying 4 structures
per time. A bit down, the last structure copied is displayed. You will use
these structures to build/change the levels.

- A colour square highlights the current selected structure.

- The orange counter means the current level number.
- The green counter means the current level page number.

*NOTES ABOUT THE LEVEL COLOR EDITOR*
===================================

In this version, palette cycle is implemented and working fine, I believe so.
Waterfalls (Bubbleman's stage) and magma river (Heatman's stage) are animated
using palette cycle. The game engine copies a new palette bank (16 values) to
do some animations in the background objects. Notice that only 3 or 4 colors,
of all 16, are changed. That means, the remaining 12 colors are the same. So,
this was the main reason for poor color editing in the 1st public release.

A new toolbar appears at bottom within 3 buttons:

* Use (+/-) to increase/decrease background palette cycle (frame).
* LOCK ON/OFF: be careful when this option is 'ON'. Basically, it's an
useful tweak: any palette value changed (at any cycle) will take effect
for all cycles, meaning (for example) color #2 on cycle #0 was changed,
so this one will be #2 as well on cycles 1..6.

* Sprites have no palette cycle, so the last 16 entries will remain the same!

=============================================================================

3) Keys
-------

[KEYBOARD]

<ESC>       - quit to OS
<F1>        - prev. level.
<F2>        - next level.
<F5>        - save changes.
<F9>        - level colors editor.
<F10>       - boss screen editor (read more below).

<A>         - attribute mode. Press ENTER to exit.
In this mode, you're able to cycle through 4 colors.
Right click in a 8x8 square from selected 32x32 structure (in pixels)
to toggle the color attribute (BB). Format works as follows:

level color #0  +
level color #1  |
level color #2  | -- background colors
...             |
level color #F  +
                     BBAA : (A)=tile color, (B)=palette area
level color #10 +
level color #11 |
level color #12 | -- sprites colors
...             |
level color #1F +

<tilde>     - prev. 4 4x4 level structures.
<tab>       - next  4 4x4 level structures.

<Page Up>   - next screen (page).
<Page Down> - prev. screen (page).

<Arrows>    - "fine" structure selection.

(OBJECTS)
- Objects are sprites, including enemies and items. To identify them, I use
squares: blue squares are items (or working as items) and purple squares as
enemies (or working as enemies). The XxY sprite position is the center of
square (size=16x16 pixels).
- You can insert/delete objects. Right click to select a square, so use:
     INSERT -- to insert an object,
     DELETE -- to delete an object,
     Home ---- to increase object index, and
     End ----- to decrease object index (both by 1).

- By the way, don't go mess up the things. Backup your hack before add/delete
sprites. For some reason, they may not work in a level (or in part).

[MOUSE]

- Move the mouse to a screen region you want to change.

- left click: paste a structure in the level /
              paste a palette entry in the level palette.

- right click: copy a structure from the level or selector /
               copy a palette entry from NES palette /
               cycle through 4 colors when in attribute mode. 

* Note: when you give a mouse click in the level, the colour square will
appear around the structure pointed by mouse.

* When in Boss screen editor, you see a blank square (32x32 pixels). Use the
arrow keys to select an area (or right click). Use left click to toggle the
attribute bits. More screens will be editable in the future.

=============================================================================

4) Credits
----------

* A big thank you to Kent Hansen for the help!
http://snowbro.romhacking.com/

* Compiled using DJGPP (http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/) and
Allegro library (http://sunsite.auc.dk/allegro).

* Compressed with UPX (http://upx.tsx.org).

* Mega Man II is copyright (c)1988 Capcom.

=============================================================================

5) Do you want to help me?
--------------------------

* If you want to help me, please...

1) Do not act as LAMMER...
2) Do not request anything (source code or even MM2 info);
3) Do not ask for new features, releases... whatever;
4) I have no ROM hacking as goal, so no ROM hacking group, webring, whatever
you want to invite me...

* If that's ok, so...

1) I don't know how to draw sprites gfx in the levels.
2) Sprites levels are stored differently from standard screens, like the
Boss select screen, which the entire sprite RAM is stored.

=============================================================================
 http://www.kinox.org/rocknes
=============================================================================
//eof
