
 Tile Layer v0.50b
 Console graphics editor

 by SnowBro <kentmhan@online.no>

 Released 12/14/98


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

 - added 1BPP / SNES / Virtual Boy / SMS support!
 - importable palette (tlayer.pal) is now in R,G,B format
 - palette can be saved (by pressing F2)
 - removed the grids; they made it hard to see exactly how
   the tiles pieced together
 - clipboard expanded to 17x8 tiles


 Getting started:
 ----------------

 A quick explanation of the program follows. I suggest you read it,
 in order to clearly understand how everything works. If you send me
 an email asking about something that is already answered in the next
 paragraphs of this document, your letter will be ignored. If there's
 something in this document that you feel needs to be explained
 better, however, then don't hesitate to email me about it.


 Features overview:
 ------------------

 - 1BPP / NES / Game Boy / Virtual Boy / SNES / SMS support
 - Edit two files at once, of same or different formats
 - Copy data from one graphics format to another
 - Huge clipboard (17x8 tiles)
 - Fast
 - Editing functions: FlipX, FlipY, Rot90
 - Customizable colors
 - Automatic checksum repair of GameBoy ROMs


 Keys:
 -----

 The main editing in Tile Layer is mouse-driven, but you may want
 to push the following keys at one time or another.

 ESC    - Exit program
 F1     - Switch tile format
 F2     - Save palette
 Up     - Scroll one row up
 Down   - Scroll one row down
 Left   - Finetune offset (-1)
 Right  - Finetune offset (+1)
 PgUp   - Scroll one page up
 Pgdown - Scroll one page down
 TAB    - Switch file (when two files are loaded)


 Dual file editing:
 ------------------

 One of the key features of Tile Layer is the ability to have two ROM
 files loaded simultaneously. This is done by specifying two filenames at
 the DOS prompt, separated by spaces, like so:

 tlayer mario.nes metroid3.smc

 In the main editor, you can then switch between the two files by
 pressing TAB.


 Switching tile format:
 ----------------------

 Press F1 to toggle between the different tile formats. Although
 Tile Layer autodetects the tile format based on the ROM file's
 extension (.NES/.GB/.VB/.SMC/.SMS), it is sometimes necessary to
 switch from 4-bit to 2-bit or 1-bit format, because some SNES and
 SMS games store their graphics that way (usually fonts and stuff
 which require few colors).


 Moving around:
 --------------

 Arrow keys Up and Down scroll through the ROM one row of tiles at a time,
 Page Up and Page Down take you where you want to go a bit faster. Arrow
 keys Left and Right finetune the offset (decrease/increase  by one).
 The offset finetuning is an *IMPORTANT* feature; I'll try to explain why.
 Sometimes the tiles in a ROM aren't aligned at an even offset; let's say
 the tile data starts at 1005h in the file. But Tile Layer by default
 reads data from 0000h, 0100h, 0200h, etc., so the color info for the first
 bitplane(s) will be wrong. In such cases you need to adjust the offset
 by pressing arrow keys left/right until the starting offset for the
 tiles is correct (it's usually easy to see). Try viewing the dungeon
 graphics in "Zelda.nes" to see what I mean.


 ROM data:
 ---------

 Select a tile from here by clicking LEFT mouse button.
 Click RIGHT mouse button to paste the currently selected tile
 (either a tile selected directly from the ROM data or from
 the clipboard).


 Clipboard:
 ----------

 Paste the tile selected from the ROM data (or from another location
 on the clipboard) by clicking RIGHT mouse button. Select tile to edit
 by clicking left mouse button. The clipboard is mainly a place where
 you can arrange scattered ROM tiles in an order that forms a complete
 picture, so that the editing gets easier. When you are editing two
 files at once, you can paste tiles from one file onto the clipboard,
 then switch file (by pressing TAB) and paste the tiles where you want
 them in the other file. You don't have to go via the clipboard though;
 just select a tile from the ROM data in one file, press TAB and
 paste the tile data directly.

 Example of how to copy tiles from a .GB ROM to a .NES ROM:

 1) Load both files in Tile Layer as explained above.
 3) Switch to the .GB file by using TAB, if it wasn't the first
    file you specified on the command line.
 3) Locate the graphics data and copy the tiles you want to the
    clipboard, or if you just want one tile, select it with from
    the ROM data with the left mouse button.
 4) Press TAB to return to the .NES ROM.
 5) Copy the tiles to the ROM data and you're done!

 The process can be reversed, of course. You can copy 1BPP/NES/GB/VB
 tiles  to a SNES/SMS ROM, or vice versa, but keep in mind that when
 copying data from a 4-bit format to a 2-bit format or lower, the upper
 bitplanes will be lost.


 Tile edit:
 ----------

 Left mouse button draws currently selected foreground color,
 right mouse button draws currently selected background color.
 Change foreground/background color by clicking left/right
 mouse button on the desired color box to the right of the
 drawing area. Once you're done editing a tile, copy it back
 to the ROM (by pressing RIGHT mouse button while holding the
 cursor over the tile you want replaced). You have to copy it
 back yourself because when editing a tile, changes are NOT
 written directly to the ROM. This is to give you a second
 chance if you aren't pleased with the result and want to
 start over with the original tile again. In any case,
 remember to save your work often: there's no telling when
 you'll screw up next (I do it all the time 8-) ).


 Customizing colors:
 -------------------

 The three vertical bars to the right of the tile edit window
 control the [R]ed, [G]reen and [B]lue component of the current
 foreground color. They can be adjusted to your own liking.
 When you are happy with it, press F2 to save it to "tlayer.pal".


 Importing a palette:
 ------------------------

 When Tile Layer is started, it will check to see if there is a
 file called TLAYER.PAL present in the directory. If there is, it
 will be used as the default palette. The file contains RGB values
 for the program's colors.
 For NES ROMs, you can use NESticle's palette viewer to figure out the
 color values for the ROM you want to edit.


 Menu:
 -----

 Rot 90: rotates the selected tile 90 degrees.
 Flip X: flips the selected tile horizontally.
 Flip Y: flips the selected tile vertically.
 Save: saves changes to file.
 Quit: erases your hard drive. No wait, that's not it...
       Uhm, actually, I don't remember.

 Well, that's about it. If you have any questions, suggestions or
 comments, send an email to my address, kentmhan@online.no.

 Oh, one final note:

 Although I've done my best to make sure that this program is totally
 bug-free, there still MIGHT be some strange error lurking around
 somewhere (I haven't managed to find it yet though). In other words,
 if you use this program and Something Bad happens to you or your ROM
 images, don't expect me to take any responsibility for it. But I can
 probably offer you some sympathy in the form of comforting words
 ("There there. Everything's gonna be all right.").

 (c) Kent Hansen 1998
