alienbashii/Code/newmaptool/docs/map-editor

GENERIC MAP EDITOR (AGA) V1.15
------------------------------


The editor has 3 separate sections :-

a) Graphics

  This section allow the user to load in dpaint images to be used
  as pages to create the map from (max currently of 4 pages at a time).

  Page sizes are dependant on the mode of the editor (lo or hi-res).
  Lo-res mode used 320x256 pages, whereas hi-res mode uses 640x256. 
  
  Various operations can be performed on blocks such as rotations
  combinations etc etc. Operations can be performed between
  different pages, i.e a block can be moved from page 4 to page 1.
  The pages can also be saved back again (note - in uncompressed
  format).
  
b) Edit Map

  Where the user can create maps from the pages loaded.
  The editor allows 2 maps to be loaded to allow copying of chunks
  from one to the other, lots of other operations are also
  available such as copy, paste, and fills.
  8 buffers are available for copying much used data.
  
c) Edit Data 

  This was primarily for ABII, each map has a similarily sized
  byte map which contains alien numbers - these are then created
  and added to the game as the screen scrolls.
  This data is currently automatically saved with the map data.
  
d) Map SetUp

  This allows the user to define the size of the map, the number
  of planes the map is to use and the size of the map data (byte
  or word). 
  ** The user can re-size maps without destroying the data.   
  
The map editor supports project files, anything that has been
loaded in the graphics section, map secion etc will be re-loaded, 
so basically load in all the stuff you want and then at the
main menu screen click on SAVE PROJ -once saved, LOAD PROJ will
load it back in as saved.

NOTE - quit the map editor to ensure all data is saved away
properly.


The most important part of the map editor is its features, many
of them are not obvious and are not documented.
These are as follows:

When in modes 'a'-'c', the 'f' key flips between full/screen and
button mode + '1','2' and '3' keys move straight into the 3
modes.

When in map edit mode :

	Left mouse button  - place current block
	Right mouse button - delete using currently selected
	                     delete block
	Click on gridded blocks to choose current block - cursor
	keys move selected block.
	
	Map can be scrolled using joystick or by clicking on arrow
	buttons (joystick is better as you can edit with the mouse
	as the same time).
	Note - the joystick fire button toggles between workbench
	and the map editor - this was a nasty frig however!!!!!


Note - a few of the following can also be selected by clicking on
buttons and not all of the buttons have a keyboard equivalent.

		                     
        'j'       - Flip between maps - 2 maps can be loaded
                    at once (different sizes is ok) - User can
                    then cut and paste between them
        
	'F1'-'F8' - Select current buffer
		  - 'PICK BUFF' button allow user to save buffers and to
		    name each one
	 
	','	  - Scroll block pages down
	'.'	  - Scroll block pages up
	 
	'p'       - Make currently selected block delete block
	
	' '(space)- Selects block under cursor (on map) as
		    current block to draw with
	
	'-'	  - Decrease mouse sensativity
	'='	  - Increase mouse sensativity
	
	SHIFT+'c' - Select copy block mode
	SHIFT+'p' - Select paste block mode
	SHIFT+'x' - Select cut block mode
	
	  	  - Note when pasting if user holds left mouse down
	    	    an outline of the block will be displayed and can
	    	    be moved around before releasing and dropping the block
	    	    down
	   	    
	
	SHIFT+'f' - Select FILL mode - fills with currently
	            selected block
	         
	'g'	  - Toggle block grid mode on/off
	
	'u'	  - Undo last edit, note if an edit is unchangeable
	 	    (such as inserting a column) then the undo button
	 	    will dissapear
	    
	
	'z'/'a'   - Move current block page up/down line
	
	's'	  - Show whole map - displays a small version
	            of map - use can move to a location on the
	            zoomed-out map by first clicking on the
	            scaled map and then moving a representation
	            of the screen around. Clicking the mouse
	            will then move to the location currently
	            highlighted.		       

PROJECT FILES:

The following details are saved in project files:

All graphic pages in use
Current map + position
Spare map + position
All map buffers
Current mouse sensativity
Current Delete Block (picked by 'p')
Block Data file (for ABII)

	            
BUGS:

There may possibly be bugs in this version as it has never been extensively
tested. However the only major addition in this version is the project
files option, so any debugging should be targeted at that code.