Place background tile inside a path without recalculating the path

scarwarrior

New member
Hey everyone,

I was wondering if there is a way to place tiles down within a path that won't have the path cut around that background tile.

I realize I am using the paths maybe differently than they were intended, but I like to add a border to the tiles using paths, but that means having to basically coat the entire screen with a grass path set. See the image below.

It creates a really nice effect, but if I start to want to add grass variants, or add some trees or what not, the path automatically cuts around the tree or grass variant ruining the look. You can see this in the image below but circled in red.

What I'd love to see is if you press 7 (or a UI button that toggles path usage on/off) it paints your current tile but makes the path think there isn't a hole there.

I fear that that might end up being a major rework to the tile/path systems, but it could lead to a lot more interesting looking tiles and make for better looking blends.


Other suggestions about paths and screen tiling...
Ability to manually place paths down. Basically give user access to all path tiles through a menu so they can use them as extra tiles if needed.
Pretty annoying that you can't hold the mouse button down to paint background tiles. If you want to add a lot of water for example, that can be difficult.

Probably a known bug, but I can't click on created path infos without NES Maker crashing.
 

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chronosv2

New member
The click-and-drag to paint would be awesome.
The problem with paths and background items is that there's only one background layer on the NES. You've got to make a tile that matches the color palette and design of the path with what you want on it, then place that. Just placing a tree on top of the path won't make it on top of the path.
 

scarwarrior

New member
Thanks for the reply!

Yeah that's why I figured it'd take some reworking as I'm not really sure how they create the paths. I guess I am imagining that when the new background tile is placed down, it doesn't realize that it is no longer a path tile, or at the very least, the path doesn't try to envelope the new tile with a path border. Perhaps it just ends up thinking that that background tile is a part of the path? The option being "place background tile as path tile"?

At the very least, I could create the effect that I am looking for if I had full access to all the individual path pieces so I could manually choose where I do and don't want the borders.
 

MistSonata

Moderator
You're looking for an "ignore path" tile feature, which is possible, but it's not implemented in the tool. It seems like it'll be something included in the tool in the future as the program is built upon, but maybe not too terribly soon. My suggestion would be to plan around not having the option for now.
 

chronosv2

New member
Are you trying to have full circles of path around the tree and patch of grass? If so you might need to go one more tile out (5x5 instead of 3x3) because there's no room on the interior for the path to draw.
I guess I may not be understanding what exactly you're trying to achieve.
If the tree is intended on being on top of the path tiles, then my post above. If it's supposed to be a tiny dot of grass around the tree and the rest of the path around it, it can't fit like that.
 

darkhog

New member
! agree, paths should be recalculated only when path tool is being used (and even then, there should be a way to "just" recalc current path being drawn, by e.g. pressing shift at the same time path is being drawn). Yes, this would mean that you have to redraw and parts you put other assets on where you want path to be recalculated, but overall it would be a more flexible way.
 

scarwarrior

New member
Looks like I've got the answer I was looking for! I'm glad to hear from MistSonata that that feature is possible, even if it might take some time for it come down the line. For now I will work without it, but I do think it could really increase the quality of the art if implemented.

ChronoSV2, I realized my posts above might not have been super clear especially since I was talking about a path and there is a big dark green path on the bottom left of the screen. If you look within the red circle, you will see that the grass and the tree have a "square" of dark green surrounding them. I would like to not have the dark green square surrounding the grass and tree tile. This is happening because I wanted to create a border grass "path" that would add a border to the cliffs and water to help blend them in or make a clear difference between the tiles. But in order for this to work, I have to paint the entire screen in with the grass path with the border. But when I add variant tiles (like the grass or tree in the red circle) it cuts into the path and creates a dark green square where the path is recalculating because it believes there is a hole there. I hope this explains the image a little better!
 
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