egomassive's Knytt Stories Plus mod

I noticed a fairly insignificant issue while testing your Customnibus, but it nonetheless conflicts with the behavior of vanilla KS: the inventory does not update if you collect something while it is open until it has been closed and opened again.

Knytt Stories Plus, KS+
Adding "plus" to names isn't old already, is it?

@ Pie Sniper: I've noticed that myself, but I don't consider it a problem. I agree that an immediate update would be an improvement though. ETA: I remember now that I intentionally disabled constant item bar updates because the now enormous inventory was slowing down performance. I guess I should figure out a way to enable them since I want this to play vanilla levels just like vanilla KS.

@ Raicuparta: Funny, I've strongly considered KS++. Your suggestion of KS+ is eerily close. I'll have to look into the origins of the double-plus, and see if it's appropriate. At any rate I'd say they're both in the running.

A little update on the Editor mod, it's driving me crazy. I'm using a Multiple Document Interface with docked windows, and the Scintilla object is being a pain. Scintilla is a text editor engine that Looki built an MMF2 extension for. There doesn't seem to be a way to give it focus just by clicking on it. It's such a basic thing, but I can't make it work. Also, according to Looki's source if you double-click on a screen group, e.g. [x1000y1000], the whole editor should move to that screen, but it doesn't happen, not even when using Looki's original mod. Does this work for anyone else?

I'm including an advanced World.ini editor in my level editor which can be turned on and off. As you may know the original level editor can be used on a 800x600 resolution screen. I'm aiming for 1024x768. In order to accommodate this goal, I may rearrange the editor layout. I need as much horizontal screen space as possible for Ini editor. So, check out these mock ups, and tell me what you think.

The second screen is how it looks when choosing a test location. New features worth mentioning are preview strips of adjacent rooms, test and set start with flags, and a status bar (the black band at the bottom will give contextual feed back.) None of these have actually been implemented yet.

To be honest I'm not totally digging it... I think some of the position changes (objects/banks mainly) are just drastic enough that it could be hard to adapt. Will the INI editor work in such a way that the objects/banks can't be positioned above it? Will it act as a separate window? I think I'd be able to judge better if the INI editor were included in the mock ups.

The extra features are cool though. I love the look of the preview strips.

Adapting isn't a huge issue.
One thing I can think of that is taking up a lot more space than it needs (even though it doesn't take up a lot of space to begin with) is the color selection for the tileset area background. Instead of 8 buttons, it could be just 1 that behaves like the background/tileset/bank/object selectors, change it by clicking or with the mouse wheel.

@ Sergoicornaga: Let me show you what I've got, so you can see why I need to make changes. (See attachment.) The green area is where the 3rd-Part-Tools style interface will be. That and the text editor are too small. Also, there are empty spots in the map pane caused by the addition of the preview strips.

@ Raicuparta: That's a great idea about the color switching. My greatest displeasure with the mock-up is it's so cluttered.

eta: Please ignore my "Classic Windows" theme.

That new mockup is exactly what I had in mind after what Sergio said, but I worry about the small map

I think having it at the bottom like that provides a great sense of the order things are visually rendered in. Perhaps this could function as a kind of minimum width, with more spaced out versions of the same layout for those at larger resolutions? The window could even be resizable, provided you're feeling ambitious and that's a feature MMF is even capable of.

What happens when pressing the script button?

Replying to your earlier 300% zoom query, I've realised it would be useful for me, especially if I can have a black border obscuring the rest of the screen. The current editor disallows fullscreen because it messes things up, for me this could act as a good alternative.

@ Segiocornaga: The script button expands the window and launches the ini editor pane. I plan on reverting back to the old background button and placing a new script button somewhere along the right edge.

If I do the 300% zoom it will be windowed. Having both enlarging methods working here as they do is a tremendous feat. Adding black borders may not be possible.

On having multiple layouts, not going to happen. Too much of the program depends on window locations. I'm trying to make as much of it reference variables as possible (so I can change one variable when I move something,) but some of it is unavoidable (e.g. checking to see if the mouse is in a zone.) I'm actually struggling with disallowing re-size and maximize. After hammering out all my focus issues, I discovered that MDI mode forces me to allow resizing and maximizing. This, of course, opens the door to many other problems. *Sigh*

It's looking excellent. I have only minor aesthetic suggestions remaining, such as that the gap between the main level and the tileset etc. could be narrower, and/or the buttons and mid-line thing more centred. Perhaps there's also room for an extra row on the map?

Don't worry if the 300% zoom or black border doesn't work out, I'm sure I'll be content with 200% and can hack together an alternative for the latter.

Progress report: I stayed up all night implementing the preview bands, and my brain has turned to mush. Large CO's can cause problems, but otherwise the bands work wonderfully.

It turns out that there are problems with overlapping panes that I hadn't discovered yet. They wont stay in the correct order. I may have to rethink the layout a bit.

@ Sergiocornaga: After trashing the idea of black borders in zoom mode (on the game mod,) I had an idea that will probably work. Of course, MMF2 doesn't always agree with me about how it should work.

This is starting to look great. By starting, I mean it looked great from the beginning, actually.
Editor is definately useful, as I can't figure out how to add the new stuffs as of yet.

@ Rainulous: Thanks. The KS mod was designed to be compatible with existing editors. I know the mod I'm making will be a useful tool for people who require the KS Manager/3rd Party Tools for World.ini instructions. In the meantime here are some level making tips:

Collectibles are in bank 19. Other new objects are in banks 0, 16, and 17. Also, scroll down in bank 0 to find the Keyboard objects.

Read the Animation Instructions.txt that came with the mod download. It explains all the new World.ini instructions you can use.

Examine the Features Demonstration and Customnibus levels included in the mod download. Between the two of them, every new feature has a working example.

If you have any specific questions, ask them here and I'll try to answer them in a timely fashion.

Progress Report: The new map editor layout has been implemented and is working. I'll post a screen shot once I get all the graphics updated. I'm slapping a layer of pretty all over it.

Remember how I said I was going to post a screen shot after I updated the graphics? No? Well I did say that, and true to my word here it is. (See attachment.) This is not a mock-up. This is an actual screenshot from a running editor.

You might think graphics are just for looks, but I remember how lost I was when I first opened the original editor. If there wasn't such a lovely tutorial available I probably wouldn't be here today. Hopefully, the meaning of things are a bit more obvious now, but if they aren't the black bar at the bottom will give contextual feedback (eventually.)