[Tutorial] How to build a stage using FPG edit

*Original post by Bomberlink

THE TOOL
FPG edit is a tool designed by Codemaster, you can find the download here :
http://filebeam.com/861fea63ff87c089ccd80a7568043cc1

THE BASIC
FPG is a file with embedded sprites, each sprite has a position inside the file, the positions are numbered from 001 to 999, the game does direct calls to the numbers of the file so it is very important understand this point.


Fpg edit is very simple to use, there are 2 windows, one for navigation on the top, and your current file folder on the bottom, a simple drag and drop interface :

(You can set FPG edit in english on the install)

I recommend to practice with V4 files to understand how it works.

SorR V5 can use 2 types of fpg files, 8 bits (256 colors, no worries about only 1, V5 can have infinite 8 bit palettes at once) and 16 bits (65536 colors), using 8bits when possible will reduce the memory used (useful for Wiz port, or other limited hardware)


BITMAPS
You can use any type of file supported by Fpg edit, but the better ones are going to be BMP and PNG, don't use JPG for obvious reasons.
1) The transparent color on the game is 000 / 000 / 000 (RGB, black color), don't use alpha channel, unique transparent channel for PNG as this may not work.

BUILDING STAGE
These are the following numbers/positions used on Sormaker :
001 The Main layer
010..019 Extra layer 1
020..029 Extra layer 2
030..039 Extra layer 3
040..049 Extra layer 4
050..059 Extra layer 5
060..069 Extra layer 6
070..079 Extra layer 7
080..089 Extra layer 8
090..099 Extra layer 9

Main layer
It is a single map and can have different resolutions, starting from 320x240, main layer is mandatory.

Format examples :
1024x240 horitzontal scroll
1024x250 Improved horitzontal scroll
1024x260 boat
1024x280 Free camera movement for up/down
1024x480 diagonal scroll
320x1024 elevator

* Unlike V4 there is no tiles, only single maps.

Extra layers
Each layer has 10 positions on the fpg, that means you can do animated layers by just adding them in order :

If you skip 14, the game will stop animation on 14 even if you have added 16,17,18,19..

If you are going to use a layer for looping, like repeating a background, the horitzontal size must be 320 or higher.

* Extra layers are optional, you don't need to use all them, just the necessary ones.
* If you don't want animated layers just add the map on numbers 20,30,40..

POSITIONING
You have 3 ways for building stages in set positions :

1) Bitmap mount (the cheap way)

Create maps to overlap in the designed way, not recommended, memory and performance may be affected.

2) Control points


Each sprite inside the FPG can have 999 control points, the point 000 defines the virtual center of the map, you can set different positions for a map without increasing the original size.

3) Sormaker editor (to be explained in future tutorials)
Obioubsly everything is not that limited, from Sormaker you can edit the stages, set the behaviour, the speed, the priority, the positions, add effects to the layers, set animation ticks.. but you have to create an FPG file correctly first.

NAME OF THE FILES
Naming files is very simple :
stage1a.fpg => Is going to be Stage 1 Scene 1
stage1b.fpg => Stage 1 Scene 2
stage2a.fpg => Stage 2 Scene 1

Maximum is stage8p = Stage 8 Scene 16 = 128 stages
More than enough for recreating any original game.
(Don't use caplocks for fpg names, Linux based ports may dislike it)

Remember, Sormaker can handle alternate routes, this just defines the internal and external logical file order.

Charco wrote:*Original post by Bomberlink

THE TOOL
FPG edit is a tool designed by Codemaster, you can find the download here :
http://filebeam.com/861fea63ff87c089ccd80a7568043cc1

THE BASIC
FPG is a file with embedded sprites, each sprite has a position inside the file, the positions are numbered from 001 to 999, the game does direct calls to the numbers of the file so it is very important understand this point.


Fpg edit is very simple to use, there are 2 windows, one for navigation on the top, and your current file folder on the bottom, a simple drag and drop interface :

(You can set FPG edit in english on the install)

I recommend to practice with V4 files to understand how it works.

SorR V5 can use 2 types of fpg files, 8 bits (256 colors, no worries about only 1, V5 can have infinite 8 bit palettes at once) and 16 bits (65536 colors), using 8bits when possible will reduce the memory used (useful for Wiz port, or other limited hardware)


BITMAPS
You can use any type of file supported by Fpg edit, but the better ones are going to be BMP and PNG, don't use JPG for obvious reasons.
1) The transparent color on the game is 000 / 000 / 000 (RGB, black color), don't use alpha channel, unique transparent channel for PNG as this may not work.

BUILDING STAGE
These are the following numbers/positions used on Sormaker :
001 The Main layer
010..019 Extra layer 1
020..029 Extra layer 2
030..039 Extra layer 3
040..049 Extra layer 4
050..059 Extra layer 5
060..069 Extra layer 6
070..079 Extra layer 7
080..089 Extra layer 8
090..099 Extra layer 9

Main layer
It is a single map and can have different resolutions, starting from 320x240, main layer is mandatory.

Format examples :
1024x240 horitzontal scroll
1024x250 Improved horitzontal scroll
1024x260 boat
1024x280 Free camera movement for up/down
1024x480 diagonal scroll
320x1024 elevator

* Unlike V4 there is no tiles, only single maps.

Extra layers
Each layer has 10 positions on the fpg, that means you can do animated layers by just adding them in order :

If you skip 14, the game will stop animation on 14 even if you have added 16,17,18,19..

If you are going to use a layer for looping, like repeating a background, the horitzontal size must be 320 or higher.

* Extra layers are optional, you don't need to use all them, just the necessary ones.
* If you don't want animated layers just add the map on numbers 20,30,40..

POSITIONING
You have 3 ways for building stages in set positions :

1) Bitmap mount (the cheap way)

Create maps to overlap in the designed way, not recommended, memory and performance may be affected.

2) Control points


Each sprite inside the FPG can have 999 control points, the point 000 defines the virtual center of the map, you can set different positions for a map without increasing the original size.

3) Sormaker editor (to be explained in future tutorials)
Obioubsly everything is not that limited, from Sormaker you can edit the stages, set the behaviour, the speed, the priority, the positions, add effects to the layers, set animation ticks.. but you have to create an FPG file correctly first.

NAME OF THE FILES
Naming files is very simple :
stage1a.fpg => Is going to be Stage 1 Scene 1
stage1b.fpg => Stage 1 Scene 2
stage2a.fpg => Stage 2 Scene 1

Maximum is stage8p = Stage 8 Scene 16 = 128 stages
More than enough for recreating any original game.
(Don't use caplocks for fpg names, Linux based ports may dislike it)

Remember, Sormaker can handle alternate routes, this just defines the internal and external logical file order.

This is something else you can have this color can also be used for transparency as well as black

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