Temporal Flux v2.00 Release

[Geiger]

Temporal Flux v2.00

Finally, six months overdue (but just in time for Christmas), the most versatile Chrono Trigger editor returns.  With lots of new features and nearly every line of code rewritten, this release should make Chrono Trigger hackers quite happy.

This release requires v2.0 of the .NET Framework, which you can get from Windows Update and other locations on Microsoft's site.

From the release notes:

v2.00
New
- Graphic Windows . Tile tracker added
- Area Fill . paste with lasso
- Locations . Locations can now be renamed
- Location Map . Layer 3 rendering and editing
- Location Map . Subscreen full and half color addition / subtraction
- Location Map . complete rendering reordering to more closely match SNES capabilities
- Location Map Properties . map expansion and special effects now editable
- Location Events . Decode All
- Events . Comments can now be added to an event
- Overworld Map . tile properties
- Overworld Map . music transitional data editing
- Overworld Map Properties . No Landing Zone editing
- Overworld Events . editor added
- Overworld Events . decode all added
- Overworld Event Exits . editable and also updated by Overworld Events
- Interleaved ROM support . careful, this could corrupt the ROM if it is not interleaved in the usual manner
- Misc . The story point at which party management becomes available can be changed.
- Patches . Temporal Flux can now apply ASM patches to give all maps a NLZ, and to allow Dactyls to use the Epochs NLZ
- Expanded ROM . extra space now used appropriately
- Fully Expandable Strings  . quite the major pain to implement.  All dynamic strings supported.
- Subtile Properties . Fully editable for all layers in Locations, and layers 1&2 in Overworlds.  Layer 3 is sort of a different beast for Overworlds.
- Import / Export . barebones import/export functions added

Fixed
- Overworld Exits . seems exits are supposed to be a half tile up from the tile coordinates they have listed
- Strings . string editor now resizes based on client area (no more hidden scrollbars)
- Location Map . tile properties swatch did not always decode solid quads correctly
- Location Map . tile properties swatch did not always build rounded corners correctly
- Location Map . no longer possible to paste onto Layers below the active Layer
- Location Events . Command 16 (if statement) now displays correct address
- Location Events . Some event packets had forward linking pointers that would cause the packet to save incorrectly
- Location Events . Editor now supports the game's hard limit of 40 objects
- Location Properties . "Millennial" spelling fix
- Maps . out of bounds drawing problems fixed
- Maps . selecting a tile without a map window open caused a null exception
- Maps . holding both mouse buttons while clicking sent a paste event before the copy event finished.  code now checks to see if copy event is done
- Open ROM . null error message was displayed when a file could not be opened

Changed
- Event Commands . many more decoded and several corrected, expanded
- Internal Code . some internal code partially combined for a smaller executable and fewer code rewrites
- Area Select . reversable lasso
- Area Select . modality switch removed (area select is always on)
- Strings . string group selecter widened
- Location Events . songs and sound effects now use combos
- Location Events . sound effects now appear by name in display
- Location Events . npcs and enemies now use combos
- Location Map . Two of the unknown bits have been identified
- Location Map . all tile properties are now editable
- Location Properties . Location combo is no longer editable
- Overworld Properties . Unknown palette correctly identified as music transition data
- Tile Swatches . How swatches were interfaced was completely rewritten to be more consistant.  Solved a Zoom problem, also.
- Everything . There are innumerable small changes and enhancements to just about every aspect of Temporal Flux.  Far too many to list here.

The manual is still in the process of being updated.  It will be released at a later date.

---T.Geiger

[Tonjevic]

*Squeals with delight*
Its finally here!

[ZeaLitY]

Okay, I will announce this shortly.

[Tonjevic]

It's not working for me. Any idea where I can find the .NET framework required? Is it included in teh 2.0 redistributable (86x) thingy?

[ZeaLitY]

I posted a link in my News Update.

[Geiger]

Any idea where I can find the .NET framework required? Is it included in teh 2.0 redistributable (86x) thingy?

Yes, if I understand you correctly.  But its best if you get it from Windows Update, as WU will give you the proper download for your language and platform.

---T.Geiger

[Dirtie]

This is great. I have been waiting for this for a long time, and all I can say is you've done an excellent job Geiger (Chickenlump and JLukas too). Packed full of new features and optimizations, you guys can give yourselves a pat on the back.

A couple of questions I've always been a bit confused about:
In the tile swatch, there appears to be duplicate tiles that TF reports no difference between, why is this?
And also (please ignore my ignorance) what exactly are subtiles?

Again, great work.

EDIT: Oh, in case you didn't know, the difference between "Play Sound (18)" and "Play Sound (19)" is that one stops when a new sound is played, while the other keeps going.

[Lord J Esq]

Geiger, my compliments to you and your team. This is fine work.

[Mystik3eb]

You guys are incredibly talented. Coding is so above me, this work is outstanding. I can foresee some great works coming from this.

[Geiger]

In the tile swatch, there appears to be duplicate tiles that TF reports no difference between, why is this?

I would guess that they are duplicate in the ROM.  Not entirely sure what you mean though.  Could you provide an example please?

what exactly are subtiles?

Tiles, actually.  A real tile for the SNES is an 8x8 block of pixels.  However, this does not make any logical sense for most games as you will never find an 8x8 tile used individually.  It comes in a pack of four tiles joined together to create a 16x16 block.

To keep things simple, I call these larger units a tile and the individual 8x8 blocks a subtile, since this is how they logically work in the game.

They are also called quads in some places in Flux.

the difference between "Play Sound (18)" and "Play Sound (19)" is that one stops when a new sound is played, while the other keeps going.

Thanks.   I will add that to my notes.  18 is the one that interrupts?

---T.Geiger

[nightmare975]

YAY! Its really Christmas!

[Dirtie]

the difference between "Play Sound (18)" and "Play Sound (19)" is that one stops when a new sound is played, while the other keeps going.

Thanks.   I will add that to my notes.  18 is the one that interrupts?

---T.Geiger

It doesn't interrupt - it gets interrupted when another sound is played. I think you have it the right way round though (18 is interrupted, 19 isn't) but don't quote me on that .

I'll see if I can find an example of the tile thing when I get some time.

[Anonymous]

Hey, I'm probably just missing something, but how do you put comments into your events?

[Dirtie]

For an example of the tile thing I was talking about, look at the End of Time. You will find quite a few duplicates of the fence parts. Yes I realise a few of them have a slightly different palette, but some of them are quite clearly duplicates. All I want is some sort of explanation of this behaviour - is it how the ROM is programmed, or the way the program works, etc.? Or is there indeed a difference between each and every tile that I haven't clicked on to yet?

Cheers Geiger.

[JLukas]

Hey, I'm probably just missing something, but how do you put comments into your events?

Click Command to create a new empty spot (Return) in the tree where you want to put the comment, and then click on the new command to highlight it.  Then, on the left, select Category Project.  Type your comment in the Comments box and press Update.