Thanks giangurgolo for the last question.
I have a new question:

I need help editing the names in the Level-up bonus screen. It's the part right when you first are greeted with it ("So-and-so reaches level #"), I'm trying to edit the 'so-and-so' part of it. I am trying to make it so "Geno" displays as "Luigi". I don't know how to change it so I can have more letters to showing. Right now, each character's name is set specifically to only show letters after a certain byte, and ends at a certain byte of your chosing if you set your last byte after a name to 00. The offsets are from 02D3AF - 02D3D1. Is there any way to change where that byte begins? Any help?

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The graphics are at 21A, 21B, and 21C, all sequence 3. That's where all the shell graphics are stored.

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Bug report:

- The preview feature in the battle script editor is bugged. When I go to preview any battle, everything that saves to the 'PreviewRom' to preview the battle also saves to MY rom.

- I wouldn't really count this as a bug, but... Could you make it so that in the script editors, when you go to paste something, the first and last check boxes are checked after being pasted? Right now, all it does after you paste something is check the last thing you pasted. It's a real bother when you're working with larger scripts and pasting things, because usually you can't keep track.

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I think there is something wrong with going from Lazy Shell 1.0 to 2.1 using the same ROM. I was working on my hack using LS 1.0, and I upgraded to LS 2.1, and most of the main editors wouldn't even load... I didn't modify it outside of LS in any way, so it's gotta be LS.

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I found another mask effect. It looks like an isosceles triangle. For some reason it only feels like working with spells. Picture
Edit: I'm an idiot, I forgot to post the value. It's value is 09.

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I have to say the editor is great. The layout is a lot better than the last one, it's way more concise and straight forward. I'm finally working on my hack full length because of this release. I compiled a list of the bugs I've found:

Allies - Characters can't save dummy spells.

Dialogue - If you go higher than 45 in the battle script viewer, the editor errors and you can't save, forcing you to restart it.

Item - Changing an item's name changes what is displayed in the store

Levels:
- Tiles in the tile editor do not save.
- If you double-click a tile in the graphics viewer, it disappears from the level, and you can't place it anymore (same with right-clicking a tile then clicking somewhere else).

Main Title/Levels/Sprites:
- Highlight an area in the graphics viewer on the right, drag it somewhere, then change layers.
- If you use the tile editor and change how the tiles are formatted, editing a tile doesn't line up with the one you are editing. To make it sound less confusing, click one of the buttons that shifts the tiles left or right, if you try to edit any tile using a tool (eraser, pencil), it erases pixels from a tile somewhere behind it.
- Green/blue palettes only change if you change the red palette. It won't let you input green or blue palettes manually, you have to change the red palette, then try to change the green/blue before it'll switch to the red palette.

Main Editor - Palette editors/search boxes/previewers don't close when their editor closes.

I am very happy with how this has turned out, thanks for putting your time into this. Cheers!


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I'm pretty sure the one you have already is the only one released to the public. Then again, I could be wrong.

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I enjoyed the hack, the dialog is amusing. The maps aren't really polished. The Fire Meadow map is kind of intimidating, the borders weren't really the best looking. It functions just fine, though it's a tad laggy. You can easily avoid the fireballs. Maybe you could reduce the number of them, but make their move speed a bit faster? Or keep the number, but make a map for each section?

Does the hack really end after the second battle with the Sacred Flames? After the battle, the map comes back for a second, then it fades into a black screen, and you can't do anything. I was hoping I could walk around instead of it just ending.

You know the shopkeeper Dyana in "The Shadows"? You shouldn't be able to restore your HP/FP when ever you want there, it kinda breaks the point of buying HP potions, especially since you're in a place full of monsters. It seems kind of weird for someone who is selling potions to you to just say "here, drink this!" and give you full health and FP. I think it should be a multiple choice answer if you want to drink what she has to offer for free. If you agree, then you get your FP fully restored. If you ask her a second time, instead of FP restoration, it'll knock you out. After you wake up, your HP/FP is fully restored, but all your coins are gone, and Dyana is nowhere to be found. Later in the game, you'll run into Dyana, who is being ambushed by monsters. If you save her, she gives you a item you can't buy in a store, so losing all those coins isn't pointless. It would take a little work, but I think it'd be worth it.
I dunno though, just throwing the idea out there!

It pretty cool hack, I can't wait till it's finished!

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Can we see a few screen shots or maybe a video so we know what your mod looks like?

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Hi, I'm wondering what exactly is a bit? Is it just a flag that can be turned on/off?

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About the fireballs in the Fire Meadow, right now, they are really easy to avoid if you just keep running. Between the lag of so many in the map and them disappearing and reappearing, you can easily just run around them. It didn't really phase me when I saw the faster one; at first sight I thought, "What is going on here?"

I forgot to mention in my last post, I liked that you used different boss music for each boss. It kinda spiced up the boss battles a bit. Does it relate to the bosses themselves in any way?
For the Flame Seal battle, did notice that the Flame Seal has Culex' theme, which strikes me as being a special fight. I'm confused though, is the thing your fighting the accessory as well? Or is it guarding it?

I was amused that after the Deadnaught fight, Mario was invisible... Was that intended? Or was that a glitch that you turned into a feature?

There was something that really bugged me with your last hack that I hope you don't repeat often in this one. There is a lot of back and forth attacking between Mario and foes. By that I mean, it's Mario's turn, then the enemy's, then yours, then the enemy's, etc. You have to wait for all the attack animations to pass between each attack you make. That gets boring. I like that you added Geno as a partner, it makes the fighting experience more enjoyable because you have more options, and it isn't the repetitive back and forth stuff. That said, the Sacred Fire battle featured more back and forth fighting, because only one character can equip the Flame Seal a time, making the fight is kinda long. I do not want this hack to fall into the same trap, so I'm bring this up now.

One last thing, you can skip getting Geno... That can probably be bad if you intend to make cutscenes with him, or you need him in a battle, or whatever. You shouldn't be able to skip partners, it should be unavoidable because it effects the story.

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Oh... OK, that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up!

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I have bugs to report. I was able to reproduce all the bugs I'm reporting to you now. Most give error messages, some are just things that could be improved on. And others, I was kinda just being nitpicky:

Levels - Copy a section from any layer, paste it, then click the layer tool twice (disable/enable it).

Levels - Highlight an any number of tiles (anywhere), copy them, then paste them somewhere. Click anywhere else on the map, then turn off the select tool, where ever you clicked last the copied tiles are pasted again.

Levels - Set NPC TYPE to "Battle". If you click "Pack #" where "Event #" used to be, it still brings up the event editor.

Allies - Experience required doesn't load when you switch levels. Experience required only loads when you are on Mario.

Animations - You can't edit the dummy spells.

Dialogue - If you type anything in the search feature for battle dialogue, the editor errors.

Sprites - For what ever reason, if you open the sprites using any ROM, then save the ROM without doing anything to the sprites, the following sprites get glitchy:
• Bowser's win animation (Sprite 14, mold 30). His right arm is bent the wrong way.
• Mario's tumbling frames (Sprite 3, mold 17 and 19).
• Spiked Link's chain (Sprite 34, mold 17). The chain isn't connected to the head.
• Sleepy Time Sheep/Ram (sprite 797, mold 3). One sub mold is backward.
• And Possibly many others.

Sprites - If you drag a mold off the sprite boundaries, error.

Sprites - Palette index or palette set don't save.

Animations - The animation code "85" and "8E" doesn't change any values if you use the value changer on the right.

Saving - The "Want to save?" window isn't the topmost window, it appears behind other pop-up windows in the editor.

Saving - If you have "Backup on save" checked in options, it shouldn't save the PreviewRom, should it?

Sprites - Not sure if this is my computer or not, but trying to type in the search takes you out of the typing box after putting in a few letters. This is the only search that does this.

Animations - The buttons for moving commands are named "toolStripButton1" and "toolStripButton2". (Put your curser above the buttons for a second)


Documentation:
Sprites - Sprite 52 is labeled "Booster (Walk)", but it is actually Yoshi laying an egg. Sprite 144 looks like it's a tomato...

Battlefield - Tilesets 55 through 58 are parts of the Smithy battle, the transition where Smithy breaks the factory grounds and everyone falls. (For proof, change battlefield 44 to use tilesets 55-57, and battlefield 45 to tileset 58)

Levels - Levels 455 (Bowser's Keep 6-door, Action Room 2-C) and 456 (Bowser's Keep 6-door, Action Room 2-B) are backwards, level 455 should have 456's name, and vise-versa.

Levels - Physical maps 21 and 99 are Moleville (unused) and Booster Tower 2 (slight differences here and there, also unused).

Animations - Some of the animation code descriptions that appear in your documents don't appear in the editor. (85 is one of them)

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One last thing, have you ever checked the internet archives for your lost files? I checked there, and it seems like a lot (possibly most) of your stuff is intact. Things like graphs, text documents, and tutorials should be there, but most of the images and all downloadable files are gone. You have to click around a lot, kind of a bother, but it can be worth the time.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://giangurgolo.home.att.net/smrpg/

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Yahoo!

I'm going to look over the changes and get started immediately. You rock! I bet you're pretty glad that this is all coming together.

Have you considered an animation previewer? It would be very helpful.

Edit: Found a bug in Levels, changing npc type to monster when the pack value exceeds 255 gives an error message.

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Hacking Tool: Makes all other windows unresponsive until it is closed.

Damage calculator: In the second column, it doesn't calculate if you set the level. You can also equip things on enemies. (Perhaps there could be a reset button?)

Sprites: If you delete any molds, and a mold in the current animation frame doesn't exist, it errors.

Levels: Dragging physical tiles shrinks the physical map.

Levels: If you change any tiles on a stage, then change a GFX set, the stage reverts back to how it looked before when it first loaded.


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I tried the patch, but I can't get past toad in the beginning. He says a few lines of dialogue, then the game locks up.

Could you include a readme of all the changes?

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If you check the physical map of the castle in the Mushroom Kingdom, the room where you go into the storage area, there is a hallway to the right that lead to somewhere, but there are solidity tiles that block it off.

Remember the mini-game in the hallway with the statues and Dodo? Ever wonder why Dodo runs to the left of the room and goes around to try to peck Mario? Check out this demo showcasing SMRPG:
V-Jump 95 Presentation
See the hallway on the right? This used to be a hallway that actually went somewhere. If you go to this map in game, the walkway is blocked off by two solidity tiles.

There is also a bunch of unused solidity tiles on the bottom of Mario's Pipehouse.

Not really a map, but palette 7 in the levels is the beta palette for Nimbus castle. Go to any house and put that palette in. Notice how the tables/boxes don't change colors at all.
Compare to this screen shot



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My internet shut down, so I couldn't report any bugs. I've been testing this out since you released it, and here are my results:

Bugs
Attacks:
- Status calculator: Doesn't load Mario's stats in the ROM when calculator opens.
- " ": Attack/defense down options don't function.

Audio:
- Can't import.

Battlefields:
- Reset doesn't work.
- Clear doesn't work either.

Dialogues:
- Doesn't request to save if you edit icons/battle messages.

Event Scripts:
- A command is incorrectly labeled: Playback fade-out track, duration: {00} Music name, min volume: 0
- If you open the dialogue editor via event scripts editor, then close dialogues. Trying to reopen it throws an exception.
- Adding a command to a script usually messes with the "jump to" commands in later scripts. Is there anything that can be done?

Levels:
- Partition search doesn't close when levels editor does.
- NPCs and partition search windows are not in front of the editor.
- Physical tile properties don't save.
- Something is up with the solidity and tile mods. It doesn't like to be touched at all, most things you do makes it error. Ones I've found:
- Set a solidity mod width to 0
- Deleting all solidity mods
- View tile mods and trying to change their position


Monsters:
- Hacking Tool makes all other editor windows unresponsive
- Take these steps:
1. Make any changes to the battle script and stats.
2. Attempt to close, save the monster scripts.
3. When it asks to save monster stats, cancel it.
4. Change the monster index.

Sprites:
- Pencil tool doesn't work (unless I'm not using it right...)
- Exporting animations doesn't go to the highest range (I couldn't export culex's animations because of this)
- Importing an animation, then attempting to play that animation crashes the editor (windows error)
- If there are no subtiles with pixels in a mold, it will be unselectable in the sprite box.
- Right-click a tile, then click somewhere else in the box's range
- When you view the frames in an animation sequence, the frames are usually tinier than what the frame actually looks like.
- Subtile mold's offset (I think that's what it's called...) doesn't show up if you have base conversion on.
- If the sprites have a something wrong with them, Lazy Shell won't open them. In 2.5, if the sprites got buggy you could still edit the sprites freely. In 3.0 and beyond, multiple windows appear saying "Something weird happened", and it won't let you in. I guess importing your last save works as a fix, but I'd like it to ask if you want to open the sprites or not, at your own risk.

Misc:
- None of the 16th palettes save (all editors). They show up changed in the editor, but do not save.
- Hex editor: You can open a hex window for every ROM you open.
- The save window still isn't the frontmost window (maybe there could be a panic button? I found that alt+F4/escape fixes this dilemma). It kinda worries me if someone doesn't know about alt+F4/esc, they just lose all their work because the other windows become unresponsive.
- If you try to close the ROM using the editor, all options mean yes.
- Look over the list of things that can be imported/exported from another ROM into yours. Some things aren't listed, like title screens, map mods, and some other things I'm sure. I'll get back to you on this if I think of any more.
- If you click anywhere in the search box that isn't one of the results, it gives an exception (I know this happened a bunch of times, but I can't seem to duplicate the bug. I'll post the message as soon as I get a hold of it)


Suggestions

Animations:
- A 'reset' button for the current script.

Battlefields:
- Put in a monster formation, or Mario's party positions
- An undo button
- A "Screen" button like the levels editor

Status Calculator:
- Attacks/spells that are used in a battle script are highlighted? (Not really necessary, just a thought)
- A way to swap the two columns quickly. Or save what equips are in the slots
- A button next to the Physical attack number that multiplies the current number by x? (Since there is a damage multiplier on some monster's attacks)
- An added notification that there is a damage range on the weapon being used in the calculation.
- Maybe the options timed attack, perfectly timed attack, and defense position activate, could be selected on both sides, and if you choose one, the other options are disabled. (so you don't have to switch who is attacking who)

Event Scripts:
- To make things more clear, when selecting an object's event commands, also have all the action commands checked.

Levels:
- An option to lock the "Screen" option on the level
- Could there maybe be a diagram of the positions Mario's party would be standing at during battle? Would be helpful when making a battlefield.
- The physical tile editor updates as you change it

Monsters:
- The status calculator also be put here
- Battle scripts: Right-click to edit dialogue, battle event, or object sequence.

Sprites:
- Allow you to shift all tiles using select all
- Rename sprites
- In the last editor, you could see the offset which subtiles were placed at. Can this be added back in? (even as a checkbox or something)
- The ability to select subtiles by clicking them in the sprite box
- I've had troubles with importing images that have white backgrounds. I know I can just use the paint can to remove them, but I was thinking the editor could change the white background to transparent before it was imported?

Misc:
- Add palette specific color tools back from 2.5
- For searches, add a "No results" in the box if nothing pulls us.
- Track/Sound previewer
- An option to enable game debug options. Things like the debug menu (PAR C106AF80), and quick exit battles (PAR C28EFA05).
- If you try to quick load a file in the drop down menu, add a request to remove the file.

Documentation:
- I found a sound you didn't document. Sound 7A/122. Sounds like a parked car with the engine still on.
- I don't know if you know this. The event script editor read the command as Movement Properties, Bit 4 makes the sprite act as if it's in water (at least for Mario, didn't test it with others). If you set all the bits except bit 4, Mario's acts if he is on water.

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I found a really bad bug in dialogues:
Try to edit a duplicate dialogue, then have the warning window appear. Drag the window over the dialogue box so it makes mirror images of the window in the box, then save it. It overwrites a lot of the saved text/available free space in the ROM.

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I think it'd be a good idea to record everything you fix, just so you and others know what you did.

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