How to Edit 16x16 tiles ver. 1.2, by David Timko (timko@inetport.com)


1. Introducton
2. What editor can edit 16x16 tiles?
3. How to Edit Them

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1. Introduction

        Tiles that are 10 by 12 pixels (commonly referred to as 16x16 tiles,

but are really 10x12 tiles) are commonly used in SNES games. Such examples

are the SNES Final Fantasies (FF4, FF5, and FF6), the SNES Dragon Quest/

Dragon Warrior Series (DQ 3 remake, DQ 1 & 2 remake, DQ5, and DQ 6) and others.

In reality, 10x12 tiles are not composed together in one tile, as many people

believe. Instead, they are actually composed as 3 tiles, but are represented

by only one address in the SNES. This makes it possible for the large

characters seen in some games. These tiles are usually found in 1 bitplane

mode.


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2. What Editor can Edit them??

        Just about any editor can edit them, but I recommend X-Char (found at:

http://www.parodius.com/~bigwierd/) or the SNES Sprite Editor (found at:

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jfries/DQ.htm). These sprite editors are 

capable of viewing tiles in 1 bitplane mode. This is useful, as the tiles are 

usually found in 1 bitplane mode.


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4. How to Edit Them


        Okay, here comes the hard part. How in the blazes do you edit them

things?? Well, simple. Here's how the 16x16 tile format works.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                      |This is the end of the |                       |
|                      |      first half       |                       |
|                      |                       |                       |
|                      |                       |                       |
|This is the beginning |-----------------------|This is the end of the |
|  of the first half   | This is the beginning |     second half       |
|                      |   of the second half  |                       |
|                      |                       |                       |
|                      |                       |                       |
------------------------------------------------------------------------


As you can see, the tile is split into 2 12x8 halves. You can do double 

letters easily by using one letter as the first half, and the second letter 

as the second half! This makes double letters easily without having to scrunch 

'em up in one tile. To edit them, draw one (or two, if you're trying the 

"double letter method") 12x8 tile on paper (so you know what you're doing) 

and replace the japanese tile with the english one. If you are making only 

one letter for that tile, MAKE SURE the second half is completely blank (or 

else you'll still have japanese remnants in your tile!!) Some japanese chars 

have part of the tile as the first half, and part as the second half. You can 

do this too as a method as making wide tiles.


        Finding characters of these large tiles are easy. Remember that the

entire thing (all 3 parts) count in a hexeditor as ONE TILE, so it's much

easier than you think. From where the tile block ends (and the gabbledegook

begins), count backward from FF (in hex) to where the 10x12's begin. For

example, let's say "z" begins at FE (since FF is space), and after that is 

all ROM code (junk). You would make like this:


FF = space
FE = z
FD = y
FC = x
FB = w


and so on in that manner. But remember, you have to start at the LAST tile in

that bunch (other sprites count, too). Also, FF usually is a space, so you 

will have to count spaces, too. Let's take an example.. The power bar takes 

up addresses F6 to FE, and "z" was at F5. You would come up with something 

like this:

FF = space
FE -|
FD  |
FC  |
FB  |
FA  |- Power Bar 
F9  |
F8  |
F7  |
F6 -|
F5 = z
F4 = y

and so on. This can get confusing, so if you have no clue as to what this is, 

e-mail me (timko@inetport.com)and I'll help you out.

That's all folks! Now, go out and start messing with them tiles!!