Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

I can't really take any credit for starting the level editing process, I'm just on the bandwagon now, but as discussed in the actual game thread, it's probably more useful to confine talk about game editing (so we don't get bogged down in coordinates and XML tags) in a different thread. And here it is.

To Start with, Prophet discovered the file structure for the game, which can be found here.

http://forum.hrwiki.org/viewtopic.php?p=68224#68224
And here
http://www.geocities.com/nightmareproph ... n_help.txt

Then Chorch created his guide to level editing, which broke down the XML tags and possible values.

http://www.nickbair.net/files/stinkoman_lvl_guide.txt

And so far there are two custom levels being designed.

One from PopTart
http://forum.hrwiki.org/viewtopic.php?p=69246#69246
(Copy code into a new text file, then save it as an XML)

One (and more coming) in progress from me.
http://members.dodo.com.au/~odoru_unit/level1.1.1.xml

So, I think that's a good summary so far.

-B

im taking a shot at my first level, and the most time taking thing is moving the ladder 10 to the right, reopening hte swf file, lalal etc.

how hard and how would i go about finding the length/hight of objects? I know chorch is already doin this for his guide, thanks (i got some grass, two enemies and a ladder )

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Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz

it seems my cp can't save under "xml"!

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Remember your special and unique, but so is everyone else, so your not all that diffrent!

what do you mean? im you want to save a .txt file in notepad or something as .xml, it may not be an option in the drop down menu, if you want to name it abv.xml, jsut type in abv.xml.

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Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz

Ok, so I save it in Xml, now what?

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Remember your special and unique, but so is everyone else, so your not all that diffrent!

Have you copied all the required files to a folder on your hard drive, as directed in the first post of this thread? Once you've done that, just replace level1.1.1.xml with the new level file, and play the game.


On the editing note, I've discovered that the value of <d> does matter, when placing objects. If you try and layer multiple objects on top of eachother, the objects created last (higher number) will be on top of the lower ones. You can use this to cut cut off the ends of objects such as walls, or long ground pieces.

-B

Status report for StinkoEditor

Complete/mostly complete:

• XML library with source
• UI

Kinda there:

• Interface with XML library

Not started:

• Documentation
• Loading data from the parser into the UI
• Saving it back

Optional: mod stinkogame.swf to enable one to start wherever they wished - though one could simply rename their level to "level1.1.1.xml" and immediately play it.

And a huge thanks to Chorch and beeawwb for decoding the level files.

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What does level editing do?

<------ st00pid.

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How about some Pan-Asian cuisine?

you can create your own custom stinkoman levels!!

also in hte level im making, i have a small start, but when i try to add more platforms etc they dont appear. like i wanted the xmoving platform to lead to another one, but it doesnt work. i have the <d> tags right....heres the text to be saved as xml. the last line is something not showing up that should.

<levelProperties> <playerStartX>85</playerStartX> <playerStartY>144</playerStartY><ScrollLockY>false</ScrollLockY><ScrollLockX>false</ScrollLockX></levelProperties>

<SO> <d>1</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>0</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>2</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>190</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>3</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>288</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>4</d> <cT>Enemy</cT> <sT>0</sT> <x>250</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>6</d> <cT>Enemy</cT> <sT>8</sT> <x>460</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>7</d> <cT>Ladder</cT> <sT>0</sT> <x>350</x> <y>178</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>8</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>320</x> <y>175</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>9</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>516</x> <y>175</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>10</d> <cT>Hazard</cT> <sT>4</sT> <x>708</x> <y>181</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>11</d> <cT>Enemy</cT> <sT>7</sT> <x>640</x> <y>145</y> <addProps> <rRange>150</rRange> </addProps> </SO>

<SO> <d>12</d> <cT>Enemy</cT> <sT>3</sT> <x>490</x> <y>175</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>13</d> <cT>XMovingPlatform</cT> <sT>0</sT> <x>712</x> <y>175</y> <addProps> <rRange>140</rRange <maxVel>7</maxVel> </addProps> </SO>

<so> <d>14</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>860</x> <y>180</y> </so>

its kinda big...on the forum...

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Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz

Um..........how do I make a new folder?

*sigh* I know, I'm stupid with tags!

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Remember your special and unique, but so is everyone else, so your not all that diffrent!

if ur on windows, theres an option on the left of your screen under "file and folder tasks" one says "make new folder" clicky clicky

_________________
Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz

Regarding your moving platforms, I'm finding that overlapping objects cancel each other out, so maybe your platforms are overlapping at some point? That's the only thing I can think of at this point.

-B

i think i tested it to put a #9 platform, long grass, away from anything else, cuz i think ur right on that. but then, if u put 2 grasses with same <y> but overlapping <x> they connect....hm. ill keep on trying it out. but, in the xml i posted there...the last line should show up but it doesnt. oh well.

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Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz

I think, and again I'm hypothesising, that the grass platforms work fine because they don't include an AddProps tag controlling the motion. Possibly if the motions of your platforms would overlap, they cancel out?

-B

File and folder, where?

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Remember your special and unique, but so is everyone else, so your not all that diffrent!

http://www.geocities.com/nightmareproph ... n_help.txt

ok, it seems all objects behind the xmovingplatform are "deleted", well they dont show up at all when u run the .swf.

its really confusing, the order madders, ahhhhh. just...try to extend the last furthestrightmost platform more to the right with the same grass type, just, i cant and its strange.

<levelProperties> <playerStartX>85</playerStartX> <playerStartY>144</playerStartY><ScrollLockY>false</ScrollLockY><ScrollLockX>false</ScrollLockX></levelProperties>

<so> <d>14</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>1080</x> <y>235</y> </so>

<SO> <d>1</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>0</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>2</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>190</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>3</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>288</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>4</d> <cT>Enemy</cT> <sT>0</sT> <x>250</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>5</d> <cT>Enemy</cT> <sT>3</sT> <x>150</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>6</d> <cT>Enemy</cT> <sT>8</sT> <x>460</x> <y>250</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>7</d> <cT>Ladder</cT> <sT>0</sT> <x>350</x> <y>178</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>8</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>320</x> <y>175</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>9</d> <cT>Hazard</cT> <sT>4</sT> <x>702</x> <y>190</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>10</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>516</x> <y>175</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>11</d> <cT>Enemy</cT> <sT>7</sT> <x>640</x> <y>145</y> <addProps> <rRange>150</rRange> </addProps> </SO>

<SO> <d>12</d> <cT>Enemy</cT> <sT>3</sT> <x>490</x> <y>175</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>13</d> <cT>Platform</cT> <sT>9</sT> <x>900</x> <y>175</y> </SO>

<SO> <d>999</d> <cT>XMovingPlatform</cT> <sT>0</sT> <x>712</x> <y>175</y> <addProps> <rRange>140</rRange <maxVel>7</maxVel> </addProps> </SO>

_________________
Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz

Um......where is the "file and folder tasks" of which you speak of?

_________________
Remember your special and unique, but so is everyone else, so your not all that diffrent!

_________________
Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz

Um....how do I get the sidebar? I looked in the "veiw" tool up at the top.

_________________
Remember your special and unique, but so is everyone else, so your not all that diffrent!

nigy, maybe it's not important, but i noticed that the <so> and </so> tags on your platform that is not showing up are the only ones in lowercase.
I'm not at my home computer and I don't want to download the files onto this computer, otherwise I would test it out and see wheter it's cap-sensitive.
For me, the order of the numbers in the <d> tags seemed simple: objects with a higher number showed up in front of lower numbered objects. I didn't have any trouble with anything not showing up.

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bleh?

Yes, tags are case sensitive as far as I have noticed. <cT> is different from <ct>, that's most likely it.

As for <d> ordering, higher numbers show up on top of lower numbers, and the only 'problem' this creates is that the higher numbers cut off the lower numbers in terms of width. So if you place a medium grass platform (no ends) and then Ends left and ends Right at different spots, you can control the width of the object. This is a feature, so you can create objects of different widths, etc.

-B

yeah, you were right about the case thing. but in the xml there, if i cut/paste the xmovingplatform line ahead halfway in my....lines of objects, all lines below that become null. void. i erased half the level in a test by cut/pasting the xmovingplatform line to the 5th line down....anyone else noticing this?

_________________
Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz

Bad XML parser! No cookie!

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Again guessing, because I haven't tested it, but I believe the engine stops on an error.

-B

Yeah, how do I get the siebar in that picture?

_________________
Remember your special and unique, but so is everyone else, so your not all that diffrent!

Try View->Explorer Bar->Folders

Remember, it's not needed to make a folder. You can right click some blank space (example: don't select a file) and choose New->Folder.



-B

Is there any way to make this work on my Mac?

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I dont imagine that it'd make a difference, you should just need the same files...in the right folders...

and not to pry beewaab, but IVE GOT THE SKINKOMAN LVL GUIDE IN MY FOLDER TOO!!!!

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Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz

It's a miracle! Who'd have thought! Do you have 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 2-1.gif in your level data folder too? (No, you probably don't. Cause I made those ones. )

-B

noooooooooo not fair......

hey, uh, if u wanted to make a game with more than 5 levels, like 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.3 and another one, could you do it? like what would happen if u had a 1.3 xml file? would it go to that after beating 1.2 or would i automaticaly skip to 2.1?

and my level is awxome (how do you get in in the white quoty box as to make it smaller on the forum?)

_________________
Hippos can breath fire, I swear.

Bush Sux0rz