Reggie Interface

This tutorial will help you understand how Reggie works, and will explain what the various buttons and options in the editor do. Click any of the red areas of the image below to scroll to the related paragraph.

Canvas


The canvas contains all the level elements rendered as where they will be in the game. Select an item by clicking on it. Select a group of items by clicking and dragging across an area. Click and hold any selected items to drag them around the screen. Right-click on the canvas to paint any selected item from the palette tab.

At the bottom is information such as : On the right is also a handy zoom slider, with buttons to set it to minimum, default and maximum size.
 * Mouse position (both measured in tiles and pixels)
 * Elements under the cursor (if pointed over them)
 * Amount and type of selected elements (if selected), along with additional data related to them.

Palette
The palette is a window that contains all the elements you can add to your level. It is a fully customizable window, meaning you can dock/undock it, resize it, put it as a tab along with the level minimap, but also close it completely. It consists of 8 tabs.

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The tilesets tab contains the tiles (also known as objects) you can use to make up the ground of your level. Selecting any of the tabs numbered 1 to 4 will open a specific tileset. You can change the tilesets you use by swapping them in the area settings. Tiles can be painted on different layers by selecting the layer just on top of the palette. For more in-depth explanation, please refer to this page.

The sprites tab contains the sprites (all the interactive elements in the game, such as enemies and moving platforms) that you can add to your level. They are comfortably divided in categories, which you can choose between using the drop-down menu. You can also list all sprites ordered by number or search for a specific one using that same menu. Additionally, there is the Current tab which shows all the sprites currently in the area, along with additional data for some of them. For more in-depth explanation, please refer to this page.

The entrances tab contains a list of all the entry/exit points available within the area, as well as some data related to them. You can paint a new entrance any time by right-clicking on the canvas while this tab is active. For more in-depth explanation, please refer to this page.

The locations tab contains a list of all the locations (which are used by some sprites to define their area of operation) available within the area, as well as some data related to them. You can paint a new location any time by right-clicking on the canvas while this tab is active. For more in-depth explanation, please refer to this page.

The paths tab contains a list of all the paths (which are used by some sprites to define their trajectory and speed) available within the area, as well as some data related to them. You can paint a new path any time by pressing the deselect button and then right-clicking on the canvas while this tab is active. For more in-depth explanation, please refer to this page.

The events tab contains a list of all the possible event IDs. Enabling one through the tickbox will make it activate as soon as the level starts. You can also add a note for each event ID, if you need it.

The stamps tab allows you to save specific level structures (such as platform setups or coin formations) you use often, which helps in saving time. To save a structure, select it on the canvas, then click Add in the stamps tab. You can add more than one stamp, remove and rename them, as well as save them to a file in order to use them at a future time.

The comments tab contains a list of all the comments (which are small notes you can leave around your level as reminders and whatnot) available within the area. You can create a new comment any time by right-clicking on the canvas while this tab is active.

Level Minimap


The minimap shows a preview of your level, and allows you to quickly move through it by clicking on the map. It is a fully automatic window, as it updates itself to always be the best possible size for whatever you have in your level. It's also a fully customizable window, meaning you can dock/undock it, resize it, put it as a tab along with the palette, but also close it completely.

Toolbar


The toolbar is an essential collection of functions you might need while using the level editor. Every item in the toolbar has a keyboard shortcut, and a descriptive tooltip. The first set of buttons is fundamental for level editing : Next up are the zoom buttons. They are incredibly handy for getting a better perspective on large chunks of your level, or for adjusting elements very delicately : The next five buttons control visibility. Selecting or deselecting these options will control which elements you can see on your canvas. For more in-depth explanation as to what these elements are, please refer to this page. The last options are :
 * New File : Creates a new level.
 * Open Level by Name : Allows you to choose from any level from the original game. This option is useful for getting a feel as to how to design your levels, and for looking up references.
 * Save : Saves the current level.
 * Level Screenshot : Allows taking a screenshot of the current area. You can choose between Current Screen, All Zones or a specific Zone.
 * Cut : Cuts the currently selected elements. Please note you cannot cut entrances, paths or locations.
 * Copy : Copies the currently selected elements to the clipboard. Please note you cannot copy entrances, paths or locations.
 * Paste : Pastes the elements in the clipboard into the canvas. Please note that if the copied elements would result offscreen once pasted, they will all be jumbled at the edges of the current canvas screen, so make sure to have the proper zoom level when pasting.
 * Zoom to Maximum : Sets the zoom to the highest possible level.
 * Zoom In : Zooms in.
 * Zoom 100% : Sets the zoom to the default value.
 * Zoom Out : Zooms out.
 * Zoom to Minimum : Sets the zoom to the lowest possible level.
 * Switch Grid : Turns on/switches the type of grid. The grid is extremely useful to align elements properly. There are two types of grid : one is made of outlined white squares, the other is made of semi-transparent squares.
 * Show Layer 0/1/2 : Toggles viewing of Layer 0/1/2 tiles.
 * Show Sprites : Toggles viewing of sprites.
 * Show Locations : Toggles viewing of locations.
 * Area Settings : Opens the area settings window.
 * Zone Settings : Opens the zone settings window.
 * Background Settings : Opens the background settings window.
 * Area Selector : Allows switching between different areas of the level.

Area Settings
This window allows modifying the settings for the current area, such as tilesets, the timer, the starting entrance and other things. You can choose the tileset for each slot by selecting one of the four suites and choosing the tileset you'd like to use. You can also use a custom tileset by typing its name in the text box at the bottom. For further information, please refer to this page.



Zone Settings
This window allows modifying the settings for the zones in the current area. Each zone is a tab. Create and delete zones by clicking New and Delete. There are several options : Dimensions controls its position in the canvas, Rendering and Camera controls settings such as lighting, camera tracking, zoom and layer 0 behaviour, Bounds controls the screen scrolling, while Audio controls the played music and the echo. For further information, please refer to this page.



Background Settings
This window allows modifying the backgrounds for each zone in the current area. Each zone is a tab here as well. Backgrounds can be not be deleted or added, as every zone requires one. There are two types of backgrounds : Scenery (codenamed bgA) which is in front and Backdrop (codenamed bgB) which is in the back. You can set up to three backgrounds for each category, but in reality you can only set one once or multiple times. Other options modify the scrolling speed, zoom and positioning. For further information, please refer to this page.



Drop-down Menus
The drop-down menus contain a huge amount of useful options, along with the hotkeys that you can use to call them. There are 5 different menus.

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The File drop-down contains generic level handling options:
 * New Level : Creates a new level.
 * Open Level by Name : Allows you to choose from any level from the original game. This option is useful for getting a feel as to how to design your levels, and for looking up references.
 * Open Level by File : Allows you to open any level file.
 * Recent Files : Lists recently opened levels, to make looking for them easier.
 * Save Level : Saves the current level.
 * Save Level As : Saves the current level in a new file.
 * Save Copy of Level As : Saves the current level in a new file, but does not switch over to that file for editing.
 * Level Information : Allows to add metadata to your level, such as name, author and website, and you can add a password to protect such details.
 * Change Game : Allows you to add custom resources from other game mods into the editor, such as Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii.
 * Level Screenshot : Takes a screenshot of the current area. You can choose between Current Screen, All Zones or a specific Zone.
 * Change Game Path : Allows changing the folder from where Reggie loads levels and tilesets.
 * Reggie Next Preferences : Opens the settings dialog, where you can customize the toolbar buttons, the tileset picker, and the editor's interface style.
 * Exit Reggie Next : Exits the app.

The Edit drop-down contains several level editing options :
 * Select All : Selects all elements in the area.
 * Deselect : Deselects currently selected elements.
 * Undo/Redo : Currently broken, but are supposed to undo or redo your last action.
 * Cut : Cuts the currently selected elements. Please note you cannot cut entrances, paths or locations.
 * Copy : Copies the currently selected elements to the clipboard. Please note you cannot copy entrances, paths or locations.
 * Paste : Pastes the elements in the clipboard into the canvas. Please note that if the copied elements would result offscreen once pasted, they will all be jumbled at the edges of the current canvas screen, so make sure to have the proper zoom level when pasting.
 * Shift Items : Allows moving all selected elements by a specific amount of space, both vertically and horizontally.
 * Merge Locations : Allows merging multiple selected locations into a single one.
 * Swap Objects' Tileset : Allows swapping all objects from a tileset to another one, both one-way and two-ways (e.g swapping from Interactive Suite to Background Suite).
 * Swap Objects' Type : Similar to the above option, but more advanced, as it allows swapping specific objects with other ones.
 * Level Diagnostics Tool : Checks the area for known crash issues and reports them. You should use it when possible.
 * Freeze Objects/Sprites/Entrances/Locations/Paths/Comments : Freezes the respective elements, meaning you can't select them, as if they weren't there. This allows easier editing in case of cluttered stages.

The View drop-down contains options for toggling the view of several elements.
 * Layer 0/1/2 : Toggles viewing of Layer 0/1/2 tiles.
 * Tileset Collisions : Toggles an overlay showing the collision properties of tiles. Currently bugged, as it also shows collisions for Layer 0/2 tiles.
 * Tileset Animations : Plays tile animations, if any are available.
 * Real View : Toggles viewing of enviromental sprites, such as water, particles and others.
 * Show Sprites : Toggles viewing of sprites.
 * Show Sprite Images : Toggles viewing of sprite images.
 * Show Locations : Toggles viewing of locations.
 * Show Paths : Toggles viewing of paths.
 * Show Comments : Toggles viewing of comments.
 * Switch Grid : Turns on/switches the type of grid. The grid is extremely useful to align elements properly. There are two types of grid : one is made of outlined white squares, the other is made of semi-transparent squares.
 * Zoom to Maximum : Sets the zoom to the highest possible level.
 * Zoom In : Zooms in.Zoom 100% : Sets the zoom to the default value.
 * Zoom Out : Zooms out.Zoom to Minimum : Sets the zoom to the lowest possible level.
 * Level Overview : Toggles the level minimap window.
 * Quick Paint Properties : Toggles the quick paint window.
 * Island Generator : Toggles the island generator window.
 * Palette : Toggles the palette window.

The Settings drop-down contains generic level setting options.
 * Area Settings : Opens the area settings window.
 * Zone Settings : Opens the zone settings window.
 * Background Settings : Opens the background settings window.
 * Add New Area : Adds a new area to the level. You can only have up to 4 areas in a single stage.
 * Import Area from Level : Allows importing an area from another level.
 * Delete Current Area : Allows deleting the current area.
 * Reload Tilesets : Allows reloading tilesets, in case you have edited them while the editor was running.

The Help drop-down contains options for information related to the editor and its usage.
 * About Reggie Next : Opens an information window about Reggie Next.
 * Help Contents : Opens a series of offline documents related to the editor's usage.
 * Reggie Next Tips : Opens an offline document with some tips related to the editor's usage.
 * Check for Updates : Currently broken, but it's supposed to look for updates to the editor.
 * About PyQt : Opens an information window about PyQt.

Quick Paint Tool


The quick paint tool is a recently added feature which allows to paint ground tiles really quickly. It's a bit buggy, but should work for day-to-day usage. Like the other windows, it is fully customizable, meaning you can dock/undock it, resize it, put it as a tab along the others, but also close it completely.

Before painting any tile, the tool needs a preset, which is a set of tiles like in the image above. To make one, select each required tile in the palette tab, then left-click to place it in the preset. Repeat this for all the required tiles. Optionally, it's possible to save the preset by clicking Save.

Next, press Paint to be able to paint tiles (this will be noticeable by the fact that the pointer will have 4 squares around it in the canvas). Right-click to start painting, and keep the button pressed until the terrain has the desired shape. Once the button is released, the area marked by coloured squares will turn into terrain, based on the given preset. You can add tiles by repeating the process, or you can press the Paint button to disable quick painting and return to normal editing. You can also press Erase and do the opposite process, in order to remove extra unneeded tiles.

Island Generator


The island generator is a somewhat hidden tool that can be used to paint tiles quickly. It is not very user-friendly, and has been superseded by the quick paint tool. Like the other windows, it is fully customizable, meaning you can dock/undock it, resize it, put it as a tab along the others, but also close it completely. The options are the following:
 * Width/Height : The island's desired width and height (in tiles)
 * Layer : The island's desired layer (more details on layers here)
 * Tileset ID : The tileset's slot (equals to the tileset's tab in the palette)
 * X/Y Interval : These set whether the tool should split the island in multiple pieces and how often (for example, a value of 1 on both will paint the entire island as individual tiles, it's recommended to leave these as 0)
 * 9 Numbers : These define which tiles will be used for painting the island. Each option represents a portion of it, and the number equals to the tile's object (to find out what a tile's object is, hover the pointer over it in the palette tab). Most of the time, the default values should suffice.
 * Copy to Clipboard/Place : Copy the resulting island in the clipboard or place it in the canvas directly.

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