60 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
60 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
# Tile Rendering — the shared engine behind tile maps
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Tile Rendering draws tile maps. It takes a prepared description of a map — ground, objects, characters, lights — and turns it into a picture, but it does not decide the angle you look from. That choice belongs to a small **renderer** mod: **Top-down Tiles** shows the map straight from above, **Isometric Tiles** shows it as a diamond grid. The same map, events and saves work with either one.
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You do not use this mod directly. It is part of every game with tile maps, such as RPG Plus, together with at least one renderer.
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## Who does what
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```text
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content mods maps, tilesets, events, characters (rpg_demo_game, village_pack…)
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│
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RPG mod (rpg) walking, collisions, events, the camera target, lighting rules
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│ prepares a "render scene": visuals in cell space, lights, the current frame
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▼
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Tile Rendering shared drawing: ground chunks, autotiles, sorting, shading,
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(this mod) asset loading, the interaction marker, picking
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│ asks the selected renderer for a projection
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▼
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renderer mod Square (topdown) · Isometric (isometric)
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how a cell maps to screen pixels
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```
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- **Gameplay stays square.** Movement, collision, events and saves use the logical grid in every projection. A renderer only changes where things are drawn and which cell a click lands on.
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- **One drawing path for game and editor.** The RPG map editor draws its canvas with the same renderer as the game.
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- **Lights and time of day** are given in cell units, so a lamp lights the same cells in both projections; the tiles and characters share one material that blends the time of day and point lights.
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## Choosing the projection
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The projection is a setting of the game, **Map projection** (`tile.renderer`), in the **World** group of the collection's settings. The choices are **Top-down** (`topdown`) and **Isometric** (`isometric`); RPG Plus uses `topdown`. To change it, open **Mods & Collections → Collections → RPG Plus → Edit scheme**, set the projection, and make sure the matching renderer mod is in the game.
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- If the setting names a renderer that is not in the game, the map does not fall back to another one; the log lists the available renderers.
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- If the setting is empty and exactly one renderer is installed, that one is used.
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- For a single run, `--tile-renderer=isometric` (or `topdown`) on the command line overrides the setting.
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## For mod authors: a new projection
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A renderer mod depends on `tile_render_base` and contains one class implementing `ITileRendererFactory`:
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- `Id` — the value players choose in **Map projection**, for example `hex`;
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- `Projection(tileSize)` — the cell-to-pixel mapping used by the game, the editor and picking;
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- `Create()` — a new map view; the shared canvas presentation can be reused with your projection.
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The factory is found automatically when the mod loads and removed when it unloads. To offer the projection in **Map projection**, add an option in your mod's `collection_settings.json`, as Top-down Tiles does:
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```json
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{
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"options": [
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{ "key": "tile.renderer", "value": "topdown", "name": "collection_settings/topdown" }
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]
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}
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```
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The `name` key is translated in `locale/collection_settings_<lang>.properties`.
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## If something goes wrong
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1. **The map is empty and the log says the renderer is unavailable.** The game's **Map projection** names a renderer mod that is not part of the game; add it or change the setting.
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