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[Don Vecta]

And why the fpg it's not there? Where did you save it?

Okay, foolproof method. Make the fpg in the desktop, mount the image, save. Then drag the fpg into the script folder. Will it disappear? If so then your script folder swallow files and has nothing to do with SORmaker.

Tried saving it to the desktop, and the FPG said it saved succesfully - but it doesn't show up on the desktop physically. I'm at my wits' end, now. T_T

Look, you gotta learn to manage your files, man. The last tip I can give you for this is: Open another saved fpg you have in any folder, click in the document icon of the lower window, you'll have a new fpg, name it as you wish and MAKE SURE TO SEE IT'S IN THE SAME FOLDER. Then just drag your images and save.

If you cannot go on from this on I simply cannot do more. I'm not a patient person and I won't be doing apple explanations all the time. Most of us dug into the modding mostly by trial and error and as much I'm trying to make things lot easier for you, you also must experiment by yourself more.

[CajNatalie]

If you're having trouble just creating an FPG... considering how complex good mod making can be...
...and I'm talking good mod making... this isn't OpenBOR where even 6 year olds make mods... then seriously...

You need to take time to examine everything yourself. Making mods is heavily a self-taught thing, only using tutorials as introductory guides before diving in to a new part of modding or as ways to avoid bugs or plain old aspects of a bad mod.
People are available for help, sure... but this looks to me like... let me use an analogy.

Trying to solve a puzzle in a book, giving up after only a few seconds, then flipping to the back for the answer.


That was me somehow miraculously being polite (at least relatively speaking?).
Remember this moment, people... it doesn't happen often.

[Don Vecta]

Note: SAVE WITH THIS ICON (the one of the floppy)! And make sure you have in sight the folder where the new fpg is on. In the moment you create an fpg using the latest method and SAVED before mounting any image, it MUST pop up in your folder. If it doesn't pop up you're putting the fpg in the wrong folder somewhere over the rainbow.

Oh you know what? fuck it, if you can use windows go to search and look for stagewhatever.fpg. You can find it there. Nothing swallows your file sunless your computer it's fucked, I dunno.

[ragestreetpuncher]

I'm not deliberately out to cause headaches here, guys; I'm just asking for help because I know I need the help. And I'm asking because my own trial and error hasn't been producing the results I want. And yes, I HAVE to ask because I'm not an "instant expert" on this kind of thing, editing graphics and whatnot.

But if this is the kind of reception I'm going to get just by asking for step-by-step assistance to be sure I'm doing the right thing (and in spite of what's been given to me thus far, I'm still not getting the desired results, FYI, and I'm simply reporting what's happening here on my end) maybe it's better if I just scrap the whole modding idea and let my story idea go down the drain. Whatever.

[CajNatalie]

There's no 'instant expert' phenomenon... quit patronising. First mod is always a slow and occasionally painful process. Trying to step things up later is also asking for tedious experiences... hell, people're still finding out new ways to make stuff happen... nobody's an 'expert' at all yet 'cos there's still stuff we don't know yet, and more revelations on the horizon with various mods-in-development.

If you're saving stuff and your PC is gobbling up the files to make them seem to magically disappear then really... what can anyone here do?!

[Don Vecta]

I'm sorry if I don't sound patient... but with something as simple as not finding your saved file I really dunno how else I can help you.

[ragestreetpuncher]

Hey, everyone. As has been outlined elsewhere on this forum site, I finally figured out why FPG Edit 2005 wasn't saving the information I was putting there (it had to do wth my Avast security system settings). Now I'm on the way to designing the stages for my mod. However, two questions have cropped up since I resumed last night (I've been busy with work-related stuff, which is why I haven't been back on here or on SOR Remake gaming before now, for those who are wondering):

(1) How do I arrange the map layers so that the intended background doesn't get tangled with the foreground scenery? (e.g. a distant shot of city buildings not becoming intermingled with immediate foreground shots of the wall of a building that the characters are walking next to...I dunno how else to describe it). For the record, I'm using Microsoft Paint to edit the stages, since I don't have Photoshop...or do I expressedly need Photoshop for this part of it?

(2) When I place the mooks and bosses in their intended places within the stage, all of them come running right to where my character is standing at the beginning of the stage...I'm not sure what part of the configuration addresses this. Suggestions?

Thanks again for your time!

[CajNatalie]

For 1, either you have 0,0,0 black (registers as transparent) or you need to change the Z-values in your layers.
100 is the distant horizon, and -240 is right next to where your computer screen is (-250 is even closer, overlaps some of the HUD and shows up in Stage Clear screens).

For 2, you need to use your arrow keys to move Axel around. The most common newbie mistake... I admit I made it, too.
The green box around Axel is the screen position that will trigger whatever you're placing.

[ragestreetpuncher]

For 1, either you have 0,0,0 black (registers as transparent) or you need to change the Z-values in your layers.
100 is the distant horizon, and -240 is right next to where your computer screen is (-250 is even closer, overlaps some of the HUD and shows up in Stage Clear screens).

For 2, you need to use your arrow keys to move Axel around. The most common newbie mistake... I admit I made it, too.
The green box around Axel is the screen position that will trigger whatever you're placing.

I'll experiment with both and see how it turns out.

Regarding point 2, I did sort of notice that Axel can be moved around in SOR Maker. Does this mean I have to move him, gradually, all the way to the end of the level? (what i'm aiming for is to have the villains wait in the designated spots where I place them until Axel actually reaches them at that point in the stage)

And on a separate note, anyone know where I can get good cutscene shots to add to the creation of my own cutscenes? Also, what are the size and pixel requirements for each image in a cutscene to show up properly?

[Don Vecta]

Regarding point 2, I did sort of notice that Axel can be moved around in SOR Maker. Does this mean I have to move him, gradually, all the way to the end of the level? (what i'm aiming for is to have the villains wait in the designated spots where I place them until Axel actually reaches them at that point in the stage)

Yes.

And on a separate note, anyone know where I can get good cutscene shots to add to the creation of my own cutscenes? Also, what are the size and pixel requirements for each image in a cutscene to show up properly?

good cutscene shots? You need to create them or find your images online or take shots of your scenery, i dunno.

The size it's 320 x 240, as any default screen image. Try to keep your central image slightly lower so it won't affect the cutscene text.

[CajNatalie]

Actually, for cutscenes, due to the cutoff and positioning, 156 height by 240 width is the general maximum I go for. When just using a scenery screencap as a cutscene image as a screen cap I sometimes ignore this because it doesn't matter.

But almost always I follow the 156 height rule, because that will never go behind a dialogue box or get cut off at the top.

[ragestreetpuncher]

Morning, everyone. I did some more work on the first level of my mod last night and I've made quite some headway with it up to this point. To be specific, I've figured out how to correctly place a cutscene pic, and I set a whole level structure (no multiple layers though; I'm still having trouble figuring out how to set the different layers exactly where I want them), and now the enemies no longer completely swarm from the end of the stage to the beginning where Axel starts out. I've also learned how to properly set up the soundtrack for the stage, using the music files provided along with SOR Remake's ZIP file.

But in solving these problems, some new ones have come up that have me puzzled. Listed below:

(1) When I place the music files for the stage soundtrack and the boss theme in the mod folder and then test the mod-stage in SOR Maker, the stage soundtracks runs quite fine, then the music fades out to prepare for the boss music as it should...but instead of the boss theme, the stage music loops back and plays again. What gives?

(2) During the stage-building, I moved Axel forward a few steps, and for every few steps I placed enemies within the green square around Axel. Then, when playing the mod-stage as a test, the enemies simply show up out of nowhere instead of either walking onscreen or appearing through stage-scrolling like gameplay normally dictates (the exceptions being if the enemies are programmed to fall from the ceiling or appear from the shadows). Am I doing something wrong, and if so, any suggestions?

Thanks, guys!

[Don Vecta]

But in solving these problems, some new ones have come up that have me puzzled. Listed below:

(1) When I place the music files for the stage soundtrack and the boss theme in the mod folder and then test the mod-stage in SOR Maker, the stage soundtracks runs quite fine, then the music fades out to prepare for the boss music as it should...but instead of the boss theme, the stage music loops back and plays again. What gives?

right click is your friend... won't say more.

[charco]

I think you should analyse completed mods using the Sormaker tool. All of your questions can be answered by doing this.

[ragestreetpuncher]

I think you should analyse completed mods using the Sormaker tool. All of your questions can be answered by doing this.

That's one of the odd things, I've been analyzing a mod called "Prototype" that works the way the game should, but it doesn't appear any different in the SOR Maker from what I've been doing or trying to do. (I curse my lack of understanding of computer graphics in general...)