When a sprite, plan or coordinate is selected, this command will delete it. This command is worded differently depending on the active tab and last selected object.

When turned on and placing a sprite or coordinate on the layer, this will ensure that it is placed at the top left corner of a tile. Rectangles associated with plan coordinates are always reduced in size by one pixel (in each dimension) so that they exactly cover the contained tiles (when snap to tiles is used) rather than extending one pixel into the neighboring tiles.

Add a new plan to the layer. This accomplishes the same thing as adding a plan from the project tree, except the plan editor is not displayed. The plan is added even if the "Plans" tab is not active. The new plan is assigned a default name based on the map name (and numbered in case multiple plans are created with default names). To add coordinates to the new plan, select it on the Plans tab, and click in the editor's main layer view. To change other properties, refer to the grid in the bottom left corner. To edit the behavior assigned to the plan, see "Selected Plan Details" below.

Display the plan editor for the currently selected plan. The plan editor edits the rules associated with the plan whereas the map editor can only edit the coordinates and variables associated with a plan. (Plan variables are defined in PlanBase.cs in the source code editor.)

Scrolls the main layer view so the selected sprite or plan coordinate is visible (if a plan is selected, but not coordinate, the view will scroll to the first coordinate). This is useful when you want to select a sprite or plan by name in the list on the left, and quickly scroll to it. Double clicking a sprite, plan or coordinate will automatically activate this command.

Sort the list of plan names on the Plans tab alphabetically.

Sort the list of sprite names on the Sprites tab alphabetically.

Causes an outline to be drawn around the edges of other layers in order to see where the edges are in relation to the layer currently being edited.

Forces the size of the map editor window to show the same portion of the map that will be displayed when playing the game. This ensures that the way parallax scrolling layers overlap looks the same in the editor as it does when playing, and no regions outside the defined scrolling area are displayed.

At the top of the Tiles tab is a dropdown list of tile categories. Use this if you have many tiles in the tileset and don't want to have to search so many tiles for the tile you want to place. This does nothing other than filter the list of tiles visible below. Notice, however, that when extra large tiles are included in the list, it causes all the tiles to be spaced out to equivalent sizes, so creating categories to separate large tiles from small tiles may be useful to allow a more compact list when placing smaller tiles.

If no category is selected, all tiles in the tileset are displayed. But the number of tiles displayed in that circumstance depends on a couple other factors. Although a layer can technically use any of the 256 tile values for a 1-byte tile, or any of the 32,768 tile values for a 2-byte tile, it would be cumbersome to display 32,768 tiles in the tile selector when only a few are of interest. The tile selector could display all 32,768 values because any undefined tile simply refers to the frame by the same number, and once the frame numbers have been exhausted, the indexing wraps back to the first frame. But to limit the number of tiles displayed, the following rules are used:

• If a specific category is displayed, only the tiles in the category are displayed, there is no confusion about how many tiles are in a category (only the specific tile indexes are included; subsequent tiles that may look identical are not).
• If there are no tiles defined (overridden) in the tileset, the selector simply displays all the frames in the frameset on which the tileset is based.
• If the number of last (overridden/defined) tile in the tileset is larger than the number of frames in the frameset, then all tiles from 0 up to that index are displayed. This may result in some repeated images if there are "un-defined" tiles after the first set of tiles corresponding to the frame indexes.
• Otherwise the number of tiles displayed is determined by the number of frames in the frameset on which the tileset is based.

The main portion of the Tiles tab is dedicated to displaying a list of tiles. To add tiles to the map, simply click on a tile here and then click on the map where you want to place the tile.

The status bar contains many pieces of information relevant to placing tiles:

• Tile X,Y: Displays the tile coordinate under the mouse cursor.
• Tile @X,Y: Displays the number of the tile currently in the layer at the position under the mouse cursor.
• Selected Tile: Displays the number of the currently selected tile in the Tile Selector.

A small toolbar appears at the top of this page to provide easily visible shortcuts to relevant operations:

• Delete selected sprite (same as "Delete Selected Object" in the Edit menu).
• Locate the selected sprite in the map (same as "Locate Selected Object" in the Edit menu).
• Sort sprites alphabetically

When this option is selected, the sprites tab is in a mode that allows you to select existing sprites by clicking on them in a list or by clicking on them in the main layer editor view. When a sprite is selected, its properties appear in a grid at the lower left corner of the window, and can be changed directly. Selected sprites can also be easily moved to a new location by dragging them in the main layer view. Multiple sprites can be selected by holding the Ctrl key while clicking. If the mouse is clicked on an area of the map where there are no sprites, all sprites will be de-selected.

Tip: When multiple sprites are selected, you can still use the properties window in the lower left. Setting a property when multiple sprites are selected sets the property for all selected sprites at once. Properties that are the same for all selected sprites are displayed. Properties that are different for some selected sprites are left blank and not changed unless a new value is entered.

When this option is selected, the sprites tab is in a mode that allows you to create new sprites and add them to the current layer. In this mode, instead of displaying a list of existing sprites, two other elements are displayed. First is a dropdown list of sprite categories, which works very similarly to the tile category selector on the Tiles tab. And second is a selection of sprite types, which you can add to the current layer. Adding a sprite to the layer is as easy as adding a tile. Click on one and then click on the layer. There are, however, a few additional options and considerations before placing the sprite on the layer. Before adding the sprite to the layer, the properties of the new sprite can be edited in the properties window at the bottom. But it's not necessary to set any properties before placing a sprite because they can also all be changed (in Select Sprites mode) after the sprite is added. Each new sprite that is added is assigned a default name based on the sprite definition name and a uniquely identifying number. For more information about the sprite's properties, see Sprite Properties below.

At the bottom of the sprites tab is a list of properties that can be set or altered for the currently active sprite. In Select Sprites mode, this represents the properties of the selected sprite or sprites. In Add Sprites mode, this represents the properties of the sprite about to be added. Below are details about the various properties that are displayed here.

Some extra properties in the Lighting category are available when a sprite based on the LightSpriteBase base class is selected.

A number of values in the status bar are of interest when using the sprites tab:

• CTRL - an indicator in the status bar indicates when the editor is aware of the CTRL key being pressed, so you know when selecting a sprite will add to the selection instead of de-selecting first.
• Tile X,Y:Although sprites are positioned by pixels rather than tile positions, you may want to position a sprite relative to a particular tile coordinate.
• Pixel X,Y: Displays the pixel coordinate at the current mouse cursor position. These are assigned to the X and Y properties of the sprite when a sprite is added to the layer.
• Tile @X,Y: Displays the tile number at the current cursor position. If you have many identical-looking tiles but one is actually a different tile with different behavior, this might be useful while positioning a sprite.

A number of commands are displayed in a toolbar at the top of the Plans page for easy access to relevant operations.

• Add new plan. Clicking on this adds a new plan to the layer without any coordinates. The plan is assigned a default name based on the map name and a unique numeric identifier. Once the plan is added, coordinates can be added by clicking in the main layer view with the "Append Coordinates" option active.
• Delete selected plan
• Edit selected plan (opens the plan editor for this plan)
• Sort plans alphabetically
• Locate the selected plan coordinate on the map

All plans on the current layer are represented as dashed lines leading from point to point, beginning with a round anchor and ending with a pointed arrow. Plans with only two coordinates will show a rectangle indicating that the plan can be applied to rules that require a rectangular area as opposed to a series of coordinates.

Only display the selected plan. This could improve performance or visibility if there are many plans.

Displays the X and Y coordinates of each point contained within the plan. Coordinates can be selected in this list or (when "Select Coordinates" is selected) by clicking on them in the main layer view. The currently selected coordinate(s) are highlighted in this list and marked with a red dot in the main layer view. The properties of the selected coordinate(s) can be edited in the grid at the bottom.

When this option is active, clicking in the main layer view will add a coordinate to the end of the path. No dragging is necessary, just click once to add each point. As the mouse moves over the layer, an arrow or point will follow the mouse indicating where the next point would be added when you click. If you move the mouse out of the layer view, the path will be displayed as stored (it will stop showing the "proposed point" following the mouse). Once placed, a coordinate can only be moved by typing a new value in its X and Y properties. See below for more about editing and deleting coordinates after they have been added.

To edit or delete existing coordinates, you can either start by selecting a coordinate in the coordinate list, or you can switch to "Select Coordinates" mode and click on a coordinate in the main layer view. The selected coordinate is highlighted in the coordinate list and marked with a red dot in the layer view. multiple coordinates can be selected by holding Ctrl while selecting, but only coordinates from a single plan can be selected at once. The properties of the selected coordinate(s) are displayed in the grid in the lower left corner. The currently selected coordinate(s) can be deleted with the delete key, or by selecting "Delete Selected Coordinates" from the Edit menu. Note that if you select a plan after selecting a coordinate, then you can only edit and delete the plan as a whole. The last selected object (whether a plan or a coordinate) determines what can be deleted or edited.

If the last object selected was a plan, then this grid displays the properties of the plan. If the last selected object was a coordinate, then this grid displays the properties of the coordinate. A plan only has a few properties:

• Name: The name of a plan must be unique among all plan names within the layer. Names must begin with a letter and contain only letters, digits and spaces.
• Priority: If the sequence is important in which the rules of a plan are executed relative to those in another plan, you can assign a priority. The rules of lower priority number plans will execute before those in higher priority number plans.
• Other: Any number of other parameters can be added to plans by adding variables to the code in the PlanBase.cs file. By default, one additional parameter named "TargetDistance" is added. This determines how close a sprite must be to a coordinate in the plan before proceeding to the next coordinate.

The properties of a coordinate are:

• Plan: Displays which plan the coordinate belongs to
• Sequence: Displays the index of the coordinate within the series
• Weight: Can be used for various purposes, but functions are provided to use this to determine how long a sprite waits at a coordinate before proceeding to the next
• X: The horizontal position of the coordinate
• Y: The vertical position of a coordinate

A coordinate can only be moved by typing new values for the X and Y properties in the property grid. Use the status bar to help locate a new location. Multiple coordinates or plans can be updated at once by holding Ctrl while selecting multiple objects.

A number of values in the status bar are of interest when using the plans tab:

• CTRL - an indicator in the status bar indicates when the editor is aware of the CTRL key being pressed, so you know when selecting a coordinate or plan will add to the selection instead of de-selecting first.
• Tile X,Y:Although coordinates are positioned by pixels rather than tile positions, you may want to position a coordinate relative to a particular tile coordinate.
• Pixel X,Y: Displays the pixel coordinate at the current mouse cursor position. These are assigned to the X and Y properties of the coordinate when a coordinate is added to a plan.
• Tile @X,Y: Displays the tile number at the current cursor position. If you have many identical-looking tiles but one is actually a different tile with different behavior, this might be useful while positioning a coordinate.

Allows you to select and copy a block of tiles. After dragging a rectangle with this command, the editor will automatically switch to the Paste tool.

Paste a block of tiles copied with the copy command. Although the preview of the paste may show the tiles being merged in transparent areas, when you actually click, all the tiles in the block will replace the tiles on the layer, causing existing tiles in the layer to be removed.

This is similar to paste, but tiles with a value of 0 will not be pasted. This assumes that tile 0 is your background tile.