External VVVVVV Tools

[Stampy]

I've been playing around with V's level editor (which I absolutely love by the way), but there's a few things I've noticed which were missing from the editor.  Hopefully they'll be added eventually, making this completely redundant, but for the time being, I spent a little bit of time today knocking together a quick program.   It was written mostly for myself but I figured I'd share them just in case anyone else finds a use for them.

First up's the ability to render out files as an image.  For example, here's Notch's 4vvvv:



Secondly is the ability to move, copy and swap rooms around.



To use these programs just drag and drop the the .vvvvvv file onto the appropriate .exe file.  There is Renderer.exe for the map renderer, and RoomMover.exe for the room mover tool.  Alternatively you can access it through the command line as shown in the screenshot above.

Also, use at your own risk.  I've checked for bugs quite thoroughly, but I still recommend keeping backups of your vvvvvv levels before editing them using the room mover.

One last thing, if posting custom tools is against the rules let me know and I'll happily remove this.

Feel free to download it here:  http://dl.dropbox.com/u/956557/VTools.rar

Anyway! I hope this helps a few people get some levels up. I've played all the ones that came with the game, and a few of the newly made ones, and its great to see custom content for VVVVVV being made.  Oh and the full source code is in there too, in case anyone's interested.

EDIT - 5th August 2011
I've updated the renderer to update the colours correctly. As terry suggested down there, I wasn't using the second tilesheet, only the first one. Thanks for the help there.

[PJBottomz]

These are nice! But, I don't see how to install them...

EDIT: Nevermind. I figured out how to use them. YOU sir, are a genius. The map of "The Lab" looks KILLER! Those image files could be how the map looks.

[Stampy]

Yeah, you don't need to install them or anything. Just extract the files from the .rar file. Then drag and drop the the .vvvvvv file ontop of the "Renderer.exe" file to render out a map of said level, or drag and drop the file onto RoomMover.exe to move / copy or swap rooms around.

[PJBottomz]

Thank you! These are so helpful!

[Sendy]

Just what was needed, thanks!

At the moment I'm keeping track of the topology of my level by using lines on a grid to represent the different routes, but being able to print out a map is SO much easier! 

[Terry]

Cool

From the looks of that screenshot, it's just using the wrong tileset! In the XML file, each edLevelClass has a tileset and tilecol parameter - tilecol is only needed by the editor (the exact tilenumbers are saved in contents), but tileset decides whether to use tiles.png or tiles2.png.

[TheoX]

Cool indeed!  This is awesome!  I'm still gonna plan my map on paper, but that map renderer is totally a cool novelty item.  The room mover seems very useful... why couldn't you have posted this 3 or 4 days ago when I needed it!   

[Stampy]

Cool

From the looks of that screenshot, it's just using the wrong tileset! In the XML file, each edLevelClass has a tileset and tilecol parameter - tilecol is only needed by the editor (the exact tilenumbers are saved in contents), but tileset decides whether to use tiles.png or tiles2.png.

Thanks a lot Terry, I've updated the renderer to accommodate that. I missed the tileset IDs when scanning through the XML files the other day!

Cool indeed!  This is awesome!  I'm still gonna plan my map on paper, but that map renderer is totally a cool novelty item.  The room mover seems very useful... why couldn't you have posted this 3 or 4 days ago when I needed it!   

Absolutely, paper first is always the best way to design things for games, no matter how good the level editor is.

[Sendy]

Well, I'm going with very cursory foreplanning and more or less winging it. Since the map I was making to keep track of and plan my level is now (thankfully) redundant, I thought I may as well upload it, just to show what I've been saved from 

[Martze]

Hey, this is great. It'll save me a lot of work.

The Room Mover nukes roomtext, though. All you have to do is move one room and boom, all of the roomtext from the whole level is gone.

EDIT: Don't worry, I backed up. But I have a great deal of roomtext in my newest level, and I'd really like to use your tool without re-entering it all. You'd be my hero if you fixed this.

[Martze]

And script boxes and terminals too! Argh.

[Stampy]

Hey, this is great. It'll save me a lot of work.

The Room Mover nukes roomtext, though. All you have to do is move one room and boom, all of the roomtext from the whole level is gone.

EDIT: Don't worry, I backed up. But I have a great deal of roomtext in my newest level, and I'd really like to use your tool without re-entering it all. You'd be my hero if you fixed this.

And script boxes and terminals too! Argh.

If you haven't already I'd try redownloading the latest version.  I've checked it and it seems to work for both scripts, roomtext etc.

[FIQ]

This thing deserves a bump IMO, very useful software that more level designers should be aware of

(however, it would probably suit the VVVVVV Levels forum more)