Diffchecker

NES Screen Tool by Shiru

This Windows tool allows to edit NES nametables, tilemaps, attributes,

palettes, pattern graphics, and metasprites. Unlike most of similar

programs, it is targeted to creating of content for new homebrew projects

rather than editing existing games, although some of functionality of this

kind is also present.

The program and its source code are released into the Public Domain,

you can do whatever you want with it. The source code is for

Borland Turbo C++ Explorer (C++ Builder).

Tileset editor

LMB - set tile as current

LMBx2 - open the tile in the CHR editor

Shift+LMB - select a rectangular group of tiles

Ctrl+LMB - select random set of tiles

RMB - cancel selection

Ctrl+Z - undo

Ctrl+X - cut tile graphics

Ctrl+C - copy tile graphics

Ctrl+V - paste tile graphics

When you copy random set of tiles, they will be pasted as a linear sequence.

When you copy rectangular group of tiles, they will be pasted as a rectangle

as well.

Only half of 8K CHR memory is visible at a time, you can switch between the

halfs using 'A' and 'B' buttons under the tileset.

You can drag and drop tiles in the tileset using right mouse button.

This will also update nametable indexes, so no visible changes will be

done, just two tiles in the tileset will get exchanged. This allows to

rearrange order of tiles easily.

'Apply tiles' button allows to change tile numbers in the nametable. You can't

draw anything in the nametable when this button is not pressed down.

'Attr checker' button allows to check nametable attributes with a special

checker tile. Warning, you still can draw tiles in this mode.

'Selected only' button disabled display for any tiles except the ones currently

selected in the tileset (one or a few). It helps to visually see location and

amount of the tile entries in the nametable.

'Type in' button allows to enter a sequence of tiles into the nametable at

given position (click to set) either by clicking tiles in the tileset, or

using keyboard. In this case tileset should contain a font with ASCII encoding,

with space being tile 0.

'Grid All', '1x', '2x', '4x' buttons controls grid displaying. There are grids

of three sizes that could be used at once or in any combination.

Palette editor

LMB selects current color and palette, or assigns a color to the current color

in the current palette. RMB allows to drag and drop colors between the main

palette or BG palettes.

The mouse wheel can also be used to cycle through the palettes if the main

program window has focus.

'Apply palettes' button enables applying current palette to the nametable.

'R0','G0','B0','M0' buttons controls the color emphasis bits that alters the

palette.

'A','B','C','D' buttons is four palette slots. You can load up to four palettes

and switch between them at any time. Please be aware that Palette Save/Load

only works for active palette. The slots needed for better convinience when

a few palettes needs to be designed to be used with the same graphics.

When Num Lock is off, you can use Numpad keys to switch between sub-palletes

(1 and 3), sub-palette entries (7 and 9), and change current color (8,4,6,2).

Nametable editor

Select nametable tab to enter the nametable editor.

You can draw nametable with a single tile when a single tile in the CHR is

selected, or with a brush when a rectangular or random group of tiles in

the CHR is selected.

Nametable can have the standard 32x30 size, or be any size from 4x4 to 4096x4096

tiles. It is called map then, and saved as *.map file.

LMB - set current tile or CHR selection into nametable

RMB - set the tile from the nametable as current, cancel nametable selection

Cursor, Shift+Cursor - scroll through a large nametable

Shift+LMB - select an area of the nametable, Cursor still navigates through map

Alt+Cursor - move current selection around

Caps Lock - switch between selection and drawing mode

Ctrl+Cursor - rotate nametable without attributes with wrap around

Ctrl+Shift+Cursor - rotate nametable with attributes (2 chars per step)

Ctrl+F - fill selection with current tile

A - enable/disable the attribute checker tile

Ctrl+Z - undo

Ctrl+X - cut selection

Ctrl+C - copy selecton

Ctrl+V - paste selection

Shift+C - copy selection into the Windows clipboard as text

Shift+M - copy selection as a metasprite into the Windows clipboard

Shift+N - copy selection as a flipped metasprite into the Windows clipboard

Ctrl + [ ] - change between nametable files that is named as xxx_NNN.nam

(000..999) as a very crude nametable animation system.

Metasprite editor

Select Metasprites tab to enter the metasprites editor.

You can drag and drop tiles in the tileset using right mouse button.

This will also update nametable indexes, so no visible changes will be

done, just two tiles in the tileset will get exchanged. This allows to

rearrange order of tiles easily.

You can drag and drop tiles from the tileset to metasprite editor using

right mouse button. You can move sprites around in the editor using RMB

or Cursor keys. To select a sprite you either can click it in the editor

with LMB, or in the list. When a sprite is selected, you can change tile

or palette assigned to it by clicking on the tileset or the palettes with

LMB.

You can change the origin of coordinates by clicking LMB+Ctrl in the

metasprite editor area. All sprite coordinates will be recalculated.

This is useful when you need to have origin at the bottom of metasprites,

for example.

You can edit up to 256 metasprites at once, up to 64 sprites per

metasprite.

'<' and '>' buttons selects a metasprite.

'Clear' button clears current metasprite.

'Copy' button copy current metasprite into internal clipboard.

'Paste' button paste content of the internal clipboard into current metasprite.

'HFlip' and 'VFlip' buttons flips current metasprite horizontally or vertically

relatively to the origin of coordinates.

'All', 'Sel', 'None' buttons allow to select which sprite will have a

frame displayed around it in the editor, all sprites, only selected one,

or none.

'Snap' button enables snap to the 8x8 grid when you move sprites around

with the mouse or the Cursor keys.

'Up' and 'Down' buttons move a sprite up or down in the list.

'H' and 'V' buttons toggle horizontal and vertical flip bits for

selected sprite(s), a group gets mirrored around its center.

'Del' deletes selected sprite from the list.

'Dup' creates a copy of selected sprites and selects added part, so it can be

manipulated further by functions such as moving or flipping.

'All' and 'None' buttons select all or none sprites in the list.

[ ] - select previous and next metasprite, these keys also work while

nametable editor is active.

Main menu

All

Open

Load and save tileset, nametable or map, and palette of the same name at once.

Save

Save tileset, nametable or map, and palette. Names will be asked for every file.

Load session

Load previously saved state of the editor.

Save session

Save current state of the editor, including all the resources, selections,

internal clipboard, undo, and settings. It could be used when you need to

save your work to continue later. Warning: do not use sessions to store

your work permanently! It only guaranteed to work within a version of the

tool, and may not be loaded correctly between different versions.

Patterns

Open CHR

Load CHR file with size of 1K, 2K, 4K, 8K, or other size of multiple of 16.

4K files always replace current tileset, smaller files loads to the current

tile position.

Save CHR

Save CHR file of latest opened size, or one of standard sizes,like the open

Save CHR file of the latest opened/saver size, as a set of one of the

function, or a selection.

standard sizes, like in the open function, or as an arbitarily sized

selection.

Find duplicates

Find and select fully duplicated tiles in the tileset.

Remove duplicates

Find and remove duplicate tiles. You can select an area in the tileset before

using this function in order to exclude the area from the process. This way

you can optimize the tileset without changing the selected area and keeping

tiles in the area in place.

Find unused

Find and select unused tiles in the tileset.

Remove unused

Find and remove unused tiles, works similar to Remove doubles.

8x16 interleave

8x16 deinterleave

Interleave and deinterleave tiles in the tileset to simplify work with 8x16

sprites. Draw them as two tiles one above other, then use interleave function

of Patterns menu to rearrange the tiles in the order required by NES hardware

(top become left, bottom become right). Use deinterleave function if you need

to rearrange the tiles back. Be careful, this function changes actual

arrangement of the tiles, not just their appearance.

Swap colors

Swap colors in the graphics and/or in the palette. Shows a dialog with

settings, you can swap the colors of whole tileset, in a bank, or in a

selection. It is possible to set the swap in a way that shifts the colors

to the left or right, making graphics darker or brighter, given the pallete

has a brightness gradient. There is presets for these kinds of swap.

Swap banks

Swap 4K parts (banks A and B) of the tileset.

Clear

Clear tileset.

Fill with numbers

You can fill the tileset with graphics of tile numbers (00..FF) instead of

clearing it. This could help to track down sprites and tiles that are used

in wrong places.

Generate 4x4 chunks

Generates a set of 4x4 chunks that contain all possible color combinations.

A very specific function that may come handy for some effects or blocky

graphics.

Sort by frequency

Sorts tiles by the use frequency. The most often used are placed to the

beginning of the tileset, the least common get grouped towards the end.

Sort by density

Sorts tiles by the pixel density, i.e. how much pixels is non-zero in

a tile. It helps to find least meaningful tiles that only has a couple

pixels set.

Nametable

Set nametable size

Set size

Changes size of current nametable. This function allows to select either

the standard 32x30 size, or any other size from 4x4 to 4096x4096, in

4 tile steps. Contents of the nametable can be kept or cleared. This

operation can't be undone.

Open nametable or map

Open a nametable or map, with or without attributes, RLE packed or not.

Contents of the selected file get detected automatically, by the extension

and size.

Save nametable and attributes

Save as binary

Save nametable only

Save as assembly

Save attributes only

Save as C header

Save nametable of standard 32x30 size with or without attributes data

+ include nametable

(1024, 960 or 64 bytes). You can also save and load RLE-packed nametables

+ include attributes

with or without attributes. Decompressor code for NES is provided as well.

+ RLE compression

Save nametable of standard 32x30 size with or without attributes data

(1024, 960 or 64 bytes), as a binary file, an assembly code text, or

a C header. You can also save and load RLE-packed nametables with or

without attributes. Decompressor code for NES is provided as well.

Save map

Save nametable of non-standard size. This option is the only one available

for such nametables. Format is like the usual non-compressed nametable, first

tiles, then attributes, then four bytes with 16-bit width and height. Can be

used with an external converter to create simple scrolling levels.

Add offset

Add tile offset

Add a value to a range of tile numbers in the nametable. Dialog with settings

allows to select the range of numbers that should be affected by the function,

and a value to add (could be negative). Values can be dec or hex, use $ to

enter hex.

Replace tile

Replace one tile number in the nametable with another.

Selection to the clipboard

Selection to clipboard

Copy current selection from the nametable into the Windows clipboard in one

Copy current selection from the nametable into Windows clipboard in one

of text formats, to be pasted into source code with Ctrl+V.

> ASM code

+ ASM code

Copy as a series of db statements, to be pasted into assembly code.

> C code (Shift+C)

+ C code (Shift+C)

Copy as C array definition, to be pasted into C code.

> C code with RLE

+ C code with RLE

Similar to above, but the data is RLE encoded.

Selection as metasprite to the cliboard

Selection as metasprite to cliboard

Copy current selection from the nametable into the Windows clipboard as

an array definition in special metasprite format. The format:

X offset from the top left corner in pixels,

Y offset from the top left corner in pixels,

tile number,

palette number

Metasprite data ends with X offset 128.

> C code, no horizontal flip (Shift+M)

+ C code, no horizontal flip (Shift+M)

Copy as C array definition.

> C code, with horizontal flip (Shift+N)

+ C code, with horizontal flip (Shift+N)

The same as above, but |OAM_FLIP_H added to the palette number

Select tiles from nametable selection

Multi-select tiles in the CHR bank that were used in current nametable

selection.

Selection to current metasprite

Copy current selection as a metasprite into metasprite editor, into

the currently selected sprite, replacing its current content.

+ auto increment

Automatically increments current metasprite number after copying.

+ skip tile zero

Do not add itle with index 0 into metasprite during copying.

+ merge to existing data

Add the seleciton to current metasprite contents rather than

replace it.

Metasprites

Open metasprite bank

Open bank

Opens a set of 256 metasprites from a binary file.

Save metasprite bank

Save bank

Saves a set of 256 metasprites into a binary file.

Put single metasprite to clipboard as ASM

Manage

Put single metasprite to clipboard as C

Open a metasprite manager that allows to change order of metasprites in

the bank, delete, duplicate, copy and paste them.

Add tile offset

Works similar to the nametable function, just for metasprite bank contents.

Add X/Y offset

Adds an offset to all sprites in the current metasprite, or in the whole

bank.

Put single to clipboard as ASM

Put single to clipboard as C

Copy current metasprite into the Windows clipboard as an array definition

in special format, to be pasted into assembly or C code. The format is the

same as for similar function for the nametable, explained above.

Put metasprite bank to clipboard as ASM

Put bank to clipboard as ASM

Put metasprite bank to clipboard as C

Put bank to clipboard as C

Copy all non-empty metasprites into the Windows clipboard in special format,

either in assembly code or C. For the latter, there is a separate const

array for each metasprite, and a list of pointers to the arrays. This

function asks a text prefix to be used in the array names.

Palettes

Open palettes

Open palette

Open palette file.

Save palettes

Save palette

Save current palette to a file.

Put to the clipboard

Reset

Grayscale

Default A

Default B

Default C

Default D

Reset currently selected palette to one of pre-defined color sets.

Copy

Paste

Copy or paste palette to/from Window clipboard.

Put to clipboard

Copy current palette data as text into the Windows clipboard.

> 6502 assembly code

+ 6502 assembly code

Copy as an 6502 assembly code, series of LDA/STA opcodes

> ASM data

+ ASM data

Copy as a set of db statements.

> C data to clipboard

+ C data to clipboard

Copy as C array definition.

Import

BMP file as nametable

BMP as nametable

Imports smaller palettized BMP image with 16 or 256 colors, with 256 or

less unique tiles, as a nametable or a map. It removes duplicated tiles

and creates nametable. Only two lower bits of the graphics are used. The

program also attempts to select similar colors from current NES palette

(altered with the color emphasis bits) and create attributes map.

There is two import options that may be useful for importing large

pictures, when pixel-exact import is not imporant, and quality can be

compromised.

+ best offsets

Shifts the source picture for 0..7 pixels vertically and horizontally,

seeking for lowest number of resulting tiles. May save a few tiles in

some cases, for example, on a mostly black title screen with a logo.

+ lossy import

Matching all tlies between each other, dropping out ones that are the

most similar, until only 256 tiles left. Allows to import full screen

pictures, but with major quality loss. Current implementation is

experimental, provides not too impressive results, and is very slow.

+ threshold

Throw away tiles with very few non-transparent pixels. To make it work,

ensure that main BG color actually has index 0 in the BMP file. This

option may give an improvement when used with lossy import.

BMP file as tileset

BMP as nametable match tiles

Reconstruct a picture by matching its elements to tiles in currently

loaded tileset, without importing new tiles.

BMP nametable into a number of tiles

Lossy import into given number of tiles (1..256).

BMP as tileset

Imports a 128x128 palettized BMP image as a tileset. Nametable remains

unchanged.

NES file

Import a 8K CHR bank from an iNES ROM image. If there is more than 8K of

graphics in the selected file, you can select which part of the file

should be imported.

Export

Nametable as BMP file

Nametable as BMP

Export current nametable as a palettized BMP file.

Tileset as BMP file

Tileset as BMP

Export current tileset as a palettized BMP file.

Palette as BMP file

Palette as BMP

Export current palette as a 16x1 BMP palettized file

Put CHR in NES file

Put CHR into NES file

Replace 8K CHR bank in a iNES ROM image. If there is more than 8K of graphics

in the selected file, you can select which part of the file should be

replaced.

View

2x 3x 4x

Select tileset, nametable, and metasprite display scale. There is hot keys,

Ctrl+2..Ctrl+4.

CHR Editor

Show CHR editor window. You can use these keys there:

LMB - set pixel

RMB - set current color to the color of the pixel

Ctrl+LMB - fill an area with current color

Mouse wheel - cycle through tiles

Cursor - scroll tile with wrap around

H - vertical mirror

V - horizontal mirror

Delete - clear tile

L - rotate 90 degree left

R - rotate 90 degree right

Ctrl+Z - undo

Ctrl+X - cut tile graphics

Ctrl+C - copy tile graphics

Ctrl+V - paste tile graphics

Miscellaneous features

You can place nes.pal file (192 bytes) into the program directory, if you want

to customize the colors of the displayed NES palette.

You can associate the program with any file types that are supported by the

All\Open menu item, and open them by double click.

File types

There are many file types supported by the program.

*.chr - tile graphics, matches to the hardware format

*.pal - palette, 16 bytes

*.nam - nametable, 960 or 1024 bytes, matches to the hardware format

*.map - nametable of non-standard size; last bytes are 16-bit width and height

*.atr - attributes, last 64 bytes of full nametable

*.rle - RLE-packed nametable

*.h - standard C header, text format

*.nes - iNES ROM, supported for CHR import and export

*.bmp - standard graphics format, supported for import and export

*.nss - internal text-based format for saving and restoring sessions

History:

v2.5 09.02.20 - A lot of changes, fixes, and improvements

v2.4 16.11.18 - Metasprite management, rudimentary nametable animation, minor bug fixes

v2.32 03.08.17 - Sprite duplication, group flip, four palette slots, tile density sort, and more

v2.31 05.02.17 - Minor fixes, map size change with keeping its contents

v2.3 03.12.16 - Nametables of different sizes, another batch of fixes and improvements

v2.21 28.11.16 - Few more hotkeys, fix for the best offsets import option

v2.2 25.11.16 - View scale, palette drag and drop, lossy import, many fixes and improvements

v2.1 23.12.15 - Tile swap in tileset, with nametable update, tileset import for smaller files

v2.04 09.09.14 - 8x16 mode support in the metasprite editor

v2.03 03.03.13 - Find/Remove unused tiles functions

v2.01 22.01.13 - Metasprite copy/paste and flip, nametable import from files with arbitrary sizes

v2.0 16.01.13 - Metasprite editor, type in feature, minor improvements

v1.50 28.06.12 - Nametable drawing with current CHR selection, like a brush mode

v1.49 20.03.12 - Tile flip for 90 degree, sessions, minor bugfixes, better docs

v1.48 19.02.12 - BMP import now attempts to import palette and attributes, Save all function

v1.47 21.01.12 - Swap banks feature, minor bugfix for tileset import from BMP

v1.46 20.01.12 - BMP export is now 16-color, BMP as a tileset import is added

v1.45 18.01.12 - CHR import/export for NES files, some other features and minor bugfixes

v1.44 22.12.11 - Optimize didn't worked properly for the second bank

v1.43 04.12.11 - Number of selected tiles now displayed in the info box

v1.42 10.10.11 - Attributes table could be saved in a separate file

v1.41 02.08.11 - Filenames of files opened through Open or double click are put into save dialogs

v1.40 31.07.11 - Correct work with files that contain dots in path

v1.39 30.07.11 - Fixed wrong file extension and CHR size that was suggested sometimes

v1.38 27.07.11 - Put block as a metasprite into clipboard function

v1.37 01.07.11 - Attribute checker

v1.36 26.06.11 - Save and copy nametable to clipboard as C code

v1.35 04.06.11 - Tileset and nametable export as bitmap files

v1.34 16.05.11 - CHR import from NES files, supports 24K and 40K ROMs

v1.32 10.05.11 - Autofix for unsafe color $0d in palettes, color emphasis display

v1.31 18.01.11 - Minor fixes and some small features

v1.3 03.01.11 - Bugfixes, some new features

v1.23 11.12.10 - CHR redundancy optimization

v1.22 10.12.10 - Copy/paste tile groups in tileset

v1.21 09.12.10 - One-step undo

v1.2 08.12.10 - 1K, 2K, and 8K CHR files support, additional features for CHR editor

v1.12 07.12.10 - Copying parts of the nametable in the clipboard as text

v1.11 06.12.10 - Detailed information bar

v1.1 05.12.10 - Minor fixes and improvements, open all, nametable copy/paste functions

v1.0 04.12.10 - Initial release

Mail: shiru@mail.ru

Web: http:// shiru.untergrund.net

Web: http://shiru.untergrund.net

Donate: http://www.justgiving.com/Shiru

Support: https://www.patreon.com/shiru8bit

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