SonED2 Object Editor

The Object Editor is used for editing the layout and properties of the Objects within the normal gameplay levels. Objects are placed within levels by full X and Y pixel offsets (coordinates), and also contain a type value and one or more property values/bitfields, as well as a few generic flags, all of which determine how the Object is displayed and how it behaves. The images and descriptions displayed in the editor are set up through "Object Listing Files", which tell the editor how each Object should be represented graphically, and how its properties should be displayed and manipulated by the editing keys. Those files may be altered and expanded upon as described by their own documentation.

The following features are available in this editor:

• Status
  
• Moving an Object
  
• Adding an Object
  
• Removing an Object
  
• Selecting Object Type
  
• Object Properties
  
• Object Bitfields
  
• Common Object Flags
  
• Sonic CD Time Flags
  
• Other Editor Modes
  
• Altering scroll speed
  
• Altering Grid Size
  
• Viewing Controls
  
  Status
  
  
  The Status Display appears at the upper-left corner of the editor and displays certain general level and editor information, as well as information about any Object that the mouse cursor is hovering over.
  
  This display may be toggled off and back on by pressing "Tab".
  
  

  The status display always shows the following information:
  Screen Position	-	The X and Y world position of the top-left corner of the screen, shown in hex as with the in-game debug modes
  Plane Size	-	The Width and Height of level plane A, measured in chunks, shown in hex
  Solid ???	-	This entry describes which of the two solidity paths is being drawn over the level, and whether or not the corresponding angle values are shown
  Objects ???	-	This entry describes how the Objects are currently being displayed relative to the high/low planes of the level
  Scroll Speed	-	The number of pixels that the screen will move when the arrow keys are used for scrolling
  Snap-To-Grid	-	This value is the Object grid size. Objects being moved by the cursor will only move in steps of this many pixels. This is useful for making sure certain Objects are aligned properly
  Total ???	-	These are the total number of each type of Object that are placed within the level. "Objs" refers to standard game Objects within the Object Placement list, "Rings" refers to Ring Objects placed within the Ring Placement list (if the game stores them separately from normal Objects), and "Misc" refers to special type Objects that reside in their own listings (such as Sonic 2's Casino Night Zone bumpers). When using Sonic 2 Rings Layout format, whose entries define groups of Rings as opposed to Sonic 3's one-ring-per-entry format, the "Total" value listed for "Rings" refers to the total number of list entries/Ring groups, not the total number of individual rings
  The following status elements are only available when the cursor is hovering over an Object:
  Object Position	-	This is the Object's position in the level, expressed in hex
  Object Type ID	-	These are the full byte values of the Object type, its "Parameter"/"Property" value, and its flags value
  Object Type	-	This is a small text description of the Object's type
  Bits	-	This is a bitfield representation of the "Parameter"/"Property" value
  Param Field ?	-	If bitfields are defined for this Object type by the Object Listing file, these fields are displayed as binary representations of the bitfield's current value, and a short text description of the meaning of the meaning of that value
  Draw Dir	-	Describes the direction in which the Object will be drawn (whether it is mirrored and/or flipped). This does not apply to Chaotix-style Objects, which do not have a directional setting
  Unknown Flag	-	This flag appears in Sonic 2 type games. This entry specifies whether this flag is on or off, but in an unmodified game it has no function
  Remember Sprite State	-	If this flag is on, certain special changes made to an Object during gameplay (such as destroying a badnik) will be recorded and will not be reset until the level itself resets. If it is off, the Object will return to its starting state when it leaves the screen, even if it was designed to have a persistent state. This does not apply to Sonic 3 and Chaotix style Objects, which reserve space for "remembering" all Objects rather than flagging only some to be
  The following status elements are only available when the cursor is hovering over a Ring, if the game stores Rings separately from normal Objects (Sonic 2 and Sonic 3):
  Object Position	-	This is the Ring's position in the level, expressed in hex as in the game. In the case of a Ring set, this is the position of the first Ring in the set
  Ring ???	-	In the case of Sonic 2, this entry specifies whether the Ring Object is a row or a column, and how many Rings it will create. Sonic 3 only uses single-Ring placement, so in that case, this entry will only say "Ring"
  Size Value	-	In the case of Sonic 2, this is the property value stored in the Ring layout data that causes the effect described by the above information. Because Sonic 3 does not use Ring sets, this entry does not appear when editing Sonic 3 Ring data
  The following status elements are only available when the cursor is hovering over a "misc" Object:
  Object Position	-	This is the Object's position in the level, expressed in hex as in the game
  ???	-	This text describes the type of "Misc" Object
  Type Value	-	This is the property value assigned to the Object

  
  
  Moving an Object
  
  
  To move an Object that already exists, click and drag the Object to its new location. The Object will move along the grid set up by the "Snap-To-Grid" seting. If that setting is 1, the Object will move freely
  
  To move the Object one pixel-unit at a time using the keyboard, hover over the Object with the cursor, hold ctrl and press the arrow key that corresponds with the desired direction. The hotkey repeat timer applies to this method, and this method also ignores the "Snap-To-Grid" setting
  
  
  Adding an Object
  
  
  To create a new Object, double-left-click any empty position in a level, and a "null" Object will appear, which can be changed into any other type of Object
  
  To create a new Ring, double-right-click any empty position in the level
  
  To create a new "Misc" Object, hold Ctrl while double-left-clicking any empty position in the level
  
  
  Removing an Object
  
  
  To remove an Object of any type from the level, double-right-click it, and it will be destroyed
  
  
  Selecting Object Type
  
  
  To select the type of an Object by using the Object Type Selection List, double-left-click the desired Object. When the list appears, scroll to the description of the desired Object type and left-click. To exit the list without changing the Object's type, right-click instead
  
  
  Object Properties
  
  
  Object properties may be directly altered by whole value by using the following keys:
  
  

  A/Z	-	Object Type
  S/X	-	Object "Property"
  D/C	-	Object Flags

  
  Pressing these keys alone changes the value by 1, but holding CTRL will change the value by 16
  
  An object's type may also be changed by hovering over the object and using the mouse wheel, and its "property" may be change by using the mouse wheel while holding ctrl
  
  
  Object Bitfields
  
  
  When an Object's "Property" value is actually a group of smaller values stored in a single byte, it can be broken into "bitfields" representing each individual value. There can be up to 8 bitfields depending on how large each one is. To modify the value in a bitfield, press its corresponding number key (the field's ID + 1, IE: field 0's key is 1) to add 1. Hold Ctrl while pressing the key to subtract 1
  
  When no bitfields are defined for the Object type within the Object Listing File, these keys will correspond to each individual bit in the full Property value
  
  When working with Sonic Crackers/Knuckles' Chaotix, holding Shift while pressing the number key will allow access to the upper 8 bits, or the 9th bitfield and above
  
  
  Common Object Flags
  
  
  All Objects have 4 generic flags, which are slightly different from game to game:
  
  
  • Sonic 1 and Sonic CD use two for drawing direction. "Remember Object State" is stored elsewhere
    
  • Sonic 2 uses three of them. One for "Remember Object State", and two for draw direction
    
  • Sonic 3 uses two of them for drawing direction, it does not use a "Remember Object State" flag
    
  • Sonic Crackers and Knuckles' Chaotix do not use draw direction or "Remember Object State" settings
    
    To change the drawing direction of an Object, press 9. Holding Ctrl will cycle through in reverse. To modify the "Remember Object State" flag, which causes destroyed Objects to stay destroyed, press 0. To modify the "Unknown" flag, hold Ctrl while pressing 0
  
  
  Sonic CD Time Flags
  
  
  Sonic CD assigns three additional flags to each Object, which determine whether or not they show up in each of the three time periods (past, present, or good/bad future). When these types of Objects are loaded, the Project File requires an additional setting that determines the default time period viewing flag to be set when the editor is started, the idea being that one project exists for each time period, and only Objects that will appear in that time period during gameplay will appear in the editor by default. The editor may, however, be instructed to display Objects for a different time period, or more than one time period at a time. The following keys control the time period(s) assigned to an Object, and the time period(s) whose Objects will be displayed in the editor:
  
  

  Shift+1	-	Toggle editor display for "Present" (A)
  Shift+2	-	Toggle editor display for "Past" (B)
  Shift+3	-	Toggle editor display for "Future" (C/D)
  Shift+4	-	Toggle Object flag for "Present" (A)
  Shift+5	-	Toggle Object flag for "Past" (B)
  Shift+6	-	Toggle Object flag for "Future" (C/D)

  
  Remember that, when an Object's time period flags are modified, if it is not flagged for one of the time periods that the editor is currently set to display, the Object will immediately "Disappear". The Object still exists within the Object Layout data, however, and will appear in any of the other time periods that it is flagged for. To "bring the Object back", the editor must be set to view any of the time periods for which the Object is still flagged. Objects must be flagged for at least one time period; any one time period flag may not be disabled unless at least one other flag is enabled.
  
  
  Other Editor Modes
  
  
  The "Editors" menu has options to switch to any of the other editing modes available to a project using this editor. The following keys also have the same effect:
  
  

  L	-	Level Editor Plane A (foreground)
  P	-	Level Editor Plane B (background)
  K	-	Level Editor Clipboard
  I	-	Tile Editor

  
  
  Altering scroll speed
  
  
  The H and N keys increase and decrease the number of pixels that the screen will scroll when using the arrow keys or moving the mouse to the screen edges while holding CTRL
  
  
  Altering Grid Size
  
  
  The J and M keys increase and decrease the size of the Object "Snap-To" grid
  
  
  Viewing Controls
  
  
  The following keys affect other viewing options:
  
  

  Q	-	Disable Solidity viewing
  W	-	Display Solidity Path 0 Over Level
  E	-	Display Solidity Path 1 Over Level (for games that support two-path collision)
  R	-	Toggle angle view when viewing solidity path
  T	-	Change Object viewing status: Disabled Below High Plane (Game View, some Objects "hidden" by the foreground) Above High Plane (All Objects on top, total visibility)
  Y	-	Toggles the "Low" plane on or off
  U	-	Toggles the "High" plane on or off