Tilesets

The Tilesets tab of the Database.

This page describes the basics of tilesets, as well as any special features about them in Essentials.

Tilesets

Tilesets are used to create maps in RPG Maker XP. A tileset is a tall, thin picture made up of squares, or tiles. Each tile is 32x32 pixels. A tileset is exactly 8 tiles wide, and any number of tiles high (there is a limit of about 5000, but this is usually way more than enough). Tilesets are kept in the folder "Graphics/Tilesets".

RPG Maker XP can handle up to 999 different tilesets, which should be more than sufficient for even the largest of games.

Editing a tileset is as simple as editing a picture.

Autotiles

RPG Maker XP allows you to include up to 7 autotiles in each tileset. These are added onto the top of the tileset as the top row of tiles. Each autotile is a separate picture file in the folder "Graphics/Autotiles". Autotiles can show an animation.

The Database

In RPG Maker XP, click the Database icon in the toolbar, or go to Tools>Database, or press F9. In here, select the "Tilesets" tab. Here you can edit the contents and properties of tilesets.

The properties of tiles in a tileset are:

• Passage - Whether the player or an NPC can walk over them or not (without any special effects applying).
• Passage (4 dir) - The sides which the player/NPC can pass through.
• Priority - How close to the foreground the tile is displayed. A higher number means it is closer to the foreground. The player will pass behind any tile that has a non-zero priority.
• Bush flag - Whether the bottom part of an event on that tile should be transparent, making it look like it is standing in tall grass, shallow water, etc.
• Counter Flag - Whether the player can "reach over" the tile to interact with an event on the other side (i.e. it indicates that the tile is part of a counter or desk).
• Terrain Tag - A number that gives the tile other properties as defined in the scripts. See below.

Terrain tags

Terrain tags allow certain tiles to have special properties, such as being tiles on which wild Pokémon encounters can occur, or tiles that the player can slide around on.

The existing terrain tags are as follows:

Terrain tag	Name of tag	More details
1	Ledge	These are tiles which the player will jump over. These tiles should be passable in only one direction (the direction pointing towards the top of the ledge). For example, a ledge you jump east to west over should be passable from the east, and not passable from any other direction.
2	Grass	Wild Pokémon encounters can take place on tiles with this terrain tag. When walking over a tile of grass, the animation GRASS_ANIMATION_ID (see the script section Settings for the definition of this) will be shown. The animation is played by the proc Events.onStepTakenFieldMovement in the script section PField_Field). This animation is of grass rustling. These tiles should also have the Bush flag set (i.e. the bottom part of the player will become transparent). This terrain tag is a "Grass" environment (used to determine battle backdrops and some move effects).
3	Sand	This terrain tag is a "Sand" environment (used to determine battle backdrops and some move effects).
4	Rock	This terrain tag is a "Rock" environment (used to determine battle backdrops and some move effects).
5	DeepWater	The player can only surf on these tiles. The player can also fish onto these tiles. When the move Dive is used on these tiles, the player will dive underwater. See the page Obstacles for more information on diving. This terrain tag is a "MovingWater" environment (used to determine battle backdrops and some move effects).
6	StillWater	The player can only surf on these tiles. The player can also fish on these tiles. These tiles are rendered far into the background, and allow event reflections to appear between them and the rest of a map's tiles (reflections normally appear behind all tiles). The player always has a reflection, while other events can have reflections too if their name includes the phrase "Reflection" (this is case sensitive). This terrain tag is a "StillWater" environment (used to determine battle backdrops and some move effects).
7	Water	The player can only surf on these tiles. The player can also fish on these tiles. This terrain tag is a "MovingWater" environment (used to determine battle backdrops and some move effects).
8	Waterfall	These tiles mark the main body of a waterfall, except the very top of it. The player cannot surf normally on these tiles. When the player is facing up at this tile, and they use the move Waterfall, they will automatically surf upwards until they are no longer on a "Waterfall" or "WaterfallCrest" tile. See the page Obstacles for more information on waterfalls. The player will not encounter any Pokémon while moving up or down a waterfall.
9	WaterfallCrest	These tiles mark the top row of tiles of a waterfall. The player can surf onto these tiles, but as soon as they do, they will automatically surf downwards until they are no longer on a "Waterfall" or "WaterfallCrest" tile. See the page Obstacles for more information on waterfalls. The player will not encounter any Pokémon while moving up or down a waterfall.
10	TallGrass	Wild Pokémon encounters can take place on tiles with this terrain tag. There is a 30% chance these battles will be double battles. The player cannot run on a tile with this terrain tag. The player cannot cycle onto a tile with this terrain tag, nor mount a bicycle while standing on it. Tall grass typically takes up 2 tiles. The upper tile should have the Bush flag set, a priority of 1 and this terrain tag; the lower tile should have a priority of 0 and a terrain tag of 0. This terrain tag is a "TallGrass" environment (used to determine battle backdrops and some move effects).
11	UnderwaterGrass	Wild Pokémon encounters can take place on tiles with this terrain tag. There are no other effects. As the name suggests, this terrain tag is typically used for seaweed underwater (which won't have the Bush flag set). However, it is just another kind of grass tile, and can be used in other ways.
12	Ice	If the player steps onto these tiles, they will slide in the same direction until they hit something they cannot pass through, or until they are no longer on an "Ice" tile. Sliding on ice is handled by def Kernel.pbSlideOnIce in the script section PField_Field. The player will not encounter any wild Pokémon while on an ice tile. They will move at running speed, and will be fixed in a "one foot forward" pose while sliding.
13	Neutral	These tiles have their passabilities and terrain tag ignored by all effects. This terrain tag is therefore useful for purely decorative tiles such as large building shadows.
14	SootGrass	When the player steps on these tiles and if the player has a Soot Sack, 1 will be added to the soot count $PokemonGlobal.sootsack.
15	Bridge	These tiles are bridge tiles. By default they should have a high priority (e.g. 4), and a passability as though the player was walking over the bridge. This terrain tag is for bridge tiles which the player goes underneath, as well as bridges which the player can go both over and under. While $PokemonMap.bridge is 0, the passability of these tiles is ignored, and their terrain tag may also be ignored in some cases. At the same time as this value is set to 1 or higher, the priority of these tiles are also set to 0 (and back to 4 at the same time $PokemonMap.bridge is set to 0). See the page Bridges for more information.
16	Puddle	This terrain tag is a "Puddle" environment (used to determine battle backdrops and some move effects).

RPG Maker XP's tileset editor in the Database only supports terrain tags up to 7, so tiles that need terrain tags of 8 or higher need to be set elsewhere. The Debug mode menu has an option called "Edit Terrain Tags", which allows you to assign a tile any terrain tag you want.