v0.15 - biggest feature expansion to date

Hi! It's time for the September release. I'm aiming for an aproximately monthly version update of the tool from now on. 


I've received some useful feedback (thank you!) after publishing the tool to a broader audience. Some of the suggestions are in this version, but mostly it's stuff that's been the closest on my roadmap. 

One thing i wanted to get in this time but will have to wait due to unforseen complexity is a proper 8x16 sprite viewing mode that lets you edit sprites and tiles at the same time without having to deal with the NES:s physical memory layout of tiles. I'll get to it probably next release.

Also, i decided to publish the source as-is, which at least 2 people have requested. 

I'm a bit tired and won't make demonstration videos of all the new features just yet, but i'll drop some throughout the following weeks. 



Excerpt from the changelog:

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0.15

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New main features:
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Introducing Brushes:

-In CHR Editor, press [B] to toggle between Pen and Brush. Elsewhere, [Shift+B]. Also discoverable via (Menu>Draw>Pen>...)
-The brush is fixed to 2x2 pixel size, and its shape can be modified with the Brush Mask [M].

Introducing Brush Mask Editor:

-In CHR Editor, press [M] to open the Brush Mask editor. Elsewhere, [Shift-F4].
-Click a cell to toggle its state.
-This is useful for creating chisel-tip brush shapes for dynamic strokes. The default is a square 2x2 block.
-Brush Mask Editor inherits most CHR Editor hotkeys.

Introducing Quantized mode drawing:

-In CHR Editor, press [N] to toggle Quantized mode. Elsewhere, [Shift-N]. 
-In this mode, paint only applies when the pen/brush is at an even pixel position, counting from 0. 
-This enables using the Brush as a pattern brush for:

• drawing coarse shapes to chisel at fine resolution later (this can often be easier)
• drawing in a "chunky pixels" half-resolution style on purpose.
• creating aligned lines easier
• creating checkerboard dither easier (note that the NES has difficulty displaying checkerboard dither "as intended", so use with some amount of care/research).

-For the pen, this means creating stylized even dot patterns.

• Combined with the Nudge (wasd) actions, the pen can be used to create straight or diagonal lines more steadily.

Introducing "Recall Colour"

-New action: Recall colour [Z]. 
-New option: + autostore last used (Menu>Draw>...)
If the option is checked, if you press [Z], the last used colour before the currently active one will get recalled. 
Pressing [Z] again will revert back to the first colour.
If the option isn't checked, pressing [Z] will act as a simple toggle between 2 sets of active colour that you pick yourself. 

You're welcome to try out which you like the best.

Tips:
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-While intended as a speed toggle, don't forget the colour hotkeys [1,2,3,4] and the eye dropper [right click on a pixel] which often may be as or more speedy/convenient.

-It's even possible to toggle in the middle of a pen stroke (so long as you don't hold any modifier keys like ctrl, shift, alt, which would invoke commands).

Swap Pattern tables in selection [Ctrl+Alt+X]:
-Just like "Swap pattern tables", it moves patterns from A to B and vise versa, except only within a box selection or the current active tile.
-Discoverable in (Menu>Patterns>...)

Drag-swap tile improvements:
-Metasprites are now auto-repairing when swapping two tiles by the tileset drag action (right click and drag). 
-Options to toggle auto-repair of nametables/maps and metasprites on/off, respectively
-Option to only repair objects on the Active Tab (ie. Metasprites tab OR Screen tab). 
-Discoverable in (Menu>Patterns>...)

Lesser updates
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Colour protect mask
now works for Draw modes (tileset and screen canvas).

Menu>Window>Check for new version (web):
Opens the NEXXT storefront on itch.

Menu>Window>About...
Opens a brief info dialog; with contact links.

Minor quality fixes:

-More context and content to the statusbar readout. 
-A few shift-based commands that bothered while in type-in mode are now properly ignored. 
-A minor, rare bug removed from the find/remove/sort actions.
-Double clicking on the tileset to open the CHR Editor is now properly ignored while in Draw Mode.

Source included:

-Though i've felt i needed to treat this project as my personal playground for teaching myself c++,
I figured it doesn't hurt to provide the source at this point.