A Guide for Making Tilesets in MK
(Sponsored by nMKo)

• Requirements
• Step by Step Instructions
  • How to load your new tileset into the game
• Additional Information and Tips

This guide will help you understand how to edit an existing MK Tileset and how to use it to create your own customised one. In addition to that, we explain some key aspects of the colouring of the tilesets (transparency and player_colour_ID). For the purposes of this guide, there we only explain how to edit an existing tileset to create a new one, since it is far simpler than creating one from scratch.

1. the game of Metalknights
2. one of its existing tilesets (the bare minimum download includes atleast the standard.set)
3. a paint program such as Photoshop™

In order to make things as easy as possible, the process has been broken down into very simple, yet precise, step-by-step instructions. Some of them, you might already know, but this guide was developed in order to help everyone, even those with no experience at all in these matters.

1. go to your MK directory (eg "C:\Metalknights" or wherever you installed MK)
2. find a file named Standard.set (this is the standard tileset in the MK game)
3. COPY the file into some other directory (so that the original stays intact and remains in the MK directory!)
4. go to that directory and rename the file from "Standard.set" to "mytileset.pcx" , where "mytileset" could be any name you want it to be, the important bit is the extension (.pcx)
   • For win98 users, if you cannot rename it through windows, then:
     • click on "Start"
     • click "Run..."
     • type in "command" and press enter
     • goto the directory that your copy of the Standard.set is located
     • type: rename Standard.set mytileset.pcx and press enter
     • type: exit and press enter (this will return you back to windows)
5. open "mytileset.pcx" using your paint program (open your paint program first and load it in, as windows usually has its own default program for opening .pcx files and it may not be your desired program)
6. what you see in front of you is the WHOLE set of terrain_tiles and unit_tiles that exist in MK on THREE DIFFERENT ZOOM SETTINGS (you will have to change all three settings). It should look something like this (see right ---->)
7. by replacing each individual square or tile with your own, you can create your own tileset (yes it takes a lot of patience to do it)
8. once you are done, make a backup copy of "mytileset.pcx" (so that you dont lose it) and rename it to "mytileset.set" (see further above)
9. How to load it into the game:
   • move "mytileset.set" into your MK directory
   • load the game up
   • on the top left corner click on "Game" (you dont have to be connected to the internet)
   • click on "Options"
   • on the top it says "Graphic Set" and has a drop down menu, click on that menu and select "mytileset.set"
   • press "OK"

Next time you open up a map or a game in MK, that new tileset will be the one used.

Additional Information and Tips:

The blue colour (see colour on the BASE tile, the Flag on the city and the background on smaller unit icon) is what identifies as the player's colour. That is, any tile that has this specific blue colour will use that "part" to identify which player it belongs to, in a game.

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Another colour-related feature you have to keep in mind, is transparency. Black translates as transparent. The use of it? Ever wondered how you could build a fortification, yet only covering a small part of the screen? Below are some examples of where transparency in the form of black colour is used:

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Even though, it was said earlier that you change each and every tile, some tiles can actually be omitted, as they are not real tiles, but are instead there to "fill up" the squares. They are illustrated below with a big cross on them:

Note: You can revert back to the Standard.set or any other set by following the instructions on "how to load it into the game". If you got any comments to make, any questions or any additions that would improve this Guide, or if you got any tilesets that you would like other players to see, simply email them to me and I'll be happy to host them on this website for you. Happy tileset-making!