Help file

Hi guys,

I'd really like to start having a play with C2 and was wondering if there's some sort of help file / manual? I realise that builds are coming out all the time but is there something that goes over the basics?

One thing I'm stumped on is how to import a sprite.

I insert the sprite object,

MS Paint pops up,

I load an image into paint,

save it,

close paint

and the sprite is empty.

It's this sort of basic thing I'd like to know about. Any help would be appreciated.

There should be a message box that appears when you open the image editor. Don't click ok until after you've saved the graphic. Another way to put the graphics in is to just drag the graphic straight into Construct's editor. It will make a brand new sprite with that image for you.

Thanks Jayjay.

[quote:3od9jl9h]There should be a message box that appears when you open the image editor. Don't click ok until after you've saved the graphic.

I do, but the sprite remains blank. If I actually draw something then save then the sprite gets imported.

So basically i have to drag and drop all my sprites?

Jayjay's right, just drag in the file from windows to the layout and it will create a sprite. That's probably the easiest way.

We're still in alpha and doing all the coding so I'm afraid there aren't any docs yet - we've got plans to come up with docs soon though. C2 relies on external editors because we haven't finished the built in editor yet (see the FAQ).

I'm guessing what happens is:

• C2 opens Paint to edit a temporary file (this is how it's done at the moment),
• you click Open,
• Paint loads a different file,
• you click save and Paint re-saves the file you opened, not the temporary file so the temporary file is left empty,
• you close paint and click OK and C2 loads the blank temporary file.

Another workaround might be to open a different instance of Paint, and copy-paste the image in to the Paint that C2 launched. The same thing might be easier (and also lets you use alpha) if you install Paint.NET.

Ahh right, got you. Then another way would be to make a note of the temp file name, load the sprite then save it as the temp file name?

Yep, so long as you save an image to the temp filename before you click OK then Construct 2 will get it. The temp filenames are randomly generated and a bit complicated though.

Thanks guys, most helpful.

As for tutorials, a few releases ago I got pretty far through the ghost shooter tutorial using C2. It covers the basic features of C1 (which I had never touched) and since C2's basic features are similar and largely in place it was somewhat illuminating. YMMV. It made me figure out a few things that were different or as yet unimplemented but possible in a different way.