Tile size map size questions, SNES

[dougeff]

I see that tiles can be 8x8 or 16x16. Is that true for all modes?

Wouldn't 16x16 tiles take up 4x as much VRAM space?

I see that tilemaps can be 32x32, 32x64, 64x32, or 64x64. Is that true for all modes?

Is direct color available to all modes?

That's alot of variability.

Edit...
Most tile editors have a 8x8 tile window. If I want 16x16 tiles, how would they be arranged in...lets say TLP or YY-CHR

If I want this (in game)...ie, a 16x16 tile

A,B
C,D

Would it look like this (in 8x8 editor) ?

A,B,C,D

Or would it be interleaved?

[Drew Sebastino]

I see that tiles can be 8x8 or 16x16. Is that true for all modes?

I'm pretty sure it's true for all modes, except for Mode 7.

Wouldn't 16x16 tiles take up 4x as much VRAM space?

Yes. 16x16 tiles are really just 4 8x8 tiles put together to where it's like $00, $01, $10, $11. Even the tile selection still goes by 8x8.

I see that tilemaps can be 32x32, 32x64, 64x32, or 64x64. Is that true for all modes?

I'm also pretty sure this is true, except for Mode 7.

Is direct color available to all modes?

Only ones with an 8bpp layer. I doubt it works for Mode 7 though.

[AWJ]

I see that tiles can be 8x8 or 16x16. Is that true for all modes?

Wouldn't 16x16 tiles take up 4x as much VRAM space?

16x16 tiles are available in all modes except Mode 7. Each tile takes up 4x as much VRAM as an 8x8 tile, but it also covers four times as many pixels. The main advantage of 16x16 tiles is that you need fewer tilemap entries to cover the same screen area. Depending on the design of your game, a 64x32 or 32x64 tilemap with 16x16 tiles might be enough for an entire section of a level (meaning no need to update the tilemap as the screen scrolls)

I see that tilemaps can be 32x32, 32x64, 64x32, or 64x64. Is that true for all modes?

Again, all except mode 7. The Mode 7 tilemap is always 128x128 8x8 tiles (which, coincidentally, is the same number of pixels as the largest possible non-mode7 tilemap)

Is direct color available to all modes?

Direct color is only available at the 8bpp depth. Meaning BG1 of Mode 3, Mode 4, or Mode 7.

Most tile editors have a 8x8 tile window. If I want 16x16 tiles, how would they be arranged in...lets say TLP or YY-CHR

Each 16x16 tile is made up of 8x8 tiles n, n+1, n+16 and n+17, where n is the tile number specified in the tilemap. If you set your tile viewer/editor to display 16 tile columns, 16x16 tiles and all sizes of sprites will line up correctly.

[Nicole]

Direct color can indeed be used on mode 7, though it's kind of pointless in comparison to other modes. Normally it takes the 8-bit pixel color and 3-bit tile palette number to choose a color, allowing for 2048 colors on-screen (each tile having a particular set of 256 colors). However, mode 7 doesn't have tile attributes, so it only allows for 256 preset colors, which is generally worse than using the normal 256-color palette, which you can define any way you want.

[tepples]

At least direct color doesn't have to coexist with the sprite palette. Is RGB332 worse than a 128-color palette?

[Nicole]

Ah, that's true. Personally, I'd probably still say the 128-color palette is better, but that's certainly a matter of opinion.

[93143]

Direct colour doesn't affect EXTBG, which uses the bottom half of CGRAM. So there's that...

...also, from personal experience, even if you don't want any colours common between sprites and BG, it's not unreasonable for the Mode 7 layer to use the zero colours in the sprite subpalettes. This gets you an extra 8 colours in normal Mode 7. Could actually be relevant if you need a bunch of palettes for a Mode 1 area or something like that (direct colour solves the problem, but at the cost of precision in colour choice)...