Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

I’m sure loads of tileset makers (like me) have wondered how to fix the snow event in Jazz 2. Well, I did some research today and I managed to find out how it works. It’s pretty simple once you know how to ;)

How to fix snow:
Anyways, time to start. Snow works a little bit like a gradient, but has a whole new palette entry instead of using your background colours. I’m sure most people know this after testing snow in a tileset with a working textured background. If you want your snow to look real, this would be a perfect gradient starting at a light colour (the inside of the snow) and ending with a dark one (the outside of your snow). However, it does not need to be a perfect gradient. I have tested different types of weird combinations and they all work. I even made snow with a light green inside and nice red borders, so you can mess around with it is much as you like. Now that I’ve said that, I’m sure you want all the technical details. Snow uses 10 colours, the first 9 of these colours are placed right next to each other in the palette. The last one (don’t ask why) is placed in a totally different location. The first of these 9 entries are placed in the palette at entries 128-136. The final entry, the darkest colour, is at entry 201 (four entries underneath 137). And finally, remember to include these colours in your tileset somewhere, or the snow won’t work (I had to learn the hard way).
There, the eternal mystery of snow has been solved!

For those that don’t understand what I wrote above and want a short explanation:
1. Snow is 10 colours.
2. It is placed in palette entries 128-136 and entry 201.
3. All palette entries in order from lightest (inside) to darkest (outside) are 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136 and 201.
4. Snow does not need a perfect gradient, you can use any colour at any entry mentioned above.
5. Include the 10 colours somewhere in your tileset or the snow won’t work.

A short Paint Shop Pro tutorial on how to edit your palette:
1. On the menu bar, go to ‘Colors—>Edit Palette’
2. A new window will pop up with a view of your palette, make sure that the sort order (at the top) is set to ‘Palette Order’ (this makes it a lot easier to find the entries)
3. Look for the block with a palette index (shown at bottom left) of 128 and double click on it. You will now see the screen that allows you to change that colour to anything you want.
4. Repeat this with the other 9 palette entries.
5. VOILA! Snow should work in your tileset now and will be all the colours you added!

Finally, a little thing to remember. When you compile your tileset in JCS, remember NOT TO TICK the box that says ‘Remap tile set palette’. This will remove ANYTHING you did with your palette.