Navigation

Porymap can seem daunting at first because it has many buttons, tabs, panes, and windows. Let’s briefly go over the different parts of the application.

Map List

The map list contains a hierarchical view of all of the maps in your project. It is situated on the left side of Porymap’s main window. To switch to a different map, simply double-click on the desired map’s name. Larger maps can take a few seconds to load the first time, so be patient.

Tabs

The map list has 3 tabs that each organize your maps a bit differently.

Groups: Maps are sorted by “map groups”. Next to each map name you will see a [AA.BB] prefix. AA will be the map group number, and BB will be the map number. These are the numbers you can get in your project using the MAP_GROUP and MAP_NUM macros, respectively.
Locations: Maps are sorted by their Location value from the Header tab. This value may also be referred to as a “region map section” or “mapsec” for short, because it is used to identify maps for the region map. Maps with the same Location will have the same in-game name, if it appears.
Layouts: Maps are sorted by their Layout. From this tab you can also open and edit layouts directly. Most layouts are only used by a single map, but layouts like the Pokémon Center are used by many maps. Some maps have multiple layouts that they can switch between, like Route111 using both Route111_Layout and Route111_NoMirageTower_Layout.

On any of the tabs, right-clicking on a folder name or map name will bring up some helpful options. For instance, you can right-click on a folder to add a new map to that folder, or right-click on a map to duplicate that map. Locations or Groups folders may be deleted by right-clicking and selecting the Delete option, but only if the folder doesn’t contain any maps.

Buttons

Under each tab you’ll also find a set of buttons that operate on the current map list tab.

Adds a new folder

Hides empty folders

Expands all of the map folders

Collapses all of the map folders

Allows you to rename folders and reorganize the map list; this is is only accessible on the Groups tab.

To the left of the tabs the buttons will let you go back/forward to previous maps you had open, and to the right of the tabs the button will open the dialog to create a new map (see Creating New Maps).

Type in the filter to show maps/folders that contain the filter text.

Status Icons

Next to each map/layout name you’ll see an icon that indicates its current status.

Has not been loaded

Has been loaded

Is currently open

Has unsaved changes

An error occurred, Porymap cannot use this map elsewhere in the project. See your error log file for more details.

Main Window

Most of the work you do in Porymap is in the center Main Window. It features 5 tabbed views which each have different purposes, but they all operate within the context of the currently-opened map in the Map List. Let’s quickly summarize what each of these tabs is used for.

Map

This tab is further divided into 3 tabs, accessible from the panel on the right

Metatiles: Change the map’s visual appearance by painting metatiles and setting the map’s layout and tilesets.
Collision: Determine how the player can navigate the map by painting collision and elevation values.
Prefabs: Save groups of metatiles/collision for more convenient painting.

Events

Edit the interactable events on the map. This includes things like objects, warps, script triggers, and more.

Header

Choose various gameplay properties to set for the map. This includes things like background music and weather.

Connections

Change how the map connects with surrounding maps when the player walks from one to another.

Wild Pokémon

Edit the wild Pokémon available in the map.

Note

If you have a layout open, only the Map tab will be active. Additionally, the Wild Pokémon tab may be disabled if the data failed to load, or if you disabled it under Project Settings.