Windows

Adjusting Windows

Several of the strings in text_misc.yml are strings that appear in menus. If you have strings that you want to implement that are longer than the original strings found in EarthBound, there is a chance that they won't fit in the windows for the different menus. Here are a few things you can do to make the text fit inside the windows, in order of difficulty:

• Shorten/Change the strings/words
• Adjust the size of the window
• Adjust the positions of text in the window

Shortening or changing the strings used can sometimes avoid the problem of redoing the Windows, but if you find that you cannot shorten the string enough to make the word(s) fit in the default size of the window, you will need to eventually adjust the size of the desired window manually.

Adjusting the Size of a Window

CoilSnake can adjust window sizes using the values in window_configuration_table.yml. This table has numerical values that are followed by four properties (Height, Width, X Offset, Y Offset). The main numbers correspond with the different windows in the game. Here is a list of those windows, taken from the ccscript reference:

#	Size	Position	Common use
0	13 x 8	(1, 1)		The standard gameplay menu  
1	19 x 8	(12, 1)		The standard dialogue window  
2	24 x 16	(7, 1)		Inventory window  
3	6 x 10	(1, 1)		The Use/Give/Drop/Help item menu  
4	11 x 6	(1, 3)		PSI description window  
5	11 x 16	(20, 1)		Telephone menu and teleport destinations menu
6	20 x 10	(8, 1)		Equip menu  
7	13 x 16	(18, 1)		List of equippable items  
8	30 x 18	(1, 1)		The status window  
9	19 x 18	(12, 1)		Shop windows  
10	8 x 4	(1, 10)		Cash on hand window  
11	11 x 4	(1, 15)		???  
12	19 x 16	(12, 1)		Store window/Debug menu status effect window  
13	24 x 16	(7, 1)		Escargo Express Inventory (Taking items back)
14	24 x 6	(4, 1)		Battle message window  
15	21 x 6	(1, 1)		Standard-width battle menu  
16	8 x 8	(4, 1)		Offense/Defense/Assist PSI selection menu (used during battle) 
17	12 x 4	(12, 1)		Displays PSI name when selected in battle  
18	14 x 6	(1, 1)		Jeff's battle menu  
19	30 x 8	(1, 2)		The file selection menu  
20	22 x 4	(5, 9)		Continue/Copy/Delete file menu  
21	12 x 8	(10, 16)	Copy file menu, 2 slots  
22	12 x 6	(10, 16)	Copy file menu, 1 slot  
23	21 x 10	(6, 17)		Delete file confirmation menu  
24	16 x 10	(3, 14)		Text speed selection menu  
25	18 x 8	(18, 15)	Sound mode selection menu  
26	8 x 4	(5, 4)		Character name input  
27	17 x 4	(13, 4)		"Name this X" message  
28	30 x 16	(1, 9)		Letter selection window  
29	7 x 4	(7, 3)		Confirmation box: Ness's name  
30	7 x 4	(7, 7)		Confirmation box: Paula's name  
31	7 x 4	(7, 11)		Confirmation box: Jeff's name  
32	7 x 4	(7, 15)		Confirmation box: Poo's name  
33	8 x 4	(20, 3)		Confirmation box: King's name  
34	13 x 6	(15, 7)		Confirmation box: Favorite food  
35	13 x 6	(15, 13)	Confirmation box: Favorite thing  
36	24 x 4	(4, 21)		Confirmation box: "Are you sure?"  
37	13 x 8	(18, 6)		Healer/Mach Pizza window (Contains enough room for 3 choices)
38	12 x 4	(12, 1)		Displays selected PSI name when selecting a target for single enemy or single row  
39	26 x 6	(3, 3)		"Register your name, please" window above Player's name input window used in Scarabi
40	7 x 4	(1, 1)		Menu helper window (At top left of screen, displays "Who?", "Where?", etc)  
41	15 x 4	(16, 8)		Character select window with 2 characters  
42	21 x 4	(10, 8)		Character select window with 3 characters  
43	27 x 4	(4, 8)		Character select window with 4 characters  
44	24 x 16	(8, 2)		Giving items to other characters window  
45	15 x 6	(3, 11)		Equip menu offense/defense listing  
46	8 x 10	(4, 1)		The Offense/Defense/Assist/Other PSI menu (for outside of battle)  
47	30 x 10	(1, 9)		Save game corrupted window, PSI information window  
48	28 x 6	(1, 1)		Party leader battle menu  
49	20 x 4	(10, 4)		"To: Enemy" (Battle window)  
50	15 x 16	(14, 11)	Flavor chooser window
51	9 x 4	(22, 8)		Character select window with 1 character (Normally not seen, but used in debug menu)  
52	18 x 18	(7, 9)		???  

Now, here's what each of the properties do:

• Height: The height of the window in tiles, where the tiles are 8 pixels wide
• Width: The width of the window in tiles, where the tiles are 8 pixels tall
• X Offset: The horizontal distance, in 8 pixel increments, from the top-left corner of the screen
• Y Offset: The vertical distance, in 8 pixel increments, from the top-left corner of the screen

So Height and Width will make the window bigger/smaller, and X Offset and Y Offset will change where on the screen it will appear.

And that's exactly how simple it is! You just change the numbers for each of those values to adjust window sizes. In most cases, you'll only need to change the Height and Width, though occasionally you'll need to also change the X Offset and Y Offset to make sure your window doesn't cover up other windows or elements on the screen.

Additional work

If you resize the windows, shortened the strings and you STILL can't make your words properly fit as you want them to, the only other option is to adjust the positions of the text manually by doing some ASM hacking.

For further information regarding this, please visit the Tutorial section for Translating and Adjusting Menus.