Working with Tilesets

• Accessing Tilesets
• Preloading Tilesets
• Accessing Tile Data
• Updating Tile Data
• Updating Spritesheets

Tile data are stored in tileset data structures, and stored in an array accessible with the SKTilemap.tilesets property.

Accessing Tilesets

Tilesets are created automatically for you when you load a tile map file. SKTiled supports both inline (stored in the TMX file) and external (stored in a separate TSX file) tilesets.

To access a tileset, simply query the tilemap node:

// query any tileset
if let inlineTileset = tilemap.getTileset(named: "winter-tiles") {
    // do something with the tileset
}

// get an externally saved tileset
if let externalTileset = tilemap.getTileset(fileNamed: "winter-tiles.tsx") {
    // do something with the tileset
}

Another useful feature is the ability to query the tileset associated with a global id:

if let tileset = tilemap.getTileset(forTile: 102) {
    // do something with the tileset
}

Preloading Tilesets

External tilesets can also be preloaded and passed to a tilemap when instantiated:

let tilesetFiles = ["winter-tiles.tsx", "spring-tiles.tsx", "summer-tiles.tsx", "fall-tiles.tsx"]
if let tilesets = SKTileset.load(tsxFiles: tilesetFiles) {
    // pass preloaded tilesets to parser
    if let tilemap = SKTilemap.load(tmxFile: "MyTilemap.tmx", withTilesets: tilesets) {
        worldNode.addChild(tilemap)
    }
}

Accessing Tile Data

If you need to access tile data, you can call it from either the tilemap node, or a tileset instance with a global ID:

// query global id from tilemap
let tileDataFromMap = tilemap.getTileData(globalID: 102)!
// query global id from tileset
let tileDataFromTileset = tileset.getTileData(globalID: 102)!

It is also possible to query tile data with an arbitrary property (regardless of the value) or via the type property:

let breakables = tilemap.getTileData(withProperty: "breakable")
let lights = tilemap.getTileData(ofType: "light")

Updating Tile Data

If you want to change the texture of an existing tile, you can use the SKTilesetData.setTexture method to update the texture:

let newTexture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "updated-texture")
if let oldTexture = tileData.setTexture(newTexture) {
    self.oldTextures.append(oldTexture)
}

You can additionally specify a frame number if the tile data contains animation:

let newTexture = SKTexture(imageNamed: "updated-texture")
    if let _ = tileData.setTexture(newTexture, forFrame: 2) {
        // texture is updated
}

Updating Spritesheets

It is also possible to replace a tileset’s spritesheet with a new source image:

let spritesheet = URL(fileURLWithPath: "new-spritesheet.png", relativeTo: Bundle.main.resourceURL)
tileset.addTextures(fromSpriteSheet: spritesheet.path, replace: true, transparent: nil)

Doing this will update all of the current tiles, so be careful using this method.

Next: Working with Layers - Index