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Create a Tiled tileset

A tileset is created in Tiled from a PNG placed in the project's Assets folder, and saved as a .tsx file next to the other tilesets. Two settings decide whether the map will convert at all: a tile size of 32 by 32 pixels, and the tileset staying external rather than embedded. This page walks through the creation and how to check a sheet really is a 32 by 32 tileset.

Add the source image​

Copy the .png into Data/Tiled/Assets. The tileset file will reference it from there by relative path, so an image left anywhere else breaks as soon as the project moves or is cloned. See The Data/Tiled folder.

Create the tileset​

In Tiled, File, then New, then New Tileset…:

  1. Pick the .png from Data/Tiled/Assets.
  2. Keep the type set to Based on Tileset Image, not Collection of Images.
  3. Set the tile width and height to 32 and 32.
  4. If the sheet uses a flat colour instead of an alpha channel, tick Use transparent color: and set it.
  5. Save the file into Data/Tiled/Tilesets.

The resulting .tsx is short and readable, which makes it easy to verify:

<tileset version="1.10" tiledversion="1.11.0" name="HGSS Nature" tilewidth="32" tileheight="32" tilecount="3451" columns="48">
 <image source="../Assets/TECH-Nature.png" trans="f05ba1" width="1536" height="2080"/>
</tileset>

version is the TMX format version and tiledversion records which Tiled wrote the file. Neither has to be uniform across a project: the demo files were written by Tiled 1.2 through 1.12 and all convert. The tileset's internal name is independent of its filename, and nothing requires them to match.

A tileset must never be embedded in a map

An embedded tileset lives inside the .tmx instead of its own .tsx file, and the conversion refuses the map with Embedded tilesets are not supported.

Creating the tileset from File → New, with no map open, cannot produce that: Tiled greys out its Embed in map option when there is no map to embed into. The risk comes from the other route, creating a tileset from inside an open map, where the option is available. Save your tilesets as their own .tsx files, always.

Check the tile size​

A tileset drawn on a grid other than 32 by 32 does not raise an error. The conversion assumes 32 pixel tiles everywhere, so it slices the image on that grid regardless, and the map renders as a shifted mess with no message explaining why.

Checking takes a few seconds: open the .png in an image editor, select a single tile, preferably a square one with clear edges, and read the selection size. It must be 32 by 32.

Many sheets circulating in the fangame scene are 16 by 16, the size older Pokémon games used. Those are usable: scale the image to 200 % with nearest neighbour interpolation, which doubles every pixel without blurring it. Any other interpolation smooths the pixel art into mush.

Transparency​

Two ways of handling transparency work:

  • A PNG with an alpha channel, nothing else to do.
  • A flat colour declared as transparent in the tileset, recorded as the trans attribute. Most demo tilesets use magenta, f05ba1, a colour chosen because it appears nowhere in the artwork.

The transparent colour is applied when the tileset image is turned into engine graphics, so it must be set on the tileset, not merely avoided while mapping.

Conclusion​

  • The source .png goes into Data/Tiled/Assets, the .tsx into Data/Tiled/Tilesets.
  • Tiles must be 32 by 32; a 16 by 16 sheet is scaled to 200 % with nearest neighbour interpolation.
  • A tileset must be its own .tsx file; an embedded one cannot be converted at all.
  • Transparency comes either from an alpha channel or from a colour declared on the tileset.
  • The .tsx is plain XML: open it to check the tile size, the image path and the transparent colour.