Editing characters in RPG Maker XP...

How do you edit or add new character sets? The Actors and other files are invalid for Paint programs...and I tried editing sprites from other games and they just show up as blank space when I open them in the database. I haven't done this in a long time, but it seemed simple in RPG Maker 2000. All RPG Maker XP files are dragon icons and can't be opened. I know this is a really newb question, but I hope someone can explain this to me me. Thank you.

go to the homepage of this website, www.crankeye.com
look under resources. save what you want under the correct folder name in your game folder.

How come the character set that I edited and put in the Character folder doesn't show up when I open it in the database? What kind of file type do I use? I just changed the colors on a Tales of Phantasia character set.

what is the format? I know pNG works but thats all I know, but there are more.

Okay, I got it to show up when I changed it to a PNG file, but it moves like a slideshow and the background isn't transparent. When walking it just plays through all the animations.

go to matrial base, and re-import tileset, you will see a box come up with trasparency options.

Thanks, so how do I get it to go through the animation of walking? It doesn't follow the arrow keys it just plays all images when you move. I don't remember it being this confusing. I suppose if I can't do something this simple then it will be impossible to make a game myself...haha.

Your character should be in this format 4x4
The file should be png
when you import you need to click the background for the transperancy
Hope that helps

Oh and I included one I created myself as an example

What's wrong with these? When I use them they don't do the walking motion right. It just plays in order from top left to bottom right whenever I move instead of following the specific direction. I tried just selecting and using a new file with just one character, but that didn't work either. Do I have to do scripting to make it work?

Each charset has to have it's own file. Those are for 2k3, not XP. XP chars should look like the one Arithon posted.

For example, your second char should look like the file attached. That being said, they are going to be kind of small in comparison to the default sprites.

I tried doing that as I said in my previous post. It still didn't work. Why would it matter what size the sprites are if I am going to use a tileset too? I don't like the default sprites, so I don't want them to look like that. Do I need to use certain sprites with XP for them to work? I guess I could just create my own...

How do you re import? And where do you have this option?

Edit: NVM, I found it 

It does work. I just imported that file into my game and that sprite moves around perfectly as it is supposed to. Are you sure you are importing correctly? Try importing the file I put up into your game. There's no reason it wouldn't work if you're using xp.

Oh, I have a question. Can you use characters from 2k3? Like the programe Charas. or w/e it makes character sprites. But I cant import them  Whys that? I even made them the same size.

Are they saved as .png?

Yeh.  I put them in the folder and it wont import them. It wont even show up on the import screen.

Attach one of the files you're trying to import so I can see if there is anything wrong with the file itself.

Ok. But how do you add the attachment?

In the reply screen, there is an option down at the bottom left of the text box that says "Additional Options" Just click on that and a menu will come up which includes the Attach function

Oh, never mind it worked I got to import it but the animation is screwed up? The person walks weird. The picture slides then the next one shows up and slides.

I'm not sure what you mean but there are two things that probably went wrong. One thing is that there isn't 4x4 characters. Most likey is the other one, where all of the pictures of the characters take up the exact amount of space. That means, if your whole .png is 100x100, then each of your character sprite picture thingies should take up 25x25 pixels.

Ok, I'll jsut get my friends to do the sprites. Thanks anyways.