BannedStory 4 Revived

User Guide

A practical guide to the current BannedStory 4 editor rewrite: loading assets, composing layers, using the specialist tools, and exporting work without losing source-app behavior.

Quick Start

Quick start

  1. Choose categories

    Start with the asset families you need. You can add more from File > Add new Category without resetting the scene.

  2. Build the scene

    Use the Thumbnail Gallery to add characters, equipment, effects, map pieces, chat balloons, and name tags. File > Import Image brings in your own pictures, and Window > Maple Maps loads complete maps.

  3. Export or save

    Save images, selected animations, sprite sheets, Photoshop scripts, or a modern project file you can reopen later.

Your first character

New here? Walk through these seven steps to load assets, dress a character, tweak it, and export the result.

  1. 1Start the app and open the workspace

    From the landing page, press the start button, tick the asset categories you want, and press Start. The editor opens with the menu bar, the Thumbnail Gallery, an empty canvas, the Layer Panel and Inventory Panel on the right, and the Canvas Properties strip along the bottom.

    The BannedStory 4 editor right after startup: menu bar, Thumbnail Gallery, empty canvas, Layer and Inventory panels, and the Canvas Properties strip.
    The editor workspace after startup.

  2. 2Browse a category in the Thumbnail Gallery

    Pick a category from the tree on the left of the Thumbnail Gallery — Body, Head, Face, Hair, Cap, Cape, Coat, and more — to fill the grid with its thumbnails. Type in the Search box to filter across the loaded catalog, and press Reset to return to the normal category view.

    The Thumbnail Gallery browsing the Hair category, with the category tree on the left and a grid of hair thumbnails.
    Browsing the Hair category in the Thumbnail Gallery.

  3. 3Dress your character

    Click a Body thumbnail to place the character, then add a Head, Face, Hair, and Coat by clicking their thumbnails. Color pickers pop up for the Face and Hair colors, and each part attaches to the same character instead of becoming a loose piece.

    A composed character standing on the canvas with a body, head, face, black hair, and an orange coat.
    A character composed from Body, Head, Face, Hair, and Coat parts.

  4. 4See how layers and inventory group your parts

    The Layer Panel keeps stage objects in layers and can collect related layers into collapsible groups, while the Inventory Panel lists the editable parts inside the primary layer. Ctrl-click (Command-click on macOS) layer rows or rendered parts on the canvas to select several, and click a group to select all of its child layers. The Group Selected Layers and Ungroup Layers buttons below the list build and dissolve groups. Select an Inventory row before editing an individual part.

    The Layer Panel showing one Character Layer row, with the Inventory Panel below listing the Body, Head, Face, Hair, and Coat parts.
    One Character Layer in the Layer Panel, with its parts listed in the Inventory Panel.

  5. 5Adjust state and animation in Character Properties

    Open the Character Properties tab to set the X/Y position, change the State (such as Standing 1) or Face State (such as Blink), and step through frames. Tick Animate or Animate Face to preview the motion on the canvas; Create Custom Face opens Face Mixer for deeper edits.

    The Character Properties tab showing X and Y position fields, the State and Face State dropdowns set to Standing 1 and Blink, frame steppers, and Animate checkboxes.
    The Character Properties tab of the Properties panel.

  6. 6Resize and rotate with the Transform Tool

    Choose Tools > Use Transform Tool to wrap the selected layer in resize and rotate handles. Drag a corner to scale, drag the rotate handle to turn it, and switch back to the Normal Cursor when you only want to move things.

    The character surrounded by the Transform Tool's resize handles.
    The Transform Tool's resize handles around the character.

  7. 7Save your work from the File menu

    Open the File menu to export: Save PNG Image or Save JPG Image for a still, Save Animation for the selected animated asset, or Save Sprite Sheet for game-ready frames. Use Save Project to store an editable project you can reopen later.

    The File menu open, listing Save Project, Save PNG Image, Save Animation, Save Sprite Sheet, and more.
    Export options in the File menu.

Finding Assets

  • Use the category browser on the left side of the Thumbnail Gallery to move through loaded asset groups.
  • Search works across the loaded catalog. Reset clears the search and restores the normal category view.
  • Face and Hair color menus update the selected character layer instead of creating a separate loose part.
  • Use Add new Category when you need another asset family after startup.
  • Window > Maple Maps opens fully constructed locations. Choose the game Version first, then a continent and map; selection only updates Details until you press Load Map.

Layers And Inventory

  • Layer rows represent stage objects. Character body, head, face, hair, and equipment are grouped into one Character layer when the source app would attach them.
  • Ctrl-click (Command-click on macOS) toggles individual Layer rows without clearing the rest of the selection. A normal click returns to a single selection.
  • Shift-click selects a range of rows, from the row you last clicked through the one you Shift-click. Hold Ctrl as well to add that range to the current selection.
  • Ctrl-click a layer group to select or deselect all of its child layers together. Groups remain collapsible and keep their own visibility and stack order.
  • The same Ctrl-click works on the canvas: click a rendered part to add or remove its layer from the selection without disturbing the rest.
  • Clicking a group selects every layer inside it, so the whole group moves as one.
  • Drag Layer rows to reorder them, and drop them into or out of a group. A line marks the gap the drop lands in; dropping onto a collapsed group's own row moves the layers inside it. Dragging a group row moves the whole group. Press Escape mid-drag to call it off.
  • Group Selected Layers and Ungroup Layers sit next to Add and Remove Layer at the bottom of the Layer Panel. Grouping stacks the chosen layers together; ungrouping keeps the layers and only dissolves the group.
  • With several layers selected, Remove Layer deletes all of them at once.
  • Inventory rows are the editable parts inside the selected Maple layer. Each row has its own visibility eye; select a row before changing its color transform or game client, or removing it.
  • Create Layer, Delete Layer, Clone Layer, Clone Layer States, Clone Layer Frames, Rasterize Layer, and Explode Layer live under the Layers menu.
  • Hidden Layer rows remove the whole layer from rendering; hidden Inventory rows remove only that item from its composed layer.
  • Undo (Ctrl + Z, or Command + Z on macOS) and Redo (Ctrl + Y or Ctrl + Shift + Z, Command likewise) sit at the top of the Layers menu and cover layer, group, and property edits, labeled with the action they'll undo or redo — Undo Remove Layer, for example — and reading bare Undo or Redo once there is nothing left to step through.
  • A whole drag — moving, resizing, or rotating a layer — counts as one Undo step, not one per pixel. Opening a different project or starting a new one clears the history.

Moving And Transforming

  • Normal Cursor moves stage objects by dragging the rendered body of the selected layer.
  • When several layers are selected, drag any selected layer on the canvas to move the whole selection. Selecting a group lets the same drag move every layer in that group together.
  • Transform Tool shows resize handles, a rotate handle, and optional Alt-drag controls for skew and registration.
  • The Properties panel keeps exact X/Y, flip, state, frame, and animation settings for the selected layer.
  • Canvas Zoom changes the editor view only; exports are made at 100%. A Whole Scene image captures a canvas-sized area from the scene's top-left corner (0, 0), then trims the empty edges.

Special Editors

  • Create Custom Face in Character Properties opens Face Mixer. Saved custom-face Picture layers show Edit Custom Face, which reopens it.
  • Face Mixer can add multiple faces, change face state/frame, crop each face, offset pieces, reorder rows, hide pieces, and add the result as a Picture-backed custom face.
  • Import Image accepts JPG, PNG, and GIF files. Multi-frame GIF imports expose Picture frame controls and can be cloned frame-by-frame.
  • Chat Balloon assets expose their text and source-shaped layout controls in Properties; Name Tag assets expose their text.

Animation And Export

  • Ticking Animate in Properties plays that layer on the canvas using the source frame delays. Every layer with Animate ticked plays at once, not only the selected one.
  • Save Animation exports the selected asset, matching the original File menu behavior.
  • Normal Sprite Sheet exports flat state/frame images plus data.xml. Sprite Sheet with Face Expressions exports nested face-state and face-frame folders of body frame images.
  • Save PNG/JPG Image can export the whole scene or the selected image. Save Project stores the modern editable project.

Importing Legacy Projects (.bsproj)

BannedStory 4 can read the .bsproj files saved by the original Flash app, and this compatibility layer is being actively expanded. There are two ways to bring one in:

  • File > Open Project (Ctrl + O) loads a .bsproj in place of the current scene. If the canvas already has layers, a source-style warning — “Loading a project will erase all layers and images” — asks you to confirm before the scene is replaced.
  • File > Import Project reads the same .bsproj files but merges their layers into the current scene instead of replacing it, so you can combine several projects.
  • Both commands accept .bsproj files. Modern projects saved with Save Project use the same extension, and the loader detects automatically whether a file is a legacy Flash project or a modern one.

Backwards compatibility is actively being worked on. Supported layers load with a warning where the original data can be matched, but older projects may reference assets that are no longer available or format details the importer does not cover yet.

Have .bsproj files you are willing to share — especially any that fail to load? Please send them our way. Post them on the BannedStory 4 community tracker on GitHub, or use Help > Report a Bug and paste a shareable download link to the file in the description so we can reproduce the exact case and fix it.

Recovery And Reporting

  • Open Project replaces the current scene after the source-style warning. Import Project merges another project into the current scene.
  • Legacy .bsproj support is still being expanded. Older projects may reference unavailable assets or format details that are not covered yet, but supported layers will continue loading with a warning when possible.
  • If a legacy project has problems, use Help > Report a Bug and include a shareable download link to the affected .bsproj file in the report — or share it on the community tracker at github.com/shwne1/bannedstory4-community-tracker — so the exact case can be investigated.
  • New Project clears layers, selected state, canvas color, and Properties back to defaults.
  • Arrange Windows restores the floating editor windows if they get moved out of the way.
  • When enabled, Help > Report a Bug opens the in-app report panel. It attaches a screenshot of your current view and a copy of your current project, so the exact scene can be reloaded while investigating. If the human check does not load, Send still works.

Go Deeper

Each of these in-depth guides takes one task further than this page, with step-by-step instructions, tips, and fixes for common problems.