Counter Tiles

Counter tiles are marked with this diamond symbol

The Counter flag is very useful to put on impassable tables, benches, fences, walls, etc. The main purpose of it is to allow the Player to trigger an Event that is on the other side of this tile (not immediately adjacent to the Player).

This is how you can talk to shop keepers or inn keepers who sit behind some sort of bench or counter.

It only works when there is one Counter tile between the Player and the Event. So in the above image, the NPC on the right will not talk to you from the front, but will talk to you from the left or right.

Another function of the Counter flag to watch out for is that, on A2 Auto Tiles, the Counter flag changes the way RPG Maker draws those tiles.

Counter flag OFF

Counter flag ON

With the Counter flag ON, the front of the tile extends downwards into the squares below it by 8 pixels.

The Auto Tile is still made up in the same 2x3 pattern, RPG Maker just puts them together a little differently.

Normally, the top 16 pixels and the bottom 16 pixels are put together to create the front of the tile.

But when the A2 auto tile has the Counter flag ON, it's the top 24 pixels and the bottom 16 pixels that get put together, with the bottom 16 pixels being moved down into the below square by 8 pixels.

This is the only difference. It only affects the front or bottom edge, allowing the Player to look like they are standing closer to the counter. Everything else about how the Auto Tile is put together is the same, which makes this useful for A2 counter tops, but not so useful for A2 fences.

Fence Auto Tiles

Trying to create your own auto tiles can be really confusing and frustrating. But there is a formula to it!

I just created my first fence auto tile successfully. It looks like this:

And this is what it looks like in game:

It was actually fairly simple to create since I just followed the formula of the other fence auto tiles. Here's what you need to know:

This 1 tile in the map editor actually has 6 squares behind it. The squares are 32x32 pixels each and must be set out in a 3x2 rectangle.

This top left square is a preview only. It does not get used on your map.

These two squares are made up of exactly the same quarter squares.

They have just been placed in a different order.
These quarter squares are used for inner/outer corners.

These outer edges are placed together to make vertical fences.

These outer edges are placed together to make horizontal fences.

Make sure the vertical railings don't cross over into the top horizontal outer edge. Otherwise you get a weird bit of vertical rail in your horizontal fences that doesn't join with anything.

If you keep all these things in mind, creating your own fence auto tile is easy! All you need to worry about is how your horizontal fence looks (front and back), and how the vertical rails join them together. Every other possibility (intersections, corners, a single post, etc) is covered automatically, so you don't even need to think about them!