Overview

This release marks the first major update since the initial v1, introducing a fully rewritten documentation, an improved demo project and a major API overhaul with a shift from snake_case to PascalCase. It brings powerful new features and optimizations, marking a major step up from v1 and setting a new baseline for the library.

General

• Completely rewrote and significantly improved the Documentation, now built with VitePress and hosted on GitHub Pages. You can find the old documentation archived here.

• Fully reworked the demo project with examples for all common loading and screenshotting operations, configurable through the DBG ImGui interface. The demo is now much clearer and easier to use.

• BREAKING CHANGE! Converted the entire API from the snake_case to the PascalCase naming convention for consistency with other popular GameMaker libraries (and because I’ve grown to like it more).

• BREAKING CHANGE! The minimum supported GameMaker Runtime version is now v2024.13.1.242.

RoomLoader

• Added optional scaling and rotation to .Load() and .LoadInstances().

• Added .LoadTilemap() for loading individual tilemaps with optional mirroring, flipping, rotation and tileset.

• Added State Management before Loading and Screenshotting using a Builder pattern with a Fluent Interface - an alternative way to set up optional arguments for core library methods.

• Added .DataInitAll() for initializing data for all rooms in the project, with optional blacklist.

• Added .DataGetLayerNames() for getting an array of layer names.

• Added .DataGetInstances() for getting formatted instance data for custom processing.

• Optimized tilemap initialization and loading.

• BREAKING CHANGE! Renamed .TakeScreenshot() to .Screenshot().

• BREAKING CHANGE! Renamed .TakeScreenshotPart() to .ScreenshotPart().

• Fixed Screenshotting ignoring ROOMLOADER_FLAG.TEXTS flags.

Payload

• Renamed RoomLoaderReturnData() to RoomLoaderPayload(). Referenced as Payload in the documentation.
• Made layer destruction in .Cleanup() optional to avoid destroying shared layers.
• Added .GetInstance() for fetching loaded instances using their unique room IDs.
• Added new .DepthAbove() and .DepthBelow() methods for shifting loaded layer depths above or below a given depth. Simplifies depth juggling between host and loaded rooms.
• Added an option to not destroy loaded layers during .Cleanup() to avoid destroying merged layers.
• Fixed .Cleanup() skipping Destroy events for instances.

Configuration

• Added ROOMLOADER_MERGE_LAYERS that determines if loaded layers should be merged with existing ones or created anew.
• Added ROOMLOADER_DELIVER_PAYLOAD to speed up loading in cases where Payload isn’t necessary.
• Removed ROOMLOADER_LAYER_PREFIX and layer name prefixing altogether.
• Removed ROOMLOADER_ROOMS_RUN_CREATION_CODE.
• Removed ROOMLOADER_SEQUENCES_PAUSE.

Other Notes

• Particle System loading is still broken due to a GM bug. Investigating.
• The demo project now includes a utility function for exporting screenshots of all rooms in the project (it is not part of the library).