While making levels in NSMBU / NSLU, it is important to be familiar with the usage rules and quirks of each tileset you will be using.
When you incorrectly use a tileset, be it a visual error (texture cut-offs, repetitive texture, etc) or a mechanical one (tile with no collision used as collision, or the opposite, etc), that is considered a Tiling Error.
Tiling Errors decrease the overall quality of your levels, so it is always good to check for them and fix any you find before considering a level final.
Below is a concise list of the most well-known Tiling Errors made by several modders in the past so that you can learn from their mistakes, aswell as detailed guides on how to correctly tile some of the more complicated tilesets in the game, such as Tower and Ice.
A Visual Tiling Error is a graphical error which causes the level to look visually displeasing, confusing, or straight up ugly. These should always be fixed when applicable.
Using the corner tiles is very important so that the levels don't look unfinished and generally ugly.
Here is another corner error, this time on the insides of the corners.
Very small holes in the ground simply look odd.Holes should be wide enough to be jumps, not too thin.
Though it may seem obvious, some people don't know how to make multiple decorations on top of each other. Simply using different layers will fix this problem. Just be careful to not do this excessively, as too much overlapping decoration looks bad and confusing.
Try to make background rocks more diversified by adding the larger filler objects, instead of filling the area with only the randomized 1x1 filler object by itself.
Background rocks are pretty, but make sure to have the proper borders around them if they are exposed. Also try to avoid making overly flat borders.
When decorating your level with stone blocks sticking out of the ground, the background should be filled in with something such as background rocks, in order to prevent the outline of the stone block hole being see-through into the level's background, which usually looks weird.
When using block-based tilesets, such as Rock-Candy Mines or Sparkling Waters, avoid blatant repetitive usage of the same block, mix and match different variants.
Pipes should always connect to solid ground. They can also be extended outside the zone to make it look like they connect to another part of the level.
When using Sparkling Waters tileset wood platforms, they should always be arranged so that both halves extend equal lengths, or two support logs instead of just one.
The mushroom stems should always be 1 tile inside the mushroom top.Make sure to use the correct mushroom stem sizes for the right mushroom top size.
This image of pipes has two problems:- The green pipe should be fully behind the ground. This is fixed by placing layer 0 tiles over it where it intersects with the ground.- The yellow pipe shouldn't simply go over the ground. This is fixed by carving out a hole for the pipe to go into, with background rocks behind it.
Mechanical Tiling Errors
A Mechanical Tiling Error is an error whose effects are not fully observable from within the level editor, as their issues are caused by in-game mechanics, such as how coins are collected or collision.
