yaze 0.3.2
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Yaze Capability Assessment

Last updated: 2026-02-24 (v0.6.1)

An honest assessment of yaze's current capabilities compared to Hyrule Magic and ZScream, the two established ALTTP ROM editors.

Editor Capability Matrix

Dungeon Editor (~75% parity with ZScream)

Feature yaze ZScream Hyrule Magic
Room viewing + rendering Yes Yes Yes
Tile object placement/move/delete Yes Yes Yes
Sprite placement/move/delete Yes Yes Yes
Door placement/move/delete Yes Yes Yes
Object limit enforcement (placement-time) Yes (400/64/16) Save-time only Save-time only
Ghost preview with capacity indicators Yes (color-coded) No No
Multi-object selection (marquee + shift/ctrl) Yes Yes Partial
Object z-ordering (front/back) Yes Yes Yes
Object layer assignment (BG1/BG2/BG3) Yes Yes Yes
Layer visibility toggles Yes (compact bar) Yes Yes
Room header editing (palette, blockset, etc.) Partial (settings panel) Full Full
Custom collision editing Yes (JSON import/export) Limited No
Water-fill editing Yes (JSON import/export) No No
Minecart/track rail tools Yes (audit + generation) No No
Undo/redo Yes Yes Limited
Clipboard (copy/paste objects) Yes Yes No
Workbench single-room mode Yes N/A N/A
Multi-room tab view Yes Yes Yes
Adjacent room navigation (Ctrl+arrows) Yes No No
Room save to ROM Yes Yes Yes
Sprite graphics rendering (actual tiles) No (colored boxes) Yes Yes
Object tile preview in ghost Yes (rendered bitmap) No No

Overworld Editor (~60-65% parity with ZScream)

Feature yaze ZScream Hyrule Magic
Map viewing (all 160 maps) Yes Yes Yes
Tile16 painting (draw mode) Yes Yes Yes
Fill tool (flood fill) Yes Yes Yes
Tile16 selector with search/filter Yes (hex jump + range filter) Basic Basic
Tile16 editor (compose from tile8s) Yes Yes No
Tile8 selector Yes Yes Yes
Tile hover preview (ID + zoom) Yes No No
Entrance editing (visual) Yes Yes Yes
Exit editing (visual) Yes Yes Yes
Item placement editing Yes Yes Yes
Overworld sprite editing Yes Yes Yes
Transport/whirlpool editing Yes Yes No
Music area editing Yes Yes No
Map properties (palette, gfx groups) Yes Yes Yes
Scratch space (tile staging) Yes No No
ZSCustomOverworld support Yes Yes (native) No
Save overworld to ROM Yes Yes Yes
Map export/graph visualization Yes (CLI) No No

Graphics Editor (~35% parity)

Feature yaze ZScream Hyrule Magic
GFX sheet viewing Yes Yes Yes
Palette editing Yes (dedicated editor) Yes Yes
Pixel-level 8x8 tile editing Basic Yes Yes
GFX group management Viewing Full editing Full editing
Animated tile preview No Yes No
GFX import/export No Yes No

Other Editors

Editor yaze ZScream Hyrule Magic
Message/text editor Yes (import/export/encode/decode) Yes Limited
Music editor Yes (SPC playback, track editing) No No
Sprite editor (data/properties) Yes Yes Yes
Screen editor (title/file select) Basic Yes Yes
Palette editor (standalone) Yes Yes Yes
Assembly editor (integrated) Yes No No
Hex editor (integrated) Yes No No

Unique to yaze (no competitor equivalent)

CLI Automation (z3ed — 127 commands)

No other ALTTP editor has a command-line interface. yaze's z3ed provides:

  • 27 dungeon commands — room inspection, object/sprite manipulation, collision editing, water-fill, minecart audit
  • 10 overworld commands — map description, entrance/exit/item/sprite listing, tile search, graph export
  • 13 graphics commands — hex read/write/search, palette analysis, sprite properties
  • 10 ROM commands — info, validate, diff, compare, address resolve, symbol find
  • 4 Oracle commands — menu validation, smoke check, preflight
  • 3 project commands — bundle verify, pack, unpack
  • 12 emulator commands — step, breakpoint, memory read/write, register inspect
  • 7 GUI automation commands — click, type, wait, assert, discover, screenshot

All commands support --format=json for machine consumption and can be scripted.

Project Bundle System (.yazeproj)

  • Directory-based portable project format
  • project-bundle-verify — structural integrity + ROM hash validation
  • project-bundle-pack — zip archive for sharing (cross-platform safe paths)
  • project-bundle-unpack — extract with path traversal protection + dry-run preview
  • Works across macOS, iOS, Windows, Linux
  • iCloud sync support for Mac/iPad workflow

Oracle of Secrets Tooling

Purpose-built validation for the Oracle romhack:

  • oracle-smoke-check — D4 water system, D6 minecart, D3 prison structural validation
  • dungeon-oracle-preflight — water-fill region, custom collision maps, required room checks
  • oracle-menu-validate — ASM menu data integrity
  • oracle-menu-index — menu asset scanning
  • Custom collision JSON import/export workflow
  • Water-fill JSON import/export workflow

Integrated Development Environment

  • Integrated assembly editor with symbol resolution
  • Integrated hex editor with ROM address navigation
  • Emulator integration (Mesen2 socket API) with breakpoints, stepping, memory inspection
  • AI agent chat with ROM context
  • Multi-ROM sessions (up to 8 concurrent)

Testing Infrastructure

  • 1,399 unit tests across 211 test suites
  • ImGui Test Engine integration for GUI testing
  • Protocol audit system for agent coordination verification
  • Oracle-specific regression test suite

Where yaze is behind (honest gaps)

  1. Sprite graphics rendering — Dungeon sprites show as colored rectangles instead of their actual SNES tiles. This is the single largest visual gap for room authoring.
  2. GFX sheet editing depth — ZScream and Hyrule Magic allow individual 8x8 tile editing, GFX import/export, and animated tile preview. yaze's graphics editor is primarily a viewer.
  3. Room header completeness — Some room header fields may not be exposed in the UI (needs verification against ZScream's full property list).
  4. Screen editors — Title screen and file select screen editors are basic compared to competitors.
  5. GFX import/export — No way to import/export graphics sheets or individual tiles.

Assessment Summary

Area Parity Notes
Dungeon editing ~75% Strong interaction model, unique collision/water-fill tools. Gap: sprite rendering.
Overworld editing ~60-65% Functional painting + entity editing. Gap: some polish vs ZScream.
Graphics editing ~35% Viewer + palette editor. Gap: pixel editing, import/export.
CLI/Automation No competitor 127 commands, JSON output, full scripting capability.
Project management Ahead .yazeproj bundles, cross-platform, hash verification.
Oracle tooling Unique Purpose-built validation suite, no equivalent exists.
Platform support Ahead macOS/Linux/Windows/iOS/WASM vs Windows-only competitors.
Testing/reliability Ahead 1,399 tests, CI automation, protocol audit.