Libgdx Tiled Maps

libGDX Tiled Maps

Quick reference for libGDX Tiled map integration (com.badlogic.gdx.maps.*). Covers loading, TiledMap structure, renderers, unit scale, object layers, properties, animated tiles, and collision extraction.

Loading

TmxMapLoader (synchronous)

// Direct loading (uses InternalFileHandleResolver by default)
TiledMap map = new TmxMapLoader().load("maps/level1.tmx");

// With parameters
TmxMapLoader.Parameters params = new TmxMapLoader.Parameters(); // 1.12.x
// BaseTiledMapLoader.Parameters params = new BaseTiledMapLoader.Parameters(); // 1.13.1+
params.textureMinFilter = Texture.TextureFilter.Linear;
params.textureMagFilter = Texture.TextureFilter.Linear;
TiledMap map = new TmxMapLoader().load("maps/level1.tmx", params);

AssetManager Loading (preferred)

assetManager.setLoader(TiledMap.class, new TmxMapLoader(new InternalFileHandleResolver()));
assetManager.load("maps/level1.tmx", TiledMap.class);
// ... assetManager.update() in render loop ...
TiledMap map = assetManager.get("maps/level1.tmx", TiledMap.class);

When using AssetManager, disposal is handled by assetManager.unload("maps/level1.tmx").

AtlasTmxMapLoader

Loads tiles from a TextureAtlas instead of separate tileset images. Reduces draw calls.

Requirements:

• TMX file must have a map-level property named atlas with the path to the .atlas file
• Atlas regions must be named after tilesets with indexes local to the tileset (not global tile IDs)
• Atlas must NOT use strip-whitespace or rotation

// Direct
TiledMap map = new AtlasTmxMapLoader().load("maps/level1.tmx");

// Via AssetManager
assetManager.setLoader(TiledMap.class, new AtlasTmxMapLoader(new InternalFileHandleResolver()));

Gotcha: Throws GdxRuntimeException("The map is missing the 'atlas' property") if the TMX lacks the atlas map property.

Parameters

In 1.12.x: BaseTmxMapLoader.Parameters (or TmxMapLoader.Parameters which extends it). In 1.13.1+: BaseTiledMapLoader.Parameters. TmxMapLoader.Parameters no longer exists — update imports on upgrade.

TiledMap Structure

TiledMap (extends Map, implements Disposable)
├── getLayers() → MapLayers
│   ├── TiledMapTileLayer — tile grid data
│   │   └── Cell[][] → TiledMapTile
│   ├── MapLayer — object layers
│   │   └── MapObjects → MapObject subclasses
│   ├── TiledMapImageLayer — image layers
│   └── MapGroupLayer — group layers (has nested getLayers())
├── getTileSets() → TiledMapTileSets
│   └── TiledMapTileSet → TiledMapTile (by int ID)
├── getProperties() → MapProperties
└── dispose()

Accessing Layers

// By index
MapLayer layer = map.getLayers().get(0);

// By name — returns null if not found (does NOT throw)
MapLayer layer = map.getLayers().get("ground");

// MUST cast to TiledMapTileLayer for tile operations
TiledMapTileLayer tileLayer = (TiledMapTileLayer) map.getLayers().get("ground");

// Filter by type (single-arg allocates new Array each call)
Array<TiledMapTileLayer> tileLayers = map.getLayers().getByType(TiledMapTileLayer.class);

// Reuse array to avoid allocation
Array<TiledMapTileLayer> fill = new Array<>();
map.getLayers().getByType(TiledMapTileLayer.class, fill);

Tile Layer → Cell → Tile

TiledMapTileLayer layer = (TiledMapTileLayer) map.getLayers().get("ground");

int cols = layer.getWidth();      // map width in tiles
int rows = layer.getHeight();     // map height in tiles
int tw   = layer.getTileWidth();  // tile width in pixels
int th   = layer.getTileHeight(); // tile height in pixels

// getCell() takes TILE coordinates (not pixels). Returns null if empty or out of bounds.
TiledMapTileLayer.Cell cell = layer.getCell(tileX, tileY);
if (cell != null) {
    TiledMapTile tile = cell.getTile();
    TextureRegion region = tile.getTextureRegion();
    MapProperties tileProps = tile.getProperties();

    boolean flipH = cell.getFlipHorizontally();
    boolean flipV = cell.getFlipVertically();
    int rotation = cell.getRotation(); // Cell.ROTATE_0, ROTATE_90, ROTATE_180, ROTATE_270
}

Converting world position to tile coordinates:

// If unitScale = 1f (camera in pixel units):
int tileX = (int) (worldX / layer.getTileWidth());
int tileY = (int) (worldY / layer.getTileHeight());

// If unitScale = 1/tileWidth (camera in tile units):
int tileX = (int) worldX;
int tileY = (int) worldY;

TiledMapTile Interface

int getId();
TextureRegion getTextureRegion();
float getOffsetX();                // float, not int
float getOffsetY();
MapProperties getProperties();
MapObjects getObjects();           // tile collision shapes from Tiled editor
TiledMapTile.BlendMode getBlendMode(); // NONE or ALPHA

Implementations: StaticTiledMapTile, AnimatedTiledMapTile.

Renderers

Class Hierarchy

MapRenderer (interface, com.badlogic.gdx.maps)
└── TiledMapRenderer (interface, extends MapRenderer)
      └── BatchTiledMapRenderer (abstract, implements TiledMapRenderer + Disposable)
            ├── OrthogonalTiledMapRenderer
            ├── IsometricTiledMapRenderer       (experimental)
            ├── IsometricStaggeredTiledMapRenderer
            └── HexagonalTiledMapRenderer

Constructor Overloads (same for all four renderers)

// Creates internal SpriteBatch — renderer owns it, dispose() releases it
new OrthogonalTiledMapRenderer(map)                      // unitScale = 1.0f
new OrthogonalTiledMapRenderer(map, unitScale)

// Uses external Batch — renderer does NOT dispose it
new OrthogonalTiledMapRenderer(map, batch)               // unitScale = 1.0f
new OrthogonalTiledMapRenderer(map, unitScale, batch)

The batch parameter accepts any Batch implementation (the interface), not just SpriteBatch.

Render Loop

renderer.setView(camera);             // MUST call before render()
renderer.render();                     // renders all layers

// Selective layer rendering (by index) for sprite interleaving:
int[] bgLayers = {0, 1};
int[] fgLayers = {2, 3};
renderer.setView(camera);
renderer.render(bgLayers);
batch.setProjectionMatrix(camera.combined);
batch.begin();
// ... draw player sprites ...
batch.end();
renderer.render(fgLayers);

setView() overloads:

• setView(OrthographicCamera camera) — computes projection + view bounds from camera
• setView(Matrix4 projection, float x, float y, float width, float height) — explicit bounds

getBatch() returns the renderer's Batch (return type is Batch interface, not SpriteBatch).

renderObject() Is Empty

BatchTiledMapRenderer.renderObject(MapObject) is intentionally a no-op. Object layers are not rendered visually. They exist only as data for collision, spawn points, triggers, etc. Tile objects placed in object layers will NOT appear on screen.

Unit Scale

unitScale controls how tileset pixels map to world units: worldUnits = pixels * unitScale.

float unitScale = 1 / 32f;
OrthogonalTiledMapRenderer renderer = new OrthogonalTiledMapRenderer(map, unitScale);

OrthographicCamera camera = new OrthographicCamera();
camera.setToOrtho(false, 30, 20); // sees 30x20 tiles

When unitScale != 1f, object layer coordinates are still in pixels by default. Scale them yourself or set convertObjectToTileSpace = true in loader parameters.

Object Layers

MapObject Subclasses

All inherit from MapObject which provides getName(), getProperties(), getColor(), getOpacity(), isVisible().

Extracting Objects

MapLayer collisionLayer = map.getLayers().get("collision");
MapObjects objects = collisionLayer.getObjects();

for (MapObject object : objects) {
    if (object instanceof RectangleMapObject) {
        Rectangle rect = ((RectangleMapObject) object).getRectangle();
        // rect.x, rect.y = bottom-left in pixels (with default flipY=true)
    } else if (object instanceof PolygonMapObject) {
        float[] verts = ((PolygonMapObject) object).getPolygon().getTransformedVertices();
    } else if (object instanceof PolylineMapObject) {
        float[] verts = ((PolylineMapObject) object).getPolyline().getTransformedVertices();
    } else if (object instanceof EllipseMapObject) {
        Ellipse ellipse = ((EllipseMapObject) object).getEllipse();
    }
}

// Filter by type (2-arg overload reuses array):
Array<RectangleMapObject> rects = new Array<>();
objects.getByType(RectangleMapObject.class, rects);

Y-Axis and Coordinate Space

Tiled uses y-down (origin top-left). libGDX uses y-up (origin bottom-left). With default flipY = true, the loader converts coordinates automatically:

• Tile layers: cells are in correct y-up order
• Rectangles/Ellipses: y = mapHeightPx - tiledY - objectHeight (bottom-left corner)
• Polygons/Polylines: vertex Y values are negated
• Object coordinates are in pixels unless convertObjectToTileSpace = true

Do NOT manually flip Y when flipY = true (the default). Coordinates are already converted.

Box2D Collision Extraction

float scale = 1 / 32f; // match renderer unitScale

for (RectangleMapObject rmo : objects.getByType(RectangleMapObject.class)) {
    Rectangle rect = rmo.getRectangle();

    BodyDef bodyDef = new BodyDef();
    bodyDef.type = BodyDef.BodyType.StaticBody;
    // rect (x,y) is bottom-left; Box2D setAsBox uses center + half-dimensions
    bodyDef.position.set(
        (rect.x + rect.width / 2) * scale,
        (rect.y + rect.height / 2) * scale
    );

    PolygonShape shape = new PolygonShape();
    shape.setAsBox(rect.width / 2 * scale, rect.height / 2 * scale);

    Body body = world.createBody(bodyDef);
    body.createFixture(shape, 0f);
    shape.dispose();
}

Properties

MapProperties appears on maps, layers, tiles, and objects.

MapProperties props = object.getProperties();

// Raw (returns Object, null if missing)
Object val = props.get("name");

// Typed (ClassCastException if wrong type, null if missing)
String name = props.get("name", String.class);

// Typed with default — signature: get(key, defaultValue, clazz)
int hp     = props.get("hp", 100, Integer.class);
float speed = props.get("speed", 1.0f, Float.class);
boolean solid = props.get("solid", false, Boolean.class);

props.containsKey("name");  // boolean
props.put("custom", 42);

Tiled type mapping: int→Integer, float→Float, bool→Boolean, string→String, color→Color.

The loader also stores standard attributes on objects: x, y, width, height, type, id, rotation.

Animated Tiles

Animations defined in Tiled's tileset editor are loaded automatically — no manual setup needed.

// Manual creation (rare — usually auto-loaded from TMX):
// Uniform duration (interval in seconds, converted to ms internally)
new AnimatedTiledMapTile(0.25f, frameTiles);  // Array<StaticTiledMapTile>

// Per-frame durations (in milliseconds)
new AnimatedTiledMapTile(intervals, frameTiles); // IntArray, Array<StaticTiledMapTile>

Gotchas:

• All animated tiles share a static clock. The renderer calls AnimatedTiledMapTile.updateAnimationBaseTime() in beginRender(). You cannot offset individual tile animations.
• setTextureRegion(), setOffsetX(), setOffsetY() throw GdxRuntimeException on animated tiles.
• Frame tiles must be StaticTiledMapTile instances.

Disposal

map.dispose();       // disposes owned tileset textures
renderer.dispose();  // disposes batch ONLY if renderer created it (ownsBatch)

// Via AssetManager:
assetManager.unload("maps/level1.tmx"); // handles everything

Do NOT dispose tileset textures separately. TmxMapLoader's textures are owned by TiledMap — calling texture.dispose() on them causes use-after-free when map.dispose() runs.

If you passed an external Batch to the renderer constructor, dispose it yourself — the renderer won't.

Common Mistakes

1. Using layer.getTile(x, y) — Does not exist. Use layer.getCell(x, y).getTile(). Always null-check getCell() — returns null for empty or out-of-bounds cells.
2. Passing pixel coordinates to getCell() — Takes tile coordinates (column, row), not pixel positions. Divide world position by tile dimensions first.
3. Forgetting unitScale in the renderer constructor — Default is 1.0f (pixels). Pass 1f / tilePixelSize if your camera operates in tile/world units.
4. Not calling setView(camera) before render() — Renderer needs the camera's projection matrix. Without it, nothing renders or stale view bounds are used.
5. Assuming getLayers().get("name") returns a typed layer — Returns MapLayer. Cast to TiledMapTileLayer for getCell() access.
6. Expecting object layers to render visually — renderObject() is intentionally empty. Object layers are data-only. Tile objects in object layers are NOT drawn.
7. Mixing up pixel and tile coordinates for objects — Default convertObjectToTileSpace = false means getRectangle() etc. return pixel coordinates. Scale by unitScale to match your world.
8. Disposing tileset textures separately — TmxMapLoader textures are owned by TiledMap. Call only map.dispose().
9. Manually flipping Y on object coordinates — With default flipY = true, coordinates are already converted. Flipping again puts objects in the wrong position.
10. Using gzip/zlib TMX encoding on GWT — Compressed tile data is not supported on the HTML5 backend. Use CSV or uncompressed base64.
11. Allocating getByType() arrays every frame — Single-arg getByType(Class) allocates a new Array each call. Cache at load time or use the two-arg overload.
12. Not disposing the renderer — If the renderer created its own internal SpriteBatch, you must call renderer.dispose() to release it.

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