diff --git a/rsrc/config/miso/miso.properties b/rsrc/config/miso/miso.properties
index 9f28e847d..dd69c7482 100644
--- a/rsrc/config/miso/miso.properties
+++ b/rsrc/config/miso/miso.properties
@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
 #
-# $Id: miso.properties,v 1.6 2001/07/20 02:19:38 shaper Exp $
+# $Id: miso.properties,v 1.7 2001/07/21 01:51:09 shaper Exp $
 #
 # Initial test config values for miso development.
 #
 
-tilesets = rsrc/config/miso/tilesets.xml
+# the tileset manager class to use for working with tilesets
+tilesetmgr = com.threerings.miso.tile.EditableTileSetManager
 
-editor.default_tileset = Ground
+# the scene manager class to use for working with scenes
+scenemanager = com.threerings.miso.scene.CompiledSceneManager
+
+# the tileset descriptions
+tilesets = rsrc/config/miso/tilesets.xml
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileManager.java b/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileManager.java
index d2e1e1c3d..2aa0d2de9 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileManager.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: TileManager.java,v 1.8 2001/07/20 02:23:34 shaper Exp $
+// $Id: TileManager.java,v 1.9 2001/07/21 01:51:10 shaper Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.miso.tile;
 
@@ -57,6 +57,14 @@ public class TileManager
 	return tile;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Return the TileSetManager that the TileManager is using.
+     */
+    public TileSetManager getTileSetManager ()
+    {
+	return _tsmgr;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Load all tileset objects described in the specified file into
      * the set of available tilesets.
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileSetManager.java b/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileSetManager.java
index 82fec3d44..c70232cd6 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileSetManager.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileSetManager.java
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 //
-// $Id: TileSetManager.java,v 1.6 2001/07/20 02:23:34 shaper Exp $
+// $Id: TileSetManager.java,v 1.7 2001/07/21 01:51:10 shaper Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.miso.tile;
 
+import com.threerings.media.ImageManager;
+
 import java.awt.Image;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -10,6 +12,11 @@ import java.util.ArrayList;
 
 public interface TileSetManager
 {
+    /**
+     * Initialize the TileSetManager with the given ImageManager.
+     */
+    public void init (ImageManager imgmgr);
+
     /**
      * Return the total number of tiles in the specified tileset.
      */
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileSetManagerImpl.java b/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileSetManagerImpl.java
index f64be4d66..a1b3e4645 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileSetManagerImpl.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/media/tile/TileSetManagerImpl.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: TileSetManagerImpl.java,v 1.5 2001/07/20 02:23:34 shaper Exp $
+// $Id: TileSetManagerImpl.java,v 1.6 2001/07/21 01:51:10 shaper Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.miso.tile;
 
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import java.util.Enumeration;
 
 public abstract class TileSetManagerImpl implements TileSetManager
 {
-    public TileSetManagerImpl (ImageManager imgr)
+    public void init (ImageManager imgr)
     {
 	_imgr = imgr;
     }
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/miso/tile/CompiledTileSetManager.java b/src/java/com/threerings/miso/tile/CompiledTileSetManager.java
index c3044dcc7..0c9cb55ff 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/miso/tile/CompiledTileSetManager.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/miso/tile/CompiledTileSetManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: CompiledTileSetManager.java,v 1.5 2001/07/18 22:45:35 shaper Exp $
+// $Id: CompiledTileSetManager.java,v 1.6 2001/07/21 01:51:10 shaper Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.miso.tile;
 
@@ -10,11 +10,6 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 
 public class CompiledTileSetManager extends TileSetManagerImpl
 {
-    public CompiledTileSetManager (ImageManager imgr)
-    {
-	super(imgr);
-    }
-
     public void loadTileSets (InputStream tis) throws IOException
     {
 	// TBD
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/miso/tile/EditableTileSetManager.java b/src/java/com/threerings/miso/tile/EditableTileSetManager.java
index 4a28f75b2..0871f2002 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/miso/tile/EditableTileSetManager.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/miso/tile/EditableTileSetManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: EditableTileSetManager.java,v 1.5 2001/07/18 22:45:35 shaper Exp $
+// $Id: EditableTileSetManager.java,v 1.6 2001/07/21 01:51:10 shaper Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.miso.tile;
 
@@ -18,11 +18,6 @@ import java.util.ArrayList;
  */
 public class EditableTileSetManager extends TileSetManagerImpl
 {
-    public EditableTileSetManager (ImageManager imgr)
-    {
-	super(imgr);
-    }
-
     public void loadTileSets (InputStream tis) throws IOException
     {
 	// read all tileset descriptions from the XML input stream
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/MisoContext.java b/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/MisoContext.java
index 75a63e770..0029f736b 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/MisoContext.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/MisoContext.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: MisoContext.java,v 1.1 2001/07/20 23:42:20 shaper Exp $
+// $Id: MisoContext.java,v 1.2 2001/07/21 01:51:10 shaper Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.miso.util;
 
@@ -10,12 +10,14 @@ import com.threerings.miso.scene.SceneManager;
 public interface MisoContext extends Context
 {
     /**
-     * Return a reference to the TileManager.
+     * Return a reference to the TileManager.  This reference is valid
+     * for the lifetime of the application.
      */
     public TileManager getTileManager ();
 
     /**
-     * Return a reference to the SceneManager.
+     * Return a reference to the SceneManager.  This reference is
+     * valid for the lifetime of the application.
      */
     public SceneManager getSceneManager ();
 }
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/MisoUtil.java b/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/MisoUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3358125e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/MisoUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+//
+// $Id: MisoUtil.java,v 1.1 2001/07/21 01:51:10 shaper Exp $
+
+package com.threerings.miso.util;
+
+import java.awt.Frame;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+
+import com.samskivert.util.Config;
+import com.threerings.media.ImageManager;
+import com.threerings.miso.Log;
+import com.threerings.miso.scene.*;
+import com.threerings.miso.tile.*;
+import com.threerings.resource.ResourceManager;
+
+public class MisoUtil
+{
+    public static void bindProperties (Config config) throws IOException
+    {
+	config.bindProperties("miso", "rsrc/config/miso/miso");
+    }
+
+    public static SceneManager createSceneManager (Config config)
+    {
+	try {
+	    return (SceneManager)
+		config.instantiateValue("miso.scenemgr", DEF_SCENEMGR);
+
+	} catch (Exception e) {
+	    Log.warning("Failed to instantiate scene manager [e=" + e + "].");
+	    return null;
+	}
+    }
+
+    public static TileManager createTileManager (Config config, Frame frame)
+    {
+	ResourceManager rmgr = createResourceManager();
+	ImageManager imgmgr = new ImageManager(rmgr, frame);
+	TileSetManager tilesetmgr = createTileSetManager(config, imgmgr);
+	TileManager tilemgr = new TileManager(tilesetmgr);
+
+	// load the tileset descriptions
+	String tfile = config.getValue("miso.tilesets", (String)null);
+	tilemgr.loadTileSets(tfile);
+
+	return tilemgr;
+    }
+
+    protected static ResourceManager createResourceManager ()
+    {
+	String root = System.getProperty("root", "");
+	String localroot = "file:" + root + "/rsrc";
+
+	try {
+	    return new ResourceManager(new URL(localroot));
+
+	} catch (MalformedURLException mue) {
+	    Log.warning("Malformed resource manager URL [url=" + localroot +
+			", mue=" + mue + "].");
+	}
+
+	return null;
+    }	
+
+    protected static TileSetManager
+        createTileSetManager (Config config, ImageManager imgmgr)
+    {
+	TileSetManager tilesetmgr = null;
+	try {
+	    tilesetmgr = (TileSetManager)
+		config.instantiateValue("miso.tilesetmgr", DEF_TILESETMGR);
+	    tilesetmgr.init(imgmgr);
+
+	} catch (Exception e) {
+	    Log.warning("Failed to instantiate tileset manager " +
+			"[e=" + e + "].");
+	}
+
+	return tilesetmgr;
+    }
+
+    protected static final String DEF_SCENEMGR = 
+        CompiledSceneManager.class.getName();
+    protected static final String DEF_TILESETMGR =
+        EditableTileSetManager.class.getName();
+}
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/SwingUtil.java b/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/SwingUtil.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 8d82868ae..000000000
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/miso/util/SwingUtil.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-//
-// $Id: SwingUtil.java,v 1.2 2001/07/18 21:45:42 shaper Exp $
-
-package com.threerings.miso.util;
-
-import java.awt.*;
-
-public class SwingUtil
-{
-    public static void centerFrame (Frame frame)
-    {
-        Toolkit tk = frame.getToolkit();
-        Dimension ss = tk.getScreenSize();
-        int width = frame.getWidth(), height = frame.getHeight();
-        frame.setBounds((ss.width-width)/2, (ss.height-height)/2,
-                        width, height);
-    }
-}