Trouble setting color of SKTileMapNode

Question

I have a custom class that contains an SKTileMapNode (named "gmap") as a member variable. I want to use the .color property to recolor the Node depending on user interaction. Im using the following code to change the color. (using different UIColors as needed)

self.gmap.color = UIColor(red: 0.4, green: 0.65, blue: 0.125, alpha: 1)
self.gmap.colorBlendFactor = 1.0

This method works fine when i recolor the node within the initializer of my custom class but doesn't work when used anywhere else. (the node still appears correctly but its color does not change) Any idea whats going wrong here? Can an SKTileMapNode not be recolored after its intialized or something? Thanks for any help.

EDIT: I didn't find an answer but i found a work around by removing the node and adding a new one. See my answer below for a full explanation.

Answer 1

I never found a good answer but I've found a work around. Find and remove the old node, recreate a brand new node in code, recolor that new node and add that new node to the scene.

if let child = self.childNode(withName: "gmap") as? SKTileMapNode {
    //remove old node           
    child.removeFromParent()           
    var gmapTwo = SKTileMapNode()


    //insert code to re-intialize Node here

    //now you can recolor the node without a problem
    gmapTwo.color = UIColor(red: 0.55, green: 0.55, blue: 0.925, alpha: 1)
    gmapTwo.colorBlendFactor = 1
    //(Make sure the new Node has the same name so you can find it again later)
    gmapTwo.name = "gmap"
    //add node to scene
    self.addChild(gmapTwo)
}

(Making a copy of the Node using the .copy function has not worked for me, instead i've had to make a manual copy of the node in code)

Sorry i don't have a real answer but so far this is the only solution that has worked for me. Hopefully someone with a better understanding of SpriteKit can better explain whats going on