What's up, RMers?

[kyonides]

Hey, if you want to do it without any additional script you can follow the little guide I posted in this thread. :)

https://www.save-point.org/thread-8090.h...=map+limit

It should work but there's a catch. You see, that won't allow you to load the map's info alias the map name for the MapInfos.rxdata won't include anything beyond ID 999. Plus the copied maps from the other project are still keeping their old map ID's. You would need a simple converter script to do the job for you, especially needed if you included a Display Map Name window or sprite script in your game.

Wouldn't that cause some issues with maps that share the same ID?

Internally their map ID remains the same but you still can manually change the filenames.

I see. Thanks for clearing that up.

I can only hope I manage to pull this off if I hit the map limit. In the meanwhile, I think I'll continue merging several smaller maps into a big honking map as I mentioned a while ago.

He, he. Now I'm just waiting for the moment when you get in troubles because of the loading times.

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

He, he. Now I'm just waiting for the moment when you get in troubles because of the loading times.

As long as the maps are on the 250x250 range, I get no issues. Bigger than that though, and the game becomes a stuttering slideshow.

Also, today I learned the max map size in MV is 256x256. And I thought the map engine had taken a sledgehammer to the knees in VX.

[DerVVulfman]

As long as the maps are on the 250x250 range, I get no issues. Bigger than that though, and the game becomes a stuttering slideshow.

Hold up.  PUT ON THE BREAKS.

You're not using an anti-lag system to control/handle the large number of events and graphics in your maps?  Without such, the system will attempt to update 'all' events in your map, and all graphics in every 'cycle'.  With an anti-lag, it updates the graphics within the designated window which only the player sees.

The MAP sections within the Forum Script Listings thread should point you to a couple if you're in need.

[Kain Nobel]

Currently updating my old game project, which is starting to outgrow RMXP. Not that RMXP is bad, it will always have a special place in my heart, but this migration has been going on for a minute. There are certain limitations related to the XP engine that make it desirable to build a newer engine for it. I don't WANT to build an engine from scratch, but that's OK I'll do what I have to for this thing to run better. Aside from that, there is a bunch of things that have been completely rewritten which make the original RMXP implementation redundant and, soon, unnecessary.

The problems I encounter are related to time and frames per second. The math and execution time, tying your engine to the FPS, start to get a little fuzzy and I start noticing complications. For instance, to run the game at 60 FPS takes more than just Graphics.frame_rate = 60; it required a re-write of the Sprite_Timer and the Interpreter conditional branches too as 1 second (FPS) does not necessarily equal 1 second (Real Time). Plus other time related issues I can't really remember off the top of my head for which I've had to implement. Aside from that, I notice that after 6 hours of play the Game.exe starts eating up more memory and CPU and I don't know how to clear that in a closed black box system such as RGSS. Shutting down the game and starting it back up is the only remedy. Occasionally the computer needs a restart too so I can only guess what is going on behind the scenes.

Aside from that, I read the Steam reviews for RMXP games and they all have the frame rate issue as a common complaint. The frame rate issue has poached especially good games that would've had better review scores had it not been an issue. It would be wonderful if we could get an XP Ace with fixed / more features but I'm not holding my breath, just moving forward!

(NOTE: I've specifically focused on RMXP games on Steam due to the fact that's what I use. I have no idea of VX, VXAce, MV or any of the releases after XP have a frame rate / time issue or if their engines are tied to Graphics.frame_rate. As much as I love RPG Maker, this is a bad design choice.)

There are so many (boring) details behind this migration, but I've been running on a hybrid in-between system of Ruby 3.0 and RMXP (Ruby 1.8.4) for awhile and am starting to layer and branch the project more. If I write an engine that is compatible with RMXP, it is only because that is what my game was built on but I have no true desire to faithfully remake RGSS in C++ and use SWIG/RICE/whatever for Ruby extensions. The only thing left that is "RMXP" in my project is the Map/Events system, Database/Common Events, Database/System and the Game.exe to run it. I no longer use the database for Actors, Enemies, Skills, Items, etc, all of that is set via load scripts written in Notepad++.

Some of the stuff was going to go "ReGaL" but some of it is too specific from my game to be considered. If I ever do a "ReGaL" style project, I don't want it to be too specific like that, more "general purpose/agnostic" related to a generic JRPG structure that can be expanded on by the end user. Then again, that's what RPG Maker is for...

Currently I'm studying C++, Ruby, RICE, and general application development. I've not posted a project on GitHub yet because I'm trying to simplify the logistics of deployment and portability. The project was portable 6 months ago, I could move it from my C drive (desktop computer) to my D drive (laptop with a removable SSD chip) with minimal configuration changes and no issues but I've acquired some new "hard coded" filepaths that I need to purge and move to the RGL::Config module.

EDIT: I just posted my C++/SFML Audio module in the Scripts database. If anybody knows how to directly implement this so the C++ and Ruby can communicate (perferably not via Win32API / Win32::API) that would be awesome. I'm going to try to figure that out within the next couple of weeks if I'm not too busy with work/life.

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

As long as the maps are on the 250x250 range, I get no issues. Bigger than that though, and the game becomes a stuttering slideshow.

Hold up.  PUT ON THE BREAKS.

You're not using an anti-lag system to control/handle the large number of events and graphics in your maps?  Without such, the system will attempt to update 'all' events in your map, and all graphics in every 'cycle'.  With an anti-lag, it updates the graphics within the designated window which only the player sees.

The MAP sections within the Forum Script Listings thread should point you to a couple if you're in need.

I am. Specifically, Near Fantastica's Anti Event Lag script. Thing is, I've noticed my computer simply has problems dealing with extremely large maps. For example, it chugs like there's no tomorrow (read: the frame rate seemingly falls to single numbers) while I play BoxxyQuest, a game that probably has the biggest maps I've ever seen in a XP project. I can only assume it doesn't use any kind of anti lag script.

[Mel]

I would suggest to use Zeriab's anti lag script. It's really powerfull and boosted my game's performance by an insane amount. Even my 600x600 map with around 10.000 events doesn't cause any lag.

https://www.save-point.org/thread-2483.h...s+anti+lag

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

I would suggest to use Zeriab's anti lag script. It's really powerfull and boosted my game's performance by an insane amount. Even my 600x600 map with around 10.000 events doesn't cause any lag.

https://www.save-point.org/thread-2483.h...s+anti+lag

Thanks, I'll take a look at it. That bit about choosing which events are updated and which aren't look very useful.

[kyonides]

I Need Your Opinions on Alchemy or Workshop Scripts

What features would you consider essential for such scripts?

What else could they offer as an extra?
(It won't be mandatory to make good use of them very often.)

Yeah, before I relaunch Kustom XP I would prefer to focus on what's actually needed and leave the rest as addons if possible. The idea is not to make it too convoluted that people won't like to use it.

[Mel]

I think essential are, obviously, items that require other amount of items for their creation and some sort of learnable blueprints/recipes.
That's the absolute basis of a crafting system and that might be even enough for the basic version. Everything else could be an optional add on, so people can decide which features they want and which not.

For example a skill level feature for the crafter, so a novice smith isn't able to make some legendary weapons.

It would be interesting to have an option that you can not only create items at a NPC in a workshop but also by yourself so a feature that the heroes can learn
these craftmenships on their own which would require a skill level for actors which increases when you create stuff. The higher your skill level gets the more complicated stuff you have to create to improve further.

Another interesting thing would be a system where you don't create items by predefined material amounts but by combining different materials to create complete new unique items.
So the player would be able to experiment to achieve the best possible outcome.
For example metal A + metal B + metal C + jewel F would create a complete new sword with own unique stats. I guess that would require materials to have stats. Another factor would be the skillevel of that smith. If he's really good, the sword would be alot stronger than a sword from an average smith, even if he uses the same materials.
Also the kind of weapon would decide about it's stats. A longsword has different stats than a dagger of course.
The same for an alchemist who can combine different plants and ingredients to create new unique potions.

I guess such a system would be really complicated to create but I think there is no script so far for something like this.
All crafting scripts I know of are the classical ones as descriped in the beginning of my post.

[Kain Nobel]

The idea of NPCs behind crafting is definitely a good one; Metal Gear Solid 5 TPP is the first thing that comes to mind, oddly enough.

Just a breakdown. Some terms, grading schemes and other things may not be 100% accurate, but it should still give you a good idea.

In a typical day in the life of Snake, when he's not beating up soldiers and floating them away with balloons, he's rescuing prisoners and hostages, many of them R&D. Some of them are of varying degrees of skill level; D, C, B, A, S, S++, etc which adds to the overall R&D "Score" which determines the levels of equipment you can create. Some of these people are specialists which boost your R&D subscores (Machine Gun Specialist, Rocket Specialist). Then you've got the Electrospin specialist and the Prothestics Specialist which are needed to develop your prosthetic arm weapons. Their 'materials' system, however, was very basic and effective. Fuel Material, Biological Material (yuck...), Common Metals, Precious Metals and... something else.

Not only did it apply to weapons and goodies, the system was reused for the expansion of the home base. Platform and bridge, after platform and bridge where it apparently rains diamonds. 5 common materials and personnel to build new weapons and expand your base.

IMO they did a very good job at keeping it simple and robust at the same time. An expandable system which is both simple and complex. People + Materials + Money = Waiting on R&D to finish making orders = a brand new cardboard box, a non-leathal semi-auto knockout gun to shoot people in the **** and... ROCKET PUUUUUUUUNCH! (I can't believe nobody heard him yelling...:X)