What's on your mind?

[Ace_V]

Just want to greet everyone a merry Christmas and happy holidays! Enjoy.

[DerVVulfman]

Snow.

Ice.

Snow AND Ice. ICE FREEZING THE SNOW.

SHOVELING. OOF!!! MY BACK!!!!

Wait. what? MORE SNOW THIS UPCOMING WEEKEND!??????

[KDC]

Brrr....

Cold... snow.... A lot to shovel. o.o

Gonna take my time on that.

Also healing. Grieving on the loss of a grandparent. 2026 is not looking so good for me... so far.

[KDC]

Been slowly relearning basic HTML, while making a new website on Neocities. And... I find that more fun than using Wix.com. :3 I think I'll be continuing doing that on my free time, at the moment I'm moving stuff from the old Wix sites I made to Neocities.

[Ace_V]

Condolences, KDC!

As for me, I just discovered RMXP maps can't have more than 999 events.

Been working on a rather large maze (150x150 tiles) that I built in one single map to reserve map IDs. I'm already at MapID623 and I've still got a fair bit of story content to make, so as much as possible I've been trying to limit the number of maps I use per segment. I likely won't hit the 999 cap, but I'm playing it safe!

Anyway, I've been adding zones for monsters to roam by putting blank events around the borders of certain areas so they don't randomly move outside those. Unfortunately, I may have overdone it and hit the 999-event cap without even placing a single monster. I'll just simplify the zones to free up 200 or so event IDs.

[DerVVulfman]

That 999 limit is solely because of the editor. I used that 'Big Maps" script I made that combined multiple like-sized maps together to make a massive worldmap. And it 'essentially' creates its own events list based on imported events.

But 999 events in a single map, even the 500x500 stock max size is a lot. And you would want an anti-lag system in place to prevent/halt the engine from 'updating' the sprites when they're not in the visible 640x480 window. The spriteset system refreshes the sprites on the map... even if the player doesn't see them. Anti-lag systems only permit the visible ones to update... and lower drag.

And that IS an interesting idea... a system that keeps tagged events within certain zones even when moving randomly...

[Ace_V]

Yup! I've been using that blank-event-as-barrier style for most of the game. It works well despite being very basic, particularly for smaller maps. This is the first time on a big map though, and I've had to adjust. Managed to free up 200 tiles by simplifying the zones.

For countering lag, I intend on adding switch changes at various choke points. So the roaming monsters only appear when you approach that area and disappear when you leave.

[DerVVulfman]

Yup! I've been using that blank-event-as-barrier style for most of the game. It works well despite being very basic, particularly for smaller maps. This is the first time on a big map though, and I've had to adjust. Managed to free up 200 tiles by simplifying the zones.

For countering lag, I intend on adding switch changes at various choke points. So the roaming monsters only appear when you approach that area and disappear when you leave.

I'll take this into What's up RMers  

[DerVVulfman]

I did not skip leg day.

When the ICE STORM that hit the east coast began, driving was impossible. And after it ended, the inches-thick ice prevented shoveling. I was able to clear much of the ice at the time and was able to drive my car up to a point where traction didn't exist and had to PUSH my car back. So indeed, my car was fine for a time.

Fast forward to a week ago. The car 'died' and had to be towed to the dealership where I purchased it (with a 5 year warranty). The towing company under my insurance so fully covered. However... it took three tow trucks to come by. A more modern vehicle, it uses an actual DIAL GEAR CONTROL to change gears and not something mechanical in nature.

The first guy opened the hood... tried to jump start it from that battery only to realize the engine battery is in the trunk/boot of the car. Still, there was no go. The second guy who came by to tow my car likewise tried the second battery, only to find it was not possible. And by that time, it was 9pm and bitter cold. The third guy (man, this is sounding like either the Three Little Piggiess or Goldilocks and the Three Bears)... he got it right. It turns out that there is a simple release lever concealed right next to the DIAL GEAR CONTROL... A FREAKIN SIMPLE LEVER. So yeah, that morning, it was on its way.

Fast forward to now. Apparently, there is electronic damage which I am surmising was the fault of the first tow truck who tried to jump the wrong battery. They say my radio will not work, and I had that sucker playing a USB flash stick with 600 albums. My insurance agent ... oh, whe's gonna love that. I left a message yesterday, but plan to do a followup call now.

And as to leg day?

The time is now 3:55pm. I got home at 3:30pm. I left to go to the CLOSEST GROCERY STORE at 1pm.

My legs are in that whole 'vibrating WTF' condition right now.