What's up, RMers?

[kyonides]

Dir.chdir should only be used whenever you're dealing with separate  Ruby files like pure Ruby or Rails projects do. That's something I learned while working with Gosu. Yet, require works normally so there's no real need to use it more than once at best. HiddenChest uses an open source library to create a fake file system that only includes your game files, meaning it's not hard to find them no matter if you're talking about Graphics or Audio stuff.

I guess that's why I was curious about why you'd be interested in giving a shot to Dir.chdir even temporarily.

[DerVVulfman]

Your statement doesn't show much in curiosity into why the use of Dir.chdir. The bulk of it is actually a statement showing that you had learned to limit its use when you began working with Gosu and insight into Hiddenchest's file system. It appears your curiosity is an afterthought.

But as towards your curiosity, I will answer.

I was not the first to use Dir.Chdir. Others had in the past. When DerkJan (or MeTm at HBGames/CreationAsylum) created his initial McSendString music looping system, it came with an editor written in Ruby that allowed the user to set loop start and stop points. And as it could affect audio within the four audio subfolders (BGM, BGS, ME, SE), he used Dir.chdir to allow switching between those subfolders.

In 2012, DuongCool inquired if anyone had the required Audio.dll file used by an ATOA(Victor Sant) script entitled "Não reinciar Música do mapa após uma batalha" (or "Do not restart Map Music after a battle") which used an audio module provided by Poccil.

There are plenty other scripts out there that use Dir.Chdir. That is not a justification of its use. It is solely an explanation as to why I first used it within my widgets project. And I will not rebuke other scripts that put it to use.

[DerVVulfman]

Now we're REALLY working!

Clearly showing I have a lot of RM2K games filed away somewhere on Drive G

Drive List box status: CHECK
Folder List box status: FUNCTIONAL

I only give it 'functional' because I believe I need to set up something to re-adjust the scroll bar params when switching between one list of folders and another, the quantity change and all.

Meanwhile, the folder list will 'not' show folders with file extensions (RB_System.logs, AVSys.Bak, etc.) and any folder with a '$' at the start, these typically assumed to be important system directories and should be left alone.

Next up? The Files Widget......

[DerVVulfman]

Well, I got FILES working 



I superimposed a closeup of the Drive, Folder and Files box to show image graphic functionality.  You can see nice orange circles around the graphics to the left of the filenames, and matching file extensions.  Indeed, a Zip file graphic is displayed when any file with the zip. gz and zipx formats are used.  Likewise, jpg and variations have their own image format.   

If no file has a recognized format, a blank doc-like glyph will show.

AND for the unaware, you may notice that the Glyph next to my E: Drive has a faint red dot displayed rather than the green dot for drives C: and D:.   This because it is a Flash drive, and neither an internal nor external hdd/ssd.

There is more work to be done of course.   Creating an option to set file parameters such as having the filebox keyed only to search .rxdata files, or a list of files (.bmp, .png, .jpg)..  File limters. :D   And likely a dropdown just for that as well.

And I do need to see about removing the condensed text appearance in the boxes.  It is annoying.

[DerVVulfman]

I am now reworking all the weapons.  Most of the frames for the right-handed poses don't need work, though some will need touch-ups.  However, left-handed poses need to be completely created.

I felt like letting ya know before you started axing questions.

Been doing some work....?   Yep.

Don't mind that the bow is orange and the arrow is green.

These are labeled as templates anyway.

Worked out the axes, longbows, daggers, and guns, and now working on the rifles.   Gotta love the rifle. I took a bit o' pride spriting that one up.

This is part of the Half Kaiser Battler Project that had to do a form of makeover as the bow and rifle attack animations reflected left-hand oriented attacks while all other poses were for NPCs that were right handed. To correct this, many graphics have been reworked with both left-handed and right-handed orientation, and a fair number of resources have been converted. Not uploaded to replace the current stock, but reworked none-the-less.

There are some pixel gaps admittedly for some weapons, but you wouldn't notice as they would usually render faster than this and the above image is at 3x zoom.  And I admit there is one single frame of animation for one single axe that needs a bit more work as part of the axe blade is cut off.

The first few weapons were slow going.  But hopefully, I can develop a new technique that could cut my weapon placement time down 25%.  I have a lot of sword variations to contend with after I get done with the rifle and short bow,

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

I notice the gal is using the rifle as a bludgeon. Are there going to be different animations for when a character uses a firearm in a melee attack?

Completely unrelated but I was browsing Reddit and I stumbled across a thread where a user was reminiscing about how things were back in the RM2000 heyday and how there was a greater sense of camaraderie among developers and less stigma about using "rips" from commercial games to create projects.

I did start with RM2000 and managed to get pretty far until I lost my project along with my first computer. I didn't return to the RM scene until years later when RMXP was the newest maker and most people had abandoned the previous engines.

[DerVVulfman]

Well, the main template of the body has over 40 poses... multiple idle poses and every combat action pose. All the 'weapons; are added to the combat poses, so you do get to (rofl) see a long bog swung around like a hammer or stupidly worse, a pistol swung around as if it is a warhammer or battle axe. Likewise, you get to see guys hold a sword in their hand in the longbow or rifle pose. No weapon is to be left out, whether the pose animation makes sense for the weapon or not.

So yeah, I do a LOT of spriting of weapons.... even if the weapon animation is likely not gonna be used. Goofy, but true.

When RM2K and RM95 came out, the community was a bit smaller. Do recall that most had to visit DonMiguel to get the translation editions. It was more niche. And at the same token, using rips were less frowned upon because no one outside of Japan could even think about going public with the games. I mean, RM2K was itself a rip, so that was a no-go.

Of that era, I know of only one person IN that era who went and got a Japanese license for their games.

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

Honestly, swinging firearms like clubs sound like an amusing thing.

As for DonMiguel... I think he got into trouble over the unauthorized translations which was like the main reason of why he left the RM scene. And yeah, giving the entire fandom was using pirated copies, there was really no place for casting stones giving that everybody was living in a gigantic glass building back then.

[DerVVulfman]

Well, there is a lot of back and forth about DonMiguel and RPGMaker.

You see, DonMiguel made claim he had permission to translate RPGMaker 2000 into English. At the time, it was produced by ASCII, Inc. who 'apparently' had no interest in having a western audience. This was assumed because they did not market either RM95 or RM2K outside of Japan. But shortly before ASCII's acquisition by Enterbrain in March 2004 (the year according to the Wikipedia of its acquisition) that all the issue with legal copyright of the translation has exploded.

Honestly, ASCII had issues in the 2000s.. ASCII becoming part of Unison Capital Partners by March 2002. But by May 28, 2002, it became part of Unison Media Partner and got delisted on the stock exchange by October. And by January 2004, its sale to Kadokawa (aka Enterbrain's Parent) was announced. What I find interesting is that the release of RPGMaker 2003 boasted the "Enterbrain" logo when the engine game out in 2002... but was not yet property of Enterbrain for two more years.

You can find articles in PCGamer that brandish the translation illegal, and dialogue suggesting a pending lawsuit here and there. If DonMiguel had been able to provide any documentation proving he had permission... um, Enterbrain could suck it. It actually wasn't until RPGMaker 2003 hit the (Japanese) market that the threat reared its head. I know some translated RM2K3 in Taiwan, South Korea, the States, Europe and etc... But Enterbrain never released an official Western Market edition until 2015.

Incidentally, Don's website is still up at: https://rpgmaker2000.narod.ru/ The last time it was update was two decades ago (OMG!) and has RM2K (and feasibly 2K3) tutorials and faqs. Not much in graphics though. But that's expected.

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

Woah... I had no idea that DonMiguel claimed to have permission for his translation. Guess everyone took his word for granted. As for ASCII's lack of interest in bringing the engines across the Pacific, it kind of makes sense to me: JRPGs were really niche back in the 90s even with the smashing success of Final Fantasy VII. I can only assume ASCII saw the American and European market as something they could do without.

Regarding the possibility of taking things to court, according to what I read in the wiki, ASCII's lawyers sent cease-and-desist emails to the group responsible for the first translation of RM95 as well as the SNES RPG makers so there was already a precedent.

Now I wonder if RPG Advocate, responsible for the first translation of RMXP, ran into similar trouble with ASCII/Enterbrain.