HiddenChest RGSS Player Executable

[kyonides]

Too late, I have already included it in the next release of mkxpplus, but I got to deal with some minor but unrelated details. I don't know when the next release will be ready to be uploaded. Plus I would prefer to add more features before I post anything here...

[kyonides]

Well, I haven't stopped working on mkxpplus, guys, but I have come to a point when I had to ask myself if that was a good name after all. Since it is supposed to break the maker's and mkxp's limitations, I found it would be great to call it rubygame or rbplay or gamemk or makebox or savemake or makesave or rubyscape or anything else. Sadly, most names were already taken, even wulfo confirmed them. So now I have come up with some weird variants and I would love you to pick some name for me.

• MkGameInn (gameinn was taken!)
  
• RbGameInn (rubygame was taken!)
  
• MakerInn (makeinn was taken!)
  
• SavingInn (saveinn was taken...)
  
• SaveExp or SaveEXP
  
• SaveXP
  
• RubyExp
  
• RubyXP
  
• RubyLvl or RubyLVL
  
• MakeLvl or MakeLVL
  

Which one would be the best name ever?

[Mel]

I like SavingInn. You fight yourself through the endloss storm of limitations of old RMXP with all it's outdated features and lags to see the SavingInn with endless possiblitys on the horizon.^^
That's at least how I felt when you introduced mkxp to me.

[kyonides]

Actually, Melana, I've been thinking about calling it Sharkish, since only a fish could sue me for using that name to promote the engine. Well, since ryokan means some sort of hotel in Japanese, Rubyokan or Rbyokan could also serve the purpose...

[Mel]

Sharkish seems a bit odd. o.o
But Rubyokan on the other hand sounds cool.

[kyonides]

Well, wulfo voted against rubyokan... By the way it could also be named HiddenChest aka hiddenchest... Just saying, guys!

VOTES: Pro - Con

• SavingInn 1 - 0
  
• Rubyokan 2 - 1
  
• RubyShark 1 - 0
  
• HiddenChest 1 - 0

[kyonides]

Not Really a Hidden BUMP!

Well, after hours looking for available names and compiling stuff like crazy, I have come back to announce the latest release of this engine! By the way, it is now known as hiddenchest or HiddenChest if you prefer.

There are few extra features this time. One of them is the resolution increase, now you can play a game at 1280 * 768.
(Still, I do not know if I should recommend it )

Another one would be the hidden module Backdrop that will hold the Graphics.snap_to_bitmap Bitmap in a temporary container for you.

How to use Graphics.snap_to_bitmap and Backdrop?

First of all you should be playing a RGSS1 (XP) game and wish to get a frozen snapshot of the current map. Then you got to pay a visit to Scene_Map and look for the:

Graphics.freeze

...line found in main method. Below add a new line that should say:

Backdrop.keep_bitmap
or...
Backdrop.blur_bitmap

Then add an instance variable with any valid name to the target Scene script, i.e. Scene_Menu or Scene_Item, like this:

Code:

class Scene_TestScene
  def main
    @sprite = Sprite.new
    @sprite.bitmap = Backdrop.bitmap
    # rest of the Scene code goes here
    @sprite.dispose
    Backdrop.clear_bitmap
  end
# more code goes here

This way, you will not need to use Graphics.snap_to_bitmap directly and you still get a convenient container for your bitmap.

You see, bitmaps, viewports, and a few others got to be disposed, it is mandatory to prevent memory leaks.

For girls that strangely love wyverns and especially some Spyro, that means RAM (the computer's temporary memory) might get full of unneeded data and that might even get out of control in some cases. Consequences could be as ridiculous as watching how an old bitmap that looks like a cat you have deleted or disposed is still visible sometimes, or they can get as serious as freezing your game or getting out of memory for any application that was running at the time like firefox or notepad or word. I do not know if that could even force you to reset your computer, I have never been there

[kyonides]

Fixing a Chesty BUMP!

He, he...   I introduce some sort of bug in previous editions but not enabling the player to freely use the Font.default_out_color and Font.out_color setter methods as expected in HiddenChest. This new release includes the fix for sure. By the way, the maximum resolution for the _hires binary executables is now 1280*800. Still, I don't know if it's a good idea to fill the screen like this.  

I only noticed it because I was working on increasing KyoJournal XP screen resolution. Let's say I do have somebody to blame for this! Keep in mind I'm a lazy shark after all.  

Right... I added a new mega download folder to the main post's list of available links.

[Mel]

A widescreen resolution is really nice. But I think 1280x800 is too high. At least for a RPG. The graphics become really small. But those higher numbers would be really good for strategic game.

I will try the new backdrop stuff later.

[kyonides]

Fixing a Fix that Caused a Static Default Font Size BUMP!

Err, well, I'm human and like many other human beings I make mistakes every so often. A couple of hours ago I had uploaded buggy versions of HiddenChest to all hosting websites. I thought everything was going smoothly till I received a melanous report telling me the default font size never changed... Ooops!!

Now I have finally uploaded fixed releases of hiddenchest that won't stop you from changing the default font size.

But there are some good news to announce here! I also added hidden module functions for the Audio module that will let me... *us* call common sounds like the buzzer like this:

Audio.play_buzzer

Does it remind you of VX Ace? Of course, it does! I did it on purpose. I just thought it was easier to call Audio.play_decision than stuff like $game_system.se_play($data_system.decision_se)

There is also an Audio.play_se("any_se") method as well to avoid using the corresponding $game_system method.

Still, I got to warn you that buzzer and the other SE aren't defined by default. To define them paste a code like the one below:

Code:

module Audio
  @buzzer = RPG::AudioFile.new("MyBuzzer")
  @ok = RPG::AudioFile.new("MyOKorDecision")
  # the rest of the commonly used SE
end

The decision SE is called @ok but it gets called as either Audio.play_decision or Audio.play_ok. It is the only exception here.