HiddenChest RGSS Player Executable

[kyonides]

Version 1.1.86 Has Been Published!

Available Platforms

• Linux
  

Maintenance Details

Font.default_name was not setting RGSS-Specific font names at the very beginning. Instead the engine was loading default font names for an Unknown RGSS Engine.

Moved call to its Font::initDefaults CRUBY Font class to C++ SharedState class preventing MRI from loading the default font names for unknown engine version before fully parsing Game.ini.

Then Game module calls Game.set_internal_values to pass the right RGSS Version to the shared state.

Now C++ Font::initDefaults function sets RGSS-Specific Default Font Names only as first intended.

[kyonides]

Version 1.1.87 Published Recently!

Available Platforms

• Linux
  
• Windows
  

New Feature

The splash window will now remain hidden from the very beginning.
To override it, the Game.ini file should include:

Code:

ShowSplash=TRUE
ShowSplash=true

Just one of those 2 entries is needed.
Empty spaces after the = equal sign might be ignored.

Game.show_splash getter method has been included.
Added Game.init_size to keep a record of the first resolution ever applied to the game window.

Original Requestor:  Wulfo.

[kyonides]

Version 1.1.88 Published Recently!

Available Platforms

• Linux
  
• Windows
  

List of Changes

Added Fake RGSS4 option.
It keeps RGSS1's Tilemap and tilesets while using RGSS3's Window and Sprite hidden classes, now depending on a VX ACE-like windowskin to be rendered properly on screen.
Set Font#outline default value to true just like in RGSS3.
Default File Extensions: rxvproj & rgss4a
New Game.ini [OPTIONAL] Entries for Custom File Extensions:

• ProjectFileExt=
  
• CompressedFileExt=
  

NOTE: Saved games can have ANY file extension. It depends on the Scene_File class related scripts only.

[DerVVulfman]

By the way, thanks to some nosy Wulfo's complains and reports...

And at no point has anyone with a wolfish grin suggested to give you such inquiries.

Gotta use this again, as I am unaware of any Wulfo asking for anything related to the splash screen.

Personally, I'm interested in the repairs/fixes for Input.repeat? and Input.trigger_double?  And unless repaired, there is still the very WEIRD issue with Midi (reported here) unless it was since repaired and not noted.

I am happy to have heard that the Audio Module itself contains a "Pos" value for both background music and background audio playback, this inherited from RPGMaker VXAce.  Said VXAce help file suggesting that music and ambient audio can be started (or possibly re-looped) to a specific point in music which past RPGMaker XP audio loop scripts had implemented.  Way to go Enterbrain for FINALLY noting.   Comically, the VXAce had the code available, the EDITOR never did follow-up on its use or implementation (LOSERS!!!!!)   

The most common Win32API features used have been Screenshot, Full-Keyboard, Mouse, Fullscreen/Window toggles and music looping. Heck, without asking for it, Hiddenchest actively keeps the game content running even when the player has another window active and in focus (like me typing this reply as some moron soldier is running around in circles). RMXP at the very least did not.

So apart from Input which you're working on, MIDI which is annoying, WMA audio (um, everyone is Ogg or MP3),  and Movie Playback (which is stupid that VXAce supports only OGV(???)), I put forth another request.  And this request is something already built into the Enterbrain line of engines.

1. That the EXE itself  recognizes its own application name and looks for the .ini file that matches its name rather than looking for Game.Exe.  For example, if the .Exe is for Kuests.exe, the Ini file should be Kuests.ini and not Game.ini.   It works that way with RPGMaker XP at the very least, but not HiddenChest.
   
   
2. The ability to read/write to the Game.Ini  I use Win32API code to read/write within my personally designed RMXP built editors. But access must at least be partially available within the .exe code otherwise reading from either Game.Exe or .Conf would not be possible.
   

[kyonides]

Concerning the first part, you had said in a couple of occasions that you weren't keen on using a splash screen.  Now nobody is forced to use it.

The Input module issue is a nasty bug that will take I dunno how long to fix it.

About the movie playback, I'm not trying to implement anything video-related any time soon.

On the other requests:

1. I haven't considered it so far, but it doesn't seem to be too cumbersome IN THEORY.
   This would depend on being able to set it in the Ruby Game module and not the C++ SharedState class.
   While typing the answer to #2, I noticed that EXE_NAME contains the full name of the executable binary file. The Game module first looks for INI_FILENAME's ini filename before proceeding to parse the actual file.
   
2. This one might be as easy as wisely using the typical File.open or File.readlines methods to achieve that goal.
   HiddenChest has the Game::DATA constant where it stores most of the entries before some of them get replaced by other Game constants with very specific names like SCRIPTS, TITLE, VERSION, AUTHOR, ICON, EXE_NAME, INI_FILENAME, MAKER, WIDTH, HEIGHT, FULLSCREEN, SUB_IMAGE_FIX and perhaps a few others as well.
   

NOTES

Game::INI_FILENAME already provides you with the Game.ini or Custom.ini filename.
The Game module actually looks for any *.ini file present via Dir['*.ini'][0] unless there's none.
That is why I don't get it when people claim that renaming the game's executable will prevent it from loading. There's no reason why that would ever happen in the last couple of releases.

[kyonides]

Version 1.1.89 Has Been Uploaded!

Available Platforms

• Linux
  
• Windows
  

List of Changes

The engine now passes the executable's full name to the Game module as EXE_RAW_NAME.
Later the module processes it to set the values to both the EXE_NAME and the INI_FILENAME constants.
This means that once you renamed your custom HiddenChest executable, you must change the INI filename accordingly.
Removed old variables in Game module that were once used in the extinct Setup module.
Removed reference to old setup_ini[] C Array.
Renamed Game's SUB_IMAGE_FIX as SUBIMAGEFIX.
[NEW]
Fixed regular expression in the Game INI parser that prevented Windows builds from ever finding the INI file.
Replaced Conf.game.scripts path with Game::SCRIPTS in the CRuby scripts processor.
[/NEW]
Introduced FileIni module that will let you read or write INI files at will.
Downside: It won't affect the currently loaded settings from Game.ini (or whatever you named your main INI file).

FileIni's singleton methods:

• open(name)
  
• current
  
• close
  
• read(key)
  
• write(key, value)
  
• comment_out(key)
  

WARNING

If you ever change the executable's file name, then you DEFINITELY MUST rename the project file, the INI file and the compressed game data file accordingly.
Just in case you did it while still editing your game, you can simply copy and paste / name the default Game.* files one after another.

So if the compressed game data file is typically named Game.rgssad for RMXP games, and your executable file is called Playme.exe, then you should rename it as Playme.rgssad and that's it!

[kyonides]

Maintenance Update

Due to some unexpected typo in a regular expression used to detect .exe and .ini files, I had to reupload the Linux and Windows builds.
Thank  Wulfo for reporting that Windows builds could not load the Game.ini file aka the main INI file BEFORE this reupload.

WARNING

If you ever change the executable's file name, then you DEFINITELY MUST rename the project file, the INI file and the compressed game data file accordingly.
Just in case you did it while still editing your game, you can simply copy and paste / name the default Game.* files one after another.

So if the compressed game data file is typically named Game.rgssad for RMXP games, and your executable file is called Playme.exe, then you should rename it as Playme.rgssad and that's it!

[kyonides]

Version 1.1.90 Has Been Uploaded!

Available Platforms

• Linux
  
• Windows
  

Recent Changes:

FileIni module becomes a class to let users open as many handles as deemed necessary.
It can now handle [Sections] as well.
It will create a new entry if it could not be found in that specific section.
(Writing an entry will modify the target INI file, but reading it will not affect the file contents at all.)

FileIni singleton methods:

• open(filename)
  
• last
  

FileIni instance methods:

• new(filename)
  
• read(section_name, entry, default)
  
• write(section_name, entry, value)
  This option will write new entries or replace old ones, including those that have been commented out before.
  
• comment_out(section_name, key)
  This option is similar to write, but it will replace any enabled entry with a commented out one.
  

I also added getters for the filename and section_names values.

If you ever think this sounds a lot like a scripting tool, well, you might be right about it!
What makes FileIni a very convenient tool is the fact that it does the same job as the Win32API calls to read or write to the INI files BUT it is a cross-platform solution written in  Ruby!  It will work on both Windows & Linux!

[kyonides]

Version 1.1.91 Has Been Uploaded!

Available Platforms

• Linux
  
• Windows
  

Recent Changes:

NEW - Added support to loading multiple compressed game files. [Experimental]
Fixed Game module not loading the corresponding XP ACE alias RGSS4 compressed game file if it could not find the CompressedFileExt entry in the [Executable-Base-Name].ini file.
FileIni Ruby class, a scripting tool, is now available as an editable Ruby file in the extras directory.
  This class is no longer an integral part of the engine. Paste the script contents in a new script section as usual.
Changed the way the FileIni::NoFileError message is printed in VX ACE alias RGSS3 games.
Published FileIni.md help file. It can be found in the extras/help directory.
Changed the Splash Screen's dimensions to match the executable's default screen width and height.

[kyonides]

Version 1.1.92 Has Been Uploaded!

Available Platforms

• Linux
  
• Windows
  

Recent Changes:

Fixed RGSS failing to find game project file.
Added SDL2 support to loading TIF & WEBP image formats. (It might fail if your OS does not support it.)
Updated FileIni error message formatting.
FileIni.get_last_error returns a String now.
Added hidden script for Scripts.log (for public use) & .open_log (for internal use only) methods.
Added a failsafe measure in case the filesystem is read-only. [Experimental]
Simplified the Scripts module and moved the error scene call to the HiddenChest module.
Added HiddenChest.open_error_scene method.

NOTES

Scripts.log creates the file containing the error data thrown by the Ruby interpreter.
When followed by a call to HiddenChest.open_error_scene, the engine will show the traditional error splash screen.
Keep in mind that this screen will include custom entries from your Game.ini file like Title, Author and Version.