bunches of xp questions, kinda advanced

[kmogusar]

OK so i got rmxp and i got a ton of questions about things i want to do but havent found how in any tutorials, which i've spent about 15 hours reviwing so far and I'm finding the same info in pretty much all of them. hopefuly i wont have to get into scripting... i hate programming lol. thats why i got a program to do it for me, i can do it but i loath it.

so here the questions are... answer as many as you feel like, cuz i doubt you'll have enough time in your day to answer them all. its a list compiled while my internet wasnt working

questions for rmxp:

- how do you make random encounters with more than one possible troop

on a single location?

-how do you make monsters have chances of dropping different items

(i.e. the same enemy dropping a potion one time you kill it, a sword

another time, nothing another time, etc. etc.)

- how do you make battles on the main map rather than in a battle

mode?
For example you see an enemy and start shooting fireballs at it to

kill it, and it attacks you with its own fireballs, or arrows, or

tries to melee you

- how do you set an enemy to try to attack you when you get in a

certain proximity to it?
i.e. you get 3 squares away and it starts chasing you to try to

attack you

- how can i make it so the game displays health and mana when the

character is just walking around rather than only when it's in a

fight or when you pull up the menu?

- how can i hotkey skills?

- how do you start with only one adventurer and work your way to

more?

- how do you make a condition based on level?
i.e. if i want to make a skill shop person that sells skills, and i

only want the skills to be available after a certain character level,

how do i do this?

- how do i make a condition based on what class a person is?
i.e. the skill shop again, but i made a necromance class and i only

want 'raise skeleton' or whatever to be learnable at the shop if you

are a necromancer

- how do i make the title screen different?
i just want to erase the annoying music and maybe have the player be

able to pick their class and stats before they start

- how do i make level up points?
i.e. if i level up i want one skill point and 5 stat points

- how do i make factions/guilds?
i.e. starwars galaxies had different factions, and if you killed

someone from one faction it lowered your standing in that faction and

raised it in an opposing faction

- How do I make it so the same item has different prices in different

stores?
i.e. if one of the profitable parts of the game was merchanting, and

i wanted to buy merchandise from one store and bring it to another

- how do i make it so i can sell items back to stores?

- how do i set non-combat skills up?
i.e. if i want there to be a crafting skill, a smithing skill, etc.

(sounds like runescape but i just wanna know). I'm thinkin you

wouldnt set it as a skill, but i have no clue how you would do it

especially if u wanted to be able to do it anywhere rather than at

specific locations.

- how can i change the menu with characters and items etc. on it?

- how can i change the money system like everquest or world of

warcraft?
i.e. if you get 100 of whatever the normal currency is (we'll say

copper coins) it will turn into silver coins, and 100 of those will

turn into gold coins, and 100 of those will turn into platinum coins,

and you can use them all at shops

- how can i set a casting delay on a skill?
i.e. a powerful skill that takes mroe time to cast

- how can i make fights time based instead of turn based?
i.e. you attack, it takes 5 seconds to recharge and then you're ready

to attack again

- how can you make an enemy respawn after a certain amount of time?
i.e. like on MMOs like asherons call, everquest, etc. I know that

this is a flash game but the idea is still cool. I guss a flash game

comparison would be hands of war, but that game needs a major

makeover before its worth playing

- how can i make it so the day goes by in the game, and at different

parts of day there are different encounters and different chances of

encounters?
i.e. my dude is walking through the map at high noon and nothin is

attacking him, getting closer to night and bandits are coming out to

play a little bit, then its night and there are attacks from

everywhere?

- how can i make it so the player can use an item to prevent being

attacked by random encounters as much?
i.e. i drink a potion that makes it so monsters attack me a lot less

for 5 minutes

- how can i make it so i can be able to have multiple load games?

- how can i make it so i can get mounts?
idc about graphics of mounts, i just want higher movement speeds and not getting attacked as often when i'm using a mount.

- how can i make monsters on the map move around and start a battle when they run into me?
I cant figure it out. I cant get them to move without activating the event, which then attacks me if i have it set to. I cant run it parralel because the event will trigger me being attacked, and i cant do it by just running into it because then it wont be moving before i bump it.

 

[kmogusar]

OH and the one that has been driving me insane since its the one i've been working on the most since i just started is with the map.
I try to include things from multiple tilesets but the program just doesnt work that way. is there a way to get around that?

 

[Unka Josh]

Quite a few questions there, chief. I'll tackle a few, but you'd be better off posting a bunch of these a separate topics. Because this is such a mega-post, I'm only giving you quick answers. Please, next time, one or two questions per topic.

A warning: You say you hate programming? You're in trouble. RMXP and VX are much easier to use than coding from scratch, but you will need certain programming skills to make things work well. I'm not talking about learning Ruby-- I mean understanding program flow, If... Then... Else statements, variables, stuff like that.

questions for rmxp:

- how do you make random encounters with more than one possible troop

on a single location?

You can enter as many different troops as you like in that Encounters section, actually.

-how do you make monsters have chances of dropping different items

(i.e. the same enemy dropping a potion one time you kill it, a sword

another time, nothing another time, etc. etc.)

You'll need a script if you want different items, mostly. But you can decide how likely an enemy is to drop an item in the standard battle system.

- how do you make battles on the main map rather than in a battle
mode?

- how do you set an enemy to try to attack you when you get in a
certain proximity to it?

You need what's called an ABS-- an Active Battle System. You'll want to search around for a script-- there's several of these. Of course, it helps to be good at programming to use them.

- how can i make it so the game displays health and mana when the

character is just walking around rather than only when it's in a

fight or when you pull up the menu?

There's scripts for this. Often as part of the ABS script.

- how can i hotkey skills?

Again, often located in the ABS script.

- how do you start with only one adventurer and work your way to

more?

Uh, this one's pretty basic. The System tab of the Database has your initial party, so all you do is change it to just one character. Adding new characters is as simple as the Change Party Member section of Event Commands.

However, large parties and an Active Battle System generally don't work together well.

- how do you make a condition based on level?
i.e. if i want to make a skill shop person that sells skills, and i

only want the skills to be available after a certain character level,

how do i do this?

You can set a Variable to equal the character's level with Set Variable, and then use that Variable to test a Conditional Branch.

- how do i make a condition based on what class a person is?

Two ways: You can set a variable to represent the character's class when they pick their class.

You could also have one skill that's basic but unique to each class (Fighters get Swordbreaker, Necromancers get Death of the Party, and so on), and have a Conditional Branch check that skill.

- how do i make the title screen different?
i just want to erase the annoying music and maybe have the player be

able to pick their class and stats before they start

This is two different questions, the first one being very, very basic. You can change the title screen graphic and music in the system tab of the database.

The second part, where a you pick a starting character class, isn't something that would go in the title screen-- it would happen after you select "New Game." And the answer is going to depend on exactly what you want to do. Changing classes is pretty simple. Changing stats, a bit less so.

- how do i make level up points?
i.e. if i level up i want one skill point and 5 stat points

With a script. You'll want to search for one. This is again getting to the point where you are going to need to program well to make it work.

- how do i make factions/guilds?

With your awesome writing and programming skills.

But, more seriously this time, this is an amazingly complicated question. You'd need to keep track of what guild the character is in, and their standing in that guild. And you'd need to have every single NPC that you might fight have a guild membership worked out. And you'd need conditional branches built in to each NPC or, more likely, a common event that would check the guild status of both you and that NPC when you fight them. And you'd need to work out exactly what your guild status does for you, too, with more conditional branches everywhere that it would affect anything.

- How do I make it so the same item has different prices in different
stores?

This needs a script, too, unfortunately.

- how do i make it so i can sell items back to stores?

You don't have to set it up. Poof. It's done. The option is built into Store Processing.

- how do i set non-combat skills up?

That depends entirely on what you want them to do. If you want the skills to be usable anywhere, however, the answer is probably "called Common Events."

- how can i change the menu with characters and items etc. on it?

Again, script. There's a Scripts section of these forums, as well as a Script Requests section. You'll find them useful.

- how can i change the money system like everquest or world of
warcraft?

Purely cosmetic scripts. I mean, you can do it with one, but what difference does it actually make?

- how can i set a casting delay on a skill?

That's going to depend on your ABS, of course.

- how can i make fights time based instead of turn based?

This, once again, is what an ABS does.

- how can you make an enemy respawn after a certain amount of time?

Hey, an ABS question with a quick and easy answer! Pages one and probably two of the enemy Event are the "Enemy is Alive" pages-- Page One checks if you're too near, Page Two attacks you once you are too near. Page three kicks in once you kill the enemy. It should be Parallel Process, and should wait a large number of frames, and then reset the self-switch that activated page three, making the enemy alive again.

I know that this is a flash game but the idea is still cool.

? RMXP isn't a flash game. It's a C++ design tool what writes games in RGSS, a specialized form of Ruby.

- how can i make it so the day goes by in the game, and at different
parts of day there are different encounters and different chances of
encounters?

I'm assuming here that you're using the ABS previously mentioned. You'll want to have a time system in use, which can be done with events or scripts. Then you'll want to have your Enemy events have pages that are blank if the time is at certain points.

If you aren't using an ABS, the answer is very different indeed-- you might consider using duplicate maps for different times of day, which would mean you'd be making a lot of maps, but, y'know, would save you a lot of scripting.

- how can i make it so the player can use an item to prevent being
attacked by random encounters as much?

With an ABS, see the previous answer. With the default encounter system, time for a script.

- how can i make it so i can be able to have multiple load games?

Uh, there are already four save slots basic to the game. Did you need more, or am I completely misunderstanding the question?

- how can i make it so i can get mounts?

Set Move Route lets you change a player's speed. See above for things changing the rate of encounters.

- how can i make monsters on the map move around and start a battle when they run into me?
I cant figure it out. I cant get them to move without activating the event, which then attacks me if i have it set to. I cant run it parralel because the event will trigger me being attacked, and i cant do it by just running into it because then it wont be moving before i bump it.

Well, this ties in to the ABS, but you can do this with a non-ABS system, too. Here's the deal.

Go to an event. See that "Autonomous Movement" section? If you change that to something other than "Fixed," the event will move on its own, without needing the rest of the event to be active. Then, you set the event to Player Touch, and have the event itself run Battle Processing. Or, for an ABS, you have it follow whatever coding the ABS requires.

Having looked over all of these questions, I think that the first thing that you really need to do is read the manual. The game comes with a help file, and you might want to start there. You'll also want to go and play around with all the different features and commands so that you can get an idea of what RMXP is already capable of.

Second... Good God, are you trying to make Diablo in RMXP? That's very ambitious, and I think you may want to scale back your ideas for your first project. Get a feel for the engine and what it's good at. Look at other people's projects. Work your way up to your magnum opus. You'll find that a little bit of advance practice will make your final project work much better.

 

[Unka Josh]

OH and the one that has been driving me insane since its the one i've been working on the most since i just started is with the map.
I try to include things from multiple tilesets but the program just doesnt work that way. is there a way to get around that?

Yes. First, it's possible to add a few minor things such as signs, pipes, or fountains by making them Events.

Second, while you can only use one tileset per map, there is no limit to the size of a tileset. You can merge tilesets vertically in an art program. (Width has to stay the same, however.)

Of course, when you add a new tileset, you'll need to set passability and priority for each tile by hand, which is a decent amount of work, but you're clearly ambitious, so some extra work shouldn't be that bad-- you can just copy the settings of the tileset from the database by hand, instead of having to reason it out.

 

[kmogusar]

Heh... yeah maybe i shoulda read the manual before i went through all the tutorials. after the first 2 or so i really didnt learn anything new, but it seems that there were more than enough simple answer to all that stuff.
As for my first project... not nearly that scale. right now my project is a town. I want a skill shop and a store in the town, and buildings that i can enter that look decent. the only things i havent succeeded in yet are making buildings that dont look 2d. i want em to be more like 2.5d, and second is getting the skill shop not to sell certain skills to me until i reach a certain level.
My end project will be much more ambitious, if i dont decide that the scripting is too much of a pain to do it on. I'm not thinking diablo scale... diablo is kinda boring as far as skills go. more like asheron's call or elder scrolls. =p

I guess i still need to look at what priority is on tilesets. I took a look at it but i figured it was probably pretty useless. i was wonderiing if the tilesets had a limit for how far down they could go... guess that one is solved

thanks for taking your time to answer =)

 

[Unka Josh]

Good luck to you, then.