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Topics - schmoggi

1
Hey there,

As you know, we are all restricted to the 32px Tile Movement. The Problem ist, that Movement can look very blocky und feel a bit "unnatural", specially when you developing with a Zelda like Action Battle System in Mind. Though, there are plenty Scripts out there which allows Pixel Movement. Pixel Movement is fine by it self, but personally i don't like it in RPG Maker Games and in many cases you have to use a "Collision Map". Furthermore, i think it is an unnecessary Step. A "half-step" Movement like 16px instead of 32px is already fine in my oppinion and it could be made more precise when reduced to 8px. Anyway .. you run into Problems when you're a Fan of Heretics Scripts.

I guess many People around here know the famous Heretic's Collection  of Art and 100% Compatible Scripts, specially the  Heart of it, Modular Passable Script. If you don't know it, well then get to know it .. it is awesome!

Modular Passable - > http://forum.chaos-project.com/index.php/topic,14986.msg191610.html#msg191610
Collection - > http://forum.chaos-project.com/index.php/topic,13682.0.html

It allows many advanced things like Collision Optimizer, NPC on Event Tiles and the new added Moving Platforms. Things, that should have been in the original Release of XP Maker. If you ask me, i don't want to abandon that Scripts anymore, they offer so much. Sadly, like already said, if you're a Fan of Custom Movement, you have a Problem. In the Modular Passable Script it is stated:

Quote# -----  Compatability  -----
#
# This script will NOT be compatible with any other script that replaces
# either Game_Map Passable or Game_Character Passable.  If a script replaces
# Game_Event Refresh, that can be fixed by putting the entire Game_Event class
# below the conflicting script, but leave Game_Map and Game_Character classes
# in this script above other user created scripts, except the SDK.
#
# If the nature of other scripts is extremely different, expect problems.  So
# other scripts like Pixel Movement Scripts most likely will be too foreign
# for this script to offer any compatability.  Bananas and Screwdrivers.
#
# This is intended for making the Default Movements more Modular only.


I'm here to ask a capable Scripter (or more than one) if someone could take a glance on it and develop a fine Script, based on Modular Passable, which:

- gives you the Possibilty to alter the standard 32px Movement to 16px/8px/4px.
For my personal Taste, 16px would be already enough but i can imagine there are many out there with the desire for finer Movement. Also this would provide more customization

- relies on the standard Collision & Passability Detection
no nasty "Collision Maps"

If it helps, i've already got a fine Movement Scripts through which you can customize the Movement down to 16px/8px and so on. Since i plan to use Heretics Scripts, i can't use it anymore. If it helps, i can post it here so we do not need to make a fresh start and "only" need to make it compatible.

greetz
2
Hello Folks,

i hope the Title is straight forward but i explain it a little bit:

So, our beloved Maker (i'm talking about XP) has three Layers for building shiny Worlds, beside the Event and Fog/Panorama Layer. Though 2D, you can create the fine illusion that there is acutally some Height on the Map, i.e. Hills with different Levely, Mountains and so on. With the Help of the Priority and Passage Settings you create the Illusion for the Player, that he stands above or below something. Right ... we know that, its cool.
But our little Illusion is breaking step by step when we, the developer, think about cool Ideas like Bridges for example that the Player can cross above and below. Sure, there are Solutions for this. You can help yourself out with Events, Terrain Tag and so on. It works, thats fine. But its not cool and it works mostly only for the Player. See, i thought in the past Days a lot about Situations like, we take the Bridge Example again, where the Player and some NPC's give the Illusion there are on different Levels but in reality ... they are not. The Player wants to cross a Bridge and at the same Time a NPC wants to go under the Bridge? Nah! Create cool Dungeons and Situations like in Zelda - Link to the Past where Players and Enemies could act on different Levels in the same Situation? Nah!

Thats what i mean. Like i said, i thought about it and got some Ideas how it could work but the big Question is not how it could work but if it is possible at all with the Limits we have with the XP Maker. So I'm here to ask you cool mighty Scripters if there is any possibilty that this could be happen. My thoughts about it:

- Z Level Variable
NPC's and the Player have a Variable (a local Variable like local switches per Event would come in handy here) that tracks and saves a value.
The Z Level can change when the Player and/or a NPC's walk over some Event that Triggers by Event touch/Player touch and changes the Variable of that Event or the Player. Think of Stairs for example, where the Trigger Event would lie at the beginning and end of the Stairs.

- Collision/Trigger Detection only on same Z Level
We have our Z Level Variables stored, nice! Now the Collision detection must be altered. When it comes to collision/triggering it should be checked, if Player/Event is on the same Z level. If yes, well .. do your thing. If no, ignore that one. The Trigger/Interaction Thing would be a easy one (Conditional Branch checking if Z Level Variable are same). The big Thing, i guess, would be the Collision thing.

- Passage Detection ony on same Z Level
Now it is gettings interesting. Take the Bridge example again. The Bridge Tiles have different Passage Settings that the Ground below would have. So how we accomplish, that i.e. a NPC can walk below a Bridge and at the same Time the Player above the Bridge can actually walk over it and ONLY walk over it and not walk like through magic from one Bridge Tile to a Ground Tile that lies logically below?
Exclude Passage Detection for Tiles that don't have a specific "Z Terrain Tag". Okay, wait whats that all about i've come up with? Let me explain:
First, we would need an addition to Terrain Tag. There are scripts out there which allow unlimited Terrain Tags. Thats fine but we need the Possibility that a Tile could have a Terrain Tag and(!) another different Value (or Values), just call it "Z Terrain Tag" for this one. So in short another Terrain Tag Thing where we then can store the Value for the Z Level for a specific Tile. Imagine a NPC have a Z Level of 1 (Ground). The Bridge Tiles have a Z Terrain Tag of 2. Then the NPC would ignore the Passage Settings for the Bridge Tile because it is on another Z Level. It would interact with the Passage Settings of the Tile below the Bridge, in this case a Ground Tile with a Z Terrain Tag of 1.

- Drawing Tiles/Events/Player on the right Z Level
One but importang thing is still unclear. We have the collision detection settled, the Tile Passage Detection Settled. Fine, but how could we tell the System, that when the Player is a Level higher than our NPC under the Bridge and it will Draw the Sprites correctly? I will maker it short. We need more Priorities.
There are 0 to 5. Somehow we have to raise that to 10 for example. I hope that is even possible.
The Bridge Tiles could have a Priority of 1. We all know, a standard Character Sprite has the Priority 0 on the part below and a Priority of 1 on the upper Part.
Now, when the Player walk up stairs, his Z Level Changes to 2. Now his Priority Level would go up too, in this case from 0 to 1 (for the lower part) and from 1 to 2 (for the higher part). Now the Player would be correctly displayer on the Bridge, a NPC on the other Hand with a Z Level of 1 would have the lower Priority Setting and so be displayed under the Bridge because the Bridge Tiles have a higher Priority.

My God ..  i hope anbody can understand this :D. Anyway ... i think this could work. The Thing is, will the RPG Maker XP Limits allow us to implement such ideas?

greetz 
3
Hey Guys,

So it seems i'm finally requesting some scripters help for an idea, that linger a felt century in my head. The Topic isn't smth. new, thats for sure, wouldn't surprise me if even some of you will roll your eyes while reading this... but well, let me just explain :). I think you can get already the Idea from the Subject for what i'm here asking help.

Light Circles respectively areas of Light on the map/screen while everything else dark, simulating Light Effects!? No Problem so far, right? An Light Area around the Player while everything else dark, simulating a lantern? No Problem too, ofcourse! But what if you want to combine this two things? An impossible task at first, people might think. But it's not a secret, there are solutions to make this actualy work, people already did this.

I have to admit, i like to make Things work mainly with Events. Two Reasons for that:

1. I don't have the Motivation to learn rgss (i have some little programming skills in delphi and java, so its not like i'm a complete noob when it comes to that ^^)
2. Working with Events is a kind of challenge for me, creating complex things (that work smoothless and not hitting performance) is really fun.

Anyway... so, i too combined the two things described above with the Light Effects successful... with Events, mostly! My Solution was, to combine Events with some Light Graphic with other Events also with the same Graphic but, with a specific Letter in their Name (e.g. #), set to viewport 2 (instead of 1, as it is standard). So one of the Events acutally acts like a Picture. Furthermore i combined this with putting a specific Picture to Viewport 3 (because i set some Events to 2, where normally the Pictures are). With this Picture, i simulate the original Tint Screen Color Function, the brightness to be accurant. Its a White Picture, set to Blend Type SUB and with a specific Opacity Value. In this way, like said, i can simulate the original Thing Screen Color Effect. Maybe you already know now how this actually look like when you change this White Picture to one with a transparent Hole in the Center. Yes, a Lantern effect (when put on the player), which can move around with the Player and at the same time there can be Light Effects at other positions like torches etc. It needed some time until i figured how to make this work...

But there is one Problem, that can't be fixed. I has obviously to do with the tint effect combine with the events etc. The thing is, when two Light effects are too close, an ugly "effect" is created... "overlighting". If more than two, it becomes even worse... resulting in a ugly color spot.

Example:

Not nice, huh?

So... thats why i've come here to ask for help. I investigated for some Light Scripts, that actualy have what i need and come across this one here http://www.hbgames.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=74494

Fine, problem is it has all the other stuff, time, day n night. Things i dont need, things that not needed in the script (at least for me personaly). Then i found this here on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpfNBQiKX1w

Sadly, i could not find this script anywhere, i tried to search in google etc.... no chance! But this Video give a good Idead of what i'm searching. So, would be very cool if some expert here could create something :/...  Furthermore, my Idea of Functionality of a possible Script:

- The actual Form of Light is a graphic file (light circle e.g.)
- A specific Letter in the Name of the Event says if this Event is a light source
- By a call script the darkness can be controlled/set
- The Light Sources should be moveable (Guards with torches for example or Player lantern)

Thanks for reading, hoping for answers!

greetz