RPG Maker Forums

I know this topic has been talked about, seemingly a lot, in the past and this isn't a thread asking if it's possible, but to share an idea I had.  I'm sorry if this is in the wrong area or already talked about somewhere else (if it is, point me to it, I did a lot of searching).

First, I don't know the inner workings of RPG Maker.  I think I understand things like where certain data is stored, but not 100% sure, so if I'm just totally off on all of this, please let me know so I can just forget it.

With that said, I've been messing around with using a combination of an .exe file and YSE Patch System script to create DLC/Episodic content.  This would work only with unencrypted games at this point, but I'm looking into a way to apply it to encrypted games as well.

The idea is to provide an .exe that does two things.  The first thing would extract the new maps (or other data/files that the patch system can't handle) where they need to go.  The second would be to extract the patch file where it needs to go.  

So lets say in episode 1 you have the user save on map id: 007 that has an exit, but that exit just leads to a screen saying "episode 2 coming soon". Using the patch system alone, you could change that same exit to now teleport your character to the next area, but for that to work, the original install has to already have a map 008 (and the patch system doesn't have the ability to add it).  If you're trying to add content, it would only produce an error.  So by using an exe, map 008 gets extracted to /data, the patch tells the game to change the event to a teleport event, and this problem is fixed

Theoretically, using this method, saved games would not be corrupted, all the episode 1 content would not change (unless you patched changes in), and everything would carry over to the new content.  This method is more like adding DLC or an addon, but it can be done without much effort.  I think the same concept could be applied to true episodic content (i.e. pick which episode you want to start on the menu)

To do this, you could use the exe to add all the maps and the patch file to include a script that adds a menu option on the start screen that starts episode 2.  You'd need to also include other scripts that could either allow you to store/restore items, levels, choices, etc, or just have a menu option to teleport you to a new map using a saved game file (I've seen both on VX, so I assume they're out there or possible on Ace).

With all that said, what do you guys think?  I've tried this out, albeit on a small scale (adding 1 map and using the patch to add an event to transfer character), and it seems to work.  There are a few problems I foresee, but if you know what you're doing they can be avoided.  

*Edit* I put it in this category because I figured it was more of an additional gameplay mechanic (since it has the potential to break a game) rather than anything else, hope I was right...