Event System Support (expert users only)

[Lunarea]

This is a thread for support on COMPLEX eventing, beginner questions do not belong here, create your own topic for this.

This thread is for trouble-shooting complicated event systems. Please only post in here if you are creating something that would probably end in 'X system' and is more advanced than general usage of the program.

This is not a recruitment thread. Please do not request event systems here or offer to provide event systems for others.

 

[Falados]

Hey, im new to this system and im starting with ACE, what is an event system and such?

 

[Lunarea]

Say you wanted to create a day/night time in your game. You could do that via events. It's a bit more complicated than just a single average event or it might require using several events.

Other examples include using events to create a morality system (good vs evil), relationships between party members, an entire battle system or elaborate and complex puzzles.

Event systems usually require a bit of experience with the program first. Once you've got the basics down, you can delve into the more exciting (and at times frustrating!) world of complex events and event systems.

 

[Falados]

Alright cool thanks, i gotta say i love the fast replys and help that the staff here provides so i know im not left high and dry!

 

[golbez]

I suppose this would be the right topic for this question then...

I'm trying to make a parellel running common event as opposed to an autorun. ie: I'm trying to get a timer to run by setting a wait event of 60 frames and then adding 1 to a timer variable after the wait event. The problem is that since rpgmaker wants to run it as an autorun for some reason the game just freezes up. Is there any way to get a common event to run as a parellel process?

 

[Des]

it should look like that

 

[golbez]

it should look like that

Haha, that's just too easy though. I have the common event in question called from another event so naturally I had the trigger set to "none" which didn't work, so I switched it to parallel process and had the trigger switch just be a switch I'll never use and it still froze up the game by running it as an autorun.

edit: so unless somebody who knows more than me says otherwise, it appears that when a common event is "called" as opposed to being triggered by a switch then it will automatically run as an "autorun" event.

 

[Des]

Don't call it at all. Instead, just turn on the switch that is associated with the parallel-process common event.

 

[yieldingmydestiny]

How many events can be done per map? More than 100? More than 200?

 

[wee_ag]

fairly basic question - I've got a village with two entrances/exits, one from the left and one from the top. The village is only one square big. How do I make events so that when the player walks into the village from the left he is transferred to the left entrance and when he walks into it from the top he is transferred to the top entrance? I've been trying to find something that allows different transfers depending on the direction of travel but am not finding anything.

EDIT - Just figured it out... had to use a "Conditional Branch" with the player direction determining where he transfers to.

 

[Des]

fairly basic question - I've got a village with two entrances/exits, one from the left and one from the top. The village is only one square big. How do I make events so that when the player walks into the village from the left he is transferred to the left entrance and when he walks into it from the top he is transferred to the top entrance? I've been trying to find something that allows different transfers depending on the direction of travel but am not finding anything.

use a conditional branch. like this:

 

[amerk]

Generally, the more events you use the more lag that could occur (more so when you are using a lot of parallel processes). VX had a lot of lag, and an anti-lag script helped, where I've had tons of events with no probelm.

VXA is said to have a better process that prevents lag, but not sure if there is a limit to that, and I have not seen an anti-lag script for VXA yet.

 

[kirinelf]

There IS an anti-lag script for VXA here by Yami. Not quite perfect (Apparently there's an error with looped maps), but should work fine if you don't have looped maps.

 

[noirsoft]

Brand-new to RPG Maker, using trial right now. Have some questions about weather events.

The game idea I am working on during my trial is set on a snowy mountain and its caves, so any outdoor area should have snow weather applied, while all indoor areas have none. The quick (but IMO inefficient) way I've seen to do this is to create a parallel event on each map (or at least every map that adjoins one of opposite weather type) and set the weather type.

1) Is parallel the appropriate trigger for this event? When I set it to "Autorun" control never gets to the player.

2) What I don't like about this method is the duplication of the event data. Should I decide to change the snow level, I would have to go to every map and change it. This gets worse if I want something more than just setting the weather (like playing BGS) for each map type.

I would prefer to set up a set of events (clear weather, snowy weather) perhaps as "common" events and then just put an event on each map that calls the appropriate common event. I tried to do this with setting a switch for a common weather event, but could not get the switch to activate when I entered the map (same problem as above, setting an event to "Autorun" never gave me player control) -- do I need to make the switch setter parallel as well? In addition, turning the switch off did not stop the snow...

Is there a way to set up a weather system simply with the event system, or should I be looking into the scripting system? I've got no problem with diving into the script (I'm a professional game programmer by day) and I'm most interested in determining the edges of the event system (i.e. where it stops being the best way to do things and scripting becomes better)

 

[Lunarea]

You can use parallel or auto-run, but make sure you use the Erase event command right after it. This will make the event start running as soon as you enter the map, but it won't keep continuously running after that. That's what makes the auto-run stop your movement. It just keeps running. Parallel process would also keep running, but it's not necessary since the weather effect stays until you turn it off.

You can use a common event for the weather, but if you're going to be calling it from every map, you may as well just have a regular event on significant maps. It doesn't need to be every map, only the ones where the change in weather happens. Keep in mind that you can copy/paste events easily between maps. So, have one map for your "testing weather" conditions and make an event there that you can copy/paste for other maps. You can delete the old weather events and replace them with new ones.

Hope that helps.

 

[noirsoft]

Thanks, thad did help me get autorun events working. One thing I did notice is that an autorun event only fires when the current event is done, whereas a parallel event happens as soon as the player enters the map. With a weather change on autorun, the change only happens when the screen finishes fading back in (from the move event when transitioning maps) and so looks a bit funny with it snowing indoors for a few frames.

The way I have it now, which seems to fullfil my needs is:

* A set of common events, one for each weather type, to set weather event, BGM, etc. Trigger is "none"

* a parallel processing event on each map (or each map that has a transition to a new weather type) to call the common event. Trigger is "Parallel processing" with an "Erase event" after the call to the common event. (Is this step useful on a parallel event? does it stop the parallel processing, thus improving efficiency?)

Thanks again for the help. VX Ace gets more powertful the more I look into it, which is a very good thing!

 

[Lunarea]

Yes, I should have mentioned that. Auto-run starts after the map is loaded, where parallel process starts before anything else. So, parallel process is definitely the way to go when you want a smoother transition. Auto-run, on the other hand, is great for cutscenes or events where you don't want the player to move during its execution.

The erase event is useful for parallel events that you only need to run once (such as starting a weather effect). Too many parallel process events can lag your game, so it's a good practice to turn them off (erase event or a switch) when they're no longer required.

Glad you're enjoying Ace!

 

[Falados]

i have a question, i have posted this a few times and still have some questions...

i am wanting to make an event to do time frames, i would like a straight answer or an event post if anyone has done it

or can do it to show me cuz i cant widdle it out to work right...i need it to do this

fade screen-sepia "morning"

fade screen-normal "daytime"

fade screen-sunset "sundown"

fade screen-night "nighttime"

now i need the time frames to be morning 2 hrs, daytime 4 hrs, sundown 2 hrs, nighttime 4 hrs.. thats 1 full day "12 hrs=1day"

and i want the 3rd day in the loop to have a rain affect... i can get it to fade in and out with the fade/wait commands but theres

not enough wait frames in a 2-4 hr time frame to make it work so i'm stuck! can someone plz work this out for me??

 

[Celianna]

I would first have to question if it is really necessary to have it run on actual hours. What's wrong with creating your own game-hours?

 

[Falados]

well it dont matter to me, but i figured real hrs would be easier is all

edit: i do kinda have my own time system lol as in its only 12 hrs/day