game_variables vs gameVariables etc in scripts

[alphawiz]

In my research and in reading the forums and various pages put online by many of you, I keep coming across references to variable names like $game_variables, $game_party, etc, yet whenever I have tried to use these values they give undefined reference areas or other errors.

How is it that some people can use them and some can't? Am I missing something, or is this just VX users writing code for MV users and not knowing the variable names? Is there a comprehensive reference put out by Kadokawa ?

 

[JtheDuelist]

@alphawiz It is a matter of the programming language- VX/VXAce uses Ruby, while MV uses JS. They are writing the plugins as if it were in Ruby, not JS.

 

[alphawiz]

That makes sense. Unfortunately, it doesn't make it any easier when trying to follow coding examples, though. LOL

 

[Zeriab]

Actually, it makes things easier because it's usually pretty easy to identify whether it's for XP/VX/VX Ace or if it's for MV.
That's much better than the alternative where the code looks similar but actually works differently.

 

[alphawiz]

It may be easy for people who are familiar with XP/VX/VX Ace. Having not seen any of them, I can't tell the difference. I'm not that familiar with Ruby and honestly, a lot of the scripting languages look very similar when dealing with basic assignment and statements and function calls.

Too bad the RPG Maker developers didn't use names like MV_Varname and VXA_Varname huh?

I've been trying to find reference guides and there just don't seem to be any. If anybody has a link, I'd love to get it. (RPG Maker MV only!)

 

[Aloe Guvner]

Just an FYI: There's no requirement to write variables like_this in Ruby or likeThis in Javascript, it's just the preferred style, and the RPG Maker developers followed each style.

You may see some early plugins for MV by former Ace users that use the "wrong" style, although it is still perfectly valid syntax.

If you're following a VXAce tutorial, and replace all instances of game_variables to gameVariables, it probably still won't work because built-in methods are different between Ruby and Javascript.

Best to try to use MV-specific tutorials wherever possible.

 

[alphawiz]

Oh, I know the syntax is valid, it's the fact that the variables don't exist when you try to reference them and it throws an error like 'undefined is not a function" or "unknown" or some such. Errors like that tell me that it's not a valid variable as far as MV goes. It's not as if they're interchangeable.

 

[gstv87]

How is it that some people can use them and some can't?

same way some people can translate French into English, or Spanish into Portuguese

It's not as if they're interchangeable.

they are, and they are not.
an object identifier in Ace that references the same object in MV may be named differently, but if you unify both under one denomination, they'll always reference *the same object*

*the opening onto a wall to fit a movable separator mounted on hinges*, will always be *a door*, name it in English, German or Chinese.

 

[Nolonar]

Is there a comprehensive reference put out by Kadokawa ?

I don't know about that, but you can easily see what those variables are called by looking into rpg_managers.js, where they're declared at the very beginning:​

Spoiler

var $dataActors       = null;
var $dataClasses      = null;
var $dataSkills       = null;
var $dataItems        = null;
var $dataWeapons      = null;
var $dataArmors       = null;
var $dataEnemies      = null;
var $dataTroops       = null;
var $dataStates       = null;
var $dataAnimations   = null;
var $dataTilesets     = null;
var $dataCommonEvents = null;
var $dataSystem       = null;
var $dataMapInfos     = null;
var $dataMap          = null;
var $gameTemp         = null;
var $gameSystem       = null;
var $gameScreen       = null;
var $gameTimer        = null;
var $gameMessage      = null;
var $gameSwitches     = null;
var $gameVariables    = null;
var $gameSelfSwitches = null;
var $gameActors       = null;
var $gameParty        = null;
var $gameTroop        = null;
var $gameMap          = null;
var $gamePlayer       = null;
var $testEvent        = null;