is there a way to remove the combat system?

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Hi, I'm working on making some short, king's quest style adventure games, that wouldn't use the combat system. Since RPG Maker outputs a pretty big file, I'm wondering if there's a way to completely remove the combat system to save on file size? I know you can get into the game script, but I don't know what I would want to remove.

 

[Llareian]

Reducing the size of the script files won't help you, you'll only save bytes of data.

However, removing all the enemies and troops from the database, and then deleting all the enemy pictures might save a considerable amount.

 

[Andar]

The script itself isn't big and you would gain very little by editing out that code.
However, if you don't use any combat, you can empty the database of all troops and enemies (which is again only a bit, but an important bit) and if you have no enemies, you can remove both enemy folder with their pictures (which will get your size down quite a bit).

 

[Poryg]

rpg_scenes: Scene_Battle, rpg_windows: Window_Battle whatever is after that, rpg_objects: Game_Battler and Game_Troop, rpg_sprites: Sprite_Battler and anything related to that (for example Sprite_Battler has Sprite_Enemy as a child class). Also there are some chunks of code related to battle scattered around, but the things I mentioned remove most of the code.

But I have to ask you... Is it worth it?

MV core scripts don't even equal 1 MB in size (these are mostly older versions, but the newer versions aren't too much bigger, since three of them are up to date despite being 1.4.0 and in the remaining three only like 6 lines of code have been added compared to the versions shown on the picture). You'll only gain potential bug issues.

@Andar removing enemies from database etc. is equal to about 4 KB. The pictures are what's the most important though, I agree with that.

 

[Andar]

@Poryg if you remove the pictures without removing the database entries that use those pictures, you'll risk dependency errors. That is why I said that removing the database entries is important while in itself doesn't do much.

 

[Poryg]

Ah, that is right, completely forgot about that

 

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Ah, bummer. I have actually already removed all the combat images already. The game file is still like 45MB, which seems way too big. Games I've made with Flash and Game Maker are usually less than 10MB.

 

[Shaz]

The audio takes up a whopping chunk. Is that the deployed size? If you check the 'exclude unused resources' option when you deploy, it will leave out any resources that aren't used.

 

[Poryg]

Also, the default program takes some space, which just can't be helped.

Nevertheless, how is 45 MB too big for a game? Do you intend to deploy it on Android?

EDIT: Btw. Game maker and Flash are kind of another level with filesize. Only MV's exe file (node.js) takes around 15 MB. And there is no way around unless you intend to develop a completely new rendering app in a different programming language.

 

[Leon Kennedy]

Ah, bummer. I have actually already removed all the combat images already. The game file is still like 45MB, which seems way too big. Games I've made with Flash and Game Maker are usually less than 10MB.

You can cut like 10 MB if you compress all the images I suggest you check out this thread https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/compress-100-pngs-at-a-time.89633/

Also the audio can be compressed in audacity, I put it on 2 quality and really dont hear any difference but the audio loses quality so its up to you.

 

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Also, the default program takes some space, which just can't be helped.

Nevertheless, how is 45 MB too big for a game? Do you intend to deploy it on Android?

EDIT: Btw. Game maker and Flash are kind of another level with filesize. Only MV's exe file (node.js) takes around 15 MB. And there is no way around unless you intend to develop a completely new rendering app in a different programming language.

Like I said, I've made some pretty extensive games in Flash and Game Maker, and the biggest ones come out to around 12MB, but like I said, most are less than 10MB. Right now, for the small incomplete project I'm working on (Windows version), all of the www folder is like 25MB, which is fine, lots of big 3D rendered graphics, the top level is like 79MB, the EXE itself is 45MB. I'm pretty baffled by why it needs to be so big.

My short term plan is to make some short and silly adventures to get a feel for MV and using 3D rendered graphics, so a small file footprint would be the courteous thing to do.

 

[Shaz]

don't the graphics get bundled into the exe?

 

[Poryg]

Alrighty, I'll try to explain.
Game maker uses a compiled programming language. A compiled programming language takes a code and compiles the set of instructions into a set of instructions PC is then able to decompile, read and execute. However, not every machine can execute it. Exe files cannot be executed on linux and mac without use of emulators or virtual machines. Same with trying to execute mac programs on windows and linux or linux programs on windows and mac.
There is one exception to this, it's called Java. Java is a multiplatform compiled language. But it achieved it by developing their own code decompiler known as Java virtual machine. Without this you won't be able to launch java programs (unless other methods have been used, but nevermind these now).
However, RPG Maker MV uses Javascript. And Javascript is not a compiled language, but an interpreted language. Which means that you can use it on anything that is capable of interpreting it. The disadvantage is, you need an interpreter to interpret the code. And you can't find the interpreter installed in your PC, because these files aren't binary executables.
Not only that. Javascript is also a server based language. You can't just make javascripts and puff them into a program, they are for handling things regarding a website. And what is the file that is known as a website? HTML format!
However, HTML is not a convenient format to run a game on, especially if you want to be able to launch it through an exe like you'd do with any other game. So you essentially need an exe file, which is a web browser with /www/index.html set as a homepage. Not only that, but you also need a MULTIPLATFORM web browser due to MV's multiplatformingness!
For that RPG maker MV uses node.js tools known as nw.js.
Now nw.js is not a fully fledged web browser. You can't use it as a web browser. However, it uses Google's Chromium (the core of Google chrome that is now open source) to interpret javascript. And Chromium does not work properly when it's not interacting with a server, but with a localhost. More precisely it will not load you any files unless it operates with a server (in other words Microsoft edge works with no issues on localhost, but Google Chrome does not). So you need to build a server inside your machine... And nw.js contains the tools to build and maintain a server for as long as it's running.
This is why rpg maker's MV exe file (which I was told some time ago is just a renamed nw.js) is so huge and why it's inevitable. It's essentially a web browser containing javascript interpreter and tools to build and maintain a server... Along with lots of other functions I have probably omitted to keep it simple.

If you want a small executable, you're free to convert the javascripts to C++/Delphi and run the game using OpenGL or Direct3D. But that is manual work, because there are no convertors that will do it for you and because you also need to create your own graphics renderers.

@Shaz this would be the case only when you build the exe with Enigma virtual box.

 

[Shaz]

yeah, I think I was getting confused with encryption.