Scipts and different layers in VX Ace?

[Pthia]

Ok first of all I am new here, I recently bought RPG Maker VX Ace on Steam and I have tried out some stuff and I really enjoy building worlds for old school rpg's. It reminds me of some program I used way back, can't remember which one though.

Anyway, I have not fully searched the forums for my question so if it's a stupid one or if it has been answered several times before, just lock this down.

I have been browsing the forums for tiles and I have found some amazing graphics that I will be using, I will of course credit everyone which graphics I have been using but I wonder, is there some collection of scripts on here, or is there some official list of easy to use scripts?

I have watched several screens and clips of peoples projects and they use effects such as clouds that cast shadows, shadows in forests that looks kinda like the sun is reaching down through foliage, I have seen "fog of war" type effects and wonder if there is somewhere I can just copy/paste these things or do I have to know how to write scripts from scratch? (Something that you might guess from this question, I do not know how to do)

Then for my second question, I have five different sets of tiles called A, B, C, D and E.

First I model with tiles in A, then I can add from the others on top of A. But  if I add a tile from D on top of one from B, the B one disappear. Is there any way to build a world with more than two layers?

For example if I want to build a forest. In my forest I might want some rocks and trees, some rocks should of course be in between the trees and I want the trees to overlap. If I don't like any of the overlapping trees tiles then I want to just ad trees in different layers and build my forest that way, is that possible or do I have to make several different tiles with rocks behind trees to use in different places or is there an easy way to do this? The same goes for trees in front of cliffs, things behind and in front of houses and so on.

I hope I post these questions in the right place, if not someone can move it to where it belong.

//Pthia

 

[Kes]

Probably the best place to start is Andar's post with tons of essential info and tutorials.  It's here:  http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/14727-a-starting-point-for-new-users-v05/

On it you will find a link to the Master Script List.  There you will find more than enough scripts to be starting off with.  However, I suggest you learn what you can do in the editor without scripts first.  for example, some of those visual effects can be done with 'show picture' commands, 'screen tints' etc.  

Similarly some of the things you were saying about layering can be done through events, though obviously not all and through making your own tiles sets to go on B-E with some of those things already grouped/clumped.  To do layering like you were talking about either requires a script or parallax mapping - but until you can map well in the editor, trying to do parallax mapping is not a good idea.

Other things you were suggesting, like trees in front of cliffs and in front of houses can be done because cliffs and house walls are on tab A.

The standard advice (and the reason it's standard is because it makes the most sense) is to have a look at the tutorials and spend a week or so just playing around with the editor learning what the various functions are.  Time spent doing this will now will save you a lot of time and frustration later on.

 

[Pthia]

Other things you were suggesting, like trees in front of cliffs and in front of houses can be done because cliffs and house walls are on tab A.

Yes but only if I use the autotiles which is in A. Some of the better cliffs I have found here have more rounded corners and look better (maybe these are supposed to be used as paralax but I'm not too sure off how to use that so I won't bother for a while).

I was thinking about importing them as normal tiles. If they are bigger than 32x32 then at least I can use them to make stuff around the area where u walk nicer. But then I can't have them in A. The same with buildings. A lot of people here make wonderful buildings and they don't use autotiles for it.

 

[Galenmereth]

Pthia: Are you familiar with shift-clicking in Ace? You can hold shift + right click to copy a selected area of placed tiles as-is, then shift + left click to place them exactly as they were copied, not triggering auto tiling. This can be used to place roofs on houses that seem to "overlap" grass tiles behind it without triggering auto-tiling (and a dirt border), and a lot of other things.

 

[Shaz]

I've moved this thread to VX Ace Support. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.