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- May 8, 2012
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- RMMV
WARNING – Read carefully!
Introduction
The title of the topic says everything. What would be the advantages of transplanting RGSS3 onto a RPG Maker VX game? Maybe to speed up your game, taking advantage of the new and improved Ruby version, or maybe due the improved default built-in “hidden” classes like AudioFile, creation of Bitmaps greater than 2048x2048, using a exclusive layer to put autoshadows, or even to have a better debugging option, etcetera...
Whatever the motives, and since VX and Ace are so similar in various aspects, especially in the “hidden” classes’ working, why don’t try to do this? This was my motivation to do this project so far. I expect to accomplish this, as it could be useful for some peoples here.
Well, I had the idea sometime after they launched Ace, when I remembered something similar was done to run XP with RGSS2. But I only decided to make it only after I saw a topic here, [using RGSS3 with RPG Maker XP], by a PK8.
What is needed to begin?
- RPG Maker VX installed, obviously, as this will be our only editor here;
- (optional) VX and/or Ace RTP, if your game need some of the default resources;
- RGSS300.dll or RGSS301.dll, create a 'System' folder and put it on;
- RPG Maker VX Ace's Game.exe, just replace the VX old one;
- Ace and VX’s Game.ini, just rename them conveniently to Game_VX.ini and Game_Ace.ini, respectively and put on the project folder too;
- Some scripts, presented here (follow the instructions below carefully!);
What to do now?
Prepare you game folder, with the required files cited above. Remembering: (1)RGSS301.dll, in da 'System' folder exactly as it is set on a normal Ace project. (2)Game_VX.ini and Game_Ace.ini, came from RPG Maker VX and RPG Maker VX Ace projects; don’t forget to edit your game title, and other things, in these files. (3) A Game.exe from a RPG Maker VX Ace project (the one with a red dragon).
We will need a grand total of 3 .INI files, because every time you save your project in VX, they change back the Game.ini file, and we need a modified in order to run the project in RGSS3. To avoid the boring part, we will create 2 batch files (.bat) to copy the files needed and run the game automatically.
Creating the batch files
Open the Notepad or other similar editor. (You know how to do it, so I’ll not say how to. If you REALLY don’t know how to do it, get off, this tutorial is not for you, start learning about Windows’n’Computers all over again). Create a file named something like “Convert to Ace.bat” and put it directly on the project root directory. In the file, write this:
Code:
@echo off
COPY Game_Ace.ini Game.ini
COPY Data\Scripts.rvdata Data\Scripts.rvdata2
START Game.exe
Code:
@echo off
COPY Game_VX.ini Game.iniTo run test your game, save the project, and run the first .BAT file. To go back to edit your game (IF AND ONLY IF you’re using the RTP) run the second file we created. BUT WAIT! Before testing we need to insert some scripts in Editor!
Inserting scripts in editor
Actually, there are need to insert 2 scripts in your game: One before the Game engine, to redefine the “hidden” classes. And another one after, to fix some functionalities. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, you will need to edit the Main script too.
The first script is this: [RGSS2 Data Structure for Ace], it redefines all classes on RPG module, and make RGSS3 capable of reading data from VX. It’s a bit adapted from VX to run on RGSS3. A thing to observe is I’ve put the ENTIRE data structure, and it’s REALLY unneeded all of this, only a few adaptations. I’ll do this soon, when I go compare Data Structure from both makers…
The second script is this: [RGSS2 to RGSS3 Fixes], the name says what it does. Even with all Data Structure, we need some little adjusts to everything work. Most of this is to change small details on engine, as they’re identical. See? Is not easy to run VX on RGSS3? Oh, just don't forget to check the Known Issues, it's important.
Edit your Main script. It would look like this, in the useful part(excluding the commentaries):
Code:
rgss_main{
Graphics.freeze
$scene = Scene_Title.new
$scene.main while $scene != nil
Graphics.transition(30)
}NOTES: if you prefer to don't overwrite your Game.exe, just do the following: You can use the Game.ini you want, without necessity of Batch files to replace these. Just use a different name for the Ace's Game.exe (like Game_Ace.exe) and a .INI file with the respective name too (here, Game_Ace.ini). Doing this, this game player with a different name will read the .INI with the same name and will execute the game without problems. Hurray!
Unfortunately the game cannot run in the VX Editor this manner. But I'm thinking I'll do a launcher to solve this issue (only if there's sufficient demand, so let me know if you gonna want to use it). The launcher would include support for $TEST and $BTEST modes.
FAQ/Issues
- Question: I only need this to put it to work? I don't believe!
Answer: Yes, and I don't too. VX and Ace are practically identical, the conversion was easy. It wasn't needed to rewrite drastically any of the default built-in classes, it remained almost the same.Too easy, but it's for testing purposes, this isn't the final code.
- Question: Why my hero is walking above the tops of trees?
Answer: No, he's not the Spiderman. The priority on showing tilesets were not corrected yet. In help files, it says that the priority is the same, so I need a little piece of code, and RGSS3 could interpret the priorites correctly. Bug already corrected in v2.
- Question: It's not working here! What should I do?
Answer: Re-check if you done the steps previously cited correctly. One letter out of place and it couldn't work! Or couldn't work in either way, who knows... It's only a experimental procedure.
Special Thanks
- Dargor, a PK8 and Migetman12;
- RPG Maker Web Staff and Community, specially Lunarea and TouchFuzzy;
- Enterbrain and Degica.
And it’s all, folks! Have fun!
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