Scenario Questions & Answers 261-270

( Pyra4738 & Anxiety44 )
(you each asked the same question at the same time too!)

Q261:
(a) (Pyra47) Is there a way i can send my friends my game and make it so they don't have to go through scenario to play it? I don't want them messing with my game.

(b) (Anxiety) First of all. I love the engine, now to the question, Can I make my RPG into a stand-alone exe type file?
Thanks

( Topaz )
A261: Greets Pyra47 & Anxiety:

It does seem like there will be a

world compiler after all !
With the conversion of *.SPR to SPR.DAT and other files now being loaded internally, this does all work towards everything being read in only once and ready for compilation.

Oddly enough the compiled world files will not have the customary logo screen but one of your own choosing, not have my (C) or

notice anywhere. As always,

is 100% Freeware so there is no licensing and/or distribution fees, nothing at all. The only discernable item will be the little

that appears in the bottom-right-hand corner for busy activity. That will be enough for me, and I'm curious to see what commercial worlds will be made and marketed through my little engine. Hopefully I can learn new good programming techniques from trying out these worlds.

Hope This Helps !

( Sayonaran Avon )

Q262:
What happened to the set you were using to make the sprites from 11.15.01 to 04.01.02?? I liked thosed sprites alot, and when you started using CharD... well, I thought 'tubers' and hoped something better might come up. Now you have this new thing happening, and I'm thinking 'well... close but no cigar.' So, do you have an editor or something, or am I stuck with your current set?

(C:) Hope this new version of Scen3k supports Win 3.1! I just got a (kof) used computer, and it was all I could afford for now...
[sobs]
... But jump for joy in July! That's when I get that brand spanking new one, baby! (that'll run Win98, duh).

-- Spinner!

( Topaz )
A262: Hi Spinner:

How goes your software company ?
(Could you please write me the Company Email again since I have started a new address book?)

The sprites you are referring to are from the first set I had.
I've actually got 50+ sets all different in the 32x32 set, though several did get lost in the two HD crashes during that time period. However, you are not alone in this (even myself) would like to see true 32x32 sprites instead of the nice hash attempts I did at the 16x24. While I don't think these can look any better than I have them, they look a little blurry and that doesn't look good on my part ..

The Add-On Sprites for the end of April will be true 32x32 and will be selected (as well as I can) to follow in the line and style of the original sets back in November of '02.

(C:) I think I kept trying to convince myself that

was going to carry the brunt of all the work I was doing for

. Now it seems not, there are too many changes to make .. I'm pretty sure the X will run for Windows 3.1 since it will be a from scratch project after all, and possibly skinnable (haha joke to myself) .. Just be sure to let me know on any of the versions that have problems so I can fix them early.

Actually regarding skinnable aps I found my last copy of MDX Jukebox source from January 2003 and have been nipping adding pieces at it, getting it in better shape. I'll post it when it's all done.

Regarding your new computer, here's wishing you it's a girl !
They don't breakdown as much and seem to be more intuitive ..

Hope This Helps !

( Jake the RPG God )

(C:) Hi all! Great site and program

Q263:

(a) Could you post a list of what all of the icons in sprite mesenger do pleez? I keep getting very confused.

(C:) Hi again! sorry for the inconvience but I thought to ask this just after I sent my previous post

(b) you probebly got this one a zillion times before but what exactly is scenario X and what additional features dose it plan to offer?

(c) Scenario v03-0406 dosen't like to resize

(d) (i.e. if you do it will sometimes go all white the sound stops and it locks up untill you press enter and even then it shrinks back down tiny or it just stays white no matter what)

Why is this?
(I tried to report this on the link for problems but it wouldn't let me)

( Topaz )
A263: Greets JRG:

(a) Current

has an information panel for each of the Sprite Messenger Icons now. To hide/replace the window, hit F2.
You can download

vTB1 by clicking

.

(b)

is in the making .. It's a dream I have for a new system and may not be seen until 2004. Current

is a very big and busy program and I'm ready to start my new project, but I need to finish up Rain, the Compiler, and some other fixes and features to current

before I start to work on new

. Occasionally I'll show something from it I worked on, but the system is far from usable yet.

(c) In order to facilitate the large variations of screen sizes that everyone has on their different versions of windows, I have made 4 sizes, and you can stretch the window by grabbing the corner with a mouse and dragging in any direction if you want a custom size.

To flip between the 4 sizes, hold down the

key and without letting go, hit the

key once. Do this until you have found a screen size you like.

(d) If the screen goes white it has just entered sleep mode to conserve system usage for other tasks. click anywhere on the white and hit any key to wake it back up.

will only enter sleep mode if you click outside of the window or have a different task active.

Hope This Helps !

( Zeldafreak )

Q264: How do you get Scenario to work with XP? It gives me an error.

( Topaz )
A264: Greets Zeldafreak:

How indeed !

I think the new computer I will be getting will have Windows XP but no guarantees. XP acts very screwy for the direct file access routines I've written for

and I have made many changes since to try and accomodate Windows XP and am still not quite there ..

Current

now has a good debugger however, and if it does not catch the error but hangs, you are welcome to hit

just prior to it crashing. Send me the:

"_DEBUG.TXT"

file created and I can try to track down why it is crashing.

Hope This Helps !

( INeedSeriousHelp )

Q265: I Need help on creating an rpg. Is there a help document somewhere that i can find on the net. The program that i am using is RPG Maker 2003. Everything is pre-made (sprites, background, tiles, etc.) but i dont know how to put my character inside and i dont know how to make a scenario. Please help me...this will be a big help. thanks!!!

( Topaz )
A265: Greets INSH:

comes equipped with a README.TXT file.
To mark the starting position of your player, from the editor hit:

and then put the cursor where you want the player to first appear. You can use the square brackets

located to the right of the

key to go up and down in your 16 maps. When you have a place set, press

and the new starting position for the player will be there !

To enter/exit Testplay to try out your creation, from the editor or Testplay just hit

.

Regarding how to make your own RPG, try out some of the very good ones written by others. Click

to go to the Scenario Station where you can download other peoples' creations.

also comes with the sample game, Suzi's Quest so you are encouraged to play it from the beginning to as far as you can to get an idea of what can be done.

Hope This Helps !

( Shadow )

Q266: Hello Topaz! It's been a while, or for what I consider a while.

Recently you sent me an e-mil about an inquiry I had on buying objects through the Sprite Messenger with the usage of Gold. It was very complicated to me, I sort of understood it, but the last thing I thought I would be asking you has come back to haunt me?

When you et some time on your hands, if possible, could you please give me an example?

( Topaz )
A266: Hi Shadow:

Actually (drum roll...)

You can download the newly updated Answers world by clicking

.

NOTE! In answering this question I found a few nasty bugs in the Inquiry module and as such you must use

version 03-0502 or later. You can get that version of the engine by clicking

. Some additions include listing your Goldpieces for any RPG inquiry now and force-run to any label no matter it's position whether it's above, below, or equal to the same page you are on in the Sprite Message.

Those of you too shy to point out some of the logic errors to me from my engine in your complex Inquiry routines, well you should check this one and see if it fixes all of the problems now.

Thanks to Shadow for pushing the Inquiry routine to it's limits to test it out and prompting me to find these errors.

Hope This Helps !

( Sergio )

(C:) Hey, just wanted to make a comment or advice i should say. Instead of making a file for every sprite, why don't you make a file for every map, and in the map file scenario could put the script there. see ya.

( Topaz )
(C:) Hi Sergio:

Hopefully all files are now converted to the single SPR.DAT file.
If they haven't been, you can nip your newest copy of

which includes an auto sprite convertor by clicking

Hope This Helps !

( Kana )

Q267: Hi, Mr David I,m From INDONESIA
* WOW !
And Mr David I'm not a spammer (what is a spammer and spamming anyway?)
*(Kuru it the name of the world rpg game that I'm trying to build.
AHEM! My Alias Would Be "DorothY" (like in GUNDAM > WING)

(note to readers, Ms. Kana has several questions. I will place a checkmark beside a question when it has been answered)

(a) "How to use personna and alias? like do I like Paste a gif picture and give a number with a corresponding coloured box?(honest to god I didn't know!!!)

(b) "How to create an event that connected between two or more NPC , ?"

(c) "Do I mail you the in the correct mailbox?"

(d) "Do you know where I could get alot of examples about connecting events?"

(e) "I tried using the question mark you know to make the character make a choice but suddenly the game pop out saying illegal operation and stuff so is it because i was using it wrong or there something wrong with the scenario engine?"(I needed the character to make a choice between choices tha could lead to a different ending!!!)

(f) "Same thing when I tried using label using the icon that said label (related to Q5) So am I using it correctly or something ? give me an example using label icon inside a conversation.

(g) "How to make two NPC walk around like a sentry guard patrolling ?"

Hi mr DAVID W, sir
It's me KANA
say I got questions for you!!! (These are good questions !)
(h) "How to make the items in the inventory dissapear like I got the shovel and I want to give it to the farmer ?"

(i) "Where I could obtained plenty of samples on the basic yet more complex sample of using sprite command?"

(j) "In the game I like the main character to use Projectile weapons and during battle the character slash using cutting weapons.. so is there is anyway to change the slashing graphics?"

(k) How to place boss monster on a map ? there is not a boss monster button on sight!"

Thank you for reading and answering my Email Mr David I'm sorry if my letter is faulty
> (I still a rookie here) bye-bye!!

( Topaz )
A267: Greetings Dorothy:

I see you found the Q & A with little difficulty nor are you shy in asking all your questions ..
Phew ! You've got quite a bit here !

You'll have to give me a few days to answer this all ..

(a) To display the player's name in a message use *PNAM. That's asterisk

8 (eight) followed by

P N A M all linked together, *PNAM. When

sees this, it exchanges those 5 characters into the player's name.

To have the player's portrait appear in the far left or right in a message window, from the Sprite Messenger, hit

(make sure you are on the word PLAYER), and hit

then tell whether you want the player's Anime Portrait to appear on the left or right-hand side of the screen, and hit

. Your message will auto-magically be adjusted and re-formed with the new Anime Portrait you just added !

You cannot have a portrait on both sides at the same time.
To change the player's Anime Portrait, from the Main Menu Editor hit

and then choose from the graphic list with the blue arrow facing to the right pointing directly to the Anime Portrait you want to be seen for the player.

To change the player's Anime Portrait during the game (like in a Sprite Message), use:

followed by the number you want for the player from 1 (the brown haired boy with the blue shirt and white headband) to 24 (the guy in the red/black armor). Remember also you can import new Anime Portraits by including a copy of the picture in a bitmap format pixel-sized 48x48 pixels directly inside your \REALM\ directory with the following names. FACE00 FACE15 FACE23, where the filename is from 0 (zero) to 23 (twenty-three) and always using 2-digits for the filename. Notice that I have included FACE15.BMP inside \REALM\ for the Sample Game as an example.

There are also 220+ Anime Portraits I have prepared especially for Worldbuilders and ready for importing which you can download from

.

BE CERTAIN TO FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS LISTED ALL THE WAY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE IMPORT PICTURES FOR BEST RESULTS.
THE WAY LISTED THERE IS THE WAY TO IMPORT MOST IMAGES FOR

(b) To link one or more Sprites together, merely have the player be on TOP of a new Sprite when they have finished moving from a different one. There is an example of this found in Suzi's Quest here:

Walk one space to the RIGHT and then try to walk to the LEFT .. you won't be able to !
There are 3 sets of Sprite Messages there and each one says some text, scoots the player over one step and finishes.

Because the player has MOVED and is currently atop a Sprite when the Sprite Messenger finishes, the player will THEN run that next Sprite not giving the player a chance for movement or menu activity at all.

(c) My Main Mail Box is dw817@myway.com

and my SPAM-Box is dw817@yahoo.com .
You'll have better luck reaching me on my Main Mail Box at MYWAY.com.

(d) Try out Chibiness's world file Ophelia's Quest to see some very good examples of linking sprite messages from one to another.

(e) Using the choice icon in the Sprite Messenger is about the hardest thing there is to do in

so don't feel like you're alone on this.

Here is an example of a correct one.
You must have this on the last line of any Sprite Messenger page. If not, it may not work or it may crash. It's not perfected.

Entering Testplay, three choices will appear, RED GRN BLU. If you chose RED for instance, then the program would go to the label name of R. The label names can be up to 8 characters and the choices up to about 20 characters or so. Do some experimenting with it to see how you can use this for your own world files.

(f) You really shouldn't mess with setting a label with the

just yet. It's more difficult than the current way you do labels right now.
Save that for

when it is written. To set a normal label, from the Sprite Messenger hit

(make sure you are on the word LABEL), hit

and then type out the LABEL FOR THIS PAGE only. To clear a label for a page hit

when it asks for the name.

(g) One of the items missing from current

is the ability of independent action. That is, whilst the player is bopping about via player controls other sprites directed differently react to the player's movements. This is not here, but will be for

once I start on it.

To give the "illusion" of a guard pacing his perimeter, just let the player get close enough, make use of the shadow command

to redirect the NPC to a new location and then control the Sprite from there to walk about for a bit and then return control back to the player.

If you just want to have animation for the player darting past the guard. Then you can have both moving at the same time. Let me know if this makes sense or you need further assistance as the shadow command in the Sprite Messenger is a little tricky to understand.

(h) To return Mr. Grubbe's Shovel, just set the flag back to OFF:

This is in essence "resetting" the item.
Remember that the

as the first character in a SWITCH NAME says that it will show up in the player's inventory when you check your items in Testplay.

Future

will allow you to enter Sprite Messages directly for making "use" of that item in your inventory but right now I'm waiting for some feedback on MicroKey^© to see if it works or not.

(i) There are a large number of Sprite Messenger examples found in the Answers world.
You have already found Mr. Grubbe's Shovel so you are welcome to explore that world.
Remember to hit

when you are on top of a Sprite to read their Sprite Messenger Message.

(j) Not at this time no. The player's attack is limited to a slash, and I must confess, that's not an image but a series of vectors drawn which is really unfair for Worldbuilders like you later who want to import a series of images instead of circles and lines. The "slash" may change to 2-4 importable images. It makes sense to do this and allows you to make new "slashes" later in the game. I need to remember to give the player the option to jump up and slash or to stay in place (like firing a pistol).
A very good suggestion on your part of importing a new "slash" template, thank you !

KANA'S Q & A CONTINUES TOMORROW

( Infernal Wind Strider )
(Persona #12 is in use, selecting next lower)
Q268:

(a) hey,i'm new at using this program and i can't figure out how to place stuff down,import stuff i downloaded,and all that stuff,i was just wondering if u culd help me on this?(sorry,it's a big question)

(C:) u did an awesome job on this site,thanxs for making it and the free software
I've figured some stuff out now after a hour or so,but i still can't seem to find how i import all the stuff i dl'd from ur site into my game,and i can't figure out how I place castles on one tile instead of having them on the entire world:S

(b) so culd u tell me how to import stuff and

(c) how to make a tile go on one spot or three spots or whatever??? if u caN i appreciate it:D signed:Infernal wind strider

( Topaz )
A268: Greetings IWS:

(a) Not at all. It's very easy to place tiles. From the main editor, hit the

key and use the arrow keys to select a new tile. To hide the information window hit F1 (F-One) that's a single keystroke located just about your normal 2 (two) key to hide/re-appear the information window.

Once you've selected a tile, hit

to confirm it and you are back to

!
From here you can either hit the

to plot a single tile, or holding down the

key, touch any of the arrow keys including diagonals from the NUMBER KEYPAD. You should have the NUMBER KEYPAD LOCK OFF to use these special keystrokes and you will plot a tile at the current location and the cursor will then move to the direction you told it. Doing this, it is easy to create maps in a short amount of time.

You should know that some tiles have predetermined definitions and characteristics. The best way to find out is to touch them with your player, to try to play as far as you can in Suzi's Quest to learn what is possible to write in the system and to try out other people's world creations.

To place other objects, hit

and choose the type of object you would like to add here.

(b) Remember that the large 64x64 Castle is a sample Alpha Object and not a tile.
To place a Castle Tile, from the main menu hit

and move the snap-cursor to the very top row and 4th column across starting from the left. Hit

and now you have selected the Castle as your new plotting tile.

Follow the directions listed above to select new and plot tiles. There is a grey background around the castle so it will blend in with other tiles. To make a warp on the Castle (for instance, to go to a new map), put the cursor directly atop the single tile of the castle and hit

and then type out the name of the warp you want to go to. If this is a new world, well there aren't any so we're going to create one now. For this example, type out:

followed by

.

A warning will pop-up that there is no matching warp name found (which is correct) since we haven't defined it yet, so hit

to answer YES to this question and we're back.

If you move the cursor away from where you made your warp you will see a

symbol which if you look closely looks like beams of light leaving a transport pad (as well as I could draw it anyways!).
Now you're ready to DEFINE where the game will go when the name CASTLE is called as a warp.

Move the cursor to the location (and map, remember to use the square bracket keys

and

to move up and down in your 16 map choices) and when you are directly on top of where you want the player to appear, hit

and then the letter

(that is the letter R not A). and press

again.

Now type out the name of this warp. Do you remember what you called it ? Type it out:

followed by

and we're done !

Now when you enter Testplay (which you can do so by hitting

at this point), if you walk on the RED warp pad, nothing happens !?

remember, this is just the RECEIVING end of the warp. It is only a marker (or beacon) to tell where the player should warp if the name CASTLE was called.

So go back to the map with the blue warp marker, enter testplay and touch it.
See ? It's not too difficult to make a warp after all.

Now, you could use ABSOLUTE warp but this won't be allowed in future

so I am not emphasizing or explaining it. This will yield infinite number of maps instead of just 16.

(c) You are not limited to just

to plotting tiles. First off, make sure your NUM-LOCK is off. Bring up

. From the map editor, holding down the

key without letting go, tap one of the arrow keystrokes from the NUMBER KEYPAD. You will plot a tile directly where the cursor was and the cursor will move in that direction. Let's try drawing a simple circle.

Hold down

and without letting go hit these keystrokes

and you would have made a nice little circle. To fill it in, go anywhere inside it and hit

. If you were outside the circle don't worry hit

which brings up the prompt asking if you really want to keep this fill. As long as you don't say YES your map is safe. Now suppose you need a whole bunch of these circles for a particular map. Well you could draw all of them but easier still would be to use the CLIPBOARD.

Go to the top-left corner of your circle and this time holding down the

key, hit the following arrow keystrokes from, once again, the number keypad.

(there should be 6 (six) altogether), and you will see that you selected the entire circle. If you can't see the whole circle, hit any of the number keys from 1 (one) to 4 (four) just above the Q W E R on your keyboard to change map zoom scale. You may have to reselect your region if you change map scale during selection.

Now you are ready to copy it to your clipboard so hit

which is just to the right of your other primary 4 arrow keystrokes that are to the right of your

key.

Once you hit

a new notice comes up.
Let's say we want to save it to a custom file so hit

and

, type out the filename like CIRCLE, and hit

. Hit any arrow keystroke minus the

key to deselect a region and you're back !

Ready to plot your new circle ?
Go to a clean part of your map and hit

by itself and

once again to select CUSTOM and then select the CIRCLE filename and hit

to select it. Notice that you now show a region the size of your insert. Now hit

to paste as many copies as you want, and

to exit PASTE mode.

These are difficult concepts to master but once you learn them, it will be that much easier to build your world files.

(C:) THANK YOU ! I probably would have done commercial (like $5.00 registration) or so, but because of my circumstances and the fact that nearly EVERYTHING on the internet revolves around money, I decided against it and instead to go FREEWARE all the way.

This will also be true with future

once I get started on it.

Hope This Helps !

( Clueless )

Q269: Hi, I need some help with importing new graphics into scenerio, couldn't it have an in editor importer because it wont work for me and there's no real help file available for importing sprites.

( Topaz )
A269: Greetings Clueless:

Importing Sprites and other images are expected to be done ONLINE the internet.
While it explains it carefully, there is a more complete example of importing a storyboard found

. As for the Sprites we can import one right from here. Let's use one of the newer ones to show importing 64x64 works as well as the standard 64x128 sprites.

Since I am now understanding a lot of you are not familiar with DOS I will explain where you can do it entirely from Windows.
Here we have a nice little green fellow to the RIGHT of us. Let's say we would like to import HIM over Sprite #3 which is the Warrior Woman with Orange Hair. To do so, put your mouse over the image, RIGHT click (that is, instead of using the normal left click button on your mouse, click the right one).

Save him off directly as a bitmap in \REALM\ with the filename:
SPR02.BMP. When you bring back up

, you will see your import has replaced Sprite #02 or the 3rd Sprite is in place !

UPDATE!
If my MicroKey^© works, future

will allow you to click on the Sprite from the webpage to directly import it without having to save it off as a separate file or image-saving it and that should help quite a bit !

Hope This Helps !

( If you would like to link me, please use this picture, it's just under 10k )