Scenario Questions & Answers Forum 41-50

( F.I.A. )

Q41: Please make the line in the Sprite Messenger infinite in the next scenario.For twice I had ended up not enough lines(duh).

( Topaz )

A41: Greets F.I.A.:
I'm not sure I understand you entirely.. Do you want more then 99 lines to a
Sprite Message, more then 5 lines to a Sprite Messenger Page, or more then 999 characters per line ? It's a good question, just please re-word it.

I just got an Email from someone that said Scenario ran too slow on their computer so I may hold off on my writing any new special FX stuff for Scenario until I can isolate why it ran slow on his PC !

These are good questions of yours and very helpful for Q&A, F.I.A.!
Thanks !

Hope This Helps !

( ChUcK )
(Persona #12 is in use by Tristan until January)
You're fine with # 11. Just don't swish when you walk.
Q42: I am VERY VERY confused about how to make a cinema screen. Can you hel with that?

Q43: For the "Find Shovel or item" thing, how do I make a picture of that item or get one? And I'm a bit confused about how to make the guy say"Find my shovel" or something, then give you a item or move. Can you please explain in a easier way?

( Topaz )

A42: Greets ChUcK:

Well first off, there aren't any real cinema screen events. All you are doing is controlling the actions of the Player, NPC, and Camera to create "story" events.

The focus by default is both the Player and Camera. By selecting any of these 3:

You set a new focus. If one is right beside another, and it doesn't matter the order, then more then one focus is selected. For every new Sprite Messenger Page, the focus is Reset back to the Player & Camera by default. To have a long continued animation from the NPC from one page to the next, you would need to select

once again to select focus for the NPC again.

A43: There are no pictures of items in

yet, unless you count those tiny 8x8 icons which you can use as part of an item's name, but it might complicate issues.

Items only appear in the player's inventory if the first character is

. If it's not. Then it is a flag that does get set in

, and you can check for it, but it does not show up in the player's inventory. To give the player the "Shovel", for instance, you would use this in the Sprite Messenger:

. This would LIGHT up the flag

which would appear in the player's inventory only as

. From there it is a simple matter to do a comparison. Making use of the Terminate Icon

this tells

to EXIT when this page is done. You can check for this on a page by doing a comparison by hitting [ESC], Inquiry, and then hitting [TAB] to select the special characters of

which means to branch on this statement if it is LIT, the special

character (typed once again by pressing [TAB]), and then just typing out "shovel" . And for the next inquiry, something simple like "GotIt" followed by [ENTER].

Since You used the

icon you have told the Sprite Messenger to terminate on this page UNLESS the inquiry was true, in which case it will go to the label "GotIt". Quite simply, go to the page after this one, hit [ESC], Label, and enter "GotIt" .

Now you have the page prior to the one with an inquiry to compare for the player having the Shovel. And, if so, to continue to the next page.

You could shortcut this by reversing the flag check and looking for a NotLit bulb and jumping to label

which means to terminate here, but let's see if you understand the prior one first.

(YAWN!)

Scooze me ! I just got thru burning 18 CDs for everyone's Xmas prezzies and it took a-while to get it all. It's 11:04pm here but I'm gonna finish up all the Email first before turning in.

Hope This Helps !

( F.I.A. )

Q44: Mr Topaz.
Nevermind about the lines in Sprite Messenger.Perhaps I'm just writing too much.

Q45: Can you list also all the play Riff files?

Q46: The "beeline".The "flow".What are actually their use?
I used them but found they affect nothing.

( Topaz )

A44: Greets F.I.A.:

Perhaps.. But maybe not. If there's a problem or you want a change, please let me know. I'm out writing this to see and play some great RPGs in the future so it's to my benefit to assist here.

A45: You're lucky I've got them decompressed in my main compile-area. Inserting..

$besitm1	$fnfare1	$inn1	$item1	$wonbat1
$besitm2	$fnfare2	$inn2	$item2	$wonbat2
$besitm3	$fnfare3	$inn3	$item3	$wonbat3

A46: You found another dead command. The Bee I drew.. Huum.. I grew bored.. Sorry..
I also drew the images of pots of honey and flowers for them.. Programmer's boredom..

The Flow Icon however is being used. If it is included on the first page of any Sprite that has the image of either Critter or Sprite, then it will auto-activate instantly that Sprite when you touch it without having to press [ENTER] or [SPACEBAR].

If it is a normal Tile Sprite, then by Flow it means that you can Flow into it. And, even if the tile was not permitted entry, it would if this was one of the characters located anywhere on the first page for that Sprite.

The reverse of course is the Block which means no passage. In this, it will prevent you traveling over this Sprite even if it was normally permitted.

Sometimes it is desireable to use either the Flow or Block in certain instances of complex Hidden/Inverted/Couched Tile arrangements to get the effect that you want.

Since you're really turning out to be a busy BEE yourself, you can see some complex examples of the Flow being used in Suzi's Quest at 03:26/40 and 03:26/41 . Yep, it's that diabolical Invisible Maze !

In truth, the BeeLine may be used later for panning the camera around.. But I actually did doodle some flowers and stuff for it !

Hope This Helps !

( Wren Pheonix )
Q47: I have some questions Topaz (like that is new). (That's fine,but I wanna copy of your game to play naaow! I really want to see what you're up to !)

Alright, I actually started to dig in and make maps, when I found out that I still didn't know enough. I realized that you could not walk from one floor type to the next (example, from grass to cave floor), he would just stop like I was against a mountain. How would I change this? Use the flow switch on every leading edge?

(I mean every place the grass touched the cave floor(see, I already checked your Q&A for possible answers)) or is there an easier way to do it (I would have a heckva lot of grass, ice, cave and firefloor to cover :( )

Q48: Next question, but sorta on the same line, I put some doors into my buildings (they are much better with doors ya know) and when I test played, they opened by themselves and let me in, but when I tried to leave, even though the door was open, he wouldn't go out, do I
again need to use the flow switch?

Q49: I had a good idea about how to set up my outside field map and towns. I have towns as small field maps with the buildings, and the shops warp you to a new area on a map, the other buildings (homes and such) just open up and let you walk in, is there a way to have the celing (i was using dias tiles) over the house go transparent and reveal the floor and people, furnature and such once you open the door?

Q50: While I was working on the map eariler, senario did something funny and suddenly (i don't know if it was because i was using some other programs (messenger and mp3 player)) while I was trying to place tiles, it would bring over the ship (the transport) and then try to set it down and say i couldn't set it on top of another transport, and i was not even touching the enter key to "pick up" a transport, i was just trying to use the space bar and lay down tiles. I finally just saved and shut down senario and started it back up and continued, it just confused me quite a bit (not a hard thing to do sadly). Was it just a glitch on senario or did
I inadvertently tap a key that started the whole thing?

( Topaz )

A47: Greets WrenP:

No, you don't need to use that Sprite for everything. There is a situation of a couched Tile showing the inverse of its definition. It's not very hard to do. Look at SuziQ at:
01:10/14, 01:10/15, and the patch of tiles at 02:08/02. All these are is an additional tile placed "beneath" (by pressing "I" to swap the tile to the opposite underneath), and then picking a new tile. Here is the law of "couching" .

1. If it is not a Switch, or has a couched tile, the image and definition are the top.
2. If it is not a Switch but does have couched tile, the definition is bottom, image is top.
3. If it is a Switch but OFF, then the definition and image are the top.
4. If it is a Switch and ON, then the definition and image are the bottom.
5. If it is HIDDEN, reverse the DEFINITION only (multiple reverses are okay at this point!)
6. If it is a Sprite and not HIDDEN, then activate based upon switch ON / OFF.
7. If it is a Sprite and HIDDEN, reverse the active state so by switch OFF, it is ON, etc.

If you are just now reading this fellow viewer, please look over my answer to this question.
It is a common question in Scenario and one of the most difficult ones to answer !
I may occasionally make a link in my answer to send you here if it seems your question is along these lines.

Two complex HIDDEN switches are at: 00:55/04 and 00:52/07 .
Remember that word, "Inactive" that appears in the Info Windows tells you that there is a
Sprite Switch here, but based upon the status, it either shows the Sprite info or the words
"Inactive." Use this, as it will save you hours of switch developing later.

It gets deeper then this but this gives you an idea. And YES it was bloody hell to write and figure the coding to this myself !

You can see how this differs from most other RPGMakers that require complex script-coding ! I did all the hard work for ya !

If you want 100% entry from any tile, these are the ones that allow this. NOTE ! A sub-flag is created based upon the last tile you just exited so you do not enter a City from Grass and can then walk on the water. You also see I'm having problems with my two transports of disabling this flag when the ship is docked or the Airship is landed. These sub-flags are not created when entering "Bridge" or "Stairs" however.

These tiles can be entered from any other tile:

<- Note the SaveSpot engages "Save" however.

This tile must be crossed like a bridge. That is, you cannot change direction when directly in the middle of it. There is an exception, it becomes a WALL if there is more then one of the same type beside itself. It is used to normally transfer from one Tile floor to another.

This is the "Throne" It cannot be entered from the bottom or exited from the top. And it shows the player back into it, if entered from the top. Aside from this, it can also be entered from any tile. You can enter a new Tile traveling thru this.

This are the "Stairs" Tile. It cannot be entered or exited from left to right and can only allow passage up or down. It is used to normally transfer from one Tile floor to another.

This is the "Doorway" It cannot be entered or exited from left or right and must travel up or down to enter and exit. It hides the player's sprite when one step above it for doorways, and prevents entry from the back if both the tile to and prior are the same. You can enter a new Tile traveling thru this.

This is the "Bed" It cannot be entered or exited from the top or bottom and must travel left or right to enter and exit. It covers the player "with bedcovers"

naturally when on top of.
You can enter a new Tile traveling thru this.

These tiles allow entry to their adjacent ones based upon their "Type"

<- these last two only for map # 0 or are considered new tiles entirely !

This one tile BLOCKS all movement under all circumstances despite the terrain the player is attempting to enter into it. "Mountain" It is also the only tile the Airship cannot travel over.

You can cross the "Mountains" by couching a hidden tile beneath it to reverse it's definition. This is the ONLY way to appear to travel over this terrain.

A48: I just checked doors, open, close, to many different terrains, to warps.. They seem fine. If you would like to send me a copy of it, I might understand this question better, and you can highlight the exact area. Since I wrote

, chances are pretty good I could fix it.

A49: What a neat idea !

Yes, I'm updating "Answers" to show how to do it. I had forgotten that Dragon Warrior 1 did this...
... Phew ! That was a bit of work ! Got it all done. You can see it on "Answers" at:
01:31/09. And yes, this girl likes to sleep ALONE ! (Hehehe...)

I can see there's an error in my switch not taking into account changing the tile beneath a Sprite as well as it's visibility status. Look for a fix to that in next release, that + the spot where the player is hidden first entering the door.. These are technical and may be hard to fix..

also I added Theme music to the "Show A Title Screen" Example.

Unnecessary copy of "map2.dat" found in "Answers!"
Removed.. Filesize of "Answers.zip" is now 3124 bytes.

A50: Just be glad it didn't lose your work ! Some of my earlier versions of

, if it crashed anywhere, would lose your work as well.. Make sure you are using

v0.092d ! Earlier versions had a problem if the cursor just glided over any of the transports in the editor mode. I posted this error briefly in the Download Station and removed it once I had fixed the error in v0.092d.

Hope This Helps !

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