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Contact Me

Comments go to my E-Mail address, I won't really answer them here

E-Mail: wolfcoder (at) dreamincode.net
Dream.in.code: http://www.dreamincode.net/
AIM: wolfcoder
Yahoo: umbracoder
MSN: wolfcoder (at) dreamincode.net
20XX Irc: irc.esper.net #20xx

Installation: Delete RPG_RT.exe and paste this program where it used to be. There you go.

Introduction

To address the old-age and technology of RPG Maker 2003's RPG Runtime engine, a replacement will be written that implements more modern features. This is intended to work both as a 1-1 replacement for the RPG_RT.exe executable and as an extender to allow features which would be cumbersome to implement conventionally as event scripts.

There are also a long string of bugs and feature requests that will be addressed with this engine, especially the more commonly known battle bugs and speed/agility problems.

This is not a patch, it is a ground-up open-source engine that plays RPG Maker 2k/3 games. There are others out there, but usually for systems like the GP32X, PSP, and DS so that you could play RPG Maker 2003 games on those systems.

This technology enables you to create something new with something old, comfortable, and most importantly, fun. The G.E.C.K. for example, still sports that Win95 look but uses the next-gen engine you actually play. After all, it's this engine that your users will actually see and not your tools.

Participants

Thanks to the following people who submitted games for me to test against:

Kentona (Hero's Realm)
Drakonais (Tiamat Sacrament)
J-Man (Phantasia 5)
Ocean (Paradise Blue)

These participants will decide the engine's current level of compatibility with the original system.

Features

Features that 20XX will extend onto your project:
- Fixes the hit list of bugs and annoyances with the original engine
- Many more supported image and sound/music formats
- 32 bit color with alpha images
- Bitmapped fonts let you draw your own font pixel-to-pixel (also 32-bit alpha possible)

Tell me what you want and I'll implement them depending on how annoying/frequent you are at asking for them.

Specs and Stats

License: LGPL
System: SDL / Win32
Video: DirectX 9 3D
Audio: FMOD Ex
Libraries Used:
- SDL (system)
- DirectX (graphics)
- FMOD Ex (sound)
- SDL_image (loading many different image formats)

Latest Blog

Cancelled

Cancelled

I have lots of scientific study and work to do, so my time is pretty limited. I've been thinking this engine was a bad idea three months in, but I wanted to finish it anyway. Almost a couple years later, it's become apparent that this project is dragging itself out. I'm not sure I'll even be finishing normal games either, this is the end of posting in-progress projects. Any further announcements of projects I'm working on will be after it has already been completed.

Bad Idea?

The idea of using any of the RPG-Maker series of engines, in retrospect, is a bad idea. They already exist as a suite to satisfy your curiosity and boredom. For the more ambitious game authors, I recommend you just pick up GameMaker, Acknex, or any of the other higher quality toolkits out there for lower prices or free. People claiming to be from the Terraria staff are planning an independent RPG Maker, you should be supporting those projects. Regardless of what you use, it always takes great effort to make a fun game- there are many better engines (in all use cases) than this one to make your game with. Hence, I've been trying to finish something I feel was a mistake for about a year now.

Hell, if I didn't already have a job, I'd ask the "Producer of Terraria" if they could use me in making an independent RPG Maker- something like that I feel is the true solution. Do it right from the ground up and discard the nonsensical Enterbrain designs altogether.

What Now?

RPG Maker 20XX is missing the cookie cutter battle system. It can be used to make games, but the optimal use will happen when the source code is modified to fit whatever game is being made. Yes, this is identical to editing the ruby scripts of XP/VX to match your game. This requires a few coders to make different flavors of 20XX and the rest of the consumers to make various games. It's not pretty, but I have to point out that I left behind some pretty usable materials.

I will leave Feld here to manage any newcomers to produce the different flavors of 20XX, and I will add anyone working with the code to the project staff. I will continue to respond to questions and comments via E-Mail, if you use anything other than E-Mail, your message will go unanswered. I recommend you e-mail me especially if you want to work with the code since the code is heavily commented but also very messy.

Conclusion

20XX was just a curiosity of mine, and I thought I might be able to help the community. There's only so much I can do, and I am sure I will no longer be capable of providing adequate support for 20XX by myself, and therefore it will not be enough to serve you well. I may release games in the future, but you will only see them here when they are finished. That means they're probably not going to be RPGs (I have finished games a long time ago, but they weren't RPGs).

Other programmers are welcome to take the source code (everything available from the SVN) and branch off in an attempt to adapt or modify the engine.

Posts

Well, my RTP hasn't moved from its default location (C:\Program Files (x86)\rpg2003\RTP), and all the files I'm 'missing' seem to be present. Do they have to be in the resource folder of the game itself?
kentona
By the power of donations!
13164
I am guessing it is the (x86) in the location causing the issues.

Stupid 64 bit OSes. (This has happened to me at work with PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE unable to find certain .dlls because they were installed in the default location on 64 bit server).

EDIT:
you can try copying the RTP folders and put them in just the regular C:\Program files\ and see if that works.
Yeah. I am guessing there is an environment variable for the RTP, but multiple different versions of RPG Maker can mess with it.

I'll add the 64-bit folders for now.
That seemed to do it! Thank you.
I made it so it would read the (x86) versions too anyway, I have a 64 bit desktop.
I didn't feel like going through all of the pages to see if you answered this... but will this engine be able to handle eventing (like cbs and cms) and picture usage better without lag? In rpg maker 2003 it starts to get laggy, will this one be better? I hope that makes sense haha.
I don't know, my engine would be faster if it pooled images for pictures, but I also know your original problem is usually caused by showing and erasing pictures too much. Try updating your pictures as little as possible as every show picture command makes the original RPG Maker 2003 jump a little.
Magi
Resident Terrapin
1028
I've forgotten, does changing the font in msgothic or msmincho.bmp work yet? Or are there any issues...
You can edit up the font, be sure to keep it saved as 32-bit .BMP file. The system color gets multiplied with the colors as you edit, so you can do outlines, extra shadows, anti-alias, whatever. This was working since last year. If it weren't, you couldn't see any text.
Hmm.... This is a bit old-fashioned for me, but it is, at least, something which uses a slightly better system (on only one thing) and is less used by other RM2K users.
Actually I redid lots of the default systems, has additional commands, and will have some shader features for advanced graphics. It should now run 2003, 2000, and 2000 Value. That and it's most likely to withstand the advances in OS system and run on newer systems.
This project looks amazing. I noticed it can be downloaded now. Would it actually be safe to start a project on it or is to soon?
It's actually much safer to start a new project than to upgrade an existing one, the only problem is there is no battle system quite yet. In Garnet Lion, I'm just getting the art in there.
author=WolfCoder
It's actually much safer to start a new project than to upgrade an existing one, the only problem is there is no battle system quite yet. In Garnet Lion, I'm just getting the art in there.


I'll wait until it's fully good to go with a battle system and everything. I really like how you're making the default system into eye candy. I'm sure the battles will be intense as well. A suggestion I have for the battles is allowing customization in the default battle system unlike rm2k3. I'm sure you're already on that though. This is just amazing work. Good job, Wolf.
Bug?: Icons are all wonky. I set custom icons for my game, but the exe. mixes them all up. Is there/will there be a way to restore them?
You can replace the icon inside the .exe to change the icon of the .exe. You can edit wicon.bmp to change the icon for the window. For best results, make a 16x16 image and double the pixels exactly (nearest neighbor) for wicon.bmp. I think wicon.bmp is in 32-bit depth so be sure to save a file in 32-bit depth.
benos
My mind is full of fuck.
341
How about a search function in the hero or battlechars section to search for results of A-z of your battlecharsets, so I don't go looking for them by scrolling down a long line of sets, becomes annoying. So I could search for roco or something in charsets or faceset range, and you'll get results pretty quickly. Solves problems when you got hordes of resources in the way.

Like if you type roc and should come up. Hopefully that'll become neat feature.
This is an issue you have with the editor and not my engine nor RPG_RT.exe.
benos
My mind is full of fuck.
341
So, will this maker support .jpg and .gif files?
Question; is there a way to enable the exe to support two accessories instead of one in an individual's games? Also, you mentioned before about making the weather effects better, are you still doin', most notably the ugly ass sandstorms.