NO RTP DOWNLOADS

it was pro RTP because the vast majority of potential players have never heard of RTP, and the less hassle the better. Clicking Download once and waiting for a 300mb download is less hassle than figuring out what the hell RTP is, finding the right one, downloading, installing it and then downloading the 30mb game.

So that's what most devs cater to.

What we need is a tool for including ONLY the RTP resources used in a game, instead of ALL OF IT (does this exist?)

I haven't RPGmaker'd in a while, so I might be mistaken, but isn't/wasn't it possible to start with a completely blank project, and then just import individual RTP resources as needed?

Linkis, you only really need to download the RTP, not the actual programs themselves. RPGmakerweb.com should have all the recent RTP downloads available that are legally allowed (2k3 RTP is illegal as the engine was never officially translated to English - almost all English games that use RM2k3 use an illegally translated RTP, thus there was never an official release of it (this accounts for there being more than one version of the RTP as it was translated by more than one person, thus different names)).

That said, Japanese versions of the 2k and 2k3 RTP are available but being in Japanese they won't work for English games... there-in lies the issue with RTP when it comes to 2k/3, and thus why it's recommended that people who now use 2k/3 should include the RTP resources - because they're only 30MB in size, all up. Including XP/VX/Ace is a bit ridiculous as the sizes are huge, and older 2k/3 games tend to be missing them as back when they were created RM games weren't really known outside of the community (thus those who played also made and had the RTP installed anyway) and file sizes were a huge issue when it came to downloading, what with no broadband internet.

But Ace, VX and XP all have official releases of RTP on the official site. We don't allow links here because there are terms of use that, as an unofficial site, we can't hold people to or demand of them. Thus why we recommend either making more than one version of your game (a full RTP or non-RTP version - hell, an Full-Flag version is always best (this being a version where all RTP files used are included and ones not used are taken out. In size, it's between non-RTP and Full RTP)).

Oh and here's a small cheat sheet:
RM = RPG Maker - Tends to mean the series in general.
RM2K = RPG Maker 2000 One of the oldest in the series, still quite beloved today. May one day get an English release. Possibly already has. I can't remember. >.<;
RM2K3 = RPG Maker 2003 - Another older one, this version had a built-in side-view battle system and lots of bugs. Is still loved by many but the company kinda hates it and just wishes it would die die die. Never got an English release and sadly, probably never will. :<
RM2K/3 = Referring to either/or both RM2K and RM2K3. Often referred to in conjunction because of how similar they were as engines.
XP = RPG Maker XP - One of the more recent RMs, it was the first RM to have scripting and while it does have a dedicated fanbase, a lot of people don't like it due to the dull RTP, missing events and variable functions, awkward default gameplay, loss of faces in messages and default FPS issues. Almost everyone agrees that the best thing about the engine is how it handles mapping, though.
VX = RPG Maker VX - Seen as a simplified version of Ace, it took a step back in the mapping department... even worse that 2K/3. The main complaint was that only one tileset could ever be used unless you scripted a way around it. That said, it returned a lot of eventing capabilities that XP had cut out.
Ace/VXA = RPG Maker VX Ace - The newest engine, seen by many as the best so far. It boasts a better mapping system than VX (though it still pales to XPs) and with added eventing power, easier (I've heard it's easier from quite a few people) scripting language, increased database customisation and an influx of official graphics made for the engine, it's definitely worked its magic on the RM community. It is also the first RM computer engine to have been physically sold in stores and was the first to foray into the Steam arena, as well as boosting off the official RM site (rpgmakerweb.com) of whom RMN is a sister-site. Lastly, it has seen an increase in the popularity of the RM engine sales and spread over the last few years that has proven to be great for the community and the company.
RTP= Run Time Package. It's a series of default graphics and audio that comes with the RM engines for use in creating your own game. Each engine has a different RTP and they are required installation for usage there-of. The XP/VX/Ace engines all have download links on the official site for free usage to play games. Some sites offer links or host downloads of the RTP, though RMN doesn't (we do have links on the engine pages that lead to the correct pages of the official site, though) due to people downloading them to create games with illegally downloaded software. The license states that those who download the RTP to use for game creation MUST own the software legally. People who download it to play games may do so. Since this is tricky, dependant on the downloaders' intent, we feel it best to allow people to go to the official site instead of providing links.


If you need any extra information let me know~

It does, but it falls pretty much in the same category as 2K/3. I don't get the hate for 95 though - it has a lot of things that are right in it: default mouse support, a mapping window you can move around and change the dimensions of, changing terrain tags in the mapping window, custom introduction/death events without needing to tie them to maps, in-engine graphics handling... a lot of neat things. I also liked the stat distribution graphics - just drag the curves to change them. You could quickly make a fast early growth with slow or negative stat growth after a point. It had a lot of good things, but alas, it's not really relevant as it usually doesn't work very well on newer machines and there weren't many games and/or graphical components for use beyond the default.

For the record I like 95 more than I like XP... yeah. ;p My ranking, in case anyone wanted to know, is : Ace>2k/3>VX>95>Playstation Version>XP

Yes, I rate the PS version as better than XP. I know I'm gonna get hate for this but fuck it.

It's a shame that there's no RMTool *cough* for anything beyond Rm2k3 so that you can just wipe all unused files from your game folder. Even then, people should be adept enough to know how to both include the files they use and make their game standalone so that no one has to bother with any RTPs. Back in the day it was just going into the configuration settings and throwing in "FullPackageFlag=1"; not sure how you do it with the newer RMs, but that shouldn't stop everyone from doing it.

After working to make a game RTP independent now one of the first things I do when I start a project is to remove the RTP dependency bit (RTP=x in VXP Ace). I treat the RTP like any other resource collection: I add what I use to the game project. I also use a script that dumps missing assets error messages with stacktrace into a text file so the game won't crash when I miss something and can easily reference the file in the future. I expand on missing graphic assets by making an error graphic (basically a checkbox) to help out what's missing and where.

Getting back to what Linkis said it will make my game bigger. I organize my game project assets by what I use them for, like a BGM called "Battle Theme" or "Dungeon - Calf Neck Creek" instead of the original name of the track, instead of the original name of the asset so I can replace them without hassle. I did make a script that would redirect resource calls to other files to help a bit with file size so if two different named assets use the same thing I can redirect the usage of one to use the other. It helps, but my game will still bloat if I use 90% of the Ace animations anyways.