[RM2K] IN SEARCH OF OLDER RPG MAKER GAMES...

author=thedarkdreamer
That is what I have been doing, but interestingly, I have run into a couple of games that are even missing the .EXE files, and some games just missing files. The
last game I tried was "A GATE INTO ETERNITY" and it did not have the .EXE file. 0_0 That also doesn't surprise me about Earthbound. I don't really remember going to the "Queens Court" website but I have gone to others on this broken down quest of mine. Nyaaaaa!!! It would just be kinda nice, wouldn't it?

I apologize, this is my fault, I'm not the best person at this job: when I last updated the list, it took about like 3 to 6 months to compile everything; at that point I just wanted to try and merge all the most recent additions together - while also adding dates, which rpgmaker engine and possible author names to the title, to help sort them out, and creating a filing system of sorts as this is what previous rmarchivists did.

author=thedarkdreamer
The last game I tried was "A GATE INTO ETERNITY" and it did not have the .EXE file.

Most of these issues can be solved by downloading EasyRPG, which you can drag and drop it into the games folder, where it then acts as a .EXE file and has the missing RTP files already installed. (...I think? I'll have to double check to make sure)

However, if you want to go the more traditional route, which I like doing as well, you can also download the following mirrors for the missing files here:

-OLD rpgmaker2000/2003- RTP (required for some games)

Don Miguel's RM2000 RTP(mirror) - - - - - - RPGAdvocate's RM2003 RTP(mirror)

Again, I apologize, I know it's not the simplest solution, I understand the feelings here: originally I wanted to make every game standalone and playable without having to download additional files, so it'd be a lot easier to get older rpgmaker games up and running for research purposes. but right now, all I can really do is look for shortcuts to these current problems. Hopefully we'll be able to fix these issues in the future, once i got some current issues out of the way.

But yeah, let me know if downloading EASYRPG fixed this issue. If not, I'll see if I can fix these at some point. The games you mentioned, I remember going through each of these and trying to get them to run, especially gates into eternity - i think we have 3 different versions of that one (from 2001 to 2004 I think?)

But yea, let us know if you got it working with easyrpg.

You see, the history of RPG Maker 2000 and 2003 in the West is a very silly one. Back in the 2000s there was no localization of it, and for more than 15 years maybe, there was no official RPG Maker 2000 and 2003 in English. So fans did what they do best, make their own thing.

Problem with that, is that each translation had to rename the files. Japanese RTPs filenames are in Japanese, which in early systems without Japanese support didn't work. Here's a table from the folks from EasyRPG themselves.
https://wiki.easyrpg.org/development/rtp-database/2000-rtp

So basically what EasyRPG does is that it catches any call for RTP filenames, and if it doesn't find the file, it tries to search for an alternative name. So, looking at the list's example, if the game wants "Cave1" (which is the original, older fan-translated filename), it can try to find "Dungeon1" (the officially translated filename). It also works with Japanese names, which is the reason why it can also let you play Japanese games out of the box, and even other fan translations, like the Spanish ones.

There's other stuff that EasyRPG does for you, but that's the simpler one when dealing with the RTPs. Hope that serves as an explanation.