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I can't find anything for VX Ace, and when I use the Google bar, I only come up with the dyn_RPG plugin for RM Tsukuru 2003 (the bootleg RM2K3).
On a basic level, this is relatively straightforward: however you do it, you'll need to draw a mini-map. You can draw it semi-transparent if you like. On GraphicsGale (the program I use for spriting in RPG Maker), in the color box, you have your RGB sliding bars. Well, above those, there's a grayscale sliding bar. That's your transparency bar, and it's how you make shadows. To make a picture semi-transparent, just make sure that when drawing the image, all of your colors have that bar set to somewhere around the middle. You can then use the insert picture command to add that map to your window. Tie it to key commands using conditional branches to make it a bit more dynamic.
That's as far as I can get you. If you want a cursor on that map that displays your position, you'll need to use some kind of scripting.
Or...an alternative could be:
Don't just make a single world map and plop your character down on it. Break it into map segments, then when you do your minimap picture, you can make markers to place on the mini-map to show where the PC is based on which map he's on.
On a basic level, this is relatively straightforward: however you do it, you'll need to draw a mini-map. You can draw it semi-transparent if you like. On GraphicsGale (the program I use for spriting in RPG Maker), in the color box, you have your RGB sliding bars. Well, above those, there's a grayscale sliding bar. That's your transparency bar, and it's how you make shadows. To make a picture semi-transparent, just make sure that when drawing the image, all of your colors have that bar set to somewhere around the middle. You can then use the insert picture command to add that map to your window. Tie it to key commands using conditional branches to make it a bit more dynamic.
That's as far as I can get you. If you want a cursor on that map that displays your position, you'll need to use some kind of scripting.
Or...an alternative could be:
Don't just make a single world map and plop your character down on it. Break it into map segments, then when you do your minimap picture, you can make markers to place on the mini-map to show where the PC is based on which map he's on.
A location cursor, yes, but everything else I described can be done with events.
Draw a miniature semi-transparent world map.
Create a World Map common event set to parallel process.
Show Picture.
Create a conditional branch waiting a for a key press from the player and in the conditional branch, place Erase Picture.
Create another conditional branch waiting for a key press and place Show Picture inside it.
Then on your world map or each map of your world map, place an event set to parallel process that calls your World Map common event.
What this does is it defaults placing your mini world map on the world map screen, and then allows the player to press a button that either gets rid of it or brings it back.
Edit: Actually, the method I described for a cursor (you know the one where the map is broken into smaller maps and on each location, a marker is placed so that your mini map shows which map your character is on?), that can be done with eventing, too.
An actual blinking cursor that follows your character on the mini-map like in Final Fantasy VII would require scripting.
Draw a miniature semi-transparent world map.
Create a World Map common event set to parallel process.
Show Picture.
Create a conditional branch waiting a for a key press from the player and in the conditional branch, place Erase Picture.
Create another conditional branch waiting for a key press and place Show Picture inside it.
Then on your world map or each map of your world map, place an event set to parallel process that calls your World Map common event.
What this does is it defaults placing your mini world map on the world map screen, and then allows the player to press a button that either gets rid of it or brings it back.
Edit: Actually, the method I described for a cursor (you know the one where the map is broken into smaller maps and on each location, a marker is placed so that your mini map shows which map your character is on?), that can be done with eventing, too.
An actual blinking cursor that follows your character on the mini-map like in Final Fantasy VII would require scripting.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
I did it with events in RM2K3, and I'm sure the same method can be used to do it with events in VX Ace. I've got a cursor that tracks the player and everything. Lemme see if I can describe it properly.
First, my world map is 230 x 240 tiles, so I made my minimap image 230 x 240 pixels. That's actually way too big (it would take up most of the screen) but I'll be adjusting the size in-game later.
I also created a second image, a "cursor", which is a very small 3x3 pixel image. It's the dot that'll appear as the hero's location on the minimap.
I actually created the minimap by taking screenshots of the map in-editor as zoomed out as possible (1/8 zoom), pasting them together at the edges, and then shrinking down the final result to 25% size. This creates a final scale of 1/32 as big as the original image, which turns the original 32x32 pixel tiles into single pixels.
On the world map, in the top left corner, I put an event. The first page of the event auto-starts and only does two things. First, it displays the picture using the Show Picture command, at the on-screen coordinates I want, at 40% size. (You can display it at a different scale if you want.) I have the corner of the minimap aligned with the top left corner of the screen, to make the calculations as simple as possible. The map is given picture ID 1. Then the event turns on a switch named ShowWorldMap.
The second page of the event is a parallel process, and runs when the switch ShowWorldMap is on. This page uses some variables to track the player's location and display a cursor on top of the minimap image at the appropriate place. It uses two variables, which I named CompassX and CompassY.
First I set the CompassX variable equal to the hero's X-coordinate, and the CompassY variable equal to the hero's Y-coordinate. Then, because the minimap image is being shown at 40% size, I multiply both of these variables by 40 and then divide them by 100. Then I use the Show Picture command to show the cursor picture at the coordinates stored in these two variables. The cursor is set as picture ID 2, so that it'll appear on top of the minimap (which is picture ID 1). When you have multiple overlapping pictures being shown, higher number IDs appear on top of lower ones.
Then I decided that I wanted to move the map 4 pixels away from the corner of the screen. So I did that on the first page of the event in the Show Picture command, and then on the second page of the event I added 4 to both variables before showing the cursor image, so that the cursor would be shown in the right spot.
Then I realized that the cursor was 3x3 pixels, and the top left pixel of the cursor, not the center of it, was being shown at the player's location. So I edited page 2 of the event to only add 3 to the variables instead of 4.
Then there's the matter of erasing the minimap when the player enters a town or dungeon. I made every town/dungeon entrance event on the world map erase picture 1, erase picture 2, and turn off the ShowWorldMap switch.
First, my world map is 230 x 240 tiles, so I made my minimap image 230 x 240 pixels. That's actually way too big (it would take up most of the screen) but I'll be adjusting the size in-game later.
I also created a second image, a "cursor", which is a very small 3x3 pixel image. It's the dot that'll appear as the hero's location on the minimap.
I actually created the minimap by taking screenshots of the map in-editor as zoomed out as possible (1/8 zoom), pasting them together at the edges, and then shrinking down the final result to 25% size. This creates a final scale of 1/32 as big as the original image, which turns the original 32x32 pixel tiles into single pixels.
On the world map, in the top left corner, I put an event. The first page of the event auto-starts and only does two things. First, it displays the picture using the Show Picture command, at the on-screen coordinates I want, at 40% size. (You can display it at a different scale if you want.) I have the corner of the minimap aligned with the top left corner of the screen, to make the calculations as simple as possible. The map is given picture ID 1. Then the event turns on a switch named ShowWorldMap.
The second page of the event is a parallel process, and runs when the switch ShowWorldMap is on. This page uses some variables to track the player's location and display a cursor on top of the minimap image at the appropriate place. It uses two variables, which I named CompassX and CompassY.
First I set the CompassX variable equal to the hero's X-coordinate, and the CompassY variable equal to the hero's Y-coordinate. Then, because the minimap image is being shown at 40% size, I multiply both of these variables by 40 and then divide them by 100. Then I use the Show Picture command to show the cursor picture at the coordinates stored in these two variables. The cursor is set as picture ID 2, so that it'll appear on top of the minimap (which is picture ID 1). When you have multiple overlapping pictures being shown, higher number IDs appear on top of lower ones.
Then I decided that I wanted to move the map 4 pixels away from the corner of the screen. So I did that on the first page of the event in the Show Picture command, and then on the second page of the event I added 4 to both variables before showing the cursor image, so that the cursor would be shown in the right spot.
Then I realized that the cursor was 3x3 pixels, and the top left pixel of the cursor, not the center of it, was being shown at the player's location. So I edited page 2 of the event to only add 3 to the variables instead of 4.
Then there's the matter of erasing the minimap when the player enters a town or dungeon. I made every town/dungeon entrance event on the world map erase picture 1, erase picture 2, and turn off the ShowWorldMap switch.
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