In the following I am going to explain you how to use the engine of VX Ace (RGSS301.dll + Game.exe) in combination with your XP games which I fully entrust to everybody, for several reasons:

Intro Contintue

 

How to use the VX Ace engine in your XP games
in no more than 10 minutes - keep it simple, stupid!

Auf Theutsch bitte sehr

  • Lag no more: The new Ruby Version 1.9.2 is about 5 times faster than ancient 1.8.1 and will give your game an enormous performance boost, especially if you're an avid eventer.
  • Hyperliquid rendering: The XP engine is well-known for its stuttering scrolling and the associated tearing (graphics being cut). The image is lacking in calm, particularly in window mode. However after you have seen how beautifully soft and silky smooth your game looks with the new engine you're not going to want to miss it anymore.
  • Improved font rendering: The VX and VX Ace engine implemented an improved font rendering which makes your character look more refined and a pleasure to read.
  • 60-120fps: While XP's standard frame rate is at a punny 40fps you can set the frame rate in Ace's engine up to 120fps with a single script call.
  • Up to 1024x768 in fullscreen: in combination with a suitable script you can easily more than double your resolution from 640x480 to 1024x768 - in fullscreen too.


Required Files and Licences

Even though you can get all the files either from the Ace RTP (dll) or any game (Exe), you officially need a valid VX Ace maker licence in order to use them in your own game. A trial licence is in no way inferior to a bought one. You can't tell whether the creator of an XP game using the Ace engine had or has a valid licence or not from looking at it.
 
For convenience reasons all for this tutorial required files and scripts are contained in my XP Ace Upgrade Kit.


Step-by-step instructions

  • 3.1 Remove RTP dependency
Copy all used ressources from the XP RTP into your game folder. The RTP is usually located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Enterbrain\RGSS\Standard or C:\Program Files\Common Files\Enterbrain\RGSS\Standard.
  • 3.2 Insert the Engine
Copy Game folder files\Game.exe and RGSS301.dll from the kit into your game folder. Open your Game.ini and see what is written behind Library=. Rename the file RGSS301.dll accordingly (in most cases to RGSS102E.dll).
Copy the folder Fonts into your game folder. Game.exe always checks whether these font files are present there if they're not already installed on the system. It's irrelevant whether they are used in your game at all.
  • 3.3 Paste Script
Paste Scripts\RPG Module.txt above all other scripts in your project.
Paste Window Padding Fix.txt above Main.
Replace Main with Main.txt.
Optional: If you're using print in your game, paste Print.txt above Main.
 
The Tilemap class is unalterably compiled in the RGSS dll and its task is to read map files and build maps as we know them. Since VX and Ace are using a different mapping system and thus a different tilemap class, you need a replacement that knows how to deal with your XP maps.
 
At the moment there are 6 alternatives (=rewrites) in Ruby and 1 in C++ (WhiteFlute):
 

 
Paste the script of your choice below the standard scripts and above your own scripts. If you're using Sephiroth's rewrite please note that SDK and MACL have to be above the tilemap script.
  • 3.4 Adopt Windowskin
Either edit your windowskin so that the elements match those on an Ace windowskin or use [tt]Scripts\Windowskin Converter\Windowskin Converter.txt[/tt].
  • 3.5 Optional: Encrypt Project
Download the VX Ace trial and install it. Create a new project, delete all files in your new Ace project folder without closing the maker, then paste all XP game files into the Ace game folder. Now select File -> Compress Game Data... -> (Create Encrypted Archive) OK. An self-extracting archive will then be created, containing a .rgss3a file instead of Data and Graphics folders.
Keep in mind that the rgss3a encryption has been cracked and released 5th of June 2012.


Bag of tricks

  • In order to run a resolution beyond 640x480 use Game folder files\(optional)\RGSS300.dll and a script supporting custom resolutions (e.g. me™'s or ForeverZer0's rewrite). Furthermore change Graphics.resize_screen(640, 480) in Main accordingly.
  • To slow down in-game graphics to XP speed again use the script call Graphics.frame_rate = 40. This also decreases CPU load en passant. You can set the wanted fps to anything between 10 and 120.
  • All differences between RGSS v3 and v1 can be listed in the VX and Ace help file by searching for (RGSS2) respectively (RGSS3).
  • How to enable the console window and automatic $DEBUG set for debugging


Credits

Dargor - XP->VX tutorial at hbgames.org
ForeverZer0, LiTTleDRAgo, me™, PK8, poccil, RTH, SephirothSpawn, The King, WHITE-FLUTE - scripts in the kit
Terv - everything else


Appendix: Error messages, known incompatibilities & solutions

It's quite likely that the first thing you will see from your tuned XP game is a mysterious error caused by a script that used to never make any trouble. In most cases it's just a small thing and can be easily fixed in minutes. However if you know as much about Ruby as the man in the moon, or encounter a more persistent error, there's a dedicated bugtracker now! Presenting you


www.Aluxes❤Eric.tk


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1,373 Posts
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Bigace360  said 12th October 2013

So does anyone find this useful. I would of thought a at least 10 people would of jump on this by now.

5,396 Posts
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Marked   said 12th October 2013

Well it's got 78 views so far... People don't make posts to say "this is useful". Maybe i should make a "I found this tutorial useful" button.

 

Several of the teachers in the old RMXP Academy would reply to their content... who found this useful? It's a disincentivising situation because people aren't going to shout out, they're just going to get the benefit and go.

 

I'm sure this will help a ton of people over time. It's probably not even indexed by Google yet so had no search engine hits. But anway, I plan to include it in the next collective *1-smile*

1,373 Posts
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Bigace360  said 12th October 2013

Actually it should be in Google's index by now (been out for a couple of months now) as I'm not the original owner, I just asked for permission if I could post it here so people here know it exist. The original owner is Terv who you can find on the site listed in the terms and conditions.

 

Edit:
Also people are bound to have issues, that's why I was wondering why no one posted. Either they figured out the issue or had an issue and just gave up without asking for help. Don't really care that much if people will say if this is useful or not just want an discussion.

5,396 Posts
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Marked   said 12th October 2013

Oh lol. If I google the title, this article is 3rd.That's ok.

1,373 Posts
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Bigace360  said 13th October 2013

strange how chaos-projects is below it when they've had it long with more post and views.

5,396 Posts
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Marked   said 13th October 2013

Yeah it's not about the length of time. As you're probably aware, SEO is a constantly changing area with Google constantly changing and finding different (according to them, better) ways of doing it. In particular one of the reasons why RPG Maker Web is always above is because of its popularity and the number of links back to it. That's called page rank and is pretty hard for the admin to increase (the best thing you can do is make good content, and that's where you guys come in :P ). Since this isn't a forum and is a completely custom system, I've tried to write the HTML structure that's superior to the forums in terms of SEO.

1,373 Posts
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Bigace360  said 13th October 2013

Interesting, The more you know

1,923 Posts
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Bob423  said 18th October 2013

This is awesome, but I have a couple questions.
1. Will the game still be easily editable and playable in XP? (with playtest mode at least)
2. Is it possible to use VXAce scripts in an XP game with this?
I'm also seriously considering using this on The Hidden City of Arcatis, but I always worry that Blizz-ABS will cause problems. Oh well, it's worth a try.
There will be a lot less lag. I just hope I don't have to edit too much.

1,373 Posts
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Bigace360  said 18th October 2013

1) Yes, It's mainly to use Ruby 1.9.2 versus 1.8.1 in your RMXP games. You might have to make edits to some of your scripts because of the version changes, but it shouldn't be a terribly large amount.
2) No, this should be obvious looking at the database and the mapping system between VX/Ace and XP. The only way to get vxace scripts to work in xp is to rewrite vxace script to become compatible.
Check in with the link found in Appendix: Error messages, known incompatibilities & solutions section of the tutorial. To see if you're script works or not as the site is meant for bugtracking, just in case scripts like blizz-ABSEA conflicts with the new .dll.

1,923 Posts
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Bob423  said 18th October 2013


Thanks, it looks like I'll need to update blizz-abs though and I'm worried it will cause problems... :( this is why I stopped using it.
edit: nevermind, update seems to be successful

1,373 Posts
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Bigace360  said 18th October 2013

can't see image

1,923 Posts
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Bob423  said 19th October 2013

The whole tilemap thing is a bit confusing to me.
Where can I get the scripts for it?
edit: nevermind, im special. found them

 

edit: New problem:
After doing everything I tried playtest mode and it gave me an error that said "the specified procedure could not be found"

1,373 Posts
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Bigace360  said 19th October 2013

did you update the dll from the file in the tutorial. This refers back to step 3.2

1,923 Posts
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Bob423  said 19th October 2013

Oh, I get it. That part confused me anyway.
But now it's conflicting with my location window script.

#==============================================================================
# ** Window_Steps
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#  This window displays step count on the menu screen.
#==============================================================================

class Window_Location < Window_Base
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Object Initialization
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def data
    data = load_data("Data/MapInfos.rxdata")
  end
  
  def initialize
    super(0, 0, 480, 56)
    self.contents = Bitmap.new(width - 32, height - 32)
    refresh
  end
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Refresh
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def refresh
   self.contents.clear
   self.contents.draw_text (0, -4, self.contents.width, 32, data[$game_map.map_id].name) # this line gives the error
  end
end
This is the error:
syntax error
unexpected ',', expecting ')'
self.contents.width, 32,....

 

It worked perfectly before, so I have no idea what the problem could be.

1,373 Posts
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Bigace360  said 19th October 2013

---

1,923 Posts
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Bob423  said 20th October 2013

Is there a reason your post just has "---"? It would be great if you helped me though instead of, what seems like, treating me like I'm a hopeless idiot.
Also, what was that "can't see image" post about?

144 Posts
511 Points

Metaclaw  said 20th October 2013

ruby 1.9.2 has 'gems' right? if so, this can be useful for scripting.
but I'm not entirely sure how this works. suppose I use this system, and I make a demo. will other people be able to play it with the 'normal' RMXP? or must they change their RMXP to have this system too?

484 Posts
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Moonpearl  said 20th October 2013

Bob423, I'm not sure about Bigace's intentions but I can say the error you're running into is pretty confusing since said line seems perfectly acceptable as far as syntax is concerned. Maybe the space just before the brackets? Anyways I guess this is what happens when you mess with engines.

 

Metaclaw, yes, Ruby has gems but you would need to build them so that the Euby interpreter can work with them, well then you don't have access to the Ruby interpreter featured in RM's Game.exe, and thus can't use gems with them (as far as I know). As for your question, people with a regular RMXP should be fine... theoretically. Then again, messing with engines is definitely not my top recommendation. Should you run into issues, no one will really be able to help you.

1,373 Posts
1,192 Points

Bigace360  said 20th October 2013

Is there a reason your post just has "---"? It would be great if you helped me though instead of, what seems like, treating me like I'm a hopeless idiot.

Bob423, I'm not sure about Bigace's intentions

I guess I'm a bad guy because I went to go do irl stuff for a couple of hours.

 

@Bob32: My computer's having issues, though it might be the site as I'm having issues on my laptop as well. I was trying to edit, but couldn't so that "----" thing is what happened instead. And that "I can't see the image" is as it is. I can't see the image in you're post Bob.

 

Did you put all of the scripts from XP Ace Upgrade Kit.zip in correctly? What type of scripts outside the files you find in the tutorial's XP Ace Upgrade Kit.zip. do you have in your rmxp at the moment? Because some stuff will cause errors and you need the time and knowledge to fix it. Usually 1 script out of 15 will make you hit on problems but more often than not it's just knickknack and often can be patched with basic Ruby knowledge only.

 

@Moonpearl: you do realize if you click the link at the bottom that there is a bugtracker site that is dedicated to figuring out the errors for this thing, plus making it twice as better as well. So I have no clue what you're talking about that "no one will really be able to help you." Especially since Terv the creator is doing it right now, which you can find his name at the bottom of the tutorial in Terms, Conditions and License.

 

@Metaclaw: I've already answered that question when Bob asked a couple post before.

1,923 Posts
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Bob423  said 20th October 2013

Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding.
And I've never posted an image to this thread so I was confused. You're not very good at communicating online, are you?
The error I get only happens after I compressed it with VXAce. No matter what I do without compressing it with Ace, I still get "the specified procedure could not be found" I'm 99% sure I did everything right and I honestly don't want to do it all again. At least not now. I'll probably try again to find out what's wrong at some point, but it's really not a big deal since I've already released this game and I'd rather work on the sequel.

1,373 Posts
1,192 Points

Bigace360  said 20th October 2013



@Bob423: I'm going to go ahead and ignore that first part, because that was just....

 

1) Explain "compressed it with VXAce?" Do you mean combine with VXAce?
2) "the specified procedure could not be found" - I believe I got that error before:
Make sure the Library set in Game.ini matches the name of the .dll in your folder.
In case it doesn't, rename the RGSS301.dll instead of changing the ini.

 

Then we'll see what happens after that.

1,923 Posts
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Bob423  said 20th October 2013

Oh...right, yea I have like 50 copies of everything and didn't change the name. Now it shows the syntax error again
When I remove the location script I get a type error with blizz-abs...wonderful
"line 3130: TypeError occured.
superclass mismatch for class Game_Player"

 

Here's the line

class Game_Player < Map_Actor

1,373 Posts
1,192 Points

Bigace360  said 20th October 2013

For some reason I thought you were talking about the Blizz-ABS Event Anti-Lag, because it doesn't have more than 300 lines. Submit the ABS to the bugtracker site because sorry but I can't really help with that.

 

Edit: actually after looking some more at the site, Terv found the issue and fixed it.
http://aluxes-loves-...h-for-class-xxx

1,923 Posts
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Bob423  said 20th October 2013

Thanks, that worked. I'll see if that site can help me with my other problem too.

1,373 Posts
1,192 Points

Bigace360  said 20th October 2013

The reason why that was happening because when changing the superclass of a class without first undefining the that class, Ruby 1.9.x will throw an error.

Guest_unknown said 12th May 2015

Download link of .zip doesn't work.

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