RPG TOOLKIT, 2.2 HISTORY WHAT'S NEW RPG Toolkit Development System 2.20b Instructions and What's New 6/13/02 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999-2002 What's new... -Hardly anything new here. This is mainly a release to fix a few bugs, notably the problems with animations and some bugs int he board editor. -The help files have been updated. If you have the Standard Edition, you can also download the images for the help files from the downloads section. -If you own the Powerhouse Edition, download the help220.upd file and install it using the updater program. This will give you a zip file. Extract the contents of the zip file into your Toolkit2\Help folder. -The tutorial has been updated. END OF RELEASE 20b NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.20 Instructions and What's New 5/15/02 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999-2002 What's new... -Welcome to the 20th major release of version 2! It's been an exciting 3.5 years! -The UI has been greatly improved for nearly all applications in the suite. You will find in particular that Toolkit.exe conforms much closer to Windows interface guidelines than ever before. -Dependencies on comdlg32.ocx and mci32.ocx have been completely removed. Toolkit.exe now depends on mscomctl.ocx (but not trans2.exe) -The menu systems in trans2.exe have been overhauled and improved. -The icons for setup.exe and phase2.exe have been changed to refect actual setup programs. -New language support: -Italian translation thanks to Andrea Piras. -Alternate Spansih translation (Castellano) thanks to Jaime Peña. -Alternate English database for UK and Canadian English (using words like colour). -Animated Tile Support! -Finally, the Toolkit has the ability to use animated tiles. -The new file format, .tan, is editable using the Animated Tile Editor accessable from the main screen. -The Animated Tile Editor works very similar to the Animation Editor. You can cycle through the frames using the < and > buttons, and you can set tiles into the animation frames by clicking on the frame. -You can preview the animation by hitting the play button. You can also change the speed of the animation. USING ANIMATED TILES: -Animated tiles may only be placed on boards. You can select them just like you would select any other tile in the board editor. When you play the game, the tiles will animate. -Tile animaton stops when an RPGCode program runs, or when you enter a battle. -Automatic Font loading. -The problem with using true type fonts is that previously, the person playing the game had to have the font installed on their system. So if you used a custom or rare font, chances are the person would not have the font when they went to play the game. -Now, you just have to put your .TTF file into the Font\ folder of your game, and the Toolkit will automatically load the font when it is needed, even if the player doesn't have it installed in their Windows Fonts folder. -Smart Step walking -In the game, if you walk against a solid object, the Toolkit will intelligently determine the direction the player is trying to go. -For instance, if the player is walking south and encounters a solid bush, the Toolkit will allow the player to shuffle around the bush and continue walking. If you are familiar with the game, this action is inspired by Lunar and Lunar 2. -Smart stepping is enabled by default. -You can turn smart stepping on or off by using the #SmartStep command. If you don't like it, you will have to add #SmartStep("off") in your start.prg -New RPGCode: #AnimatedTiles("on/off") -Turn animated tiles on or off while a program is running. -When a program first starts, animated tiles are automatically turned off. To start them up again, use #AnimatedTiles("on") -To turn animated tiles off, use #AnimatedTiles("off") -In either case, animated tiles will start again when the program ends. #SmartStep("on/off") -Turn smart stepping on or off. END OF RELEASE 20 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.19b Instructions and What's New 3/17/02 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999-2002 What's new... -This was basically a bug-fix release, so you'll find it to be generally more stable (hopefully!) -Most major bugs were fixed (if I could reproduce them). -There may still be some problems with taller characters, but most of those issues have been resolved. -There have been siginificant speed gains in the scrolling routines. As you play, the tiles that have been previously drawn are saved in memory. So, the longer you play, the faster the tile drawing becomes. This virtually eliminates the pausing due to scrolling that was experienced in previous versions of the Toolkit (you will still experience some pausing when *new* tiles have to be drawn). -The program size limit has been elminated. Now RPGCode programs can be as long as you want them to be. -The MP3 and MOD players were fixed to work for Windows XP. -The setup was slightly tweaked-- hopefully it'll make installing on XP smoother. -The plugin SDK has been updated to include support for a couple of new callbacks. If you want to update your plugin, download the updated SDK from the downloads section of rpgtoolkit.com -The only file that was changed in the SDK was tkplugcallbacks.h If you drop the new version of this file into your current project, it should build and run OK. -The two new callbacks are defined at the bottom of that file (a callback for getting the main screen's hwnd, and a callback for autorefreshing the screen). -New RPGCode command: #GiveExp("handle", exp_to_add!) -Give experience points to a player. Automatically levels-up the player as required. END OF RELEASE 19B NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.19 Instructions and What's New 12/1/01 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999-2001 What's new... -The demo has been updated. -Powerhouse owners: download the Standard Edition to get the latest demo. Install it (not in the same folder as your current Powerhouse installation!). Copy the game it into your Powerhouse Toolkit2 folder. Then run Toolkit.exe to upgrade the game to the Powerhouse Edition. -The Toolkit now has a mini web-browser for viewing help files (tkbrowse.exe). This will fix some issues people have been having viewing the help in Windows XP. There is also an option in the editor to go directly to the chat room now. -The Toolkit is multilingual! -When the Toolkit starts, you will be asked which language you want to use. -The English (no DB access) option assumes you don't want to load any language resources, so it uses the default English information. It says it's faster, but the speed difference would probably only be discernable on an ancient system. -The supported languages are: English, Spanish, French and German. Special thanks go out to the translators (look at Help\About for more info). -The language databases are stored in the Resources\ folder. Any game that uses a language database will require this folder. -True Type font support! -You can use true type fonts like you would normal text. For instance, to set the font to Arial, you would use: #Font("Arial") #MWin("This is Arial text!") #System.pause() -You can still use the old 8x8 Toolkit fonts, but you must include the .fnt extension when you change the font. For example: #Font("base.fnt") #MWin("This is the old font!") #System.pause() -The Toolkit now defaults to Arial as the system font. If you want to use the old font, put this command on the first line of your startup program (start.prg): #Font("base.fnt") -More multimedia support. -If you add background music to the board (or use sound files anywhere), you'll notice that the file dialog shows all the supported file formats. I'm pretty sure that the Toolkit now supports more multimedia formats than any other RPG engine. -Supported formats are: 669, AMF, AMS, DBM, DSM, FAR, IT, MED, MDL, MIDI, MOD, MP3 (Powerhouse only), MTM, NST, OKT, PTM, S3M, STM, ULT, UMX, WOW, XM, WAV -More bitmap support. -The Toolkit used to support only BMP, GIF and JPEG images. Now it supports a lot more (I think the most of any RPG engine out there). You can use these formats anywhere you would have used the old ones (such as in RPGCode programs and in the editor). -Supported formats are: BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, ICO, KOA, LBM, MNG, JNG, PCD, PPM, PGM, PBM, RAS, TGA, WBMP, WAP, WMF -Less runtime files. The Toolkit used to be dependant upon many dlls, such as tkgfx.dll, tkreg.dll, etc. Most dlls have been brought together into one runtime file: actkrt2.dll As it stands, trans2.exe (and standalone apps build with the Powerhouse Edition) currently depend on: VB6 Runtimes (files found in VBRun60.exe), actkrt2.dll, freeimage.dll, msimg32.dll, npmod32.dll, ctl3d32.dll, mci32.ocx, picclp32.ocx, comdlg32.ocx, bw5mp22r.ocx -Large parts of the canvasing system were re-written to use the GDI (slight speed increase, but the big thing is that it's organised a lot nicer for me). -Trans2 is built optimized for speed. -Loads of bug fixes. I tried to address all of the issues that I could that were subitted to me through the new bug report system. As a consequence, many bugs have been fixed, even those that have been kicking around for a long, long time. This is probably the most stable release of the Toolkit to date (hopefully!) -Changes to RPGCode: -#Newplyr now loads the fighting graphics as well as the walking graphics. And the results of #Newplyr are saved when the player saves his game. -Changes to #Wipe: #Wipe(file$, effect! [, speed!]) If you do not specify a file$ (ie, you leave it as ""), it will use the contents of the #SaveScreen buffer. There are a few new effects: 9 - Wipe left, 'zelda-style' 10 - Wipe right 'zelda-style' 11 - Wipe down 'zelda-style' 12 - Wipe up 'zelda-style' Also, you can now specify a speed parameter. The default is 1 (if you don't include it). The higher the number, the faster it will go. -RPGCode quick reference updated (thanks go out to Xorlak for this!) END OF RELEASE 19 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.18 Instructions and What's New 8/6/01 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999-2001 What's new... CHANGES TO ALL VERSIONS: -I never explained the Day and night feature for 2.17 in the last What's New, so here's the info: -You can set day and night controls to be used in your game. You can set up the global settings in the main file (under the Day and Night section). -If you set Day and Night to correspond to the real world. the Toolkit will atempt to make it nighttime in your game when it's nighttime outside your home. -Or, you can set a day to be a certain number of minutes long. I reccomand something like 10 -In the board editor, under Board Information, you can set the board to be affected by day and night. -You can optionally have a different skill level and battle background at night on the board. -What's new in 2.18: ******First off, if you have a slow processor, try playing with the parallax settings in the main file editor. (in the graphics section). You can speed the game up a lot by playing with this.************************ -The internal graphics engine has been dropped entirely. So tkgfx.dll is absolutely required in order to run the game. -Parallaxing has been added. -Parallaxing lets you have background images on your board that scroll at a different speed from the board itself. This creates the illusion of depth. -Parallaxing is automaticaly used if you have a background image for your board. -An image that is exactly the same size as the viewable screen when playing the game will stay absolutley still, anchored in the background. -As the image approaches the size of the actual dimensions of the board, the it will scroll faster and faster (although it will still scroll slower than the board). -If the image is exactly the same dimensions as the board, it will scroll at the exact same rate as the board. -If the image is larger than the dimensions of the board, it will scroll faster than the board. -You can use RPGCode programs in the Board Directional Links (ie, you don't have to link the boards to other boards, you can link them to a program). This causes the program to be run when you walk off the edge of the board. -New board size limits: -Up to 2048 x 2048 x 4 layers, or 1024 x 1024 x 8 layers. If I'm not mistaken, these are the higest limits of any RPG engine out there. -Up to 501 programs on the board. -Several file formats have been redone to save disk space. -Board files now use compression and save to be very small on the disk. -Player files use a binary file format. -Item files use a binary format. -You shouldn't se any difference in using these new formats-- toolkit.exe and trans2.exe will open up the old filetypes with no problems. -All players and items are now treated as if they are 64x32 in size (32x32 has been dropped completely). -Your 32x32 files that you've currently made will automatically be converted for you when you open and re-save your characters and items. All the embedded walking graphics will be spit out into new tilesets for you. You can browse these to see if you really need them. If you don't, just delete them. -For best performance, you should open and re-save all your players and items before playing your game so trans2 doesn't have to do this conversion for you on-the-fly (which can be slow). -Please note that you can still use '32x32' graphics, you just have to leave some of the players/items empty (see the demo game for an example of this). -The Tile editor has a lot of new tools. Also, under the Color menu, you can convert a tile to grayscale or shade it. -Thanks to Chris and Craig Reeves, the Toolkit now has a default music set. When you create a new game, these songs will be placed in your Media\ folder. If you want to use these songs in your current game, you can copy the songs into your media folder-- they will be in Toolkit2\Game\Basic\Media. -Be sure to check out their terms of use in Toolkit2\Game\Basic\Media\VIP - RPGToolkit Fo Sho Music Pak EULA.doc -There's a new default tileset and characterset. -These will be automatically copied into any new game you make. -You can copy them into your existsing game-- they are located in: Toolkit2\Game\Basic\Tiles\default.tst Toolkit2\Game\Basic\Tiles\char.tst *Careful when copying default.tst so as not to overwrite the old default.tst, which you may be using!* -You will find that trans2.exe is a lot smaller than it used to be! -New demo game! The Jewel of Destiny is back and better than ever! -Lots of bugfixes. -Changes to RPGCode: -There is no longer a variable size limit-- your game can have as many variables as you have memory to contain! -You can modify the Parallax system on the fly: #Parallax(type!) type! is 0 = Full parallax system enabled. 1 = Sprite Layer disabled 2 = Parallax system disabled. -Pathfinding was added (hehehe): #PathFind(startx!, starty!, endx!, endy!, dest$ [, layer!]) -Finds the shortest path from startx!, starty!, layer!(optional) to endx!, endy!, layer!(optional) on the current board. -Returns into dest$ a string representing the shortest path (ie, something like NNEEEEESSSWWW, or whatever). -You can feed this string into #Push or #PushItem to make players and items walk to a desired location. #ItemStep(itemnum!, x!, y!) -Causes item number itemnum! to take one step towards x!, y! -Automatically calculates the shortest path and walks in the most intelligent direction. #PlayerStep(handle$, x!, y!) -Causes the player with handle$ to take one step towards x!, y! -Automatically calculates the shortest path and walks in the most intelligent direction. -A redirection system was added. This allows you to redirect all calls to one method with another. This is useful if you're using one of the new message window plugins and you want all #MWin calls to actually go into the plugin instead of having trans2 run the command. Redirection also works for custom methods (they don't have to be stored in plugins). #Redirect(oldMethodName$, newMethodName$) -All calls to the method oldMethodName$ will actually be handled by the method newMethodName$ -Example: #Redirect("#Mwin", "#MyCustomMwin") *causes all cals to #mwin to actually end up in #MyCustomMwin -There is a danger to beware of: Make sure your redirected method does not use the old call (for example, if your new custom message window uses #MWin calls, then even these will be redirected back into your custom method and you'll get an infinite loop). -Redirection is global. It remains in effect throughout the whole game, so you can set up all your redirects in your start.prg #KillRedirect(methodName$) -Kill the redirect of $methodName -Example: #KillRedirect("#MWin") *restores all calls to #Mwin to be handled by the real #Mwin #KillAllRedirects() -Kill all redirects currently in effect. -Redirects can be used for any command, not just #Mwin. -At the end of a fight, when trans2 tells you how much experience and GP you got, these calls are handled by #Mwin. So if you Redirect #Mwin to something else, your own custom message window will be used. -Implicit including is now built-in. -Traditionally, you would have to use #Include "myfile.prg" to use the custom methods declared in that file. -These days, you can implicitly include that file using something like this: #System.Pause() *This causes System.prg to be auto-included and it calls the Pause() method, which is defined in system.prg -The general syntax is: #[filename.]methodname If a filename is included in a method call, the file will automatically be included. Do not include the .prg extension of the filename. -This can be used with Redirects... #Redirect("#Mwin", "#MyMethods.MyMwin") This way, you don't have to go through all your programs and #Include "mymethods.prg" at the top of each one-- the file will be included if #Mwin is ever used. -This is useful in circumstances where no 'actual' program is running, such as at the end of a fight when the system tells you how much GP and Exp you got. As long as the Redirect uses this implicit including, the custom method will be used because the file it is defined in will automatically be loaded. -Arrays and maps are now built-in. -You can access a variable like this: #t! = 5 #myVar[t!]$ = "Hello" *this actually puts 'Hello' into myVar[5]$ -Maps are also allowed: #key$ = "John" #doe[key$]! = 4 *Puts 4 into doe[John]! CHANGES TO POWERHOUSE EDITION: -Some fixes were made to the EXE system so it should locate more files now. END OF RELEASE 18 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.17 Instructions and What's New 5/21/01 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999-2001 What's new... CHANGES TO ALL VERSIONS: -Default installation directory changed to C:\Program Files\Toolkit2 -- it's about bloody time! -New, spiffier, board editor. -Looks a lot nicer, and another cool feature: -The board editor is resizable. Go ahead and maximise the thing! But don't forget to hit redraw! -Standardised much of Toolkit.exe's interface. (more compliant with Windows interface guidelines. You'll find that there are 'Browse...' buttons all over the place now, a better solution than having a file dialog pop up when the user clicks in a text box :) -Cleaned up the clutter in several editors. You will find that logically related items are grouped together. -Updated tutorials for new interface. -New splash screen and background image. -Enemy animations-- uses the animation editor. -Changed the format of tpk, the pakfile system... -In 2,16, tpk files were a format invented by me. Now, tpk files are just zip files. This makes them smaller and *faster*. And , you can open tpk files with winzip (assuming you made them with 2.17 or higher). -The only 2.16 tpk format is being retired. Verion 2.17 cannot read version 2.16 tpk files. That shouldn't be a problem-- just have the Toolkit create a new tpk file for you in 2.17. -No more pkzip! -The setup and setupkit programs now zip and unzip files by themselves. There is no longer any need for pkzip to be installed on your system in order to use them! -Improved setupkit and setup programs. They are faster and should be a lot more stable. For registered users-- make sure VBRun60.exe is in your Toolkit2\ folder before running setupkit.exe to create your own setup program. -Event system editor. -For people learning RPGCode, this should help a lot. In the RPGCode editor, you can now choose to edit the program 'As an Event'. This allows you to construct an RPGCode program by pointing and clicking thru menus. The system's not perfect, but it's not bad, either. -Changed keyboard input system in trans2-- now you can hit two arrows keys and the player will sort of walk diagonally. For the future, I'd like to make this truly diagonal. -Not really change to the Toolkit, but surely you've noticed the completely new layout for rpgtoolkit.com! CHANGES TO POWERHOUSE EDITION: -You can turn off file protection in the main file, under project settings. This will let you share your boards with other people. -The Build EXE options uses the new pakfile system, so EXEs are now smaller and faster than before. END OF RELEASE 17 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.16 Instructions and What's New 2/24/01 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999-2001 What's new... CHANGES TO ALL VERSIONS: -I registered a new copyright for the 2001 year. This time I went through the US Copyright office for a change of pace (I now have 3 Canadian copyrights and 1 US copyright). -This new version addresses the two problems that sometimes discourage new users of the Toolkit: -Added tutorials (these should get a new user familiar with the Toolkit very quickly). -Added Safety Net crash protection system. If Toolkit.exe or trans2.exe are about to crash, this subsystem will detect the problem and rescue the program before you lose any unsaved work. In most cases, you can the Safety Net system allows you to completely recover from a near-fatal error. -64x64 fighting graphics support for characters. This is now the default size for 64x32 characters, but you can choose to use only the rear column if you want to have 64x32 fighting graphics. -Improved user interface. -Added the new PakFile system. This optional feature allows you to merge your entire game into just one file. This allows you to distribute your entire game using just one file (a tpk file). You can launch the pakfile manager by clicking the PakManager button on the main screen. PakFiles can be run from trans2.exe just like .gam (project) files. -Added Configuration Options for Toolkit.exe. This allows you to: -change the wallpaper of the Toolkit.exe screen. -add quicklaunch programs to the quicklaunch bar of Toolkit.exe. This allows you to launch any program you like from Toolkit.exe with a simple mouse click. This feature will ge good for quickly launching RPGCode Editors, Text Editors, Graphics Editors, etc. -Fixed several bugs in the plugin subsystem (download the latest plugin SDK to take advantage of this). -New RPGCode: #StaticText("on/off") - allows you to turn ststic text on or off (static text is displayed line by line instead of letter by letter). CHANGES TO POWERHOUSE EDITION: -The RPGCode debugger allows you to save the program you are currently debugging. -The new Make EXE option (in the File menu of Toolkit.exe) allows you to build your game into a real Windows EXE file. These EXE files are not 100% standalone, however. They still require the Visual Basic runtime dll's and ocx's in order to run, as well as the files tkgfx.dll and tkpak.dll (just like trans2.exe). If you create a setup utility for one of these EXE files using the Toolkit's Create Setup option, the required runtime files will be copied for you. END OF RELEASE 16 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.15 Instructions and What's New 11/24/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... CHANGES TO ALL VERSIONS: -Improved media player. Now midi files will loop, and you can play wav files as background music. -The Toolkit's new media features (at least to play mp3's) require users to be using Win98, or, if they have windows 95, they must have Windows Media Player 6 (or above) installed. Most people have this, anyway. -The download size is down to 2.7 MB! -New users must download the graphics for the help files seperately. -The setup utility is a lot more stable. -Boards load a lot faster! -Graphics fix for fights using 64x32 characters. -no new rpgcode. This release was more to increase stability than to add features. CHANGES TO POWERHOUSE EDITION: -Powerouse users should download VBRun60.exe from rpgtoolkit.com and place the file in c:\Toolkit2, since the setup program now requires this file. -MP3 files of all qualities now run (even low quality ones). END OF RELEASE 15 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.14 PATCH 12 Instructions and What's New 11/24/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... -Not a lot. Just bugfixes. Fixed board drawing bug in hi-speed engine. -Added new callbacks to plugin manager for board manipulation. Download the SDK to get he updated libraries. END OF PATCH 12 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.14 Instructions and What's New 11/13/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... CHANGES TO ALL VERSIONS: -Wow-- a long time since I last upgraded! -The Toolkit is now designed and compiled using Visual Basic 6.0 (Professional Edition). All corresponding runtime files should be updated. -There is now 64x32 character and item support! It may be a little buggy, though. Try it out and see what you think. Some things to keep in mind about this: -If you use the old 32x32 characters, the character graphics are embedded in the character file. That's why character files have traditionally been so large. This means that if you have 32x32 characters, you don't have to keep the tiles saved that you used to create them. -64x32 characters are totally different. They save their graphics as links to actual tile files. This makes 64x32 characters and items much smaller than 32x32 ones because the actualy graphics are not stored in the files. However, you *must* keep the graphics files you used to create them. -32-bit filenames are now saved in the board files. It used to be that the short filenames were saved in the board files. This usually worked OK, but sometimes caused problems. But this is no longer a concern. If the engine defaults back to the 16-bit engine, the 16-bit engine won't be able to draw files with long filenames, however. So, if it has to, the Toolkit will use internal routines to make up for the problems with the 16-bit engine. -While I'm talking about it, if you are having problems with the 32-bit engine (tkgfx.dll), I have figured out what is causing them. Go to the bug board and download the file linked at the top of the page. -The Toolkit is now resolution independant. You can define which resolution the Toolkit gets set to, or it can run at the current resolution. These changes can be made in the Graphics section of the main file editor. -And, of course, the new plugin manager. -The plugin manager allows you to create your own RPGCode commands in C++. This means you could create and entire battle system in C++ or a menu system or pretty well anything. Even internet play would be possible by creating a plugin for it. -To make your own plugins, you will have to download the plugin SDK. It steps you through creating a plugin. At the time of this writing, the SDK is only designed for Visual C++, but can likely be ported to other languages. -You may notice that after you run 2.14 for the first time, a new folder is created under Toolkit2\ The Plugin\ folder. You can put plugins in this folder. Plugins must be named like this: tkplugX.dll, where X is a number between 0 and 4 (right now, only 5 plugins can run simultaneously-- but each plugin could potentially support thousands of commands!) -To use plugins, go to the plugin section of the main file and check off the plugins you wish to use. You will only be able to select plugins if there are plugins sitting in your Plugin\ folder. -For the standarrd edition, the user is prompted before a plugin is loaded. This ensures security-- you don't have to run foreign code if you don't want to. -A few bugs were fixed. -New RPGCode: ================ #GetRes ================ Name: Get Resolution Format: #GetRes(x!, y!) This command determines the current game resolution (screen resolution). It places the results into x! and y!. Example: #GetRes(x!, y!) Related Commands: #GetCorner CHANGES TO POWERHOUSE EDITION: -The powerhouse edition does not prompt you if you want to use a plugin or not-- it automatically assumes you want to use them. -Since the Toolkit is now developed with Visual Basic 6, some of the runtime files have changed. I did not include these in the udc file for people upgrading in order to save space. You can download the VB6 runtimes from my site-- extract the contents of this file into c:\windows\system or c:\toolkit2, whichever you prefer. END OF RELEASE 14 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.13 Instructions and What's New 9/16/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... CHANGES TO ALL VERSIONS: -Fixed a bug on international versions of windows. You should now be able to load/save your game if you are running a non-english version of windows. -Added the Animation Editor. This allows you to create animations for use in battles. -Added animation slot in special moves, so a special move can use an animation created with the animation editor. -Added animation slot in item editor so if an item is equipped on a player's right or left hand, the animation will run each time the player swipes his sword. -Did some cool stuff with enemies in battles. Now they actually flash when they have their move and fade away when they die. -New RPGCode: ================ #Animation ================ Name: Run animation. Format: #Animation(file$, x!, y!) This command plays an animation file created with the Animation Editor. File$ is the filename of the animation to run. X! And y! Are numerical variables indicating the x, y coordinates on the screen where to play the animation. Example: #Animtion("explosion.anm", 10, 10) Related Commands: #SizedAnimation ================= #SizedAnimation ================= Name: Run animation, scaled. Format: #SizedAnimation(file$, x!, y!, xsize!, ysize!) This command plays an animation file created with the Animation Editor. File$ is the filename of the animation to run. X! And y! Are numerical variables indicating the x, y coordinates on the screen where to play the animation. Xsize! And ysize! Are the dimensions, in pixels of the animation to draw. Example: #SizedAnimtion("explosion.anm", 10, 10, 100, 100) Related Commands: #Animation ================= #ForceRedraw ================= Name: Redraw the screen. Format: #ForceRedraw() This command forces the Toolkit to redraw the current board. This is good for fadeout sequences using the ambient reserved variables. Example: *Fade out... #for(x!=0; x!>-255; x!=x!-10) { #ambientred! = x! #ambientgreen! = x! #ambientblue! = x! #ForceRedraw() } #Wait(a$) Related Commands: #Return ================= #ItemLocation ================= Name: Return position of tiem. Format: #ItemLocation(itemnum$/itemnum!, x!, y!, layer!) This command locates a specific item and returns its location into destination variables x!, y! And layer!. Itemnum$ can be a string of the type "Item 1", Item 2", etc, or you can use a numerical value to specify which item you wish to locate. Example: *find item 0... #ItemLocation("Item 0", x!, y!, lay!) *find item 1... #ItemLocation(1, xx!, yy!, ll!) Related Commands: #TargetHandle ================= #Wipe ================= Name: Wipe to new graphic. Format: #Wipe(filename$, type!) This command loads a graphic and then ‘wipes' the screen to that graphic. Filename$ is the filename of any graphic (bmp, gif or jpg) to load. Type! Is the type of wipe to perform (1- wipe right, 2- wipe left, 3- wipe down, 4- wipe up, 5- wipe NW to SE, 6- wipe NE to SW, 7- wipe SW to NE, 8- wipe SE to NW). Example: #Bitmap("test.bmp") #Wipe("test2.jpg", 4) #Wait(a$) Related Commands: #Bitmap, #Fade, #SetImage CHANGES TO POWERHOUSE EDITION: -Fixed some bugs with the debugger. -Toolkit now runs at regular resolution when debugging. END OF RELEASE 13 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.12 Instructions and What's New 8/28/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... CHANGES TO ALL VERSIONS: -The fixed bugs in install utility that prevented installation from a CD. -New RPGCode commands: -#SetImageAdditive(file$, x!, y!, width!, height!, percent!) -Draws a gif, bmp or jpg image (file$) at a specified location (x!, y!) with a specified size (width!, height!) using additive tranlucency. Percent! is a number between -100 and 100 specifying how much additive translucency to use. -New reserved variables: AmbientRed!, AmbientGreen!, AmbientBlue! These variables contain numbers in the range -255, 255. They specify what color of light shading should be used when boards are drawn. Using these reserved variables, you can change the lighting levels of a board with very little hassle. You can turn day into night without using different boards, etc. Just use these variables like any other variable. -Tile editor now defaults saving to tst format. Be careful, because if you want to save to gph format, you must now specifically type .gph at the end of a filename when you save! -Save Into Tileset option added in Tile Editor. -The RPGCode editor is a little spiffier. -The board editor refresh problems are finally fixed :) -The edit enemy bug is fixed! -Lots and lots and lots of other bugs were fixed. CHANGES TO POWERHOUSE EDITION: -Added visual menu editor (in RPGCode editor). -Added RPGCode debugger (in RPGCode editor). -Added file protection. -Added auto-update utility. -Added more texturization options in the Tile Editor (Light and Medium) -Added Translucentize option in Tile Editor. Does a quick-and-dirty conversion of your tile to a translucent version. -Extended The Jewel of Destiny. END OF RELEASE 12 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.11 Instructions and What's New 5/28/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... -The install utility is a lot more intelligent. It will automatically relocate system files if you don't want to overwrite them. They will be placed in your Toolkit2 directory. This will ensure that there will be a perfect install on pretty well any system. -Mp3 improvements: now mp3s play *just* like wav files-- that is, they don't pause the whole game while they play (ie they play in the background). Use the #Mp3 command to play them. -Linear level up for players added (in the Character Editor in Levels info). -New RPGCode commands: -I originally intended to create lyar specific mem/scan/put routines, but instead I created two new commands that should do everything you need them to: -#LayerPut(x!, y!, layer!, "graphic.gph") -Puts a tile at a specified x!, y!, layer! position. It uses the hi-speed graphics engine, so it's fast. -Note that these coords are actual board coords (not screen coords, like in the #Put command). -#GetBoardTile(x!, y!, layer!, dest$) -Puts the filename of the tile at x!, y!, layer! into a literal var, dest$. -You can use this to emulate #Scan (but layer specific) and use #LayerPut to emulate #Mem) -#Mp3Pause("filename.mp3") -Like the #Mp3 command-- plays an mp3 file, except it will pause the game the game completely while it plays. -#Sqrt(9, dest!) -Calculate the squareroot of a number and place it in dest! -#GetBoardTileType(x!, y!, layer!, dest$) -Returns the tile type of the tile at x!, y!, layer! and places it in dest$ -Valid tile types are: NORMAL, SOLID, UNDER, NS, EW, STARIS1 ... STAIRS8 -There was a bloody big lot of bug fixes in this one. I'm progressively working towards releasing the registered version, and this is the next step in that direction. -Also, I was going to put a movie editor in here, but decided to release it as-is before doing that. -You will find that certain features are disabled (ie in the RPGCode editor, in the Generate Code menu, you cannot use the Visual Menu editor) These are features you will find in the registered version when it's done. They are included so you will know where to find them if/when you get the registered version. They don't work in this version, of course. -Here's a cool idea I've been tossing around: lately there has been a big demand for bigger characters. I've been playing around and have found that I could probably work with 64x32 character graphics (64 tall). Would this be big enough? Feel free to voice your opinion on the message board. END OF BETA 11 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Patch 11 Instructions and What's New 5/28/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... -Just fixed some bugs in the editor. -Added the option to run an RPGCode program on level-up for a player. END OF PATCH 11 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System 2.10 Instructions and What's New 5/22/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... -Most of the new stuff is 'under the hood'... -New graphics engine. Now implemented as a dll file (tkgfx.dll). It should run about 27% faster. Organisation of Graphics Drawing Routines: HI-SPEED ENGINE -Draws all boards. -Draws all enemies. -Draws tileset selection window in editor. -Draws scrolling columns in classic resolution mode. -Draws images for #SetImageTransparent and #SetImageTranslucent commands INTERNAL ENGINE -All player/item animations. -Most bitmap drawing. -Scrolling (after being primed by hi-speed engine) -Battle backgrounds. -Windows NT users should now be able to use the hi-speed graphics engine. -Option to run the game in windowed mode (best for testing). -RPGCode Quick Reference in the RPGCode Editor is now 100% up-to-date. -MP3 integration. You can now use MP3 files wherever you would use wav files (ie, sound effects, and the #Wav command) You cannot use MP3s for background music. You must purchase the registered version for that. -New SOURCE handle. Acts like the special handle TARGET, but returns the source of an attack (ie, in battle, if a player attacks an enemy, the enemy becomes the TARGET and the player becomes the SOURCE). You can use the SOURCE handle with any command that you would use the TARGET handle with. -New RPGCode commands: #MP3("file.mp3") -plays an mp3 file like a wav file #SourceLocation(x!, y!) -gets the location of the source handle and places the coords in x!, y! #TargetHandle(dest$) -returns the real handle of TARGET. Places the result in dest$. If the target is an enemy, it will return ENEMY 0 (or ENEMY 1, etc). If it's an item, it will return ITEM 0, etc. Only players get their true handle with this call. The enemy and item handles returned cannot be used in other commands. #SourceHandle(dest$) -Same as targethandle, but returns the handle of the SOURCE object. #DrawEnemy(file$, x!, y!) -Draw an enemy file$ at x!, y! #Viewbrd has been updated to accomodate scrolling boards. #Viewbrd("board.brd", topx!, topy!) -shows a board, with topx! and topy! as the top corner. If topx! and topy! are not specified, it uses 1,1. -Fixed many many bugs. END OF BETA 10 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Patch 10 Instructions and What's New 4/24/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... -Not a lot new. Just vleaning up some bugs that popped up in the last release. -Extended run time keys now work properly. -Shop window doesn't crash when you hit 'Info' -New RPGCode: -#SetImageTransparent(file$, x!, y!, width!, height!, r!, g!, b!) -Same as #SetImage, but treats the color r!, g!, b! as transparent when the image is drawn. Slow. -#SetImageTranslucent(file$, x!, y!, width!, height!) -Same as #SetImage, but blends the image with the graphics already on the screen. Slow. END OF PATCH 10 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Version 2.09 Instructions and What's New 4/22/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... -Added 51 new run time key slots. You can get to them from the main file editor. -Fight background editor now allows ambient effects on tiles. -Sound subsystem redesigned. You can now open up The Bard from the editor by clicking on the 'MP3' button in the toolbar. The Bard is a full-featured mp3 and mod audio player. It can load and save WinAmp playlists. -New support for tracked music (mod, s3m, it, xm, etc). Use these files like you'd use midi files. The media sub-system now uses the modplug player (www.modplug.com) to play tracked music. It's better than using midi files. Give it a try! There's lots of really great tracked music out there on the internet. Mod files automatically loop, unlike midi files. -New RPGCode commands: #SetImage(filename$, x1!, y1!, width!, height!) -Load a sized image. #DrawCircle(x!, y!, radius! [,startangle!, endangle!]) -Draws a circle. Start and end angles are optional. If specified, they will draw an arc. #FillCircle(x!, y!, radius!) -Draws a filled circle. #SaveScreen() -Places the current screen into a buffer to be used later on. #RestoreScreen([x1!, y1!, x2!, y2!, xdest!, ydest!]) -Restores the screen in the buffer (with SaveScreen). If no parameters are specified, it just copies the entire buffer over. If you specify parameters, you can capture a portion of the buffered screen (x1, y1, x2, y2) and place it at xdest!, ydest!. #Sin, #Cos and #Tan(degree!, dest!) -Trig functions. Specify the angle in degrees. The answer is stored in dest! #GetPixel(x!, y!, r!, g!, b!) -Get the pixel at x!, y! and place it's color in r!, g!, b! #GetColor(r!, g!, b!) -Get the currently defined color (the one set with #Color or ColorRGB) and place the color in r!, g!, b! #GetFontSize(dest!) -get the current font size. -Lots of bug fixes (the bug board works!) RPG Toolkit Development System Version 2.08 Instructions and What's New 4/4/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... -Cool stuff. The tile editor now has a sinusiodal skew effect. -The board editor now has a gradient lighting effect. After seeing D&C demo 3 and realising all of the work Cyrus had put into the lighting, I thought I'd automate the process. -New status effect editor. It's faily straight forward. Status effects can now be added to special moves. -New RPGCode: #ApplyStatus("handle", "filename.ste") -applies a status effect to a player or enemy. handle is the handle of the player (or you can use 'target' to apply it to a player or an enemy). filename.ste is the filename of the status effect to be applied. #RemoveStatus("handle", "effect name [or filename.ste]") -removes a status effect for a player/enemy. You can use 'target' for handle, or a player handle. the effect name can be the name of the effect, or the filename of the effect. -Added a new command to system.prg (you'll have to #include system.prg to use it): #MoveGraphic(filename$, x1!, y1!, x2!, y2!, speed!) -Causes a graphic (filename$) to move from position x1!, y1! to x2!, y2! speed! is the speed to do it at (1 is fast, 0.5 is slower. The higher the number, the faster it moves). -Example: #MoveGraphic("brick.gph", 5, 5, 10, 10, 1) -Bug fixes. END OF BETA 8 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Version 2.07 Patch 9 Instructions and What's New 3/6/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... -Just some bug fixes. The notorious 'low-smp' bug and some others. -Now runs fullscreen. You can exit the program by pressing ALT-X, or the usual methods. Also, if you move your mose to the top right corner of the screen, an exit button will appear (trans2) -New rpgcode command: #InternalMenu(menunum!) -pops up an internal menu, defined by menunum! -Valid numbers: 0- main menu 1- inventory 2- equip menu 3- details menu 4- abilities menu END OF PATCH 9 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Version 2.07 IDE Instructions and What's New 2/5/00 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999, 2000 What's new... This is a pretty good release. Here are some of the new features... -Upgrade to new Filesystem. * When you first start the Toolkit (if you are upgrading), the first thing that will happen is that it will ask you to upgrade your file- system. The new version uses a new arrangement of the files, to seperate on game from another. It's a simple process. The wizard will ask you for the filename of your main file, and then it'll move all of your files into the new filesystem. * After the filesystem is upgraded, you can delete your old filesystem. things probably went ok. but if you want to be sure that everything worked, you may want to delete your old files later on (after you have checked to see that everything worked). Once you know it's safe to delete the old filesystem, you can do it from the File/Delete Old Filesystem menu in the main screen. -New IDE and Project Integratrion. * When you start the Toolkit, you'll see that things have changed a lot. games are now organised in their own folders. The main file is the 'project' file. When you open a main file, you switch to that project. * It's sort of hard to explain unless you see for yourself. So, just play around with it and you should get it. It's pretty easy. (BTW-- new games are put in their own folder: Game\GameName, where GameName is the name of the game). * When you start a new game, make sure you hit the 'new game' button in the main menu screen. If you don't, thena new project won't be created. -Skin support. In the main file editor, you can edit a skin for the Internal menu system and Fight menu. -FAST scrolling!!! That's right. When you run a game in Optimal Resolution, it'll use Fast Scrolling. It's really good. -All projects now default to optimal resolution. It doesn't make sense *not* to run in optimal resolution. The speed and graphics quality advantages are too great in Optimal Resolution to make anyone want to use the old, slow, Classic Resolution. -Windows NT support. It's slow, though (doesn't use the high speed graphics engine). If you make a game under NT, I don't suggest using scrollable boards. It may also not work perfectly. It's sort of experimental. -Various bug fixes (including the fight lock up problem). -No new RPGCode commands. What's up with that? Well, I wanted to release the new version as soon as I could. They next version will be heavy on new commands. END OF BETA 7 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Version 2.06 Instructions and What's New 12/30/99 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999 What's new... There's just a few things in this release... -Bug fixes. Mostly in program initiating and drawing. -Ability to turn scrolling on/off. -On slower computers (like mine), scrolling can be a bit laggy. You can turn scrolling off by going into the customize submenu and turning it off. Now boards will scroll as if they were divided up into seperate boards. -Help files finished. The entire help collection is now done! -RPGCode changes: -New board constants: BoardBackground$ (fight background image) BoardSkill! (board skill level) -New Commands: #GetDP #GetFP Both work the same as comparable commands (ie #GetLevel, etc.) I won't explain them here as there is a complete decription in the help files. -Demo game updated. -I have tried to use tilesets as much as possible. You will find that all of my tiles now come from the file default.tst and cave.tst END OF BETA 6b NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Version 2.06 Instructions and What's New 12/21/99 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999 What's new... There's a lot of new stuff in this release. Here goes... -Nicer interface for drawing (tile editor, board editor, background editor). -Faster enemy drawing (now uses the hi-speed graphics engine). -Enemy move times are staggered. The enemies don't go all at once anymore. -Battle system sped up. -Speed restrictions set on player and text. You can modify this in the Customize option of the trans2.exe main menu. -New fighting mode: You can now have your fights take place in a 'head on' style, instead of the side view. Here's how: -In the main file editor, edit the fighting options. You can select the fighting style you want. Choose Front View for the new fighting system. -Optimal resolution option. If you run the Toolkit on a monitor that has a resolution of 800x600 or above, the display may not look as good as it should. In the Main file, you can now set the game to run in 'Optimal Resolution Mode'. This will force the game to run in 640x480, the best resolution for the Toolkit. The original resolution is restored when the game ends. -Improved tileset importing options: -When you import a bunch of tiles with the Tile Grabber, you can now remove duplicates. To do this, click on the Tileset option in the main menu, and click on 'add tiles visually'. You can select any tileset you want, and then you can choose the 'Remove Duplicates' button. This will scan all of your tiles and remove any duplicates. Then you can add the tiles with the tileset filter or manually. -Fixed some bugs. A notable improvement is the ability to use the #Send command in the reward program of an enemy. -New RPGCode commands: -#AI- Allows you to access internal enemy AI routines. Syntax: #AI(level!) Info: This command can only be used from an enemy AI program. It will cause the enemy to use a certain level of Artifical Intelligence in a fight. level! is a numerical value between 0 and 3 that specifies the intelligence level (3 is high). -#MenuGraphic Syntax: #MenuGraphic(file$) Info: This command allows you to select a graphic for the background image of the internal menu system. The graphic can be bmp, gif or jpg and must be located in the \Bitmap\ directory. -#FightMenuGraphic Syntax: #FightMenuGraphic(file$) Info: This command allows you to select a graphic for the background image of the fight menu. The graphic can be bmp, gif or jpg and must be located in the \Bitmap\ directory. -#FightStyle Syntax: #FightStyle(0/1) Info: This command changes the fighting style. 0 is side view, 1 is front view. -#Stance Syntax: #Stance(1-43 [,handle]) Info: This shows any player stance. The numbers select which graphic to show: 1-16, walking gfx 17-20, fight 21-24, special move 25-28, defense 29-32, die 33-42, custom postures 43, fight at rest graphic Handle is assumed to be Target if none is specified. -#BattleSpeed Syntax: #BattleSpeed(0-7) Info: This adjusts the battle speed. 0 is slowest, 7 is fastest. It is 0 by default. -#CharacterSpeed Syntax: #CharacterSpeed(0-3) Info: This adjusts the character and item speeds used by the game. 3 is the fastest (and is the default). -#TextSpeed Syntax: #TextSpeed(0-3) Info: This adjusts the text scrolling speed. 3 is the fastest (and the default). -#MWinSize Syntax: #MWinSize(size!) Info: This adjusts the message window size. size! is a numerical value that representas the percentage of the screen the message window will take up *horizontally*. 95 is the default. END OF BETA 6 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Version 2.05b, Patch 8 Instructions and What's New 11/25/99 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999 Instructions... Just unzip the contents of this zip file into your c:\toolkit2 directory. What's new... This is a very small patch. Very small. Here's what was changed: -Fixed character refresh bug after a program ends. -Fixed bitmap loading with the #Bitmap command and loading in a fight sequence. -Fixed the #Viewbrd bug (finally) -Fixed a bug with the #Text command (before anyone spotted it!) -The setupkit program was fixed so that it copies dirbrowse.ocx properly when it makes a setup program. -New RPGCode commands: #GetLevel("handle",dest!) -Gets the level of 'handle', puts it in dest! -Note: If you use the 'target' handle, it'll return the level of the target, not the player using the Special Move. -All enemies are at level 0. -Also, there is now a way to automatically loop your midi files. The Toolkit has an internal midi player, but it does not loop the music when it ends. However, the Toolkit can also launch an OLE client to play any media format, and it will automatically loop. By default, the Toolkit will use the internal player (no looping). If you want to use the OLE player, make sure you reference all your midi file with a .MLP extention ('midi loop'). NOTE: DO NOT *SAVE* your midi files with a .mlp extention, continue to use .mid to save them. But when you want to load that file, use the .mlp extention in RPGCode, or even in the board editor. I would imagine that you won't use this a lot, but if you have a situation where the file MUST loop (a fight), you can use this. Example: I have a file called music.mid. It is saved in \Toolkit2\Media\ where it is supposed to be. If I want music.mid to play on a board, but loop, I have to do this: -Keep music.mid just the way it is. DO NOT chnage the .mid extention. -In the board editor, I will select the background music file. Instead of typing music.mid, though, I'll type music.mlp -Even though music.mlp does not exist, the Toolkit will automatically play music.mid, but will loop it. END OF PATCH 8 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Version 2.05b Instructions and What's New 11/12/99 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999 What's new... Hi. This is a bit of a small update. Not much new, but here's what has changed... -Changed file dialog to the new file dialog.ocx. The last episode with ComDlg32.ocx taught me not to trust Microsoft :) -Sped up RPGCode variable routines-- makes for faster character loading. -Fixed #ViewBrd bug (now opens the new scrollable boards). -Fixed #Send bug (it wasn't working on scrollable boards). -Added player shading to conform to board lighting effects. -Added joystick/keyboard support to the fighting engine. -Fixed brddraw tileset bug (tilesets that were 16x16x16.7 million colors weren't working properly). -Fixed tileset saving in Tile Editor. -Added scrolling to the Tile Editor. -Added #UnderArrow command to turn the 'under arrow' on or off. Usage: #UnderArrow("on") or #UnderArrow("off") -Updated help docs (almost done!) -Changed some stuff in the demo. END OF 2.05B NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Version 2.05 (beta 5) Instructions and What's New 10/29/99 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999 What's new... Wow! This is the biggest update since the Toolkit was first released last February. Lots of new things, here they are... New system requirements: I'm upping the required RAM to 32MB. Maybe it will still run in 8MB, I'm not sure. Anyone out there have 8MB? CHANGES TO TOOLKIT.EXE -New internal help system. -The manual is now included with the Toolkit. Just select the help menu in any editor, and your default browser will pop up and show you the help files installed on your harddrive. -Help files updated. -They are still not complete, but the RPGCode command reference is 100% up-to-date. -High speed drawing engine. -The main drawing core is now written in C. This makes for much faster board drawing times. -Resizable boards. -You can set the board size as large as 50x50 tiles in the Board Information section of the Board Settings menu. -Auto Warp Tile -In the board editor, you can now lay down 'warp tiles' by selecting this option from the RPGCode menu. The system generates and automatic RPGCode program that uses the #Send command to warp a player somewhere else. -*Fast* tilesets. -Tilesets are relatively new to the Toolkit world, but up until now, they have really been too slow to be of much use. No more! The tileset drawing routines for the Board Editor have been re-written in C. Just try it out! At this speed, tilesets are now conveinient enough to completely replace the .gph format. (Whether or not they will is really to be determined by users like yourself). -You can hold in your mouse button in the board editor (instead of clicking over and over again). -RPGCode test. -You can now test run RPGCode programs directly from the RPGCode Editor by pressing F5 or by selecting the options in the Run menu. This makes RPGCode editing MUCH MUCH MUCH easier. I really should have done this sooner! -Enemy graphic importer. -In the Enemy Editor, you will find an import option that will import an enemy graphic directly from a bmp, gif or jpg. The tiles it creates are stored in a tileset. CHANGES TO TRANS2.EXE -Fast boards. -Board drawing speed is significantly faster. -Scrolling support -For boards larger than 19x11 tiles, the board now scrolls as in most console-style RPGs. It's a little slow, though. On my P-133 it's *ok*. I'd expect that on higher-end machines this will be good and fast. -Scrolling is somewhat 'experimental'. I've tried to make the transistion from 19x11 boards into multiple sized boards as seamless as possible. All pertinent RPGCode commands have been updated to accomodate the new system. There may be bugs in the scrolling engine that I have not found. If so, please tell me so I can get them fixed. -If scrolling is too buggy or too slow, just use regular 19x11 boards. They are *FAST* and work great. -Joystick Support -You can use a joystick to move around. Also, button 1 does a few things: -When you hold it in, the character 'runs'. -It is used as the activation key for programs. -Command like #Wait now recognise the button and return "BUTTON" if it is pressed (so it can be used to skip thru message window text). -New Security Features -It was brought to my attention that the #GoDos command and the #Start command could potentially damage a person's system if someone were to write a mailicious RPGCode program. While there have never been any problems with the commands, I have taken the following steps to prevent potential problems: -#GoDos is now disabled (no one used it, anyway). -#Start is restricted. It cannot run .exe, .com, .bat, .pif or .lnk files. -New RPGCode commands -I will provide a brief description of each new command here. For more info, see the RPGCode command reference in the internal help system. -#SetButton -Put a clickable button on the screen. -#CheckButton -Check if a button has been clicked. -#ClearButtons -Remove buttons from memory. -#MouseClick -Like #Wait. It waits for the user to click the mouse, then returns the x and y position of the click. -#MouseMove -Like #Wait. It waits for the user to move the mouse and then returns the x and y position of the mouse. -#Zoom -Zooms the screen in or out by a positive or negative percentage. -#Earthquake -Creates an 'earthquake' effect. -#ItemCount -Counts the number of any item the player is carrying. -#DestroyPlayer -Completely removes a player from the party (the player cannot be restored with #RestorePlayer). -#CallPlayerSwap -Opens up the player swap menu, which allows you to swap players onto and off of the team. -#PlayAvi -Plays an avi file fullscreen. -#PlayAviSmall -Plays an avi file in a window. -#GetCorner -Gets the x and y offset of the board scrolling. -Lots of bug fixes. -Don't even ask me to repeat them! That's all. Have fun! END OF 2.05 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Patch 7 Instructions and What's New 9/3/99 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999 Instructions: Just unzip this file into c:\toolkit2\ (or wherever you keep the Toolkit). What's new... -This patch just fixes a bug in the board editor that prevented some people from seeing images. The board editor is also generally more stable now. -That's all in this patch. Beta 5 will be coming out shortly, and it will have a legion (well, maybe a score) of new things. END OF PATCH 7 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Beta 4 Instructions and What's New 7/25/99 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999 Instructions: Just unzip this file into c:\toolkit2\ (or wherever you keep the Toolkit). What's new... - I looked at the 'bitmap eater' bug, and could not reproduce the error. In other words, as far as I'm concerned, the bug doesn't exist. Perhaps someone could show me this bug in more detail. - In this new release, I have added a new file format- .TST (Tileset) A Tileset is a group of tiles all stored in one file. This makes it easier to group common tiles together and browse tiles easier. - Benefits of TST file format: - Smaller and sleeker file format-- tiles are now more than 3 times smaller when saved into a tileset. - Better organization. You can group related tiles together. - Easier to share tiles with others. Just give them one file! - Easier to select in the Editor. Tiles in tilesets are selected from a visual browser box-- a lot easier to find the tile you want this way! - You can still use the .GPH format if you wish. - The number of tiles you can use continues to be unlimited, even with tileset support. - New TST format is completely integrated into beta 4. - How to use Tilesets: Bascially, you can use a tileset just like you would a regular .GPH tile. When you are in the tile editor and select 'open tile', if you select a file with a .TST extention, the tileset browser will automatically open, and you can select a tile. Also, if you want to save a tile INTO a tileset, when you select 'Save As' from the tile editor menu, just select a .TST file, and the tile will be added to the tileset automatically. In the board editor, or anywhere else, you can select a tile from a tileset just by opening a .TST file when prompted to load a regular .GPH tile. So, it's really quite easy to use tilesets. There is also a new tileset option in the editor, which allows you to add a lot of tiles to any given tileset. If you want to use a tileset from RPGCode: Use commands as you normaly would (ie. #Put(filename$) ), but for a filename, use the filename of the tileset, plus add the extention .tst plus the number of the tile in the set at the end of the extention (ie. #Put("myset.tst8") will load the 8th tile in the tileset myset.tst) - Cautions: You will get errors if you try to mix the detail level of tiles in your tileset. All tiles in any tileset must be of the same detail level and color depth. (ie. If you try to add a 16x16x256 color tile to a 32x32x16.7 million color tileset, you won't be able to). END OF BETA 4 NOTES RPG Toolkit Development System Patch 6 Instructions and What's New 6/25/99 Christopher B. Matthews Copyright 1999 Instructions: Just unzip this file into c:\toolkit2\ (or wherever you keep the Toolkit). What's new... -Fixed the special move bug that caused such high attack powers. -The fighting engine now uses the fight 'at rest' graphic. -Gave the user the ability to restart the music thru the internal menu. -Some new RPGCode commands: #WalkSpeed- Change the walking speed of the player. Syntax: #WalkSpeed("fast/slow")- makes the character walk faster or slower. Example: #WalkSpeed("slow")- Causes the character to walk slower and smoother. #ItemWalkSpeed- Exactly the same as the character walk speed, but it affects items only. #Posture- Use a player's custom posture graphics. Syntax: #Posture(posture_number!, player_handle$) Example: #Posture(0,"Frap")- Displays the 0th custom posture for Frap. END OF PATCH 6 NOTES