Sadly Neglected, Never Forgotten

RPG Maker Times Companion has been sadly neglected of late, so it's time to rectify that. I'll have a look through my archives (bookmarks, old storage CDs/DVDs, etc.) and come up with a few entries. It's intended that the Companion deals with tools and utilities specifically, so updates will only appear here and won't be announced on RPG Maker Times and RPG Maker Times Companion (New) main sites.

In time, I may or may not include resources here (including porting the RPG Maker Times Windowskins, which, incidentally, has also been neglected).

Another thing I'm working on, in between work, play and projects, is scripts. I'll eventually update my scripts here too. Maybe put each of them on separate pages, along with a script(let) index. Any new (or, indeed, old-but-updated) scripts will also be announced on the main RPG Maker Times site.

I don't know how long all this will take, but given that free time isn't free, it's on my ~TO DO~ list for sure.

Hiper RMXP/RMVX Windowskin Maker

DownloadI'm sure that RPG Maker enthusiasts and visitors to RPG Maker Times alike are aware of the Windowskin Generator VX and the Windowskin Maker XP by now. These are two separate programs: the VX one loads via RMVX or separately and the XP one is a standalone program.

Wouldn't it be cool if both windowskin creators were combined, where instead of having to create RMXP and RMVX windowskins separately, you could use a single program to create both simultaneously? If such a program existed, it would certainly make life much easier!

Well, such a program DOES exist, thanks to the superlative talents of one Narvelan, a nonpareil Portugese (sic: Brazilian) programmer, who has created the peerless Hiper WindowSkin Maker (version 1.0 BETA). I tell you, this utility is THE DEFINITIVE windowskin creator! I can't laud this program enough, so I'll outline its rich features instead.

It is in Portugese, but is fairly straightforward and easy to use, although here's a quick rundown nevertheless. EDIT: Now at version 2.0 with Portugese/Brazilian and English language packs. If you receive an "application failed to initialize" error, you need to have .NET Framework installed on your computer too.

Create the windowskins

When first opening the program, the first place to go is Estilo (Styles). This is where the different graphics parts are stored, with seven style categories to choose from - including my favorite, Medieval - but you can create your own. From there, you can choose the different components from the tabs to create the windowskins. As you add the components, they will be added realtime to both RPG Maker templates.

All graphics are dependant on the styles. The Background (Fundo) is the message window background. The Layouts (1, 2 and 3) insert the message window frame, directional arrows and flashing cursor respectively. Sets (Seta) 1 and 2 are RMXP only for the battle cursors. Set 3 is the animated arrows to forward messages. And the Extra tab I have no idea what that's for.

You also have the options to choose a colour (Escholer Cor) for the background transparency or revert to normal transparency (Transparente). You can even overlay templates or create blank templates from the Show Template (Monstrar Template) options.

Once you've created your masterpiece, you can save (salvar) each windowskin in either format, or both. They can then be imported and used in games.

Importing windowskins

The final very useful feature this utility has is the ability to import RMXP windowskins and split them up so you can use them in RMVX windowskins!

It's under Arquivo (File) then Importar (Import). There you will see one option: Windowskin XP (.png), which you can use to import RMXP only windowskins.

Caveat: Do NOT attempt to import RMVX windowskins (either by accident or by design). It will not work and the program will invariably crash.

Conclusion

Now there's absolutely NO excuse not to create more RMXP windowskins. In fact, I will be creating the same versions of both, since the commonest search term is windowskins.

Narvelan, Tiramos o chapéu para você, mano! (Uh...Google-translated since I'm not bi-lingual.)

Character Creator Studio VX

RMXP Unlimited

Just like the Character Maker for RMXP, Character Creator Studio VX allows the creation of RMVX character sets. It does have a lot of resources available to create some decent characters, with the ability to add multiple items.

What I like most about this program though is its simplicity and ease of use, and its features:

• Large Preview - A separate window for a much larger preview of characters, updated "live".
• Undo - Unlimited undo's if something doesn't look right.
• Reset - Resets the character set to its default "naked" state.
• Save - Save your creations as individual charsets. (These can be imported directly into RMVX and used if they are saved with a $ at the beginning of the filename.)
• Import/Export Allows you to import and export additional resources either premade or from existing character sets.

All images are saved as PNG format, including the character building resources, which means that, if you know what you're doing, you can create your own hairstyles, clothes, etc. and use them directly.

Not only that, Character Creator Stuido also comes bundled with another program, called Sprite Stitcher. This allows you to "stitch" individual character sets together (created with the Studio or somewhere else) into a single character set, up to the maximum of eight.

In short, this program is the best one I've come across so far. I know that for myself I'm so glad I stumbled across this program simply because spriting is NOT something I'm good at. And I know that others will find it as much of a boon as I do. Highly Recommended.

RMXP Project Organiser

RMXP Unlimited

This nifty little utility (from Evil Cabbage), just as the title suggests, gives you the chance to easily manage all your RMXP projects.

First off, you can launch or edit projects directly from the program, making it much easier than loading them individually in RMXP first.

Note: You can launch RMVX projects as well, although you can't edit them without receiving an error message.

This application is packed with other very useful features. You can change the game's title, restore the database and scripts in a project to default, delete unwanted save files rather than manually in the project folder itself, and if any RGSS dlls are required it can copy these as well.

There is, however, one very important caveat to be aware of: If you don't highlight a project first, the program will crash! Aside from that, this program is definitely useful, especially as a launchpad for editing and playing projects.

Windowskin Maker XP

RMXP Unlimited

Until now there has only been a Windowskin Generator for RMVX, which is a superlative utility that I use frequently.

Now, there is one for RMXP, created by the talented Evil Cabbage, found on RPG Maker Times Companion and at RMXP Unlimited. Note: Right-click on the "Download" link and Save As for it to work.

Unlike the RMVX version, which runs within RMVX itself or standalone, this utility is just standalone. Its ease of use makes it very useful indeed, but you do have to create your own resources for it - backgrounds, arrows, etc. - as it none are provided with the program. This should not pose too many problems anyway, as long as you know the individual sizes for the different parts. (I should cover this in a later entry for all RPG Makers.)

Aside from manual creation of material parts, this program does have two distinctive disadvantages. The first is that it has no feature to redefine the windowframe, which is displayed as the "default" thin white frame with white scroll arrows. The second is that it can only be exported as BMP format, which means that it would need to be converted to PNG in another graphics program. Notwithstanding that RMXP will quite happily import BMP files, they are much larger in size than PNG files.

Aside from these "flaws", I would still recommend using this, as it's the only windowskin creator available for RMXP. This will still prove to be a valuable asset to any would-be RMXP windowskin creators.