Tutorial RPGM Enable RPG Maker MV Debug/test mode

pk2000

Active Member
Aug 12, 2017
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You can enable debug/playtest mode in all versions of Rpg maker MV games without installing any scripts or modifying the game.
Go to your game directory, find the file "package.json" and open it with a text editor. Find the string
"main": "www/index.html",
and change it to
"main": "www/index.html?test",
save it and start the game.
Depending on the MV version you can start the debug console with the keys F8 or F12.
 

Visya

Member
Oct 26, 2018
143
62
I tried this. it somehow works. but when I press the key, it just open a new panel with a blank screen. is this supposed to happen?
 

zths

Member
Modder
Donor
Mar 6, 2019
429
552
I tried this. it somehow works. but when I press the key, it just open a new panel with a blank screen
in the new mv of version(use nwjs 0.12+), you need the debug version of "nwjs" to real get a debug console...
 

Visya

Member
Oct 26, 2018
143
62
in the new mv of version(use nwjs 0.12+), you need the debug version of "nwjs" to real get a debug console...
how do I do it? found some downloadables in nwjs.io. am I on the right track?
 

zths

Member
Modder
Donor
Mar 6, 2019
429
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how do I do it? found some downloadables in nwjs.io. am I on the right track?
you're right, go download a sdk version. and copy to game dir.
run nw.exe to play game, press f12. ( In most cases there is no need to add "?test" to "package.json" )
then you can see the console.

And this can generally increase game performance. By using new browser kernel.
 

Visya

Member
Oct 26, 2018
143
62
you're right, go download a sdk version. and copy to game dir.
run nw.exe to play game, press f12. ( In most cases there is no need to add "?test" to "package.json" )
then you can see the console.

And this can generally increase game performance. By using new browser kernel.
thank you
 

Surgy

Member
Modder
Apr 23, 2018
341
1,323
Here's the direct link to NWJS . The debugging versions are named like nwjs-sdk-v0.XY.Z-[os]-[bitness].zip there.

Since it's also related to debugging, I'll post it here:
I wrote a small plugin for RPG Maker MV/MZ that allows easier debugging of game JSONs loading.
It shows exactly where and in which file there's an invalid escape code or such that causes a crash on start.

To install it unpack the archive into the game root directory and either add this code to the plugins.js before the last ];:
JavaScript:
,{"name":"DebugJSONLoad","status":true,"description":"Shows better info for JSON load errors","parameters":{}}
or run add_json_debug.cmd.