Generate a Patch for a RPG Maker Game

[Olbricht]

Hello, I'm looking for a program to create a TL-patch file for a game (my project: ). Although I have seen in many cases in this forum here that the entire game is re-uploaded when a patch is released. I don't want to use this method myself.

So, after some research, I came across the program called RPGMaker Trans. Unfortunately, it's unnecessarily complicated to set up (install phyton, install anaconda, install this, configure that...). Are there better, less time consuming, alternatives? Alternatives could be written for Windows or Linux.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

Since that's VX Ace, the simplest method is just popping all the altered files into a zip file (with the proper folder structure), ready to extract and overwrite, with instructions on how to decrypt VX Ace games.

 

[Olbricht]

Since that's VX Ace, the simplest method is just popping all the altered files into a zip file (with the proper folder structure), ready to extract and overwrite, with instructions on how to decrypt VX Ace games.

Thanks for the feedback. Isn't there something that compares the original and modified files and creates a patch from them? Like the .ups file (for SNES and GBA games), for example. With your suggestion I would have to zip the entire data folder.

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

Isn't there something that compares the original and modified files and creates a patch from them?

None that I know of do something like that. Only compare files and choose the most recently edited. However, I don't think it's needed in this case. Even large RPGM games have relatively small data folders. Rarely do they go above 20-30mb, so zipping the whole folder shouldn't be much of an issue.

 

[Olbricht]

None that I know of do something like that.

My draft doesn't necessarily have to be published anytime soon. Let's just wait and see what others might know.

None that I know of do something like that. Only compare files and choose the most recently edited. However, I don't think it's needed in this case. Even large RPGM games have relatively small data folders. Rarely do they go above 20-30mb, so zipping the whole folder shouldn't be much of an issue.

The problem is not the size of the upload...

 

[Goeffel]

but what would then be the problem?

I might be wrong but I think instructions for players should be easy enough?

"Move the Game.rgss3a file to a backup folder, unzip the download into the game folder, when asked chose to <<replace (all)>>" ... that's it, isn't it?

The patch might be small enough to fit as message attachment even (15MB limit iiuc.)

 

[whowhawhy]

but what would then be the problem?

probs releasing the patch in legal circles so it modifies existing game files without redistributing any of them, as the latter would be more likely to need dev's permission.

 

[Olbricht]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to search for a patcher in general rather than specifically for RPGM? Perhaps that will help me. Or are there other search criteria/words that perform a similar function?

 

[Olbricht]

I came across two programs: BCompare and WinMerge. Does anyone have experience with this software? Are these programs suitable for this purpose?

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

I came across two programs: BCompare and WinMerge. Does anyone have experience with this software? Are these programs suitable for this purpose?

Just taking a quick look at them, you'd need to convert rvdata2 files into txt so those programs could even read them in the first place. How to do that, I don't know.

 

[Olbricht]

Just taking a quick look at them, you'd need to convert rvdata2 files into txt so those programs could even read them in the first place. How to do that, I don't know.

In most cases, however, the decrypted version is not included, and therefore there is no access to .rvdata2. In this case, it would be the Game.rgss3a file. While I may not be a computer scientist, I have the following idea. For example, let's take a simple .txt file. If this is opened with f.e. Notepad++, the output will also be "empty" if it contains nothing. Applying this idea to a test.xyz file, it should be possible to patch it using the programs mentioned above. The file type is contained within the file code. Therefore, comparing these two .rgss3a files should be possible without conversion. I've managed to generate a patch with WinMerge. However, I don't know how to reverse the process.

Let's see what happens in the next few days/weeks...

Edit: It might also be worth mentioning that the file itself, whatever its file extension, is also located within this file.