I posted a reply about modding the game a bit earlier, but fear it may have been buried because mods still had to check it, and once it was approved the thread was already on a new page. To the mod that reads this reply, is it possible for you to drag my reply down as you approve it?
Has anybody else actually tried to mod the game like me?
Has anybody else actually tried to mod the game like me?
Hello,
For some reason I can't remember I revisited this game for a few days now and I've been reading back a big chunk of this thread like it's a novel. A novel starring MCs Koda and Bo Wei, although Bo in a lesser extent, it feels like, and their community. A novel of the community becoming increasingly skeptical of the behaviour of Koda and Bo when it comes to transparancy and releases for what feels like their biggest project. I don't know what ultimately causes both developers pursuing side projects of this scale, with what seems to be minimal functional planning for their flagship project; it's evidently clear there's a big content drought. Ultimately, I don't care that much what processes under the hood seem to be running in a heavily subpar manner. It's impossible to judge objectively for me (I have never been and am not a member of the Patreon, nor the Discord(s), or viewed any streams). All I know is that something has to change if ToT were to survive, and seeing the latest replies, trust for that seems the lowest it has been at as well. I'm not yet fully up to date in reading mainly the COVID timeline back, but have checked the most recent replies.
My reason for this reply is that I've been trying to alter some game code myself in an effort to make things more interesting and challenging, changing lines of code like;
def ball_bust
_kicks = 0
while _kicks < 20
(rand(5)+2).times do |i|
or
if Jessica.role?sissy, :clown) #to change debuffs to all roles, for instance (my own edit, not really in the code btw)
but to no avail. I've not been able to change any mechanic in the game, or even retain a stable game. So before delving deeper into the specifics of my attempts to do stuff like this I want to raise the question: how would one go about making actual changes like this? If the developers seem slow or hesitant to output new content, is there an avenue where we, the community gain access to change things up in the game, ourselves?
Since I've started I've made some progression in trying to understand the framework of the game and the creator software. Myself, I'm most avid in coding in MATLAB (thanks uni) and most other languages I can somewhat pick up in a reverse-engineering manner relatively quickly, but I do lack a fair bit of understanding of RPG Maker Ace VX and its whole technical framework.
The things I have done so far:
- decrypt the RGSS3A archive back into the Data and Graphical folders.
- Located some of the lines of code I wanted to change in Plugins.
- Succeeded in loading the game into RPG Maker Ace VX.
- Have the game still run fine with the compressed archive deleted, no other changes made.
- Located the External Script Loader in RPG Maker.
The problems I have run into so far:
- Changes in the scripts do not carry over to the game.
- Too many changes cause the following error:
, even though in the External Loader Script, in RPG maker, a $end completely at the end doesn't work. (might lack knowledge here haha). I also find it weird that changing code somewhere else suddenly prompts an error in that script.
- I can't output a compressed archive with RPG Maker. I have found a website that states that you can't compress using the free version of RPG Maker. Even though the option is not greyed out or anything, at first it seems to let me compress just fine, until it completes and literally seems to delete the archive, lmao. I don't know if I want to spend the cost of RPG Maker on steam, just to try making changes to this game, if maybe other ways would also work.
All this makes me ask questions like:
- Why are some scripts doubled? For instance in ~/Data/Plugins/scripts.rb and ~/Data/Plugins/Jessica/Jessica Battle.rb
- Would both need to be changed for any changes to pull through?
I understand trying to change a published game and coming to its forums to ask for help is somewhat of a "funny" thing to do. But if it really is the case the game is dying I see little harm in exploring ways to mod it as an avenue for interesting, local changes.
Who can help me (and maybe theirselves?) on this endeavour?
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