- Jun 17, 2019
- 4,169
- 13,756
No. The RPA file is created by the game's dev when building their project with the Ren'Py SDK. It's an option they can choose, and it works as a storage folder in which they can throw any files they want: scripts, pics, videos, whatever they want. In this RPA they can include the RPYC scripts which are the ones that make the game run, but they can choose not to include them and leave them stored in the game folder instead.So to get the RPA file I need to run the game (to make it create RPYC files), then delete the RPYC files and use RPYC to create the RPA?
Thanks for the info about rpatool, I'll look for some guide.
Thanks for the reply.
Th RPYC files are automatically generated by Ren'Py as a compilation of the code written in the RPY scripts. Every time you run the game, you are actually using RPYC files. When you launch a game, Ren'Py checks if there's any RPY file: if they exist, and they were modified on a later date than their respective RPYC, these RPYC files are updated to include the most recent changes (that is, the changes made to the RPY scripts since the last time the game was launched). But in order to update an RPYC, Ren'Py needs some comparison points: the old version of the RPYC acts as a testimony of the previous versions and every element that has not been modified from one version to the next one is carried over with the same internal ID, and new IDs are assigned to new elements. When you delete the RPYC files, however, all those old references are lost and Ren'Py creates brand new RPYC files from the current RPY scripts, with totally new IDs as now they are assigned from the scratch, and probably won't match the older IDs. But, as they are now more recent than the ones included in the original RPA, Ren'Py will use these new RPYC files to run the game, and players can safely delete the RPA since it's now redundant.
So, 'thanks' to the way you create your patches, including only the RPY scripts and not the RPYC files (which forces Ren'Py to create a brand new compilation), chances are that players can't use old saves from an unmodded game, or translations may stop working, and maybe even the whole mod doesn't work at all unless the RPA is deleted to avoid interferences.
Tl;dr: please learn a bit more about how Ren'Py actually works before creating any mod, and always include in your patch the RPYC files you have on your PC, as most likely they still respect the original IDs and they will prevent some undesired issues with your mod.