CROSS ENGINE: Combining Chrono Engine with Altimit Movement

Restart · 2020-06-09T14:38:33+0900

Latest Version: Cross Engine Alpha 0.20.06.26 Demo Project What is Cross Engine? Over the course of the last few months I've been working on my game, and I decided I wanted to combine Altimit Movement and Mog's Chrono Engine. Cross Engine is what I call the big pile of functions that makes both of them work together, giving both pixel movement and ABS mode. It also includes bugfixes, and QoL features that came up when I was doing things (most of my notes to self thread is included). Basically, this is all stuff I found useful, and hope that other people will find useful as well. Why's it called Cross Engine? Partially because it's a Cross-Compatible Engine for making games, but mostly because it's a followup to a beloved classic which killed off Chrono. Compatibility Patches Cross Engine now works with yanfly's itemcore, altimit movement, yanfly's item spawner, yanfly's doodads, and galv's camera plugin (the last of which is actually essential to avoiding event/doodad jitter). Also, Ultra Mode 7. Spoiler: Other New Features: 8-directional, 2 directional, and 1-directional Spritesheets: Sure, a lot of people have 8-directional spritesheets (and I support all the major formats), but how many people have ONE-directional spritesheets? With Cross Engine, you can take any old image, give it a filename, and put it in. Save it as $Angel(f1)(d1).png, and BAM, it's usable as an event. No mucking around in photoshop making a spritesheet with four versions of the same sprite. But that's not all! I also added intelligent sprite flipping, as well. If you named that angel $Angel(f1)(d-1).png instead, it will flip to face left if it moves left, and flip to face right if it moves right. Split poses and actions One of the things really dragging down the pace of a chrono engine game is that characters were locked in place while they animated. I have changed the engine so now you have a separate 'pose duration' and 'act duration'. Pose duration means your character is playing an animation, act duration means they can't move or cast anything. I've also added a 'cooldown duration', which lets you move, but doesn't let you cast any abilities. Intelligent Tag Parsing 1) Tags parse from right-to-left, instead of left-to-right. This seems super minor, but it means that if your base character sprite is $Harold(f4)(d8), and he has a casting pose "_casting(f8)(d1)", then the new spritesheet sizes will take precedence! 2) Filename Completion: Let's say your idle sprite for harold is "$Harold(f4)(d8)_idle(f1)(d1)". In base Chrono engine this would cause rpgmaker to screech to a halt, because it can't find "$Harold(f4)(d8)_idle". However, upon starting up the game, Cross Engine makes a list of every file in your characters folder. When it checks for poses, it will first check for an exact match. If it doesn't get it, it will check to see if there's any longer versions of that filename. If it checks for "$Harold(f4)(d8)_idle", and can't find it, it will return "$Harold(f4)(d8)_idle(f1)(d1)". What if there's no match at all? The event keeps its base sprite. In playtesting, it will whine about it in the console. No crashing. 3) Negative values are now allowed for x and y offsets. Walking actions You know how in megaman you can shoot your little gun and megaman keeps on walking? Using the tag (walking) will keep your character in the same part of the animation cycle when transitioning into the new pose. Practically speaking, that means you can do the megaman things. If the character isn't moving, it will fall back onto a _static pose, so you don't run in place whenever you shoot. Standing Pose One of the big constraints on having fluid animation in rmmv is that your walking frames have to include a static pose used for standing. If you define a 'standing' pose, your character will use that instead when they aren't moving. While you can technically do this with an idle pose, I wanted to have both in my project. Faint Poses Mog was going to implement faint/death poses distinct from damage poses, but didn't end up finishing it. I have an implementation of this, so you can have a robot get banged up a bit when it gets hit, then violently explode into a miserable pile of circuits when it dies. Basic Preloader Function One thing you'll notice using chrono engine is that whenever creatures change poses for the first time, you'll sometimes see a flicker as the file loads. I have added a function which preloads all poses for a creature. If you enter ImageManager.preloadPoses('Ralph'), it will find 'Ralph_attack', 'Ralph_defense', 'Ralph_is_unstoppable(F4)(d8)(s2)(x4)', et cetera, and preload them. This doesn't happen automatically - you have to invoke it each time you're worried about preloading. New plugin command: disable_idleposes Turns off idle poses. Good for cutscenes where characters mugging at the camera is unwanted. Turn them back on with enable_idleposes Intelligent Rotations Do you want a magic circle of spinning runes? I've got you covered…

● ARCHIVED · READ-ONLY

Started by Restart Jun 9, 2020, 05:38 AM 206 posts Page 9 of 11 View original ↗

leo_nightogames

#161 Mar 31, 2025, 08:42 PM Source

Need Help?
Throwable items such as TNT and Bodypillow are bugged while testing the game with this plugin set.
I use MOG_PickupThrow.
Any fixes?
AquaEcho

#162 Mar 31, 2025, 08:49 PM Source

leo_nightogames said:
Need Help?
Throwable items such as TNT and Bodypillow are bugged while testing the game with this plugin set.
I use MOG_PickupThrow.
Any fixes?
TNT and Bodypillow aren't in the demo so they are custom tools that you made. If you want help you'll need to post their tool event pages and explain how exactly they are bugged
leo_nightogames

#163 Mar 31, 2025, 08:52 PM Source

Same as the Cross Engine Demo (bomb). I can pick up the bomb (or any throwable item using tool event), but cannot throw directly.
Edit: The bomb from cross engine demo at the tool event map has the same event commands as the chrono one, also the character movements
AquaEcho

#164 Mar 31, 2025, 09:06 PM Source

If you move MOG_PickupThrow after CrossEngine in your plugin list it will work
leo_nightogames

#165 Mar 31, 2025, 09:32 PM Source

It finally worked!

[Edit/Update]
I was trying to find a plugin/patch for CT (Sprint Bar) efficiency using states/items, but nothing found in this forum, I think [MOG's ChronoCT]

Also, explain this while using Galv's Cam Control
AquaEcho

#166 Apr 3, 2025, 01:39 AM Source
leo_nightogames said:
[Edit/Update]
I was trying to find a plugin/patch for CT (Sprint Bar) efficiency using states/items, but nothing found in this forum, I think [MOG's ChronoCT]
The comments won't take a variable but you can bypass using a comment for ct cost and put whatever cost you want in the tool's move route
Code:
this._tool.ctCost = $gameVariables.value(1); this.payCTCost();
"This tool's CT cost is Control Variable 1. Then pay the CT cost."

Otherwise you'd have to edit the plugin code. This method lets you do it from the engine without editing the plugin.

If you want a different CT cost if the user is affected by a state use
Code:
this._tool.ctCost = 50; if(this.user().battler().isStateAffected(28)){this._tool.ctCost = 25;} this.payCTCost();
"This tool's CT (base) cost is 50. If the user is affected by state 28, overwrite the CT cost so it's 25. Then pay the CT cost"

leo_nightogames said:
Also, explain this while using Galv's Cam Control
View attachment 336202
I don't ever get that bug so I can't tell you. When exactly does it happen and could you press F8 or F12 and show the console log?
Codename01

#167 Apr 7, 2025, 09:05 AM Source

I've added a collider in a comment on an enemy event, and if I stand facing the enemy one tile away. The player character tries to interact with the enemy instead of using attack. I have found a work around where I set the trigger to event touch/player touch instead of action button. However I would like to know if there's other workarounds. As event touch would mean the enemies trigger each other's events when touching and player touch might interrupt the player's input (maybe?) The other skills work fine as they don't use the action button.

This is one of the colliders, there's nothing else aside from other chrono engine related comments on the event page.
AquaEcho

#168 Apr 7, 2025, 06:41 PM Source

Codename01 said:
I've added a collider in a comment on an enemy event, and if I stand facing the enemy one tile away. The player character tries to interact with the enemy instead of using attack. I have found a work around where I set the trigger to event touch/player touch instead of action button. However I would like to know if there's other workarounds. As event touch would mean the enemies trigger each other's events when touching and player touch might interrupt the player's input (maybe?) The other skills work fine as they don't use the action button.

This is one of the colliders, there's nothing else aside from other chrono engine related comments on the event page.
View attachment 336658
Could you show the full event page? Also are you using my perfect collision patch plugin? If you don't use the patch, default Cross Engine will only have the hitbox as a circle at the base of the sprite. The patch makes it so hitbox is the same as Altimit colliders

My enemy pages just look like this and you can see there's no issue hitting them in my video
Codename01

#169 Apr 8, 2025, 02:59 AM Source

AquaEcho said:
Could you show the full event page? Also are you using my perfect collision patch plugin? If you don't use the patch, default Cross Engine will only have the hitbox as a circle at the base of the sprite. The patch makes it so hitbox is the same as Altimit colliders

Even if there's only the collider comment on the event, it would try to trigger the event instead of doing an attack when I get too close.
Jenai

#170 Apr 8, 2025, 04:04 AM Source

Could you show Page 1?
Codename01

#171 Apr 8, 2025, 06:36 AM Source

Jenai said:
Could you show Page 1?
Just the usual enemy info, everything's setup properly in the database too. I only got this bug when I added cross engine and the collider comment
AquaEcho

#172 Apr 8, 2025, 06:48 AM Source

If you're not using my patch and going by default Cross Engine then I think the hitbox can be made unreachable by your weapon if you expand the Altimit collider much larger than the hitbox. By default the hitbox is a .5 (diameter?) circle centered on the event's base

If you want the hitbox to be larger you have to either use my patch or use the Body Size note in the enemy's database entry like the werewolves and bosses have.
Codename01

#173 Apr 9, 2025, 06:26 AM Source

AquaEcho said:
If you're not using my patch and going by default Cross Engine then I think the hitbox can be made unreachable by your weapon if you expand the Altimit collider much larger than the hitbox. By default the hitbox is a .5 (diameter?) circle centered on the event's base

If you want the hitbox to be larger you have to either use my patch or use the Body Size note in the enemy's database entry like the werewolves and bosses have.
Where do I put it? I've tried putting it at the very top and bottom of the list and right above and below cross engine plugin, but the PC still can't attack when the enemy event is around one tile away. I've also tried to shrink the hitbox but it still doesn't let me attack when I stand too close, even with your patch activated. It's just recognizing the enemy as a normal event if I have the collider comment in.
AquaEcho

#174 Apr 9, 2025, 07:24 AM Source

You put it after Cross Engine because it overwrites a Cross Engine function.

I can't replicate your issue at all. Could you post your tool event page? Or can you tell me how to replicate the issue in the demo project?
Codename01

#175 Apr 9, 2025, 12:26 PM Source

AquaEcho said:
You put it after Cross Engine because it overwrites a Cross Engine function.

I can't replicate your issue at all. Could you post your tool event page? Or can you tell me how to replicate the issue in the demo project?
I think it might be a hardware thing then, even when I don't touch anything in the cross engine demo and just add a collider to one of the werewolf events it would stop me from attacking. I'm using windows 10 though so not sure what's causing the problem. I'll just ignore it for now and change the trigger to event touch.
Thanks for helping though.
AquaEcho

#176 Apr 9, 2025, 04:23 PM Source

Codename01 said:
I think it might be a hardware thing then, even when I don't touch anything in the cross engine demo and just add a collider to one of the werewolf events it would stop me from attacking. I'm using windows 10 though so not sure what's causing the problem. I'll just ignore it for now and change the trigger to event touch.
Thanks for helping though.
Ok, I was able to replicate the issue. It looks like what's happening is the tool event can't "spawn" if its spawn point is entirely inside the enemy's collider. It's also only an issue if the enemy event is set to normal priority. Let me see if I can find a good solution.
leo_nightogames

#177 Apr 10, 2025, 06:16 AM Source
AquaEcho said:
The comments won't take a variable but you can bypass using a comment for ct cost and put whatever cost you want in the tool's move route

Code:
this._tool.ctCost = $gameVariables.value(1); this.payCTCost();
"This tool's CT cost is Control Variable 1. Then pay the CT cost."

Otherwise you'd have to edit the plugin code. This method lets you do it from the engine without editing the plugin.

View attachment 336246

If you want a different CT cost if the user is affected by a state use

Code:
this._tool.ctCost = 50; if(this.user().battler().isStateAffected(28)){this._tool.ctCost = 25;} this.payCTCost();
"This tool's CT (base) cost is 50. If the user is affected by state 28, overwrite the CT cost so it's 25. Then pay the CT cost"

I don't ever get that bug so I can't tell you. When exactly does it happen and could you press F8 or F12 and show the console log?
You are a lifesaver!
Midona018

#178 May 28, 2025, 07:08 PM Source

I just want to warn that the Cross Engine is not compatible with Galv's layer plugin (that I use for parallax mapping). The game crashes when I go on a parallaxed map. (I'm not asking for a patch, I just want to report.)
Hiroshikano

#179 May 31, 2025, 05:17 AM Source

Midona018 said:
I just want to warn that the Cross Engine is not compatible with Galv's layer plugin (that I use for parallax mapping). The game crashes when I go on a parallaxed map. (I'm not asking for a patch, I just want to report.)
i use both and I got no problem with them, but I don't really like Galv's layer because of the memory leak. They do work together for me tho. Are you sure that it is an issue with them?
Midona018

#180 May 31, 2025, 09:13 AM Source

Yes, I turned off all my plugins and this one was the only one to bug