Importing Pictures - Newbie Question

Hi, all,

So, I'm in the process of creating my first RPG Maker (VX Ace) game, and I've hit a bit of a snag when it comes to importing pictures. I've been using screenshots from some other games to dramatize some of the key moments. However, I'm struggling to get them into an appropriate file size. I've noticed that pictures larger than about 630x420 don't display fully. However, if I, say, take an image double that resolution (1260x840) and show it at 50% size, the image comes out looking very pixelated. It's very frustrating- 630x420 doesn't really allow much nuance in the pictures, and character expressions are barely recognizable. On larger screens, it looks very crummy.

It's odd, because in the past I really thought I'd seen other games use larger images that didn't come out blocky or pixelated.

So my question is, is there any way to effectively import photographs larger than 630x420? I recognize that it may just be a limitation of the engine, but if there's a simple solution I'm not seeing, I'd really appreciate it if someone could point me in that direction.

Hope the question's clear, and many thanks in advance!

The size of the imported pictures doesn't matter - if they are too big, then they will only partially displayed.


What matters is the gamesize, and that you got wrong.


Default RM is 544x416 pixels - everything larger will be cropped to that size.


There are several scripts (for example Yanfly's YEA core) that allow you to increase game size up to 640x480. That is the internal absolute maximum available to the RM engine.


Other scripts can stretch that to any window size, but the internal resolution for the engine will always be below or equal to 640x480.

Hi,

Thanks very much for the quick response! I've got my hands on Yanfly's script and it's working perfectly.

One last question (if it's not too much trouble): is there an easy way to alter resolution in-game? The game I've already developed wasn't designed for 640x480 resolution, and some things that were supposed to happen off-camera are now going to happen on-camera. What would be ideal would be to jump to 640x480 for the pictures, and then back to 544x416 for the game. Would that be possible?

Thanks again!

That would be very ugly imo. Why don't you just use an image editing program to resize or crop the pictures to 544x416 and not worry about changing screen size at all? It would also remove the need to resize during play.


On another note - what games are you taking screenshots of? You're probably breaching copyright there.

Hi, Shaz,

Thanks for responding! With regards to why not just resize the pictures, call me silly, but I'm finding the extra pixels make a heck of a big difference with respect to image clarity, which is what I'm looking for. It's the difference between a blurry, rather ugly photo and one that's much crisper. Does that make sense?

Regarding the screenshots: you're probably entirely right with regards to copyright. Thing is, this is my first project, and I don't expect it to go very far. I'm certainly not expecting to ever sell it, and I'm skeptical it'll move much past me and some friends, so it's not something I'm too hung up on- do you think I'm being reckless?

I lot of people breach copyright. It's a definite no-no if you're thinking of ever selling your game. People are less caring about it if it's a free game and not being distributed widely, but that doesn't mean it's okay to do it. It's your risk to take, but it's probably not a very big risk.


Just make sure, if you're going to do it, that you give credit to the games you've taken the screenshots for and list them along with the rest of your credits.

Sounds good, and thank you for the concern! If I could go back to your earlier post, you mentioned that changing resolutions throughout the would be very ugly. How did you mean? And does that mean that it is, actually, doable?

Thanks again!

Ha, scratch that- I managed to answer my own question. The script was:

Graphics.resize_screen(640, 480) 

Makes for an annoying black screen when the resolution changes, though. Have to decide if it's worth it.

Thanks anyhow!

EDIT: Found an easy, win-win solution. Keep the game in 640x480 dimensions. Then, create a 640x480 black photo with a 544x416 transparent box in the middle that follows the player throughout the game, similar to the method described here. That way, the player's vision will be limited to 544x416, but the images can profit from the significantly improved resolution.

Garriath, please avoid double posting, as it is against the forum rules. You can review our forum rules here. Thank you.


Just edit your last post instead.


Yes, apart from the black screen while resolution changes, I think it'd just be annoying to have the game window resizing itself while playing. Players will wonder why you didn't just pick one size and stick with it.

So this makes the playable screen larger. (the script line) (or maybe displayed screen)


And You will always display a picture of a black border around the edge of the game?


But the area you are leaving open is still 544x416, right?


How does this get you better resolution?


Sorry. It's late. But if I don't ask now, lol, it'll get closed and I won't get the chance. =]

Ha. It's a fair question, but there's an easy answer. Like I mentioned in the opening thread, I'm really only interested in the improved resolution for the sake of images I'm including in the game. You can call me crazy, but I really think that, if you're playing full-screen, a sunset looks far, far, better at 640x480 than at 544x416. This way, the game (which I designed to be played at 544x416) can still be played at that resolution, but the the pictures I'm using will profit from the larger resolution. Does that make sense?

So you will use the larger screen sometimes?

That's right - just for the images. They're set at a higher priority than the black box, so when they come up, I'll be using the full screen. It seems to be working very well so far!