Missing Files due to not using resource manager still a thing on MV?

hey quick question to whoevers around

im a month back into RPG making but its been a smooth 5 or so years since my last go around (never touched VX nor ace), IIRC a big issue with 2k3 & XP were that if you copy & pasted a file into a folder and used it for your game, it would work fine on YOUR computer but if you sent that same game folder to anybody else those files would be "missing" and crash the game UNLESS the you actually used the "import" function on the resource manager tool. now as i never finished a game i dont know how true that was, and if it was true, then now that were on MV is that still a thing or does copy/pasting a file into the right folder yield no problems?

long story short do RPG maker games run fine on different computers/mobil will resources copied into the folder manually or will their be issues because the PROPER way is to import the files using the resource manager?

thanks in advance!

I don't recall ever hearing of that issue, and I've helped make a number of games in XP where we did exactly that. The only reason I could think of why that might ever have happened is if you didn't include the resources at all and whoever downloaded the game just downloaded the RTP separately - obviously without your added resources. But then, even resources that were added via the resource manager would be missing.

You WILL have issues with MV if you use resources that are required by plugins, the plugin author didn't include the lines to 'require' the resources on deployment, and you deploy with the option 'exclude unused resources'. To get around it, you can do one of the following:
- remove ALL resources when creating a new project and only add them back as you need them. Then deploy with the 'exclude unused resources' option UNchecked. This will require you to go through the animations tab and ensure any animation images or audio are copied over, for any animations you use. This is my preferred method.
- create a dummy map that the player will never visit, and use all of the plugin resources on that map. Then deploy with the 'exclude unused resources' option checked. This will require you to keep track of what resources are used by plugins, and will only work if they are 'standard' resources in the default folders. If the plugin uses its own subfolders, this will not work.
- make your own dummy plugin that just has the lines needed to 'require' all the resources used by other plugins. Add it to the plugin manager, and deploy with the 'exclude unused resources' option checked. This will again require you to keep track of all the resources used by plugins, AND delve into creating your own plugin using the appropriate lines (listed in the help file - F1).

and which folder are you talking about?
Best guess is that you copied the file into the RTP folder and not into the game folder, because that would result in such behaviour (because no one other than you would have the modified RTP).
But that is not a problem of the engine, but a problem of you copying the file into the wrong folder. If you had copied it into the correct folder (and the resource manager does nothing but copying something into the correct project folder), then it would have worked.

So no, if you were copying into the correct folders then it would work without problems.

Actually that's true, and now that @Andar has mentioned it, I do recall people on the forums here (or previous forums) asking for help because they were modifying / adding to the RTP, then when other people played their game with the default RTP, they weren't getting the resources.

I think whatever you have heard probably relates to mistakes people were making rather than any bugs with the engine.

It never happened to any games I did because I never finished anything lol but I remember hearing the statement

I'm not afraid to admit I was using the enterbrains pirated version so maybe it was a thing among that community since modified RTPs seem to be the root of that problem.

mv I bought when it was $20 on sale, first rpg maker I legally own any rights to.

That did cross my mind, and I wouldn't be surprised if that caused other issues that weren't experienced by people who owned a legitimate version.

Modified RTP has nothing to do with whether it's pirated or not. People who bought the engine could also modify the RTP. This should never be done if you plan to share your game with others, without providing all the resources.