Pet Summon Plugin

QQ:

Is there any plan to be able create note tags for skills to be able to set them as direct summoning skills? I know the actors would still need access to the dedicated Skill Type for Summons, just thinking of flexibility and the ability to set Summons as part of a Class Leveling for a dedicated Summoner class. Also thinking since I use Moogle_X Equip Skills, I'd like to assign the Summons values there.


Could see it using the existing <Add Summons:> note tag to be able to bulk add or even act as a skill container for those summons.



The skill could be set as note usable or be automatically hidden and replaced by the summon skills.

So instead of using the feature that automatically adds skills, you want to define all the skills for the summons in the database manually and then add note tags to them.

If it's not too complicated, I can do that.

By the way, "bulk adding" is already possible, as you can type
<Add Summons: 1, 2, 3, 4>
or
<Add Summons: *>
!

Essentially yes. It would act much in the same way that using the note tag on equipment does now.


More specifically I meant if you could more use those bulk notetags for a

Skill like: "Necromancy" that acts as a skill container that opens to

Summon Skeleton
Summon Wraith
Summon Ghost
... etc

Alternatively it could just give those Summons as the plugin already does, but again the purpose here being to be something Actors can gain via class level up.

I think I can do that, mainly because there is another request to bind items to summon commands, so I can hit two birds with one stone here.

Ah, now I understand (by the way, have you ever played Guild Wars 2? :D )
Well, a skill "container" that allows multiple pets could be challenging to implement, but a skill that summons one pet should be easily doable for me! RPG Maker core code has a strong 1:1 relationship between skills and commands in the windows.

After reading your request a second time, I really like it and will do my best to support this feature!

I used to actually, granted I was more of a Mesmer guy back then. Lol.

Now that'd be a sick skill plugin xD

I used to be a hunter with the ghost pet :p and mesmer as secondary.
but I see this plugin maybe in more projects with summoners in them :D

Thank you so much for this! I am just barely starting to explore plugins, but it is so awesome that content creators are willing to share things like this and make it so you can open the plugin to try to learn from it.

Thank you so much for your efforts and being so willing to update this plugin based on questions and feedback!

WOW! Are you my hero? Lol I recently realized I need to add a simple monster summoning mechanic to my game... and lo and behold! I am looking forward to checking this out!

So I checked it out, and I can't seem to get it to work... I have a ton of other plugins, so that might be the issue. Basically the summon skill type will not show up in battle.

Thanks for trying it out!

Can your characters access "Summon Skills" anyway? You need to have at least one trait that allows the actor to use "Summon Skills," similar to what you do to make actors able to use "Special" or "Magic" skills. Unfortunately, I cannot share a screenshot right now.

If the "Summon" command appears but contains no summon commands, then ensure that your Party includes some Pets at this time.

If that doesn't help, try it within a fresh new project without any other plugins may help.

Ok, so I realized the skill type was not showing up due to my own error. But now choosing the summon skill type just shows an empty menu while I'm testing, even with a pet in my party.

Okay, some ideas from my side:

- You forgot to put <Pet> in the Pet's Notetag box
- Check if you have this setting active:


Alternatively, you can add <Allow Pets: 1, 2, 3> or <Add Pets: 1, 2, 3> into the Actor's or Actor's Class Notetag box.

If this still fails, then it's likely an error on my side.

You are using MZ, right?

Ok, so I figured out what one of the problems was. I used a plugin command to force a summon, and it only worked when I disabled the Visu Stella party system plugin - which sets a maximum on party size (I have it set to 3). But then the retreat command crashed the game.

Actually just kidding, the problem was that if the party is maxed out for any reason, regardless of the plugin, a pet cannot be summoned. I am using a slew of Visu Stella plugins, so that is probably the issue?

Okay, I will investigate why it crashes. Can you please tell me if your game crashes with other Plugins disabled?

Yes, 3rd Party Plugins can cause problems, especially when a Plugin is in early development.

And yes again, you cannot summon any Pets when your party is full.

I am using too many plugins to test them all :\

So could there be a way to summon a pet even if the party is full? Could you make that change?

Answerring here vs message in case it benefits anyone else:

The only work around I've toyed around with is expanding the party size at battle start, which BAttle Core itself doesn't allow. Your best best would be to set your party size to at least 5 (or whatever +1 of your standard party size is) and then move the Pets/Summons you want into reserve prior to battle.

They should automatically be put into reserve when adding them to your party anyway.

So the big need is the party space up front. You should be able to update the main menu so only the characters that are "Party Members"/non pets-summons are visible outside of battle easily enough. You should not have to add them to your party at all if you use the "<Add Summons: > note tag and space is in the party.

This goes beyond what I planned in the beginning, but I understand that you and probably others as well want to summon Pets even when their Party is full. It will be challenging to make such functionality, so I cannot promise that I can do that.

Exactly. <Add Summons> allows the user to summon those Pets even if they are not included in the Party, however, the rule that you cannot summon when your party is full still applies.

Currently I am gonna try to use common events to add the actor mid battle, and maybe remove all the pet actors after the battle. Still toying with things.

The next update will enable the Notetag <Summon: x> on Skills and Items that instantly summon Pets regardless of their existence in the Party. That probably will make some things easier for you ;)