RPG Maker MV Cook Tool

Another small update. This puts a few foundational stuff to build some new features and to switch over to .NET Core 3.1 LTS. Also, the Microsoft Store (for a while) included the command-line version as well. It's fully accessible via the command line (use RMMVCookTool.exe to call it).

So from what I understand, currently, it's impossible to use this tool to make a Linux or Mac version of a game right? Is there a console method for Linux, or something?

@Godarkhaos , there is a command-line version for Linux ready to go. The Github and itch.io pages have a prepped up version of the Linux CLI. For Mac, you'll have to compile the code with the .NET Core SDK.

Ooh, Nice! I'll give this CLI version a try, thanks!
So if I want to deploy for Mac all I have to do is point towards the .NETcore sdk with the --sdklocation argument?

To compile the CLI version (the GUI version can't be compiled since it requires the Windows APIs), simply open the terminal in the CLI folder and type :

You can then use the CLI version. either double clicking the executable or using the terminal and pass on the command line arguemtns.
Now, I'm not sure if it will work 100% with macOS, since it works quite differently. If there's an issue, let me know. I can't guarantee that I can fix any issues without having a Mac, but I'll see what I can do.

I've successfully made a linux build, but whenever I cd into the linux cli cooktool and type dotnet build I get a 'does not contain a project or solution file' error... Do I need to run it on a mac? I must be doing a silly mistake.

Hmm... weird... It should pick up the project file.

Assuming you have the terminal looking at the nwjsCompilerCLI folder (that's the folder that has the code for the CLI version), you can try
If it throws a different error (something something runtime) when building, open the csproj file with a code editor or notepad and remove this bit of line:
This line is needed for packaging the app in an MSIX package. The .NET Core SDK will compile it as a Linux or macOS app without the need for this line anyway (unless you include a runtime ID in the argument).

From the look of it I just don't have any .csproj file...

Hmm... Did you download the source code from Github? If not, you can clone the project or download the source code here: https://github.com/acemod13/RMMVCookTool

Thanks for making this tool! I was able to get everything to work fine, your video tutorial was very helpful.

I have a question though: in the GUI version of the Cook Tool, there's an option to "Package the game into package.nw" and I don't think I saw that referenced in your videos or this thread. What does that option do, and when does one select it - during the second 'Compile" sequence?

Glad to hear that, SeaPhoenix.

The "Package the game into package.nw" option puts the game's files (the ones in the www folder) into an archive named "package.nw". It's mainly for obfuscation (the executable will have to decompress the files before it starts). You can make the game's overall size smaller with this, but it will take some time to start.

Thanks for the quick reply, @AceOfAces_Mod. I may try it and compare the difference in start time.

Any idea of what may be happening in my project? I'm using nw.js 0.42 because of code and asset dependencies (primarily for controller rumble, but also because some of the FMV material is simply too big for Win32) and when I compile after making the required changes the game doesn't work (specifically, the game launches as usual only to abruptly end before it even gets started) and there's no indication of what happened. It just flat out crashed on me (and I made all of the required changes as well).

My questions are as follows:

1. Are there any changes specific to nw.js 0.42 or any prior versions that may have messed around with the compatibility of the tool, and
2. Is there any difference that I should be aware of with x64?

Hmm... There is a possibility that the version of nwjs you are using may have a bug where it will crash the game when it tries to load the compiled js files. I had this issue as well in some versions due to breaking changes to V8. If you can, I'd advise updating on a newer version of nwjs. If you can't at all, then you can try including the --no-flush-bytecode argument in the package.json file for your game. This should fix that issue.

If it doesn't, let me know.

Also, as far as I'm aware, you can't mix files that are compiled with a different SDK. If you want to support 64-bit systems alongside the 32-bit systems, then compile the files separately for each version. Once with the 32-bit version of the SDK and the other with the 64-bit version That's the only detail that I can think of, aside from that your game can access a lot more memory in 64-bit machines.

Doesn't seem to be helping. Unless it goes somewhere other than js-flags I'm short on ideas. And as I already said, there are certain assets that "soft lock" the game when loaded in a Win32 build so that's not even in question.

EDIT: For the purpose of testing I have downloaded the latest nw.js package to see if that does anything (maybe it's a bug that got fixed in a later version?), and have set it to package and remove everything once it's done (for testing and asset reasons as well as ruling out any problems with the leftovers).

EDIT 2: Still no results. Which is a shame considering that I have paid plugins and such that basically demand this (and obviously I don't want them getting stripped from my project by some nut job with a vengeance for piracy). On another note, I'd like to know what the latest version is that you have successfully tested against so I can plan accordingly.

Hi @AceOfAces_Mod again! I tried the option to "Package the game into package.nw" and also selected the option to "Remove source files after packaging". I could play the game fine, and I could save the game too. But I'm not able to load the save files if I exit the game (that is, there do not seem to be any savefiles present after closing the game window).

Do you have a suggestion as to how I can redirect the save files now that the www folder doesn't exist? I assume I need to change StorageManager.localFileDirectoryPath but wasn't sure what to change it to.

Thanks!

@SeaPhoenix
You can take a look at these plugins:

Change Save File Location
Save files saved to local data folders

Hey, y'all! It's been a while.

I'm happy to announce that R3.00 of the Cook Tool is now available for all. If you want to take a look at the new features, see the blog post here: https://studioace.wordpress.com/2020/08/10/rpg-maker-mv-cook-tool-r3-released/

If you just want the short version, here's the changelog:

I ran my game through with the latest version of the GUI and the game crashes on start. It makes a debug.log with this in it [0929/101958.284:ERROR:http_transport_win.cc(175)] WinHttpCrackUrl: The URL does not use a recognized protocol (0x2ee6). I have tried moving the www folder and package.json into the nmjs-sdk-v0.48.4-win-x64 and the screen launches but it is just a black screen. Here is a pic of my package.json file.

@Beachsidey0 , try to include the --no-flush-bytecode to the js-flag area. It should look like this:


You can also use a newer version of nwjs SDK.