Write a Plugin that reads Notetags - Beginner

Aloe Guvner · 2018-09-19T08:26:47+0900

Write a Plugin that reads Notetags - Beginner Happy Tutorial Tuesday! This tutorial will teach you how to read an actor's "race" (like Human, Goblin, Dwarf) from their notetag in the database, and display it in the Status Menu. What should you know before getting started? This is a beginner level tutorial, and almost everything will be explained in detail. That being said, it would help to have a basic understanding of the following concepts: What a Javascript variable is The sections of the database (Actor, Item, etc.) The difference between assigning a value to a variable vs. checking for equality in a variable i.e. `var myVar = 3` vs. `myVar === 3` How to create folders and files on your computer ---------------------------------------------------------------What will you learn? You will learn how to: Read basic notetag data Alias a function Create a new property on an actor Write a script call that can be used in events Create a plugin command Slightly alter the Status Menu ---------------------------------------------------------------Let's get started! --------------------------------------------------------------- RPG Maker MV version This tutorial is written using modern Javascript standards (ES2015+) that are available in MV v1.6+. For old versions of MV, be sure to use the old Javascript code that is provided. Look out for the sections labelled {{Old MV}}. If only one version of code is provided, it will work with any version. --------------------------------------------------------------- Setup This tutorial is best followed on a blank project with no plugins installed. If your code isn't working, you will know it is a mistake that you made rather than an incompatibility with another scripter's code. After you have tested your plugin in a blank project, then you can integrate it with existing projects. In order to write the code, you will need a text editor. Some recommendations are Notepad++, Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Atom, Brackets. Start by creating a blank Javascript file (.js file) named whatever you would like. --------------------------------------------------------------- Tutorial This tutorial will teach you how to read an actor's "race" (like Human, Goblin, Dwarf) from their notetag in the database, and display it in the Status Menu. 1.) Add the following text to Harold's notetag in the database: Code: --------------------------------------------------------------- 2.) Run the game in test mode. On the Title screen, press F8 to open the console, and we will discover the 'meta' property that is on all database objects. In the console, type the following and press enter: Code: $dataActors[1] Expand the data using the arrows, and you will see all of the data from the Database entry for Harold, including the "race" notetag you have added. Spoiler: Console Screenshot How did this get there? Click to expand... The RPG Maker MV developers added this `meta` property to make it easy to read notetag data. --------------------------------------------------------------- 3.) Begin writing the plugin, specifically, the section to read the notetag data. In your .js file, write the following: Code: // Retain a reference to the original function const Game_Actor_setup = Game_Actor.prototype.setup; Spoiler: {{Old MV}} Replace `const` with `var` This creates an alias of the existing `setup` function for actors. In Javascript, you can completely overwrite functions; so by doing this, we will keep a reference to the original function. --------------------------------------------------------------- 4.) Below that, we will define our new actor `setup` function. Code: Game_Actor.prototype.setup = function (actorId) { // Call the original function Game_Actor_setup.call(this, actorId); }; We call the original function so that the normal setup of the actors still happens. --------------------------------------------------------------- 5.) Now we can add one more line to our `setup` function to read from the `meta` data that we examined in step 2. Code: Game_Actor.prototype.setup = function (actorId) { // Call the original function Game_Actor_setup.call(this, actorId); this.race = $dataActors[actorId].meta.race || null; }; The actor now has a `race` property on it that is set to whatever was written in the notetag! Let's stop for a quick Q & A about this. --------------------------------------------------------------- Q & A - Round 1 Why did we go through the trouble of aliasing and calling the original function? Why not just copy the whole function from `rpg_objects.js` and add our line to the end? Click to expand... We could have, and this would have produced an identical result. However, by overwriting the `setup` function without keeping a reference to the original, we would have made our plugin incompatible with any other plugins that use the same `setup` function. What is the difference between 'Game' Actor and 'Data' Actor? When do we use one or the other? Click to expand... The 'Ga…

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Started by Aloe Guvner Sep 18, 2018, 11:26 PM 21 posts Page 2 of 2 View original ↗

skirdo_dev

#21 Jan 3, 2025, 03:11 PM Source

Is it compatible with mz