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Archives => GW Blog => Community Content => Blog: Games => Topic started by: Jayce on December 19, 2008, 01:26:27 am
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Top 10 most USELESS commands in RPG Maker
Summary:
There are a lot of useless things in life; Plastic Scissors, Paperweights, Invisible Ink... Asians...
But I'm here to show you TEN useless things all found in the locality of a single entity.
"Holy shit Carius that's a lot of useless crap to throw at us all at once, my face might explode!"
- King "of" Games
Ahahah hah HAH!
He didn't really say that but I bet he's thinking it, as I'm sure all of you are, but don't worry I promise to get through this list with your faces all in one piece or I'll give you your money back, deal?
Alrighty!
Moving on then, let's begin our countdown!
10. Play Movie
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/10.png)
Help File Reference:
Plays back an AVI or MPG file
Since when does anyone even put a movie in their RM Game?
Worse yet, we're targetting amateur developers here, if they are making their own movies then they most likely only have Windows Movie Maker available, you know what the problem with that is? IT ONLY SAVES WMV FORMAT VIDEOS.
Not only is this command useless for what it does, it's useless because most people generally can't use it anyway, and for the few that can it pumps their game's file size up heaps.
09. Change Hero Name
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/09.png)
Help File Reference:
Changes the name of one Hero
Now you're probably thinking "What's so useless about that?"
Here's the thing, RM has 2 commands; Enter Hero Name and Change Hero Name, Entering the name brings a box up for you to name the hero anything you want within the game, Change Hero Name however does the exact same thing except it's predefined in the source code, the player doesn't have any input on the subject.
It's pretty useless because there's next to no need to apply its function to a game.
08. Change Hero Title
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/08.png)
Help File Reference:
Changes a Hero's title
For the same reasons above almost, however this command is even MORE useless because nobody cares about the Hero's title, half of you RPG Maker users probably don't even notice it in your menu, and at the rate we're going; being all custom with everything, there is no room for this to be used at all.
07. End Event Processing
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/07.png)
Help File Reference:
Halts execution of the event the command is in
Most idiots put this in a looping event thinking it acts the same as the Erase Event command, it's useless because most people don't know how to use it and the people who do know how choose alternate methods.
06. Trade Two Event Locations
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/06.png)
Help File Reference:
Swaps the positions of two events
Of the 5 (five) odd years I've been using RPG Maker now, I only realised this command existed about half an hour ago, it is just so unnoticeable that even though it actually has some practical application (somehow, surely), nobody notices it, as it says; you trade the locations of two events, most people use the "Change Event Location" command for that because they have more control over what happens, this thing is useless because at best all it does is save a line of code but instead takes longer to set up; and there's no guarantee it will be set up properly. On top of that, if you don't name your events properly it complicates things even more.
05. Teleport Target Management
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/05.png)
Help File Reference:
Adds or removes possible targets that can be selected from when using a teleport skill
Only one teleport position will be used for each map or area
Nobody makes teleport skills anymore...
Basically all this command does is define the locations that you can teleport to when it is actually used, I haven't tested but it seems like if you don't define these "teleport to..." points then the skill is useless because there is no destination set.
04. Simulated Enemy Attack
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/04.png)
Help File Reference:
Inflicts damage on the selected hero/heroes, as if an enemy had attacked them
This is not to be confused with the [Change Character HP] command. This command simulates an enemy attacking, using various statistics, as opposed to directly altering the HP
Help File is dumb, it thinks we will confuse it with Change Character HP, when people first see this command they think it's like a simulation to the Enemy Encounter command, so they open it up hoping to make a battle that acts as a 'simulation' then all they get is something that merely deals damage to your heroes, for what it's worth; it's about as pointless as an eraser trying to clear ink away.
03. Change Encounter Rate
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/03.png)
Help File Reference:
Modifies the number of steps required to initiate a battle on the map
For something that seems so simple, it is probably the most bugged default system in RPG Maker, the encounter rates are awful regardless of what you do to them and this account doesn't help, there's little documentation on this command other than it can be any number ranged between 0 and 999, regardless of the number though the results don't really seem to give any definition of what the number is for, it's like asking how much milk there is in a glass and being told "Five... there is five milk in this glass..."
02. Set Escape Target
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/02.png)
Help File Reference: Sets the position to move to when using an Escape skill
This is the Teleport Target Management command's retarded cousin, its job is to provide the same function as the other command except this time it happens if you flee from battle, not only is this annoying to the point where nobody would ever use it but it has no practical use at all except to make a game where the aim is to get from one end of the room to the other in one piece.
01. Halt All Movement
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/01.png)
Help File Reference:
The currently running movement is stopped
The dumbest and most useless command in RPG Maker, it worked hard for this honour you can count on that, its overall function is to stop movement of a currently moving event, well... At least that's what it says...
First of all you can't choose what movement you're stopping, and even when there's only a single event moving it doesn't even work half the time. It is useless not only for it's inability to be needed in a game but also for its failure to actually work as a command, if it had a head I would give it a dunce cap and send it to the corner to have a long hard think but even then it wouldn't stay still for long.
Conclusion:
And that's all for this list, RPG Maker is lacking in many ways but when it comes to useless commands it reigns supreme.
Without anything more to say or add to this I'll conclude this by making a small announcement:
(http://staff.gamingw.net/carius/0011-RMuses/kaempfer.png)
This is kaempfer's avatar...
You all just remember that, okay?
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You know what else is useless in life? Top ten lists.
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What's up with all these lists.
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gamingw.net more like cracked.net(.com??) i dont know i dont go on cracked but i hear they make lists(from youtube(which i also dont go on))
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The teleport management and Hero Title (CLASS) things seem pretty dope. Thanks for pointing them out.
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we need a top 10 worst lists on gw topic
actually we don't
this would've been a great article for everyone five years ago when everyone actually used rpgmaker 2003.
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i used halt all movement all the time when i worked in rpgmaker. it's really helpful within custom menu systems
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I don't really think Change Hero Name is useless.. For one, you can use the hero names as a string variable, that is you could store string in it and then use it in message boxes..to change the value well, you can use change hero name..And there's many things you could do with variable strings...
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i used to use trade two event locations to make switches and doors (before i knew about actual switches/variables)
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There are a lot of useless things in life; Plastic Scissors, Paperweights, Invisible Ink... Asians...
moment of clarity right here, for me
Amazing.
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It's not so much that these functions are useless, it's that the circumstances under which they'd be used are so limited, they might as well not be there at all. I can see how some of these might be used occasionally, but others I just don't get at all.
The most interesting use of Trade Two Event Locations I've seen was in a game called Yume Nikki. What they had was an event that looked like this weird creature that would teleport away from you and reappear someplace else when touched. They set it up by having an invisible event in the same room as the creature that moved about randomly at maximum speed. When the creature was touched, it switched places with the invisible running event, making its teleportations perfectly random. Thought that was kinda neat.
As for the article, well, I was expecting something better. Kinda weak, to be honest. Top 10 lists need more substance to work, especially if they're supposed to be funny.
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moment of clarity right here, for me
Amazing.
Thought I'd sneak it in to see if anyone noticed. :P
No harm intentions'd
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to be honest i've been expecting psyburn to burst into this topic and throw a fit about that
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Change hero name is not a useless command. Looks like *someone* never made a rpg CBS before, with hundreds of dropable items.
Think hard.
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Name 5 who have
(ps I'm sure there's more than 5, but even still it's not exactly a large number compared to the entire population of users is it?)
December is the silly season, we're ALL allowed to get just a little silly
:fogetlaugh:
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yes yes, tis the season to be silly (fuck i miss GWA)
But still dawg, the command isn't useless, just that the people are too dumb to find uses for it. Its like, those commands are like the paint brush, and your creativity is the paint. If you don't HAVE any paint, then the brush is obviously useless.
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woah is this still a game making site???
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man top 10 lists are the best thing ever
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You should have made it the top worthless, buggy additions in RM.
ABS
CMS
CCS?
BLITZ??
Before I knew how to use switches, I did that trade event location thing for treasure chests too. It's not that bad of a command, but it's almost completely worthless because there is hardly a time when you actually need to do that. I think they are named something different in another translation of the engine, though.
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In a joke game I used the movie command thing to put in the first episode of power rangers. It plays if you click a certain icon. The file was p big but you could really watch the episode through rm and it only crashed when you try to exit it. I'd say thats plenty useful teehee.
Keep the useful crap coming carioso.
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End Event Processing and Halt All Processes are used all the time, and Trade 2 Event Locations can be useful for various mini-games.
You should've included the "Create A Gamedisk" button as an honorable mention, since games are never finished around here anyways.
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To be honest, I've thought of reasonable uses for most of these, definitely not a most useless list for the most part.
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rather than judging them on their own, compare them to the other commands available in RPG Maker, it may not be the fact that these are USELESS but more that they are not as useful...
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Why are people so negative about stuff here on GamingW.. I notice this like, everywhere.
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man the simulate enemy attack actually strikes me as really useful in an Adventure Battle System game where stats is heavily focused (ie a secret of mana clone).
8)
of course, assuming you want the default system for determining damage to apply
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Nothin like a good list!
I mean this article. It's nothing like a good list.
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I haven't used RPGMaker for many many years, but if my memory serves "Halt all movement" was used to *wait* for all move events to finish, and it was pretty useful (or am I mixing it up with some other command?)
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But still dawg, the command isn't useless, just that the people are too dumb to find uses for it. Its like, those commands are like the paint brush, and your creativity is the paint. If you don't HAVE any paint, then the brush is obviously useless.
It's useless
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I haven't used RPGMaker for many many years, but if my memory serves "Halt all movement" was used to *wait* for all move events to finish, and it was pretty useful (or am I mixing it up with some other command?)
oh yeah i think this is correct. i used that command all the time it was really, really useful. unless of course it's another command that did this.
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i will show y ou a useless command!!
(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/64043/login.PNG)
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This is the Teleport Target Management command's retarded cousin, its job is to provide the same function as the other command except this time it happens if you flee from battle, not only is this annoying to the point where nobody would ever use it but it has no practical use at all except to make a game where the aim is to get from one end of the room to the other in one piece.
This is utterly wrong; "escape" skills are things like the Escape Rope from Pokemon, you are supposed to use them to get out of a dungeon quickly. This has nothing to do with escaping from battle, in fact, you cannot use an escape skill during battle.
This list only makes sense if you spend all day making 30-picture ultra-laggy RM2K3 abuses instead of JRPGs... oh wait.
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This list only makes sense if you spend all day making 30-picture ultra-laggy RM2K3 abuses instead of JRPGs... oh wait.
Which is what I was saying. Those are RPG commands, since this is, you know, RPG MAKER. Escape and teleport are damn useful.
Teleport gives you all the town destinations (that you set up) so you can revisit them in a flash.E
Escape is for dungeons like Cardinal Ximenez said.
End Event Processing is useful for using in the middle of a loop, but you can achieve the same effect using Labels.
Change Encounter Rate is simple, i have no idea why you think its HARD TO GRASP or whatever. Putting 25 means one battle every 25 steps. Is that too hard mr carius?
Change Hero Name I already explained. It s REALLY useful for RPG item drops.
The other 5 are pretty useless though, I never used them myself. heh, you should change name to top 5 useless commands :welp:
EDIT:
This list only makes sense if you spend all day making 30-picture ultra-laggy RM2K3 abuses instead of JRPGs...
:hmm:
:fogetgasp:
:fogetlaugh:
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fyi those of you bitching about lists; panda suggested stopping these lists over two days ago and I said it as a rule yesterday. I even posted a non list article really quick so no one thought "oh okay more lists". it's not my fault the staff aren't listening! the idea was first off not to have them so early but to just have a bunch of HEH END OF YEAR LISTS, some jokey, all interesting, and apparently no one got this, both staff and members. hell I hadn't even said OKAY GUYS POST AWAY, I even established it was just something I had been thinking of, but BOOM BOOM BOOM A BUNCH OF LISTS. carius how is this related to 2008 AT ALL? this is an article...about RM2K3, from what I can tell. it has 2003 in the title!
this was also as a not so subtle leadin to see how staffers do with series and apparently there's going to have to be a lot more handholding in the future!
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like Cardinal Ximenez said I can see how most of this stuff corresponds to really practical stuff in any professional SNES RPG/etc. like change class Terra: Magitek Soldier ---> Rebel something or other
Also change position of two events seems like it might be pretty useful for the right kinds of puzzles, I wouldn't be surprised if some real RPGs switched the events around to do it
and if simulated enemy attack does work the way you would expect you could probably make a CBS with a whole different 'skin' and still keep all the math for damage and stuff and equip weapons and armor and they'll just work like normal, I was thinking of doing that once because I just wanted a battle system that didn't look shit, even though I was fine with the system itself
this topic is fail
Edit: Holy shit add teleport target is like the most useful thing, well it isn't but how the hell are you supposed to use a teleport spell without it. Just because people don't use teleport spells isn't a good thing imo it's just because people can't be arsed to program in backtracking half the time
but yeah Play Movie is useful (I did use it for a game though, you can compress the movies ok and it will be just about as bad as an MP3 if it's just short stuff) I wanted to make my games all reminiscent of the Playstation era
Edit: Top 1 most useless Lists: # 1 This one
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I've actually used the play movie function for making cutscenes...
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Actually, the teleport thing couldn't be easier! Whenever you reach a new town, just have a autostart event that adds a teleport target to that map, and use a switch to finish that event. As you play and more targtets get added, you get a list like this when you use the Teleport skill (which is infact ALREADY MADE FOR YOU! in the database)
(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47608/aaaaaa.PNG)
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What's up with all these lists.
what's up with all these wicked sigs?
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g&ders have better sigs than everyone else ):
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g&ders have better sigs than everyone else ):
You can say that again :fogetnaughty:
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Actually, the teleport thing couldn't be easier! Whenever you reach a new town, just have a autostart event that adds a teleport target to that map, and use a switch to finish that event. As you play and more targtets get added, you get a list like this when you use the Teleport skill (which is infact ALREADY MADE FOR YOU! in the database)
(http://gamingw.net/pubaccess/47608/aaaaaa.PNG)
i would like to rteleport to tifas house :cool:
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i would like to rteleport to tifas house :cool:
Looks like you're the only one that got that :fogetlaugh:
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I don't think we're on the same wave digits anymore guys, I'm gonna go back to analog from now on.
I'm disappointed in you
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I haven't used RPGMaker for many many years, but if my memory serves "Halt all movement" was used to *wait* for all move events to finish, and it was pretty useful (or am I mixing it up with some other command?)
Nah man, this is Proceed with Movement, which is immensely handy! Halt All Movement is pretty useless tho.
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The commands are clearly there for creating Dragon Quest traditional JRPGs. Trade two event locations is probably the most useful one there, I can see it being used for some great puzzles. Simulated enemy attack doesn't work in the DBS, and anybody who uses a CBS wouldn't want to use the algorithm from the engine. So yeah, that one is pretty useless. The encounter rate and changing things like the hero name are clearly for games focused on class statistics. But I'm not certain how well they work.
Oh yeah, proceed with movement is very good for cutscenes.
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Change Hero Name is a very usefull command. In game it can be used to give mysterious characters their names and I use it to make custom naming systems.
Also the set teleport target command is something I wasn't aware of untill 2 weeks ago and I don't think it's useless, it gives you to oppertunity to make big games not get frustrating when you need to be in certain locations.
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I have actually started to use the Play movie thing. It's pretty cool if you want to play short movie files.
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I surprised Set Hero Transparency isn't on the list.
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When I actually used it I always used Change Hero Name to change it from "???GENERICMYSTERIOUSGUI" to their actual name after plot devices. I fail to see how that is so useless? :fogetfingerwag:
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rather than judging them on their own, compare them to the other commands available in RPG Maker, it may not be the fact that these are USELESS but more that they are not as useful...
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Hey Carius I like this list a lot man, but I was wondering about why you put play a movie file there? I am using that in my game and it istill beneath the 10 megs...Anyways this skill was not useful at all, but was very funny and interesting to read...
PS: Go lists!