Is there a way to get rid of the ATB system in RM2K3?

[Bryan Jarrie]

Is there a way to get rid of the ATB system in RM2K3? I'm trying to remake Dragon Warrior/Quest 4
& the ATB system would just ruin this game. I know it's possible because I played somebody's game
that didn't have a ATB system. The game was called "The Way" which has like 4 parts to it. So if anyone
knows how to get rid of it please tell me, thank you.

[modern algebra]

It has to be evented, so instead of calling battles through the normal way, you have to make an event sytem and run that for battles.

[Bryan Jarrie]

That's kinda vague. Could you be more specific? This is my 1st time making a game.

[Mishka]

Vague? Dude, you can't simplify it any further than that. You have to do some eventing to get what you want out of RM2K3.

[Bryan Jarrie]

I'm asking how do you make a turn-based battle system from events!

[cozziekuns]

That's pretty much it. Event it. Don't call battles the normal way, just use your imagination and event it... Show choices, check skills, etc. Make a system with lots of conditional branches and stuff.

If this is your first time making a game, I wouldn't recommend using a battle system that isn't the default anyways. Try eventing something simpler, like a fishing system or banking system... Also, you'd have to find a way to change the core scripts of RM2K3 if you didn't want to event it, which is gonna be way harder since there's no script editor, meaning your gonna have to download a crack, patch, or something.

[modern algebra]

Yeah, if you're not a good eventer, you won't be able to do anything really complicated with events, and if you need someone to explain it to you potential ways you could do it, you're probably not experienced enough to do it yourself even if someone explains it to you.

But think about a really simple battle system, like Rock Paper Scissors. How would you do that? Well, when it's the player's turn, you'd use a Show Choice branch. You could then save the player's selection to a variable Then, you'd go to the enemy turn. You'd set a variable to Rand 0...3. Then you'd have both of them having selected, so you'd then do a conditional branch for each possibility (Player picked Rock, Enemy picked Rock => 0 damage to either; Player picked Rock, Enemy picked Scissors => 1 damage to enemy, etc...). That would be a basic Rock Paper Scissors game.

Then, you could complicate things by maybe making the enemy not pick on equally random, but instead have it 50% likely that he picks rock over the other two - then you'd use rand (0...4) and distribute accordingly. And then you could make the damage different  you could set variables to the enemy def and actor attack and make a custom damage formula. You could add graphics to it to make it a little snazzier - maybe play an animation on the sprite of an enemy.


The eventing gets complicated pretty quickly the more features you add; the more party members, etc... but roughly, that would be a process to making a battle system; have the player choose actions, save those actions, have the enemy choose their actions, save those actions, then define and enact the results. Repeat. You could also make a real time battle of course, but that becomes even more complicated. Basically speaking, in 2k3, you need to either know eventing, or have someone who knows eventing to make a good custom battle system. You'd probably want to get into picture eventing too if you wanted it to look at all pretty.

The long and short of it; learn eventing or recruit someone who knows how to event. Or else, move to a RMXP or RMVX and find a script for the battle system you want. Or: settle for the default battle system until you become familiar enough with eventing to do it yourself.

[Bryan Jarrie]

Now, even if I were to come up with something, how would I apply it to every battle? i'm not gonna
have to apply this to every monster group am I? Or could I set it up as a "Common Event" and simply
have every monster group call the common event?

[cozziekuns]

... instead of calling battles through the normal way ...

You'd have to call 'em with events. You wouldn't be able to use the Encounter Method RM2k3 gives you, since that'll screw you over in more ways than one.

[Bryan Jarrie]

By the way, does anyone know how to set custom music for different fights, like boss battles. I tried
to change the BGM for a boss fight through the boss battle event, but it wouldn't work. I tried both
before & after the "enemy encounter" command, but niether worked. What am I doing wrong?

[modern algebra]

Change System BGM: Battle filename isn't working? It works for me. It is a command on the first tab of events, near the bottom of the second column, called Change System BGM, and for event choose Battle, then choose the music you want. I suspect you are using Play BGM on the third tab of event. Don't use that.


Also, do it prior to the battle, in the event where you call the boss battle.