VXSpawning, skill shortcuts, auto first attacks, in map item events and vehicles

EDIT- RPG Maker is VX version.

Hey again, sorry if this has been asked before or something, but I've searched and haven't had luck for a while so I'm coming here again.

First three things-
The full goal is to make something so you can start a battle or make NPCs react to an attack outside of a battle.
The best example of this I can think of is how in Paper Mario, you can start an attack or the enemy can attack you first (attacks afterwards however still depending on agility). The problems I have are; A- Spawning an object (like a generic laser that moves forward and starts a battle when touching an enemy), B- Having a battle start with you automatically attacking based on whatever "skill" you used outside on the main map to originally hit the target and C- Making a "skill" shortcut key, so you use X skill on the main map by pressing a key, without having to go through the menu to select one. Although the last one isn't totally needed, it's still something nice to have.

Fourth thing-
I want to be able to use certain items to change certain objects. It seems like it would be a simple concept, for example, to go thorough your inventory, select a key while standing in front of one specific locked door, then the locked door unlocks. The problem I'm having is that I can't figure out how to make it only work if you're standing in front of the object.

Fifth thing-
I made an event showing a ship sprite, then when you use -action button- the ship goes away and is replaced with an actual vehicle you can ride once you press -action button- again, but how do you make a vehicle there without it having to be spawned by another event switch/command or without having to press -action button- twice instead of just once?

Another thing recently-
How do I import a character sprite for a main playable character which has about twice the height of a regular sprite if the sprite is in separate images instead of in a sheet? Before Its suggested, I am using a "$" at the beginning of the name of the sprite, but when I go to the actors>character graphic, it only lets me pick one image and treats the individual sprite as a sprite sheet, showing small sections of it depending on which direction I walk. (The reason for this is because I was originally going to use game maker, but was told RPG Maker is better for this kind of game, so all sprites were made before having RPG Maker)

Fifth thing-
I made an event showing a ship sprite, then when you use -action button- the ship goes away and is replaced with an actual vehicle you can ride once you press -action button- again, but how do you make a vehicle there without it having to be spawned by another event switch/command or without having to press -action button- twice instead of just once?

>Get on/off Vehicle

Fourth thing-
I want to be able to use certain items to change certain objects. It seems like it would be a simple concept, for example, to go thorough your inventory, select a key while standing in front of one specific locked door, then the locked door unlocks. The problem I'm having is that I can't figure out how to make it only work if you're standing in front of the object.

Wouldn't know how to do it in VX. It's so much simpler in VX Ace.

">Get on/off Vehicle"

Didn't work from how I tried, can you please explain that in a full sentence?
I tried it, then after pressing enter nothing happened, even with various other commands knotted in.

"Wouldn't know how to do it in VX. It's so much simpler in VX Ace."

That's really helpful to know, cus' I totally have money to waste on every version of RPG Maker.
That aside, it's really not hard to do any of these things once you figure them out once it seems, so it doesn't seem like such a great idea to spend for a few added features as such.

Fourth thing-
I want to be able to use certain items to change certain objects. It seems like it would be a simple concept, for example, to go thorough your inventory, select a key while standing in front of one specific locked door, then the locked door unlocks. The problem I'm having is that I can't figure out how to make it only work if you're standing in front of the object.

I would recommend making it so that interacting with the locked door would check if you have the appropiate key, since players wouldn't want to have to go through their inventory and hope they selected the right key.

If you do want to have the key selected, however, I would simply make the item use a common event that turns a switch on. Then the door will use variables to check the player's coordinates and unlock if they're right next to it, then turns the switch off. If the player isn't right next to it, it simply turns the switch off.



Oh, and for your first three things: I don't know if it's possible to start a battle with an auto-attack without scripting, but the other two parts are doable.

Just make a parallel process event on each map that uses conditional branches to check whether a certain button is being held down (I'm not sure whether they're mapped the same way in VX as they are in XP), and it will turn a certain switch on for the specific skill you want to use. Then use an event page on the parallel process event for the switch. Make it check which way the player is facing, and use the appropriate graphic and move route, turning the switch off at the end of the move route.

Now, have the event for the enemy use variables to check if the projectile is touching it, and make it start a battle if it is. If you want more exact hit detection, you can even use "screen x" and "screen y" instead of "map x" and "map y" if VX has those options.