Heard About RPG Maker 20XX?

Neither have I, but discovered it by accident. This is what it says on its website:

To address the old-age and technology of RPG Maker 2003′s RPG Runtime engine, a replacement will be written that implements more modern features. This is intended to work both as a 1-1 replacement for the RPG_RT.exe executable and as an extender to allow features which would be cumbersome to implement conventionally as event scripts.

There are also a long string of bugs and feature requests that will be addressed with this engine, especially the more commonly known battle bugs and speed/agility problems.

Sounds like it would be useful, except I haven't had a chance to use it yet. I'd have to dig my RM2K3 - it can be used with RM2K and RM2K3 - and its projects out of limbo, as it seems to be semi-reliant on the Maker's base materials, the RPG_RT, to work. When I have more time I may check into it further. (I wonder what the implied legalities are with this.)

EDIT: It appears that this project has been cancelled. You can most likely still download it if you search for it.

RPG Maker VX on Ubuntu (Test)

Introduction

RPG Maker XP and VX are designed to run on the Windows platform, so trying to get it to work on Ubuntu (fast becoming my preferred OS) is tricky and fickle. While it's easy enough to install in Windows, installing in Ubuntu can be a somewhat lengthy process. Furthermore, there are still some incompatibility issues to deal with, such as DirectX, sound issues and the RTP, and even with that there are no guarantees that it'll work for a particular system, if at all.

Note: This only applies to RMVX, as I couldn't get RMXP to run at all.

Installation

Caveat: Follow the instructions EXACTLY! Don't skip a step, as this may lead to instability. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, then don't. You do this at your own risk. I'm not held accountable for anything that might compromise your system. It's the procedure that I took (after prolonged study and experimentation) to get RMVX functional.

I'll assume that most Linux/Ubuntu users are confident enough with the system, so I'll go straight into the installation process:

1. Install Wine,
2. Install DirectX,
3. Install Timidity, and
4. Install RMVX.

Install Wine

Note that Wine is not an emulator, it's an open-source project that allows you to run software designed for Windows on other operating systems (such as Linux and Mac OS). It's worth visiting the Wine website to read up on it.

First, go to the Wine Download page and follow the instructions there or open up a Terminal window (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and type:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install wine

This will install the latest version of Wine and it'll be ready to use. Now, you can install and run many of your favorite Windows games and applications through Wine, just like you would normally. (There should be a shortcut in Applications; if there isn't, rebooting should do the trick or continue using the Terminal.)

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RMXP Compatibility with Vista

One of the commonest questions I'm asked is whether RMXP is compatible with Windows Vista. The simple answer is "Yes and No". Rather than attempting to use RMXP on Vista (better in my opinion though it is), it's better to use RMVX for Vista machines.

One of the problems with Vista is that it is extremely buggy and is known for its incompatibility issues. Running RMXP on Vista machines is possible, but not without endless hours tweaking certain system settings so that it can at least work half the time.

A common problem is that RMXP seems to work, but then suddenly freezes at any point (usually when playtesting games) or it will produce some obscure error message. Usually when this happens, it's due to compatibility issues (either with the system itself or hardware conflicts).

One workaround is to make sure you have full Admin rights and change its permission to "Run compatibility mode for XP SP2". To set these options, this link will help. If there are any messages for updates, it's probably prudent to download and install them.

To determine whether RMXP will be compatible with your Vista system, you can check at the Microsoft Compatibility Check. Hopefully this should help run RMXP on Vista machines.