Actors talking before actions?/effects before attacks?

[Daisuke Ishiwatari]

I intended to implement finishers/ultimate attacks into my game, with the characters saying a line
of dialogue before attacking. The way I have it set up now is that the attack activates a common
event which is the line of dialogue. The problem is that they always attack before the common
event plays. Is there a way to make the common event play first? If not, is there some other way
to have dialogue show up before an attack is used?

[Maxim]

I'm assuming you're using the defualtt battle system. If so, Yanfly has plugins that can assist with this. I'd check out his action sequence plugins to give you more control over battle motions (I.E setting up the common event with dialogue to proc before the actual action commences).

http://yanfly.moe/2015/10/11/yep-4-action-sequence-pack-1/
http://yanfly.moe/2015/10/12/yep-5-action-sequence-pack-2/
http://yanfly.moe/2015/10/12/yep-6-action-sequence-pack-3/

[Daisuke Ishiwatari]

Originally posted by John Ominae:

I'm assuming you're using the defualtt battle system. If so, Yanfly has plugins that can assist with this. I'd check out his action sequence plugins to give you more control over battle motions (I.E setting up the common event with dialogue to proc before the actual action commences).

http://yanfly.moe/2015/10/11/yep-4-action-sequence-pack-1/
http://yanfly.moe/2015/10/12/yep-5-action-sequence-pack-2/
http://yanfly.moe/2015/10/12/yep-6-action-sequence-pack-3/

I have these already installed, unfortunately they don´t seem to be working right. Whenever I try to summon a common event before an attack using the COMMON EVENT: x command in the notes, nothing happens. I tried to write it in as many different methods possible (COMMON EVENT: X/ COMMONEVENT: X/ common event: X/ etc.) but all of it didn´t do anything.

EDIT: I´ve also tried it with the <action> common event eventname </action> things that are described in the plugins note but all that does is to cause the skill to do either literally nothing or for the skill to activate normally without any event playing. (also the name fo the skill at the top of the window doesn´t show up)

[Caethyril]

You'll need to override [at least] one of the default action phases to achieve this. I'd suggest the target action phase. Try this out: (source[forums.rpgmakerweb.com])

<target action>
common event: 1
wait for movement
motion attack: user
wait: 10
attack animation: target
wait for animation
action effect
</target action>

If you want to target all enemies, use a <whole action> stuff </whole action> tag instead.

[Daisuke Ishiwatari]

Originally posted by Caethyril:

You'll need to override [at least] one of the default action phases to achieve this. I'd suggest the target action phase. Try this out: (source[forums.rpgmakerweb.com])

<target action>
common event: 1
wait for movement
motion attack: user
wait: 10
attack animation: target
wait for animation
action effect
</target action>

If you want to target all enemies, use a <whole action> stuff </whole action> tag instead.

Okay, while it´s still not working quite how i want it to it´s a lot closer now.
<target action>
common event: 2
wait for movement
motion attack: user
wait: 10
attack animation: target
wait for animation
action effect
</target action>
is what I have currently set up. My problem here is that the common event still plays after the attacks animation (slash special 2). Then it plays the common event dialogue and uses a normal attack using the normal attack animation. I´m not sure if it´s a problem with how things are set up or if this is just me beeing really stupid.

[Caethyril]

Oh, you mean the cast animation that's added by Battle Engine Core? That's part of the setup action, so maybe try this instead:

<setup action>
clear battle log
display action
immortal: targets, true
perform start
wait for movement
common event: 2
cast animation
wait for animation
</setup action>

Basically, this is the default setup action plus a line to call your common event. Feel free to rearrange it! Also, don't worry, lots of people find action sequences confusing. ^_^

[Daisuke Ishiwatari]

Originally posted by Caethyril:

Oh, you mean the cast animation that's added by Battle Engine Core? That's part of the setup action, so maybe try this instead:

<setup action>
clear battle log
display action
immortal: targets, true
perform start
wait for movement
common event: 2
cast animation
wait for animation
</setup action>

Basically, this is the default setup action plus a line to call your common event. Feel free to rearrange it! Also, don't worry, lots of people find action sequences confusing. ^_^

This did help me to make the normal skill that comes with dialogue work, thank you a lot! Yes, in my opinion action sequences are really confusing...Is it possible to have 2 common events in one skill? As you may know from the other thread I´m also trying to set up time stop skill(s).
<setup action>
clear battle log
display action
immortal: targets, true
perform start
wait for movement
common event: 20
wait for movement
cast animation
wait for animation
common event: 21
</setup action>

here common event 20 is the one that stops time and plays a dialogue while 21 is the one that´s ment ot resume time and change the backgroudn color back. My problem now is that even thought event 21 is set to play as the very last thing for some reason it instantly plays after 20 with the actual attack happening after time has already resumed.

[Caethyril]

Originally posted by Captain Joshua:

My problem now is that even thought event 21 is set to play as the very last thing for some reason it instantly plays after 20 with the actual attack happening after time has already resumed.

The thing here is that all skills have a number of action phases that are run in order: setup, target and/or whole (depending on the skill's scope), follow, then finish. Yanfly has a video[yanfly.moe] and a detailed text reference for these phases on the Battle Engine Core page[yanfly.moe] (action sequences are mentioned about a third of the way down the page). =)

So, here you're saying "run event 21 at the end of the setup phase"...which happens before any target effects. One option would be to just add it to the skill's Effect list like you would without plugins, then it will run after the skill is all done. ^_^

Alternatively, consider putting this second event call in a follow or finish action. The default follow action is blank, so that would be quite easy to do:

<follow action>
common event: 21
</follow action>

Alternatively, you could add it to the default finish action, e.g.:

<finish action>
immortal: targets, false
wait for new line
clear battle log
common event: 21
perform finish
wait for movement
wait for effect
action common event
</finish action>

("action common event" is what calls the event attached to the skill.)

As you may know from the other thread I´m also trying to set up time stop skill(s).

Oh, haha, I hadn't noticed you were the same person until you said that! xP

[Daisuke Ishiwatari]

Originally posted by Caethyril:

Originally posted by Captain Joshua:

My problem now is that even thought event 21 is set to play as the very last thing for some reason it instantly plays after 20 with the actual attack happening after time has already resumed.

The thing here is that all skills have a number of action phases that are run in order: setup, target and/or whole (depending on the skill's scope), follow, then finish. Yanfly has a video[yanfly.moe] and a detailed text reference for these phases on the Battle Engine Core page[yanfly.moe] (action sequences are mentioned about a third of the way down the page). =)

So, here you're saying "run event 21 at the end of the setup phase"...which happens before any target effects. One option would be to just add it to the skill's Effect list like you would without plugins, then it will run after the skill is all done. ^_^

Alternatively, consider putting this second event call in a follow or finish action. The default follow action is blank, so that would be quite easy to do:

<follow action>
common event: 21
</follow action>

Alternatively, you could add it to the default finish action, e.g.:

<finish action>
immortal: targets, false
wait for new line
clear battle log
common event: 21
perform finish
wait for movement
wait for effect
action common event
</finish action>

("action common event" is what calls the event attached to the skill.)

As you may know from the other thread I´m also trying to set up time stop skill(s).

Oh, haha, I hadn't noticed you were the same person until you said that! xP

yes, this very much solves the time stop problem! Now the time stop behaves exactly as its supposed to action wise! Thank you a lot!

Thought there is one more question regarding it...is there a way to instantly silence the background music? With default commands the best I can find is making it fade out after one second but is there a way to have it just instantly stop? either way, thank you a lot!

[Caethyril]

Originally posted by Captain Joshua:

...is there a way to instantly silence the background music? With default commands the best I can find is making it fade out after one second but is there a way to have it just instantly stop?

Play BGM > (None) should do the trick! ^_^

[Daisuke Ishiwatari]

Originally posted by Caethyril:

Originally posted by Captain Joshua:

...is there a way to instantly silence the background music? With default commands the best I can find is making it fade out after one second but is there a way to have it just instantly stop?

Play BGM > (None) should do the trick! ^_^

Works perfectly, thank you!

[Daisuke Ishiwatari]

I´ve continued working with the plugin and I´ve managed to get quite a few attacks to work the way I want. My problem is I´ve run into this problem multiple times: once the attack is over the user returns to their homepoint and just redoes the entire attack a second time. I´ve been looking through the commands but i can´t seem to find what´s causing it...this is one of the attacks in question.

<target action>

motion swing: user

action animation

move user: target, front center, 10

wait: 5

move user: target, back center, 10

wait: 10

opacity user: 0%

wait: 10

opacity user: 70%

wait: 10

motion swing: user

animation 124: target

move user: target, front base, 10

face user: backward

wait: 7

jump user: 150%, 15

face user: forward

move user: target, front center, 15

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 125: target

move user: target, back base, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 125: target

face user: backward

move user: target, back center, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 124: target

face user: forward

move user: target, front center, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 125: target

face user: backward

move user: target, back head, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 124: target

face user: forward

move user: target, front base, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 125: target

face user: backward

move user: target, back center, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 124: target

face user: forward

move user: target, front head, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 125: target

face user: backward

move user: target, back base, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 124: target

face user: forward

move user: target, front center, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 125: target

face user: backward

move user: target, back center, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 124: target

face user: forward

move user: target, front center, 5

wait: 7

motion swing: user

animation 125: target

face user: backward

move user: target, back center, 5

wait: 7

motion thrust: user

animation 124: target

face user: forward

move user: target, front center, 10

wait: 7

move user: target, back center, 5

wait: 10

opacity user: 40%

wait: 5

opacity user: 20%

face user: forward

wait: 5

opacity user: 60%

motion thrust: user

wait: 5

move user: target, front center, 5

opacity user: 100%

wait for animation

immortal: target, false

action effect

action effect

action effect

action effect

action effect

action effect

action effect

action effect

action effect

clear battle log

jump user: 100, 40

move user: return, 40

motion escape: user

wait for movement

finish movement

move user: home

face user: forward

wait for movement

</target action>

[Caethyril]

Originally posted by Captain Joshua:

My problem is I´ve run into this problem multiple times: once the attack is over the user returns to their homepoint and just redoes the entire attack a second time.

Have you accidentally set the skill's Repeat count to 2? (It's the third setting from the left in the box labelled "Invocation".)

[Daisuke Ishiwatari]

Originally posted by Caethyril:

Originally posted by Captain Joshua:

My problem is I´ve run into this problem multiple times: once the attack is over the user returns to their homepoint and just redoes the entire attack a second time.

Have you accidentally set the skill's Repeat count to 2? (It's the third setting from the left in the box labelled "Invocation".)

nope, it´s set to only 1 repeat.

[Caethyril]

Originally posted by Captain Joshua:

nope, it´s set to only 1 repeat.

It seems to only go through the motions once for me, not sure what the issue could be. Maybe double-check you have the latest versions of Yanfly's plugins, and that they're loading (in the Plugin Manager) in the order listed here: http://yanfly.moe/yep/

Otherwise, if you have plugins by other authors, maybe they're causing the issue?

[Daisuke Ishiwatari]

Originally posted by Caethyril:

Originally posted by Captain Joshua:

nope, it´s set to only 1 repeat.

It seems to only go through the motions once for me, not sure what the issue could be. Maybe double-check you have the latest versions of Yanfly's plugins, and that they're loading (in the Plugin Manager) in the order listed here: http://yanfly.moe/yep/

Otherwise, if you have plugins by other authors, maybe they're causing the issue?

...Now I feel very embarassed, it wasn´t because of anything wrong with the plugins or because the inputs were wrong...It´s because I had it set to "attack 2 random enemies" from when the attack was still different...Excuse me for wasting your time because i´m apparently blind.