Adding more parts to the Character Generator

How to add "parts" to the character generator! Includes an Example step by step tutorial on how to Copy a Male accessory so that it can be used with Female characters as well.

Introduction

Sigh... I don't know why this isn't in the Generator to begin with. I mean... Why limit the number of parts available? Aside from the lipstick options, there's nothing inherently male or femal with any of the mouths... And even males can wear lipstic (I don't judge). So why the division? In all honesty, the first thing I did with VX Ace was to make sure both genders could use all the same parts.

So when I got my hand on this one, I did the same, but it took a lot of trial and error.

Trial and error I figured I'd save you guys from :)

The Character Generator.

Niftiest little thing ever. Love it. Loved it in Ace, was super worried that it wouldn't make it to MV, and was super relieved when it did :)

This is what it looks like to me, after doing the same thing I did with VX Ace (making most parts availalbe to both genders):



See that mouth? That's a male one! Yep! Wanted a woman that didn't just smile and look meek for the camera. Wanted some character in there as well! Who might have known?

In any event, lets make things clear before I go on. Not all parts fit cross gender, and much of it, such as hair styles, are already unisex. But that shouldn't be stopping you from nicking the parts that does fit ^^

If you have the artistic talent, or if you are borrowing someone elses, and want to add custom resources to the Generator, this guide will partially cover that.

How it works.

First, we need to understand how the generator works.

The generator works on a filename structure. Just like the main program it scans relevant folders for things that are compatible and add those things according to their file names. And in order for the part to appear in the Character Generator, there needs to be two things, the actual part of the face/character and then an icon for the program.

If it sounds complicated, don't worry, it actually isn't. Let's break it down.

First, lets go to the Character Generator's folder in the RPG Maker MV Folder:

Go to your steam folder, then go to steamapps\common\RPG Maker MV\Generator. Here you will find 5 Folders, each containing a "Male" and "Female" folder, each containing the gender specific graphics for the generator. The folders work according to the following system:

The "Face" folder contains the parts that will be added to the face graphic in the generator.


The "SV" folder contains the parts that will be added to the Side View graphics in the generator.


The "TV" folder contains the parts that will be added to the walker graphics and the "TVD" folder contain the parts that will be added to the Damage graphics.


The "Variation" folder contain the art that will be used as icons inside the generator.


Explore these folders for a while and you will see what I mean.

How to add new parts.

Now, the Generator add all these graphics together based on file names. I'll explain it by showing and example:

The files "FG_AccB_p05_c1_m016.png" and "FG_AccB_p05_c2_m017" inside the "Generator\Face\Male" folder make up the pair of goggles for the Male "Accessory 2" tab. These will make up the part that will be shown on the character's face.

Then there are the files for the Walk Character graphics inside the "Generator\TV\Male" folder: "TV_AccB_p05.png" and "TV_AccB_p05_c.png"

And again, inside the "Generator\TVD\Male" folder are the graphics for the Damage Character graphics: "TVD_AccB_p05.png" and "TVD_AccB_p05_c.png"

Beginning to see a pattern? Can you guess the name of the files inside the "Generator\SV\Male" folder? Well, it's "SV_AccB_p05.png" and "SV_AccB_p05_c.png"

Finally there's another thing needed to make the goggles accessible from the Generator, and that's a file inside the "Generator\Variation\Male" folder: "icon_AccB_p05.png"

Can you see the common nominator here? It's the "AccB_p05" part that you can find in every file name. AccB tells the generator that, from all files in respective folders (TV, TVD, FG, etc.), this part belongs under the Accessory 2 tab of the Generator software. The "p05" tells the software that all AccB art that has a "p05" in the name belong together.

Keep in mind that you don't have to have a p05 or whatever in every folder. As long as you have an icon for it in the Variation Folder, you can access it from the Generator even if it will just be a meaningless button to click xD

In short, for the goggles to show up in the editor, in damage, walker, battler and face graphics, there needs to be an AccB_p05 file somewhere in every folder.

So, theoretically, if we wanted to make a NEW accessory for the Acessory 2 tab... Just copy all the "AccB_p05" parts in each respective folder... And change the 5 to a 6 and voila! You can edit the goggles that will now show up as it's own part in the generator! Alternatively, if you have finished Accessory 2 art from somewhere else, you can just rename them to AccB_p06 etc and paste them into their respective folders! ^^

The software sees that there's a new part that has the required corresponding art in the other folders and thus are valid. The files also need to be the proper format, resolution etc. Check the existing files to find those.

Good luck!

How to make a Male Accessory available to Females

As covered before, as long as you keep to the file names required and put them in the right folders things should be fine.

First, off, find all the files used for the goggles:

Generator\Face\Male\FG_AccB_p05_c1_m016.png
Generator\Face\Male\FG_AccB_p05_c2_m017.png
Generator\SV\Male\SV_AccB_p05.png
Generator\SV\Male\SV_AccB_p05_c.png
Generator\TV\Male\TV_AccB_p05.png
Generator\TV\Male\TV_AccB_p05_c.png
Generator\TVD\Male\TVD_AccB_p05.png
Generator\TVD\Male\TVD_AccB_p05_c.png
Generator\Variation\Male\icon_AccB_p05.png

Copy them into a new folder somewhere, and then go to the female folders to find out the greatest pXX number in use. Unless you already added your own content or downloaded finished content, it should be p07. Thus, to make sure it won't conflict with any existing art, we should rename all p05 instances of the copied goggle files to p08, as every number up to and including p07 is already used for females. Here's what you should rename them too, broken down by file:

"FG_AccB_p05_c1_m016.png" to "FG_AccB_p08_c1_m016.png"
"FG_AccB_p05_c2_m017.png" to "FG_AccB_p08_c2_m017.png"
"SV_AccB_p05.png" to "SV_AccB_p08.png"
"SV_AccB_p05_c.png" to "SV_AccB_p08_c.png"
"TV_AccB_p05.png" to "TV_AccB_p08.png"
"TV_AccB_p05_c.png" to "TV_AccB_p08_c.png"
"TVD_AccB_p05.png" to "TVD_AccB_p08.png"
"TVD_AccB_p05_c.png" to "TVD_AccB_p08_c.png"
"icon_AccB_p05.png" to "icon_AccB_p08.png"

Then copy them back to their respective folders, but put them in the "Female" folders instead. What you should end up with are these files:

Generator\Face\Female\FG_AccB_p08_c1_m016.png
Generator\Face\Female\FG_AccB_p08_c2_m017.png
Generator\SV\Female\SV_AccB_p08.png
Generator\SV\Female\SV_AccB_p08_c.png
Generator\TV\Female\TV_AccB_p08.png
Generator\TV\Female\TV_AccB_p08_c.png
Generator\TVD\Female\TVD_AccB_p08.png
Generator\TVD\Female\TVD_AccB_p08_c.png
Generator\Variation\Female\icon_AccB_p08.png

Restart RPG Maker MV if it was running. When you boot up the generator, the very last Accessory on the Accessory 2 tab should be the goggles :)

I know one Tomboy that's happy with her newest accessory XD




Well, I hope I cleared most of it out, though there's a lot of filenames and folder directories at a glance, the system is pretty simple when you get the hang of it. Also, if you wanted to have the goggles in the Accessory 1 tab (why I don't know) you could just rename all the AccB instances in the filenames to AccA.

Anyway, good luck with future parts adding ;)

OBSERVE! Remember that face and sideview images may need to be adjusted slightly, depending on the part in question. Especially the side view graphics are sensitive to this, in particular the bottom right part of the image with the characters on their knees.

[PVux]

what about the kid part, i mean i can move the part from male and female to the kid part real good, but the height isn't the same so that the battler some part like hair the higher than the kid body a bit, and the icon is different too, how can I fix that ?

[Veilex]

"Sigh... I don't know why this isn't in the Generator to begin with. I mean... Why limit the number of parts available?" - Money. If you've noticed, RPG Maker breaks something and re-institutes something broken with almost every release. There are no legitimate reasons for this.

[Nowl]

I was looking for this, thank you!

[mobiusclimber]

I don't have the folders described here. I'm on a mac, but there's no SteamApp folder. There is just a Steam app and when I click "show package contents" it just has a "contents" folder. Nothing inside that folder has anything to do with MV.

[Windblade Zero]

never managed to find a guide to do this for the vx version (i looked everywhere on both the vx and vx ace guides, so thats why im commenting here)

[funewchie]

Thanks for the tips! I was trying to figure out how to add some new parts, and it just wouldn't show up.
Thanks to your guide I figured out I'd forgotten to add the "Variation" part (the icon).
Now it shows up in the generator just right.
Thanks for the help!

[Game gear]

how to add ... i trying to create a game i need more kid part but you know how many part they have so i got the file but i can't get the the person

[Link117]

fun fact i just coped the goggles from the male changed nothing of the name and i went and pasted it in the kids folder and it works so now my kids have some cool goggles and i did not need to do any of the renameing for it

[Link117]

@Bujishorts23 the frist 3 folders i see are bearer, Dlc, and the Generator why dont you look at your top 3 and see if you cant find it it should be the generator but am new to this as well and idk if the folders are in that same order for you

[Bujishorts23]

please please please help me I just can't find the right folder. Ive searched everywhere followed lots of guides and I still can't find the generator folder. Im in the RPG Maker MV folder the only generator folder I have found is in the dlc folder under RPG Maker Freebies > RPG Maker MV Free Resources > Graphics > Generator Parts. The in program generator parts are not there. I just want to add more parts but I can't find the right folder to put them in