Atreyo Ray Plugins
In-Game Manual
- Tutorial -
If you have any question, or need to report a
bug on this plugin, please use the official thread
at RPGMaker forums (link here), or send me an
e-mail ([Link]@[Link]).
This tutorial is based on the features presented
on version 1.10 of the In-Game Manual Plugin.
Please check version notes if you’re using a
different version.
Before we begin...
Let’s take a look on the MAIN CONFIG parameters of the plugin:
Manual Names: You have to list the name of each manual you are
using. Use:
symbol: Name; symbol: Name; symbol: Name
If you’re using just one manual in your game, leave this paramater as
‘manual: Game Manual’, or just change the name. For example, if you
want your manual to be called Game Info, set this parameter to
‘manual: Game Info’.
If you’re using more than one manual, see the Advanced
Configurations— Extra Manuals section of this tutorial.
Quick Menu
Setting up Manual Data
Manual File: That’s the text file inside the ‘data’ folder of your project
with manual data.
Sample Entry
Extra Manuals
Plugin Commands
Show In Menu: Define here which manuals are going to be shown on Custom Fonts
the main menu. Use: Visual Customization
symbol; symbol; symbol A [Link] Example
Setting up Manual Data
1) First, create a text file in the ‘data’ folder of your project and name it accordingly to the Manual File
parameter (default is ‘[Link]’)
To create it, you may use, for example, Notepad. But don’t use any rich-text type software, like
Microsoft Word.
2) Now let’s create a simple entry to your manual. Inside the text file:
# Introduction
<name> Introduction
<text>
Welcome to my game manual! Here you read information about the
systems in the game, or learn more about its background story, as
well as the story about the main characters.
<end entry>
Shows up like this in game:
Use ‘#’ in the begining of a line to make a comment. These lines won’t be read by the plugin and
are just to help you organize the data in your manual file.
* <name> tag: type the name of the entry beside this tag. The name of your entry appears on the list
of entries.
* <text> tag: any text you write below this tag will show up in game after the title of the entry.
!
DON’T use semicolons (;) or underscore (_) on entry names.
DON’T use the same entry name twice or more.
DON’T write any text on the same line of a <text> tag. Write BELOW it.
DON’T forget to end an entry with an <end entry> tag.
Use <end entry> right BELOW your text.
Setting up Manual Data
3) There are more tags and features you can use to customize your entries. See this one below:
# Story
<name> Background Story
<icon> 189
<text>
This is the \i[189]Story of the game.
Here you can read how \c[10]awesome\c[0] the world I created relate to
the characters.
<end entry>
Shows up like this in game:
* <icon> tag: use icon index. It’ll show an icon beside the entry name on the list of entries. To
know each icon index, access your project database, and when you try to change a skill or item
icon, see its number on the bottom of the window.
You can use escape caracters in your text. In the example above, \c and \i were used to change
the color of the text and to draw an icon.
!
If you’re using another plugin that adds escape caracters to your project, like
Yanfly’s Message Core, make sure you place ARP_InGameManual plugin
BELOW it for optimal usage.
Because of how texts with escape caracters are handled by RPGMaker, using
tabulation (pressing TAB) under <text> tag will show as a single whitespace in
game. Instead use whitespaces as many times as needed in a single line to suit
your needs.
Setting up Manual Data
4) Other optional tags may be used. See this one below:
# Configuration
<name> Configuration
<icon> 83
<title> Game Options
<subentries> Keyboard Config; Gamepad Config; Battle Speed; Other Config
<text>
You can setup configurations in the \i[83]\c[4]Options\c[0] menu.
It can be accessed before you begin a new game or continue from
a save file. Or you can access it on the main menu.
Press the \c[4]confirm button\c[0] or click on this entry to see each
configuration.
<end entry>
Shows up like this in game:
* <title> tag: If you want the title of your entry to be different from its name.
* <subentries> tag: when you define subentries to an entry, the user may press the confirm button
(or select this entry) to force game manual to show the list of subentries defined by this tag.
See the next page.
Setting up Manual Data
Setting up a <subentries> tag
will make this text appear.
You can define it on the More
Info Text parameter of the
plugin, along with other
options.
when you select an entry with subentries...
Now the manual lists the
defined subentries
!
Separate each subentry after the subentries tag with a semicolon (;)
Use capital letters when necessary.
Subentries are defined like any other entry! They have their own tags (like
<name>, <text>, <title> or any other tag that a normal entry has).
If you write an entry after a <subentry> tag that does not exist, your game
will crash when you select this entry.
Setting up Manual Data
5) And finally, one more last tag:
# Characters
<name> Characters
<picture> game character faces
<subentries> Harold; Therese; Marsha; Lucius
<text>
Harold, Therese, Marsha, and Lucius were brought together by
destiny to save the world!
<end entry>
Shows up like this in game:
* <picture> tag: If you want the to show a picture in your entry’s details.
In the example above, the image file is ‘game character [Link]’
!
The image file must be a PNG file.
The image file must be placed inside ‘img/pictures’ folder of your project.
Typing the wrong name or not placing the image in the correct folder will crash
your game as soon as it loads.
DON’T write the file extension (.png) after the <picture> tag
By default, using the <picture> tag will show a centered picture, and the text
will come after it. See next page for more options.
Setting up Manual Data
5.1) The <picture> tag can be customized:
#Atributes
<name> Attributes
<picture> stats; left; true
<text>
'Attack' and '[Link]' determines a
character's damage with physical and magical
attacks.
'Defense' and '[Link]' reduces incoming
physical and magical damage.
'Agility' determines how quickly a character
gets to act in battle.
'Luck' determines a character's resistance to debuffs.
<end entry>
Shows up like this in game:
!
<picture> File Name; Position; Text Over?
Position can be: left, center, or right.
Text Over? can be:
true—shows text over picture;
false—shows text after the picture;
Setting up Manual Data
6) Here’s a sample form you can use to create all the entries in your manual data file:
<name> (REQUIRED — must be unique, don’t use semicolon or underscore)
<icon> (OPTIONAL — Icon index)
<title> (OPTIONAL — if you want it to be different from the name tag)
<picture> (OPTIONAL — FileName [; Position; Text Over?])
<subentries> (OPTIONAL — Entry Name; Entry Name; Entry Name)
<text>
Your text comes here.
The text tag is also optional! (Maybe you just want to show a picture?)
<end entry>
7) You’re almost there! Now you just need to define which entries are shown right when you open the
manual. In your manual data file, add the following line (may be at the top of the file):
<main entries> Introduction; Background Story; Characters; Configuration; Stats
This way, when you open our manual, it will list those entries in that same order.
8) See an example of manual data file: click here
Advanced Configuration — Extra Manuals
1) You can define more than one manual if you want.
The default manual symbol is: manual
Make sure you configure your extra manuals names on the Manual Names parameter. For
example:
!
DON’T use whitespaces on symbols.
DON’T use the same symbol twice or more.
You may have as many “manuals” as you want! Be creative!
2) You can add as many “manuals” as you want to the main menu (assuming you defined them!)
!
You don’t need to add all your “manuals” to the main menu.
In fact, if you want it, you don’t need to add ANY manual (including the
default one) to the main menu—just leave ‘Show In Menu‘ blank.
There are other ways to open your manuals. See the Plugin Commands
section.
Advanced Configuration — Extra Manuals
3) You have to define if an entry belongs to any of your extra manuals (or they’ll be empty!)
By default, all entries belong to the default manual (the one with the symbol ‘manual’), unless you
specify it with an <at> tag:
<at> manual symbol; manual symbol; manual symbol
* For example:
<name> A sample entry
<at> diary; advlog
<icon> 34
<text>
A sample text.
<end entry>
# = = = = = = = = = =
<name> Another entry
<at> advlog
<picture> sample img
<end entry>
! You may add a single entry to more than one “manual”. Just separate each symbol
with a semicolon (;).
4) You also have to define the main entries of your extra manuals in your manual data file:
<main entries of ManualSymbol> Entry Name; Entry Name; Entry Name
* For example:
<main entries of diary> January; February; March; April
<main entries of advlog> Areas; Monsters Defeated; Resources
Advanced Configuration — Plugin Commands
1) To open a game manual:
OpenGameManual
to open the default manual (symbol: manual).
OpenGameManual ManualSymbol
to open an extra manual.
2) To hide all entries of a manual:
HideAllManualEntries
to hide all entries of the default manual.
HideAllManualEntries ManualSymbol
to hide all entries of an extra manual.
3) To show all entries of a manual:
ShowAllManualEntries
to show all entries of the default manual.
ShowAllManualEntries ManualSymbol
to show all entries of an extra manual.
Advanced Configuration — Plugin Commands
4) To hide specific entries:
HideManualEntry Entry_Name
to hide a single entry.
HideManualEntry Entry_Name Entry_Name ...
to hide a list of entries.
5) To show specific entries:
ShowManualEntry Entry_Name
to show a single entry.
ShowManualEntry Entry_Name Entry_Name ...
to show a list of entries.
!
Separate each entry with a single whitespace. Because of that...
If your entry name has a whitespace, replace it in the plugin command with an
underscore (_).
For example, if you have an entry called ‘Background Story’, when you use it in a
plugin command, make it ‘Background_Story’ instead.
Use capital letters where necessary.
Hiding or showing specific entries WILL NOT show or hide their subentries! You
have to hide or show them too.
Advanced Configuration — Custom Fonts
1) Working with custom fonts require a little bit of extra work.
If you want to use a font (other than the standard font you are using in your project) you have to
begin by specifying these fonts in the parameters.
Here we are changing the title font
2) Place your custom font file inside the ‘fonts’ folder of your project.
3) Edit ‘[Link]’ to include your custom font.
@font-face {
font-family: GameFont;
src: url("[Link]");
Just add another ‘@font-face’ block with your
custom font details }
@font-face {
font-family: Parisienne;
src: url("[Link]");
*Parisienne is a font under SIL OPEN FONT LICENSE by GoogleFonts
Advanced Configuration — Visual Customization
There are a lot of visual customizations to you game manual. Each one of them can be easily defined using
the parameters of the plugin.
1) Working with color parameters:
Past Entry Color and Current Entry Color parameters require the number of a system color.
System colors are defined in your [Link] file in ‘img/system’
folder of your project. Start counting from 0, left-to-right, and you’ll
have the number you need.
Any other color parameter requires a CSS color format. For example, you can use:
#ffffff or rgba(255,255, 255,1) , for white color.
To learn more about CSS color format, access this link.
2) Working with a custom background and windowskins
You can use a custom background on
your manual. Just place your PNG image
file inside the 'img/system' folder and set
the 'Custom Background' parameter.
If you decide to do so, all the windows
within the manual will have their
backgrounds hidden (opacity set to 0),
even if you are using custom windowskin
files.
Remember that windowskin files should be PNG and their extension should not be writen in the
parameters.
A [Link] Example
<main entries> Introduction; Background Story; Characters; Configuration; Stats
# Introduction
<name> Introduction
<text>
Welcome to my game manual! Here you read information about the
systems in the game, or learn more about its background story, as
well as the story about the main characters.
<end entry>
# Story
<name> Background Story
<icon> 189
<text>
This is the \i[189]Story of the game.
Here you can read how \c[10]awesome\c[0] the world I created relate to
the characters.
<end entry>
# Characters
<name> Characters
<picture> game character faces
<subentries> Harold; Therese; Marsha; Lucius
<text>
Harold, Therese, Marsha, and Lucius were brought together by
destiny to save the world!
<end entry>
#Harold
<name> Harold
<picture> harold profile
<end entry>
#Therese
<name> Therese
<picture> therese profile
<end entry>
...