
   HOW TO USE the O.H.R.RPG.C.E
   Last Updated Sept 7 2000
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   The O.H.R.RPG.C.E. is nearing completion, so the time has come for me
   to finish the HOWTO. If anyone of you advanced users want to write
   extra articles and tutorials for the HOWTO, I would greatly appreciate
   the help. Mail any additions to ohrrpgce@HamsterRepublic.com
   
   This is probably more than you can remember, so you might want to
   print this file... or just ALT-TAB back and forth :)
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   CONTENTS
     * Important Notes
     * Keyboard Conventions
     * Getting Started
     * Making Maptiles
     * Making Walkabout Graphics
     * Moving on to Map Construction
     * Making a Hero
     * Battles
     * How to use NPCs and Tags
     * Adding, Removing, Swapping, Heros
     * Animating Maptiles
     * Vehicle Use
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   NOTE: If you want to password protect your game to prevent others from
   altering it, you can do so in the "General Game Data" menu. A password
   is never required to play a game, only to edit it. DONT FORGET YOUR
   PASSWORD!!!
   
   NOTE: Always remember to backup your work. I cannot stress this
   enough. This applies to everything you do on your computer that is
   even the slightest bit important to you-- but you must be especially
   careful about backing up your RPG files. There may still be bugs in
   the OHRRPGCE, and sometimes when you find one of these bugs, it may
   corrupt your RPG file. If this ever happens to you, you should contact
   me at ohrrpgce-corrupt@HamsterRepublic.com so we can try to identify the
   cause of the corruption so I can fix the bug and prevent it from
   happening to others, but I can seldom recover the lost data that you
   put so much hard work into. I make backups of Wandering Hamster every
   day I work on it, and I even make backups of my backups (okay, maybe
   Im a little paranoid :) bit the point is that backing up your files is
   important.
   
   NOTE: The HOWTO does not contain information about plotscripting,
   cause thats really more of an `advanced' topic. For info on
   plotscripting, see the Plot Script Tutorial
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Keyboard Conventions
   
   Most of the CUSTOM.EXE is menu based. You can move up and down menus
   with the up and down arrow keys. Submenus can be selected by pressing
   ENTER or SPACE. You can always go back to the previous menu by
   pressing ESC. Numbers and other values can be changed either by
   typing, by pressing the left and right arrows, or when the left and
   right arrows are unavailable, by pressing the < and > keys (period and
   comma). In many places you can copy and paste values by pressing
   CTRL+C for copy, and CTRL+V paste.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Getting Started
   
   First things first, if you have not downloaded the OHRRPGCE, get it
   from http://HamsterRepublic.com/html/ohrrpgce.html. The file you want
   is CUSTOM.ZIP. You will need an unzipping program to open it. I
   reccomend extracting the OHRRPGCE to a directory called C:\OHRRPGCE
   but you can put it anywhere you want.
   
   Run CUSTOM.EXE. If you have troubles running it, consult
   http://HamsterRepublic.com/html/rpgfaq.html where you may find a
   solution to your problem.
   
   You will want to create a new game, or if you downloaded Wandering
   Hamster or another non-password-protected RPG you might want to open
   it and try messing with things. Some people find it easyer to learn
   when they edit a pre-existing game (but remeber! Just because someone
   didnt put a password on their game, dont take that as a liscence to
   steal graphics and things for your own game. I left Wandering Hamster
   unpassworded only so people could look at it for examples)
   
   We will assume that you are going to create new game. Choose "create
   game"
   
                               [newgame.gif]
                                      
   Type in a name for your game. This name is limited to 8 letters cause
   this is a DOS program, but you will be able to give your game a longer
   internal name.
   
                               [namegame.gif]
                                      
   The main menu in CUSTOM.EXE has submenus for each of the various
   data-editors that make up the OHRRPGCE. Most of these menus have sub
   menus underneath them.
   
                              [menu-main.gif]
                                      
   Lets give your game a long name. Pick the "Edit General Game Data"
   menu. There qou will se a variety of options that affect your game.
   You will be returning to this menu later when you have more data. Go
   down to "Long Name:" and type in a name for your game. You can also
   add your name and/or copyright information in the "About Line:"
   
                           [menu-generaldata.gif]
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Making Maptiles
   
   Now, you should draw some graphics. You dont need to draw them all to
   begin with, you can make them as you go along, but you will need at
   least some graphics to start out.
   
   Go back to the main menu, and pick "Edit Graphics". This will take you
   to the Graphics submenu.
   
                            [menu-graphics.gif]
                                      
   Making Maptiles
   
   Pick "Edit Maptiles" from the graphics menu and then pick "Tile Set
   0". A tile set is a collection of 20*20 pictures that you will later
   piece together like a mosaic to create your maps. Each tile set is a
   page of 160 maptiles. You can use different tile sets for different
   maps.
   
                             [menu-maptile.gif]
                                      
   You can Pick "Draw Tiles" , "Cut Tiles" or "Define Tile Animation".
   For now, just draw some tiles. Cutting tiles will be explained later.
   
                       [menu-maptile-drawcutanim.gif]
                                      
   See that blue box up in the corner? That is your cursor. The screen is
   divided up into 160 tiles. The first one (top left) is the default
   tile You will want this one to be grass, water, void, whatever you
   want the map to be full of before you edit it.
   
                       [menu-maptile-draw-blank.gif]
                                      
   Use the arrow-keys or the mouse (yep! the mouse works in the
   graphics-making portions of the OHRRPGCE) to select the top-left tile.
   
   Using first the "Fill" tool, and then the "Airbrush" tool, lets make
   some simple grass.
   
             [menu-maptile-draw1.gif] [menu-maptile-draw2.gif]
                          [menu-maptile-draw3.gif]
                                      
   Here are all the controls for tile-drawing mode
     * Arrow keys move your cursor
     * SPACEBAR places a pixel, fills a area, or sarts/finishes a line or
       box
     * Hold ALT and press arrow keys to change your current drawing color
     * period and comma also change drawing color
     * ENTER or Right-Click matches the current drawing color with the
       pixel
     * under the cursor
     * D switches to the "Draw" tool
     * B switches to the "Box" tool
     * L switches to the "Line" tool
     * F switches to the "Fill" tool
     * BACKSPACE flips the tile on the Y axis
     * CTRL+BACKSPACE flips the tile on the X axis
     * [ and ] brackets rotate the tile
     * Press ESC when finished
       
   After you have drawn your tile, then press ESC. you will see your tile
   at normal size.
   
                        [menu-maptile-draw-one.gif]
                                      
   Now choose the second map tile (one space to the right of the one you
   just made)
   
   Using first the fill tool, and then the line tool, lets make some
   simple water.
   
             [menu-maptile-draw1.gif] [menu-maptile-draw4.gif]
                          [menu-maptile-draw5.gif]
                                      
   Press ESC when done, and now you will see both of your completed
   tiles.
   
                        [menu-maptile-draw-two.gif]
                                      
   You can copy tiles with CTRL+C and paste them with CTRL+V. This will
   be helpful when you are working on better, more detailed maptiles.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Making Walkabout Graphics
   
   Okay, use ESC to back up to the graphics menu, and pick "Draw
   Walkabout Graphics"
   
   Walkabout pictures are the small pictures used for heros and NPCs on
   the overmap. Each character uses eight pictures, two for each of four
   directions. Look in the top righthand side on the screen. See where it
   says "Up A"? Press right, and this will change. Start with "Down A" of
   "Set 0", and press ENTER to begin editing.
   
                            [menu-walkabout.gif]
                                      
   The sprite drawing program looks a little different than the maptile
   editor, but it works pretty much the same way. The important
   difference is that while maptiles can use any of the 256 available
   colors, Sprites can only have a palette of 16 colors.
   
                         [menu-walkabout-blank.gif]
                                      
   The big palette of colors is your "Master Palette". the small palette
   of colors below it is your "current palette". You will use these 16
   colors to draw your picture. The first color, Black, is transparent.
   Click on one of the other colors in your palette, say, Green. Now
   green is your current color. If you want to change that palette color
   to something else, you can click in your master palette to change it.
   
   The controls in sprite editing mode are as follows:
     * Arrow keys move your cursor
     * SPACEBAR places a pixel, Fills an area, or start/finish a line or
       box
     * Hold ALT and press arrow keys alters your current palette color
     * period and comma change wich palette color you will draw with
     * ENTER or Right-Click matches the current drawing color with the
       pixel under the cursor
     * TAB starts a box. Size the box with the arrow keys, and finish
       with the SPACE BAR.
     * [ and ] pick your current palette
     * CAPSLOCK + arrow keys move the whole picture
     * D switches to the "Draw" tool
     * B switches to the "Box" tool
     * L switches to the "Line" tool
     * F switches to the "Fill" tool
     * BACKSPACE reverses the image
     * CTRL+C copies the picture
     * CTRL+V pastes the picture
     * ALT+C copies the palette
     * ALT+V pastes the palette
     * I allows you to import a 16-color BMP file
     * Press ESC when finished
       
   Using the circle tool, the fill tool, and the line tool, lets make a
   simple character
   
           [menu-walkabout-face1.gif] [menu-walkabout-face2.gif]
                         [menu-walkabout-face3.gif]
                                      
   Maybe he aint much to look at, but its a start. Press Esc to go back
   to the walkabout menu.
   
                         [menu-walkabout-oops.gif]
                                      
   Oops! What do you do if you accadentaly drew a down-facing walkabout
   picture in the slot marked "Up A". Down-facing pictures should go in
   the slots marked "Down A" and "Down B". No problem, just Press CTRL+C
   to copy the picture you just drew, move the cursor over to the "Down
   A" slot, and press CTRL+V to paste him. Do it again for "Down B"
   
                       [menu-walkabout-copypaste.gif]
                                      
   Now you need to draw the rest of the pictures for this walkabout set,
   up right, and left.
   
                          [menu-walkabout-all.gif]
                                      
   Now lets say we dont like the colors we used. No need to draw him
   again, we will just create a new palette. Select one of the pictures
   to get back into drawing mode. See the wide rectangle just below the
   word "Pal 0"? That is your current palette. Choose the next palette by
   pressing "]" or clicking the right-arrow next to "Pal 0". Dont worry!
   Your picture didnt get erased! The new palette is just blank. Click on
   a slot in the current palette, and assign a color to it by clicking on
   a color in the master palette. Fill up your new palette with colors.
   
                        [menu-walkabout-palette.gif]
                                      
   You might want to stop right now and make a few palettes of colors you
   think might be useful together. Design your palettes carefully so you
   can reuse them for many different pictures, since there is a maximum
   of 100 palettes, and you will have more pcitures than that if you are
   making a large game.
   
   If you dont have your picture centered just right, you can realign it
   by holding CAPSLOCK and pressing the arrow keys.
   
   As with maptiles, you can copy and paste with CTRL+C and CTRL+V and
   you can also copy palettes with ALT+C and paste them with ALT+V
   
   And lastly, You can mirror the picture with BACKSPACE. I find this
   very usefull for saving drawing time. Draw left facing pictures, copy
   them to the right facing slots, and reverse them! haha!
   
   This same process applies to all sprites-- that means Walkabouts,
   Heros, Enemys, Weapons, and Attacks. The only difference is the size
   of the pictures, and the number of pictures in a set.
   
   Many people would much rather create graphics in their favorite
   drawing program, and then import them. This can be done by saving
   images as 16-color BMP files (4-bit BMP). When you reduce your
   pictures to 16-color, you may be dissapointed with the loss of
   quality, but this loss can be minimised if you are carefull.
     * Carefully choose your colors. Avoid overuse of halftones, and
       half-greys. Your images will convert better if they have high
       color-saturation
     * Make sure your drawing program is optimizing the palette. Avoid
       using Windows Paintbrush. It has the worst palette managing I have
       ever seen in any program.
     * If you can, draw the picture in 16-colors to begin with, rather
       than drawing it with more colors and converting it.
     * Make sure that all your frames use the same palette. Some drawing
       programs allow you to save and load palettes, but for other
       drawing programs, you may, for example, have to draw all 8 frames
       of your hero in one large picture, and then cut each one out and
       save it separately.
       
   To import a BMP, press "I" while editing a sprite. You will be able to
   browse for BMP files.
   
                         [sprite-import-browse.gif]
                                      
   Pick the one you want, and then choose what you want to do with the
   palette. You can press left and right to pick which slot the palette
   will be written into. If you have already imported a picture with the
   same palette, or if you are going to build a palette by hand, you can
   pick "Import Without Palette"
   
                        [sprite-import-palette.gif]
                                      
   Now you have to choose the background color (transparent color). Move
   flashing cursor over any pixel of the color you want to make
   transparent, and press ENTER
   
                         [sprite-import-trans.gif]
                                      
   Boom! You have your picture, ready to use.
   
                          [sprite-import-done.gif]
                                      
   The size of sprites are as follows:
     * Heros..........32x40
     * Walkabout......20x20
     * Small Enemies..34x34
     * Large Enemies..50x50
     * Huge Enemies...80x80
     * Attacks........50x50
     * Weapons........20x20
       
   A very common mistake is to save your BMP files with a color depth
   other than 16 color (4-bit color). If you save your files in the wrong
   color depth, they will show up dark grey in the import screen, and you
   will not be able to import them.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Moving on to Map Construction
   
   Pick Edit Maps from the main menu. Map00 is ready to edit. As you go
   along, you can make more maps. There is a limit of 100 maps (00-99).
   
                             [menu-pickmap.gif]
                                      
   Pick map 00, and you will go to the map sub-menu. Choose "Map Name:"
   and type in a name for your map.
   
                               [menu-map.gif]
                                      
   Now lets pick "Resize map..." and choose a new size for the map. you
   will see a small preview of your map (now empty) where each pixel
   represents one tile. A screen is 16 tiles wide by 10 tiles, so size
   your map accordingly.
   
                              [map-resize.gif]
                                      
   The arrow keys resize the map, and CTRL+arrow keys offset it. Hold ALT
   to move fast. Press ESC to cancel, or ENTER to confirm and resize. I
   reccomend starting off with a medium sized map. Try 110 wide and 45
   high. You can change the size later.
   
                          [map-resize-bigger.gif]
                                      
   Your map can be no smaller than 16x10 and it's total area can be no
   greater than 32000 square tiles
   
   Next choose "Edit TileMap". The last five options are the five editing
   modes, Tilemap, Wallmap, Doors, NPCs, and Foemap. You can change
   between them while editing by pressing F1 thru F5, but for now, just
   worry about Tilemap. You should see the tiles you drew earlier along
   the top of the screen
   
                            [map-tile-blank.gif]
                                      
   While Editing the TileMap:
     * Arrow keys move the cursor
     * SPACE places a tile
     * Period and comma change wich tile you will place
     * ENTER lets you pick your tile full screen. ENTER again returns to
       the map.
     * Hold ALT and press arrow keys to scroll the whole screen around.
     * Press TAB to turn on and off a box that will show you what portion
       of the map you are looking at.
     * Press CAPSLOCK to set the selected tile to be the same as the tile
       under the cursor
     * Hold CTRL and press F to fill the screen with the current tile.
     * Press ~ to see a tiny version of your map
     * Press Function keys to change editing modes.
     * ESC returns to the menu
     * Press 1 or 2 to make a tile animate (animatiing tiles explained
       later)
     * Press CTRL+1 or CTRL+2 to make all instances of a particular tile
       animate
       
   Select your water tile, and use the arrow keys and the space bar to
   draw some water on to your map.
   
                            [map-tile-water.gif]
                                      
   You may want to go back to the maptile editor, and draw some more
   tiles for your map; shoreline, trees, rocks, etc. Then you can come
   back to the map editor, and pretty-up your map a bit.
   
                            [map-tile-shore.gif]
                                      
   After you have made your map, press F2 to switch to Passability mode.
   This is the same as pressing ESC and picking "Edit WallMap" from the
   menu
   
   Now you get to define where heros and NPCs can walk.
   
   The controls in Passability mode are as follows:
     * Arrow keys move the cursor
     * SPACE makes a tile impassable. SPACE again makes it passable
     * Hold ALT and press arrow keys to scroll the whole screen around.
     * Hold CTRL and press arrow keys to selectively change the
       passability of a tile. Try it, and you will see what I mean.
          + CTRL Up makes the tile impassable on the top.
          + CTRL Down makes the tile impassable on the bottom.
          + CTRL Left makes the tile impassable on the left side.
          + CTRL Right makes the tile impassable on the right side.
     * Press O to make a tile overhead. Overhead tiles will be draw over
       sprites instead of under them.
     * Press H to mark a tile as a harm-tile. Harm-tiles can be made to
       inflict damage on your hero when you step on them
     * Press TAB to turn on and off a box that will show you what portion
       of the map you are looking at.
     * Press Function keys to change editing modes.
     * ESC returns to the menu
       
   As you press SPACE or CTRL+Arrow-Keys, you will place walls on the
   map. they will show up as flashing grey lines Nobody, hero nor NPC can
   walk across the flashing grey lines (well, vehicles can sometimes, but
   we will get into that later).
   
                               [map-pass.gif]
                                      
   Now press F3 to go to door mode.
   
   By this time, you should have the hang of the controls, so I wont go
   into detail.
     * SPACE places a door, and if there is already a door under the
       cursor, SPACE will remove it.
     * Arrow keys and such work the same as in tilemap more and
       passability mode
       
   Just for the sake of practice, create two doors on your map. Door 0
   and door 1. The press ESC, and pick "Link Doors" from the map menu. A
   door is only a logical marker, you will still need to draw a tile that
   will provide the visual picture of the door.
   
                             [map-doormode.gif]
                                      
   Each of the statements links an entry to an exit. by default, all
   links are: Door 0 always leads to Door 0 on map 0. Pick the first
   statement, and press SPACE or ENTER
   
                          [map-doorlink-menu.gif]
                                      
   The first number identifies the entry door. The second number
   identifies the exit door, and the third number identifies what map the
   exit door is on. The fourth and fifth numbers are for conditional
   tags.
   
   Change the numbers to:
 Entrance Door 0
 Exit Door 1
 Exit Map 0
 Require Tag 0 [N/A]
 Require Tag 0 [N/A]

                          [map-doorlink-show.gif]
                                      
   now press ESC, and pick the next statement down the list.
   
   Change the numbers to:
 Entrance Door 1
 Exit Door 0
 Exit Map 0
 Require Tag 0 [N/A]
 Require Tag 0 [N/A]

   Now Door 0 and Door 1 on your map are linked!
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Making a Hero
   
   Before you can test out your map and your doors, you need to make a
   hero. Go back up to the main menu, and into the graphics menu.
   
   First, choose "Edit Walkabout Graphics". Draw a set of walkabout
   graphics for your hero. (or you can just use the walkabout graphics
   you drew already)
   
   If you want to do it now, you can pick "Edit Hero Graphics", and draw
   the graphics that your hero will use in battle, but you will be able
   to test your map without them.
   
   Pick "Edit Hero Stats" from the main menu.
   
   Highlight "Name:" and type in a name for your hero.
   
                            [herodata-name.gif]
                                      
   By highlighting <-Pick Hero #-> and pressing left and right you can
   choose other heros to edit. Just make hero 0. When you start playing a
   new game, you begin with hero 0.
   
   By picking "Apperance..." you can set the hero's picture and palette.
   If you drew battle pictures for your hero, you can choose them here
   too.
   
                         [herodata-appearance.gif]
                                      
   By default, the hero starts in the top left-hand corner of the map.
   You can change this in CUSTOM.EXE by picking "Edit General Data" from
   the main menu.
   
   If you want to pinpoint a specific spot, just edit the tilemap, and
   look at the numbers in the bottom left of the screen. they show the X
   and Y location of the cursor. Put the cursor where you want your hero
   to start, and remember the numbers. Then set them in "General Game
   Data"
   
                          [herodata-starting.gif]
                                      
   Okay, now you are ready to test. Quit to DOS, and run GAME.EXE
   
                            [game-chooserpg.gif]
                                      
   Pick your game from the menu. Press a key to skip the title screen,
   which is blank right now, and voila! You will be able to walk your
   hero around your map. Try out your walls, try out your doors.
   
                        [playing-my-first-game.gif]
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Battles
   
   Okay. Now lets talk about getting a battle going. There are alot of
   steps. Use the game "SAMPLE". It is a single simple map, and some
   pre-made graphics that you can use to learn to make battles.
   
   Start up CUSTOM.EXE and pick SAMPLE
   
   First, you should name all the stats. Pick "Edit Stat Names"
   
   You will see a list of stats. For each of them, press ENTER, and type
   in a name for the stat. The have default names, but the defaults arent
   very good. Go ahead and name them all.
   
                           [sample-statnames.gif]
                                      
   Okay. Now go back to the main menu, and pick "Edit Hero Stats"
   
   You should see HappyFace (what is this thing I have with happyfaces?).
   
                         [sample-herodata-menu.gif]
                                      
   Pick "Edit Stats". Now, you will see all of the stat names, along with
   numbers. The numbers on the left are the character's abilities at
   level 0, and by level 99, the character will have built up to the
   numbers on the right.
   
   Normally, you would want small numbers at level 0, and high numbers at
   level 99, of course, If you want your character to get weaker over
   time, then you can do that too. If you have played Final Fantasy II,
   you might have noticed that Tellah loses strength with each levelup.
   
                        [sample-herodata-stats.gif]
                                      
   Anyway. Pick some numbers. You will probably want to re-adjust these
   numbers if your character is too strong or too weak in battle.
   
   You can fix them later if you heros are doing 1 damage per hit... or
   thousands... or dying instantly... or never dying...
   
   This is the meaning of each stat:
     * HP Health Energy. Run out, and you die.
     * MP Magic Points. Consumed when you cast a spell
     * Atk Attack power. Normally determines the damage you do to your
       enemy
     * Aim effects whether or not you miss your target
     * Def Subtracted from the enemy's Atk stat
     * Dog Effects weather or not you dodge the enemy's attack.
     * Mag Magic power. Normally determines the damage your spells do
     * Wil Subtracted from the enemy's Mag stat
     * Spd How fast you get your turn. This should usually be within the
       range of 10-30
     * Ctr Not implemented yet. Will effect counterattacks whenever I
       finally get around to making it work :) Leave it blank for now.
     * MP~ A percentage by which your MP conumption is reduced. A high
       MP~ lets you cast alot more spells
     * HitsUse this sparingly. It causes attacks to be duplicated.
       Nothing is more annoying that a game where every single hero and
       every single enemy does 20 hits with each attack.
       
   Now go back to the main menu, and pick "Edit Attacks"
   
   See the twitching fuzzball in the lower right? That is going to be the
   attack.
   
                            [sample-atkdata.gif]
                                      
   First change the palette. I pre-defined a few palettes for you to use.
   Make it blue or red or something.
   
   For most of the attack-stats, you can just leave the defaults.
   
   Set "Attack Motion" to "Projectile"
   
   the "Delay" option tells how many game ticks the character will wait
   between the time you tell the character to attack, and when they
   actually do it. I have not calculated it, but I would guess that 10
   ticks is about one second.
   
   And now, this is important name the attack. If you dont name it, there
   will just be a blank in your hero's battle menu.
   
                             [sample-atk1.gif]
                                      
   Here is the explanation of each of the attack stats:
     * Picture number of the attack graphics used by this attack
     * Palette number the attack picture will use.
     * Animation
          + Cycle Forward-- 1,2,3
          + Cycle Back-- 3,2,1
          + Oscillate-- 1,2,3,2
          + Random-- random order
     * Target Class
          + Enemy-- used only agaisnt your foes. Most normal attacks use
            this
          + Ally-- used only on your friends. This is generally used for
            healing spells
          + Self-- used only on your self. These attacks only affect the
            one who uses them
          + All-- can be used on anyone. lets the attack hit anyone on
            the battlefield
          + Ally (including dead)-- Used on friends, even if they have
            zero health. This is most often used for life spells
          + Ally Not Self-- Any friend, but not yourself
     * Target Setting
          + Focused-- only one target. A cursor will appear in battle to
            let you choose who to attack
          + Spread-- everyone in the target class. Will affect all your
            foes, or all your allys
          + Optional Spread-- Choice of focus and spread
          + Random Focus-- one target, but you dont choose who. When
            enemies use this it is no different from ordinary focus
          + First target-- first enemy or ally in target class
     * Damage
          + Normal-- attacker's attack power minus half of defender's
            defence power
          + Blunt-- 80% of attacker's attack power minus 10% of
            defender's defence power
          + Sharp-- 130% of attacker's attack power minus all of
            defender's defence power
          + Pure-- attack poer plain and simple
          + No Damage-- absolutly nozzing!
          + Set to % of max HP-- uses "extra damage" to decide what
            percent to use. This setting bypasses many of the bitsets.
          + Set to % of current HP-- uses "extra damage" to decide what
            percent to use. This setting bypasses many of the bitsets.
     * Aim
          + Normal-- 4 times attacker's aim vs defender's dodge (expect
            88% accuracy if equal)
          + Poor-- 2 times attacker's aim vs defender's dodge (expect 75%
            accuracy if equal)
          + Bad-- aim vs dodge (expect 50% accuracy if equal)
          + Magic-- never misses
          + Magic-- attacker's magic power vs one and a half times
            defender's willpower (expect 25% accuracy if equal)
     * Base Stat
          + Atk-- most attacks are based on the attacker's attack
            strength, and blocked by the defender's defence.
          + Mag-- makes the damage based on magic, and the defence based
            on will. normally used for spells.
          + HP-- damage is based on attackers remaining health (healthy
            hero does more damage, weak hero does less)
          + Lost HP-- damage is based on maximum health minus current
            health (an attacker near death does more damage)
          + Random-- a completely random number. Not used much for
            anything.
          + 100-- base stat is 100, used for attacks that do a constant
            amount of damage regardless of the attacker's stats
            (especially used for curative items that can also be used
            outside of battle)
          + Any stat-- damage can be based on any stat (yes, that means
            that HP, atk and def are in the list twice-- thats for
            backwards compatability)
     * MP Cost used for spells. Makes the attack consume magic points.
     * HP Cost used for self-sacraficial attacks. consumes some of the
       attackers HP to use.
     * Money Cost used for pay-attacks. Consumes some of your party's
       money.
     * Extra Damage modifies the damage done by the attack. It is a
       percentage of the attacks power that is added to itself. extra
       damage of 100 makes the attack twice as strong. 200 makes it three
       times a s strong. -50 makes it half as strong. -90 makes it 1/10th
       as strong.
     * Chain to Causes another attack to follow immediately after this
       attack is finished. Cane be used to make comples multi-part
       attacks. Only takes effect if chain% is higher than 0
     * Chain % the percentage of the time that the Chain to attack will
       be used. Most commonly this is set to 100, so the chained attack
       will always be used. (note: chaining an attack to itself at 100%
       is a silly thing to do)
     * Attacker Motion The animation that the attacker will use when
       doing the attack.
     * Attack Motion The animation that the attack itself will use.
     * Delay the number of ticks that your hero will wait between the
       time you tell him to do the attack, and when he actually does it.
     * Number of Hits Lets the attack hit more than one time in
       succession. Use this in preference to the hero's "Hit X" stat,
       since it can be chosen on an attack-by-attack basis
     * Target Stat Lets you choose which of the target's stats will be
       damaged (or cured) Damage done to stats other than HP and MP will
       go away after the battle ends.
     * Bitsets Lots of options that change the way the attack behaves.
          + Cure Instead of Harm -- The attack will restore the target
            stat instead of damaging it *
          + Divide Spread Damage -- causes damage to be evenly divided
            between targets if more than one target is chosen *
          + Absorb Damage-- adds the damage taken from the target to the
            attacker *
          + Unreversable Picture -- the attack graphics will not be
            mirrored horizontaly when the attack is used by an enemy
          + Steal Item -- not currently implemented.
          + Elemental Damage -- there are eight elemental bitsets that
            correspond to the elements that an enemy can be strong or
            weak to. *
          + Bonus Vs Type -- there are eight bonus bits that make an
            attack stronger against enemys of certain types. *
          + Fail vs elemental resistance -- Normally when an enemy is
            resistant to an attack's element, the effectiveness of the
            attack will be reduced. With these bits you can make it fail
            completely.
          + Fail vs type -- This will cause the attack to fail against
            certain types of enemys
          + set/unset stuff -- not currently implemented.
          + Show attack name -- the name of the attack will appear when
            you use the attack.
          + Do not display damage -- the amount of dammage that the
            attack inflicted does not display *
          + Reset stat to max before hit -- the target stat will be
            completely restored to its maximum value before the attack
            does any damage. This is particularaly useful for attacks
            that target stats other than HP and MP.
          + Allow cure to exceed maximum -- turns off the checking that
            prevents a cure spell from raising a stat above its maximum *
          + Usable outside of Battle -- mostly used for curative spells
            and items
          + Damage MP -- causes the attack to damage magic points instead
            of health points (or cure magic if the "Always Cure" bitset
            is on). This bitset is obsolete. It still works, but its
            better to just change the "target stat" instead. *
          + Do not randomize -- disables randomization of damage. *
          + Damage can be zero -- By default the minimum damage that an
            attack can inflict is 1. this changes the minimum to 0 *
          + * -- bitsets marked with an asterisk do not apply to attacks
            with the damage type that sets the target stat to a
            percentage.
     * Name the name by which you will identify this attack. Used on your
       battle menu and spell menus.
       
   Now to make enemies. go back to the main menu, and pick "Edit Enemy
   Stats"
   
   Type in a name for the little booger. Dont bother with typing any
   death text, because it isnt used yet-- and probably wont ever be. Im
   gonna use that data for something else, but I keep forgetting to
   remove it from the menu
   
                      [sample-enemydata-foe1-name.gif]
                                      
   Now pick "General data..." I personally would give it the green
   palette, but that is just a matter of taste. Go ahead and set gold and
   experience, but dont bother with the Item stuff, since you have not
   created any items yet.
   
                     [sample-enemydata-foe1-appear.gif]
                                      
   Now go back and pick "Edit Stats" from the enemy menu. The enemy never
   grows in experience, so there is only one set of numbers. Set them to
   values that are a little lower than what you gave to your hero.
   
                     [sample-enemydata-foe1-stats.gif]
                                      
   Just dont make them too much higher than the numbers you gave to your
   hero, or you will get slaughtered.
   
   Now back to the enemy menu, and pick "Edit Attacks" Set one of the
   standard attacks to the be the little twitching fuzzball attack you
   made earlier. Then the enemy will attack the same way the hero does.
   
                    [sample-enemydata-foe1-attacks.gif]
                                      
   This is the way an enemy fights: Normally, it randomly picks one of
   the five "Standard" attacks. If the enemy is almost dead, it will
   instead pick one of the "Desperation" attacks. If it is the only enemy
   left alive, it will pick its attack from the "Alone" attacks. If there
   are no desperation or alone attacks, then the enemy will just resort
   back to it's standard attacks. "Counter" attacks dont work yet.
   
   All an enemy really needs is a single standard attack, and it will
   work.
   
   Now make another enemy. Go back to the enemy menu, and switch to the
   next enemy-- now you should see <-Pick Enemy 1-> instead of <-Pick
   Enemy 0->
   
   Type in a new name.
   
                      [sample-enemydata-foe2-name.gif]
                                      
   Pick "General data". Change the "Size" option. There are three sizes
   of enemy graphics; small, medium, and large. The size option picks
   which set of graphics the enemy will use. When you change size to 1,
   you will see a three headed thingy.
   
                     [sample-enemydata-foe2-appear.gif]
                                      
   Go back to the enemy menu, and Edit stats to make this enemy
   different. Maybe give it less power(third number), but more extra
   attacks(last number)
   
                     [sample-enemydata-foe2-stats.gif]
                                      
   Since you only have one attack right now anyway, there is no point in
   changing the second enemy's attacks. Just make sure that it has one
   standard attack set to the twitching fuzzball attack.
   
                    [sample-enemydata-foe1-attacks.gif]
                                      
   Good! Now you are ready to make some enemy formations. Back to the
   main menu, and pick "Edit Enemy Formations"
   
                        [sample-formation-menu.gif]
                                      
   Oh! I forgot! You have no background. A background is just for looks,
   it doesnt affect gameplay, but naturally you will want one. Back to
   the Main Menu, then into the Graphics menu, and pick "Import screens"
   
   Pick "Replace Current Screen" -- you will be replacing the null-black
   background. If you think you might want to use the blank background
   for something, then choose "Append a new screen" instead
   
                        [sample-backdrop-blank.gif]
                                      
   I packaged one sample BMP file for you to test. You will see it's name
   "SANDSEA.BMP" You can make your own background in any drawing program.
   I use PaintShop Pro or Corel PhotoPaint. Just make sure that the
   picture is exactly 320 pixels wide, and 200 pixels tall, and is saved
   as a 24-bit BMP file.
   
                        [sample-backdrop-browse.gif]
                                      
   Pick SANDSEA.BMP, and it will be imported. This may take a few minutes
   if you are using a 486, but only a second or two on a fast computer
   
                         [sample-backdrop-bad.gif]
                                      
   Looks kindof bad, doesnt it? The ground was supposed to be yellow, but
   It was just a little too close to brown, and translated wrong. This is
   easy to fix. Pick the "Disable Palette Colors" option. You will see a
   big palette showing you all of the available colors.
   
   By highlighting a color and pressing SPACE BAR, you can disable and
   enable colors. Eliminate the entire Brown row. when you do this, you
   should see most of the picture blacked out.
   
                       [sample-backdrop-disable.gif]
                                      
   Now, pick "Replace Current Screen", and the picture will be
   re-imported. It will now ignore the ugly browns, and use the next best
   color, Yellow.
   
                         [sample-backdrop-good.gif]
                                      
   (Note: The very same process of importing is used to import your Title
   screen. After you have imported a title screen, you can pick it in
   "Edit General Game Data" on the main menu)
   
   NOW you are ready to make formations!
   
   Back to the main menu.
   
   Pick "Edit Battle Formations"
   
                        [sample-formation-menu.gif]
                                      
   Pick "Edit Individual Formations"
   
   Now you can see the background you just imported. The Blue Rectangles
   represent the locations of your party.
   
                        [sample-formation-blank.gif]
                                      
   You can set the "Battle Music" number, but it wont do any good until
   you have imported some BAM files.
   
   Go to an "-EMPTY-" slot, and press right. Your first enemy should
   appear. Press ENTER, and you can move him around. (hold ALT to move
   him fast)
   
                        [sample-formation-form0.gif]
                                      
   Press escape, and set another enemy. You can have up to 8, but I
   wouldnt reccomend setting too many right now, otherwize your hero may
   get slaughtered. One or two is fine.
   
   Now change the formation number -- <-formation 1-> instead of
   <-formation 0-< And set your second enemy instead. Then edit formation
   2, and set a combination of both enemies. Now you have three enemy
   formations, (0 to 2)
   
                        [sample-formation-form1.gif]
                                      
   Press ESC, and go back to the formation menu. Pick "Construct
   Formation Sets"
   
   You are editing formation-set 1. remember that. "1" Set the battle
   frequency. There is a number, internal to the game, that averages
   about 100. Every time you step on a spot where an enemy could be, it
   subtracts the battle frequency from that number, and when that number
   reaches 0, a battle happens.
   
                      [sample-formation-frequency.gif]
                                      
     * So, A battle frequency of 0 means no battles at all.
     * A frequency of 1 means about 100 steps between each battle.
     * A frequency of 10 means about 10 steps between each battle.
     * A frequency of 20 means about 5 steps between each battle.
     * A frequency of 99 means a battle almost every step.
       
   I reccomend 9, but pick whatever you want.
   
   Now, change three of the "Empty" slots to read "Formation 0"
   "Formation 1" and "Formation 2". Now, when a battle occurs, it will
   randomly pick from the three enemy formations that you set up earlyer.
   
                       [sample-formation-formset.gif]
                                      
   Okay. Final Step. Now you have to make the Foe-mapping
   
   Go back to the main menu, and pick "Edit Map Data"
   
   Pick "Map 00"
   
   and pick "Edit Foemap"
   
                          [sample-foemap-menu.gif]
                                      
   You will see a simple map that I have already created.
   
                         [sample-foemap-blank.gif]
                                      
   See the word "Set: 0" in the top left of the screen? Press "." to
   change it to "Set: 1"
   
   Now you can choose which maptiles you must walk over to fight the
   enemies you made from the enemy formations you made in formation set
   one (that you just made)
   
   Move the cursor over the sand, and press SPACE. a "1" appears. Now,
   whenever you step on that tile, there is a chance of having a battle.
   
                          [sample-foemap-set.gif]
                                      
   Do the same for each tile of the sand.
   
   If you made a mistake, you can correct it. Press "," and the "Set 1"
   in the upper left will become "Set 0" again. Now you can press SPACE
   to make a tile safe to walk across again.
   
   Now exit to DOS, and run GAME.EXE
   
                             [sample-play.gif]
                                      
   Pick "SAMPLE", and try out what you have done. You should be able to
   walk around safely in the grass, but fight enemies when you walk on
   the sand.
   
                           [sample-play-map.gif]
                                      
                          [sample-play-battle.gif]
                                      
   Now is the time to readjust the stats that you gave to your heros and
   enemys. If you used the example numbers I gave, the enemys will be too
   easy because they only do one point of damage per hit. Try giving them
   more Atk power.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   How to use NPCs and Tags
   
   In case you dont know, NPC stands for Non-Playing-Character. In other
   words, generic townspeople. in the O.H.R.RPG.C.E, NPCs are also used
   as treasure chests, pushable scenery, etc.
   
   Okay. Start CUSTOM.EXE, and load up NPC_TAG. It is another pre-made
   tutorial.
   
                            [npctag-browse.gif]
                                      
   Pick "Edit Map Data" and choose "Map 00"
   
   Pick "Edit NPCs"
   
                           [npctag-npc-menu.gif]
                                      
   You will see a list of happyfaces. The first one is green. He is
   pre-made. Pick the second happyface on the list. (the first yellow
   one)
   
                         [npctag-npcedit-menu.gif]
                                      
   Change his "Palette" to 2 (light blue) so that you will be able to
   tell him apart from the other happyfaces.
   
                        [npctag-edit-blue-start.gif]
                                      
   Change his move type. It determines how he will move around on the
   map.
   
   The meanings of each move type are as follows.
     * Stand Still Stand there like an idiot
     * Wander Wander aimlessly and randomly
     * Pace Walk strait until it runs into something, and then it turns
       around and walks back the other way
     * Right Turns Walk strait until it runs into something, and then
       turn right
     * Left Turns Walk strait until it runs into something, and then turn
       left
     * Random Turns Walk strait until it runs into something, and then
       pick a new direction at random.
     * Chase you Always walk towards the player
     * Avoid you Always walk away from the player
       
   After choosing a move type, give the NPC a "Move Speed" The move speed
   determines how many pixels the NPC moves each step. The player moves 4
   pixels each step.
   
   Now set "Display Text" to "2" At the bottom of the screen you should
   see the words "Talking to me will make the green guy"
   
                           [npctag-edit-blue.gif]
                                      
   This is the first line of a text box that I pre-made using "Edit Text
   Boxes" on the main menu.
   
   Now, when you use this NPC, text box 2 will be activated.
   
   "Pushability" may be set if you want the player to be able to push the
   NPC around the map.
   
   "Autoactivation" can be turned "On" if you want the NPC to be used
   automaticly when you stand next to it, rather than waiting for the
   player to press SPACE or ENTER
   
   Now Press ESC to go back to the list of happyfaces.
   
   Pick the next NPC on the list.
   
   Set its "palette" to "3" (red) and set its "Display text" to 3 ("With
   proper use of...")
   
                           [npctag-edit-red.gif]
                                      
   Set any other stats as you wish, and press ESC.
   
   Now pick the next NPC on the list of happyfaces.
   
   make his "palette" 4 (purple) and his "display text" 6 (I am an
   Inn...)
   
                          [npctag-edit-purple.gif]
                                      
   Now go back to the list of happyfaces.
   
                           [npctag-edit-all.gif]
                                      
   You should see the Green pre-made NPC, and the three NPCs that you
   just made. blue, red, and purple.
   
   Now you are going to place these NPCs on the map.
   
   pick "Place NPCs"
   
                          [npctag-place-menu.gif]
                                      
   Now you should se a pre-made map. Your cursor is the spinning
   Green-happy. A green happy has already been placed on the map.
   
                          [npctag-place-blank.gif]
                                      
   By pressing "." and "," you can change which NPC the cursor is. Press
   "." once, and it will become your blue-happy.
   
   The controls in NPC mode are as follows:
     * Arrow keys move the cursor
     * SPACE places a copy of the current NPC. SPACE again will remove it
     * Hold ALT and press arrow keys to scroll the whole screen around.
     * Hold CTRL and press arrow keys to place an NPC facing in a
       particular direction.
          + CTRL Up places a copy of the current NPC facing north
          + CTRL Down places a copy of the current NPC facing south
          + CTRL Left places a copy of the current NPC facing west
          + CTRL Right places a copy of the current NPC facing east
          + (If you want to place two different NPCs in exactly the same
            place, you cannot do so with SPACE. You must use
            CTRL+arrowkey)
     * Press TAB to turn on and off a box that will show you what portion
       of the map you are looking at.
     * Press Function keys to change editing modes.
     * ESC returns to the menu
       
   Place a copy of your blue-happy somewhere on the green part of the
   map.
   
                          [npctag-place-blue.gif]
                                      
   press "." again to select your red-happy. Place it, and repeat the
   process again for the purple-happy.
   
                           [npctag-place-all.gif]
                                      
   Now exit to DOS, and run GAME.EXE
   
   load NPC_TAG
   
                             [npctag-play.gif]
                                      
   As you walk around and talk to the happyfaces, you will notice that
   they make a variety of claims which simply are not true.
     * The blue-happy claims to make the green-happy dissapear,
     * the purple-happy claims to be an Inn,
     * and the red-happy keeps repeating that he can say other things
       
                           [npctag-play-talk.gif]
                                      
   Next, I will show you how to make the happyfaces actually do these
   things.
   
   Exit back to DOS, and run CUSTOM.EXE
   
   First, to make the blue-happy remove the green-happy. this is done
   with tags. Pick "Edit Maps", open Map 00, and pick "Edit NPCs".
   
   pick the green-happy.
   
   see the two lines that say "Appear if Tag 0 [N/A]" ? See at the bottom
   of the screen where it says "Appears all the time" that is what
   "Appear if Tag 0 [N/A]" means
   
                           [npctag-fix-green.gif]
                                      
   Change one of the two lines to "Appear if tag 2 = OFF"
   
                          [npctag-fixed-green.gif]
                                      
   The game keeps track of 1000 little tags, each of them can be OFF or
   ON. All tags start out OFF. That means that tag 2 should start out
   OFF, and As long as tag 2 stays OFF then the green-happy will exist,
   but the moment tag 2 becomes ON then the green-happy will dissapear.
   
   Now go back to the main menu.
   
   pick "Edit Text Boxes"
   
                         [npctag-textbox-menu.gif]
                                      
   Now press right until you get to "text box 2" You will see the text
   where the blue-happy is claiming to make the green-happy dissapear.
   
                           [npctag-textbox-2.gif]
                                      
   Pick "Edit conditionals"
   
   look where it says:
 Never do the following
  set tag 0 = ON [unchangeable]
  set tag 0 = ON [unchangeable]

                          [npctag-cond-blank.gif]
                                      
   Tag 0 is always OFF, and it is a special tag that can never be set ON.
   This means that the two "set tag" statement will never happen.
   
   pressing left and right will change the conditionals.
   
   Change them to read:
 always do the following
  set tag 2 = ON (green-smiley)
  set tag 0 = ON [unchangeable]

                           [npctag-cond-box2.gif]
                                      
   Now, when you talk to the blue-happy, the game will check to see if it
   needs to do any of its conditional commands, and it will see the
   "always do the following" and it will know that it needs to set some
   tags. Tag 2 will be turned ON
   
   Now, since tag 2 = ON, the green-happy can no longer exist. Poof! he
   is gone.
   
   how come there are two "Set tag" commands? Thats just in case you want
   to set two tags at the same time with a single text box.
   
   Now to make the Red-Happy say different things.
   
   In "Edit Text Boxes" press right until you reach "text box 3"
   
                           [npctag-textbox-3.gif]
                                      
   pick "edit conditionals"
   
   look where it says:
 never do the following
  use [text box or script] instead

                          [npctag-cond-blank.gif]
                                      
   Quite obviously, this does nothing.
   
   Change it to read:
 If tag 3 = ON (red sez other stuff)
  jump to text box 4 instead

                           [npctag-cond-box3.gif]
                                      
   Now, remember that tags start OFF, so the jump still isnt taking
   place.
   
   Just like with the blue-happy, change the second "If-Then" to:
 always do the following
  set tag 3 = ON (red sez other stuff)
  set tag 0 = ON [unchangeable]

                        [npctag-cond-box3-done.gif]
                                      
   Now, the first time you talk to the red-happy, the jump will be
   ignored, and tag 3 will be set to ON
   
   The second time you speak to the red-happy, the first "If" will be
   true because tag 3 is now ON. Text box 4 will be displayed instead of
   text box 3
   
   Now pres ESC, and move right to text box 4.
   
                           [npctag-textbox-4.gif]
                                      
   Change the first two conditionals to:
 If tag 4 = ON (red sez yet more)
  jump to text box 5 instead
 always do the following
  set tag 4 = ON (red sez yet more)
  set tag 0 = ON [unchangeable]

                           [npctag-cond-box4.gif]
                                      
   Voila! Now the red-happy can say three different things in a row!
   
   So where are those names coming from? like "red sez more stuff" On the
   main menu you can pick "edit tag names" and give names to the tags so
   it is easy for you to remember what they mean in the game
   
   Now to make the Purple-happy an Inn.
   
   In "Edit Text Boxes" move right to "text box 6"
   
                           [npctag-textbox-6.gif]
                                      
   Pick "Edit Conditionals"
   
   The sixth conditional says:
 never do the following
  restore the party's HP and MP

   Change it to:
 always do the following
  goto an in that costs 5$

                           [npctag-cond-box6.gif]
                                      
   Now, when you speak to the purple-happy, he will be an inn that costs
   five bucks!
   
   Now exit out to DOS, and test it all!
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Adding, Removing, Swapping-In, Swapping-Out, Locking and Unlocking
   Heros
   
   Many people ask how to add heros to your party, well, let me tell ya.
   
   If you went thru the previous section of this HOWTO, you should know
   how to use text box conditionals. You use them the same way to
   manipulate your party.
   
   Pick "Edit Text Boxes"
   
   Locate the text box you want to use to add/remove/whatever heros
   
   Pick "Edit Conditionals"
   
   Down near the bottom of the list, you will see:
 never do the following
  do not add/remove heros
  do not swap in/out heros
  do not unlock/lock heros

                          [npctag-cond-blank.gif]
                                      
   I apologise for the double negatives :)
   So far, this text box will not change your party in any way.
   
   So, change the first line to "always do the following"
   
   Now, you can modify each of the three lines to make changes to your
   party. here is what each change means.
   
     * Add Hero The specified hero is added to your party at the first
       available space. If no spaces are available, the hero is placed in
       your reserves.
     * Remove Hero The specified hero, and all of his/her equipment is
       deleted, never to be seen again. If you add the hero back again,
       he/she will start over with beginning stats.
     * Swap In If you have an empty space, the specified hero will be
       moved from your reserves into your active party.
     * Swap Out If the specified hero is in your active party, he/she
       will be moved into your reserves.
     * Lock Hero If the specified hero is in your active party, he/she
       will be locked there, and cannot be swapped on the "Team" menu If
       the specified hero is in your reserves, then he/she will be hidden
       and unavailable on the "Team" menu.
     * Unlock Hero Releases a specified hero that has already been
       locked, so that he/she can be moved on the "Team" menu again.
       
                           [heroswap-example.gif]
                                      
   Sooo... How do you make a character leave your party, but still have
   the same experience and equipment when he/she returns? Simple. Dont
   remove the hero at all. Just "Swap-out" the hero, and then "Lock" the
   hero. When you want the hero back, you can just "Swap-in" and "Unlock"
   him/her
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Animating Maptiles
   
   In previous versions, the last two tiles in a tileset have magically
   toggled, creating simple animation. This is no longer true. The new
   system for animating maptiles is much more complicated, but the
   results are far spiffyer.
   
   It is now possible to animate many different tiles, in two possible
   patterns for each tileset.
   
   Pick "Edit Maptiles" from the graphics menu, and choose a tileset.
   
                           [animtile-tileset.gif]
                                      
   Pick "Define Tile Animation"
   
                          [animtile-animedit.gif]
                                      
   You have your choice of animation set 0 and animation set 1. Each can
   be applied to a different range of tiles, and each can have it's own
   pattern. For example, I like to use the first animation set for a
   rapid toggle between two tiles to get that "flicker" or "twitch"
   effect. I usually use the second animation set to cycle through three
   or more tiles to get a "pulsing" or "waving" look.
   
                            [animtile-menu.gif]
                                      
   Start by picking "Set Animation Range"
   
   You will now see your whole tile set, with all except the bottom three
   rows greyed out. The greyed tiles are unavailable for animation. The
   clear tiles can be animated. Using the arrow keys, you can change the
   range of animatable tiles. Try it.
   
                            [animtile-range.gif]
                                      
   Next pick "Set Animation Pattern"
   
   The Animation pattern is a sort of a simple script that shows how your
   animating tiles should move.
   
   Right now, what you should see in the animation pattern is:
     right 1
     wait 3
     left 1
     wait 3
     end of animation

                           [animtile-script.gif]
                                      
   With this pattern, your tile becomes the tile to its right, waits
   three more ticks, becomes the original tile again, waits three ticks,
   and repeats. This way, your tile changes between two pictures every
   three ticks in an A, B, A, B, A, B... pattern
   
   By pressing enter on any of the steps, you can change its "Action" and
   "Value". The meaning of each possible action is as follows:
     * Action=end of animation -The animation will start over from the
       beginning
     * Action=Up -The tile will look like the tile above it. The value=#
       determines how far. normally you will only use 1
     * Action=Down -The tile will look like the tile "value" spaces below
       it
     * Action=Right -The tile will look like the tile "value" spaces to
       its right
     * Action=Left -The tile will look like the tile "value" spaces to
       its left
     * Action=Wait -The tile will hold its current picture for "value"
       ticks. (I would estimate that there are about 12 ticks in a
       second)
     * Action=If tag do rest -the tag specified by "value" is checked,
       and if it is not true, the animation jumps back to the beginning
       
   You might want to try something fancyer:
     wait 2
     right 1
     wait 2
     right 1
     wait 2
     left 1
     wait 2
     left 1
     end of animation

   causing the animating tile to go in an A, B, C, B, A, B, C, B, A...
   pattern
   
   There is a limit to how complex your animation can be. Only eight
   steps (not counting the "end of animation")
   
   Back up to the previous menu, and pick "Test Animation"
   
   Here you will see three rows of maptiles. these are the same tiles
   that you selected under "Set Animation Range"
   
                            [animtile-test.gif]
                                      
   Move the cursor around to see a preview of how each tile would look
   when animating.
   
   The last step is to make tiles on your map animate.
   
   Go back to the main menu, and pick "Edit Map Data". Choose your map,
   and go into "Edit TileMap" mode. Place your cursor over a tile that
   you want to animate and press "1"
   
   The tile should start using the animation pattern you just defined. If
   you want to make a tile stop annimating, press 1 again. Press 2 if you
   want a tile to start or stop using the second animation set.
   
   If your tile isnt doing anything, there are several things that could
   be wrong:
   
     * Your animation pattern is blank
     * You didnt put any "Wait" actions in your pattern. Without waits,
       the animation happens so fast that it doesnt get displayed on the
       screen.
     * The tile that you are trying to animate isnt in the "Animation
       Range" Only the tiles in the range that you chose can animate. Go
       back, and move your range.
       
   So what if you have a whole bunch of tile to animate? Do you have to
   press "1" on each and every one of them? Nope. Just put your cursor
   over one of them, hold CTRL and press "1". Every single tile on the
   map that looks exactly the same as the one under your cursor will
   start to animate. This is very usefull if you are like me, and enjoy
   making entire oceans animate.
   
   What if this all sounds too complicated? What if you just want to make
   all of your tiles work like they used to? no problem. When you load an
   old RPG file, it will be automatically updated so that any animating
   tiles you had before will still work.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Vehicle Use
   
   Vehicles, long awaited and finally here. For a newbie, they might seem
   rather complex. For a veteran, it might still look complex. But,
   vehicles are rather easy and fun to make and use. For this section,
   please use SAMPLE.RPG, as I will too. The first step to making a
   vehicle is to decide what type of vehicle you want to make. Is it a
   car, a boat, a plane? Plan ahead.
   
   After you have planned on what you want your vehicle to be, you must
   draw it. You draw your vehicles inside the walkabout graphics mode.
   This is also where you draw your character and NPC walkabouts.
   
   After you have drawn your vehicle walkabouts, you now have to make the
   vehicle's stats. To do this, go into the Edit Vehicles menu.
   
   You should now be presented with a screen like this:
   
   Under Previous Menu are the vehicle's stats. These give your vehicle
   it's own personality. Here is what each one means:
   
     * Name: This is the vehicle's name.
     * Speed: This is the speed of the vehicle.
     * Override walls: Default is to not override walls. The choices are
       A, B, A and B, A or B, not A, not B, neither A nor B, everywhere.
       This command allows you to decide what walls the vehicle is
       allowed to cross.
     * Blocked by: Default is no blocking. The choices are A, B, A and B,
       A or B, not A, not B, neither A nor B, everywhere. This command
       allows you to tell the vehicle which types of walls block it from
       moving.
     * Mount from: Default is everywhere. The choices are A, B, A and B,
       A or B, not A, not B, neither A nor B, everywhere. This command
       allows you to set what tiles you will be able to mount your
       vehicle from.
     * Dismount to: Default is everywhere. The choices are A, B, A and B,
       A or B, not A, not B, neither A nor B, everywhere. This command
       allows you to set what tiles you will be able to dismount from
       your vehicle.
     * Random battles: The choices for this command are enabled,
       disabled, formation N. Formation N is the formation you only want
       to fight while riding this vehicle.
     * Use button: Choices are dismount, menu, or script N. Script N is
       the script to run on this button press.
     * Menu button: Choices are dismount, menu, or script N. Script N is
       the script to run on this button press.
     * If riding tag: Specific tag to set while riding. The tag is ON
       when you are riding.
     * On mount: Choices are textbox T and script N. Textbox N is the
       textbox number to display, and script N is the script to run.
     * On dismount: Choices are textbox T and script N. Textbox N is the
       textbox number to display, and script N is the script to run. *
       See notes
     * Elevation: The number of pixels from the bottom of the tile.
     * Bitsets
          + Pass Through Walls: Vehicle passes through all walls.
          + Pass Through NPCs: Vehicle passes through all NPCs .
          + Enable NPC Activation: Vehicle can use NPCs.
          + Enable Door Use: Vehicle can use doors.
          + Do Not Hide Leader: Do not hide the leader when mounted
          + Do Not Hide Party: Do not hide the party when mounted
          + Dismount One Space Ahead: When dismounting, character walks
            one space forward
          + Pass Walls While Dismounting: Pass walls when dismounting.
            Use with Dismount One Space Ahead.
       
   Now that you have made your vehicle, it's time to place it on a map to
   use. To do this, go into Edit Maps and go into the Edit NPCs mode.
   Yes, vehicles are NPCs on your map. Choose an NPC that is going to be
   your vehicle. Next, you must give the NPC-Vehicle a picture. Choose
   your vehicle's walkabout graphics and change your pallette to your
   vehicle's pallette, if necessary. So far, your screen will probably
   look like this:
   
   Now, we have to tell the OHR that this NPC is a vehicle. Down at the
   very bottom, set the VEHICLE command to your vehicle's name. In this
   example, we'll use Default Boat. This tells OHR that this NPC is the
   vehicle you selected. Now, we have to place your vehicle on your map
   and specify it's wallmap.
   
   Go into the map editor and choose your map you want to place your
   vehicle on. Make sure WALLMAP mode is on by pressing F2. We are going
   to make a boat. To do this, you first need to make an outline of your
   entire map, like this:
   
   Next, you need to specify the vehicle's wallmap. You might be a little
   lost right now, but it will all become clear. Vehicle's have two walls
   of their own. Wall A, and Wall B. Press A for wall A, and B for wall
   B. You do various things with these walls, but we'll get into that
   later. The Default Boat uses the B wall. Place wall B on the map along
   your shoreline. It should look like this:
   
   Now, all we need to do for the finishing touches is to add the boat.
   Press F4 to go into NPC mode (remember, vehicles are NPCs.) Switch to
   the NPC that is the vehicle and place it on the map. You have created
   a vehicle. Go into GAME.EXE and try it out.
   
   Let me explain what we just did. In the vehicle Default Boat's bitset,
   see how the two bitsets are on, Dismount One Step Ahead and Pass Wall
   While Dismounting. If you tried the RPG with the vehicle, you found
   out that if you pressed space, you would get on the boat. You may have
   also found out that if you pressed space while facing the shore, you
   got off and walked forward one space.
   
   NOTE: The Pass Walls While Dismounting bitset is important to boats.
   If the Pass Walls While Dismounting bitset was off, you wouldn't be
   able to get back on land. You would try to move forward one space,
   because the Dismount One Step Ahead bitset was on, but you can't.
   That's how important the Pass Wall While Dismounting bitset is to
   boats. If you made an airship, that wouldn't matter.
   NOTE: If your vehicle can use doors and you have a Dismount Script,
   the Dismount script runs AFTER you use the door.
   NOTE: When you use the plotscript command DISMOUNT VEHICLE, the pass
   walls while dismounting and the dismount one space ahead bitsets don't
   work.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Ah! that is the end of the HOWTO. Do you feel enlightened?
   
   Anyone who is interested in helping me by writing new chapters for the
   HOWTO should mail ohrrpgce@HamsterRepublic.com
   
                                                   James `SPAM Man' Paige
