Hakuen Studio Bitmap Font for RPG Maker MV MZ
A downloadable RPG Maker Plugin
Introduction
Those who want to use pixel fonts, or even more detailed fonts can get a lot of trouble when aiming for the perfection of the font visuals.
Rpg Maker can blur and add an outline to your fonts. This plugin solves this problem, letting you use a bitmap font(a .png file) like a sprite sheet, which lets your fonts be rendered more faithful.
Features
- Add bitmap font to your game.
- Choose the size of the space between characters.
- Choose the size of the space bar.
- Choose the characters(letters) your bitmap will use.
- Choose if you want to smooth or not the font.
- Can add as many fonts as you want. (PRO)
- Can add an outline to the font. (PRO)
- Set specific fonts for scenes or windows. (PRO)
- Change text/outline color. (PRO)
- Increase/decrease the font size (\{ \}) (PRO)
- Use Underline and Strike-through with Eli Message Actions. (PRO)
How To Use
Terms of use
Sample Project
Purchase
In order to download this RPG Maker Plugin you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $8 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- (MV ONLY) - Version 3.2.4 - Bug fix!Nov 17, 2023
- Version 3.2.3 - Bug fix!Jul 23, 2023
- Version 3.2.2 - Bug fixes!Jul 09, 2023
- Version 5.2.1 - Bug Fix!Dec 09, 2022
- Version 5.2.0 - New feature!Nov 07, 2022
- Version 5.1.1 - Bug FixAug 31, 2022
- No version change - Minor changesJun 24, 2022
- Minor changes.May 27, 2022
Comments
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This is an amazing plugin, I use the pro version for my game ad it looks perfect.
I have a question: Is there a way to disable the plugin for a specific language? I'm planning to add Chinese and other languages and I cannot make all the characters...
I use a plugin for the translation that allows me to change the parameters of the plugins for each language so a simple switch will do.
Thanks!
Hi there!
No, there is no way to disable the plugin once it is installed.
I'll look into other options, thanks though!
Hello, I have a bug when trying to use the plugin (pro version). As you can see on the image, the text is all messed up. It is strange because your plugin used to work on a previous project. I'm on the 5.4.16 version of EliMZ_Book and 3.2.3 for the BitmapFontPro plug in. Thanks for your help!!
Hi there!
This is a plugin parameter configuration problem. Probably the amount of characters you put on your bitmap file does not match the amount set on the plugin parameters.
Take a look at this post, it had the same problem https://itch.io/post/5465325
If you are using Visustella, make sure to take a look at the compatibility section on the help file.
Hi, the plugin has been great! It's a game changer for my game's visuals for sure.
I don't understand how to use the outline feature though. I made an outline version, making sure to stay within the 10 pixel width, but it looks like this:
Also, is there a way to have the spacing be negative? If I want the letters to be closer to each other than 0 pixels.
Thanks!
Hi there!
Take a look at my sample project. There are an outline font there that you can see how the bitmap file was made and how did I setup this bitmap parameters.
You could try putting negative numbers, but I don't know if it will accept negative inside the code. If not, I will implement it :)
Your sample project doesn't include the pro version so there are no parameters set up for an outline font. But just looking at the font image files, it doesn't make sense to me. I'm looking at "cyborgSister_28" and its outline version, and I can't seem to figure out the rule for how they are lined up. I thought it made sense that the outline version would line up perfectly with the font, but your file looks completely different.
Also I manually added a negative number in the code as the parameter box doesn't accept them, and it does decrease the spacing. However, it cuts into the letters and creates a gap of the same width as the spacing, very similar to my screenshot above. I think the two issues may be related.
Is it possible that the way the fonts are rendered doesn't allow for the individual letters to overlap? Because in your examples, I can see that you've set up the fonts in such a way that they don't. While this is fine for regular fonts without outlines, the gap between letters becomes too big when there is an outline, especially when it's a tiny pixel font like I'm using (it becomes a 4 pixel gap betweeen each letter)
I'm bad at explaining so I'll show you an example of what I'm trying to achieve:
I'll also attach my font files in case you want to take a look at those:
The sample project does not include the Pro version of the plugin file, because it is paid. But the plugin parameters of the pro version is on the sample project. Is just a matter of you copy and paste the plugin file inside the plugin folder of the sample project, then activate it on the plugin manager. After the plugin file is inside the sample project, you will be able to double click the parameters and see what is inside. But if you try to open the parameters before the plugin file is on the plugin folder, it will reset the parameters.
The outline font works like two exactly bitmap.png files on top of each other. Therefore, they must have the same file size(width and height), and also the same "letter" size inside the image editor. Taking the example of the CyborgSister_28_outline file, using GIMP as the image editor.
Below is the layer of the font without outline:
Now, this is the layer of the font with outline:
Now, you will export each layer, individually. In a way that you will have two files.png so you can assign into the plugin parameters:
When the text is been drawing on the RPG Maker, the plugin code will first draw the font file without the outline, then after that, it will draw the outline font file above it, making the letters look like this:
This need to be done this way, because the letters as drawn as an image, not as text(which is the default). And so, the plugin must treat the outline and non-outline files individually, in case you want to change the outline color or the font color individually.
So, on your image editor, you need to take into consideration when creating the font file, that both font versions must have the same size. The outline type will not be drawn on rpg maker, as an outline over your font. But instead, as a file on top of another.
Now that I'm talking to you, I can see why you are confused. Other than taking a look at the sample project, the help file is missing those kinds of information. I will update it with all this info. Let me know if this explanation helped you :)
------------------
About the negative space, I will have to play with it myself to see if there is a solution for that.
Thank you so much for taking your time to work with me on this issue! I finally understand how the outline fonts work now, I've adjusted my font and it works properly as long as the spacing isn't negative. I tried setting the spacing to -2, and it almost works! The only issue is that the outline cuts off at the end, like this:
At least it doesn't cut off on both sides like it did before, but this plugin would be perfect if this can be fixed :)
But that issue of the font being clipped, only happens with the negative spacing, right?
Hi,
I have an issue with the pro version. The demo version works just fine and loads the font properly, but when I add the pro version, it doesn't load the font. I checked the console and found that there were param errors so I refreshed the plugin parameters (without changing anything), but now I get the following error when launching the game:
TypeError
Cannot read property 'getHexOrName' of undefined
Specifically, after reinstalling the plugin several times and repeating the process, I found that this error only occurs when changing the "All Characters" params.
This occurs even without any other plugins enabled.
Hi there!
Make sure you are using my core plugin Eli Book somewhere above all other Eli plugins.
And make sure you have the same amount of characters in your bitmap file and on the All Character parameters.
If it still does not work, when the error happens again press F8 or F12. A browser window will open. Go to the CONSOLE tab, and send me a screenshot of the error so I can take a look.
Ah I'm stupid. I had no idea there was a core plugin. Thanks, it's all working great now!
Nice! Have fun! :)
Hello,
I was wondering if there is a way to fix this name from being blacked out and using the default font in the battle status menu. This only occurs when having VisuStella's Core engine installed.
For reference I'am using the Pro version.
Thank you,
Hi there!
This should work when you go into the font parameters and set "Use Battler Name" to true. Then, the plugin will use this font to draw battler names.
Now, if you already did this, and using Visu plugin make it not work, then it is a plugin conflict. And since because of the Obfuscation that visustella uses and their terms of use, I will not try to solve this conflict.
You can try change the plugin order or see if there is any parameter on the Core Engine that related to the UI/Name of the battler that you can deactivate and see if they will work together after that.
Hello,
Unfortunately I already had the parameter set to true and have changed plugin priority multiple times.
I was considering dumping Visustella plugins (due to the obfuscation) all together and switching over to Yanfly by using a MV to MZ conversion plugin I found online.
If you have any advice or recommendations it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
It's hard to say because a single Visustella plugin can do a lot of things. I mean a lot. So it's hard to recommend an alternative unless you could tell me exactly what are the things that you are using with their plugin. You could search alternatives based on that. I know there is this forum post that list only free alternative plugins for Visustella:
https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/list-of-free-alternatives-to-vi...
This helps out quite a bit, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Thank you.
Good luck :)
Small feature request: Would it be possible to have a parameter setting for the way it auto-calculates the width of each individual letter within the font file, to always use the maximum per-letter width instead? For example, your How To Use documentation lists an example of a good, properly formatted .bmp file 1940 px wide, divided by 97 characters = 20 px per character (no remainder, whole number that divides evenly, so it's good.) Would it be feasible to have an option to toggle between the current method of auto-calculating the width of each individual letter and, for this particular example, just setting them all to 20?
That would help to properly preserve and utilize fixed-width/monospace fonts, you see. ^^
Hi there!
I don't know if I understood you properly. But here we go.
Since you can create the bitmap font in any image editor, I think it is kinda useless to create a parameter like that. Because, if you are creating the font, you can already create it in a "monospace" way. You can even choose the size in pixels of the blank space by the spacebar and also the space in pixels between each character:
Look at this example, with this settings.
Setting A - The space between characters is 0 pixels and the blank space(using the spacebar) is 4 pixels. Here is the results.
Setting B - The space between characters is 4 pixels. The blank space(using the spacebar) is 8 pixels. Here are the results.
Are those kinds of effects you are looking for? Or maybe I misunderstood the concept of monospace font?
You might have, or perhaps I just wasn't clear in my explanation, in which case I apologize ^^;
This is a fixed-width or monospace font:
This is a screenshot in an image editor of the file that we made for use with Bitmap Font Pro. Every single character is EXACTLY 18 px wide (the black lines are a grid I set to show with squares every 18px just to prove this) because that's what Bitmap Font Pro needs to correctly figure out how to divide the image up, to know where one character stops and another starts. So even a narrow character, like i or l, takes up exactly as much space as a wide one, like W or #.
This is a varied-with font:
This is approximately what this same image would look like after Bitmap Font Pro converts it. Bitmap Font Pro automatically looks for characters with empty space (such as the aforementioned i or l) and removes that empty space, so this is what's left. This is why it takes up less space on the line overall and why there's a gap on the end. I turned the grid off for this shot because it doesn't line up to said grid anymore.
What we're asking for is that if it's possible to add an option for Bitmap Font Pro to skip the empty space removal step of that conversion and simply take something like the first image there (which we used for the input) and render an in-game bitmap font exactly like that. Rather than changing each letter from 18px to (18px minus whatever empty space it removed,) simply do nothing, leave it looking like that, unchanged, lining up with a hypothetical grid like that, etc.
The appeal of having this kind of fixed with/monospace font is that you know exactly how many characters' worth of room you have on a given line (you don't have to guess and try to account for the fact that typing "iiiiiiiiii" takes up less room than "wwwwwwwwww" despite being exactly ten characters each), and when you have text that goes on for multiple lines, a monospace font lines up with itself in a way that is varied-width fonts don't:
As long as the line has a three-letter word, a three-letter word, and a six-letter word, the spaces in between them line up neatly--every letter lines up neatly, for that matter, regardless of whether it's an l or a w or anything in between. This can be useful for things like displays with a lot of numbers, for example. (For flavor, it also gives the text a sort of monotone "mechanized" feel to it, which could be useful to help convey that mood if one of your party members is a robot or is interfacing with a computer terminal or something?) And it is something that Bitmap Font Pro currently cannot do, as inputting a monospace file like the first attachment here leads to it converting it into a varied-width bitmap font like the second one.
OHHHH yes, you are right, I misunderstood this!
It seems a nice addition to the plugin! I will add this feature to the plugin and let you know when I have done it! Thank you for the detailed explanation and the suggestion! ^^
Oh, excellent! Thank you!! ^^
Hello again! I encountered an obscure compatibility issue that was causing some incorrect display visuals, but I don't need any help with this at all this time--I already dug around, isolated the problem, figured out what it was, and solved it. ^^ I just wanted to post this here for no other reason than to chronicle what happened and how we fixed it, if anyone else is having this problem!
So, we were experiencing a text alignment issue where the spacing of the text itself seemed to get out of place for a single line or two when using alignment codes such as \align[center] from Eli Text Actions. In these screenshots, note how we used \align[center] to center this text, then printed the exact same line in the exact same font three times, but the first line displays longer (if you look closely, I believe the difference comes from a bit of extra space between the "1" and "2" characters specifically.)
The peculiar thing is that these are the same lines from the same NPC, in the same session, during the same test. It was the strangest case of... if you talked to this NPC, sometimes the first line would be longer than the second, and sometimes they perfectly lined up. Upon further testing, I determined that auto-skipping the text was what was causing it; when I was impatient and hit "Enter" in the middle of the text being printed to make the entire rest of the dialog print instantly, then it was misaligned, but if I waited for it to print at the default game speed without touching anything then it lined up perfectly.
Finally, the fix: If you're running any (and I mean any) VisuStella plugins, you're probably running VisuMZ_0_CoreEngine, since literally everything they do is built off that. (Going without the core engine would be like trying to use any Hakuen Studio plugin without Eli Book. ^^;) In the VS Core Engine parameters, look for a setting under the "Quality of Life Settings" category called "Font Width Fix" which is set to true by default (according to the plugin description, this "fixes the font width issue with instant display non-monospaced fonts in the Message Window.") Turn that off (set it to false). And viola, everything lines up now, whether you try to skip the text or not!
Anyway, like I said, problem already solved so no action needed on your part, but I just wanted to leave this here if anyone else was having trouble with this. ^^
Hi there!
That issue was already solved some time ago, and that solution is written down on the help file under the compatibility section.
But thank you for your kindness to say it here ^^
Oh, oops. ^^; Well, here it is again for people like me who missed that, I guess XD
Hey! I'm having a Type error which says "Cannot read property 'getHexOrName' of undefined. What am I doing wrong here? I've set my font file to use all the proper characters that I need, what should I do to remedy this?
Hi there!
You need to use my core plugin above all other Eli plugins. Eli Book. Download it here
Allright it worked! The only other problem was a bitmap error (Forgot to transcribe my numbers into the fontstrip) but it's all sorted.
Nice!
Have fun ^^
Good plugin, but if I try to load a previous save from before I installed your plugin, I get the error "Cannot read property 'Window_MapName' of undefined".
Not the worst thing obviously, as I can always start a new game and use dummy events to get back to where I was in test play, or just go through the game again, but it would be nice if there was a quicker way to fix it... Just a line of JS I could change or something??... idk it doesn't really matter, moreso just annoying
Also, is it possible to have the font change color when healing in battle? thanks.
Hi there!
No, there is no way to fix this. This is a behavior of the RPG Maker code environment. Every time you install a new plugin on your project, mine or not, you have a higher chance that you need to start a new game. This mostly happens when the plugin needs to store some information on the saved file. There are some exceptions, though. But it's hard to say.
So when you install a new plugin and load a previous save file that did not have that plugin at the time, you will need to start a new game. Keep that in mind, not only with my plugins but with others too. When you release a game, make sure that you already are using all the plugins you want.
When you mean healing in battle, do you mean at the moment a character is being healed? Or when it is regenerating health? By default no. You can try changing the font with a plugin command, but you will need to know the exact moment to do that.
Yeah, I meant at the moment the character regains health, and the number pops up.
I can think of a couple games that didn't bother changing the font color, so it's not amiss, but most of them did. Still, better to have a clean custom font than what RPG Maker does by default to old school fonts.
Are you still into JavaScript / RPGMaker? There's a couple ways it handles certain mechanics that have always irked me. IDK if this is the right place to ask, but do you still take commissions / how much do you usually charge if so?
thanks.
Maybe you be able to find a plugin that changes the "damage" pop-up colors, and maybe they can work together with my Bitmap Font. I remember seeing some out there. I guess TSR has one? Maybe CGMZ or Visustella?
Yes, I do take commissions. But the price really depends on what you are as for. The only thing I could already tell you is that I do not do an entire battle system plugin and for everything related to creating a new menu, I charge a minimum of $100. Besides that, I need to know what you want so I can set up a price.
You can reach me on discord: hakuenstudio
nice, I'll probably try and reach on discord next weekend or something
Hello! First off, thank you so much for this plugin! We just bought the PRO version and we've already gotten a much finer control over our pixel fonts than we ever had before. We're excited to see what we can do with this!
I do have a quick question: Is it possible to make the outline color responsive to color changes, like with escape codes and such? If you look in this image, you see that Kit's name is printed in blue while their actual message is in white, but both have the exact same pure gray outline. Is there an escape code to change the outline color along with the one to change the text color? Or perhaps a way to register the font itself so the outline matches it when the color is changed (like something that's white-on-gray in \c[0] becomes light-blue-on-dark-blue in \c[4], etc.?)
Thank you again!
Hi there! Thanks for the purchase ^^
Let me see if I manage to understand you. What you want is:
1 - A way to change the outline color individually. Like, set the outline color to black and the font to blue.
2 - A way to change the outline color, proportionally with the primary font color. As so, when using \c[3] for example, the primary font will change its color to a dark blue, and the outline font will change its color to a dark green.
Is one of the above?
Here is an example of what you can do when the font has an outline file:
But to use those escape codes, you will need another plugin: Eli Message Actions
Hi there! Thank you so much for your quick reply. ^^ Yes, those look like they should do what we're trying to do splendidly. Thank you!
I was thinking for the easiest and most convenient way to do this would be if the script could somehow recognize when the bitmap file itself has more than one color in it, such as the attached sample, in which the bitmap for the font file itself contains the actual letters in white with an outline in gray.
Currently, if you use a file like this as the Main Font File and then apply anything other than "disable" in the Text Color field of the script parameters, then it will convert everything in the image to that color (example: setting Text Color to #FFFFFF would make the text and outline parts of this file both white.) I was thinking that if it could instead recognize the different colors in the font file itself and apply whatever color changes over them accordingly... example, changing this font to yellow with the Text Color parameter or with an in-game \c escape code would make the white part yellow and the gray part... darker yellow, changing it to green would make it light green over dark green, etc. Then matching color changes could be done with a single command.
However! There is no longer a need to worry about doing it like this, because what you have shown me here works just as well. I didn't know that there was an \outcolor escape code, nor was I aware that \color and \outcolor accept values like "red" or "green" instead of being limited to the 32-color index that we're used to the \c command having. This is fantastic news! Now, we can simply use a combination of \color and \outcolor every time we need to change the font color and we should be set. Thank you so much. ^^
Ah, except that we are running into something of an issue with the Eli Message Actions plugin, though. Whenever it's activated at all, the game will not launch at all, instead giving an error that says "TypeError - Cannot read property 'canDraw' of undefined." Do you know what is causing this issue? I would very much love to use this plugin--the color codes sound like exactly what we need. Apologies for any trouble caused by it not working in the meantime. ^^;;
Oh! Also, one final question, unrelated...
For text that is being replaced by true/false switches in the parameters list, rather than in the Scenes or Windows lists (for example, Use on Damage Pop up, Use on Game Title, etc.) it seems that setting the outline to anything at all other than "disable" behaves very strangely. I changed the outline to pure #FFFFFF white as a test for the title screen here (which means that the New Game/Continue commands are supposed to look like that--it's white on white) but the outline of the title itself, the part that says "Test," refuses to accept that change and is instead solid black.
Meanwhile, in the battle scenes, the HP/MP/TP labels anda numbers are also black, while the party members' names... seem to be several shades of gray depending on each letter?
Again, I'm very sorry to pester you with any trouble these issues may be causing; I just wasn't sure where else to turn and I'm encouraged by your fast response. Thank you so much for your help and support, and for making such amazing plugins! Our game already looks a million times better thanks to you. ^^
Ok let's take one subject at the time.
Convenient escape code
The easy way here, would be changing the hue color of the fonts. This way, if you have just a single file, like the one you showed to me, the white and gray color would change according to the hue value. But for technical reasons of the html/css itself, the hue changes does not work properly on a bitmap. Because of that, and several other reasons, for you to be able to colorize the main font and not the outline, you need two different files: One for the main bitmap and one for it's outline. This way you could colorize both, individually. Although is not mandatory for you to have an outline file. You just may need it in those cases where you want to change colors.
Most of what I said above, is also the explanation of how the Text Color parameter works. If you apply any color there, it will paint all the main bitmap font with it. And so, if you do not for that to happen, you need a second file to be used as the outline. And that outline will only be painted by the Outline Color Parameter.
Eli Message Action Error
I would need more information about this. But before that, you could try open the message action plugin parameter and refresh each parameter: Just click on a parameter, open it, see if there is anything to fill, if not, just close and try again.
Otherwise, when the error happens, press F12 or F8 and send me a screenshot of it. But it would be nice if you send that screenshot on the Itch Io plugin of the message action, instead of here.
Title Screen Outline Problem
I will take a look into this! But make sure to check the compatibility section of the help file, in case you are using Visustella plugins.
Also, maybe a screenshot of all the plugins you are using can help too.
Thank you again for your response and all your help! You are incredible. ^^
Convenient Escape Code
Understood, and no worries. My idea was just my first thought for how to approach this problem without knowing that it was already solved by the Eli Message Action plugin. Message Action already does everything I was hoping, and more. (I love that you have the full spectrum of colors, and not just the 32 indexed ones! Even my idea didn't address that part.) So, this problem is already solved. ^^
Eli Message Action Error
Just tried refreshing the parameters and that actually fixed it. So, we're all good now. Thank you!!
Outline Problem
It seems to be affecting not just the title screen, but several types of text... the common unifying theme between them is that it's the text that's controlled directly by true/false switches in the Parameter window, rather than being entered in the separate Scene List/Window List fields. Use on Gauge Label, Use on Gauge Value, etc. Anything controlled by the Scene or Window List fields works as expected; all of the ones that are controlled by true/false switches do not seem to respect attempts to change the outline color, and will usually make it solid black except for that bizarre behavior in the battler names mentioned above.
Here we see Use Gauge Label and Use Gauge Value turned on, so the HP/MP/TP gauge labels and values are using the smaller font. Despite the settings parameters saying it should be gray, the HP/MP outlines are black. (And the TP label is just grayed out entirely, but that's fine.)
As for the plugins, we're definitely not using anything from Visustella. Our plugin list is somewhat bare at the moment, actually, but here it is if it helps at all.
Thank you again for everything! So excited to dig into this now, especially with the Message Actions and color changing fixed! You're the best ^^
OK then! Thanks for the information!
I will take a look into those issues, and if I didn't manage to solve them, I will ask for you to send me that project replicating the problem so I could take a look.
Also, just give a try putting the message actions below the bitmap font. And also disable the multi tweaks plugin so we can confirm if it is a compatibility issue or not
Apologies, I'm still new to rpgmaker mz. I'm currently in an issue for almost 5 hours and I have yet to figure out how make the text readable. Am I suppose to change the size of the font (if so where can fine it?). My resolution for the game 960x544 and I also have VisuStella MZ Core Engine install as plugin as well. I'm working with the Pro version.
NOTE: in case if you are wondering what font is being used, its from
MZ - Bitmap Font Project
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IE2NITITUrw1c4lP24NY9NGy0IcIgMGM?usp=sha...
Hi there!
If you are using Visustella, please make sure you go into the COMPATIBILITY section under the help file and follow the instructions there.
Another thing, did you try the sample project? In the sample project are you having these issues? If not, then you just need to carefully copy the parameters from the sample project to your project.
You can also take a look at this post, it seems to be the same problem:
https://itch.io/post/5465325
If you did everything above and you are still with problems, then I will take a look at your sample project.
EDIT: I did take a quick look into your plugin parameters, and if you are using the same bitmap font file from the sample project, you also need to copy the parameters. On a quick look, I already can see that you did not set the outline font file and also didn't put a font face. Both are blank.
The parameter "all characters" is also wrong. On the sample project, copy the all characters parameter to your current project.
Thanks you very much for your help Hakuen!!! I tried rearranging everything in PS so that each type stays within 20px in 1940px canvas.
One more question, is there a way to change font size via parameters? Or is it just a command that I can only adjust in show text event. I do have the pro version
Did you manage to makes It work?
The font size by default is the height size of your bitmap font file. And the only way to increase it's size is by using the escape codes.
Alternatively you can create another bitmap font file with the size you want, and switch fonts when needed
Thank you very much! problem solved!
nice!!!
how exactly do you initialize the plugin? In the demo project file it works fine. However, when I import Eli Book & The bitmap plugin, put my font in (which works on the sample project). The font does not load, and is instead using the default font. To clarify, I want the font to apply to all text throughout the game.
-Additonally, this doesn't seem to work with 32x32 tile size. Is there a workaround for that? The plugin seems to force 48x48, upon trying to change it back to 32x32, even after removing the plugin. I've tested this bug in other fresh projects, and even there once the plugin is installed, its forever stuck in 48x48.
Hi there!
The simple way for me to find that problem is for you t build a sample project replicating the error, so I can take a look(can send me a link with the project via forum PM or through here if you want).
Another way is:
From my understanding, you created a bitmap font, put it on the sample project and it worked. But when you import the Bitmap and Eli book plugin, into your own project, your bitmap font does not load. And instead, is using the default font. When that happens, press F12 or F8, go to the CONSOLE tab and send me a screenshot of the error trace.
I will take a look at the tile size bug. I have never seen it before.
You said you tried on other fresh projects, so I presume is not a plugin conflict. So will be waiting for you to answer me back.
Thanks for the help, Hakuen. This is from my current project.
Also for some reason, the tile set size bug is gone for now, if it comes back i'll let you know. I did some tinkering and it somehow went away.
Hi!
So, that error says that is something wrong with your plugin parameters. You can try to figure this out by opening the plugin parameters and opening each parameter in order to refresh them. Just click on them(and their sub-parameters, when they have them) and close.
beautiful, thank you so much for the help. Worked perfect!
Nice!!
Have fun! :)
Ok so i have the free version of the plugin, but text colors don't change when using visustella plugins, i'm guessing this is intended and will work if i use the pro version, but will the pro version also fix visustella plugins not having larger font sizes in their menues? as an example, the visustella main menu core changes some of the font sizes, but with the free version of this plugin those don't change. I just want to make sure because i don't want to purchase this plugin if it doesn't actually work for my usecase
Hi there!
The only issue I know with Visustella is that you need to go into the plugin settings for Core Engine, change Quality of Life Settings, then scroll down to the bottom to change "Font Width Fix" to "false" and it'll fix some text issues. Besides that one, I'm not aware of any other problem.
By using my Bitmap plugin, the colors will only change if using the Pro version. Regardless you have Visustella or any other plugin that changes text colors. Because these other plugins are made to change the color of the default RPG Maker text, which is not the Bitmap Text.
As you may know, Visustella plugins are obfuscated, but also, just a single plugin has a lot of features. Honestly, there is no way for me to check this out. So, besides the fix I tell you about above, I don't know if it will fix anything related to the visustella as you said.
Ok so i ended up buying the plugin and i can report that some text colors do switch, but not all of them. The text size changes done by visustella also do not happen, so that's a bummer.
Thanks for the purchase!
Unfortunately, is like I told you before:
By using my Bitmap plugin, the colors will only change if using the Pro version. Regardless you have Visustella or any other plugin that changes text colors. Because these other plugins are made to change the color of the default RPG Maker text, which is not the Bitmap Text.
But, you will be surely able to change the colors of the text by using my Message Action(Free) plugin:
https://hakuenstudio.itch.io/eli-message-actions-for-rpg-maker
The only way that cannot work, is if it has a compatibility issue with another plugin. And with Visustella, on my side, there is no way to know or fix it because of the obfuscated code and because of their terms of use.
To confirm the compatibility problem, try on a project with only my plugins, if even there you didn't manage to change the colors, then I have to check to understand what is happening.
Hey friend! So I've been trying to wrap my head around this for about 30 minutes now and I have no idea how to use this, even after reading the help file over a few times.
Firstly, No bitmaps will load into the folder "img/system"
The plugin hasn't created any extra folders or done much of anything. Maybe I'm missing something? I'd like to note that I'm using the MZ version.
Hi there!
Bitmap fonts will not load automatically, you need to create them.
I definitely did have EliMZbook at the top lol. Thank you!
Did you manage to solve the problem?
Hello again... Do you know of any plugin for MZ that can do something like a hue-shift effect on text? I'm specifically after the flashy effect that Salik (the guy who used to do the "RPG MAKER NEWS" thing on YouTube) used in this video, starting at about 59:03. If such a thing doesn't currently exist, would it be possible for you to make one?
Hi there!
It is possible, but I will not be able to do it now.
In fact, I already manage to make it once, but I did not have the time to properly implement it as a plugin. But that will probably be part of some paid plugin. Maybe on the Message Actions, or maybe on this pro version, I still don't know. But it is on my to-do list.
Nice! I'm not in a huge hurry for it anyways, but when I saw that effect I had a sudden case of "shiny object syndrome" and wanted to find a way to do it in my own project, lol. I could always just throw some text on a png image, display it as a picture, and then hue shift that... But that's obviously not a very fast or optimized way to go about it. I'll try to remember to keep my eyes out for that feature, though it'll be a bit hard since I don't know what plugin it will get added to... But it's certainly attractive enough that it would be worth paying for.
Hi! I've been using your plugin and everything seems to work perfect... until you take a closer look.
Some random letters appear in different colors as you can see in the image below. In this image I use an all black font and outline so you can see the error better.
The png file is the same color, white font (#FFFFFF) and black outline (#131313). I think the error is in the outline but I couldn't find any way to fix it.
Thank you!
Hi there!
Let's figure this out! ^^
I will need more details to help you.
Thank you for your quick response and sorry for the missing info!
I'll send you a DM :D
Hi there! I just got the pro version of this plugin for MV and I'm having the same problem. Was there ever a solution? The free version works no trouble at all but pro is giving me these oddly-colored letters. Thanks :)
Hey!
Yes we managed to fix it! It was a compatibility issue with Yanfly Message Core.
You need to make some changes on his plugin. Here is the solution that worked for the author of the post:
See if that helps you. If not, let me know and we can see the next steps to find the problem!
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I had already commented out those lines from Message Core like it said in the help file, but unfortunately that didn't make a difference - even with message core turned off it still does the same thing. Any other plugins that might be causing the same interference?
I'm using MV, with Eli Book 5.3.1 and Eli BitmapFontPro 5.2.1, for the record
I don't know if there is any other plugin that might be conflicting. On that specific case I had to take a look into the project of that person to find the problem.
Guess I will have to do the same with you. If you could upload a project replicating this issue you have, I could take a look into it.
Hello.
Is there a way to keep the multiple colors in my bitmap font instead of overwriting them in the script with a flat color? I'm using 5.1.1 Pro on MZ.
Hi there!
I have seen your coment so I decided to implement this feature into the plugin. Please download the new version 5.2.0!
Then, on the font configuration inside plugin parameters, you can set the text color and outline color to disable.
With this, the RPG Maker will not apply any color to your font, it will use it as you created.
Thanks for the feedback/suggestion! :D
I've just given it a try and it works great.
Thanks.
hello!
whenever i add this plugin to my project i keep getting this error
"Failed to execute 'drawImage' on 'CanvasRenderingContext2D': The image argument is a canvas element with a width or height of 0."
Hi there!
I never saw this one, so I guess I will need a little more information:
sorry for the late reply
1-im using mz
2-i was using the pro version
3-the sample project works perfectly fine
4/5-i didn't change anything about the plugin parameters except adding the cyborg font from the sample
Ok!
So you didn't create your own font, right? You are using the one from the sample project?
heya! here's the screenshot for the console tab and the plugin parameters
Hi there!
Yeah, thanks for that. I'm not seeing anything wrong...
I guess I will have to ask for you to build a test project replicating the error for me. So I can test this project, trigger the error and see what is going on.
Can you upload it somewhere and send it to me via discord?
Great plugin! After some stumbling around (I think you should link the font setup tutorial in the itch page as well), I got it to work mostly flawless.
Still have some questions though: It looks like windows like MessageWindow don't detect the height of the bitmap font, so currently I have to change that in another plugin, could that be a feature? And does the PRO version's multiple fonts work like FontManager or do I have to use the two plugins together in some way?
HI there!
What tutorial is that you are talking about? The plugin help file?
The Bitmap font pro don't need the font Manager. It will also work like a font Manager, but using Bitmap fonts only.
I'm not sure about the font height. If I record well, the free version does not support escape codes that changes the font size, so I believe it does not calculate a different font height properly.
I can't take a look at this now because I'm busy with the IGMC.
With "setup tutorial" I meant posts #16 and #18 on your RPGMakerWeb forum thread. I was admittedly a bit lost with just the help section in the plugin file, I think it could use better wording or just link to another page with images.
Past that, it works very well! Until I get my budget sorted I'll make it do with only one font, but it's certainly a plugin I'd recommend.
All of luck to you on IGMC Rebirth!
Understood friend!
Thanks for the feedback! I will try to improve this whenever I got time. I think a video tutorial would also be nice to help understand the plugin setup.
Thank you :)
Anyone using VisuStella Core Engine 0, you have it if you're using any of their plugins, it's at the top.
You need to go into the plugin settings for Core Engine, change Quality of Life Settings, then scroll down to the bottom to change "Font Width Fix" to "false" and it'll fix the dialogue from jumbling up.
hey friend!
Thank you so much for that info, I will put this on the help file and here on itch io! :D
Of course! Big fan of your plugins, keep up the great work.
Hello sir, can I ask you something?
I can even use Japanese fonts and some other language in rpg maker? Or it's only English?
Hi there!
On RPG Maker you can use any font you want by default.
What this plugin does, is let you use a font that works like a sprite sheet. Basically, inside the code, the plugin will map your font like this:
When you press A it will draw the bitmap(image) that corresponds to the letter "A" in your sprite sheet. I never tested Japanese, but the plugin has a free version that you can test. I don't see a reason for it not working, but I don't know how the Japanese alphabet works. So is better if you test on the free version first.
What about the pictures that I saw menu (Mr. Raze, Pig and Carta)? What language did you use it?
I'm not sure if I understand you correctly. What does the picture have to do with the game language? Are you mean the language that I use to write the picture file names?
Yes; Because I will use these language in my project:
1) English
2) Japanese
3) France
4)
See the red, what language is it?
I need to add in my project.
That is Portuguese from Brazil. It is like I said before, I believe you could use any language you want.
But that plugin is not a language manager, is kinda a Font Manager. Regarding of this plugin there is a free version that you can test and see if it will work for your purposes.
Unfortunately I cannot get any fonts to show up properly outside of your demo. Even when I created a 100% new project and only added the Book plugin plus this one the text appears incorrectly. I'm totally stumped as to why it's working in the demo other than it using an old version of the plugin. Any ideas?
Hi there!
Let's make it work! :)
Can you send me a sample project with your settings? Your font file, etc?
Then I can take a look and figure out why it is not working.
Thank you for reaching out! While I was able to get the font used in your demo to work everywhere, I still cannot get my own font to work. The issue was that the letters.txt file from the demo had an extra character (specifically @) on the end which your default set of Symbol characters that gets auto-filled does not. After I added that it worked like a charm. I'm going to message you on Patreon for a non-public way to share the test project with my font.
Nice! I will answer you there! ^^
Hi! Sorry to butt into the conversation, but has this issue been resolved? I have the pro version of the plugin and I'm having the same problem. I'm not sure how to set it up.
Thanks!
Hi there!
Yes, that problem was solved. It was a bad configuration of the bitmap.png file. Due to that, the plugin was not being able to properly calculate the width of each letter.
The problem was the following:
The bitmap was 75 letters. But, the PNG file was with 453 of width. If you do 453/75 = 6,04.
This means that each letter, on the PNG file, is not on its own grid. They must be organized on the PNG file, each of them in their own grid, like a sprite sheet.
It does not matter their position inside the grid. But they must be inside it.
So if you open the PNG file(With an image editor like GIMP or PS) of the bitmap font I did on the sample project, you will see that it does have 97 letters, each of them has its own grid, which is 20 in width. And the PNG file's total width is 1940.
1940/97 = 20
So these numbers must match. And in this case, the calculations were being: 453/75 = 6,04.
So the plugin was not being able to properly calculate the width of each letter, resulting in not managing to space them correctly on the texts.
An example was that the first letter of the PNG file was on a grid of 6,04 width, and that was messing up the calculations:
So you need to open your PNG file and adjust the letters to have their own grids.
Let me know if you manage to solve ^^How do you load the actual file? it's not showing up ingame (using Free MV version)
Hi there!
You just need to create your bitmap font file and attach it to a plugin parameter.
Can you show me a screenshot of your plugin parameters?
I didn't change anything apart from uploading my own png and changing the font file to it. Not sure how to actually load it ingame though.
Your font file must have the same amount- and the same order- of characters listed on the plugin parameter "all characters".
So if you created a new PNG to be a bitmap font, it needs to follow that rule above.
You can take the default one that is on the sample project as an example of how to create your PNG(BITMAP) font file.
There's a way to change the font between message windows? For example, a character that uses another font when talks?
Hi there!
I could swear that I was already implemented this feature o.O
It's not hard to do! I will do it next week for sure, and let you know from here!
Thanks for the heads up ^^
Silly question, but how do you use this? I downloaded, added it to the plugin list, added the png file, added to all windows and scene, but it is not showing the file. Please help
Hi there!
You really don't need to add it to all scenes and windows. You only need to do that, if you have multiple bitmaps and want to show a specific one into a scene or window. Otherwise, your game will take the the first bitmap font as default.
But for me to be able to help you more, I will need some screenshots of your plugin parameter. Can you send me that?
Also, did you try make your setup on the demo? The demo has everything already setting up. If you are using the PRO version, you just need to copy and paste the PRO version on the plugin folder of the demo and turn off the free version on the plugin manager.
Are making a commission? Because I need a plugin for MV
Hi there!
Yes I can do it, but I believe after 05 august.
Feel free to talk to me on discord: Hakue Studio# 5661 or on any of my social medias.
Is the plugin compatible with Hud Maker?
Would interest me :D
I will test it and will answer you back! ^^
Yeah, it works just fine ^^
I just believe that you will not be able to set different bitmap fonts for each hud window. So it will use the first bitmap font of the plugin.
Not for now, but I will implement an escape code for you to be able to change the font inside the texts.
