********************************************************************************
This is a Character Switching Tutorial made by James Favier AKA Alynn the Yellow
eyed. This one was used for 6 characters. With the first char always being the
main char, Do adjustments accordingly.

If you use it give me credit dangit!

If you have any questions email Alynn@eternals.dk
********************************************************************************
First you need to make yourself a CMS map, however you feel it should look. Mine
consisted of a self made chipset.


Ok, first lets start out by going to common events. We are going to make 2 here
Name the first one SwitchCharacters and set its Start Condition as call. Then put
in this code.

<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos1] (Set)-0
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos2] (Set)-0
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos3] (Set)-0
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos4] (Set)-0
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos5] (Set)-0
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos6] (Set)-0

That code initializes those variables so that there is no order of the characters.
If this is not done then the choices a player makes on the last time he used the
character switching CMS will still be in the variables.

<>Change Switch: Var[MenuRunOnce] Switch ON ((This will be used later))
<>Memorize Place:Map[MenuWhereMap],X[MenuWhereX],Y[MenuWhereY]
<>Change Switch: Var[NotInMenu] Switch OFF ((This will be used later))
<>Teleport: MenuMap(WhereX, WhereY) ((Where the exact start XY is off your menu map))
<>Change Var: Var[CharacterChosen](Set)-1


Ok SwitchCharacters is done.... now on to the next common event.

Name: CustomMenu Start Condition: Parallel Process Switch: NotInMenu

Code:

<>Enter Password: Var[SwitchPassword]
<>If Var(SwitchPassword) 6
<>If Var(PartySize) 4(>)
<>Set Message Options:Opaque, Middle, Fixed, Wait until done.
<>Message:What do you want to do?
<>Show Choice: Menu/Change Party
:[Menu] Case
<>Call System Menu
<>
:[Change Party] Case
<>Call Event: SwitchCharacters
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>Set Message Options: Opaque, Bottom, Safe, Wait until done.

Ok now for explinations, this always runs in the background throughout the game
when you hit the escape key it checked for the size of your party, if its over
four (IE you have enough characters to have a reason to switch) it will ask weather
you want to check the menu or switch your characters if you just want to see the menu
If you choose menu you see the system menu, if you choose switch, it calls the event
you made earlier and trans's the char to the MenuMap. The very end of the code resets
the message box to the default.


Ok.... now that was the easy part... now its CMS time!!!

Now first things first Lets start with the 3 parallel processes that are the backbone of
the CMS. Make sure you place these out of the way, so they cant be interacted with.

Name: WhereHero Start Condition: Parallel Process Movement: Stay Still

code:

<>Change Var: Var[HeroX] (Set)-Hero's X Pos.
<>Change Var: Var[HeroY] (Set)-Hero's Y Pos.
<>

This just records the postion of the character so it knows which line you are
choosing.

*************************************************
Name: RunOnce Switch: MenuRunOnce StartCondition: Auto Start Movement: Stay Still

Code:

<>Change Switch: Var[MenuLine1] Switch ON
<>Change Switch: Var[MenuLine2] Switch ON
<>Change Switch: Var[MenuLine3] Switch ON
<>Change Switch: Var[MenuLine4] Switch ON
<>Change Switch: Var[MenuLine5] Switch ON
<>Change Switch: Var[MenuRunOnce] Switch OFF
<>

This code may need to be adjusted depending on how many chars you have to choose
from. since the main char is always in position 1 for me I only have 5 to choose
from.

********************************************************
This is the hard one :). The numbers that will be saved in the MenuPos 1-whatever
is the char number in the database.

Name: MenuBackbone StartCondition: Parallel Process Movement: StayStill

Code:

<>Change Hero Walk Graphic: (maincharname) Arrow-1 ((this is my arrow graphic))
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos1] (Set)-1 ((Main Char is always in first position))
<>Enter Password: Var[MenuPassword] ((make all choices checked))
<>If Var(MenuPassword) 6
<>Goto memorized Place: [MenuWhereMap] ([MenuWhereX], [MenuWhereY])
<>ChangeSwitch: Var: [NotInMenu} Switch ON
<>
:Else Case ((Everything past this point is dependant on how you have your cms set up))
<>If Var(MenuPassword) 1 ((Down))
<>Move Event: Hero-Down
<>
:End Case
<>If Var (MenuPassword) 2
<>Move Event: Hero-Face Right
<>
:End Case
<>If Var (MenuPassword) 3
<> Move Event: Hero-Face Right
<>
:End Case
<>If Var (MenuPassword) 4 ((Up))
<>Move Event: Hero-Up
<>
:End Case
((Note You may want to make a Level1Choose through LevelXChoose before starting this step))
<>If Var(MenuPassword) 5 ((Enter/Confirm NOTE! Everything past this point is very dependant on how you have
set up your CMS))
<>If Var(HeroY) 5
<>If Switch(MenuLine1) Is ON
<>Call Even Level1ChoosePg[1]
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>If Var(HeroY) 7
<>If Switch(MenuLine2) Is ON
<>Call Even Level2ChoosePg[1]
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>If Var(HeroY) 9
<>If Switch(MenuLine3) Is ON
<>Call Even Level3ChoosePg[1]
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>If Var(HeroY) 11
<>If Switch(MenuLine4) Is ON
<>Call Even Level4ChoosePg[1]
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>If Var(HeroY) 13
<>If Switch(MenuLine5) Is ON
<>Call Even Level5ChoosePg[1]
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>


Wooo... Are you dizzy yet? If not my fingers are hurting... so at least one of us is in pain.
The next parts are a bit more difficult. and quite the pain in the arse, but bare with me.
I have a total of five choosable characters... so as you see above i have five lines that can be choosen. But
how pray tell did i do those considering that not all 6 are in the party, and how do i know which ones i chose
already. Ok... here we go with this...

The character names are Alynn, Pamela, Jim, Tank, Angeline and Namerek (1,2,3,4,5,6 in the database)

On the right side of my CMS i have 12 events 2 wide and 6 tall like this (I am using the Event Names

Number1 Choice1
Number2 Choice2
Number3 Choice3
Number4 Choice4
Number5 Choice5
Number6 Choice6

I will break down how i set them up starting with the left side and going down

Number1 is just a graphic number 1. That goes for the numbers 2 through 4 also. The only coding has to be
done on the number 5 and 6 (and so on if you have more)

Name: Number5
Page 1: Blank Graphic
Page 2: number 5 graphic Event Condition: Variable: PartySize above 5

Name: Number6
Page 1: Blank Graphic
Page2: Number 6 Graphic Event Condition: Variable: partysize above 6

Now for the Right Side (the Choice side)

Name: Choice 1 In my game it is always Alynn so this never changes if you dont have a static first char just
follow the coding below for how i did the other 5 Choice events...

Name: Choice2

Page1: Blank Graphic Varible: MenuPos2 above 0
Page2: 2nd hero graphic Variable: MenuPos2 above 2
Page3: 3rd hero graphic Variable: MenuPos2 above 3
Page4: 4th hero graphic variable: MenuPos2 above 4
Page5: 5th hero graphic Variable: Menupos2 above 5
Page6: 6th hero graphic variable: Menupos2 above 6

Continue this for all the other heros. Then do the same for the other Choice events changine the Variable for
the other positions Menupos3 through whatever.

Now... how do you put the viewable names when you dont have a static party. This is the tricky part. You will
need to make a group of Events next to each other from right to left as long as the longest name of your heros
in my case Angeline is the longest name. So i have 5 lines with 8 events going left to right. Im not going to
spell out all the coding but here is the basic idea
The order that the events appear in are based on the CharPos variables. I will just do the first one...

Name: Line1Letter1
Page1: Variable CharPos2 above 0 blank graphic
Page2: variable Charpos2 above 2 (first letter of the char2 name)
Page3: variable charpos2 above 3 (first letter of the char3 name)
Page4: variable charpos2 above 4 (first letter of the char4 name)
page5: variable charpos2 above 5 (first letter of the char5 name)
page6: variabel charpos2 above 6 (first letter of the char6 name)

continue this for all the other events in the line. for 2nd 3rd and so on letters.

Now the final part of this little cms... the events that set the chars in their right positions.

if you remember back to our MenuBackbone event we coded such a long time ago, it called some events. Here is
those events I will only do the first one. as the rest are basicly the same...

Event Name: Level1Choose

Code:
<>Change Var: Var[CurrentChosen](+)- 1
<>If Var(MenuPos2) 0
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos2](Set)- Var[CharPos2]
<>
:Else Case
<>If Var(MenuPos3) 0
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos3](set)- Var[CharPos2]
<>
:Else Case
<>If Var(MenuPos4) 0
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos4](Set)- Var[CharPos2]
<>
:Else Case
<>If Var(MenuPos5) 0
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos5](set)- var[CharPos2]
<>If Var(CurrentChosen) V[PartySize](=) ((if the number of characters chosen is equal to the number
in the party))
<>Change Hero's Party:(V[CharPos2]) (Rem)
<>Change Hero's Party:(V[CharPos3]) (Rem)
<>Change Hero's Party:(V[CharPos4]) (Rem)
<>Goto memorized Place: [MenuWhereMap] ([MenuWhereX],[MenuWhereY])
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos2](Set)- [MenuPos2]
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos3](Set)- [MenuPos3]
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos4](Set)- [MenuPos4]
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos5](Set)- [MenuPos5]
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos6](Set)- [MenuPos6]
<>Change Hero's Party: [CharPos2] (Add)
<>Change Hero's Party: [CharPos3] (Add)
<>Change Hero's Party: [CharPos4] (Add)
<>Change Switch: Var[NotInMenu] Switch ON
<>
:End Case
<>
:Else Case
<>Change Var: Var[MenuPos6](set)- var[CharPos2]
<>If Var(CurrentChosen) V[PartySize](=) ((if the number of characters chosen is equal to the number
in the party))
<>Change Hero's Party:(V[CharPos2]) (Rem)
<>Change Hero's Party:(V[CharPos3]) (Rem)
<>Change Hero's Party:(V[CharPos4]) (Rem)
<>Goto memorized Place: [MenuWhereMap] ([MenuWhereX],[MenuWhereY])
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos2](Set)- [MenuPos2]
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos3](Set)- [MenuPos3]
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos4](Set)- [MenuPos4]
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos5](Set)- [MenuPos5]
<>Change Var: Var[CharPos6](Set)- [MenuPos6]
<>Change Hero's Party: [CharPos2] (Add)
<>Change Hero's Party: [CharPos3] (Add)
<>Change Hero's Party: [CharPos4] (Add)
<>Change Switch: Var[NotInMenu] Switch ON
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>
:End Case
<>Change Switch: Var[MenuLine1] Switch OFF


Now continue for every other character that can possibly be chosen making sure you change the
switch turned off at the end and CharPos2 to 3 and so on... And that my friends is all that there
is to it :)

Have Fun,

Alynn the Yellow Eyed.