RPG Maker


SWITCHING v1.0
RPG Maker FAQ
E-mail: jerbils@att.net
June 26, 2001

Table of contents:

1. Intro
2. Conditions
3. Pages
4. Switches
5. Advanced Stuff
6. FAQ
7. Thanks
8. Copyright

1. Intro:
Ah, switching. Quite possibly the most confusing, 
irritating, hard to learn element of RPG Maker. And 
with good reason. So, Im writing this little FAQ. RPG 
Maker is a great game, and many people give up on it 
because of switching. Anyways, on with the guide.

2. Conditions

Before we go into actual switching, you must first learn 
about conditions. Conditions are on the main 
menu/window thing of all events besides Treasure 
Events. Conditions are just that: In order for the
event to happen, all the conditions on that page of the
event have to be fulfilled. Emphasis on ALL. Lets say 
the following conditions are on a page: Switch 006, 
Specific item(lets use Potion for example), And 
specific character(lets say the characters name is 
Max). Lets say the particular Event is a Move Location 
Event. Now you wont be able to move to the designated 
location you want to use that in that Event unless you
have at least one Potion, Max is in your current party, 
and Switch 006 is triggered. If you just have switch 
006 triggered(whatever that ay be, more on that later), 
Max in your party, but you dont have at least one 
potion, then you cant use the Move Location Event. You 
can only have 6 conditions per page. 

3. Pages

Pages, I think are the most confusing part about 
switching. That means its really hard to write this so 
that people will understand it. Pages are sort of
like stages(sorry, theres just no away around that 
rhyme) of an event. For example, a character that plays 
an important role in the story throughout the game, like 
a king, a scientist or something of that nature. After 
you kill this or accomplish that, what he says or does 
is different than from before that happened. Take this 
situation for instance: Youre talking to the King, and 
he wants you to kill a dragon in another castle. So, 
you go and kill the dragon, and then go back to the 
King. Now he wants you to save the princess somewhere 
else, you save her come back, and now he wants you to do 
something else, and you get the picture. Thats using 
pages. Im not sure of the maximum amount of pages per 
event, although Im sure its pretty high.

4. Switches

Okay, now for actual switching. Instead of actually 
explaining it to you, I will give you some examples, 
then explain. Let's take a situation from my game, 
CastleMania. Main Character Max starts the game in his 
room. He can only go right. I want to make an intro 
for the game. So, I go to create event. Select no
graphic, touch activation, blah blah blah. Go to event 
contents. I set the message, message type, and display 
title. Now, I go to switching and turn on switch 001.
Now go back to event main window. Press TRIANGLE and 
select to add a page to the back. Now I don't want to 
see the intro again, as it would be annoying and 
stupid. So, go to the second page and go to page 
conditions, select switch one. Go to activation method 
and set Do Not Start. Now the intro will never happen 
again, which is good.

Next situation. After the intro, Max goes downstairs
and talks to his sister Crystal. I don't want Max to 
leave the house without Crystal. So, I go to the 
entrance and set the following event. No graphic, 
starting method touch, etc. Go to Event Contents and 
set the message something along the lines of "Talk to 
Crystal before you go." Now, back at the Event main 
window, add a page to the back with triangle like last 
time. On the second page, go to conditions and switch 
002. Go to event contents and put Move to Location, and 
put location to wherever you want, like a normal 
location move. Now for step two. Set a new event at 
wherever you want Crystal to stand. Set her graphic, 
start method check, etc. Go to event contents and set 
her message. Now you want her to join you, meaning you 
want the event to go away afterwards. So, after you 
select add to party Crystal, and go to change event 
graphic to no graphic, and set a message like "Crystal 
has joined your party!". Now go to switching and turn 
on switch 002. Back at the Event main window, add a 
page to the back with triangle, like the last two 
times. On the second page, set the condition to switch 
002. Set no graphic, and select Do Not Start. Now,
Crystal will successfully join you, and her event will 
disappear, which is good.

Think of it as a lock and key sort of thing. At the 
entrance, you were not allowed to leave, as the 
conditions stated switch 002 was needed in the Event 
main window. When Crystal joined, Switch 002 was 
activated/acquired, allowing you to leave the house. 

There is another element about switching that is often 
misunderstood. Remember how the first situation dealt 
with switch 001, and the second was using switch 002. 
This is very important. Once you use a particular
switch number, it cant be used again. The intro 
situation used switch 001, and that situation is the 
only one that can use switch 001. The second situation 
used switch 002, and is the only one that can use switch 
002. This means that the next event that uses switching 
must use any other switch number other than 001 or 001
(for sanitys sake, just use switches in numerical 
order). That, I think should give a good, solid 
tutorial to switching

5. Advanced Stuff

Dont even bother with this stuff if youre just 
learning. This for experienced switch users. Lets use 
another example from my game. There are two people, a 
husband and a wife, who each own a store. They have
separate stores, because they are mad at each other, and 
the wife kicked the husband out. When you talk to 
either one, you are given two choices: Shop, or listen
to what they have to say. So, lets say you talked to 
the wife first. You select to hear what she has to 
say. She talks to you about how shes mad at her 
husband. When she tells you this, switch 018 is 
activated. Now go to the husband and do the same, 
activating switch 019. Go back to the wife and again 
see what she has to say. She tells you that she
secretly still loves her husband, turning on switch 
020. Go back to the husband, he tells that he still
secretly loves his wife, activating switch 021. Go back 
to the wife yet again, and you tell her what the husband 
said. She feels so happy, she calls him up, theyre not
mad at each other anymore, and for your troubles, the 
wife gives you a piece of gold (not too bad, I say). 
Now how does this all work? Read the data below and 
read the above story along with it.

Wifes 
Event: 

Page 
1 


Event 
Contents: 

Display message :Hello there! 
2 way choice:
shop 
Whats 
up? 
Shop

choice
2: 

(ranting about 
husband) 
turn on switch 
018 

Page 
2


Conditions: 

Switch 
018 

Switch 019

Event 
Contents: 

Display message: Hello there! 
2 way choice: 
shop 
Whats 
up? 

Shop 

Choice 
2: 

(explaining she
secretly 
loves
husband) 

turn on switch 
020 

Page 
3 


Conditions: 

Switch
020 

Switch 021 

Event 
contents:


Display Message: Hello there! 
2 way choice:
shop 
(Your husband secretly loves 
you too)
shop
choice 2
(Shes happy and calls her
husband, and theyre not mad
any more)
inventory: add gold (item) 
turn on switch 022

Page 4

Conditions:

Switch 022

Event Contents:

Display Message: Hello there!
shop


Husbands Event

Page 1

Event Contents

Display Message: Hi there!
2 way choice: shop
Whats up?
Shop
Choice 2:
(ranting about wife)
Turn on switch 018

Page 2

Conditions:
Switch 020

Event contents:

Display Message: Hi there!
2 way choice: shop
Whats up?
Choice 2:
(Explaining he secretly loves his wife)
Turn on Switch 021

Page 3:

Conditions:
Switch 022

Event Contents:
Display Message: Hi there!
shop


And there you have it. In the actual version, as you 
might guess, its a lot more complex, but I did show the 
basic gist of the switching aspect.
MORE TO COME

6. FAQ
To be created- dont worry, Ill make it eventually. I 
just wanted to get this out there as fast as I could

7. Thanks

I would like thank the following:
Me, jerbils
My parents, for letting me get RPG Maker
Me 
Me
The folks at the message boards, especially Dias Flac,
Kuro Madoushi, IceTray2001, The Red Baron, mmx2, 
Chimera245, tonydoo, Rygon, Flaming Masamune, 
triplejay13, ff8ribbon, kruulus, undaunt, Dburks2818, 
RobRush, and ZaneCrawford. Theres probably a few Im 
missing, sorry bout that!
Me
Agetec
Splice
The name of the company thats in Japanese in the 
opening credits
The good people of GameFAQs
Oh, yes, and Me

Copyrights:

This Frequently Asked Question/switching guide 
originally posted at GameFAQs.com, is copyright to the 
author, me. Anyone is free to post, read, copy to their 
website, etc., as long as I get a decent share of
royalties, if any.

Copyright 2001 by Jeremy Kahn



 
  

