I want to know because I can't find anything SPECIFIC towards the new features, probably because many users do not understand Japanese (and neither do I). So for those of you who have explored the program, what are the new features in VX Ace and what do you think of them?

Well I've only downloaded the RTP so I can't say much.
There seems to be a lot more resources though, and tileset-wise their considerably more fluid, less blocky, than VX's.
Kayden also has a tutorial up about using a video support feature in VXA so that must be in there too.

Interesting =o
Tileset updates are always good XD

Whew, where to start ...

Well pretty much everything VX didn't have or wasn't implemented properly has now been fixed with VX ACE.
(My copy is glitchy though, so some of the battle attacks don't work, or enemies sometimes don't take any damage)

Anyway, there is now a character generator, stats are dependant upon class not actor any more, timer is re added, new RGSS3 (RGSS2 scripts non-compatible), video adding function, credit adding function, face generator, new item and weapon options, new skill animations, new mob animations, a lot more sprites in resource, title screen option effects, and a lot more :3 I'd suggest doing some google searches.

Music doesn't restart after battles.
That alone makes it a superior product ò_ò

Magic Defense, Luck and TP are new parameters.
Items and Equip are categorizable.
Caterpillar and party management.
Directional passability.
More customizable damage formulas.
More enemy drops.
Reserve members can get EXP from battles.
Actors, Classes and Maps have noteboxes.
Regions.
...and more. It's actually a pretty long list, can't be arsed to translate it all.


It has never been removed.

it's more functional in ace then it was in vx, that's what I meant by re-added.

Traits. They are just awesome. For me, there's also the default scripts, coded so much more intelligently as well as using a better version of Ruby.

OMG Yes, Traits are simply awesome!
The battle calculations + Traits (on most things) = Complex battle systems!

Also, with RGSS3 the game runs much more smoother and loading times are quicker for bigger games.
I wonder how many parallel process events I can put on one map before it starts lagging?

I had to re-read this 3 times before I realized that it said regions, and not religions.

You deserved it.

In other news, you could always find the trail and look over the features yourself. It's basically what you're going to see in VXA Full

So is normal VX now outdated? Cause im guessing since you have to pay for Ace its not a patch/upgrade for VX even though they are calling it VX ace which is kinda misleading I think. Bascly what I want to know is you have to start over from scratch if you were using normal VX right? No copy and past option?

There has been talk that if you have VX, you could get a discount on VXA
VXA cannot support VX projects (due to it being RGSS3) but some people are working on converters.

Ohhh a discount would be VERY nice, but I think I will see pigs flying before that happens...

This is why im happy I stuck with XP and didn't put alot of time in my VX game..

Wow, now I can't wait for it's official release D=

Nessiah tried with a dozen parallel process events (large ones) and without wait times. FPS remained a steady 60. Thanks to clever Fiber implementation.

Since this seems to have devolved into a general Ace Q&A I might as well ask; What are the differences between RGSS2 and 3?
I'm a n00b scripter, will what little I've learned (and cling to) be useless in the upgrade?
Its the only script I've looked at so I don't know if the codes and conventions are universal, so to speak.

There are several:

- Ruby 1.9.2 is used instead of 1.8.1. Aside from a better parsing and processing speed, a few additional classes and methods from the standard library are available. Most of them are really minor but here's the biggest: Fiber. It's a primitive class used for light-weight concurrency. To put it simply, objects of Fiber class can be scheduled to "sleep" when they aren't processing their block of code. Actually, they sleep by default and are only run when asked to. Fibers are implemented very intelligently in the game Interpreter - the object which process the event commands. Unlike XP and VX, their use allows the interpreter to just sleep when it's not used, and not run pointlessly and lag the system. Message windows too use this system.
The other big new class is Complex, which, well, handles complex numbers. The chance for this to have a use in the average RM game is very low except maybe for certain specific types of visual AI.

- The default scripts are generally much cleaner and efficient. The methods are more broken-up and we can observe a clear separation between mechanics and visuals this time, which allows scripters to ensure compatibility of their scripts much more easily.

- A debug console is bundled within the editor, and the methods p, print and puts now output to it. The message box still exists though, via msgbox and msgbox_p.

- You can define the color of font outline and set size-less viewports.

- Window padding can be altered.

That's it for the main ones, other changes are mostly marginal.

Is RGSS3 more noob friendly? (In terms of learning it of course)

If you know Ruby it should be okay, otherwise it might be more obscure for the complete beginner than VX. Certain practices observed in the default scripts are rather advanced.

Traits? What do they do? This actually sounds like a good buy. Wish i waited before I purchased VX, would have had a better version...

http://blog.rpgmakerweb.com/announcements/...preview-traits/

Thanks, heisenman! That is pretty cool. *continues to read*

...FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
uck.
Was hoping it would be easy to learn XD

Also god damn those traits are so sexy o_o

See the bright side of things: the default scripts are coded cleverly, so, even if it's more advanced than XP total mess, it teaches you good practices.

I hope they're right with the performance. Maybe I can finally achieve real-time normal mapping <3

Nah, Ruby is still too high-level to work with pixel shaders, not unless you figure out some ingenious shading via combining subtractive, additive, and normal-blend sprites or something. Granted, I'm not privy with the algorithms used in normal mapping, but I've worked with pixel shaders before, and I think get_pixel() and set_pixel() are going to be just as slow this time.

Still, I'm pretty excited. I lost my serial for VX on my old laptop, so this should be the ideal purchase for me if I want to continue working with VX-style games (and I do).

Loving it so far. I like the fact they've added map templates; I've never been any good at making maps from scratch, but now I'm pulling presets from the menu and subtly altering them, adding buildings/roads and whatnot.

Mapmaking has always put me off properly making a game with RM in the past, but now I can focus more on fine tuning my story thanks to the presets! Heh, it sounds as if I'm presenting a sales pitch :/

The character and face maker doesn't hurt either, though more colour options would have been nice.

I believe you can edit the graphics that you can use to generate. If that is so, then I would presume with some minor editing, you could make it have different color options.

Are there any list of whats new with ace in details? the jp site seems vauge and nothing much are explained in details.

^ I have a very detailed list of changes from VX to Ace, but it's in italian and I totally cannot be arsed to translate it cause I'm lazy it's pretty long.
If you're still interested send me a PM, I'd rather not post external links.

errr, the poisonous marsh?

I have to ask - I know that RGSS2 is basically IronRuby - What would the non RGSS name be for RGSS3?

Ace is really starting to sound promising for the most part. But HOLY CRAP IT'S $90! If it is a really good maker then there is a possibility that I may purchase it in the future. Won't be the first time I spent nearly 100 bucks in maker software.