RPG Maker 2 Custom Battle System FAQ

[Dungeon Warden]

The following is a list of the flags, variables, and commands in RPG Maker 2 (RPGM2) that you can use in your own Custom Battle System (CBS). Note that there are several errors and omisions in the help files of RPGM2 that will hinder your ability to get your battle system working. Corrections to the Help files will be clearly noted.

Notes:
[C] = customize: these are flags or variables that can be changed with the Data command
= Battle only: These commands can only effect the Default Battle System
[E] = Errata: the help files give incorrect or incomplete information on this topic
Instigator = the combatant (enemy or party member) who's turn it is in combat
Target = the combatant that the instigator is currently focused on.
Var = Variable

Flags

Flag 1: Battle - turns On if the party is in combat (DBS only)
Flag 2: Event Battle - On if the current battle is an event battle (used the Event Battle command)
[C] Flag 13: Hide Stats Battle - When On, the status menu will not appear in battle
[C] Flag 14: Constant Win - The battle system will jump from start battle to end battle without the party actually having to fight. I assume this is here to allow the designer to test the level up scripts without having to fight a lot of battles to do it.
[C] Flag 15: No Encounters - Random encounters will not occure while this flag is on. Can be used in your own CBS to allow players to avoid encounters.
[C] Flag 31: Party Dead - On if the party is dead. Note that turning this flag On will not kill the party. True party death is handled internally by the game system.
[C] Flag 70: Side - Used to keep track of who's battle turn it is. On = enemy's turn, Off = Party's turn
Flag 71: Apply Side - Off is the instigator is taking an action, On if the Target is taking an action
Flag 72: Instigator's side - Used to keep track of who's side the current instigator is on. On = enemy's side, Off = Party's Side
Flag 73: Target's Side - Used to keep track of who's side the current target is on. On = enemy's side, Off = Party's Side
[E] Flag 74: The help file was not translated into english. Leader Targeted - If the party leader is the target, this flag turns on.
[E] Flag 80: The help file was not translated into english. Action side - If a party member is taking an action, the flag is Off, if an enemy, it is On.
[E] Flag 82: Traits - The help file was not translated into english. Trait scripts run twice each turn of combat, once before any actions are taken (Flag = Off), and once during the subject of the trait's turn (Flag = On).
[C] Flag 90: Ambush - On if an ambush is to occur (first turn only).
[C] Flag 91: Ambush Side - Off if the party is doing the ambushing, and On if the enemy is.
[C] Flag 92: No Flee - If On, the party can't flee the battle
[C] Flag 93: No Insig Action - Used in Game : Direct Effect : Adv : Flow1 after Check Start. If On, then the Check Fail script is run; otherwise, Effect Start is run. In battle, this is used to determine if an ability can be used (ex. do you have the MP to cast the selected spell?)
[C] Flag 94: Insig Success - Used in Game : Direct Effect : Adv : Flow2 after Success Check. If On, then the Success script is run; otherwise, Fail is run. In battle, used to determine is an attack/ ability effects the target.
[C] Flag 95: Insig Critical - Used in Game : Direct Effect : Adv : Flow2 after Success Check. If On, then the Critical script is run instead of the Success one. In battle, used to determine is an attack/ ability does extra damage.
[C] Flag 96: Target Dodge - Used in Game : Direct Effect : Adv : Flow2 after Check Start. If On, then the Dodge script is run. In battle, used to determine is an attack/ ability is avoided by the target.
[E] Flag 97: Target Counter - On is the target counters the instigator. See next two flags as well. The help file is not clear on how this flag is used.
[C] Flag 98: Target Reaction - This flag is On if the target counters an indirect effect, and the script in Game : Indirect Effect : Adv : Flow2 : Reflected will be run. If Off, then a Direct effect is countered and Game : Direct Effect : Adv : Flow1 : Counter attack is run instead.
[C] Flag 99: Target Reflect - Keeps track of if the reaction was a reflection (On) or a counter attack (Off). Note that the preset scripts do not use counter attacks or reflects, so it is not clear how these three flags (97-99) differ.
[C] Flag 100: No Reward - If On, the party will not receive items for the current battle.
Flag 110: Member Check - On if Check Who Goes Next is used and there are no party members left to check.
Flag 113: Call Same Enemy - On if the enemy can use Call Same Enemy. Use Enable Call Same Enemy to turn this flag on.
Flag 114: Call Other Enemy - On if the enemy can call another enemy. Use Enable Call Other Enemy to turn this flag on.
Flag 119: Get Item - On when the party will recieve an item for winning a battle. Controlled by the Enemy : Reward : item percentage you set for that enemy
Flag 120: Get Rare Item - Same as above but for the enemy's rare item percentage.
Flag 121: On when the Data : Member Info : Load command is used and the member has an action status effecting them.
Flag 150: Ability Type - Triggered by the Load Ability Info command. If On, the ability is a skill, if Off, the ability is a spell.
Flag 160: Dir Death Check - On when you used Load Direct Effect Info and Check Death Before is selected.
Flag 170: Indirect Effect - When Using Data : Target : Status : Confirm, this flag turns On if the target has an abnormal status effecting them.
Flag 171: Indirect Success - When checking Data : Target : Status : Apply, this flag turns On if the status effect was successfully applied.
Flag 172: Indirect End - When Using Data : Target : Status : Remove, the flag turns On if the status effect was successfully removed.
Flag 173: Indirect End Condition - When the Game : Indirect Effect : Adv : Modifly : Priority Match conditions are met, so that indirect effects can be combined, this flag turns On.
Flags 180-189: Normal Flags - Every character and Enemy has these. Substitute Attribute for Variable can be used to load the current active character or enemy's Normal Flags. Substitute Variable for Attribute can be used to save any changes to these flags. For Characters, Member Info : Load and Member Info : Save will do the same thing.
[E] Flags 190-199: Battle Flags - Same as above. Note that the help file says you can't use normal flags and Battle flags at the same time, but in testing this isn't true. Battle Flag 0 is used by the preset system to keep track of who is defending in battle.

[Dungeon Warden]

Variables

[C] Var15: Encounter Ratio - This number is multiplied by the encounter rate set in Game Settings : Battle : Encounter. Normally equals 100 (i.e. 100 percent). If set to 0, no encounters will occur. Can be used to temporary change the encounter rate.
[E] Var17: Battle Result - stores the result of the last battle. 0 = Lose turn count exceded, 1 = victory, 2 = Defeat, 3 = Escape, 4 = Cancel (cancel happens when all the enemy run away)
Var18: Participate Member - the number of party members that participated in battle
Var19: Participate Enemy - the number of enemies that were encounteded at the start of battle.
Var20: Experience Received - the amount of experience each member receives at the end of battle
Var21: Money Received - the amount of money the party recieved from the battle.
[C][E] Var22: Battle Turns - This is how many times a direct effect will repeat in one battle turn. Use in Direct Effect : Adv : Flow 1 : Turn End slot. Allows an enemy or character to attack more than once per turn. See the Direct Effect "Angelic Spear" for an example of how this is used. The help file is not very clear on how this variable works.
[C][E] Var23: Lose Turn Count - Number of turns until the battle ends and the party loses. If set to zero (the default), battles have no set length. Note that this does not kill the party (although Party Dead will equal ON), but simply ends the battle early. However, Script 28: Battle Exit only runs if Party Dead is Off. Use Var17 (which will equal 0) to check if the battle ended due to this variable and to reset the screen color and Sound.
Var24: B Member Target - This is the total number of participants in the battle (Var18 + Var19)
Var25: Unit Number - Contains the Battle Unit's Database Number.
[C] Var29: Target Resist W - The target's resistance to the instigator's weapon property (stored in Var37). Goes from -100 (weapon has no effect) to +100 (weapon does double damage)
[C] Var30: Target Resist M - The target's resistance to the instigator's magic property (stored in Var36). Goes from -100 (ability has no effect) to +100 (ability does double damage)
[C] Var33: Damage Rate A - Stores the A value of the battle formula: Damage total = (A/100) - B
[C] Var34: Damage Rate B - Stores the B value of the above formula.
[C] Var35: Damage Total - the result of the above calulation.
Var36: Insti Property M - The Magic Property Number (from 0-99) of the instigator's ability that is currently being used.
Var37: Insti Property W - The Weapon Property Number (from 0-99) of the instigator's equiped weapon.
[C] Var41: Insti Success# - The instigator's chance of success ratio (the weapon's direct effect : success%)
[C] Var42: Insti Critical# - The instigator's critical hit success ratio (the weapon's direct effect : rate)
[C][E] Var43: Target Dodge# - the target's successful dodge ratio. Dodge is calulated in a formula in the preset battle formula and this value is not used. I'm not sure where this value comes from or what it can be used for.
[C] Var44: Shared Damage# - Ratio of damage shared with others. 0 = no damage is shared, 50 = target takes half and others that half, 100 = others take all damage and target takes none.
Var48: Insti Member - The database number of the instigator if a party member.
Var49: Insti Enemy - The enemy's Battle Order Number, if an enemy is the instigator.
Var50: Target Member - The database number of the target if a party member.
Var51: Target Enemy - The enemy's Battle Order Number, if an enemy is the target.
[C] Var53: Member Order - The position of the character in the party. Data : Member Info : Use Battle Order can be used with this variable to find what member is in what position (loads the database number into Var86: Member Number). 0 = leader, 1 = second spot (behind leader), 2 = third spot, 3 = back of party
[C] Var55: Enemy Battle Order - the order the enemy line up in. 0 = left most position, 1 = right of the first enemy, etc. up to 99 (far right). Note if new enemies are called into battle, they will get higher battle numbers, but may appear anywhere on the screen. (for example, if there are four enemies, the first one dies, and then a fifth enemy is called. The new enemy will appear in the first enemies place, but will have an order number of four.)
[C] Var60: Action:Action - The type of action taken. 0: offensive, 1: defence, 2: Magic, 3: Skill, 4: item
[C] Var61: Action:Itm/abty - database number of the item or ability used
[C] Var62: Action:B Member - The number of the character or enemy target when on your side (ex. when healing a party member)
[C] Var63: Action:Enemy - the number of the enemy or character when target is on opposite side (ex. attacking an enemy)
[C] Var65: Action:Rand/Abty - If the ability is not random, the value is -1, otherwise the number of the ability chosen is stored here.
[C] Var86: Member Number - the database number of the active character.
Var87-133 - these are the member's stats when Member info : load is used. These variables can also hold the enemy's stats when Substitute Attribute for Variable is used on an active enemy (DBS only).
Var134-147, 150-152 - variables related to items.
Var155-161 - variables related to abilities
[E] Var163-169 - variables related to direct effects. Variables 167, 168, and 169 are named incorrectly. Var167 is Direct: Menu; Var168 is Direct: Range; and Var 169 is Direct: Target.
Var172-177 - are the indirect effect's variables.
[C][E] 180-199 are the normal (180-189) and battle (190-199) variables. These work like the flags of the same name. Warning: For some reason Normal Variable 0 and Battle Variable 0 for Member 0 will reset to zero whenever they are changed. For all other members, these variables work fine.

[vespuleth]

this needs to go in tech. im moving it.

[Doan the Nado]

Thanks for taking the time to type out all your notes for us. I'm sure it took a good chunk of time to learn all that info, and just as much to put it online for all of us. This will certainly be useful if I make a stab at an altered DBS.

[Deleted]

Yes, indeed thank you very, very much!!

On a side note, I made the allusions to you, Doan, and Dray in my game.

Yay, thank you.

[Dungeon Warden]

It took me most of the day to type all this up. Some of the notes come from the help files, but there is some information (especially corrected mistakes) that you won't find anywhere else.

I'm glad you found this information useful.

[The Final Rune]

Finally an answer to what all those cryptic untranslated help messages! Thanks a bunch, I just hope this can finally help me understand a little more about the DBS and scripting in general. The whole still makes my head hurt, but occasionally I get an "Ah Ha!" moment.