Works fine in Vista for me. It's not under the VS Installed Templates section, it's below that, in My Templates.

My guess is that you should try installing the kit once again after the XNA 2.0 intallation.  Optionally, the post above yours describes how to get it working with XNA 3.0.

Good luck,

Tim

My friend installed and tried to run this but it gives an error:

"GamerServicesNotAvailableException was unhandled

The current profile does not have an xna creators club membership, which is required to sign in to the Live service. To continue, purchase a membership from Xbox Live Marketplace, or switch to a local gamer profile."

He uses Visual C# 2005 Express.

This is a great kit.

Is there any information on how the maps were made?  Is there a tile engine that was used for this?

Pigyman:

Whenever I flee a battle I get an exception.

"There is no active combat at this time."

Somebody didn't debug properly.  ;)

Sorry for the delay in response.  This is a confirmed bug, and it is on the known issue list for our next release (which has not yet been scheduled).

An intermediate fix is to go to CombatEngine.cs, and navigate to the CombatEngine.UpdateCombatEngine method.  Add this code right after the UpdateDelay() call (approximately line 1728):

     if (singleton == null)
    {
        return;
    }

sampyxis:

This is a great kit.

Is there any information on how the maps were made?  Is there a tile engine that was used for this?

 

The tile specifications in the map XML files are row-major indices into identically-sized tiles in the specified texture.  You can see how the dereferencing works in the RolePlayingData project, in Maps\Map.cs, methods Map.GetBaseLayerValue and Map.GetBaseLayerSourceRectangle (repeated for the fringe, object, and collision layers).

In terms of WYSIWYG editing, there are tile editors that can output compatible indices, but we do not have one of our own to release at this time.  If someone develops one, then feel free to post about it here.  :)

xxJoesusxx:

i've got an error too, it says, this template has tried to load an untrusted component 'Microsoft.xna.gamestudio, version 2.0.0.0

 

I get that error while using Visual C# Express 2008 and XNA Game Studio 2.0.

sampyxis:

This is a great kit.

Is there any information on how the maps were made?  Is there a tile engine that was used for this?

The maps were made using TileStudio. It is a nice freeware tool. You can find it here: http://tilestudio.sourceforge.net/ts.zip. Also download the tilestudiodefinition file(RPGGame.tsd) from here: http://www.filecrunch.com/fileDownload.php?sub=7a7d08b1b1e384480170d1b98857f896&fileId=151708 Copy the RPGGame.tsd file to the directory where you extracted the ts.zip. Run tilestudio and make a map of your choice. Remember to put a map code of 01 for collidable tiles. Click "Code->Code generation settings" and select "RPGGame" from the drop down menu. Click "Code->Generate Code". You will generate a template for the map. You can edit the "???" in the map.xml file with appropriate values. Cheers.....:)

thank u so much sam

Great

Thanks!  I'll try it out.

in Input Manager I find

            actionMaps[(int)Action.CharacterManagement].keyboardKeys.Add(Keys.Space);

but I cannot find where InputManager.Action.CharacterManagement is being called, I wanted to add a state to enable exiting the Character Management screen when pressing Space again, in addition to or instead of pressing the Esc. key.

<<edit>> I found it! its on line 148 in GameplayScreen.cs

Hi,

    I've got a problem with opening the starter kit. I'm using Visual Studio 2005 and XNA 2.0. However, even after installing the .vsi file, the option to choose the role playing game template did not appear. The .zip file is located in ...\Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#\XNA Game Studio 2.0\. According to the other post, everything seems correct. Is there anything else that i should check for?

Thanks

I was able to install the starter kit just fine, but when I run it, and select the first quest item ("Save Mercadia"), it just toggles between the "Main Quest Line" screen and the quest description. How do I actually start the quest. (I don't have a game pad. I'm playing entirely using the keyboard, if that helps.)

 

mpswaim:

I was able to install the starter kit just fine, but when I run it, and select the first quest item ("Save Mercadia"), it just toggles between the "Main Quest Line" screen and the quest description. How do I actually start the quest. (I don't have a game pad. I'm playing entirely using the keyboard, if that helps.)

 

I had the same problem with the starter kit sicne the default keyborad mapping are really bizarre.  I modified the code so that keyboard keys generally match the gamepad keys (i.e. A button = A key)  If you like you can download the modified code from the site I've set up on Code Plex http://www.codeplex.com/BostonXNA/SourceControl/ListDownloadableCommits.aspx.

John Darksabre:

Hi,

    I've got a problem with opening the starter kit. I'm using Visual Studio 2005 and XNA 2.0. However, even after installing the .vsi file, the option to choose the role playing game template did not appear. The .zip file is located in ...\Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#\XNA Game Studio 2.0\. According to the other post, everything seems correct. Is there anything else that i should check for?

Thanks

It's not listed there.  In the "New Project" dialog box, check the parent node (the one that contains the "XNA Game Studio 2.0" templates) that's called "Visual C#".  It's in there under "My Templates", at least for me it was.  I'm using Vista instead of XP, don't know if that made a difference though...

RandyC:

xxJoesusxx:

i've got an error too, it says, this template has tried to load an untrusted component 'Microsoft.xna.gamestudio, version 2.0.0.0

I've been able to get the kit to work with VS 2008 and XNA 3. These are the steps:

1. install the vsi

2. go to the  ..\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#\XNA Game Studio 2.0 folder. There will be a zip file RolePlayingGameWindows.zip

3. Copy/extract the contents of the zip to some temporary folder

4. In each of the subfolders, edit the .vstemplate and the .csproj files with notepad.

4.1. For each of these files, search for XNA, and when you find it, see if there is a version 2 indicator (e.g., <Assembly>Microsoft.Xna.GameStudio, Version=3.0.0.0 ...), and replace the 2 with 3. Some files have multiple things you have to change.

4.2. Save the changes

5. In the RolePlayingGame\Content subfolder edit the Content.contentproj file in Notepad. Do the same thing as in step 4.

6. Make a new zip file with the same name (RolePlayingGameWindows.zip) and put all the content you unzipped (which includes the editted files) into this zip file. You now have a replacement zip for the file you copied in step 2.

7. Replace the file in step 2 with the file you made in step 6.

8. Start VS 2008, create a new project, and go back to the XNA Game Studio 2.0 node and choose the Role Playing Game starter kit. It should all work. It worked for me.

Thanks for the great starter kit!!

Excellent, worked great for me. I changed all the Version=2.0.0.0 parts, but not the Version="2.0.0" in the root XML node (which I guess refers to the VSI version). You also need to update the paths to the .targets files, which just need changing from "3.0" to "2.0". I also renamed the folder it was in from "Game Studio 2.0" to "Game Studio 3.0" so that it showed up in the same folder as the default templates on my machine (since the 2.0 folder was otherwise empty - I don't have it installed).

Studio Apartment:

John Darksabre:

Hi,

    I've got a problem with opening the starter kit. I'm using Visual Studio 2005 and XNA 2.0. However, even after installing the .vsi file, the option to choose the role playing game template did not appear. The .zip file is located in ...\Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#\XNA Game Studio 2.0\. According to the other post, everything seems correct. Is there anything else that i should check for?

Thanks

It's not listed there.  In the "New Project" dialog box, check the parent node (the one that contains the "XNA Game Studio 2.0" templates) that's called "Visual C#".  It's in there under "My Templates", at least for me it was.  I'm using Vista instead of XP, don't know if that made a difference though...

I'm using vista too. However, the template did not appear under any section at all. I don't think i have to unzip it right?

-----Edit-----

I finally got it to work by moving the .zip file to the ProjectTemplates folder from the XNA Game Studio 2.0 folder.

For the RPG Starter Kit I created a new class, RolePlayingGameDataWindows.AttributesValue

Basically its exactly like StatisticsValue except I have added Intelligence, Strength and Dexterity as non-range values. Updated the character sheets like so

  ....<InitialStatistics>
          <HealthPoints>35</HealthPoints>
          <MagicPoints>0</MagicPoints>
          <PhysicalOffense>10</PhysicalOffense>
          <PhysicalDefense>10</PhysicalDefense>
          <MagicalOffense>5</MagicalOffense>
          <MagicalDefense>5</MagicalDefense>         
      </InitialStatistics>
      <InitialAttributes>
          <Intelligence>12</Intelligence>
          <Strength>12</Strength>
          <Dexterity>12</Dexterity>
      </InitialAttributes>     
      <LevelingStatistics>
          <HealthPointsIncrease>10</HealthPointsIncrease>......

Created all the instances where Attributes is going to be read and modified, except in the Leveling - since this is going to be a Roll for Attributes instead of increasing them upon level up. Everything complies but when I start the game I get this error

Error loading "CharacterClasses\Warrior". File contains RolePlayingGameData.CharacterLevelingStatistics but trying to load as RolePlayingGameData.AttributesValue.

this is the line it is reading from in CharacterClass

        public class CharacterClassReader : ContentTypeReader<CharacterClass>
        {
            /// <summary>
            /// Reads a CharacterClass object from the content pipeline.
            /// </summary>
            protected override CharacterClass Read(ContentReader input,
                CharacterClass existingInstance)
            {
                CharacterClass characterClass = existingInstance;
                if (characterClass == null)
                {
                    characterClass = new CharacterClass();
                }

                characterClass.AssetName = input.AssetName;

                characterClass.Name = input.ReadString();
                characterClass.InitialStatistics =
                    input.ReadObject<StatisticsValue>();
                characterClass.InitialAttributes =
                    input.ReadObject<AttributesValue>();
                characterClass.LevelingStatistics =
                    input.ReadObject<CharacterLevelingStatistics>();
                characterClass.LevelEntries.AddRange(
                    input.ReadObject<List<CharacterLevelDescription>>());
                characterClass.BaseExperienceValue = input.ReadInt32();
                characterClass.BaseGoldValue = input.ReadInt32();

                return characterClass;
            }
        }

I dont understand why I am getting this error since InitialAttributes is defined correctly and it is not complaining about Reading InitialStatistics. Any ideas? Do I need to post more code?

Have you written a ContentWriter class for your new Attributes class?

I created a AttributesValueWriter, the error is ContentLoadException was unhandled. Am I missing something to be done in another script - I was pretty careful and made fixes to all instances where Attributes was going to be read, created, or modified. But I may have missed something. --- still Searching.

I finally found the missing starter kits that I installed, thinking that I had done it wrong. Thanks for stating that you found the starter kit under the Visual C# parent node. I thought, like many here I would guess, that it would be under the XNA Game Studio 2.0 node.

 

:)

 

Bixel:

For the RPG Starter Kit I created a new class, RolePlayingGameDataWindows.AttributesValue

Basically its exactly like StatisticsValue except I have added Intelligence, Strength and Dexterity as non-range values. Updated the character sheets like so

  ....<InitialStatistics>
          <HealthPoints>35</HealthPoints>
          <MagicPoints>0</MagicPoints>
          <PhysicalOffense>10</PhysicalOffense>
          <PhysicalDefense>10</PhysicalDefense>
          <MagicalOffense>5</MagicalOffense>
          <MagicalDefense>5</MagicalDefense>         
      </InitialStatistics>
      <InitialAttributes>
          <Intelligence>12</Intelligence>
          <Strength>12</Strength>
          <Dexterity>12</Dexterity>
      </InitialAttributes>     
      <LevelingStatistics>
          <HealthPointsIncrease>10</HealthPointsIncrease>......

Created all the instances where Attributes is going to be read and modified, except in the Leveling - since this is going to be a Roll for Attributes instead of increasing them upon level up. Everything complies but when I start the game I get this error

Error loading "CharacterClasses\Warrior". File contains RolePlayingGameData.CharacterLevelingStatistics but trying to load as RolePlayingGameData.AttributesValue.

this is the line it is reading from in CharacterClass

        public class CharacterClassReader : ContentTypeReader<CharacterClass>
        {
            /// <summary>
            /// Reads a CharacterClass object from the content pipeline.
            /// </summary>
            protected override CharacterClass Read(ContentReader input,
                CharacterClass existingInstance)
            {
                CharacterClass characterClass = existingInstance;
                if (characterClass == null)
                {
                    characterClass = new CharacterClass();
                }

                characterClass.AssetName = input.AssetName;

                characterClass.Name = input.ReadString();
                characterClass.InitialStatistics =
                    input.ReadObject<StatisticsValue>();
                characterClass.InitialAttributes =
                    input.ReadObject<AttributesValue>();
                characterClass.LevelingStatistics =
                    input.ReadObject<CharacterLevelingStatistics>();
                characterClass.LevelEntries.AddRange(
                    input.ReadObject<List<CharacterLevelDescription>>());
                characterClass.BaseExperienceValue = input.ReadInt32();
                characterClass.BaseGoldValue = input.ReadInt32();

                return characterClass;
            }
        }

I dont understand why I am getting this error since InitialAttributes is defined correctly and it is not complaining about Reading InitialStatistics. Any ideas? Do I need to post more code?

I'm trying to figure out how you got this to even compile.  If I add the InitialAttribute node the entire compiler fails on me.  Error report generated for Microsoft and everything.  Do you have a listing of all the places you changed in the code?  Maybe I missed something.

The content is loaded by the content pipeline and written out using the writer classes.  If it's not explicitly written out in the processor types, then you're not going to be able to read it back in.  That explains the error you're seeing - the next data the reader gets to is CharacterLevelingStatistics, because the CharacterClassWriter type is not writing out the new strength/dexterity/intelligence data.

GoDFaDDa:

The content is loaded by the content pipeline and written out using the writer classes.  If it's not explicitly written out in the processor types, then you're not going to be able to read it back in.  That explains the error you're seeing - the next data the reader gets to is CharacterLevelingStatistics, because the CharacterClassWriter type is not writing out the new strength/dexterity/intelligence data.

If I understand what you are saying here, the act of adding new elements to the data xml files is more compilcated than editing the XML file and then modifying the readers so that they are aware of what you have added.  In order to create a new set of nodes in a file like Barbarian.xml you need to write it out using the CharacterClassWriter.cs is that correct?  How does one go about doing that?  Do you create a Character Class object, load up all the values and then pass it to the write method of the CharacterClassWriter?

Success!!!! Just had to add that line to CharacterClassWriter.cs. Now all I have to do is update the Menu code to show the new stats in the Character Management Screen
  [ContentTypeWriter]
    public class CharacterClassWriter : RolePlayingGameWriter<CharacterClass>
    {
        protected override void Write(ContentWriter output, CharacterClass value)
        {
            output.Write(value.Name);
            output.WriteObject(value.InitialStatistics);
            output.WriteObject(value.InitialAttributes);
            output.WriteObject(value.LevelingStatistics);
            output.WriteObject(value.LevelEntries);
            output.Write(value.BaseExperienceValue);
            output.Write(value.BaseGoldValue);
        }
    }

 

Some hints on what I did to make this work. I basically wanted to add more depth to the game by adding some Attributes to affect combat later on down the coding line. A new class had to be created. AttributesValue.cs (basically StatisticsValue but modifed). AttributesValueWriter, again similar to the StatisticsValueWriter, next I had to update several scripts to handle it. CharacterClass, CharacterClassWriter and perhaps a couple others, the debug will tell you whats being affected. Strangely enough the debugging never brought up the CharacterClassWriter issue. Thanks GoDFaDDa game runs perfect now.