[CGMZ] File Types

Hi all,

With this plugin you can load any image file type, including the popular webp format. Set up which files you want to use which extension in the plugin parameters, and the plugin handles the rest.

Please note that there are some limitations to this. While the plugin does allow you to load any image format, not all formats are supported by all browsers and some formats may require additional work before they will work. This plugin simply makes your game look for the extension you tell it to look for, it does not guarantee the file will work.

WebP Images

You can use WebP images in your game with this plugin. To do so, you will need to have the webp image in the correct folder (such as titles1 for title images). You will also need a png file in the same folder with the same filename. This is because the MZ editor does not seem to display non-PNG images, even if they are present. This png file will not actually be used, and can be a tiny 1px by 1px image.

Exporting Your Game

When you export your game, you cannot use the "Exclude unused files" option as this will always exclude the alternative file types set up through this plugin.

This plugin should work with the encrypted files option. However, any non standard files (such as webp images) seem to be not encrypted by the editor in the export process. This means if you would like to encrypt your webp files, you would need to use some other solution. Default png files will still be encrypted.

Compatibility

WebP support has been requested basically since MZ released. Initially, Casper Gaming was against using such formats as they were not widely adopted. However, over 4 years have passed since then and webp is now widely supported with over 96% of user's browsers supporting it, with most of the remaining percentage being unsupported browsers already (such as internet explorer which already cannot run MZ games even without webp images). Casper Gaming typically waits for 95%+ support before considering a feature widely supported enough to be implemented.

Please note that the RPG Maker defaults exist to help protect you from making an unintentional mistake. As an example, almost everything should support .png files whereas some common devices such as iPhones may not support .webp. Image formats are constantly evolving and support for them can be added or removed by the browser that is playing your game. Therefore, even if it works in your playtest on your computer, it may not work in other environments that you may distribute your game.

Please also note that this plugin only allows the game to look for various file types. It does not do anything to get them to work in your game, such  as the case of some animated file types which may require additional plugins to play any animation contained in the file.

Future

I have plans to expand this to include video and audio files, though in my research there seemed to be less demand for various file types in those asset types. Please let me know in the comments below what file type you would like to use, and I can see if it can be added in a future update.