Francisco de la Peña

Hi, I'm Francisco de la Peña (fdelapena).

I live in Costa Rica. I can speak Spanish, Catalan and enough English to be here writing this.

I currently maintain the whole dedicated server, web server, project websites (main page, blog, wiki, forums, bugtracker…), project account on GitHub, IRC channel on Libera.Chat, etc.

I help with project contributions and GNU/Linux port and GNU Autotools building maintenance.

I made porting tests of the EasyRPG player to the GP2X and OpenPandora. I made the first PSP port test, too. Also I made port testing of the very first EasyRPG editor (wx based) to macOS.

I made small contributions to the player and liblcf code, as some bugfixes, as the tile map reading bugs, completing undocumented LMT reader parts, implementing XYZ reader, cleaning warnings for GCC and MinGW, making initial project settings for CodeLite IDE, etc.

I made initial earlier EasyRPG Editor window layouts with wxGlade, resizable with automatic fit, and the class name and objects conventions.

I made the four initial title images for the RTP replacements, using public domain stock images.

Use the discussion button if you want to drop me a message in the wiki.

You can live chat with me via IRC, irc.libera.chat channel #easyrpg. My nickname there is fdelapena.

Some texts pending to be placed in the wiki somewhere.

TODO:

Concerning optimizations:

EasyRPG RTP replacement will come with all possible file optimizations to bring smaller material dependences. Once the files are already compressed another re-compression is not more effective than a good initial compression.

PNGs:

• Remove ancillary chunks (gAMA, cHRM, iCCP, tRNs, sBIT, text, etc.)
• When downgrading from 24→8 bit don't use error diffusion if not needed. To high quality color reduction try pngnq (based on pngquant).
• Use compression optimizers (advpng, optipng, pngcrush).
• To remove ancillary chunks you can use pngcrush but you can review with more control with TweakPNG (GPL, wine compatible). Try optipng -o9 and advpng -z4, sometimes zlib deflate compress better than advpng's 7-zip deflate. Specially with small graphics.
• These optimizations can save about 10% of the size of all PNGs (lots of kb)!

WAVs:

• Use WAV ADPCM where possible (75% less, use a proper format, use a proper encoder like SoX doing proper noise shaping while reducing bit depth to mitigate noise).
• Use 8bit when possible (50% less again, similar as above, LFO sounds bad at 8bit).
• Use MP3 if when possible (backwards compatible with official RPG Makers but there are patent problems).
• Use Ogg Vorbis when possible, aoTuV at best (high quality Vorbis codec modification). Not supported by official RPG Maker but better quality and less size, patent-free. Supported by newer RPG Makers (XP, VX…).
• Remove initial and final zero sound level.
• Make loops or song shorter when possible.
• Use less sample speed (44.1 → 22kHz for example) when possible.

MP3s:

• LAME encoder is good (and GPL). Use it.
• You can fine tune the presets disabling or adjusting the lowpass filter (this bypasses the forced Hz frequency downgrade).
• Try VBR instead of CBR or ABR: remember this is not net streaming.

OGGs:

• oggenc aoTuV b5.7 or higher is for you. Very best quality for low bitrates.
• As for MP3: Try different frequencies and lowpass filtering to get the best quality/size tuning.
• Use -q parameter, you can use decimals, every song can be more or less compressed, depending on the panning and other aural features of the song.

Opus:

• Opus is not supported by RPG Maker, only supported by EasyRPG Player. This is the best digital audio codec so far. Try opusenc at low bitrates, it will perform nicely.

MIDIs:

• Remove SysEx events (there are tons of hard or soft synts with General MIDI 1.x specification support only and poor System Exclusive "standard" support).
• Use standard instruments, 16 channels, channel 1 only for event data, not for notes in .mid format 1. Channel 10 for percussion. Use GS only when really needed, not widely supported.
• Remove unneeded events and tags, reduce the usage of pitch control events and other very subtile events, for example expression control each very few second fractions. Remove duplicated events and unnecessary initialization events.
• Don't use chorus and reverb if really not needed. It will save CPU if the soft synth features chorus and reverb support.
• There are lots of .MID editors. A good one is WinJammer Shareware 3.0, a good piece of abandonware. This program can control at very low level each MIDI event and work natively with .MID files.
• These optimizations can save sometimes more than the 90% of the file size!

LDB:

• RPG Maker default database come with lots of preconfigured entries. These things spend dozens and dozens of kb. You can delete it and start one from scratch.
• Create new project, close it, remove RPG_RT.ldb and open project again. The new LDB file will cost 3 kb instead of +100 kb.
• The new LDB file will have real 0% independence of any RTP file, without GameOver or Title files, too! Really minimal game.
• If your game does not use battle, don't start never the Battle Test or this will make a permanent extra chunk in your LDB.