while making maps is fun, eventually I had to break down and actually write an event. Problem is that it won't run right and I'm not sure of how to go about programing it in RM3.
It's also frustrating because this is a "bread and butter" event really, and if I can't nail this, then my game is toast.

So basically here is what I'm trying to do:
In my game you need to acquire a "license" to go explore a certain cave. (There is a plot reason for this but it is not really important here) You get this license from the town clerk of one of the towns. To obtain it, you must have the "processing fee" which is 1,000. I start the character with 300, and enemies don't drop a whole lot of cash so I figure the time it takes the player to save up the cash would be enough of a challenge. (the plot is going to have the player go elsewhere first anyway, so it works out.)

But ANYHOW...

The problem I'm having is that once you buy it, I don't want it to be available for sale anymore, because hey, you only need one, and I set it as a treasure item, so I don't think you can sell it anyway.

In RM1 the answer would be simple. Set a switch, make 2 page event, set somethings to start only when you have a certain item, and bada-bing-bada-boom, you got yourself an NPC that will sell you an item once, only once you have a certain condition met, and then never again.

But RM3 has no switches. That I can find.
I figure this is pretty standard stuff here, so it should be relatively easy to program, but I'm not skilled with the system enough to figure it out.

Hey, you know what though? THAT'S WHY I HAVE YOU GUYS!!

So please help lil' ol' me, P. L. Z.

In the event that gives you the item add another mode to it. In the coding where you recieve the license have a modify mode command and set it to the empty mode. That way the next time you trigger the event it will be on the new mode.

I hope that helps. I would explain more, but I'm slightly busy at the moment. If you need more help I'll try to explain better tomorrow.

@Staffy

Yes, the treasure is a type of item that cannot be sold in the preset shops.

Yes, you can have the town clerk as a character give you the item only once easily (using modes or variables).

Yes, you can as event code (script) deduct 1000 gold from the party.

BUT (!!!) since there is nothing in the game (as far as I know) that has the ability to check party gold except the preset shops, I don't think you can prevent the character from giving the item the first time even if the character has less than 1000 gold. Unless I am incorrect, this is a huge shortcoming of RPGM3 that you have to work around.

What you can do is create treasures instead of gold for the enemies to drop which you can then assign a value, like 500 gold which can then be used by an NPC or an event to exchange for the gold and instead require the town clerk to have the treasure in treasure form instead of gold form. But the party will probably have to pay in installments if you want to stretch it out. Each time the party brings the treasure, the clerk will have to give you partial credit. It is lame that you are forced to do this, I know but it will work, and actually I know a game that has this and it was kind of a cool part of the game.

Only one treasure (per type) will ever show in your inventory so you have to treat it one of two ways. Either you can only carry one of each treasure until you cash it for gold or alternatively buy partial credit from the clerk, thus removing the treasure, or you can script a variety of complicated events to try to track via a variable how many copies of each treasure you "have" even though your inventory is showing only one.

I will leave it to others first to comment (especially if I am simply wrong) before going into any of this detail.

But to answer at least the gist of your question. Let's say the license was given away free the first time you confronted the clerk. You would have the character talk to the character (who by default starts in mode 1), the character would give the treasure (license) (in Party Control) and then you would switch the town clerk character mode to mode 2 (in Property Control) who now, when you talk to him, says, "how's the cave exploring going?". You have to be careful though because each character has both day modes and night modes. I think it is treated as one day event contents one night event contents per mode. But you can copy and paste day into night modes and I think mode1 into mode 2. (I noticed that Lausen just replied to the same effect).

Also instead of using characters you can use events that have different modes (and switch them as such) but events don't have day and night specific behavior but (as a side note) if you really wanted to you could make it work that way in certain circumstances.

Well, I set the coding up so that It SHOULD only activate if the character has a certain amount of gold by setting up a value specific variable to something like

{[Value>=Specified Value]} {[123] 1000}
You lazy bum. go get a job.
{[Value<Specified> grant treasure="cavers license"]}
Modify party->
{[Remove Gold= "1000"]}
End event

And As far As I see, modes are like event pages right?

Thats exactly what they are. Just named differently.

@Staffy,

Are you talking about the "gold" built into the game, i.e., the gold that is assigned to monsters and the gold that you use at a built-in shop, and the gold of which you can view the amount from your inventory screen, or are you talking about an entirely user created currency, available via a variable, that you cannot use at the built-in shops (but only at user created events), that you cannot assign to monsters (unless it is it the form of a treasure worth gold like I mention in the post above), and that you cannot view the value of from your inventory screen?

In other words, here is the key. If you are using the script code "remove gold" in the value of 1000, you are talking about removing built-in game gold. But you are talking about tracking a user created variable to check to see if you have enough built in game gold. The only way you can correlate that (and anyone is free to correct me if I'm wrong) is if you have no built-in game shops, because the player can buy all kinds of items at a built-in game shop by spending gold and you can't track that, and by ensuring that all distributed gold assigned to monsters exactly matches your variable such that you must only have event battles knowing exactly which monsters you have so that you can change your variable with the battle result branch script. It can be done with random battles (I'm pretty sure) but it would take a lot of event creation depending on how many maps you have random battles on. But again, this is only if you use no built-in shops. Once the player buys an item, the shop takes their gold and doesn't allow your variable to find out.

I'm not using user created gold. (though that sounds pretty neat). All in game stuff.

So let me get this straight if I may.

What I'm hearing is that RM3, a more "advanced" RM does NOT have a code to track a KNOWN amount (i.e. The party's current gold) while RM1 in fact has a option to start events only when you have a certain amount of gold in your possession?

Because, I would settle for having a separate mode altogether that only starts when the player shows up with 1000g and does NOT have the license.

As I said, in RM1 that is how I would do it.
Page one would start if the player did NOT have 1000g, and/or the license.
Page two would only start if the player had the 1000g but NOT the licence.
and page 3 would only start if the player had the license.

As for the night mode, I'm not worrying about it. The character in question simply won't be in the town office at night.

You did make an interesting and correct assumption. I do want the character to sill be able to be talked to once the sale is over, which is why I only want the sale to occur once.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. And whoever told you that RPGM3 was more "advanced" is either lying or wearing rose-tinted glasses. Outside of field map creation and storytellers, it's actually the weakest.

Hence the quotation marks dray.

Anyway. I guess I kind of like the idea where you have to get a certain amount of something and turn them in for the license.

I could call them "chits of achievement" or something and you can either buy them at the store, or get them for completing tasks for certain people. I could even have some stashed in the players house to show he's been working on this for a while. THUS f*cking GIVING ME A REASON TO START THE STORY. (He's too poor to buy any, thus he has to earn them from good deeds for now).

Well damn. Writers block gone I guess.

Still, This type of stuff could require more help, so let's keep this thread open for now.

In my current project, I'm using colored gems as a form of currency that's used to buy spells at mage guilds. Sapphires are used to buy Water spells. Rubies for Fire spells. Diamonds for Wind spells. The mage guild code that operates the trading of gems for spells is gonna be utterly massive. But that's an example of something you can do with custom-designed currency. Just use a variable to track how much of the currency the player has. Each event that gives the player some of this currency will increase the variable and give the treasure item.

As far as tracking how much currency you have, there's no way for the player to get visual information on the fly. The clerk at the mage guild will tell you how many of each colored gem you have.

"You have 3 sapphires."
"You have 2 rubies."
"You have 4 diamonds."
Then he asks which type of spell you want, then you can exchange your gems for a spell.

On the more simple front, I'll have vending machines that accept special coins (called Buuko Coins). It works the same way. The machine in "Raiders" is fully functional. You can insert a coin, operate the coin return if you change your mind, select an item to buy, or exit (a useful option if you don't have any coins yet).