FEATURES
This plugin allows you to use graphics as layers on the map. The layers can appear at different height levels (below the map, below characters, above everything, etc.) and can move in different ways. This was designed to be used for layer mapping (aka parallax mapping) as well as fogs and other effects.
In addition to map layers, layers can also be created in battles, allowing fogs and other effects.
VERSION 1.2 – RPG Maker MZ
Download Plugin file
Download my master demo to view examples of this plugin from:
Galv’s MZ Plugins Home
Galv's RPG Maker Scripts & Plugins 
Hello Galv, I know this probably won’t mean much but I want you to know that I truly appreciate what you have done for the community. some of the plugins you have given us are the best by far for my game purpose. Thank you kindly. you are appreciated.
It means a lot, thanks, Rick!
how do you make the pictures appear below the player?
change the z value to a smaller number. You can use decimals and negative numbers, too.
Very cool! I’m hoping lots of creators will make cool parallax mapping with this!
yey! looking forward to the other ones. great work Galv
Sounds pretty sweet, on top of having multiple map layers.
Awesome, thank you :-) However when I include the note in the map properties everything works perfectly. But when I do it as an plugin command in an event it doesn’t. Tried every possible way now, also had a look into your demo, but it’s simply not working. I’m using the same as the note in the map properties. Do you have any ideas what is wrong?
Does it not work in the demo? Look at the commands in the demo. Are you making sure to refresh the layers if you create them inside an event on the current map?
That was it! Sorry, I totally oversaw this :-( Thank you so much!
Woohoo, Galv is making plugins for MZ, some of my most used plugins came from you. Hopefully you port shards to MZ ;)
I was waiting for your plugin! Thank you!
However, I was unable to switch layers during battle.
It works if you set it on the map and then start the battle.
But I want to switch during Battle.
You need to use the Plugin Command Refresh in battle after changing layers.
Thank you! I were able to display the layers during the battle!
Let me discuss one more thing.
Galv.LG.bLayer(1);
GALV_LayerGraphicsMZ, Refresh Layer
I ran this, but couldn’t delete the layer.
The following is the error message displayed.
cannot read proprty’graphic’ of udefined
Hmm, thanks for letting me know. I recommend deleting the battle layers outside of battle. Change opacity to 0 to have them hidden in the battle. I’ll look into that issue when I can.
Thank you very much!
It corresponds by setting the opacity to 0.
I also expect new versions.
Thank you a lot Galv!
I hope your awesome MV bust menu plugin will be ported soon to MZ!
Love your work but having a weird issue. I followed you demo, which helped a ton getting my static layer to stick, only one problem. When I walk past about half way down my map(its 27×17 sized) the layer disappears. When I go back up, it comes back. I used Z layer 0 like your demo. When I set it to different Z layers it stays on but it causes me to walk behind parts of the layer. Does it matter what layers I use building my map in MZ? I noticed in your demo you have the walking area at layer 1, back round trees on a new layer and foreground trees on another layer. Is that maybe the issue? Thanks and sorry for the wall of text lol. Also I have my game set to display 1280×720 for widescreen so its not a full 48×48 grid if that matters.
Try setting the Z value to something like 0.1 and let me know if it still happens
hey, great pugin and thanks for your work. I have a question: is it possible to apply a graphic only to a specific layer, so it wont show below or above, but only for that defined layer?
Not sure what you mean or what you are trying to do. Do you mean to make it act like an event does? If so, not with this plugin.
for example: I want to hit the cloud shadow (galvlayer) only a specific layer so it wont hit the normal parallax in the backround, but only the tower, because he is so high. complicated to explain :)
see picture: https://imgur.com/B2u2n3w
No, sorry, this plugin doesn’t allow you to do things like that.
I think that there is a bug in this layer plugin system whenever
you make a call from the common events. If you once display a static layer and then clear it through a common event call, it won’t be an issue but if you recall the save common event once again, it fails to show the same static layer that was shown previously.
This issue only occurs while using a common event though but not in manual plugin command call.
I tried to create a light system binding the common events in an item and your plugin, but the same problem is persistent. I tried to fix that through different methods of the common event call but failed.
Hope you will take that bug into consideration. Thank You for all these amazing plugins.
There shouldn’t be an issue with using common event to call and create layers – it might be how and when you are calling them. Just make sure if you are creating a layer on the same map, you need to refresh the layers.
I would create all the layers you need and leave the ones not active invisible and just change their opacity when needed.
I changed the opacity of the layer as you suggested. Worked like a charm for me. Thanks once again for the response.
thanks for the plugin
The plugin works like a charm for maps I am currently designing. I am getting a [“Type Error” Cannot Read Property of Undefined.”] for those maps in my project I have not done yet.
Are you creating layers on maps you haven’t created yet?
The Save Game was done prior to installing the plug-in. When the plug-in is enabled, the Save Game Continue file with error out when selected. New game runs fine and I can Save and reload any Save AFTER the plug-in was installed and enabled. I concluded if you are running the game and saving you will be ok until you download and install/enable future plug-ins.
You are correct – a lot of plugins require you to start a new game after installing them.
I installed the plugin and when I start a new game I get a error stating TypeError cannot read property ‘7’ of undefined. What could cause this? Thanks!
If you installed the plugin and then loaded a save file that was made before installing the plugin might cause that.
Hi Galv, I did try a new game but now I get the TypeError cannot read property ‘2’ of undefined. I closed the program and restarted it along with a new game and I still get the error. Could other plugins be causing this?
I wouldn’t think that was an error caused by another plugin unless it was an issue with coding – or perhaps a plugin that skips the default new game step. It sounds like an error with script call or the plugin not activated?
I cannot help everyone error trap their projects but here’s a list of things to try:
https://galvs-scripts.com/errors-using-plugins/
How does your plugin works with collision? I mean… I don’t want a layer lower or above, I want my chara stop where the image is (A wall for example). Sorry my noobness
This doesn’t do anything with collision. It’s a visual plugin.
ok and then if I use layer 0, how can I make my character not going through SOME things in that layer? That’s the question.
By using the default collision of RPG Maker. I recommend asking in a forum for advice on parallax/layer mapping if that’s what you are trying to do. This plugin only displays images, doesn’t do anything with collision.
Hello!
Nice pluguin! but…
Can you add a “move layer” or something like that?
I work with parrallax mapping, and for example, in 2k3, i can use Pictures to do parallax mapping, and I can move them wherever i want, and i miss doing something like that in this pluguin, to move the layer in the coordinates i want or by variable, is that posible??
Thanks, and keep the good job!! :)
I won’t be making any changes to this plugin, sorry.
Hello,
Trying you plugin gave me an idea of a stealth situation like we could see in the game “commando” in which you had to avoid being seen by soldiers.
Do you think it would be possible to interact with the layers shape attached to a moving event ?
This plugin only does layer graphics. To make it appear it is interacting, you’d need to do other eventing – I recommend asking in a forum for that.
Searching on youtube for a lead, I found this video of someone using your plugin in an interactive way.
If you’re curious look at 4:48 on the video.
I can’t try to adapt his idea since the plugin he uses is for MV and I only own MZ.
The interactive part is not this plugin. That’s a different plugin. This plugin only displays graphics.
Hey Galv! I was wondering. With your layers plugin is it possible to use it for a sunbeam effect? I have a sunbeam layer and I want it to move with the camera so that it looks like sun rays. Do you think that’s possible?
Thank you.
Yes, it’s possible. You will need to determine what size graphic you need and what settings are best for your map, though.
Hey Galv. thanks for responding. Great. What setting do you think I would use to make the sunbeam layer stay within the camera so it doesn’t go off screen?
You will need to determine the settings yourself. Trial and error. But changing the X move and Y move to your tile size (48 by default) would make the layer move as though it was stuck to the screen.
Hi Galv, sorry to bother you but I’m having an issue with static layers. The normal layers are working properly. However, I tried everything but the static layers just won’t show.
I’ve even tried copying the whole map of your master demo into my game and copied the related layers, but it still won’t show.
Could it be because I’m using rpg maker mz 1.1.1 and it’s outdated for your plugin?
I would really appreciate your kind help.
Oh sorry, It was just me mis-assigning the map IDs. Sorry for the fuss.
For my situation I found out that “Map ID = 0” does not work for static layers, it does not refer to current layer. Not sure if this is just me or if there’s a problem.
Amazing plugin, love all your work. Thank you for providing the demo as well, it’s been really helpful in configuring. You’re a community legend!
Thanks, I am glad you’ve found them useful
hi Galv, your plugins are amazing, I was wondering if I can use this one in RMMV.
I have both MV and MZ versions of this one. :)
This is my favorite layer graphics plugin, unfortunately it causes the game to crash when you deploy your project for Web/Mobile.
I really love all your plugins Galv and appreciate all the work you’ve done for the community. Thank you!
Does it display an error when crashing?
Hi! I would like to first thank you so much for your plugins. I use many of them regularly in my game, including the layer graphics. However, I am finding that with the layer graphics, I’m having a couple issues I was hoping you could help me resolve.
First, when using the layers in the map notes, I cannot for the life of me get them to scroll or move across the map using the X Y settings (I have double, triple, and quadruple checked and I’m using the correct spots. I add speed to them, and they remain static.
Second, I can’t create layers using the plugin commands, only using the notes. Nothing happens at all when I try to use the plugin commands. They will only appear if I use them in notes. And third, when I was trying to create layers with the plugin command, it would try to pull from my battlebacks folder, not my layers folder.
Thank you for any ideas on what may be causing these issues.
Check out the demo and make sure to read the documentation.
The layer graphics made via map notes should work with movement, not sure why they wouldn’t. Does it happen in the demo?
Make sure you use the correct layout for the notes, they are slightly different to not using notes.
When creating a layer on the same map, you need to refresh the layers. Ideally you should set them up on a different map, so then no refresh is necessary.
Hi Galv. Is there any reason why your plugin would cause a Error: Cannot read property “2” of undefined even when no other plugins are running?
Here’s a list of error trapping ideas:
https://galvs-scripts.com/errors-using-plugins/
My first thought is you might not have started a new new game after adding the plugin?
Hello Galv! I use this plugin and I really like it. But today I’ve got a problem. I created a 40×70 tile map. For this map I made a layer, 960×1680 pixels respectively. When I try to attach this layer to the map, it becomes smaller, about 1/4 of the size of the map. Do you happen to know what could be the reason?
Thanks in advance!
The default tile size in MZ is 48px.
40 tiles x 48 = 1920
70 tiles x 48 = 3360
You would need the layer to be that size to fill the map.
Can you use blending modes with this?
yes
The link doesn’t work for me, is it taken down?
No, it was probably down temporarily.
Hi I noticed previous comment from jfingle saying the link wasnt working. It still isn’t working as I have tried a few times myself. I click a link and another tab opens but automatically closes it self.
Thought I fixed all the links on the site but looks like I haven’t – I fixed this one now.
Thanks for letting me know.
No worries and thanks for making these plugins in the first place!
If you see in your site’s logs someone who downloaded a lot of plugins from this page today, that was me.
I’m leaving you this message to let you know that thanks to you kindly sharing your work for free I will be able to bootstrap my game and make it look and play in a way that is far removed from the RPG Maker experience.
I will give back to you in the form of donations in two stages. First a little, when I rise funds for the game, and later again (hopefully a more substantial donation) when I reach a certain milestone of profit.
Thanks a lot / muito obrigado, Bholenath.
Thank you for the kinds words, I am glad you find my plugins useful – good luck with your project!
Hey Galv, I’m seriously loving this plugin, but for some reason blend modes other than 0 (normal) don’t seem to work for me. Just wondering if you have any ideas. Thanks much!
I just did a test to make sure they were weren’t bugged but it is working fine for me. Are you adding the blend mode via plugin command or map note? If it’s by map note or script, make sure the value is the the right position between commas.
I’m having the same issue. I just map note and the layer only shows up on blend mode 0.
Hey Galv, I’m interested in donating to your cause… but I’d like to get the plugin working before I do so. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, and I took a look at the sample project, but I still don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Is there any way you can help me?
Check out this link for some error-trapping starters: https://galvs-scripts.com/errors-using-plugins/
Then let me know some more details and I will try to work out what’s happening. For example, does it throw an error? If so, what does the error say?
If it doesn’t throw an error, have you made sure to follow all the instructions? (Such as, if you added a layer in an event on a map, did you use the script call after it to refresh the layers?
Hi Galv, thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I’ll try the forums. I have been asking around, but no one has stepped forward to help. I’m sure it is something I’m doing wrong, but I have read through all your literature, and I think I’m doing it correctly… I’ll get back to you. Thanks!!
You’ll have to show how you set it up so people can try to see where you went wrong. I saw your forum post – make sure you post screenshots there.
Hey Galv. This really is an incredible plugin. I’ve been using it since it was released for MZ. Is there a chance that you could allow for sub folders within the Layers folder? Just wondering. Thanks in advance.
Sorry, I have no plans on updating this one. I recommend a naming convention to make it easier.
Thank you so much for all the hard work you have done to provide us with such amazing plugins! You are very appreciated by me and many others I believe.
Thank you so much for the hard work you have done and to share with us these amazing plugins. You are very much appreciated, by me alongside many others I believe!
Kind of you to say, thank you! I hope my plugins are useful for your project
Hello friend, I’m having an issue. when I’m running around the map under doorways and other things that is above the player layer, there are times when the character walks under like intended but then under the same stuff, the player walks over it. not sure if that has been reported yet. didn’t see anything on it. thank you kindly
Try increasing the Z value. You can use decimal points.