MZ - Dual Wield

Version 1.04:

Due to some changes in the VisuStella BattleCore plugin implemented on January 22, 2021, the main function of this plugin is no longer needed. VSBattleCore now implements a very similar in battle dual wielding effect to what this plugin does, and has an unrepairable conflict with the changes that my plugin makes to the system.

What does this mean for this plugin?

Currently, version 1.04 has disabled the battle related changes that this plugin originally had. That means split attacks are now handled by BattleCore, and for the attack sequence, the effect is basically the same. Fortunately, as the split attacks are now implemented in BattleCore itself, there should be no incompatibilities with their own battle system plugins, something I could not guarantee with my own.

Unfortunately, several of my battle system enhancements do not work anymore. Specifically, the ability to lock skills to one hand or the other, or automatically lock them to the hand of a required weapon. On the other hand, with their implementation, you can build that sort of thing into the action sequence for a skill anyway, and it would do you well to learn how to use custom sequences for this, as it will help you a lot more in the long run.

Several of the plugin parameters for this plugin have been marked as deprecated, as they no longer do anything. The ability to modify an actors base ATK per hand no longer functions, so those parameters (two handed, dual wield and offhanded modifier) go ignored for now. If you want your twohanded weapons to be stronger, you will now have to build that bonus into the base atk of the weapon instead, and unfortunately, there will be no good way to make a weapon wielded in the offhand weaker than the same weapon wielded in the main hand, at least for now.

The menu changes have been reverted as well. While the VS plugin does do split attack, and split weapon traits in a similar way to what I was doing, there is no way for my plugin to know the results of whatever math they do to come up with these values, so the numbers may not add up correctly. Perhaps at some point, they will include options in the menu core plugins to show these values.

So what does this plugin still do, then?

Right now, this plugin still has several features that the VSBattleCore has not interfered with:

• Dualwield type actors can equip a shield in their offhand weapon slot.
• Weapons can be tagged to prevent them from being wielded in the main or offhand, or to set them as being twohanded, which will auto-unequip whatever is in the offhand.
• Shields can be set as offhand to allow them to be wielded together with a twohanded weapon.
• Actors can be set as monkeygrip, which allows them use of a twohanded weapon in just one hand.
• Actors can be set as titansgrip, allowing them to also put a twohanded weapon in their offhand.

All of the code for the features that have been removed has only been commented out, to allow some more savvy folks to modify it and see if they can restore some of the missing functionality, if they want.

The future:

When I first started porting the dual wield plugin to MZ, I attempted to get it to work without the VSBattleCore. It had some functionality, but I couldn't get it to display correct enough to be usable. I had promised for those who did not want to use the VS plugin library that eventually a version of this plugin that did not require it would be coming. I am still working on that version. In the future, that version will be the only version of this plugin, going forward. 

I have uploaded a second download for this plugin, which is version 1.03 - the last version that worked with VSBattleCore version 1.22 and below. You can feel free to use that if you use the outdated version of BattleCore, as it is still compatible, but know that if you update to v1.23 or later, this plugin will have all kinds of problems.

Below is the original description of the plugin:

This is a port of the MV version of Dual Wield. 

It is mechanically the same as the original plugin with a couple of differences:

• As the original plugin relied on YEP_BattleEngineCore to function, this plugin has moved to VisuStella BattleEngineCore.
• Because the features of dozens of old YEP plugins are rolled into a smaller number of huge VS plugins, this plugin contains a few menu adjustments that were previously part of the free Menu Extension plugin.

In case you were previously unaware of the original plugin, here's a good overview.

Dual Wielding - Default

In the default engine, dual wielding is... not great. 

• An actor wielding two weapons makes one strike, showing only the weapon sprite of the main hand weapon, and the battle animations of both weapons simultaneously, with the offhand animation mirrored under the mainhand animation. 
• The parameters of both weapons are added together, causing someone using two weapons to be substantially stronger than someone using only one.
• The traits of both weapons are also combined on the actor as well, which causes balancing problems between weapons that can be dual wielded, as the player could offset a strong, inaccurate weapon with a weaker one with bonus hit % to negate the penalty from the harder hitting weapon. This could also cause the actor to use two weapons with elemental attributes, or gain the state effects of two weapons at the same time, which is a balancing nightmare on its own.
• Dual wield type actors can only equip weapons in their second weapon slot. This is because the slot is considered a weapon slot, and a shield is not a weapon.

Dual Wielding - Improved

This plugin modifies dual wielding in the following ways:

• A dual wield type actor (which is to say one who has the trait to wield two weapons at once) can now equip a shield in their offhand slot.
• All normal attacks made by an actor who is dual wielding will hit twice, once with each weapon.
• Each individual weapon swing (called a strike from this point on to make it easier to type) ignores the traits and parameters of the opposite weapon. An offhand strike will not benefit from the stats or traits on the main hand weapon and vice versa.
• Each strike shows only the weapon sprite of the weapon being wielded in that hand, and the weapon animation of that weapon.
• Skills that have multiple repeats will also switch weapons after each hit. These skills will not ignore weapon traits (or stats) on the hidden weapon, unless the skill is tagged specifically to do so.
• Weapons can be tagged to only be usable in the main or off hand, as well as to be two-handed. A two-handed weapon prevents the user from using another weapon in his offhand.
• Weapons can also have special modifiers put on them to change their attack power if they are being two-handed or wielded in the off hand.
• Shields can also be tagged with <offhand> to allow them to be wielded along with a two-handed weapon in the main hand.
• Modifiers are available to modify the base attack parameter of an actor's individual strikes. The twohanded modifier is applied if they are using a twohanded weapon, the dual wield modifier is applied to both weapons, and the offhand modifier is only applied to the offhand.
• Individual weapons can also be set up to disallow the use of other weapon types in the opposite hand. 
• Skills can be locked to force them to only be used with one hand or the other.
• Skills that require a specific weapon type can also be locked automatically to the correct hand if only one of those weapons is being used. 

Why?

I personally felt that the old dual wielding implementation is lackluster. Any actor who is dual wield type needs to be limited to using special weapons specifically for them, as if they had access to the same weapon a normal actor had, their raw attack power would effectively be double that of a normal actor. With this system, they can use the same weapons as everyone else, and through use of the various modifiers, can be balanced evenly with actors single-wielding the same weapon.

The dual animation, and single weapon strike thing is also not great. It's a pretty common thing in front view systems, but for the most part, side view battle systems usually have multiple strikes for dual wielding.

Most importantly, choice. The player is now free to decide between two weapons, a two-handed weapon, or a one-handed weapon and a shield. In class-based projects, this could lead to several different player-builds of the same character class. Choice is always good.

VisuStella Compatibility:

When I first set out to make this port, I had a tough time of it. The original required Yanfly's BattleEngineCore to function, and in order to bring this over to MZ I would need to find a way around that dependency. While I managed to get real base functionality out of the plugin, it wasn't great (and visually it was trash). Then VisuStella released their core plugin pack, and it contains the legacy of the YEP suite, and most importantly, action sequences. At this point, I made the decision to require the VS BattleEngineCore plugin for my plugin. If you're not using the VS plugin library, fret not, for the work I did earlier on trying to port it to base MZ will not go to waste, and once I get it to a working state, I will release a VS-less version. Do keep in mind that that version is likely to be missing some core features of this one, though.

Using This Plugin:

Import this plugin into your manager. VisuMZ_1_BattleCore is a required dependency. Dual Wield must be placed below the following VisuStella plugins, if you're using them:

• VisuMZ_1_ItemsEquipsCore
• VisuMZ_1_SkillsStatesCore
• VisuMZ_1_ElementStatusCore
• VisuMZ_1_MainMenuCore

Once imported into your project, the following happens automatically, with no required changes being made by you:

• Actors who are dual wield type will be able to put shields in their offhand slot, but only if they have the trait required to equip shields.
• Weapon slots are renamed for dual wield type actors, instead of both being labeled 'Weapon'. The name shown can be changed via plugin parameters, and can be set by actor class, or by actor specifically.
• Actors who are actively wielding two weapons, or barehands, or one weapon and one empty hand, will strike twice with normal attacks.
• Each strike with normal attacks will alternate which weapon sprite is shown in the battlers hand, as well as the battle animation shown. If one of the hands is empty, the unarmed strike animation will play.
• Each strike with normal attacks will cause damage and effects that ignore the weapon in the opposite hand.
• Skills that repeat more than once, or use an action sequence to hit more than one time will also alternate animations/sprite graphics.

Advanced Use:

Notetags:

The following note tags are available:

Weapons:

<mainhand>
A weapon with this tag is not allowed to be equipped in the off hand slot.
<offhand>
A weapon with this tag is not allowed in the main hand slot.
<twohanded>
A weapon with this tag is only allowed in the main hand slot, and force unequips the item in the off hand slot when equipped. Two-handed weapons can be wielded by non dual-wield type actors.
<forbidden wtypes: x y z>
This weapon will not be allowed to be equipped while the actor is also wearing a weapon with one of the given wtypes. It will also prevent weapons of those types from being equipped while wearing this one.
<twohanded attack modifier>
value = code
</twohanded attack modifier>
The code between these tags will be parsed during runtime, and added to the attack value of the weapon when it is being wielded in two hands.
<offhand attack modifier>
value = code
</offhand attack modifier>
The code between these tags is parsed during run time, and added to the attack value of the weapon when it is being wielded in the offhand.
<cannot monkeygrip>
A weapon tagged with this note tag cannot be monkeygripped. Use it to denote ranged weapons such as a bow, that should not be able to be wielded in one hand.

Shields:

<offhand>
A shield with this tag can be held in the offhand slot while a two-handed weapon is being wielded in the main hand.

Skills:

<dualwield skill>
This skill will now alternate damage and effects as if it were a normal attack, in addition to alternating weapon graphics and animations.
<mainhand skill>
This skill will only show the graphics of the main hand weapon, and will use the params and effects of only the main hand weapon, even if it hits more than once.
<offhand skill>
This skill will only show the graphics of the off hand weapon, and will use only the params and effects of the offhand weapon, even if it hits more than once.

States, armors, classes, actors:

<monkeygrip>
An actor who has something that has this note tag on it will be able to wield a two-handed weapon with one hand. Non dual-wielding actors with this tag can use it to wield a two-handed weapon together with a heavy shield
<titansgrip>
If the plugin parameter to allow a two-handed weapon in the offhand slot is set to 'Special', any source of this tag on an actor will allow them to put a two-handed weapon in their offhand. This note tag also enables monkeygrip if another source of that tag is not already present. 

Monkeygrip and Titansgrip:

Update version 1.01 brings monkeygripping and titansgrip back in from the RMMV version, this time as a patch rather than as a paid extension. An actor who has the associated note tag on their actor, class, or armor can wield a two-handed weapon in just one hand, allowing a heavy shield or another weapon in the offhand. Just like with the monkeygrip extension for the RMMV version, this plugin also contains titansgrip, which allows a dual wield actor to wield a two-handed weapon in their offhand as well. 

Monkeygrip actors who are not dual wield type can still use heavy shields in their offhand without unequipping their weapons.

Plugin Parameters:

There are three parameters for modifying damage of actors during run time. These are labeled Dualwield Damage Modifier, Offhand Damage Modifier, and Twohanded Damage Modifier.

All three of these parameters are float values by default, 1.0, 0.75 and 1.5 respectively. The parameter also has the ability to be a single line of code that can be EVAL'd. You can EVAL code in here to make conditional modifiers based on actor, class, weapons held, variables, or anything else you'd have access to on a global scope.

The modifiers multiply the base attack value of the actor, before weapons are applied. The two-handed multiplier is applied when the actor is wielding a weapon in two-hands, the dual wield multiplier is applied when dual wielding, and the offhand multiplier is applied only to the weapon in the offhand.

An actor with 100 ATK (while naked) will have 150 ATK while wielding a two-handed weapon with 0 ATK on it. If dual wielding two weapons that are the same attack, the actor will see his offhand has 75 ATK, while his mainhand has the full 100. You can use these multipliers to balance dual wielding, applying a penalty to both weapons for dual wielding them, a single penalty to the offhand for not being ambidextrous, and buffing two-handed weapons to make them more competitive with dual wielders.

UI Changes:

This plugin modifies several menu scenes to display the main and offhand weapon values more readily to players. Previously, this was available for the MV version of the plugin via an extension, but because of the way load order is set up in the VisuStella library, I was able to include some UI changes in the base plugin.

This is the default equip scene, with no modifications.

This is the same scene with dual wield enabled.

This is the EquipCore modified equip scene, with no dual wield

This is the same scene again but with dual wield enabled.

The attack parameter is now drawn as a split value, with the left side representing the attack power of the main hand, and the right number for the off hand swing. Also note that the name for the weapon slot is changed. This text is configurable.

The default parameters window

The same scene with dual wield enabled

While not evident in the above screens, the values for Hit and Critical Rate will also show split values if the actor is both dual wielding, and has different values for them. If they are the same value, it simply shows the one value.

This skill scene shows a small status window. This is the way it looks by default

The modified scene when dual wield is enabled

Once again, the split parameters show in place of the attack value. 

Terms of Use:

• This plugin may be used in commercial or non-commercial projects. With credit to me, Ramza.
• Purchase of this plugin allows you to use it in as many projects as you want.
• You may modify this plugin directly, for personal use only.
• Sharing this plugin, direct edits to it, or any demo projects that come with it is prohibited. 
• You may share edits to this plugin as extensions to this one. Extensions require the base plugin to function.
  • You can choose to sell extensions to this plugin for profit, crowdfunding, donations, etc, as long as the extension requires this base plugin to function. 
• Do not modify the header of the plugin file, and do not claim ownership of the plugin in your own projects.

if (user.isCurrentlyDualWielding())
//repeat target action plugin calls
end

delete BattleManager._subject._numAttacks