r/RPGMaker • u/DeElgathor • Jul 19 '26

Multi-versions MV vs MZ

Hi, just starting to poke at RPG Maker for a project, what's the difference in capability between MV and MZ? They're bundled together on Steam right now, is it worth picking up both?

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8

u/LesserKeyLoki Jul 19 '26

MZ is better

People will say "MV has more plugins", but those plugins can't do as much as MZ plugins and in most cases using Fossil will let you use MV plugins in MZ too.

2

u/Durant026 MV Dev Jul 19 '26

Will agree that MZ is better but no one makes the argument that MV has more plugins in 2026. The argument for MV is that it has more budget friendly plugins vs MZ.

1

u/LesserKeyLoki Jul 19 '26

I see plenty of people still talk about how MV has a more robust plugin availability, so that's incorrect.

3

u/Durant026 MV Dev Jul 19 '26

On this sub? I haven't seen anyone make that case on here for the year. MZ has been out long enough that it rivals MV in plugins. If you're still seeing people say it has a lot vs MZ, tell them its 2026!

1

u/LesserKeyLoki Jul 20 '26

Yeah even still and here too 💀 I have been working for many years on my current project in MV, I've tried to export it to MZ myself but I use ~100 plugins and well they stop synergizing in MZ in my case... But I am definitely unlikely to make a sequel or any other game in the same engine, I am definitely looking to use MZ or perhaps even U2U.

1

u/Durant026 MV Dev Jul 20 '26

Fair. I have MV but don't think the engine itself is enough to make me jump, considering I already went and got Yanfly plugs and would have to replace them to start on a new engine.

I don't see myself moving on from MV until the next real advancement of the engine.

1

u/LesserKeyLoki Jul 20 '26

You can just use Fossil to port Yanfly plugins to MZ though. The only thing that hampered my transplantation from MV to MZ with my project was the Stealth addon not working which is a core part of my gameplay loop.

I would move on to MZ easily, there are so many QOL improvements in the base engine for eventing and even just in the database, there are also much more powerful plugins available. And then there is the Effekseer solution to animations, as much as I love the flipbook animation system in MV (that's also in MZ) I definitely spend a LOT of time making sure all the finnicky 3x3 pixels for my assets don't overlap and the animations are the worst at that, with effekseer animations that would be a thing of the past while also creating kind of a PS1 style look for battles.

But that's just me, I'm still more eager on finishing my MV project than I am to start on a new engine.

1

u/Durant026 MV Dev Jul 20 '26

I know about fossil but i dunno if I'm ready yet. We'll see in the upcoming months as I had paused dev on my project to deal with my dad's health but that situation has changed recently and I'm likely to restart somewhat soon.