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[ARCHIVE] Simple Questions (SEARCH BEFORE ASKING A QUESTION)

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redriders180

Mastermind of Pokemon Glazed
314
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13
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Looks like it's my turn to ask the questions...

I rarely edit the Wild Pokemon found on the routes in my ROM hack, because every time I do so, it completely messes up everything. I get an error message saying "There isn't a pointer found at [offset]", with [offset] obviously being an offset. This generally happens whenever I add or remove potential wild Pokemon, i.e. adding a "water" section or removing a "water" section, but it also happens when I just change values. Is there some method to changing these that I'm not getting?

Edit: Sometimes, when I'm entering level values of Wild Pokemon, I might enter, say "15", but going to another box snaps it back to zero, so I have to fight with Advance Map just to get the right levels. Maybe Advance Map just isn't a good program for this kind of thing. Is there another program that I can use for this kind of stuff? Or is there a method I'm not doing?

Double Edit: I'm using A-map 1.95. When I was using 1.92, I never had this problem. Is that a coincidence, or should I always use 1.92 for Wild Pokemon encounters?

Triple Edit: I guess a secondary question would be to ask for a way to fix any maps that have this problem already, so I'm not harassed by these popups whenever I try to access them
 
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Jambo51

Glory To Arstotzka
736
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14
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  • Seen Jan 28, 2018
use 1.92 when adding new pokemon slot, never remove pokemon slots, just lower the percentage rate and add more of the same pokemon in the slots.

Actually, zeroing out the encounter rate doesn't stop encounters. The game has code which checks if it is zero, and sets it to a base value if it is. So there is ALWAYS a chance of an encounter if there's Pokémon data.


If you don't have a Water section on the map in question, it's not exactly the worst thing just to leave the data there, it simply won't get used. If you DO have a water segment and need it to have no Pokémon, it's possible to remove certain sets of data by (this sounds utterly counter intuitive, but bear with me!) hitting the expand button. It'll open up a dialogue for you to choose what types of wild data you want. Simply uncheck the relevant one, and press OK. This will safely remove the wild data from the map. (This is on A-Map 1.92 - not sure if it'd work on 1.95)

There is a still better way to do it, involving hex editing, if you're willing to do that. Do everything you did last time up to the unchecking in the list. Instead, take note of the first valid offset in the list, convert it to little endian (reverse hex) and then search for said offset in your ROM. It will lead you to the pointers for your map's wild Pokémon. Now you can zero out any unwanted sets of map data from the map without repointing the wild Pokémon pointers (which is what method 1 does).

As to changing the old ones back - Try using method 2 to find the pointers and see if you have an invalid pointer in the list.
 
3
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11
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  • Seen Mar 14, 2014
I'm having a massive problem trying to get VBA SDL-H to run. Regular VBA loads fine, as does the unmodified SDL version, but any '-H' versions of the program just won't execute. If I try dragging the .gba file to the executable, I get a Windows error message claiming the file is not configured correctly. If I try an execute via command line, I get the message "The system cannot execute the specified program." I've got the latest .sdl file and a .cfg file so I can't work out what's wrong. Any advice, anyone?
 

redriders180

Mastermind of Pokemon Glazed
314
Posts
13
Years
I'm having a massive problem trying to get VBA SDL-H to run. Regular VBA loads fine, as does the unmodified SDL version, but any '-H' versions of the program just won't execute. If I try dragging the .gba file to the executable, I get a Windows error message claiming the file is not configured correctly. If I try an execute via command line, I get the message "The system cannot execute the specified program." I've got the latest .sdl file and a .cfg file so I can't work out what's wrong. Any advice, anyone?

I had somewhat of a similar problem with VBA-SDL-H, although it would freeze up when I tried to use a rom. I downloaded VBA-SDL-H2, and it's worked fine so far. See if downloading that would work.
 
3
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11
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  • Seen Mar 14, 2014
I had somewhat of a similar problem with VBA-SDL-H, although it would freeze up when I tried to use a rom. I downloaded VBA-SDL-H2, and it's worked fine so far. See if downloading that would work.

I have both the VBA-SDL-H and VBA-SDL-H2 builds but neither will even execute, let alone crash. I just get the message regarding incorrect configuration each time, so the problem still stands unfortunately.
 
54
Posts
13
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  • Seen Jul 5, 2013
Have a question for asm writing. I am currently researching how to pass over the oak intro for my (maybe never released) game, but I can't seem to know where to go. I've read a bunch of ASM guides and quite understood all the commands and stuff, but I still don't know how to make my way out.

When I launch VBA-SDL-H and break the game during the intro, the instructions keep looping at a certain point (obviously waiting for the user to press a button) but even when i press A and stop the game, I still don't know what routine load the next screen.

Maybe I'm asking too much, anyway I'll still work my ass tomorrow until I found the way, but if someone can help me up, I'll greatly appreciate it.
 

Lord_Blade

Gallade
2
Posts
11
Years
  • Age 27
  • PA
  • Seen Oct 30, 2021
Two Questions About ROM Hacking

'Ello. I have just started my first ROM hack and I am learning the ropes quite well. I do have two questions, however. These are:

1. In Pokemon Fire Red, how can I make it so that there are only two starters (I have A-Starter)?
2. In the same version, how do I start with the National Dex rather than the Regional Dex?

I am sorry if these questions seem stupid, but could someone please assist me? Thanks in advance.
 

redriders180

Mastermind of Pokemon Glazed
314
Posts
13
Years
What number in movement positions on AM do you use when jumping off a hill?

It's different, depending on whether or not you use RSE or FRLG. If FRLG, use these:

#raw 0x14 = Jump2 Down
#raw 0x15 = Jump2 Up
#raw 0x16 = Jump2 Left
#raw 0x17 = Jump2 Right

if RSE, use these:

#raw 0x0C = Jump2 Down
#raw 0x0D = Jump2 Up
#raw 0x0E = Jump2 Left
#raw 0x0F = Jump2 Right


'Ello. I have just started my first ROM hack and I am learning the ropes quite well. I do have two questions, however. These are:

1. In Pokemon Fire Red, how can I make it so that there are only two starters (I have A-Starter)?

A-map is hardly necessary in Firered, because the starter Pokemon aren't contained in some kind of special, like in RSE. Just use A-Map to go to Prof Oaks lab, and click on the Pokeball events. All you have to do is delete one of those, and you have two starters

2. In the same version, how do I start with the National Dex rather than the Regional Dex?

I am sorry if these questions seem stupid, but could someone please assist me? Thanks in advance.

Special 0x16F activates the National Dex.
 

miksy91

Dark Energy is back in action! ;)
1,480
Posts
15
Years
Have a question for asm writing. I am currently researching how to pass over the oak intro for my (maybe never released) game, but I can't seem to know where to go. I've read a bunch of ASM guides and quite understood all the commands and stuff, but I still don't know how to make my way out.

When I launch VBA-SDL-H and break the game during the intro, the instructions keep looping at a certain point (obviously waiting for the user to press a button) but even when i press A and stop the game, I still don't know what routine load the next screen.

Maybe I'm asking too much, anyway I'll still work my ass tomorrow until I found the way, but if someone can help me up, I'll greatly appreciate it.
Have you tried debugging from "Hello, welcome to..." instead and going backwards in code until you get to the certain place you want to ?
Should be as easy (maybe easier) as debugging the naming screen.

P.S
If you know what A button stands for in I/O map, you can debug when the press of A button is loaded there and follow the code from there.
Example, GB/C assembly though.
 
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54
Posts
13
Years
  • Seen Jul 5, 2013
How can I debug from here when I don't know the actual offset of this screen? Like I said, whenever I manually stop (without breakpointing since I don't know where to put the bp) the pc is all the time around 080008aa, which is the loop when nothing happens (I think), therefore I have no clue about what routine is called that loaded the current screen.

Only thing that I know is that routines start with b0f5 (push r4-r7,lr) and are preceded by a pointer. But there are tons of them, and when I try to modify the pointer to the naming screen (1303B5), most of the times nothing happened since it is not the good place.
 

miksy91

Dark Energy is back in action! ;)
1,480
Posts
15
Years
How can I debug from here when I don't know the actual offset of this screen? Like I said, whenever I manually stop (without breakpointing since I don't know where to put the bp) the pc is all the time around 080008aa, which is the loop when nothing happens (I think), therefore I have no clue about what routine is called that loaded the current screen.

Only thing that I know is that routines start with b0f5 (push r4-r7,lr) and are preceded by a pointer. But there are tons of them, and when I try to modify the pointer to the naming screen (1303B5), most of the times nothing happened since it is not the good place.
What I meant in the message above is to find a pointer to "Hello, welcome to the world of Pokemon..." message, use a assembly editor to find where that code starts, perhaps a pointer to it and where that assembly code is called from etc.

You can of course use a debugger instead of assembly editor (which is way more user-friendly).

I don't know what you're really trying to accomplish here though; are you trying to find the code which calls the intro sequence when pressed A when "NEW GAME" is chosen or what?
 
54
Posts
13
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  • Seen Jul 5, 2013
What I want is to go directly to the character naming of the player without the Oak speech, since everybody have heard it thousand of times before. I know that without naming the hero and rival the game crashes, but since I jump directly to the naming routines the game wouldn't crash.

All I need to do is skip those lengthy speeches with ASM.

I'll try to do what you suggest, thanks.

Okay, I finally found it, it's around 12EB58, however jumping directly to the naming routine crashes the game after the player selected his name. This has probably to do with the original routine setting some values that are necessary for the intro.

The second offset is at 12EF4C, which is the second screen (with the controls), in this case the game works flawlessly, which is okay for me and preventing me getting stuck for too long on this.
 
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18
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Mar 15, 2015
I want to know how to make Nidoran(M) and Nidoran(F) have a gender icon, I can't get the gender icon to appear. Can anyone please help me.
 
7
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Jul 24, 2012
I need help on this. I'm making a hack with a new Elite Four, and the new sprite looks fine in unLZ-GBA, but when I check his trainer data in Advance Trainer, his sprite looks corrupted.

Can someone tell me is this is normal, and if his sprite will look normal in game?
 
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