Changing a Pokémon's Sprite during a move animation

[Zygarde718]

How would I go about changing the Pokémon's sprite while it is using a move, and then changing it back after the move is finished?
I basically want to accomplish the following:
Ampharos' basic front sprite is 181.png. If my Ampharos uses a move, my Ampharos' sprite changes to display, say, 181a.png instead of 181.png. When the move's animation ends, Ampharos' sprite changes back to 181.png.
How would I go about coding this? Would it even be possible without rewriting a HUGE portion of Essentials?
Thank you in advance! ^^

 

[DL Kurosh]

It should be easy adding a new form to Ampharos. Name the sprite 181_1 if you don't have Mega-Ampharos introduced in your game, name it 181_2 if you have Mega-Ampharos.

Then, add a new Pokémon form in PokemonMultipleForms for Ampharos (you don't need to give him new stats or anything, just a blank new form)

Then go to PokeBattle_Battler, inside the def pbTryUseMove, paste something like this:

if isConst?(self.species,PBSpecies,:AMPHAROS) && hp>0
       @pokemon.form=1 #Or 2 if you have Mega-Ampharos
       pbCheckForm
      end

That should make Ampharos change form when using any move, now we need to make it so it changes back to form 0 when ending the turn.

In PokeBattle_Battler, inside the def pbEndTurn put this:

if isConst?(self.species,PBSpecies,:AMPHAROS) && hp>0
       @pokemon.form=0
       pbCheckForm
      end

I don't know if this will work, but it's a base.

 

[Zygarde718]

I did consider using alternate forms, but I don't think that would work. I'm trying to make this happen for all Pokémon, not just Ampharos; that was just an example. Also, if possible, I would like it to change back as soon as the move is finished, rather than waiting until the whole turn ends and up to three other Pokémon also go. ^^"
Thank you for your help, though!

 

[Luka S.J.]

The first place to start is in PokeBattle_ActualScene in def pbAnimationCore. This is where the attack animations get partially handled, but that's the part you need. The nice thing about this part is, that you actually have all you need. The variable user, contains the species information and the index number of the pokemon that is launching the attack. So this part is actually quite easy.

The more annoying part would be re-writing the pbLoadPokemonBitmapSpecies to include more dynamic variables that would manipulate the sprite bitmap name. I actually think this is pointless, and less neat as it would be just creating a new folder, and dumping sprites with the same name but that are different frame in that folder. For example. I'd copy the entire part that I need, just change its name and the destination folder like so

def pbLoadPokemonBitmapATK(pokemon, back=false)
  return pbLoadPokemonBitmapSpeciesATK(pokemon,pokemon.species,back)
end

# Note: Returns an AnimatedBitmap, not a Bitmap
def pbLoadPokemonBitmapSpeciesATK(pokemon, species, back=false)
  ret=nil
  bitmapFileName=pbCheckPokemonBitmapFilesATK([species,back,
                                              (pokemon.gender==1),
                                              pokemon.isShiny?,
                                              (pokemon.form rescue 0),
                                              (pokemon.isShadow? rescue false)])
  # Alter bitmap if supported
  alterBitmap=(MultipleForms.getFunction(species,"alterBitmap") rescue nil)
  if bitmapFileName && alterBitmap
    animatedBitmap=AnimatedBitmap.new(bitmapFileName)
    copiedBitmap=animatedBitmap.copy
    animatedBitmap.dispose
    copiedBitmap.each {|bitmap|
       alterBitmap.call(pokemon,bitmap)
    }
    ret=copiedBitmap
  elsif bitmapFileName
    ret=AnimatedBitmap.new(bitmapFileName)
  end
  return ret
end

def pbCheckPokemonBitmapFilesATK(params)
  species=params[0]
  back=params[1]
  for i in 0...2**(params.length-2)
    tgender=(i%2==0) ? params[2] : false
    tshiny=((i/2)%2==0) ? params[3] : false
    tform=((i/4)%2==0) ? params[4].to_s : ""
    tshadow=((i/8)%2==0) ? params[5] : false
    bitmapFileName=sprintf("Graphics/Battlers/ATK/%s%s%s%s%s%s",
       getConstantName(PBSpecies,species),
       tgender ? "f" : "",
       tshiny ? "s" : "",
       back ? "b" : "",
       (tform!="" ? "_"+tform : ""),
       tshadow ? "_shadow" : "") rescue nil
    bitmapFileName=sprintf("Graphics/Battlers/ATK/%03d%s%s%s%s%s",
       species,
       tgender ? "f" : "",
       tshiny ? "s" : "",
       back ? "b" : "",
       (tform!="" ? "_"+tform : ""),
       tshadow ? "_shadow" : "") if !pbResolveBitmap(bitmapFileName)
    return pbResolveBitmap(bitmapFileName) if pbResolveBitmap(bitmapFileName)
  end
  return nil
end

This part is in PokemonUtilities, btw. I actually forgot one more thing, back in the PokeBattle_ActualScene script, you need to copy this def into the class PokemonBattlerSprite

def setPokemonBitmapATK(pokemon,back=false)
    @_iconbitmap.dispose if @_iconbitmap
    @_iconbitmap=pbLoadPokemonBitmapATK(pokemon,back)
    self.bitmap=@_iconbitmap ? @_iconbitmap.bitmap : nil
  end

Now when you have something like that, you can just pop back into your def pbAnimationCore, and near the beginning (under @briefmessage=false), change this part

usersprite=(user) ? @sprites["pokemon#{user.index}"] : nil
targetsprite=(target) ? @sprites["pokemon#{target.index}"] : nil

to

backsprite=false
backsprite=true if user.index%2==0
[email protected][user.index].pokemon
targetsprite=(target) ? @sprites["pokemon#{target.index}"] : nil
@sprites["pokemon#{user.index}"].setPokemonBitmapATK(pokemon,backsprite) if targetsprite && !animation.name.include?("Common:") 
usersprite=(user) ? @sprites["pokemon#{user.index}"] : nil

The only thing left to do is adding

@sprites["pokemon#{user.index}"].setPokemonBitmap(pokemon,backsprite) if targetsprite && !animation.name.include?("Common:")

To the very end of the def. This will actually work for both the player, and enemy sprites. And the only preparation you need, would be to dump your sprites in the Graphics/Battlers/ATK/ folder. I'm assuming you wanted to do something like in X/Y where the Pokemon changes the sprite while attacking.

 

[Zygarde718]

Yes, that's exactly what I was trying to do!
Thank you so much!!
I'll make sure to give credit! ^^ THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

 

[dydd90]

It works fine but..It doesn't work when there is the opponent move,why? This happen only to me?