ROM Hacking Discussions

[HackMew]

One glitch who got my attention was the "Acid rain" one. I'm not expert in DS hacking, but I don't understand how Nintendo left it pass...

If only was just that who they missed... I actually wonder how they do beta testing, because they should probably get better people doing it xD

 

[Wichu]

You have to admit that the glitch is quite easy to miss; it only occurs in link battles when a specific player uses a specific move under specific conditions :P
I'm surprised that they didn't fix it for the international release, though; I'm sure several people must have tried to tell them about it.

Oh, and back to ROM hacking: now that a 5th generation is believed to be coming soon, are many people here going to add the new Pokémon to their hacks? I'm definitely putting them in Amethyst; after all, I don't expect to have it finished until way after the 5th gen is out XD
If so, it would be good to resume work on the species limit removal hack; weren't there only a couple of things left to do? I still needed to insert a few more bits of data; evolutions, cries, and footprints if I can remember correctly. HackMew, are you still planning on eventually completing the Pokédex hack (or have you secretly done so already :P)?

 

[HackMew]

You have to admit that the glitch is quite easy to miss; it only occurs in link battles when a specific player uses a specific move under specific conditions :P
I'm surprised that they didn't fix it for the international release, though; I'm sure several people must have tried to tell them about it.

Oh, and back to ROM hacking: now that a 5th generation is believed to be coming soon, are many people here going to add the new Pokémon to their hacks? I'm definitely putting them in Amethyst; after all, I don't expect to have it finished until way after the 5th gen is out XD
If so, it would be good to resume work on the species limit removal hack; weren't there only a couple of things left to do? I still needed to insert a few more bits of data; evolutions, cries, and footprints if I can remember correctly. HackMew, are you still planning on eventually completing the Pokédex hack (or have you secretly done so already :P)?

I do admit the Acid Rain bug is not an easily spottable one. However, there are many others which got missed as well. And that's what I was referring to.

Yeah, I'm still planning to hack the Pokédex limits, but it's not on the top of my to-do list, so far.
I will eventually post some stuff in the R&D section when I have time.

 

[Chaos Rush]

You have to admit that the glitch is quite easy to miss; it only occurs in link battles when a specific player uses a specific move under specific conditions :P

Actually, the glitch isn't limited to link battles. Just saying, but somebody encountered it while the double battle with Team Galactic right after Veilstone Gym.

 

[BlitŻ1]

I have another discussion for everybody here:

What do you guys think about the severality of subjects in rom hacks, be it content or language. I need to find some parameters to set some of my characters on.

 

[colcolstyles]

I have another discussion for everybody here:

What do you guys think about the severality of subjects in rom hacks, be it content or language. I need to find some parameters to set some of my characters on.

It sounds like an interesting discussion but I have no idea what "severality" is. :\

Okay, okay. If my assumption that you meant "severity" is correct, then here's my opinion:
I don't mind language or what might be considered mature content in a hack but I've noticed that all attempts to pull off a more mature style have pretty much failed. It's difficult to express mature/adult themes in a Pokémon game so unless you're really good at it and/or find some new way of introducing them, then I suggest that you stick with what Nintendo has already done.

For example, in the beginning of Legend of Fenju, the main character's dad dies and there is a scene in a Pokémon Center in which your mother is mourning her husband's death but, and no offense to Neti, it just seems really weird and out of place. Pokémon is a fairly happy game and if you take out the "evil" teams, it's basically the story of a prepubescent kid traveling around with his animal companions. Trying to introduce corruption, death, or other darker elements into Pokémon just doesn't go over very well. But I don't want to discourage you from trying. I'm just saying that it's hard.

 

[Thrace]

I think it should be encouraged because its different. People should do more things that are different.

 

[Tropical Sunlight]

I think Pokemon games should have more chemistry because that's what I'm including in Turquoise
But that's just me. :P

 

[0m3GA ARS3NAL]

I'm going to have to agree with colcolstyles on this one... It may be a good thing to have some different aspects to the game, but having events with such dark and unhappy situations is just far too uncommon in a pokemon game to fit properly. (Aside from the Pokemon Tower in Lavender town... (Or the Pokemon Burial area in G/S/C, which is still in lavender town...))

 

[HackMew]

I'd like to introduce a brand new topic: the Berry Glitch. I think it would be pretty interesting to know what exactly get changed to fix it, don't you think?

 

[0m3GA ARS3NAL]

it would be nice to know yeah.
I suppose with a RAM dump of a cart when the glitch happens, and one when it is fixed, then comparing the 2, would show up the changes made... right?

 

[́]

A lot of interesting finds could come from that, but to be honest the thing I'd be most interested in is how FR/LG/E patches the affected game. (If it does indeed actually write to the cart)

As for the talk about darker subjects in Pokemon games I believe they could actually be achieved quite well if some original stories were developed, but most I've seen just have maybe one or two dramatic occurrences and then it's back to 'lolpokemanz'.
If your main character has just experienced something awful you can't go back to the typical route music for the game as it just doesn't fit.
Set a check to play different music there forever after that event has taken place.
Same with dialogue, if you're a sinister looking person little girls aren't going to want to battle you. Have them say so, or even have them run away.

Checks can be set for all these things based on what has just happened in the plot, in-fact a whole mood system for the character could be easily put in place but people just think it's beyond their ability.

 

[NiKaNoRoU]

I have another discussion for everybody here:

What do you guys think about the severality of subjects in rom hacks, be it content or language. I need to find some parameters to set some of my characters on.

I'm finding Gary's hack, Aftermath, exactly what 'severality' in a pokemon game is about. Other than that, personally, my own style does have cords of severality. First of all, Revolution I's plot gets more and more depressing as the game unfolds, in a way that resembles Breath of Fire II (have you ever played it?) and since Beryl is its prequel, it has elements of it, too. So yeah, I like severality in hacks. In a way, that makes me tell the difference from something that's fan-made, and not a Nintendo replica.

I'd like to introduce a brand new topic: the Berry Glitch. I think it would be pretty interesting to know what exactly get changed to fix it, don't you think?

The time freezing glitch, huh? well, you alone should know more than the majority of hackers here. If you ask me, my guess would be into some parameters that get stuck after that specific period of time. And get unstuck when they are applied to one of the 'fixing' patches. Remember, all of them have something in common: they are in a working game engine that has the same counter for play time. Besides, if you consider the Box's message "The Berry Program was updated", you might as well think that the makers WERE AWARE OF IT. So it might be intentional as well. Urging you to patch. Or whatever.

 

[Wichu]

On the topic of the Berry Glitch, Emerald is unaffected. At least, that's what Nintendo claims.
My Emerald game (official US version cart) has been frozen on the same day for years now. I think the clock in my room still moves forwards, but I can't do any daily events, and berries don't grow. I don't get a 'battery has run dry' message when I start it up, so it's most likely nothing to do with that.
Could this be caused by a similar problem to the R/S berry glitch? If a fix is found for R/S hacks, would it be possible to use that to find out what happens in Emerald, and possibly fix it?

EDIT: By the way, I believe the 'berry program was updated' message is from the FR/LG/E game. To apply the fix, you hold Start+Select on the GBA with R/S in; this causes it not to boot the R/S game and allows FR/LG/E to transfer the fix. Is the 'berry program updated' message in the R/S font, or the FR/LG font?

EDIT2: Disregard that, you were talking about Box :P
Even then, I'm pretty sure you get one of the Box emulator's pop-up messages rather than an in-game message window.

 

[HackMew]

it would be nice to know yeah.
I suppose with a RAM dump of a cart when the glitch happens, and one when it is fixed, then comparing the 2, would show up the changes made... right?

A lot of interesting finds could come from that, but to be honest the thing I'd be most interested in is how FR/LG/E patches the affected game. (If it does indeed actually write to the cart)

My supposition is that it does write to the cart. However, I cannot check myself.

Besides, if you consider the Box's message "The Berry Program was updated", you might as well think that the makers WERE AWARE OF IT. So it might be intentional as well. Urging you to patch. Or whatever.

Actually, the ROM does not contain any messages like that.

On the topic of the Berry Glitch, Emerald is unaffected. At least, that's what Nintendo claims.
My Emerald game (official US version cart) has been frozen on the same day for years now. I think the clock in my room still moves forwards, but I can't do any daily events, and berries don't grow. I don't get a 'battery has run dry' message when I start it up, so it's most likely nothing to do with that.
Could this be caused by a similar problem to the R/S berry glitch? If a fix is found for R/S hacks, would it be possible to use that to find out what happens in Emerald, and possibly fix it?

EDIT: By the way, I believe the 'berry program was updated' message is from the FR/LG/E game. To apply the fix, you hold Start+Select on the GBA with R/S in; this causes it not to boot the R/S game and allows FR/LG/E to transfer the fix. Is the 'berry program updated' message in the R/S font, or the FR/LG font?

EDIT2: Disregard that, you were talking about Box :P
Even then, I'm pretty sure you get one of the Box emulator's pop-up messages rather than an in-game message window.

Okay, let's sum it up a little...

1. The glitch can be fixed by downloading a patch from FR/LG/E, Colosseum, Pokémon Channel, or Box.
2. I believe the actual ROM gets patched.
3. Probably the patch includes the "Berry program updated" message too.

On a side note: the scientist in the Mossdeep Space Center might be useful. The rocket launch number is just the number of weeks (to be precise, it's retrieven by special 0x100, which does TotalDays/7) elapsed since you saved the game the first time. The launch numbers tend to get messed up once you've had the Berry Glitch, and might show the value 9999, which is the maximum possible value that could be ever shown. When you fix it, it starts working again and if you've started the game over in that time, the launches will restart.

I'd be glad to try myself, but:

1. I cannot patch the original cartridge.
2. I don't have anything to dump/backup original cartridges.
3. I'm not ever sure my original cartridge is glitched at all.

 

[NiKaNoRoU]

That message does not exist in the ROM, of course. That message is displayed on the Box, while saving the game, in Adventure Mode. It's just an indicator that the patch was applied to the ROM. But since it's displayed that way, the fact that Nintendo is aware of this still remains.

 

[HackMew]

That message does not exist in the ROM, of course. That message is displayed on the Box, while saving the game, in Adventure Mode. It's just an indicator that the patch was applied to the ROM. But since it's displayed that way, the fact that Nintendo is aware of this still remains.

Well, of course they were aware of it, at some point. Hence why they included the patch in FR/LG/E etc.

 

[Chaos Rush]

Well, the "Berry Program is updated" message is actually a LZ77 tilemap. I found it in unLZ, meaning it's not actually a text string, it's just an image.

I know what I just said is rather insignificant.

EDIT: Shouldn't you be able to do it with VBA Link? Because you can still apply the patch even if your Ruby/Sapphire cartridge hasn't had any problems yet. I've owned my Ruby version cartridge since February 2004, and around February 2005, I had a friend with the Colosseum Bonus disk, meaning Jirachi + Berry Glitch fix message, even though my Ruby version didn't have any berry problems before hand. To this day my Ruby version is fine (but for some reason 2 years ago, it stopped growing berries, so I applied the patch again, and it worked fine).

 

[́]

I just tried it with VBALink, unfortunately we're stuck at this point:

http://i45.tinypic.com/2hcgfuf.png

I've got it using a bios, but you simply can't get it to boot up without the Nintendo logo. Same results with No$.
I'll try to get my hands on Flash2Advance USB, but they're pretty scarce on eBay now. If I can't find one I'll use my cousins DS to dump it before and after.

 

[HackMew]

I just tried it with VBALink, unfortunately we're stuck at this point:

http://i45.tinypic.com/2hcgfuf.png

I've got it using a bios, but you simply can't get it to boot up without the Nintendo logo. Same results with No$.
I'll try to get my hands on Flash2Advance USB, but they're pretty scarce on eBay now. If I can't find one I'll use my cousins DS to dump it before and after.

Yeah... if you can dump the ROM somehow, that could be a start. Thanks for your interest.