FireRed hack: Pokémon Throwback v211001: Kanto, Your Way

Thread re-opened :)

v161121 now up!

Wait, 21? But it's the 23rd!

Yep. That happens when it takes longer than expected for the mods to reopen your thread.

Anyways, the next update's here! Some kind users have notified me of several other bugs remaining in Throwback. Each one of them has now been fixed. But that's not all: I squeezed in two tiny changes to places in Pewter City to reflect the original games better. They both only add to what's there, so they should be appreciable changes.

Before you go on with the patching, I need to inform you all on one of the fixes in the update. Getting and using the second fossil from Rock Tunnel was bugged in the previous versions. The changes I made to it to fix it won't be seen in save files where you already got it from there. If you got the second fossil from Rock Tunnel already, please download the save compatibility patch from the OP and apply it to your ROM after updating. Then speak to the leftmost receptionist on the second floor of any Pokémon Center to fix the issue in your game. If you've patched an older version of the save compatibility patch, you'll still need to apply the newest version of the save compatibility patch and utilize the fix.

I'm sorry for this inconvenience, but I'm happy that I'm able to provide a fix for people to use ingame. I hope you guys like the update!

Changelog

Nice update! Is there a limit to how many times we can ask for a curated patch? Because I'd hate to keep asking everytime a new fix is out if it bothers you.

Also where can I find TM10 (Hidden Power)? Are you aware that that TM could only be found by a Pokemon's ability 'Pick-up' in the vanilla game?

Lastly has the Choice Band item been considered?

edit: Do you also plan to do anything with the opening title later on such as re-adding the Venusaur back from earlier versions of your hack?

tkim said:

Nice update! Is there a limit to how many times we can ask for a curated patch? Because I'd hate to keep asking everytime a new fix is out if it bothers you.

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No limit. So long as I have the time to make it, I'll be willing to make them for people who ask for them. Just be sure to say if you want it decapitalized or not first.

Also where can I find TM10 (Hidden Power)? Are you aware that that TM could only be found by a Pokemon's ability 'Pick-up' in the vanilla game?

Click to expand...

I'm fully aware of that. TM10 is available in Sevault Canyon in an item ball that used to contain a Nugget. Pickup now gets you a Full Restore instead of TM10.

I'll prepare a list of TM changes for the next update so that people can know all the changes without playing through the hack.

Lastly has the Choice Band item been considered?

Click to expand...

The Choice Band is only obtainable through the Battle Tower and similar places in Pokémon games. The only way I see myself adding it in is if I find another way to get the Johto starters and unchosen Kanto starter. In that case I'd make it a prize for completing a mode at Trainer Tower. Otherwise it'll remain unobtainable in the game.

edit: Do you also plan to do anything with the opening title later on such as re-adding the Venusaur back from earlier versions of your hack?

Click to expand...

I don't want to add it back if I can't have the game play cries for both it and Charizard simultaneously. I can't have the game play a custom WAV file with both cries because it looks for a specific Pokémon's hex value. And the remaining few cries after Celebi are hardcoded to play Unown's cry. So there's nothing I can do for that short of rewriting the code used to play a sound upon pressing Start or A.

RichterSnipes said:

The Choice Band is only obtainable through the Battle Tower and similar places in Pokémon games. The only way I see myself adding it in is if I find another way to get the Johto starters and unchosen Kanto starter. In that case I'd make it a prize for completing a mode at Trainer Tower. Otherwise it'll remain unobtainable in the game.

Click to expand...

Could that Kanto starter have it as a held item? Or nah?

Apparently there was another disturbance here in this thread. I refrained from typing a new post about my unlocking this thread to avoid that, but I guess it happened anyways.


To all people accessing this thread, please read this.


But yes, there are some things that haven't worked out in Throwback the way I initially planned them. What I will say is this: Things change. When life hits you in certain ways, you have to take a break from the smaller things and focus your efforts on what's important. Certain things in the hack didn't get applied the way I thought they would as a result. But here's the thing: Life is more important than hacking. Family and friends are more important than hacking. Work and goals are more important than hacking. Self-fulfillment, well-being, and enjoyment are more important than hacking.

That's the honest truth. Even if it wasn't, nobody here is entitled to be privy to it.

tkim said:

Could that Kanto starter have it as a held item? Or nah?

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Nah. Prize Pokémon or event Pokémon don't hold items unless they're critical to that Pokémon or event. You know, like Pikachu and Light Ball, Ho-Oh and Sacred Ash or Latios/Latias and Soul Dew. Adding battle effect items to be held to prize starters would feel odd.

v161129 now up!

This one's just another bug fix. As inconsequential as these may seem, it's important to keep Throwback as bug-free as possible.

A side note: I've changed the name of the download file to a more general one. The .zip file will now always have the name "Pokemon Throwback (Latest Release).zip". This means that any changes I make to the files in it will be pushed immediately and will be available as soon as the file's been changed. In case I'm unable to log in and make changes to the OP, you'll still be able to get the updates to the hack. I'll still make proper updates to the thread whenever possible.

Changelog

Cool stuff! Have you tried taking a look at .bps patching? It reduces the size of the patch by ~.5MB plus it checks the hash of the original rom to make sure you don't patch the wrong (Rev 1) one. Floating Lunar IPS supports it and it's just as easy as lunar ips:

https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=11474

hking0036 said:

Cool stuff! Have you tried taking a look at .bps patching? It reduces the size of the patch by ~.5MB plus it checks the hash of the original rom to make sure you don't patch the wrong (Rev 1) one. Floating Lunar IPS supports it and it's just as easy as lunar ips:

https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=11474

Click to expand...

I'm plenty aware of other patching methods. That and xdelta are both interesting alternatives to IPS. The reality of the situation, though, is that neither is even close to being as ubiquitous for patching as IPS. People know how to apply IPS with ease, and emulators support auto-patching IPS files to similarly-named ROMs.

I'd like to have an alternative means for all of this. I know better than anyone else that having a deluge of (occasionally-conflicting) patches like this isn't ideal.

RichterSnipes said:

I'm plenty aware of other patching methods. That and xdelta are both interesting alternatives to IPS. The reality of the situation, though, is that neither is even close to being as ubiquitous for patching as IPS. People know how to apply IPS with ease, and emulators support auto-patching IPS files to similarly-named ROMs.

I'd like to have an alternative means for all of this. I know better than anyone else that having a deluge of (occasionally-conflicting) patches like this isn't ideal.

Click to expand...

I spent some time looking at all of it, XDelta isn't as straightforward or as widely supported as BPS, but BPS is pretty much set up and ready to go. mGBA at the very least can do patching on-the-fly already with bps, and flips makes applying bps as easy as applying an ips patch. I think the hardest part of that is just convincing people to use something other than Lunar IPS, though.

Is this game complete?

c-hing said:

Is this game complete?

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The hack is fully playable. Since Throwback is an improvement hack, it doesn't fall into the same evaluation standards as game overhauls. Whether or not you feel it's complete depends on if it has all the things you think a hack like this one reasonably needs.

The only time I can say that it's complete is when I stop working on it.

Does anything in this hack make it impossible to obtain a Shiny Starter via the soft reset method while in front of the Pokeballs in Oak's lab?

I might need a hack in the time between polished crystal and prism.

How are the abilities in this hack?!

Like, can porygon-z get adaptability or alakazam get wonder guard? ;o

optronix10 said:

Does anything in this hack make it impossible to obtain a Shiny Starter via the soft reset method while in front of the Pokeballs in Oak's lab?

Click to expand...

Nothing's been changed regarding that. If you feel the need to get your Shiny Pokémon that way, go for it.

davedffa said:

I might need a hack in the time between polished crystal and prism.

How are the abilities in this hack?!

Like, can porygon-z get adaptability or alakazam get wonder guard? ;o

Click to expand...

You're looking in the wrong place, my friend.

I appreciate your work and I love the fact that you have an uncompromising vision. Thank you Richter :)

I know in earlier versions of this hack you included a catch em all guide that listed which Pokemon could be caught where but it seems like the locations have changed. Are all wild Pokemon now in their original Gen III locations now?

Thanks Richter!

I don't know if just me have this issue, but if you check map in the wall or use the map item, the game will freeze. Is it because I use the wrong version rom or what ?

Hi Richter I think I found a bug. Some of the NPC don't seem to play a fanfare when they give a TM to the player, such as Mr. Psychic in Saffron City and I believe all Gym Leaders. This has to do with the 0x105 fanfare.

optronix10 said:

I know in earlier versions of this hack you included a catch em all guide that listed which Pokemon could be caught where but it seems like the locations have changed. Are all wild Pokemon now in their original Gen III locations now?

Thanks Richter!

Click to expand...

Locations in the hack now are definitely closer to how they are in vanilla FR/LG than they were in previous version of Throwback. As a rule of thumb, most of the differences have to do with version-exclusive Pok?mon, which have either both been made available in all locations or split equally between places based on geography. Wild Johto Pok?mon that weren't available in vanilla FR/LG are found on one map each on the latter three Sevii Islands (or in Altering Cave, if they were originally planned to appear there). There's also been an adjustment to Cerulean Cave that replaces Wobbuffet with three Pok?mon that originally appeared there in Red/Green/International Blue, when it was known as the Unknown Dungeon.

Still, I know a proper document listing the changes is appreciated. This'll be one of the more important things I get done next year, preferably earlier than later.

mousep said:

I don't know if just me have this issue, but if you check map in the wall or use the map item, the game will freeze. Is it because I use the wrong version rom or what ?

Click to expand...

This seems to be an issue that people have been invariably been reporting over the years. I've never been able to figure out what's been going on with this.

What's your ROM's MD5 checksum according to this online calculator? Make sure to check the box that says "MD5" next to it before you do the check.

tkim said:

Hi Richter I think I found a bug. Some of the NPC don't seem to play a fanfare when they give a TM to the player, such as Mr. Psychic in Saffron City and I believe all Gym Leaders. This has to do with the 0x105 fanfare.

Click to expand...

It seems like the "giveitem2" command is hardcoded to only work for specific fanfares. In this case, 0x101 and 0x13E. It's a not-dissimilar situation as the longstanding end-game audio hiccup when using GB Sounds. Look in the OP for that if you're not sure what that is.

I'll make a fix for this. It should be out sometime tomorrow.