Development: New Battle System

[Blah]

I don't have much time to assist on this, but I do have one question.

Will the features involved be compatible with trainer editors? What I'm wondering really, is how will we call upon the newer battle styles?

This is a great project and it could change the whole field of hacking. Good luck in it and I hope you receive adequate help. :)

Yeah, so I'm going to be using a lot of the default tables for this stuff. I might make it read from a second seperate table to toggle certain flagging bits in the battle sequence. That way you edit your standard trainer battles via tool, and added special flags can be done with a hex editor quite easily.

This a great concept! Plus, it allows full control over the source. And programming in C is much more easier than doing ASM.
I would like to actively contribute to this resource, but few exams are remaining.
But I managed to get some time looking at the damagecalc code and found some bugs:

Spoiler:

* In Pure Power, Flower Gift and Hustle attack boost, the NOT (!) symbol is missing in the attack->is_special condition.
* Slow Start should only reduce attack.
* Flower Gift does not raise Attack and Sp. Def specially only for Cherrim. It raises Attack and Sp. Def for all allies and the user too in Sunlight if a Pokemon with Flower Gift is present at the user side.
* Mold Breaker is not a field ability. It only works for the user and negates the ability of the target. And it should ignore defensive boosts given by ally's Flower Gift and Friend Guard.
* Facade and Guts should ignore burn attack drop.

Wow, thanks a lot. I really have no idea how half of these mechanics work, and I misinterpret bulbapedia a lot. Doesnt has been my go-to PokeDictionary for this sort of stuff, but obviously I try not to bother him with a lot of questions. I'll get to fixing these, and once again thanks for looking through and pointing them out :D

Perhaps, there's a tutorial on how to install these features

People are free to write tutorials if they want. But as far as I'm concerned all you need to do is:

cd path
python scripts/build
python scripts/insert

Into the terminal. So it's kind of straight forward.

Wow, this looks awesome! Do you think it would be possible implement a capture styler option where you can catch pokemon pokemon ranger style?

My first thought of that was that it sounded stupid, but to be honest you could get more diverse hacks from that.

So unfortunately, the GBA doesn't have a touch screen, and as such this style of capturing is physically impossible to implement. You could write your own emulator and make it possible to use your mouse as the stylus, but at that point it's not a GBA game and you should probably just make a new game, rather than a hack.

 

[esperance]

This is a great idea! And you've been working on it very quickly.
I'm no C expert but if I see something I can do I'll surely give it a try.

Also, after taking a quick peek through the damage calculator, I noticed that in get_base_attack you never actually check for the soul dew, but rather apply the bonus to all Lati@s.
https://github.com/EternalCode/Battle-System/blob/master/src/damage_calculator.c#L1361 (line 1361)

 

[Blah]

I've checked a bit of your code. Sadly I don't program in C, though there some things I caught that might be improved :

Spoiler:

-Mega stone

Pokémons can lose/been knocked off holding a mega stone if they can't mega evolve with it.

Spoiler:

Damage calculator doesn't handle this sort of thing. It simply just calculates damage.

-Boost item:
case LIFE_ORB:
item_boost = 30
Here you don't allow the user/hacker to set the power of the boost in an item editor.

Maybe later, it would've been nice to know the item table had a field like that before I made this code :x

-Base power move :

case AVALANCHE:
if (defender->last_move_target == attacker_id) {
atk_base_power = 120;
} else {
atk_base_power = 60;

Here the same principles applie. We could do:
atk_base_power = base_power*2
else
atk_base_power=base_power

This is definitely better, good catch.

-Reckless:

It'd be better to check the move effect. If you check directly the move, we'd have to update the code everytime we add a move with recoil effect.

-What I call "table ability" : Iron fist, strong jaw... :
Perhaps we could add a flag the move structure, to make easier to have move affected or
not by those abilities.

That's a temporary solution. In one of the header files I've made some settings to use a table instead of this way, but I haven't gotten around to making the actual table so a switch statement was put for place-holding. I'm waiting for contributions for this kind of thing :D

To current date, people have offered to contribute, even asked for details, but I've yet to receive any dev. help as of yet.

 

[Blah]

This is a great idea! And you've been working on it very quickly.
I'm no C expert but if I see something I can do I'll surely give it a try.

Also, after taking a quick peek through the damage calculator, I noticed that in get_base_attack you never actually check for the soul dew, but rather apply the bonus to all Lati@s.
https://github.com/EternalCode/Battle-System/blob/master/src/damage_calculator.c#L1361 (line 1361)

Whoops...

 

[BLAx501!]

To current date, people have offered to contribute, even asked for details, but I've yet to receive any dev. help as of yet.

I'm very busy with university these weeks, but I'll try to take a deep look to your Git, I'm not a total noob on C programming, so maybe there is something I can help :P

 

[tzujm33]

i cant help with programming, but i migth can help with the ai, in pokemon showdown i reached top 3 on the normal ou ladder once and top 10 in random battles once.

 

[Blah]

I've fixed all the stated errors, put in as much tool compatibility as I could (though I didn't do the life orb thing yet...sorry :D). It will actually compile now. If you see more random errors let me know. Currently working on the setup and graphical starting and such of the battle.


Read if you have time but don't know C or ASM & are interested in helping:

Spoiler:

Guys, if you want to help, just take a look at the OP. Pick one that's not in green and not in orange and do one. There's plenty of work to go around :)

There's also this in BPRE.LD:

/*
* Place holder data
*/

sheer_force_t = 0x0;
mega_items_t = 0x0;

Those are supposed to be tables. For sheer_force_t, it's a table where each entry is 2 bytes long (reversed), each entry is a move which is affected by the ability Sheer Force. For mega_items_t, that's a table of item IDs (reversed again) where each ID is the ID of a mega stone.

Finally, I still need tables for Fling, Mold breaker (abilities it disables), Iron fist, Reckless, Berries table (table of all the berry's item ids) and Natural gift.

Some harder to make tables (since they'd have to made them by hand - but they are BADLY needed) :
- Type chart (your type chart MUST work for Pokemon more than 2 types)
- Move table using this format:

struct move_table {
	u8 script_id;
	u8 base_power;
	u8 type;
	u8 accuracy;
	u8 PP;
	u8 effect_accuracy;
	u8 affected_targets;
	u8 priority;
	u8 contact : 1;
	u8 protect : 1;
	u8 magic_coat : 1;
	u8 snatch : 1;
	u8 mirror_move : 1;
	u8 kings_2,k : 1;
	u8 crit_chance : 1;
	u8 padding_field : 1;
	u8 is_special;
	u16 move_id;
};
note u8 something : 1;
basically is like saying something takes up 1 bit of a bitfield size u8 (1 byte). So the first bit in the move table's bit field is contact (if a move makes contact) second bit is protect (if it's affected by protect) ect.

EDIT: If you have suggestions for algorithms for certain things those are welcome to.

 

[robinjea]

I've fixed all the stated errors, put in as much tool compatibility as I could (though I didn't do the life orb thing yet...sorry :D). It will actually compile now. If you see more random errors let me know. Currently working on the setup and graphical starting and such of the battle.


Read if you have time but don't know C or ASM & are interested in helping:

Spoiler:

Guys, if you want to help, just take a look at the OP. Pick one that's not in green and not in orange and do one. There's plenty of work to go around :)

There's also this in BPRE.LD:

/*
* Place holder data
*/

sheer_force_t = 0x0;
mega_items_t = 0x0;

Those are supposed to be tables. For sheer_force_t, it's a table where each entry is 2 bytes long (reversed), each entry is a move which is affected by the ability Sheer Force. For mega_items_t, that's a table of item IDs (reversed again) where each ID is the ID of a mega stone.

Finally, I still need tables for Fling, Mold breaker (abilities it disables), Iron fist, Reckless, Berries table (table of all the berry's item ids) and Natural gift.

Some harder to make tables (since they'd have to made them by hand - but they are BADLY needed) :
- Type chart (your type chart MUST work for Pokemon more than 2 types)
- Move table using this format:

struct move_table {
    u8 script_id;
    u8 base_power;
    u8 type;
    u8 accuracy;
    u8 PP;
    u8 effect_accuracy;
    u8 affected_targets;
    u8 priority;
    u8 contact : 1;
    u8 protect : 1;
    u8 magic_coat : 1;
    u8 snatch : 1;
    u8 mirror_move : 1;
    u8 kings_2,k : 1;
    u8 crit_chance : 1;
    u8 padding_field : 1;
    u8 is_special;
    u16 move_id;
};
note u8 something : 1;
basically is like saying something takes up 1 bit of a bitfield size u8 (1 byte). So the first bit in the move table's bit field is contact (if a move makes contact) second bit is protect (if it's affected by protect) ect.

EDIT: If you have suggestions for algorithms for certain things those are welcome to.

Should the tables be in hex (hex editor format ie. FF FF FF FF) or just like 0xFFFF 0xFFFF or is there any other table format?

 

[Blah]

Should the tables be in hex (hex editor format ie. FF FF FF FF) or just like 0xFFFF 0xFFFF or is there any other table format?

Neither.
Make a text file like this one https://github.com/EternalCode/Battle-System/blob/master/src/Defines/generation/pokemon
Note your text file could be neater, if you want an easier python program. I just copy-pasted this one from Wikipedia. After you get your text file set up, make a program (python preferably) which converts the contents of the text document -> a file with the hex string for the table.

The idea is to have a text file which is easy to edit that you apply the python script on, then you produce the table. That way in future, editing these tables are as simple as editing the text file and re-compiling.

I know it seems a little complicated, but if you make the first text file, I will write the python script (unless you can which would be great).

 

[PokemonBen]

Are you wanting some do this for every move? Pretend this is tackle:

struct move_table {
u8 script_id; 5
u8 base_power; 50
u8 type; Normal
u8 accuracy; 70%
u8 PP; 15
u8 effect_accuracy; ????
u8 affected_targets; Single
u8 priority; ???
u8 contact : 1; I assume 0=no 1= yes
u8 protect : 1;
u8 magic_coat : 1;
u8 snatch : 1;
u8 mirror_move : 1;
u8 kings_2,k : 1;
u8 crit_chance : 1;
u8 padding_field : 1;
u8 is_special; 0
u16 move_id; 5
};

EDIT: Also that list has 720 Pokemon, isn't there 721?

 

[kleenexfeu]

Damage calculator doesn't handle this sort of thing. It simply just calculates damage.



Maybe later, it would've been nice to know the item table had a field like that before I made this code :x



This is definitely better, good catch.



That's a temporary solution. In one of the header files I've made some settings to use a table instead of this way, but I haven't gotten around to making the actual table so a switch statement was put for place-holding. I'm waiting for contributions for this kind of thing :D

To current date, people have offered to contribute, even asked for details, but I've yet to receive any dev. help as of yet.

For the first one, knock off get a 1.5 multiplier if it manages to knock an item

 

[BLAx501!]

Also that list has 720 Pokemon, isn't there 721?

But index starts at 0 :P

 

[GOLDstandard]

Hey,

I'm impressed with how much work has been done. I don't know C but I do code and the damage calc looks honestly amazing. I'm curious how this engine will work in terms of emulating the game? Does this engine function as an emulator? Or will we still use VBA?

Edit: On lines 290-310, shouldn't the checks for species come before the check for move_type? Just a small nitpick, but it would increase the efficiency, since there are so many more times where, for instance, a water or dragon type move will be used when it's not palkia, than when palkia uses a non water or dragon-type move. It just breaks sooner if the species check is first I believe

Also, in the same file, at 948, natural gift changes the attacking type as well as the base power.

 

[Blah]

Are you wanting some do this for every move? Pretend this is tackle:

struct move_table {
u8 script_id; 5
u8 base_power; 50
u8 type; Normal
u8 accuracy; 70%
u8 PP; 15
u8 effect_accuracy; ????
u8 affected_targets; Single
u8 priority; ???
u8 contact : 1; I assume 0=no 1= yes
u8 protect : 1;
u8 magic_coat : 1;
u8 snatch : 1;
u8 mirror_move : 1;
u8 kings_2,k : 1;
u8 crit_chance : 1;
u8 padding_field : 1;
u8 is_special; 0
u16 move_id; 5
};

EDIT: Also that list has 720 Pokemon, isn't there 721?

For the move table stuff check out this convo: https://www.pokecommunity.com/converse.php?u=471720&u2=365518

For the first one, knock off get a 1.5 multiplier if it manages to knock an item

added~

Hey,

I'm impressed with how much work has been done. I don't know C but I do code and the damage calc looks honestly amazing. I'm curious how this engine will work in terms of emulating the game? Does this engine function as an emulator? Or will we still use VBA?

Edit: On lines 290-310, shouldn't the checks for species come before the check for move_type? Just a small nitpick, but it would increase the efficiency, since there are so many more times where, for instance, a water or dragon type move will be used when it's not palkia, than when palkia uses a non water or dragon-type move. It just breaks sooner if the species check is first I believe

Also, in the same file, at 948, natural gift changes the attacking type as well as the base power.

So the battle engine is a replacement to the one that's currently in Fire Red. You build this version and replace the one that's currently in the ROM. So to answer your question, you'd be able to use your favourite Emulator or console to play a FR ROM with this engine inplace.

Yes, Natural gift and a few others are place holders until I get some tables working inplace. Fling, Natural power, mold breaker, sheer force, iron fist ect, will be using tables in the near future.

As for the comparison thing, you're totally right if I were deriving these values on each loop up, but they're pre-derrived. Also It'd only hit that part of code if the Pokemon is holding lustrous orb (which would be strange for anything that's not a Palkia).

Sheer Force Table:

Spoiler:

SheerForceTableLocation:
.hword ACID
.hword ACID_SPRAY
.hword AIR_SLASH
.hword ANCIENTPOWER
.hword ASTONISH
.hword AURORA_BEAM
.hword BITE
.hword BLAZE_KICK
.hword BLIZZARD
.hword BLUE_FLARE
.hword BODY_SLAM
.hword BOLT_STRIKE
.hword BONE_CLUB
.hword BOUNCE
.hword BUBBLE
.hword BUBBLEBEAM
.hword BUG_BUZZ
.hword BULLDOZE
.hword CHARGE_BEAM
.hword CHATTER
.hword CONFUSION
.hword CONSTRICT
.hword CROSS_POISON
.hword CRUNCH
.hword CRUSH_CLAW
.hword DARK_PULSE
.hword DISCHARGE
.hword DIZZY_PUNCH
.hword DRAGON_RUSH
.hword DRAGONBREATH
.hword DYNAMICPUNCH
.hword EARTH_POWER
.hword ELECTROWEB
.hword EMBER
.hword ENERGY_BALL
.hword EXTRASENSORY
.hword FAKE_OUT
.hword FIERY_DANCE
.hword FIRE_BLAST
.hword FIRE_FANG
.hword FIRE_PUNCH
.hword FLAME_CHARGE
.hword FLAME_WHEEL
.hword FLAMETHROWER
.hword FLARE_BLITZ
.hword FLASH_CANNON
.hword FOCUS_BLAST
.hword FORCE_PALM
.hword FREEZE_SHOCK
.hword GLACIATE
.hword GUNK_SHOT
.hword HEADBUTT
.hword HEART_STAMP
.hword HEAT_WAVE
.hword HURRICANE
.hword HYPER_FANG
.hword ICE_BEAM
.hword ICE_BURN
.hword ICE_FANG
.hword ICE_PUNCH
.hword ICICLE_CRASH
.hword ICY_WIND
.hword INFERNO
.hword IRON_HEAD
.hword IRON_TAIL
.hword LAVA_PLUME
.hword LEAF_TORNADO
.hword LICK
.hword LOW_SWEEP
.hword LUSTER_PURGE
.hword METAL_CLAW
.hword METEOR_MASH
.hword MIRROR_SHOT
.hword MIST_BALL
.hword MOONBLAST
.hword MUD_BOMB
.hword MUD_SHOT
.hword MUD_SLAP
.hword MUDDY_WATER
.hword NEEDLE_ARM
.hword NIGHT_DAZE
.hword OCTAZOOKA
.hword OMINOUS_WIND
.hword PLAY_ROUGH
.hword POISON_FANG
.hword POISON_JAB
.hword POISON_STING
.hword POISON_TAIL
.hword POWDER_SNOW
.hword PSYBEAM
.hword PSYCHIC
.hword RAZOR_SHELL
.hword RELIC_SONG
.hword ROCK_CLIMB
.hword ROCK_SLIDE
.hword ROCK_SMASH
.hword ROCK_TOMB
.hword ROLLING_KICK
.hword SACRED_FIRE
.hword SCALD
.hword SEARING_SHOT
.hword SECRET_POWER
.hword SEED_FLARE
.hword SHADOW_BALL
.hword SIGNAL_BEAM
.hword SILVER_WIND
.hword SKY_ATTACK
.hword SLUDGE
.hword SLUDGE_BOMB
.hword SLUDGE_WAVE
.hword SMOG
.hword SNARL
.hword SNORE
.hword SPARK
.hword STEAMROLLER
.hword STEEL_WING
.hword STOMP
.hword STRUGGLE_BUG
.hword THUNDER
.hword THUNDER_FANG
.hword THUNDERBOLT
.hword THUNDERPUNCH
.hword THUNDERSHOCK
.hword TRI_ATTACK
.hword TWINEEDLE
.hword TWISTER
.hword VOLT_TACKLE
.hword WATER_PULSE
.hword WATERFALL
.hword ZAP_CANNON
.hword ZEN_HEADBUTT
.hword 0xFEFE, 0xFFFF @ End table

Perhaps not exactly the format you want, but I had it so I post it

So...I can't use this without a second reference file. How would I associate Move names -> Move IDs (which is needed to make the table)? I'd first have to generate my file for my #defines for moves, then use that to replace the move names here before finally converting. I was looking for something more like this:

Sheer Force Table:

Move_name Move_id
Move_name2 Move_id2
... ect

Thanks though :o

---------

Well, I managed to finish doing the set-up for the battle structs today. You can checkout which battle modes are supported by default (ones I'm coding atleast, if you wanted to, you could add your own). https://github.com/EternalCode/Battle-System/blob/master/src/battle_init.c

Finally, a note, if you're working on something, please let us know in the thread that way we don't overlap resources. Not that anyone is working on any code except me right now :c.

 

[PokemonBen]

I see, I don't know Hex so I cannot help you with moves as I have idea how 0x23 = 40. However, if you need help with HTML... :P

 

[NewDenverCity]

I see, I don't know Hex so I cannot help you with moves as I have idea how 0x23 = 40. However, if you need help with HTML... :P

Use an online dec -> hex converter. Hex, binary, and decimal are just different ways to show numbers, and hex is easier to work with for this kind of stuff. Hex is base 16 (0-F), decimal is base ten (0-9), and binary is base two (0-1). You can't learn hex because it's not a language, just a better way to show certain things in the ROM.

 

[PokemonBen]

Use an online dec -> hex converter. Hex, binary, and decimal are just different ways to show numbers, and hex is easier to work with for this kind of stuff. Hex is base 16 (0-F), decimal is base ten (0-9), and binary is base two (0-1). You can't learn hex because it's not a language, just a better way to show certain things in the ROM.

I see, I know Binary (or at least 0=no, 1=yes.) But thanks for tips.

Edit: @FBI Is BluRose helping you with the moves? Just started doing Absorb but don't want to have no point to it.

 

[Blah]

I see, I know Binary (or at least 0=no, 1=yes.) But thanks for tips.

Edit: @FBI Is BluRose helping you with the moves? Just started doing Absorb but don't want to have no point to it.

I don't know if he'll actually do it. I haven't been informed. Maybe you should start from the bottom up, likely he would've started with pound.

 

[PokemonBen]

I don't know if he'll actually do it. I haven't been informed. Maybe you should start from the bottom up, likely he would've started with pound.

Dunno what list he'll be using then, was going to do it in alphabetical order using Pokemondb.net list of attacks in Pokemon.

I do have some questions. Could you tell me where to find the hex values for move types? Like in your Pound example, 0x00 = normal. Also, I get the Bitfield to binary but how did you calculate Bitfield, I don't know what that is.

Edit: Forget that bit field, I think I know how to work it out. I'll explain when I give you my first example.

 

[GOLDstandard]

I modified the pokemon.h file with the forms added, and I intend to do the megas soon after :)