Platinum hack: PlatinumQoL - Now compatible with Following Platinum

[SpagoAsparago]

Introduction
Hello, this is my first ROMHack and its purpose is to offer a better experience of the original Platinum game, without radically altering the story progression or increasing difficulty.
My initial inspiration was while playing a mono bug type run in Platinum, thinking it would be really helpful to have Honey Trees work without the 6 hours waiting time.

Eventually as I learnt more about ROMhacking, I added more features that (in my opinion) improve the experience.
As of the last version, the full national dex can be completed without trading or transferring from other games.

Features

Spoiler:

• All features in Following Platinum (Credits to AdAstra and Mikelan98)
• Reusable TMs: All TMs are now infinitely reusable.
• Reusable Repel System similar to BW2
• HP Bar Speed: The HP Bar draining animation is now 3 times faster
• Hidden Machines: Rock Smash, Cut, Strength, Rock Climb and Waterfall do not need to be taught to a pokemon anymore to be used, you only need to have the HM in the bag and having obtained the relative badge.
  Surf, Fly and Defog still need to be activated the old way as so far there are no way to force their activation outside of the party menu.
  Rock Climb will use the first pokemon in your party for the animation, while Waterfall will use the first pokemon in your party that knows Surf.
• Honey Trees: After slathering the honey on a honey tree, interacting with it again will immediately trigger the wild battle.
• Trade Evolutions: Evolutions that are normally not accessible without trading have been changed to either leveling up or holding a specific item while leveling up. The changes are the same as in the universal randomizer, see this page for the exact evolution methods.
• Starters: The two Sinnoh starters you didn't pick can be obtained at Professor Rowan's Laboratory after having obtained the National Dex. Starters from Generations I to III can be found at the Pal Park.
• Pal Park : The wild area in the Pal Park can be accessed if there are no Pokémon migrated via the Dual Slot functionality, but while accessed this way, the catching contest functionalities are disabled so that any number of Pokémon can be captured.
• Diamond/Pearl Version Exclusives
• Event Pokémons and items: New legendary encounters and events have been added to make the full National Dex obtainable in a single savefile. They will also have the default legenary theme played when battled in the wild.
• Fossil Trader: A NPC has been added to the Underground Man house in Eterna City, and can be used to trade every fossil, except the Old Amber, for its counterpart.
• Spiritomb: After placing the Odd Keystone in the Hallowed Tower on Route 209, interacting with it again will trigger an encounter with a wild spiritomb. This process can be repeated at the cost of another Odd Keystone.
• Natures have their effects listed in the summary screen
• Ditto can be found at Route 218 as a Pokéradar encounter, like it was in Diamond/Pearl
• All Fishing Rods encounter rates are now 100%
• Egg Hatching cycle is now 256 steps
• All pokemon names in battle have been decapitalized
• All pokemon icons have been replaced with the gen 6 style ones

Encounters changes and new locations

Spoiler:

Diamond and Pearl version exclusives:

1. Misdreavus, Murkrow: Eterna Forest, Lost Tower
2. Stunky: Route 206, 214, 221
3. Skuntank: Route 221, 225
4. Glameow: Route 218, 222
5. Purugly: Route 222, 229
6. Clamperl: Route 219, 221 (Super Rod)
7. Trapinch, Vibrava: Route 228 (Poké Radar)
8. Ditto: Route 218 (Poké Radar, 20%)

Starters and Pal Park encounters:

• The two Sinnoh starters you didn't pick can be obtained at Professor Rowan's Laboratory after having obtained the National Dex. Starters from Generations I to III can be found at the Pal Park
The wild area in the Pal Park can be accessed if there are no Pokémon migrated via the Dual Slot functionality, but while accessed this way, the catching contest functionalities are disabled so that any number of Pokémon can be captured. The encounters are:

• Bulbasaur, Charmander, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Treecko Torchic (Tall Grass)
• Munchlax (Pokéradar, 1%)
• Squirtle, Totodile, Mudkip (Surf)
• Feebas (Super Rod, 1%)

Legendaries, Mythicals and Mistery Gift events:
• All encounters listed there require at least having obtained the National Dex with the exception of the Secret Key

• • Secret Key (Rotom forms): After catching Rotom
  • Celebi: Celestic Town shrine
  • Raikou: Valley Windworks, behind the fence
  • Entei: Stark Mountain (outside)
  • Suicune: Lake Acuity, on the shore near the tall grass
  • Jirachi: In the ?! Unown Room at Solaceon ruins
  • Regirock, Registeel and Regiice: their normal encounter locations are now freely accessible after obtaining the national dex
  • Regigigas: bottom of Snowpoint temple, while having the legendary titans in your party
  • Darkrai: After saving the Sailor son in Canalave, he will give you the Member Card
  • Shaymin: The Flower paradise is available as soon as route 224 is unlocked
  • Arceus: While having, Giratina, Dialga and Palkia in your party, talking to the cave paintings in Celestic Town will give you the Azure Flute
  • Manaphy: An egg is available on the island in Route 230
  • Mewtwo: After completing the Team Galactic storyline at Stark Mountain, a new room in the Galactic Lab will become accessible where you can find Mewtwo
  • Ho-Oh, Lugia, Deoxys, Latias, Mew: In the aforementioned secret room in the Galactic Lab, there is an Old Sea Map key item. Showing it to the Sailor in Canalave will allow to travel to the event islands when those pokemons can be catched
  • Latios: After battling Latias on Southern Island, a level 70 Latios will start Roaming
  • Kyogre, Groundon, Rayquaza: After completing the Team Galactic storyline at Stark Mountain, a Claydol will appear in Mount Coronet, talking to it will allow you to reach the Embedded Tower where the Weather Trio can be catched.

Screenshots

Spoiler:

Old Screenshot Album

Download

Spoiler:

Download Link - Last update 1.6.4
Extract the folder from the .zip file and patch the PlatinumQoL.xdelta file to a FollowingPlatinum ROM, the version that does NOT have the fairy type.

You can get the following platinum patch here: https://pokehacking.com/fangames/following-platinum/.
It has to be patched on a XenoPhobia version 3541 ROM.
If you are on mobile you can use https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js/ to patch.

A Spanish version of the patch is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/d7vnatm31bn1q5w/PlatinumQolEs_1.6.4.zip/file
Follow the instructions above for patching.
Huge thanks to Oloxx03 for their work on the translation!


If for whatever reason you want to play a version without the Following Platinum functionalities, the old update 1.4 can be downloaded here, but it will no longer receive updates.

FAQs

Spoiler:

Is the National Dex fully catchable?
As of version 1.6, yes. However it can only be completed in the post-game.
The only pre-post game newly available encounters are the Diamond and Pearl version exclusives.

Can any of the features be toggled/removed?
No. It would be too much work making a different patch with every different feature combination, and adding an in-game toggle option is way too complicated for my skill level.
However you can DM me or contact me on Discord so I can give you instructions on how disable/remove any feature.

What are the shiny odds?
The shiny odds are the same as Vanilla, 1/8192

Is the difficulty increased?
No, all trainer fights are the same as Vanilla.

Can you make a patch with a different shiny rate?
No, same issue as above. I suggest using DS Shiny Editor to change the shiny rate.

Can you make a patch with the fairy type? Is this compatible with Renegade Platinum?
No and no, as that's not the scope of this project.

Is it compatible with the Universal Randomizer?
No. If you want to change the starters, you can use pkHex to edit your savefile.

Can it be patched on non-english ROMs?
No

Is it possible to use pkHex or AR Codes?
Yes. If the AR code works with regular Platinum, it generally should work with this version as well.

Where can I learn more about DS Hacking?
I suggest watching Jay-San videos and joining his discord server for more resources. You can also message me on Discord if you need help implementing a specific feature(s) of this hack into your own.

Known Issues

Spoiler:

• Due to an issue with the tool the Griseous Orb in the Distortion world has been replaced with a Protector, and at the moment it can't be changed. As a workaround, the Stardust in Turnback Cave has been replaced with a Griseous Orb.

Credits

Spoiler:

• • Mikelan98 and AdAstra for the amazing FollowingPlatinum base rom
  • Bagboy for research on overworld sprites
  • Nomura and AdAstra for DSPRE
  • Turtleisaac for PokEditor
  • Mikelan98 for the reusable TMs
  • AdAstra, Mikelan98 and Nitram for the faster HP bar
  • Maple for the HM usable from bag script
  • Deadskullzjr for the GBA dual slot AR code
  • Many people from the Kingdom of DS Hacking Discord server for general help
  • The DS-style Pokemon Sprite resource and Darkress for making the narc file
  • BluRose for helping with ASM
  • Oxxon03 for the spanish translation
  • brahulus for the infinite repel cheat code

 

[eindolin!]

I love this! really looking forward for reusable tms and faster hp bar

 

[SpagoAsparago]

Version 1.1 Released!
Changelog:

• Waterfall Animation will now use the first pokemon in your party that knows surf
• Reusable TMs have been added. Credits to Mikelan98.
• Fishing Rods Encounter Rates have been changed to 100% for all Rods

I love this! really looking forward for reusable tms and faster hp bar

Thank you, hope you enjoy it! Faster HP bar will be part of the next update.

 

[darthbr]

Make all pkm avaliable
Legendáries etc

 

[Levine91]

Very happy to see something like this come out. Feels overdue. Thanks for leading this and I can't wait for the next update!

 

[eindolin!]

oh btw have you already thought about integrating the hack with following pokemon platinum patch? i think it will be a fun surprise and a whole new experience for platinum playthrough

 

[SpagoAsparago]

Update 1.2 Released! Changelog:
•HP Bar animation is now three times faster
•All eggs have a hatching cycle of 256 steps
•Regice, Regirock and Registeel locations are accessible after obtaining the National Dex
For the next update I'm looking forward to add event items and the remaining starters, but it's going to take a while.

Make all pkm avaliable
Legendáries etc

I'm not planning on further editing the encounter tables before the postgame, but I want to add other starters and more legendaries, altough I'm not sure there is a fitting location for every legendary. Ideally I also want to add the possibility of triggering the dual slot functionality to get the relative encounters but I don't know how doable it is.

oh btw have you already thought about integrating the hack with following pokemon platinum patch? i think it will be a fun surprise and a whole new experience for platinum playthrough

Following Platinum is way too complex for me to be able to add it to my ROM Hack. I would have to add all the features implemented here to an already existing FollowingPlatinum ROM, and also I don't know how the original creators feel about others releasing their hack. At the very least I'm planning to finish my Hack in the first place before thinking about it.

 

[000mn000]

Thank you for the mod. If possible, any chance of posting the hex changes you made for the animation bar? Or anything else for that matter, if you're willing? Some of these changes would do well ported to other rom hacks :)

 

[SpagoAsparago]

Thank you for the mod. If possible, any chance of posting the hex changes you made for the animation bar? Or anything else for that matter, if you're willing? Some of these changes would do well ported to other rom hacks :)

Sure. All the hex changes I made are those for the reusable TMs: https://pastebin.com/X08TB1Fq
And this for the HP Bar: https://pastebin.com/eCvYDcyw
I didn't come up with any of those changes, refer to the credits in my original post.

 

[darthbr]

Add prism scale to make feebas evolve with this stone.

 

[SpagoAsparago]

Update 1.3 Released! Changelog:

• Events: Darkrai can be catched at Newmoon Island which is now accessible from the Canalave Ferry after saving the sailor's son from nightmares. Shaymin's event has been unlocked with no requirements at Route 224, and a Manaphy Egg can be found at Route 230. The Azure Flute can be obtained by examining the Celestic Town cave painting, after having obtained the National Dex and with Giratina, Dialga and Palkia in your party.
• Pal Park: The Pal Park wild area can be accessed even if there are no migrated Pokémon. While accessed this way, the catching contest functionalities are disabled so an unlimited number of Pokèmon can be caught before leaving the area. The encounters are:
  1. Bulbasaur, Charmander, Chickorita, Cyndaquil, Treecko, Torchic (Tall Grass)
  2. Squirtle, Totodile, Mudkip (Surf)
  3. Munchlax (Pokéradar, 1%)
  4. Feebas (Super Rod, 1%)
• Starters: Other than the starters from Generations I to III that can be now found as wild encounters in the Pal Park, the other two sinnoh starters you didn't choose can be obtained at Professor Rowan's Laboratory after obtaining the National Pokedex.
• Fossil Trader: In the Underground Man house in Eterna City an NPC has been added which will trade every fossil (except the Old Amber) for its counterpart.
• Natures: The effects of natures are now listed in the summary screen.
• Ditto: It is now a Pokéradar Encounter at Route 218, like it was in Diamond and Pearl.

For now I don't think there will be more updates. I would like to add more Legendaries to the game, but there really isn't an existing map that fits most of them, and so far I can't really create and/or add new maps to the game or add new Overworld sprites. GBA Dual Slot functionality is theoretically possible to be triggered in game, but I will have to learn about ASM to do so, and also I'll be start working on a Gen 5 ROMHack which was my original project.

Add prism scale to make feebas evolve with this stone.

Unfortunately adding new items (and sprites) to the game is still out of my possibilities.

 

[darthbr]

You can add "import" an overworld portal sprite from hgss and those portals can be spawned after giratina event.. Like renegade one. It suits better to add legendáries.

Add Oak lore after leave from lab. He could give pikachu as partner at beggining of adventure. Starter + pikachu

Add another Oak or scientist lore when player arrive solaceon ruins. Give armor and shell fóssil and ask player to revive it for him

- why slowpoke to slowking with water stone and not level w kings rock like politoed? It make more sense

 

[SpagoAsparago]

You can add "import" an overworld portal sprite from hgss and those portals can be spawned after giratina event.. Like renegade one. It suits better to add legendáries.

Add Oak lore after leave from lab. He could give pikachu as partner at beggining of adventure. Starter + pikachu

Add another Oak or scientist lore when player arrive solaceon ruins. Give armor and shell fóssil and ask player to revive it for him

- why slowpoke to slowking with water stone and not level w kings rock like politoed? It make more sense

-I tought about portals but I would have to add the same thing 14 times and I think it wouldn't really fit, even as a temporary solution. Plus I'd rather spend time learning how add new maps and overworld sprites, than add them via portals and then remove it anyway.

-Sorry but that's kinda unnecessary and not really the point of this ROMhack

-Because the Universal Randomizer also changes it this way and I wanted to keep it consistent. I assume it's because slowpoke already has a level up evo, and having two evolutions by level up at the same time would result in one evolution overwriting the other? Now that I think about it, I would have to test it out.

 

[darthbr]

Yeah, this problem is kind of unfixable without rebalancing every bulky Pokemon in existence- which would be a huge undertaking(not just to change, but especially to test), and it would probably destroy the base stat totals. The alternative would be worse though- if I reintroduced EVs, NPCs still wouldn't be able to use them, so the player- even if they didn't do specific EV training- would be massively overpowered, and making it truly interesting and difficult would be impossible.
As it stands, there are far larger problems to balancing that I can't fix at all- like players using items in major battles, and the incredibly stupid NPC AI.
For what's currently possible in Generation 4, I'm fairly satisfied with how things have felt in my testing playthrough.
Since many restrictions are impossible to implement(and I'm not even sure I would if I could), the difficulty is kind of up to the player here, and that's fine, I think.
You could always limit yourself- no items in boss trainer battles, don't raise your stats higher than +2 stages, monotype, etc.
It sounds like kind of a copout answer, but it's also the only solution available in Gen 4 at the moment.

-I tought about portals but I would have to add the same thing 14 times and I think it wouldn't really fit, even as a temporary solution. Plus I'd rather spend time learning how add new maps and overworld sprites, than add them via portals and then remove it anyway.

-Sorry but that's kinda unnecessary and not really the point of this ROMhack

-Because the Universal Randomizer also changes it this way and I wanted to keep it consistent. I assume it's because slowpoke already has a level up evo, and having two evolutions by level up at the same time would result in one evolution overwriting the other? Now that I think about it, I would have to test it out.

Its very easy to add sprites
I did in a rom that i was working. You dont have to add New maps. Just add in like far places like oras did.. Spawn after X event.. Ex: Lugia portal underwater. Etc.
Im playing your rom. By far The Best vanilla. Just need think about "complete dex" legendáries.

 

[Chain]

This is just amazing! I love the idea of ​​a hack with these improvements, it's about time someone could do it.
Congratulations! I hope you can finish it as you like.

BTW, Is there any information of using the HM's from the bag? I find it interesting to learn how to implement it.

 

[SpagoAsparago]

Its very easy to add sprites
I did in a rom that i was working. You dont have to add New maps. Just add in like far places like oras did.. Spawn after X event.. Ex: Lugia portal underwater. Etc.
Im playing your rom. By far The Best vanilla. Just need think about "complete dex" legendáries.

You added new overworld sprites to Platinum? Replacing them is pretty easy, but it's at least 11 sprites so I don't know which are unused and if there are that many. I already have a few places in mind for existing legendary locations, like the Shrine in Celestic Town for Celebi, and the Legendary Beasts as roaming encounters after the Legendary Birds disappeared/are catched. I never played 3DS games so I don't know about oras, but there is no dive in this game so that would require a new map. But I want to make every National Dex pokemon catchable, not just legendaries, so for now I will focus on finding out how the dual slot encounters work.

This is just amazing! I love the idea of ​​a hack with these improvements, it's about time someone could do it.
Congratulations! I hope you can finish it as you like.

BTW, Is there any information of using the HM's from the bag? I find it interesting to learn how to implement it.

Thank you. For the HM it's just a matter of replacing a single script file, are you familiar with using DSPRE? I can post the script later as I'm on mobile now.

 

[SpagoAsparago]

Quick Update:
-Arceus Overworld Sprite at the Hall of Origin is now visible while previously it was still hidden even after using the Azure Flute.
-Changed the Pal Park Encounter file so that all starters are available regardless of daytime while previously some would only be available at either day or night.
-Removed the Secret Key after catching Rotom (which I forgot to add to the previous changelog) because after testing it on a fresh save file, it crashes the game while entering the Secret Room. It will take some time to fix this so for now I choose to remove it.

 

[Chain]

You added new overworld sprites to Platinum? Replacing them is pretty easy, but it's at least 11 sprites so I don't know which are unused and if there are that many. I already have a few places in mind for existing legendary locations, like the Shrine in Celestic Town for Celebi, and the Legendary Beasts as roaming encounters after the Legendary Birds disappeared/are catched. I never played 3DS games so I don't know about oras, but there is no dive in this game so that would require a new map. But I want to make every National Dex pokemon catchable, not just legendaries, so for now I will focus on finding out how the dual slot encounters work.

Thank you. For the HM it's just a matter of replacing a single script file, are you familiar with using DSPRE? I can post the script later as I'm on mobile now.

Yes! I usually working with DSPRE.
Really apreciated your work, that's an amazing job.

 

[SpagoAsparago]

Yes! I usually working with DSPRE.
Really apreciated your work, that's an amazing job.

The script file is 409, this is what it contains: https://pastebin.com/MgrfreTF
You have to replace both scripts and functions sections.

 

[Chain]

The script file is 409, this is what it contains: https://pastebin.com/MgrfreTF
You have to replace both scripts and functions sections.

Thank you so much bro! Im gona try it <3