Emerald hack: Pokémon Inclement Emerald: A Decomp Difficulty Hack [Version 1.13]

[WaywardPsycho]

I already commented but I left out another thing I wanted to say , just having all pokemon from gen 1 to 8 with their official typings and base stats is enough and everything else can be modernized as in your rom hack like hm system, berries,moves , abilities,tutors ,items etc.Keeping the contest hall with the contests and berry blender to make poke blocks to help with the cool,beauty,tough etc aspects for contests is a really good addition staying true to the vanilla game.I love all the additional features you added like gym leader and elite four re matches ,etc.I hope my suggestion helps .Take care again , waiting for the completion and addition of more features

Gen 8 will arrive when ready based off earlier posts. As per the standard version it most likely won't be released until the main version is in a more complete state.

Highly recommend mgba as the emulator. It's the most effective emulator for "most" devices.

 

[tyranatourus]

So I didn't realize that having all level 100 pokemon in your party would give you a level 100 revived fossil pokemon. Is there any way to obtain another fossil or de-level my pokemon? Thanks! Loving the hack btw!

 

[WaywardPsycho]

So I didn't realize that having all level 100 pokemon in your party would give you a level 100 revived fossil pokemon. Is there any way to obtain another fossil or de-level my pokemon? Thanks! Loving the hack btw!

You can get more fossils from smashing rocks or the Fallarbor battle tent. When reviving just make sure to have no lvl 100s in your party.

 

[PageEmp]

Could someone please tell me where the Draco meteor move tutor is supposed to be? I checked the documents and the badge move tutors three times each and could not find anything.

Edit: Nevermind this, it's at the same place the final gym is located. Found out about it not too long after posting this.

 

[Buffel Saft]

I already commented but I left out another thing I wanted to say , just having all pokemon from gen 1 to 8 with their official typings and base stats is enough and everything else can be modernized as in your rom hack like hm system, berries,moves , abilities,tutors ,items etc.Keeping the contest hall with the contests and berry blender to make poke blocks to help with the cool,beauty,tough etc aspects for contests is a really good addition staying true to the vanilla game.I love all the additional features you added like gym leader and elite four re matches ,etc.I hope my suggestion helps .Take care again , waiting for the completion and addition of more features

I think that might be what I end up doing honestly, no point going through all the trouble of removing the new tutors - anyone that doesn't want them can just not use them! I still don't know why the berry blender is broken but hopefully it'll be fixed some day!

 

[Pinkzdraws]

Oh great ,I will wait a bit more before trying the game ,it looks really promising and I am super hyped for it .I forgot to mention the feature you added for picking our starter from any region was really awesome and I hope it will be in the standard version too.I saw a lot of people playing your hack and it's really refreshing to see an emerald based hack. I have played pokemon theta emerald and it had problems with contest hall too. I personally am waiting for the standard version becuz a lot of these types of hacks change the Pokemon typing and stats and I don't feel like I am playing with the official pokemon so I was super excited to see u mentioning a standard version

 

[Pinkzdraws]

Oh ok thanks for responding

 

[Pinkzdraws]

Btw are there any plans to update the cries of pokemon from the older gens , especially raichu and all?

 

[Buffel Saft]

Oh great ,I will wait a bit more before trying the game ,it looks really promising and I am super hyped for it .I forgot to mention the feature you added for picking our starter from any region was really awesome and I hope it will be in the standard version too.I saw a lot of people playing your hack and it's really refreshing to see an emerald based hack. I have played pokemon theta emerald and it had problems with contest hall too. I personally am waiting for the standard version becuz a lot of these types of hacks change the Pokemon typing and stats and I don't feel like I am playing with the official pokemon so I was super excited to see u mentioning a standard version

Thanks! Yeah the standard version will have everything except my changes to Pokémon typing, stats etc, it won't lose any of the hack's features.

Btw are there any plans to update the cries of pokemon from the older gens , especially raichu and all?

Not at the moment; I don't really like the gen 6+ cries for a lot of Pokémon, and they take up a lot of space! I might update the gen 1 and 2 cries in future though.

 

[Pinkzdraws]

Oh great , looking forward to the completion.Take your time .I am sure it will be one of best rom hacks of all time 😊😊

 

[Pinkzdraws]

Pokémon Inclement Emerald

Discord
Github
Latest version: 1.6
​

Introduction

Inclement Emerald is my third difficulty and catch em' all style hack, and much like the previous two, it's heavily inspired by Drayano's famous hacks. It started out as a binary hack back in 2018, and has since been redone from scratch using the pokeemerald decompilation project. It's intended to offer a modern, more challenging take on the Hoenn region, and is full of quality-of-life improvements, new systems that streamline Pokémon training, and extra events that should freshen things up a little.

Features

Massive Pokémon variety:

• Most non-legendary Pokémon from gen 1-7 can be obtained, with the missing Pokémon and all of Generation 8 planned for a future version.
• New ways to find Pokémon keeps the grass from getting crowded – most routes will have eight Pokémon species found in the grass, with more found in Cut trees, sand mounds and berry trees.
• Choose any of the regional starters at the start of the game! Before choosing a starter, you'll be asked which region you want your starters to come from, and then you can pick one of the three from that region. Be careful not to fast forward your way through the early game and skip this choice!
• Pokémon that normally evolve by trading have alternate evolution methods.

Modern Battle Engine:

Thanks to Dizzy Egg and RHH, Inclement Emerald features most new moves, abilities, items and mechanics from gen 4-7. This includes Mega Evolution, but not Z-moves. It's still a WIP so there will be some bugs, but hopefully nothing game-breaking!

Enhanced Pokédex:

Inclement Emerald uses TheXaman's Pokédex Plus, which shows base stats, learnsets, egg moves and more, all in game!

Custom Mega Evolutions:

Certain fan favourites like Milotic and Flygon can finally mega evolve - complete with custom sprites and cries - and more will be added in future updates. Some Gigantamax forms have also been repurposed as megas.

Custom EXP System:

Like Gen 8, all party Pokémon will get EXP when you battle, and this can't be turned off. However, it works a little differently:

• All Pokémon that appear in a battle get 100% of the EXP
• Pokémon that didn't battle will get 25% of the EXP
• Holding an EXP Share increases that to 50% EXP

This makes it easier to train a full team, and lets your whole party gain EVs quickly.

Weather Rework:

Weather-inducing abilities like Drought and Drizzle create endless weather again, but the damage bonus from sun and rain has been reduced to 20%. The goal behind this was to make defensive weather abilities like Ice Body and Sand Veil better options, while reigning in Swift Swim and its clones a bit. It also gives you a chance to play around with mons like Hydration Goodra that would have been much better if they'd been around for the weather wars in Gen 5!
Additionally, Ice Types receive a 50% defense boost in Hail. Even though this change is a bit of a meme at this point it really does help all those slow, defensive Ice types!

More TMs and Tutors

• Inclement Emerald features a custom list of 100 TMs, 8 HMS, and a whopping 143 tutor moves! Some of these are entirely new, such as Meteor Mash, Quiver Dance and Freeze-Dry. Note that "only" 126 of these tutor moves are currently available, as some of them are unfinished gen 8 moves.
• Generic tutor moves are all taught by an NPC found in every Pokémon Center. They're all free, and you'll unlock new moves after each badge you earn.
• Special tutors like Grass Pledge, Blast Burn and Draco Meteor are found elsewhere and may have extra requirements to be taught.
• And of course, TMs are infinitely reusable.

Two versions – Rebalanced and Standard (Coming Soon!):

The Rebalanced Version includes changes to base stats, types, moves, movepools, items and abilities to make many Pokémon stronger. This version also includes a few entirely new moves and abilities. These changes are almost entirely taken from my earlier hacks, Photonic Sun and Prismatic Moon, but some also come from Drayano's hacks and Luuma's Altered Emerald. A few examples include:

• Overgrow, Blaze, Torrent and Swarm provide a 20% damage boost to their respective types at all times. This increases to 50% at low HP.
• The Big Root doubles HP recovered from certain moves.
• The Light Ball also works on both Raichu forms, but gives them a 50% damage boost instead of the 100% that Pikachu gets.
• Bonemerang can hit airborne targets (but doesn't knock them down like Thousand Arrows does).

The Standard Version is currently a WIP and isn't playable yet. In my other hacks, this version removes all changes to base stats, typing and movepools, but as some of these changes (like the new tutor moves and battle engine changes) are ingrained into the hack and aren't easy to remove, this time it won't be as faithful to the vanilla games.
This is something I'm making just for the community, so I'd like to get some input on this – just how vanilla does the Standard Version need to be? Is removing stat and type changes enough, or will the custom megas and move tutors make it unappealing? Please let me know what you think!

Increased Difficulty:

• Improved AI – opponents will switch more often, make better decisions, and understand how new moves and abilities work.
• Trainers and wild Pokémon scale based on your party's levels, allowing you to skip trainers or tackle optional areas at any time.
• As of version 1.3, a level cap system keeps the scaling reasonable and makes training a full party to equal levels easier. Once a Pokémon is over the cap, it'll only get one EXP point per KO, but will still earn EVs.
• Every trainer has a custom moveset to ensure the level scaling doesn't leave them with rubbish sets. Most trainers will simply use level up moves, but bosses, Ace Trainers and Veterans will commonly make use of TM, tutor and egg moves, and some will even use Mega Evolution!

Three Difficulty Settings:

• Normal Mode: trainers have no EVs
• Hard Mode: trainers gradually gain EVs as you progress through the game, eventually having full 510 EV spreads. Regular trainers like Swimmers and Fishermen will have "bad" spreads to keep exploring from becoming a slog, but watch out for Ace Trainers!
• Challenge Mode: This is like Hard Mode, but with two extra rules: the bag can't be used in trainer battles, and the Shift battle style is disabled.

Massive Bag:

The bag has enough space to hold 999 of every item in the game, and has more pockets to make it easier to navigate.

Decapitalisation:

Almost all of the CAPSLOCK in the middle of every SENTENCE has been removed.

QoL changes:

• A new Key Item, the Poké Vial, can be used out of battle to fully heal your entire party. Initially it only has one use, but it's refilled by healing at a Pokémon Center, and can be upgraded with an extra charge later on.
• When a repel wears off, you'll be prompted to use another one.
• Healing items can be used repeatedly, without returning to the bag after each use.
• Auto run – this can be toggled on or off by pressing the "R" button. You can also hold B while it's on to walk, or to run when it's off.
• You can also hold B to surf faster!
• New hybrid HM system: you can still use HMs as normal, but there's now an alternative: whenever you beat a Gym Leader, they'll allow you to call one of their Pokémon to use an HM move for you, so you can use HMs without having any Pokémon that know the move. This applies to all HMs except Fly and Flash, which can be used by any Pokémon that can learn them without actually knowing the move.
• On top of that, Fly can be used in the overworld without any badges.
• Get a free Premier Ball for every ten Poké Balls you buy, of any kind! E.g. if you buy 30 Ultra Balls, you get 3 Premier Balls free.
• Buy healing items, Poké Balls etc. in Pokémon Centers. Marts now sell consumable held items like gems and Focus Sashes.
• Like Sword and Shield, the move reminder, name rater and move deleter are all one NPC that can be found in every Pokémon Center. You can even rename other trainers' Pokémon!
• Friend Balls make Pokémon very friendly when caught - if they evolve via friendship, they'll be already be friendly enough to evolve!
• Dream Balls will give Pokémon their hidden ability when caught.
• The chance of encountering a shiny Pokémon has been increased to 1/1024.

Improved Berry system:

• All berry trees have significantly increased yields, and some of them grow much faster.
• Berries planted on rainy routes or in the Berry Master's garden don't need to be watered – they'll always give you the maximum amount of berries.
• You can also encounter wild Pokémon when checking a berry tree, with a different set of mons available at each stage of growth.

Better Training and Stat Boosting:

• The power training items can be bought in Slateport.
• EV reducing berries are found early, have massive berry yields, and grow extremely quickly – one hour per stage!
• Two new NPCS, Evie and Ivy, can painlessly modify your Pokémon's EVs and IVs. Evie can be paid money to increase EVs, and will reset them to zero for free. Ivy will change a Pokémon's IV to 0, 1, 14, 15, 30 or 31 for the price of a Bottle Cap. She can also can change all of a Pokémon's IVs at once to give them a new Hidden Power type, so you don't need to know the IV combination for the type you want.
• The nature changer can be found in Slateport City, and will change a Pokémon's nature for 10 Oran Berries.
• An improved version of Sword and Shield's egg move transferral system allows you to pass egg moves between any Pokémon that share an Egg Group – they don't need to be the same species!
• The daycare has been updated to modern standards – you can pass down natures, balls, moves and IVs exactly as you would in Sword and Shield.

New Locations:

A few maps, like Petalburg Woods and Scorched Slab, have been expanded with new areas, and there are also a few all-new locations. This helps to spread out Pokémon species and keep grassy patches from getting too crowded. Some of the new maps also serve as homes to Legendary Pokémon that wouldn't normally be found in Emerald.

Post-Game Rematches:

• All Gym Leaders can be rematched daily, and you can choose to battle them in singles, doubles, and with or without Legendary Pokémon. There's no need to wait for them to call you, simply talk to them after becoming Champion.
• The Elite Four can also be rematched with the same options as Gym Leaders.
• Brendan/May can be rematched daily on Route 103.
• And more!

Documents

Documentation for things like Pokémon changes, item locations and most everything else you might want to know is provided with the download. Documentation is also available here; the docs here include trainer teams and are maintained the community.

Screenshots

What's not Done:

• The Battle Frontier and Trainer Hill are currently inaccessible, as they're not in a playable state right now.
• Some Pokémon can't be caught yet - see the Pokémon Locations document for details.

What's Next:

While the current version is fully playable, I've got more planned for Inclement Emerald. There's no timeframe for these additions, but I'm planning to add new features in this order:

• Generation 8 Pokémon and battle mechanics (items, moves, abilities etc.)
• Another difficulty setting above Challenge Mode (something like Eternal X/Wilting Y's Insanity Mode)
• Standard Version - dependent on feedback!
• AI overhaul - it's still got a lot of room for improvement
• Fully overhauled Battle Frontier, using Pokémon from all eight generations
• I'd also like to add a few new modes to each facility (maybe 6v6 and inverse battles? We'll see).
• Extended Post Game with all Legendary Pokémon available, plus some extra stuff to do.

I expect there will be bugs and mistakes that will need fixing, so I'll fix those ASAP when they're found. I'll also gradually add more Legendary Pokémon to the game via new maps and possibly via mystery gifts/events.
Of course, this is a fangame so there's no guarantees any of these things will actually get done, and definitely no deadline for any of them. It's done when it's done!

FAQ

Answers to frequently asked questions:

Q: How can I get Hidden Abilities?
A: Catch a Pokémon in a Dream Ball, or use an Ability Patch on it.

Q: Where can I find [insert Pokemon or item here]?
A: Check the docs! There may be a few things that aren't listed in the docs and should be, so feel free to ask about those here.

Q: Will my current save work with the latest version?
A: Yes! Just make sure you make an actual save with the game's save option before updating. Save states may not work between versions.

Q: Do cheats work? Why?
A: No, cheats for vanilla Emerald don't work. Decomp hacks can change anything and everything in a ROM, including the memory addresses of things like the bag and the party (case in point: the expanded bag!). Making the bag bigger means relocating and shrinking other things to make room, so vanilla cheats don't know where anything is in the hack and therefore won't work.

Q: What are the levels for the level caps?
A: No badges: 16, Stone Badge: 25, Knuckle Badge: 38, Dynamo Badge: 50, Heat badge: 101 (no cap)

Q: How do I update to a newer version without losing my progress?
A: First, you need make an in-game save using the save option in the menu - save states are not enough.
Then, apply the latest patch to a clean (vanilla, unmodified) Emerald ROM, in the same way you did the first time you patched the ROM.
Finally, make sure that your save file matches the name of your newly patched ROM. E.g. if you have InclementEmerald.gba, your save file should be named InclementEmerald.sav (if they don't match, rename one of them so that they do). Emulators pair the save and the ROM based on the file name, so as long as these match your progress will be carried over to the new version.

Credits

• PRET: pokeemerald
• Dizzy Egg: Battle Engine, Pokémon Expansion, Item Expansion, nature-coloured stats, higher money cap
• RHH: Battle Engine, Pokémon Expansion, Item Expansion
• Contributors to the Simple Modifications thread: various small changes
• Ghoulslash: fast surf, medicine reuse, expanded OW IDs, plural giveitem, toggleable auto-run
• Camthesaxman: expanded OW IDs
• AsparagusEduardo: single purchase TMs, more bag pockets, Pokedex+
• TheXaman: Pokedex+
• lightbox87: whiteout money
• NobodySociety: Fire Red style fishing
• Zeturic: wrapping summary screen, move items in summary screen
• Lunos: OW poison changes, Gracidea form change
• Furret: Music Expansion (HGSS and DPPt tracks)
• SamuRH/Xhizy: RHH/PRET intro
• Chaos Rush, Mr. Dollsteak, contributors to the DS-Style sprite resources: Pokémon sprites
• Skeli: Parental Bond code, which was adapted from the CFRU's source code
• Fans of EXWY and PSPM: This hack wouldn't be the same without some of the fantastic suggestions you've all provided over the years, and I always appreciate hearing from you! I hope this one lives up to the hype even though it's eight months late. Looking forward to seeing those Hall of Fame screenshots!

If you think I've missed you off the list please let me know!

Bugs

• The move tutor selection list doesn't fit in the screen while you have six badges. It still works, but doesn't look good!
• Castform and Cherrim can't change form in battle, and will look a little buggy when they try.
• The Red Card and Eject button don't work properly against U-turn.
• The Berry Blender is broken - it will just look buggy on some systems, but will crash on others.
• One of Roxanne's rematch teams doesn't work; she'll just do nothing instead of battling you.
• Some TM/HM and tutor compatibility may be incorrect. These were done by hand before Sword and Shield were released and then updated, so it's very likely I made mistakes along the way! If a Pokémon doesn't learn a move that it should, please let me know so I can fix it!
• Illusion doesn't fool the AI - this completely ruins Zoroark, so I'd suggest not training one until this is fixed.
• The region map shows "Seaspray Cave" where it should show "Hoenn".
• Certain abilities will print the wrong message when they boost a stat (e.g. Justified, Stamina). The stat boost works as intended.
• A trainer on Route 114 has an Aromatisse that may freeze the game if it uses Misty Terrain.
• If all three of Steven's Pokémon faint in the Mossdeep Space Center tag battle, the game will freeze.

If you find a bug that isn't listed here, I'd be grateful if you report it! Please include as much information as you can: what you were playing on, if you used save states, what you were doing before finding the bug, etc.
Please make sure you're on the latest version BEFORE reporting bugs!

Download

Download the latest (read: the one with the highest number) Release.zip file from this page: LINK.
Then, extract the zip file and follow the instructions in the "HOW TO PATCH" file within. I can't provide a pre-patched version as sharing ROM files is illegal, so you will need to get a clean copy of Pokémon Emerald and patch it yourself.

Also, please don't play on VBA!
It's old, it's buggy, it's inaccurate, and it can even be unsafe! While it was good in its day and it's still a good emulator for many older hacks, it's not a good choice for decomp hacks. I recommend using mGBA instead.

You might notice the source code is also available at the link above; feel free to make use of this however you want. Credit for any of my code you use from Inclement Emerald is appreciated, but not required.

Finally, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy Inclement Emerald!

I just remembered three other things I forgot to ask!! In the standard version will the changes to drought and drizzle abilities be kept or will it be like the vanilla ones limited turns with 50% bonus ? Also will there be any NPCs who can change the poke ball of your pokemon?Do u plan to implement contests in lilycove as in the vanilla game?

 

[Omarick548]

Hey would you be able to implement a feature where winona could give us a flying pokemon to fly everywhere or let us access the pc box from anywhere like how we can in swsh? It's kind of a hassle having to go to a pc everytime we have to fly somewhere if we don't already have a flying pokemon as one of our main mons😫.

 

[Buffel Saft]

I just remembered three other things I forgot to ask!! In the standard version will the changes to drought and drizzle abilities be kept or will it be like the vanilla ones limited turns with 50% bonus ? Also will there be any NPCs who can change the poke ball of your pokemon?Do u plan to implement contests in lilycove as in the vanilla game?

Not sure about the weather abilities, I'll have to change a lot to accommodate the vanilla ones. Both of the other things are already done though, it's not like I went out of my way to remove contests!

Hey would you be able to implement a feature where winona could give us a flying pokemon to fly everywhere or let us access the pc box from anywhere like how we can in swsh? It's kind of a hassle having to go to a pc everytime we have to fly somewhere if we don't already have a flying pokemon as one of our main mons😫.

Yeah I might add add another way to fly in future!

 

[Omarick548]

Not sure about the weather abilities, I'll have to change a lot to accommodate the vanilla ones. Both of the other things are already done though, it's not like I went out of my way to remove contests!

Yeah I might add add another way to fly in future!

Sweet, thanks

 

[tyranatourus]

You can get more fossils from smashing rocks or the Fallarbor battle tent. When reviving just make sure to have no lvl 100s in your party.

Thank you for the info. I appreciate it!

 

[tyranatourus]

To follow up my other question about fossils, what's the drop rate for the Fallabor battle tent? I've been at this for over an hour on fast forward and am only getting bottle caps (which is a great prize in itself). If somebody has some insight that would be great!

 

[Buffel Saft]

To follow up my other question about fossils, what's the drop rate for the Fallabor battle tent? I've been at this for over an hour on fast forward and am only getting bottle caps (which is a great prize in itself). If somebody has some insight that would be great!

The battle tent doesn't drop fossils anymore - it seems the docs weren't updated with that change. Sorry about that!

 

[Pinkzdraws]

Oh ok thanks for clearing up my doubts 😊😊

 

[characterswaps]

If you're looking for a reasonable way to implement the full power weather summoning (I might have misunderstood, you may not be) you could make the change that drought and drizzle pokemon holding their respective rocks (dry and damp) summon full damage sun/rain. Also, in the locations in game that have permanent rain is it 20% boosting or 50% boosting rain?

 

[Buffel Saft]

If you're looking for a reasonable way to implement the full power weather summoning (I might have misunderstood, you may not be) you could make the change that drought and drizzle pokemon holding their respective rocks (dry and damp) summon full damage sun/rain. Also, in the locations in game that have permanent rain is it 20% boosting or 50% boosting rain?

Nah the problem was what to do with the weather changes in the version of the game that doesn't have stat/type/ability changes etc (i.e. whether or not I should keep them). Permanent weather in the overworld is 20% too, only way to get 50% is using Rain Dance/Sunny Day.