FireRed hack: Pokémon Throwback v211001: Kanto, Your Way

[stephenbrook]

Where is this guide? There isn;t one in my zip

 

[RichterSnipes]

I forgot to have Dropbox resync the file when I put it back in...oops. I just did that now. Could you try the download again?

 

[stephenbrook]

It's there now mate, cheers

 

[stephenbrook]

ALso, where do I catch Pinsir? I haven't seen one in safari zone and there isn't one to buy at game corner?

 

[MrPleh]

BUG So, I might be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure this is NOT supposed to happen. Rofl. So I started up a new save and was just dicking around when I whited out on Route 2. Respawn and I'm in the Cinnabar Gym with no apparent escape. It's not so much of a problem since it's a new save and everything but yeah, I figured I'd bring it up. I also didn't take the map from Daisy if that matters.

Actually it seems that if you ever white out, you end up in the gym. ._.

 

[superandy989]

I have a kind of game breaking bug. I have somehow ended up trapped in Blaine's gym without even getting my Pokedex.

I decided to start a new game using this hack, and went full throwback by choosing Charmander as my starter (Possibly important, I lost to the rival.) I decided to get some leveling done early, so I kept fighting Pokemon right outside of Pallet town until Charmander was nearly level 9. I underestimated how much Rattata's tackle did, and ended up fainting. Instead of appearing in Mom's house though (Where I had previously healed twice before), I appeared in Blaine's gym.

Now, there is no way out of Blaine's gym when you're teleported there magically. I've been forced to start a new game, but luckily it was only when the game first started so it's not a big deal.

EDIT: Kind of funny that I didn't even bother reading that the last post has the same problem as me.

 

[Ghost Down]

I also experienced the same game breaking bug.

 

[Bill Cipher]

I'm actually surprised more hacks haven't done this.

I would do it, if I knew how to do it. C:

 

[RichterSnipes]

I'm honestly puzzled by the bug you all are describing. It only seems to happen with the complete patch in FireRed, as no combination of individual patches would cause it to happen. I'll take a closer look at it tomorrow. As for now, you can avoid the issue by either using all the individual patches...or just not faint before you reach your first Pokémon Center.

I'm terribly sorry about not responding to this issue sooner.

I would do it, if I knew how to do it. C:

It's actually really simple. In A-Map, just assign each tree an unused, permanent flag value. The reason trees reappear upon refreshing the map is because they are normally set to temporary flag values (10-1F, I think) that are cleared when you change maps. Once it's cut, the flag for it will be set. So long as the flag value you set it to is truly unused, there's no reason for that flag to ever be cleared, meaning that the tree won't come back.

 

[RichterSnipes]

Critical Update 3.8.2 Released!

I was unable to discover what exactly caused the issue with the full Throwback patch, so I decided to recreate it. I'm happy to say that the newest version of the hack no longer has the fatal issue previously experienced by users! Because I recreated the patch rather than build on top of it, there's always a chance that there may be some sort of regressions from previous versions. I haven't noticed any myself, but if anyone does, please let me know!

To accompany the update, I also decided to upload a patch that I worked on a bit ago for my own use. This new patch will increase the quality of Pokémon cries from all Kanto and Johto Pokémon in the game. Because the cries have been inserted at a greater frequency than before, they also take up much more space. It's compatible with Throwback, but if you want to use it with patches from other hackers, be especially wary of any potential changed data conflicts.

Enjoy the update, and thank you so much the input, everyone! I would have likely never discovered this glitch had it not been for your notices of it. :)

Changelog:

Spoiler:

Main Patch:

• Fixed fatal error where whiting out (or blacking out, as it was before and is now once again) before going to your first Pokémon Center would warp you to the Cinnabar Gym and render the game unplayable.

GB Player:

• Significantly decreased the space taken up by tracks played through DirectSound.

Other Patches:

• New patch: Higher Quality Cries
• Decapitalization: Decapitalized an instance of the word "PASS".

Oh, and just in case you still need to know:

ALso, where do I catch Pinsir? I haven't seen one in safari zone and there isn't one to buy at game corner?

Pinsir is in the Safari Zone. Like Scyther, it is incredibly rare. Just keep searching! If you must, you can always load a patched ROM into Advance Map and see exactly where you can find one.

***
EDIT: I just fixed a couple of regressions regarding capitalization I left in the game. If you downloaded version 3.8.2 before this edit, please redownload it for the fixed version.

 

[Chronosplit]

Quick question, in what offsets are the new cries inserted?

EDIT: Ah, I figured it out with IPS Peek. Freespace effected is A00000-CFF633. Is it just me or are some cries quieter in parts, like Weedle and Bulbasaur? I'm already noticing a distinct difference in Viridian Forest, playing at 48KHz. Sounds really good though.

 

[RichterSnipes]

Quick question, in what offsets are the new cries inserted?

EDIT: Ah, I figured it out with IPS Peek. Freespace effected is A00000-CFF633. Is it just me or are some cries quieter in parts, like Weedle and Bulbasaur? I'm already noticing a distinct difference in Viridian Forest, playing at 48KHz. Sounds really good though.

The cries were recorded from Crystal, so they represent how they sounded in the first two generations of games. Certain Pokémon, such as the two you mentioned, have slight sound differences between Gens 1-2 and Gens 3-5. This is due to levels of compression and volume normalization.

 

[Judqment8]

So it's completely safe to put the better quality cries for this hack?

Just wondering since it sounded dangerous >_> (lol)

 

[RichterSnipes]

So it's completely safe to put the better quality cries for this hack?

Just wondering since it sounded dangerous

(lol)

It's completely safe. I'm just warning that the patch takes up a ton of free space. There's a decent chance that hacks/patches from other hackers that still functioned with Throwback may be incompatible with it. For the vanilla game and Throwback, though, it's completely fine.

 

[Judqment8]

Thanks for clearing. I'm only using the vanilla Throwback and the cries. I have lots of hacks to play, but this one is my top priority list (having a nostalgia feeling and just have to play some Pokemons).

Just because I simply love the original 151 Pokemons and this hack seems to hold on to "originality". And yeah your hack description was entertaining to read. Nice attitude and clean grammar with simple text positions.

Anyway awesome work, much appreciated :D I don't usually comment on hacks (it's been few years since I've been here and forgot my account details so I created a new one), but this hack is probably one of the best ones I've seen in all its simplicity.

 

[looneyman1]

Um...Ok I have a serious issue here. I tried to apply the TM/Move tutor patches specifically to the game to get unlimited use, and nothing happened. TMs and move tutors are still one-off uses.

 

[RichterSnipes]

Um...Ok I have a serious issue here. I tried to apply the TM/Move tutor patches specifically to the game to get unlimited use, and nothing happened. TMs and move tutors are still one-off uses.

You mean the Extras patch, right? Every feature listed under Extras is in that patch (or the full patch). I can assure you that move tutors can be reused infinitely with it. As for TMs, you have to watch the full cutscene of your trainer applying the TM to the Pokémon learning the new move to keep the TM. This is a flaw in the method developed for reusing TMs in FireRed. Unfortunately, there is no currently-known issue-free method of doing this with FR like there is with Emerald...which is funny considering the undisputed favoritism for hacking FR over other games. Not surprising - it's due to how designation/usage of TMs differs between the games - just funny.

I had considered removing the feature in an update, but people seem to want to keep it enough despite this issue.

 

[looneyman1]

You mean the Extras patch, right? Every feature listed under Extras is in that patch (or the full patch). I can assure you that move tutors can be reused infinitely with it. As for TMs, you have to watch the full cutscene of your trainer applying the TM to the Pokémon learning the new move to keep the TM. This is a flaw in the method developed for reusing TMs in FireRed. Unfortunately, there is no currently-known issue-free method of doing this with FR like there is with Emerald...which is funny considering the undisputed favoritism for hacking FR over other games. Not surprising - it's due to how designation/usage of TMs differs between the games - just funny.

I had considered removing the feature in an update, but people seem to want to keep it enough despite this issue.

OK GOOD, I thought I did something wrong when I patched the IPS file.

Also is there a physical special move split? I know this is ment to be a proper throwback to the original red/blue versions but many pokemon just can't work right without a good STAB. Liquid Crystal is a great example of a full remake that utilizes said 4th gen feature

Also does this hack enable the EV reducing berries? Few if any fire red hacks are willing to implement it which makes no sense, it makes EV training more of a chore than it should. I wanted to check in case because for 3rd gen hacks to use the phys/special split there would have to be the necessary tools. I would assume there's a similar tool for the EV berries, which is why I ask.

 

[RichterSnipes]

OK GOOD, I thought I did something wrong when I patched the IPS file.

Also is there a physical special move split? I know this is ment to be a proper throwback to the original red/blue versions but many pokemon just can't work right without a good STAB. Liquid Crystal is a great example of a full remake that utilizes said 4th gen feature

Also does this hack enable the EV reducing berries? Few if any fire red hacks are willing to implement it which makes no sense, it makes EV training more of a chore than it should. I wanted to check in case because for 3rd gen hacks to use the phys/special split there would have to be the necessary tools. I would assume there's a similar tool for the EV berries, which is why I ask.

Well, you said it yourself there. Got to keep it classic. Heck, I might remove abilities in a future update! :) [/sarcasm] Besides, Liquid Crystal is a bad comparison to this hack. That hack takes some big liberties with the 2nd Gen story, just as HeartGold and SoulSilver do. This hack is meant to be faithful to the originals, which is actually easier since FireRed and LeafGreen were already pretty faithful to begin with. A better comparison would be CrystalDust.

Throwback is meant to act like the original games while still having the sensibilities of later games, all without affecting canon or compatibility with the official games. The first three generations of Pokémon didn't have the Physical/Special split. Adding it to the game does alter balancing quite a bit. Later generations compensated for this with new specialized moves meant to take advantage of the split.

The actual reason for not including it is due to compatibility issues when engaging in link battles. If you try to link battle with another player, and the two of you have alternating Physical/Special split implementations (as in, it's there for one player and not there for the other), battle damage per move will be screwed up on both sides. It's the same reason why I won't add new moves to the game. Using a custom move in a link battle that doesn't exist in the other player's game will cause the battle to glitch up and possibly crash the game. Even if this link issue didn't exist, I don't want to force it on players. This game was meant to be played without it, and adding it significantly affects gameplay.

If there is a way to allow the player to toggle the split on/off, I'll definitely reconsider adding it to the hack. This comes with the stipulation that I can make it so the game always disables the split when going into link battles. It'd be kind of similar to how Pokémon Crystal would re-break fixed battle elements when link battling against someone with a Gold or Silver cartridge.

If you want to add the split yourself, go right ahead. DoesntKnowHowToPlay's patch works just fine for that. I also added a patch later in that thread for changing attack attributes. If you want to add the attribute icons, make sure to look at this post I made in the thread for moving the icons to a different place in the ROM and having them work.

As for the EV berries, I'll look into that. If there's a documented way of doing it without issues, I'll implement it into the hack.

 

[looneyman1]

Its ok I figured I'd ask about the split at any rate, wasn't sure if it was an unlisted extra feature or not. If I knew how to do any hack work I'd consider making such a patch which sad to say I don't.

I'm glad you considered the matter of the berries, I'll be sure to check back for updates regardless of your final decision.