[pokefirered] how to change rival starter

[tinferbrains]

Thanks to a previous post I was able to randomize the starter options offered to the player, but the rival still gets the traditional starter strong against the type you chose. How would I go about changing the Pokemon your rival ends up with? I imagine I'll probably have to change the team for each rival battle, but correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Lunos]

how to change rival starter

It doesn't look like you made an effort to read Oak's Lab's scripts.inc file, huh.
Just like there's a temporary variable that is used to store the Player's starter before giving it to them (VAR_TEMP_2 which uses PLAYER_STARTER_SPECIES as a local label), there's a variable used to control the Rival's, VAR_TEMP_3 via the local label RIVAL_STARTER_SPECIES. Like I said in the other thread, both of these are located near the top of the scripts.inc file.
You're gonna have to modify its value in a similar way than you modified the value of VAR_TEMP_2/PLAYER_STARTER_SPECIES.

I imagine I'll probably have to change the team for each rival battle, but correct me if I'm wrong.

You're correct, yes. Each rival battle uses a separate opponent ID with their own parties. All the relevant data is in src/data/trainers.h and src/data/trainer_parties.h.

 

[tinferbrains]

Sorry, I should have remembered to read the temp variables in the script file. Duly noted. Also, thanks for the location of the party data and confirming my suspicion

 

[tinferbrains]

So, I have the special I set in field_specials also set VAR_TEMP_3, for the rival, which I assume is copied to RIVAL_STARTER_SPECIES.
In the trainer_parties.h I'm trying to read that variable to run a switch/case to build rival's team for each encounter, and am at a loss. I tried doing VarGet, as I use VarSet in the special function, but that doesn't seem to be it unless I'm doing it wrong. I have the following:

u16 rivalspecies = VarGet(RIVAL_STARTER_SPECIES);

Then I'd do a switch on rivalspecies and have a different party roster for each case. I get an error that 'RIVAL_STARTER_SPECIES' is undeclared here, so I can only assume I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Lunos]

So, I have the special I set in field_specials also set VAR_TEMP_3, for the rival, which I assume is copied to RIVAL_STARTER_SPECIES.
In the trainer_parties.h I'm trying to read that variable to run a switch/case to build rival's team for each encounter, and am at a loss. I tried doing VarGet, as I use VarSet in the special function, but that doesn't seem to be it unless I'm doing it wrong. I have the following:

u16 rivalspecies = VarGet(RIVAL_STARTER_SPECIES);

Then I'd do a switch on rivalspecies and have a different party roster for each case. I get an error that 'RIVAL_STARTER_SPECIES' is undeclared here, so I can only assume I'm doing something wrong.

1) You can't write meaningful code inside src/data/trainer_parties.h. That file contains arrays with data that are read by a field in the gTrainers array located at src/data/trainers.h, which is then read in different functions of code inside the files located in the src folder.

2) RIVAL_STARTER_SPECIES is, like I said, a local label. Local in this context refers to the scope of the variable and serves to describe a variable that can only be used inside the file where it's defined and nowhere else. In this case, that's data/maps/PalletTown_ProfessorOaksLab/scripts.inc.
You can totally use VarGet(VAR_TEMP_3) though. VAR_TEMP_3 is a constant label defined at include/constants/vars.h usable wherever you want in the codebase.

It's gonna be hard to say anything about the code you wrote without actually looking at it.

 

[tinferbrains]

ho

1) You can't write meaningful code inside src/data/trainer_parties.h. That file contains arrays with data that are read by a field in the gTrainers array located at src/data/trainers.h, which is then read in different functions of code inside the files located in the src folder.

2) RIVAL_STARTER_SPECIES is, like I said, a local label. Local in this context refers to the scope of the variable and serves to describe a variable that can only be used inside the file where it's defined and nowhere else. In this case, that's data/maps/PalletTown_ProfessorOaksLab/scripts.inc.
You can totally use VarGet(VAR_TEMP_3) though. VAR_TEMP_3 is a constant label defined at include/constants/vars.h usable wherever you want in the codebase.

It's gonna be hard to say anything about the code you wrote without actually looking at it.

See, here I was thinking that VAR_TEMP_3 was the local variable, thinking "oh, temp? That sounds like something only used in one place!"

So, I can't change the party array to directly reference VAR_TEMP_3 somehow though, to change the starter in his party?
ie

struct TrainerMonNoItemDefaultMoves sParty_RivalOaksLabCharmander[] = {
    {
        .iv = 0,
        .lvl = 5,
        .species = VarGet(VAR_TEMP_3),
    },
};

 

[Lunos]

ho

See, here I was thinking that VAR_TEMP_3 was the local variable, thinking "oh, temp? That sounds like something only used in one place!"

So, I can't change the party array to directly reference VAR_TEMP_3 somehow though, to change the starter in his party?
ie

struct TrainerMonNoItemDefaultMoves sParty_RivalOaksLabCharmander[] = {
    {
        .iv = 0,
        .lvl = 5,
        .species = VarGet(VAR_TEMP_3),
    },
};

Nope.
What you could do is to add a new SPECIES constant like SPECIES_RANDOM only used to signal the code that you want it to be replaced with a randomized species, and then make the code generate a random species when this new constant is read, inside the function of code that is in charge of filling gEnemyParty with a trainer NPC's party data, which is CreateNPCTrainerParty.
There might be more creative solutions you can employ though, that's just the first thing that comes to mind.

 

[tinferbrains]

Nope.
What you could do is to add a new SPECIES constant like SPECIES_RANDOM only used to signal the code that you want it to be replaced with a randomized species, and then make the code generate a random species when this new constant is read, inside the function of code that is in charge of filling gEnemyParty with a trainer NPC's party data, which is CreateNPCTrainerParty.
There might be more creative solutions you can employ though, that's just the first thing that comes to mind.

Here's what I tried.
I made a switch statement in /constants/species.h on VarGet(VAR_TEMP_3) to test what random Pokemon the rival was assigned.
Then, in each case (ie case("SPECIES_CHARMANDER"):) I did a "

#define SPECIES_RANDOM (Pokemon number)

where I found (Pokemon number) associated with the species in species.h
I tried plugging in SPECIES_RANDOM to the trainer party for the oak's lab battle, and 'make fireered' gives me an error saying SPECIES_RANDOM is undeclared, even if I directly do like #define SPECIES_RANDOM 15 (or any number really)
Is that enough info to be useful?

 

[Lunos]

I made a switch statement in /constants/species.h

You can't do that.
The header files are meant to contain defined labels for functions or constant labels. Macros at most, but there's no use for macros in this situation.

I tried plugging in SPECIES_RANDOM to the trainer party for the oak's lab battle, and 'make fireered' gives me an error saying SPECIES_RANDOM is undeclared, even if I directly do like #define SPECIES_RANDOM 15 (or any number really)

You should give it its own ID number, just to be safe. A number bigger than the last species defined in your project.
I'd probably just do SPECIES_EGG + 1.

I don't think it's necessary to explain what I suggested in my previous posts with different words, so please, go re-read my previous post.