Emerald hack: Pokemon Emerald Double Up Delevelled v2 (Updated to v2.5)

[AlmightyK]

Pokemon Emerald: Double Up Delevelled is back with a complete overhaul utilising the Disassembly and Battle Engine upgrades.
(Nuzlocke Viable)

Hack of: Pokémon Emerald
Current Version: 2.5

Overview:
Double Up Delevelled is a vanilla+ rom hack of Emerald that applies the standard Battle Engine upgrades while also changing to double battles and making pokemon stats independent of level. It is a new challenge on an old framework that should make an interesting replay.

KEY FEATURES
*Every possible Trainer Battle with more than one Pokemon is a Double Battle
*Wild Double Battles occur at ~30% rate.
*Altered encounter list to make all Pokemon catchable (Deoxys available separately in all four forms)
*Level is removed from Stat Gain (detailed later)
*Hyper Training for Post Game
*Swap moves as you adventure (Doesn't work for Egg Moves)

BATTLE ENGINE UPGRADES
*Stats updated to Gen 8
*Learnsets Updated to Gen 8
*Moves/Abilities Updated to Gen 8
*Combat changed to Gen 7 standards (Criticals, Status effects, Weather, etc)
*Items changed to Gen 7 standards
*Physical/Special Split
*Fairy Type added
*Various small aesthetic changes (Mostly Combat)
*EV/IV stat changes applied after battle
*Ghosts can not be trapped by Shadow Tag, Mean Look or similar
*Ghosts can flee all wild battles.
*Mew and Deoxys obey.
*Badge Boost removed.

QOL CHANGES
*Coloured Natures (Red Up, Blue Down)
*IV/EV Checker with L/R
*Removed Fishing Minigame
*Infinite TM use
*Removable HMs
*Move Swapping from menu (Similar to Arceus)
*Trainer Battles are Optional
*Trainer Rematch available from beginning of game
*Trade Evos updated to Level 35 or Item Use
*Swap Bikes while riding (Press R)
*Shuckle Makes Berry Juice (Maybe Berry Juice can change again)
*EVs capped at 252 per stat (Can be done from Vitamins)
*EVs can max out each Stat
*Later Gen Evolutions added into game
*Low Health Beep removed
*All Wild Pokemon have at least 3 Perfect IVs
*Shiny Odds increased (1% Spawn rate)
*Later Gen Evolutions (and baby forms) added into game
*Indoor Running
*Wild Pokemon drop Held Items when defeated
*Return shows Power
*HMs usable without teaching
*Flash auto activates
*Move Summary in battle (Press Start)
*Egg Moves are learnt from either parent

MINOR TWEAKS
*Professor Birch intro speech is altered
*Move Tutors are reusable
*Birch gives a free Pokemon when getting Starter
*Berry Master now sells Berries
*Move Reminder now sells Evo Items,
*Hidden Abilities available (5% Spawn rate)

MAJOR TWEAKS
*Four neutral Natures have been altered to give two positive and two negative stat changes
*Frustration now acts as Physical Hidden Power
*Unown learn Frustration
*Food Items (Lava Cookies, Lemonade, Etc) are no longer usable in battle
*Others listed above.

KNOWN BUGS
*Pokedex shows Shiny sprites
*Leaving the Move Swap menu without learning a move puts the pointer on the menu of the last pokemon that used Move Swap
*Pokeballs will sometimes fail in Double Battles, unknown why.
*Hyper Trainer doesn't check if Pokemon already has been Hypertrained, you can waste money doing this
*Flutes consumed if used during battle
*Castform Form Change doesn't work with existing weather
*Move Summary in battle crashes at Battle Frontier (Fixed I think)

CHEAT OPTIONS
*Game Corner Man gives continuous charity
*Youngster Calvin on 102 is rematchable
*Sweet Scent doesn't count steps in Safari Zone
*Debug menu available (R+Start in overworld, Select in combat)

LEVEL REMOVAL
One of the key features of Double Up Delevelled is that Level is no longer a factor when determining a Pokemon's stats, with the exception of HP. Now Stats are at a set value based on Base Stat, IVs, and Nature. They will be altered as EVs are gained.
Level is now more a representation of the state of training, as it still affects the moves a Pokemon knows, the effects of level based moves (such as Seismic Toss), when a Pokemon can evolve, and does make them slightly tougher increasing Max HP by 1 per level gained.
As of version 2.11, damage also no longer scales based off level.

TODO LIST
*Fix Trainer Movesets (Focus in next version)
*Make optional Battles based off trainer type
*Optional Hard Mode
*Overhaul Encounter List
*Trainer EVs and IVs (Focus in next version)
*Nature Mints
*IV Changing Items
*Random EVs for Wild Mon (Focus in next version)
*Hidden Ability indicator
*Update post details
*Better Encounter Tables

CHANGELOG
v2.5.11
Hotfix for HM Learning

v2.5.1
Hotfix for Coin Charity

v2.5
Changed Encounter List (Original returned to normal, relevant land mon in place, legendaries on Mirage Island/Artisan Cave/Altering Cave)
Gacha Egg Seller (Starters and Baby Mon) located in Lavaridge
Gem Seller is now Fossil Maniac Brother
Possibly other things I may have forgotten

v2.4

Spoiler:

Smeargle breed like Ditto (For Egg Move purpose)
Move Deleter changed to Egg Move Tutor
Egg Move Tutor teaches TM moves from other Generations
Engine Updates
Consumable Held Items are returned after battle
Natural Gift returned to normal, Frustration is now physical Hidden Power
Physical/Special icons displayed in battle
Ability Capsule and Ability Patch now sold at Pokemon League Mart
Hold Item Seller moved to Pokemon League Mart and available before Post Game
Hyper Trainer available at Pokemon League before Post Game
Default Weather set to Fog
Transitioning Weather (Drought - Sunny - Fog - Dark - Rain - Lightning)
Learnsets updated to Gen 8 (No Legends or LGPE), level averaged from multiple generations (Thanks Porymoves)
Static Level in damage set to 50
Metronome can pull from up to Gen 8 moves
Berry Growth stages changed to a few minutes
Entire Safari Zone available before Post Game
Wild Scaling no longer Post Game

BUGFIX: Move Swap should show most Pre Evo moves
Reimplemented Hostile Trainer areas
Move Summary works at Battle Frontier (I think)

KNOWN BUGS: Rydel has a harmless dialogue bug (just walk out of the shop)
Egg Move tutor doesn't have all Mew moves
Egg Move tutor and Move Swap may create Bad Eggs, save before using

NEW EVOLUTIONS: Sylveon - Shiny Stone
Farfetchd - 3 Crits in one battle

POST GAME - Overworld Legendaries (Rayquaza, Groudon, Kyogre, Regi Trio) are uncatchable and extra challenging, but come with rewards for defeating.
Gem Seller in Fossil Maniac tunnel

v2.3.1
Shoal Cave changes tide every 6 seconds
Added Hold Item seller (Post Game)
Hold Item Seller sells Ability Capsule and Ability Patch
Breeding inherits moves from both parents
Shuckle has Infestation as Egg Move
Egg Moves are learnt from either parent
Food Items (Lava Cookies, Lemonade, Etc) are no longer usable in battle
Move Reminder now sells Evo Items, Brother sells Hold Items (Post Game Only)

ENCOUNTER LIST CHANGES: Artisan Cave B1 removed Regi*, others changed to 10% each
Altering Cave - Lileep, Anorith (20%) RayQuaza, Groudon, Kyogre, Beldum (10%) Registeel, Regirock, Regice, Castform (5%)
Artisan Cave B1, Altering Cave, and Mirage Island all set to level 1 spawns
SafariZone_NE - Removed Jirachi, Celebi, Mewtwo. Added Sudowoodo (5%) Increased Mr Mime (5%)

BUGFIXES - Fixed some evolutions and items

v2.3 (A big one)

Spoiler:

Updated to new mechanics in Master
Indoor Running
Wild Pokemon drop Held Items when defeated
Return/Frustration show Power
HMs usable without teaching
Flash auto activates
Move Swap works for Pre Evo moves with 5 level gap
Hidden Abilities spawn at 5% rate
Shiny Odds changed to just under 1%
Natural Gift TM given with Hidden Power
Roar TM restored
Can see move summary in combat
Travel Buddy system removed (6 mon party as normal)
Berrys last until picked
Berry Growth stages reduced to 1-2 minutes
Each participating Pokemon in battle earns full XP
Mirage Island is home for Legendaries
Sales clerk of missable items removed

MODERN EXCEPTIONS: Brick Break doesn't destroy own screens
Dark Void can be used by more than Darkrai
Transformed Pokemon can change forms
No Affection mechanics
Castform still only has three Weather Forms
Recoil is Proportional to Damage

NEW EVOLUTIONS: Alolan Raichu - Shiny Stone
Alolan Exeggutor - Shiny Stone
Alolan Marowak - Shiny Stone
Galarian Weezing - Shiny Stone
Mr Rime - Mr Mime Level 42
Cursola - Corsola Level 38

POST GAME: Wild Pokemon scale by lead Pokemon level
Mirage Island always available
Hyper Trainer available (Costs 20,000 and affects lead Pokemon)

BUGFIX: Footprint checker in Oldale no longer crashes game
Castform Form Change has sprites
Nickname This Zigzagoon mentions Zigzagoon

BUGS: Hyper Trainer doesn't check if Pokemon already has been Hypertrained, you can waste money doing this
Flutes consumed if used during battle
Castform Form Change doesn't work with existing weather

2.2 Pokemon now have colour variance, Grunts are now mandatory fight again (This is set by area so if I have missed a spot let me know), Team Fight with Steven should work
2.2.1 Move Tutors ACTUALLY reusable, 8 Mon Party
v2.2.2 "Travel Buddy" system setup (6 pokemon only in Gym and E4 battles), Gym Trainers are not optional, Gym Trainers reset when leaving Gym, Being spotted by two trainers at once gives subsequent battle instead of multi battle

Use: This is a UPS patch so it works with NUPS, Apply to Trashman

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m5QncSGtSlutIMU9aTRE2sVA3R0H2oSQ/view?usp=sharing


CREDITS
PRET: pokeemerald decomp
Dizzy Egg: Battle Engine, Pokémon Expansion, Item Expansion, nature-coloured stats
RHH: Decomp Merge
Lunos: Poison Survival, Bike Swapper, Move Forgetting
PokemonCrazy/AkimotoBubble: IV/EV checker
GhoulSlash: Blind Trainers
Diego Mertens: Move Swap
Buffel Salt: Guaranteed IV on spawns
Jaizu: Trainer Rematches
TheGag96 (Reddit Name, unknown for here): Pokemon colour variance
AstroBreak: Eight Pokemon Party
WiserVisor: Six Pokemon against Gym Leaders
Surskitty: Tutor Expansion
Contributors to the Simple Modifications thread: various other changes

 

[AlmightyK]

Just released a minor update with non optional battles returned and colour variance. Enjoy.

Edit: 2.2.1 has a bug fix and extra Mons in party

 

[AlmightyK]

2.2.2 has just been released, everything up to the Elite 4 should work bug free (except for the already known bugs) but I would appreciate somebody giving it a test run for circumstances breaking code.

I have only slightly tested post game at Battle Frontier, Multi Trainer battles are mildly bugged giving one trainer 3 mons and the other trainer 1 so avoid it if you can.

 

[AlmightyK]

Version 2.3 just released, pretty sure it should work fine

 

[Scolix]

I beat the E4 just now and I want to thank you for this amazing romhack. I was skeptical of the 'levels don't matter' thing but it was simultaneously not as noticeable as I thought it'd be, while also noticeable enough to change the freshen up the game. It really helps take away a few core issues I have with the pokemon games in general; being unable to catch and use pokemon later on in the campaign due to the mons being underleveled, and made the general gameplay experience much less stressful. I felt like I could just chill and not worry about levels or anything and focus on the actual battling itself.

The EV changes also really helped get rid of the FOMO when gaining EVs not useful to your pokemon due to mon being able to get max EV in all stats which is something that always gnaws at the back of my head when playing through other roms/the official games when using for example a SP Att mon defeating mons which award Att EVs.

I also greatly enjoyed the subtle color variety between all the pokemon. It makes so much sense that that'd be a thing if pokemon were a real thing that it's kind of surprising GF hasn't made it a thing yet. I also really enjoyed the the 1% shiny odds; it felt like the perfect balance between shinies being rare enough that they're still special to encounter while also frequent enough that you'll encounter a few throughout your campaign playthrough (personally encountered 5 of them, with the last 2 being very lucky back-to-backs from the Safarai Zone; Omanyte, Magikarp, Chinchou, Rhyhorn, Dodrio). Granted I was farming Omanytes/Magikarp for my team and the Chinchou I got while farming a Poliwhirl for my team.

And then there's the creme de la creme of the hack which is what primarily got me to look for and play this romhack: the double battle system. The combination of levels not mattering for stats and EVs being a hands-off system really added to the double-battles. No fear of using "underleveled" mon whatsoever as they'll still be useful during the battles thanks to every pokemon having high base stats already.

There were a few things I'd love to see tweaked, though, if at all possible:
* Base game Emerald double battle formation NPCs made to be aggro - there were many moments during my playthrough where I saw the double battle NPC formation on my screen and wanted to battle them 2v2 but couldn't because they're not aggro. I had to manually speak with one of them who then frequently only had 1 pokemon on their team meaning I'd be in for a 1v1 fight instead of the double battle I started playing this romhack for. Was a bit unfortunate since I'd be hyped to see the 2 NPCs facing each other for a double battle just to be forced into a 1v1 battle. In general it'd be nice if every NPC had at least 2 mon so you'll always have a double-battle.
* Some of the non-hoenn postgame mon be made available earlier - I really wanted a Scizor on my team and was sad to see when I scoured through the Safari Zone pre-postgame and re-checking the encounter list that it's a post-game mon. Kind of messed with my teambuild I had planned out.
* Escaping wild battles made easier - with every mon having high base stats due to levels not affecting your stats it means that you'll often encounter mons with Speed stats relatively equal to your mon which makes escaping them much less likely than when playing through a normal romhack/pokemon game where your Speed will likely be higher due to levels.
* Being able to change natures/abilities + increase IVs - whilst breeding mon I've noticed all of them come out with the 'Bold' nature which makes breeding a bit of a dead feature. Alongside this, finding a shiny with a poor nature still feels quite bad even with the improved shiny rate. Being able to change natures and abilities possibly by buying nature/ability capsules with BP from the Battle Frontier would be dope.

Also forgot to mention the myriad of other QoL changes such as being able to press R to throw pokeballs, press R to change bike type, being able to hotswap moves on the fly including removing HMs, not having to teach mons HMs in order to use them in the overworld (really appreciated this approach opposed to the common one where romhack devs will flat out remove HM obstacles, this is a more interesting approach IMO). All of which made the gameplay experience much more polished while staying true to the core game.

So, thank you. I really enjoyed going through the campaign with this romhack. I might give the Battle Frontier a go as well but not sure yet. Still, thank you. Hope to see more.

 

[AlmightyK]

... I was skeptical of the 'levels don't matter' thing but it was simultaneously not as noticeable as I thought it'd be, while also noticeable enough to change the freshen up the game. It really helps take away a few core issues I have with the pokemon games in general; being unable to catch and use pokemon later on in the campaign due to the mons being underleveled, and made the general gameplay experience much less stressful. I felt like I could just chill and not worry about levels or anything and focus on the actual battling itself.

I also greatly enjoyed the subtle color variety between all the pokemon...
...I also really enjoyed the the 1% shiny odds; it felt like the perfect balance between shinies being rare enough that they're still special to encounter while also frequent enough that you'll encounter a few throughout your campaign playthrough.

And then there's the creme de la creme of the hack which is what primarily got me to look for and play this romhack: the double battle system. The combination of levels not mattering for stats and EVs being a hands-off system really added to the double-battles. No fear of using "underleveled" mon whatsoever as they'll still be useful during the battles thanks to every pokemon having high base stats already.

There were a few things I'd love to see tweaked, though, if at all possible:
* Base game Emerald double battle formation NPCs made to be aggro
* Some of the non-hoenn postgame mon be made available earlier
* Escaping wild battles made easier
* Being able to change natures/abilities + increase IVs - whilst breeding mon I've noticed all of them come out with the 'Bold' nature which makes breeding a bit of a dead feature.

Also forgot to mention the myriad of other QoL changes

The first was part of the intent. I am glad you enjoyed it. Though would you say the generally difficulty was higher or lower?

I didn't come up with the colour change, but felt it does help make things feel more unique. It was an immediate sell for me.

I am happy the Shiny rate felt good for you.

It's also good to hear the levelling system works well in double battles. I was hoping it would encourage mixing things up a bit.

For the tweaks, I am going to likely add the double person teams back in I was just making sure everything else worked first.

I am currently working on a new encounter list where all non legendaries can be acquired before post game, even opening up the Safari Zone from the start.

Outside of changing the formula, I don't know much I can do for making escaping battles easier. I am trying to keep the core game as close to vanilla as possible, besides my specific changes. Though having a Ghost type or a pokemon with Run Away does guarantee fleeing.

The next patch will have the Ability Patch/Capsule system for allowing Ability swapping, though Nature Swapping apparently is tricky. I will look into it. (as for your Bold nature bug, I don't know what would cause that, unless the parent was Bold themself.)

I may bring in IV changing items for Hidden Power tweaking, but if it's just for stats then there is a Hyper Trainer available in Post Game.

Most of the tweaks are created by the clever users here. I just compiled them together in a reasonable way.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Scolix]

Difficulty felt somewhat easier/about the same as normal mon games, granted I did play with a fairly stacked water team consisting of Swampert, Ludicolo, Gyarados, Omastar, and Politoad, many of whom had coverage moves against my primary weaknesses of Grass and Electric. Mons being able to help with each other's coverages in double-battles I'd say was what mainly made it easier for me. I did also grind for favorable natures and after just now checking my mon's IVs I also notice they all had max IVs in their offensive stats which no doubt played a part. I don't know if other trainers their mon also have EV/IVs otherwise that could be something to use a tuning knob if you feel the need to. Alternatively IV ranges could be tweaked a bit since they seem to affect stats quite strongly in this romhack, difference generally being around 30 points in a stat when comparing having 0 IVs or 31 IVs in a given stat, which when the base value of a stat is around a 100 means a 30% difference. If you end up introducing IV changing items I think it could be worth considering reverting the IV tweaks back to how they work in the original games as a way to tune difficulty.

Regarding the Bold nature bug; all parents had different natures in all the breeding I did. None of them unfortunately seemed to change anything. I've got a box worth of courageous Poliwags and half a box worth of daring Scythers as proof :'D

 

[AlmightyK]

Updated to 2.4 with a variety of bigish changes. Have fun.

 

[Surfmunky]

Your mod sounds amazing but the download link seems to be broken. Is there a live download link?

 

[AlmightyK]

Your mod sounds amazing but the download link seems to be broken. Is there a live download link?

Thanks for that. I will need to re-upload the file and should be able to do within the next 48 hours.

That said, if anybody has a copy of the latest patch feel free to upload a backup before I do.

 

[AlmightyK]

Link updated, have fun.

Edit: access settings should be fixed, sorry about that

 

[Delta Nite]

How does the Knock Out order work in this? Is it updated as well? Do you switch out a new Pokemon whenever one faints, or do you need to wait for the turn to end?

 

[AlmightyK]

How does the Knock Out order work in this? Is it updated as well? Do you switch out a new Pokemon whenever one faints, or do you need to wait for the turn to end?

Most mechanics follow modern rules. So knocked out Pokemon are replaced at the end of the round. I believe an attack will redirect to the remaining Pokemon in a double battle if one is knocked out though.

 

[AlmightyK]

Finally got around to updating this thing. Now to give it a Nuzlocke test.

EDIT: Made it to E4 without a loss. Nuzlocke is viable, just difficult.

 

[AlmightyK]

2.5.12 hotfix done to fix shoal cave and boss fights.

Besides core Engine updates I don't there should be a patch for a while that i can think of.