Simple Guide to Replacing Pokemon Sprites (FR/LG/R/S)

[Yuber]

I have trouble while using this tutorial.
The first sprite i inserted it went well. But the next two i tried they didn`t even look like the sprite that i wanted to insert, but like a colour swapped of the original sprite.
I hope i made myself clear, here`s what happens to me:


EDIT: i realized that i didn´t ticked the "automatically set pointers" i will try that. Sorry for the inconvinience.

 

[Echidna]

unlz gba isn't really the recommnded program for pokemon sprite editting, its mostly used for trainers sprites (there's no difference, but its kinda unreasonable to use unlz gba when you could use rom hacker XP or advanced pokemon sprite editor !!

 

[Tatsumase]

No matter what I do with the colors keep coming out glitched, while only one sprite stays the same.
And now it seems it's also getting rid of the backsprites.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Meinfoo]

Thanks so much for this tutorial, It really helped me out! Everything was very straight forward with screenshots too! Great work!

 

[Zeffy]

unlz gba isn't really the recommnded program for pokemon sprite editting, its mostly used for trainers sprites (there's no difference, but its kinda unreasonable to use unlz gba when you could use rom hacker XP or advanced pokemon sprite editor !!

I don't like both of the programs you mentioned, tbh. I find it easier to use unLZ because whenever I use APSE, the colors always gets screwed up. Its sucks imo.

 

[Echidna]

well i didn't say apse, but even there, the prob you mentioned is solvable, that's why they made the synchorize palettes button. It never fails me (As long as the 16 color palette rule is take into consideration when the sprites are drawn.)

 

[Pokepal17]

You should note down in the tutorial that crashing occurs if the offset the sprites is inserted at doesn't end with 0, 4, 8, or C. This also applies to tilemaps and music, I think.

 

[Hackmon]

Every time I try to change the sprite it comes up with "image is not indexed" and when I check it on irfanview I have only used 16 colours why does this happen?

I use paint, irfanview and free space finder.

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

Every time I try to change the sprite it comes up with "image is not indexed" and when I check it on irfanview I have only used 16 colours why does this happen?

I use paint, irfanview and free space finder.

Did you use the Decrease Colour Depth option to make it only use 16 colours, like you are meant to? If you did, did you open it with Paint afterwards, as that sometimes unindexes the sprite.

 

[Fortunado]

I'm trying to insert my image, and I'd done everything up to the point, but it keeps saying "Error: Image Not Indexed"

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

I'm trying to insert my image, and I'd done everything up to the point, but it keeps saying "Error: Image Not Indexed"

Did you get Irfanview and Decrease Color Depth to 16?

 

[Fortunado]

Did you get Irfanview and Decrease Color Depth to 16?

Yes. It's not accepted it as indexed, but now it won't write it to the ROM. Seriously, ever time I look at the sprite in the ROM, it's a discoloured version of the old sprite.

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

Yes. It's not accepted it as indexed, but now it won't write it to the ROM. Seriously, ever time I look at the sprite in the ROM, it's a discoloured version of the old sprite.

Did you repoint the image to free space, because unlz shows the old image still as it is still at that location. The ROM should read the new location of your image in game, did you test the in game sprite?

 

[Fortunado]

Did you repoint the image to free space, because unlz shows the old image still as it is still at that location. The ROM should read the new location of your image in game, did you test the in game sprite?

Well, the difficult part about testing it in-game is that instead of doing a Pokémon Sprite Switch, I'm doing a trainer switch. Same principles apply, just a bit more work.

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

Well, the difficult part about testing it in-game is that instead of doing a Pokémon Sprite Switch, I'm doing a trainer switch. Same principles apply, just a bit more work.

UNLZ isn't helpful in checking if you inserted a trainer into free space, as it doesn't show these new images. One way is to perhaps go to the offset you used for the sprite using a very similar tool called NLZ (NOT UNLZ), and see if the sprite is there correctly, or script (or copy a script of) a trainer event that uses that sprite to the start map and see if it works.

 

[Fortunado]

UNLZ isn't helpful in checking if you inserted a trainer into free space, as it doesn't show these new images. One way is to perhaps go to the offset you used for the sprite using a very similar tool called NLZ (NOT UNLZ), and see if the sprite is there correctly, or script (or copy a script of) a trainer event that uses that sprite to the start map and see if it works.

To test it, I simply took the trainer sprite used for your rival and replaced it with my test sprite. It failed miserably. It was a giant gray square with the sprite inside. =.=

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

To test it, I simply took the trainer sprite used for your rival and replaced it with my test sprite. It failed miserably. It was a giant gray square with the sprite inside. =.=

That means you indexed it, but the background wasn't selected as the background colour. Which is just an indexing error - using Irfanview and saving it as a gif after indexing, and checking the box when asked what to save it as that says "select transparent color" and picking the background when asked should make the background see through when you reinsert it.

OR find your pallette in APE, move the colour that is transparent with the one that is the background, reinsert the sprite exactly, replacing the offset you used for the last sprite, but without inserting the pallette.

 

[Fortunado]

That means you indexed it, but the background wasn't selected as the background colour. Which is just an indexing error - using Irfanview and saving it as a gif after indexing, and checking the box when asked what to save it as that says "select transparent color" and picking the background when asked should make the background see through when you reinsert it.

OR find your pallette in APE, move the colour that is transparent with the one that is the background, reinsert the sprite exactly, replacing the offset you used for the last sprite, but without inserting the pallette.

Can't you only insert .png files?

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

Can't you only insert .png files?

I think you can also insert .gifs, as long as they are indexed. When Importing a File, make sure the search is for All Files, not just pngs.

EDIT: No, I'm wrong. But you can pick a transparent colour with Irfanview if you select to save as a png.

EDIT2: Actually, I was right. But yeah, you can do it with a png too.

 

[Hackmon]

Did you use the Decrease Colour Depth option to make it only use 16 colours, like you are meant to? If you did, did you open it with Paint afterwards, as that sometimes unindexes the sprite.

yes I did open it with paint afterwards but what am I supposed to do to get a sprite looking normal?