[HGSS Hack] Pokémon UnovaHGSS

[ascension7]

Pokémon UnovaHGSS

Rom info:
Hack of: Pokémon SoulSilver (USA) (HeartGold will be supported at a later date)
Language: English
Current Version: Alpha v1.1 (goes up to Ilex Forest)
Last Updated: 10th April, 2012

Summary
UnovaHGSS is a hack of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver that integrates the new fifth generation Pokémon from Black and White into the game. The new Pokémon are not meant to replace the original 251, rather, my intention is to have them alongside the original Pokémon. Not all Pokémon will be included in this hack – very few third and fourth generation Pokémon appear. To include the Unovian Pokémon, I had to replace existing Pokémon, so most third and fourth gen Pokémon are gone. This is my first actual hack, so I’m still new at this.

The battle sprites for the new Pokémon are placeholders, simply taken from Black/White and put into the game until I create original sprites for them. All but a few overworld sprites for the new Pokémon were created through a community endeavor over at DeviantArt; I made a few myself, notably the larger Golurk sprite. Shiny Pokémon are also fully supported, in-battle and overworld.

Features:
-Every Pokémon from Unova will be obtainable in this game, alongside every first and second generation Pokémon! Some third and fourth generation Pokémon also available!
-All Unovian Pokémon will follow you around for the first time!
-Slightly increased difficulty – stronger trainers, wild Pokémon, etc.
-More features will be added in future versions

FAQ:

Spoiler

Q: How long is this first Alpha release?
A: This release will be playable up to and including the 2nd Gym. I’ve hired a security guard to make sure you don’t delve into places I’ve not edited yet.

Q: Will we travel to Unova?
A: No, the name UnovaHGSS stems from the Unovian Pokémon being in HGSS. Unova will not be in this game, just Johto and Kanto, like the original games.

Q: Are there fifth generation abilities/moves in the game?
A: No, not yet. Moves will almost certainly be put into the game at a later date. Abilities, I’m not entirely sure. Depends on whether or not I can do it – if I can, it will be done, sometime.

Q: How about the new Pokémon? Are they just sprite replacements, or are the stats actually changed?
A: Every new Pokémon has their true stats from Black/White. Their movesets are the same as well, barring any new moves introduced in the new games. Those moves are for the most part replaced by other, still relevant moves (eg. – Ember replaces Incinerate in a Pokémon’s moveset for now). The only things that are not changed about a Pokémon’s stats are their height/weight (for calculating damage for moves such as Low Kick), and simple aesthetic anomalies (such as a Pokémon’s sprite being horribly off-center in a battle, or their animations being ridiculously silly. I still need to figure out how to change that). Pokédex entries are also in the game for every Pokémon, though the order for the Pokédex is obviously not the same as the true National Dex.

Q: Are there any crazy changes to the Pokémon, such as new types or changed types (such as Serperior being Grass/Dragon)?
A: While I have nothing against new types or changing a Pokémon’s type in a hack, I have done nothing of the sort in this hack. All Pokémon retain their Arceus God Gamefreak-given stats.

Q: Do Pokémon such as Machoke and Boldore still require trading, or otherwise impossible methods as a single player, to evolve?
A: No – I have changed evolution requirements for any Pokémon such as these, though the option to evolve them through trading is still there. These edits are not final, nor do they necessarily represent what requirements will be in the final version.

Screenshots:


Videos:
(Might be loud - complete silence for a few seconds, then music starts)


Credits:
Tools used:

Spoiler

• Hex Workshop (hex editing many things)
• CrystalTile2 (creating Pokémon Icons)
• PokeTEX (importing Pokémon overworlds)
• thenewpoketext (editing text)
• Tile Molester (creating Pokémon overworlds)
• PPRE (editing Pokémon, trainers, maps, etc)
• Kiwi (NDS file extractor)
• Pokémon DS/Pic Platinum (importing Pokémon battle sprites)
• Windows 7 Paint (creating Pokémon battle sprites)
• Windows XP Paint (retains palette of exported battle sprite image – allows me to copy and paste a new sprite into the game over the temporary sprites without worrying about palette screw-ups)
• Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 (compiling Pokémon battle sprites to 8bpp)
• Xdelta (creating patch)
• DeSmuME (testing game on computer)
• Pokesav HGSS (editing save file for testing purposes)

DeviantArt community – for making all the Unova overworld sprites. Link

Chaos Rush – for his wonderful endeavor in creating resized sprites. I’m using the Reshiram and Zekrom in the game for now - Link

Poryhack – for pointing me in the right direction for hex editing Pokémon icon palettes (whenever I learn how, I will make a program that will make editing the icons and palettes easier than hex editing them). Also thanks to Poryhack and the Project Pokémon community for creating a list of the HGSS File system - Link

Stratocaster - for creating a guide on how to change every aspect of a Pokémon. This hack would not have happened without it - Link

PokeCommunity – for giving me the desire to hack Pokémon games back in 2007 when I knew even less than I do now :P

MediaFire – for continuing its services through this stupid anti-piracy craze…

Bugs:

Spoiler

- Though not really a bug, all new Pokémon (and consequently, the Pokémon that I have repositioned in the Pokédex) have incorrect battle animations, offsets, and cries. These will hopefully be fixed in a future release. Their sprites are also temporary – these will be changed in a future release.
- A couple overworlds may have incorrect shiny colors – if you find any, just let me know. Though I didn’t find any through much testing, other graphical errors may exist – let me know!
- As this is HGSS, random freezing may occur if played on the computer. This is not a fault of the hack, but of the actual game itself. Just make sure to save frequently, and you should be fine.

Changelog:

Spoiler

- Alpha 1.1: Same as 1.0, except freezing has been fixed. Plays up to Ilex Forest - Mr. Security Guard will not let you pass, akin to Gandalf (do not be mistaken - I am the only wizard in this game!)

- Alpha 1.0: Changed ALL the things! This includes the new Pokémon, etc. Due to scripting corruption, the game will freeze whenever an overworld triggers a script. As such, this version will not be released on here… unless you really want it. It is the same as Alpha 1.1 except buggy, so there’s no point to upload it.

Downloads and Documentation:
Link to patch and xdelta (used to patch the original rom)

List of Changed Pokémon

[RobbieNewton]

This looks very promising

[Kakko97]

That's fantastic!!
I hope you finish it

[FrostDragon492]

Wow, this looks really cool so far. Definitely going to be playing this hack.

How will the legendaries be distributed, though? Edited events, random wild encounters, or...? Do you not know yet?

[Arkanes]

So far so good.
I hope you change the starters for the next release.
After looking over list of changed PKMN, I'm gonna miss some, but I understand you did it to keep the 2nd gen feel with the available PKMN.

Hope you continue swiftly, about 1 hour and just beat Falkner. Looking forward to the next release.

[ascension7]

Thanks everybody! I'm glad you like it!

Wow, this looks really cool so far. Definitely going to be playing this hack.

How will the legendaries be distributed, though? Edited events, random wild encounters, or...? Do you not know yet?

I don't know yet, but I plan on having all the originally-available HGSS legendaries (1st and 2nd gen ones) obtainable through their original means. The others, if I learn how to do so without unforeseen bugs, will most likely be obtainable through custom events.

So far so good.
I hope you change the starters for the next release.
After looking over list of changed PKMN, I'm gonna miss some, but I understand you did it to keep the 2nd gen feel with the available PKMN.

Hope you continue swiftly, about 1 hour and just beat Falkner. Looking forward to the next release.

I'm going to keep the starters as the 2nd gen ones, but I also plan on making the player's choice of a Unova starter available very early on in the game, before the battle with Joey and his epic Rattata.

[Arkanes]

Im looking over the replaced list, and I'm thinking that since you have Kyurem instead of Giratina, that you should in Soul Silver take Black Kyurem and replace Giratina's origen form and in Heart Gold if you get that far, replace it with White Kyurem. Cause unless you swap it to instead replace Rotom, you only get one alt form.

[Dluka]

Seems good... But, a giant Golurk following you is a too comic, lol.

Try use this Overworld for Golurk:

Normal-sized Golurk > Giant Golurk.

And the complete Unova Overworld's you find here, if you need them: http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/9...monunovaov.png

[Arkanes]

I'd keep the giant Golurk, cause that's realistic size according to Movie Black and White Reshiram Zekrom and Victini

[Dluka]

I'd keep the giant Golurk, cause that's realistic size according to Movie Black and White Reshiram Zekrom and Victini

Golurk Height: 2.8m
Gyarados Height: 6.5m

Gyarados is much larger than Golurk. It is higher, but it does not necessarily have a giant overworld, but a normal-sized. The same for Rayquaza, Groundon, Kyogre, Onix, Steelix, Milotic, Wailord and various others.

[ascension7]

Im looking over the replaced list, and I'm thinking that since you have Kyurem instead of Giratina, that you should in Soul Silver take Black Kyurem and replace Giratina's origen form and in Heart Gold if you get that far, replace it with White Kyurem. Cause unless you swap it to instead replace Rotom, you only get one alt form.

I actually planned that from the beginning, even before Kyurem's forms were released, because I had a feeling it would get at least one new form. Having two versions works quite well, it'll be like Deoxys was in FRLG

Golurk Height: 2.8m
Gyarados Height: 6.5m

Gyarados is much larger than Golurk. It is higher, but it does not necessarily have a giant overworld, but a normal-sized. The same for Rayquaza, Groundon, Kyogre, Onix, Steelix, Milotic, Wailord and various others.

The height measurements for serpentine-body-type Pokemon are actually their length. The largest height measurement of a Pokemon that does not refer to its length, and is also not already a large overworld/legendary (excluding Wailord of course), is Golurk (which replaces Wailord ironically), with Beartic following after at nearly a foot shorter. I know it is quite large, but after seeing the BW movie, I wanted to make it to scale. Technically, Beartic should be close to this size, albeit a foot shorter, but Golurk is one of my new favorites and I wanted to make a special huge sprite for it (I knew it was going to look funny from the start lol). I might make it smaller in the future, considering the game doesn't expect a sprite to be this tall and therefore it passes through objects that are taller. The video I'm posting below shows Golurk (as well as the three main legends) in overworld form, and as you can see (around 3:35), Golurk clips through the Pokecenter roof, so it is something I'm working on and thinking about changing. The other large legendary sprites also have this problem, but these are taken from Black/White (and the DeviantArt master sheet of fan-made 5th gen sprites) and might be changed later.

In case you haven't seen the movie, here's how big Golurk is compared to a full-sized adult:


New video, showing gender differences in overworlds, shiny overworld compatability, and large overworld sprites. Also includes complete Pokedex (except for footprints):

[Arkanes]

Great so far. Hope you can eventually add music and battle themes.
Also you should make a game guide type thing, for any who want to hunt down specific PKMN for their team, instead of playing random guess where the PKMN lives.

Current team-
Roggenrola Lv 23
Croconaw Lv 24
Togepi Lv 11

[welkevintje]

Now THIS is a hack. I will definetely play it when you've finished it. I wish you the best of luck

[Arkanes]

Any chance of an upcoming update?

[ascension7]

Now THIS is a hack. I will definetely play it when you've finished it. I wish you the best of luck

Thanks!

Any chance of an upcoming update?

I've been working on an Alpha 2, but I'm not sure if I want to release it now, or just wait until I get the entirety of Johto finished and the new story elements and such into the game.

And to everyone who's played so far, and will play in the future, regarding the next release... I don't know whether to release an Alpha 2, or just wait until I get much closer to the hack's completion.

This Alpha was only meant as a playtest for the general public to showcase all I've done with putting Unova Pokemon in the game, and more importantly, to get feedback about the slightly higher level curve to see if it's too much, or too little. I'm not sure what I'll do yet. If I do release another Alpha, it'll still be for testing purposes only, such as testing the difficulty and ironing out bugs, as all that will be changed will be the wild Pokemon and Trainer rosters, and not much else really. I'm working on implementing a new story into my hack (which will, among other things, also include a reason for the sudden appearance of non-native Unova Pokemon ), and this will not be in any Alpha. Any newer version after the Alphas won't be compatible with previous saves, which is why I'm hesitant to release another Alpha, lest players get really far into the game and become annoyed that they'll have to start over What do you all think?