xd Pokemon XG: NeXt Gen

[monkey11]

Can AR codes be used with the patched game?

Also I was a bit confused by the instructions on save files. In Dolphin should I save in the actual game or use Dolphin save states?

[StarsMmd]

Finished up the second run of the game to what could be considered 100%, and I'm very satisfied with the experience as a whole.

I would definitely recommend giving this mod a shot if you can run it on your computer through Dolphin, as it's so much better than the original Gale of Darkness.

Thanks for all your hard work up to this point Stars, and thanks for the work to come.

Really enjoyed your streams! The 100% run is going to be really useful for me in terms of seeing what needs fixing/balancing so I'm replaying the parts I missed. Hopefully there'll even be some battle bingo by the next one if you do another.

OK so patching went fine and I got to the title screen. Will start playing later. Thanks!

BTW I'm a programmer and am interested about how you created the patch...

Awesome! great to hear you've got it up and running. Do you mean how I modded the game or how I made the patch file itself?

[StarsMmd]

Can AR codes be used with the patched game?

Also I was a bit confused by the instructions on save files. In Dolphin should I save in the actual game or use Dolphin save states?

You can save however you like. If you update it later then don't use save states from before the update. Apart from that there is no problem.

Most AR codes work like normal. A lot of things have changed though so some of them may not work as you'd expect.

[monkey11]

Awesome! great to hear you've got it up and running. Do you mean how I modded the game or how I made the patch file itself?

Both I guess, mainly the first. I guess I don't know much about game hacking. How do you get into the internals of the code enough to be able to change it?

[StarsMmd]

Both I guess, mainly the first. I guess I don't know much about game hacking. How do you get into the internals of the code enough to be able to change it?

It's quite a lengthy topic to cover in a post. Basically there are 2 main parts. There's the game data (things like pokemon stats) and the actual game code that runs. The data is as easy as changing the values. The code is done by changing the assembly code. Dolphin emulator has a debug mode which is really useful for this.

I will be aiming to make some detailed explanations of the process in the near future. I did make a quick tutorial series a while ago which you can find -hacking-tutorial-part-1-File-decompression-recompression'>here.

It's not the best and it's a little outdated but it shows how I started out.

[PinkOnion]

Really enjoyed your streams! The 100% run is going to be really useful for me in terms of seeing what needs fixing/balancing so I'm replaying the parts I missed. Hopefully there'll even be some battle bingo by the next one if you do another.

You can count on that for the future, just need a break after two straight runs, hah.

[StarsMmd]

You can count on that for the future, just need a break after two straight runs, hah.

Hahaha yeah you've played a lot dude. Don't know how you do it!

[PinkOnion]

If a game is good enough, I just pour tons and tons of time into it.

Helps to have a lot of spare time.

[StarsMmd]

If a game is good enough, I just pour tons and tons of time into it.

Helps to have a lot of spare time.

Hahaha I know the feeling. I've put a lot of time into this game too. Just finally managed to mod the game so that I can choose whether I want a trainer's pokemon to be shiny or not rather than having them all as random. The only random ones in the next version will be obtainable ones. Maybe I'll throw in a shiny celebi on mt.battle to taunt you

[monkey11]

Did you change regular moves that Pokemon learn? Metang learned Thunderpunch by leveling up and I didn't think it could.

EDIT: I should modify my question. It's clear that Pokemon's moves are different, as you added some Gen 6 moves (such as Beldum using Zen Headbutt). But I don't think either learns Thunderpunch even in Gen 6.

[StarsMmd]

Did you change regular moves that Pokemon learn? Metang learned Thunderpunch by leveling up and I didn't think it could.

EDIT: I should modify my question. It's clear that Pokemon's moves are different, as you added some Gen 6 moves (such as Beldum using Zen Headbutt). But I don't think either learns Thunderpunch even in Gen 6.

I didn't stick to gen 6 level up move sets. Not all gen 4-6 moves are in XG so it would be impossible to copy them all exactly plus it would take a very long time anyway. The level up moves are just whatever I felt like giving them. I'd like to think I put some thought into it though so they shouldn't be anything too crazy for the most part. The main aim was for everything to get enough moves to make it useable. Some pokemon that I felt didn't get used much got a few overpowered moves as an incentive to use them though so there may be a few weird moves here and there.

[gigaeel]

I may or may not have played the second time through with a trainer snagging code to avoid said salty shinies. I know. I'm a horrible person.

[StarsMmd]

I may or may not have played the second time through with a trainer snagging code to avoid said salty shinies. I know. I'm a horrible person.

Hahaha sounds like fun. The pokemon that aren't normally obtainable have incorrect level up moves still though. I should probably sort them out some time.

[StarsMmd]

Pokemon XG v0.9.7 is now available. Download link is in the original post. Only a minor update this time so full compatibility with v0.9.6 save files. The only major things left now are battle bingo and battle CDs. I will probably start working towards some hack tools soon too.

[gigaeel]

THANK YOU. I've been waiting for more Eevee's. The eeveelution choice kills me in every playthrough

[StarsMmd]

THANK YOU. I've been waiting for more Eevee's. The eeveelution choice kills me in every playthrough

Happy to be of service

[gigaeel]

I'm not sure how possible this is, but is it possible to make the massage animation shorter? I find Vivid Scents to be the most effective way to purify weaker pokemon since one scent can drop almost a bar. But the animation takes so long with all the menus as well. So is it possible to even just cut the controller vibration?

[StarsMmd]

I'm not sure how possible this is, but is it possible to make the massage animation shorter? I find Vivid Scents to be the most effective way to purify weaker pokemon since one scent can drop almost a bar. But the animation takes so long with all the menus as well. So is it possible to even just cut the controller vibration?

It's not something I've looked at and there isn't any immediately obvious way to change it. Actually, thinking about it I have just one lead. I'll give it a look right now but if it's a dead end then I doubt I'll be able to figure it out. We'll see.

Edit: No dice. Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to do that. I'll keep it in mind though because it is a good idea.

[XModxGodX]

I'm not sure how possible this is, but is it possible to make the massage animation shorter? I find Vivid Scents to be the most effective way to purify weaker pokemon since one scent can drop almost a bar. But the animation takes so long with all the menus as well. So is it possible to even just cut the controller vibration?

Uh you just need to turn off controller vibration in the title screen menu; I mean, I don't think that many parts that use the rumble anyways...

[StarsMmd]

Uh you just need to turn off controller vibration in the title screen menu; I mean, I don't think that many parts that use the rumble anyways...

Does that skip the waiting time for massages?

[XModxGodX]

Yes, I've always done that as a result.

[StarsMmd]

Yes, I've always done that as a result.

That's really cool, I never knew that. Will have to change the settings from now on.

Thanks for the info.

[monkey11]

Without spoilers, what kind of changes did you make to shadow Pokemon in the new update? Not sure what "balanced" means in the change log. do you mean like Pokemon with diff types?

BTW great so far. Some bugs:

Getting a huge lag on pain split

Fake out briefly brings up a blue rectangle on the right side of the screen

Whenever I go to purify chamber from PC, it lags, has screen glitches, and sometimes crashes

Note that I'm playing with 2x res so that might cause problems.

[StarsMmd]

Without spoilers, what kind of changes did you make to shadow Pokemon in the new update? Not sure what "balanced" means in the change log. do you mean like Pokemon with diff types?

BTW great so far. Some bugs:

Getting a huge lag on pain split

Fake out briefly brings up a blue rectangle on the right side of the screen

Whenever I go to purify chamber from PC, it lags, has screen glitches, and sometimes crashes

Note that I'm playing with 2x res so that might cause problems.

All of those glithces are from your emulator. Dolphin 5.0 just dropped, you can try that out. Running it on a wii or wii u is flawless though so you should try that if you have one available. It's not too hard to set up.

The balancing is stuff like decreasing/increasing levels, buffing/nerfing their movesets. The purification times for a lot of them have been edited and I think I tweaked a few of the catch rates. Basically, one of the biggest aims of the game is to make all pokemon good enough to use and to encourage the player to try out different mons. The changes aren't anything too drastic though.

[gigaeel]

After completing my second playthrough, I can safely express my opinion on the changes you've made without thinking I missed something.

I love the fairy type addition along with the type effectiveness update. Makes me feel more at home coming from ORAS to this. I didn't mind that some pokemon were given fairy type since without the additions you made, the only canonical fairies are few and far between.

The learnsets of pokemon in general feels a tad unbalanced, but since the last patch, it's less overwhelming. Now the TM's were actually incredibly helpful this time around. My first playthrough rarely saw me using TM's as the level moves were just so much better.

The shadow pokemon felt really well thought out. ie; Stone evos in Phenac. and 100 Shadow pokemon seems perfect. It's a nice even number and gives you access to anything you'd want without too much exclusion (plus every legendary, yay). I feel like Mirror B. was a tad difficult though the last time you face him. His Shadow Ho-oh on top of his rain team was absolutely savage. But since it's the last shadow mon, i appreciated the challenge. Oh, and Bonsly was the cherry on top. Nothing like playing a gen 3 game with a gen 4 mon

The Text changes were good. The ones you did change anyway. Lovrina/Sylvia cracked me up. #SavageAF

And finally, the post-game. Mt. Battle was a slog as it usually is, but the Type themed sections kept it fresh until the end. Completing it 3 times was definitely a trial, but I had to get each and every reward that was offered. Orre Colosseum was admittedly something I didn't dabble in as often as most. I played through it a few times to reface the admins but that was about it.

Overall, The changes made really enhance the game as a whole. I enjoyed every bit of both of my playthroughs. I look forward to what you do next so i can maybe do a third