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Play your own hack, and see others do it

So, I’ve added quite a bit of stuff to rijonAdventures since the early 2009 beta. A year ago I said, “Rijon is finished, time to move onto South Rijon”, but oh was I wrong. So many little things to fix and add, text inconsistencies to iron out, high school, uni, uni, and so many annoying little things that I did that just look bad.

Yes, reviewing how your own hack looks and works is a good idea. But a good hack doesn’t just start from my own assessment of my game – it depends on what others say about it.

So I’ve been stalking the “Let’s Play” videos on YouTube. Found this guy:

(I hope he realised he needs to fix that save error. Methinks I need to make it more obvious. And another thing: I realise it’s a year old.)

I also stumbled across this video of Brown from the same person. Orangeylicious!

Originally posted on the old Rijon website, now offline. Archive link.

Elite Four’s Zeke

So some people saw this in my avatar at The PokéCommunity and wondered who I drew here. (It’s not illustrated by Signomi, but rather, it’s been coloured by her!)

And if you’ve played rijonAdventures, you will have seen “Zeke” within the game as the fourth Elite Four member!

Zeke is meant to be more of the “geek” character, and as such, if you know what’s printed on his shirt, you’re in-the-know and you’re awesome. I planned to make him a bit more of a geek by giving him a BlackBerry phone, but I realised I liked this idea better.

Anyone who’s battled him already will know he has no specific choice on Pokémon types. I really need to put him in more parts of the game, I guess. I was meaning to post this artwork eventually.

… and that’s all for today. 😛

Originally posted on the old Rijon website, now offline. Archive link.

Another observation: playable character

This post is my observation on the playable character, NPCs, and the camera. Awesome stuff if you’re interested. Otherwise, nothing to see here.

I honest have not tested this idea and I’m not even sure it’s going to work at all. Nevertheless, the Advance games present something curious and unused: the sprite behaviour 0×0B. You might wonder what’s so interesting about it, and let’s explain it. 0×0B, whenever the screen fades (often from exiting a menu – I haven’t actually checked if the XSE “fadescreen” command triggers it as well) the first person shifts from the hero to whatever sprite has this behaviour set to them provided that they’re on the screen.

Also, remember that “camera” command (“special 0×113″)? I believe that all it really does is, similar to what 0×0B does, shifts what the “camera” focuses on (to an invisible sprite, turning the hero into an NPC with the index 0xFF) and when people execute an applymovement command to 0×7F (which controls this original sprite) the screen moves too. (Question: does 0×7F exist only when the camera is activated?) And because sprite 0×7F can be treated like any other sprite, you can apply something as funky as a movesprite command to it. (Don’t attempt to hide 0×7F when the camera is activated, nor attempt to hide 0xFF when the player is in control of the camera. Something… funny will happen.)

Using the movesprite command on 0×7F as I mentioned above, in conjunction with the applymovement command 0×7F, you could effectively pan the camera along the level. 3D Zelda-style area overviews, anyone?

By the way, since the playable character has no script assigned to him/her, the game will crash when whatever’s being controlled attempts to talk to the player. I gotta wonder if there’s actually a way to give 0xFF a script.

Originally posted on the old Rijon website, now offline. Archive link.

RNG and weather

This is certainly not an original idea. In fact, it’s something that I’ve seen long before – the first person to demonstrate it of whose name I forget designed it for his hack, Pokémon Dirt Brown (which, mind you, actually has no relation to Pokémon Brown and never made it to the public… as the person had lost interest).

Using RNG, I’ve thought up a similar system. It might actually be the same as this one; I’ll never know since the hack never released. My system (which I actually wrote on paper but now the sheet’s disappeared) involves changing weather depending on certain variables to another weather condition. For example, if it’s sunny in a map at the moment, then there may be a small chance that the sky will become cloudy (and then, the area will seemingly dim) when the player enters another map. When the player enters another map, there’s a chance that it will start raining, or it will become clear again. (Perhaps the chance that it starts raining will be somewhat high.) Enter another map, and the rain will either clear instantaneously (low chance), the rain will stop and the map will return to a cloudy state (high chance), or, for the worst possible condition, a thunderstorm will occur (low, low chance).

Perhaps if structured out, the script would look like, though my sheet of paper did it better so this might not work:

Variables values reserved:
1 = normal, 2 = cloudy, 3 = rain, 4 = thunderstorm, 5 = light fog, 6 = thick fog, 7 = diagonal fog
(5, 6, and 7 will not be used in this sample structure.)

Perhaps I’ll keep in mind that, upon switching to a different map where ever the script is loaded:
If its currently sunny, 2/20 that it will be cloudy, 17/20 that it will remain sunny, and 1/20 determining that it will suddenly start raining.
If it’s cloudy, 5/20 chance that it will suddenly become sunny again, 2/10 that it will remain cloudy, and 10/20 chance that it will suddenly rain. 3/20 chance that the player will be slapped with a thunderstorm.
If it’s currently raining, make a 3/20 chance that a thunderstorm will start, 7/20 that it will continue raining, 2/20 that the rain will cut out, and 8/20 that the rain will stop but the area remains cloudy.
Finally, if a thunderstorm has popped up, leave a 13/20 chance that it will reduce into rain again, 3/20 that it’ll quickly become cloudy, and a 4/20 chance that it will continue as-is.

Due to how the script is formatted, if the player enters a map where the script isn’t already implemented, the conditions in the maps prior will remain. So, if I entered a house in the town where the script was, when I exit, the RNG magic will start again.

Main script

Check variable for weather condition set between maps
If variable = 1, go to RNG script 1 (sets conditions when normal)
If variable = 2, go to RNG script 2 (sets conditions when cloudy)
If variable = 3, go to RNG script 3 (sets conditions when raining)
If variable = 4, go to RNG script 4 (sets conditions during thunderstorm)

RNG script 1

Start RNG, set to 20 (is this meant to be an integer value?) and store into LASTRESULT.
Copy LASTRESULT to variable.
(Following the chances set above) If RNG returns 0 (treat as hex?), go to script that sets weather to cloudy.
If RNG returns 1, set to cloudy.
If RNG returns 2, run script that ends script without doing anything.
If RNG returns 3, do nothing.
If RNG returns 4, do nothing.

(the rest of the script would be rinse and repeat of RNGs and such, so it’s cut for brevity)

Wow, I just gave other hackers a tip. Maybe though, if I decide to actually embrace variables, this script could be made much more efficient than it is here. If anyone wants to give me tips, by all means comment.

Originally posted on the old Rijon website, now offline. Archive link.

Gym Leader campaign… again!

You’ve heard of “Challenge Leaders” before, but the whole concept hasn’t really been explained that much. I’ve actually ended up calling them “Gym Leaders” again, but the entire concept behind them remains the same. What are they, exactly?

Rachel and Chad are two Gym Leaders of… South Rijon. That’s right; you heard right – South Rijon has Gym Leaders. The reward for defeating them is a secret right now, but unlike Gold/Silver, where you end up battling Gym Leaders at toned-down levels, South Rijon’s Gym Leaders are going to be challenging. When I say challenging, I mean Level 60+ challenging.

Oh, and the final challenge (South Rijon’s champion)? Expect a fight where the highest-levelled Pokémon is an astoundingly high Level 100. (The regret here is that you may, unless you cheat or find a random supply of Rare Candy, never actually be able to finish the game.) Who’s the hotshot with such a crazy, blasphemy-of-a-high levelled Pokémon?

That’s for another day.

Originally posted on the old Rijon website, now offline. Archive link.

Speaking of refinements (late)

The website blog’s being melded back into the main site, meaning that the “rijonAdventures official site” is finished. The old site will still be up (but not updated – feel free to steal that layout for your own website if you’re still interested. Or, steal any of our older, uglier layouts for your own site.) The PokéCommunity’s rijonAdventures thread will also be updated with information seen in this blog.

Future updates will be posted here. Like this update I’m posting right now.

Have you seen the new town in South Rijon? This is the first town you’ll come to.

Lakes Entrance is actually based a bit off the Victorian town of the same name. As such, it’s a town that’s far from the city and being the first town of South Rijon, it’s also a tourist area. (I forgot to put a Hotel in.) It’s got a beach and is known for Krabby fishing, too. (The real Lakes Entrance is popular because it’s abundant with crabs, mind you the crustacean kind, though they, unlike Krabby, are fished out, cooked and eaten.)

What more is there to South Rijon? I’ll reveal some information later on about it. Maybe.

Originally posted on the old Rijon website, now offline. Archive link. The PokéCommunity thread linked here still existed but some of the original posts have been deleted, so an archive link has been included instead.

The Elite Four’s Nina appears!

Another long while! But I’m still alive! School’s finally over! Time to introduce another character!

Nina trains flying-type Pokémon. At the start of the game, the Elite Four are on official leave, so Nina, a member of the Elite Four, is walking around the region looking for traces of Lugia. You’ll first see her in the Rijon Tunnel doing a bit of exploration. Meeting her is mostly crucial to the story, as after the league campaign you’ll be meeting her again and helping her out for something big…

^{(From the previous post and this post, you’ll notice that I’ve added a Javascript that zooms in on thumbnails. A lovely script, at that.)}

Originally posted on the old Rijon website, now offline. We have not included Hiroshi’s lovely script here, but you can witness it for yourself here: Archive link. The original full size artwork included with the blog post has been lost.

Sheral

The first time you walk into the Seashore City gym, there’s a surprise in store.

The Gym Leader in this gym is Sheral. She’s a Psychic trainer who you can fight in the beta. Speaking of the beta, the layout is slightly different between the final and the released beta.

The problem is now locating where she is in the gym.

It’s quite a large gym. She’s in so many different places. They’re not her. Who’s the real one?

Originally posted on the old Rijon website, now offline. Archive link.

Spinning the money wheel…

It’s been a long time without an update, so it’s time to deliver something new.

In the Goldenrod City Game Corner, which recently received a renovation, there’s a new game!

Put down a some of your money, and get coins. A bit devious, isn’t it? But, you have to be lucky! In the screenshots above, the player can put down 500 yen in a game of chance.

There are numerous outcomes dependent on chance. If you are unlucky enough to get “Bankrupt” (which happens often) then you’ll lose your bet. If you get a “no bonus”, you don’t lose your money. If you get any coins out of this, you still lose your bet but you get some coins out of it. On the table in the screenshot above, you can get 50 coins, but…

If you’re lucky, you can get up to 250 coins! …on this particular table only, that is.

There are different tables that bet different amounts. Perhaps you can fill your coin case much more easily?

Originally posted on the old Rijon website, now offline. Archive link.

UPS patching specification

Update: While rijonAdventures still uses the UPS format, we now have a different recommended method applying it to your ROM file. For up-to-date setup instructions, please click here.

rijonAdventures will be supporting a new patching format called UPS. This format allows for a much bigger ROM size (more for working on!). It’s a new format that aims to also iron out the problems with the IPS format.

(Note: rijonAdventures’ public beta is not currently using UPS.)

Please spread the use of this format!
UPS needs a big kickstart to get working, and it takes support from a lot of hacks! If you’re hacking a game, help the format out by changing from IPS to UPS.

And if you’re hacking Diamond and Pearl or plan to in the future, the UPS format will be absolutely necessary to use!

Read on to find out about why rijonAdventures will be using UPS and what benefits it provides.

rijonAdventures will be using a new patching format called UPS, created by byuu. This format is being used as it supports creating patches and applying them to sizes much larger than 16 MB. In comparison, IPS can only handle 16 MB.

Archivist’s note: byuu’s page is now offline, I have instead linked an archived page snapped at the time of this blog post.

What does this new format mean for rijonAdventures? Do other games use this format?

rijonAdventures will become a 32 MB ROM (or at least, larger than 16 MB). The extra space that UPS allows for means that there will be more content to put in the game. This can include much larger maps, more scripts and text, etc.

The version of rijonAdventures available to beta testers is in the UPS format, too.

The Unified Mother 3 Fan Translation project is already going to utilize the UPS format. For their intents and purposes, their use for the UPS format will further their ability to translate the game (and in their case, Mother 3 is unfortunately a 32 MB ROM, which IPS simply cannot support).

Will UPS files work in VisualBoyAdvance, Lunar IPS, etc.?

No. The UPS format’s specifications are different from the IPS format’s. However, just as there are patching programs for Lunar IPS, there are programs for UPS.

VisualBoyAdvance does not yet support UPS patches. Whether support will be implemented or not hasn’t been documented.

What program do I use to patch with UPS?

There are numerous UPS patchers available today. Windows users can download Tsukuyomi from here. Mac users can download UPS here.

Combination of three related posts on the old Rijon website, now offline, and PokéCommunity forums, now deleted. Blog post archive link. UPS page archive link. PokéCommunity post archive link. The links to the UPS patcher’s are no longer available. Please see our setup page for the more modern method of patching ROM files.

In-depth

The devs drill down game mechanics and lore.

Play your own hack, and see others do it

Elite Four’s Zeke

Another observation: playable character

RNG and weather

Gym Leader campaign… again!

Speaking of refinements (late)

The Elite Four’s Nina appears!

Sheral

Spinning the money wheel…

UPS patching specification

What does this new format mean for rijonAdventures? Do other games use this format?

Will UPS files work in VisualBoyAdvance, Lunar IPS, etc.?

What program do I use to patch with UPS?

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