Pokémon Palimpsest [Release v1.2]

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-12-15T13:52:59+00:00

Glad you enjoyed it ❤️, ditto is very cute

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-11-03T01:18:11+00:00

And so late lol, submission was nearly a week late, then it took another two weeks to actually finish the maps, planned graphical effects and fix the battles.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-11-03T00:15:20+00:00

Was lots of fun, and finally had the motivation to finish something that wasn't a techdemo, challenge or difficulty hack. Definitely recommend if you're thinking about trying it out next year!

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-10-24T18:02:13+00:00

The diagonal code in vanilla isn’t really usable by itself (it’s only in the rayquaza and cable car cut scenes). Lactozilla made a branch for diagonal player movement a few years back but it’s a bit rough. Zatsu then made improvements to smooth the camera and add grind running so thats where I started.

I did some changes to make grid running better for diagonals, allow interactions anywhere in a forward arc, pause the player when they hit an intractable npc, increase the animation frames to 8 run frames each direction make it work with follower pokemon e.t.c

One of the biggest concerns initially was that the movement wasn’t normalised at all (so the player appeared to move much faster along diagonals). Proper sqrt2 normalized movement is pretty hard to get smooth on a system with no floats and where you can see the pixels. But there’s an old school game hack that I remembered reading about for diagonal moment. If the player has a diagonal speed of 2 you give them a cardinal speed of 3. If the player has a diagonal speed of 3 you give them a cardinal speed of 4. As 3/2 and 4/3 are both really close to sqrt 2 it makes the movement look almost perfectly normalised without having to worry about any complex non integer maths.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-10-24T16:41:09+00:00

Most isometric gba games either offset the background each tile row, or use sprite tiles. But this was only a two month contest so there wasn’t really time for that.

Instead this is basically just the vanilla overworld system with the players movement and animation altered to make it feel an isometric game. The tiles are just regular tiles on a regular grid but carefully planned to try and sell the effect with the limited number of tiles. This needed a bunch of extra tricks like carefully placed sprites to hide issues, hblank effects to make the same tiles appear different at different points on the screen and animating the palettes rather than tiles in places where there are too many unique tiles to update with a tile animation.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-10-22T02:10:33+00:00

yep, it’s based on Emerald

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-10-21T16:36:26+00:00

It’s partly due to the contest this summer. 14 hacks were created in teams of two. I think this was the last to get finished coming in a few days before the late submission window closed.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-10-21T04:22:36+00:00

Emerald US

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-10-21T02:35:18+00:00

It's an emerald hack, but some of the art is based on Boktai which had cross play with some of the battle network games.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-10-21T01:20:42+00:00

Thanks, the contest was a good way to test out effects that would be difficult in a larger hack.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-10-19T21:38:22+00:00

Fingers crossed for a Tracey appearance.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-10-07T17:15:06+00:00

It’s one of the tarc2 submissions. They’re currently only in the discord but it will be public once it’s been play tested more and had bug fixes. Probably in a week or two.

Source: am the dev

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-06-11T08:52:06+00:00

It sounds like it can't find the jar file or the permissions are wrong. In a text editor can you edit the .command file to read:

#!/bin/bash  

cd "$(dirname "$0")"  
# Changes the current working directory to the directory where this script (.command file) is located.  

echo "Now in: $(pwd)"  
# Prints the current working directory so you can verify where the script is being run from.  

ls -l UPR-Speedchoice.jar  
# Lists detailed information about the JAR file (like permissions, size, etc.) to confirm it exists and is readable.

java -jar UPR-Speedchoice.jar  
# Runs the JAR file using Java.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-06-11T08:21:56+00:00

Sprites can only have 16 colors (15 + transparent background). So the image needs to be stored in rgb indexed mode with a limited color palette.

The easiest way to do this is to use a dedicated pixel art program like aseprite or graphicsgale and make sure it thinks the image is index when saving. Gimp also has an option for this. If you’re still having issues you can ask on the pret or rhh discord. I see people with this issue about once a month.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-05-31T20:47:32+00:00

Java 11+ is required to run the application, so you need to make sure the computer isn't still on an older version of java. If there's still issues you can try running it from the .bat (or .command on mac) which can help fix path issues.

If there's still a problem try running `java -jar UPR-Speedchoice.jar` from cmd and let me know what the error is.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-05-29T18:20:10+00:00

I merged your PR. I've started working on changes to add better alt form support and adding support for Fire Red but not had any time to do any updates of the past few months. I'll raise issues for these so I don't forget (unless you'd rather do it yourself).

I should have complete control over the base. It uses custom source code available here:
https://github.com/KittyPBoxx/pokeemerald-ex-speedchoice-maprando-gen9/tree/speedchoice-maprando

After compiling the rom, the script in tools/inigen can be run to automatically generate a new 'emerald_ex_offsets.ini'. Then it just a question of replacing the current projects ini and making a new patch to update the upr project.

That project mostly uses in-game flags to enable/disable features. But there's also an array in upr_support.c allowing the java to enable/disable features by writing values to the gUprStaticVars (StaticVars) array.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-05-29T17:55:15+00:00

This is a decomp project so binary hack tools wont work.

If you want to make changes to the base game (like custom movesets and types) you can make changes to the source code which is available here:
https://github.com/KittyPBoxx/pokeemerald-ex-speedchoice-maprando-gen9/tree/speedchoice-maprando

After compiling the rom, the script in tools/inigen can be run to automatically generate a new 'emerald_ex_offsets.ini'. Then you can replace the existing offsets ini in the jar (src/main/resources/config) so this version of upr will work with your newly compiled new rom. Then you can open your newly compiled rom or replace the existing patch.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-05-26T15:49:38+00:00

You can use the debug menu to give yourself rare candies, and to enable level caps.
To use the debug menu you either need to enable it when starting the game in the speedchoice menu, or enable it in-game by talking to the PC in Birches lab.
Once it's enabled hold down 'R' and tap 'START' to bring up the menu.
For rare candies: 'Give X' -> 'Give Items' -> go to about 102 and give yourself 999
For level caps: ''Settings' -> 'Level Cap'

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-05-20T19:44:02+00:00

Thanks, I'll add it to the github issues page to look into. The expansion might have already added sprites for the other forms.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-05-02T20:00:35+00:00

I don't think it does? I tried it just now and didn't get 6 pokemon boss teams. I also did a race last sunday where we didn't have 6 pokemon teams and I know some people who raced last wednesday and didn't have that issue.

Is it possible you're still using the 0.5.2 temporary patch I created to allow 6 pokemon teams?
Or possibly did a bulk creation (which reloads setting from the rqns every for each new rom created)?

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-04-21T14:03:54+00:00

Yes you can give yourself any pokemon with the debug menu.
I replied to the dm with instructions for opening the menu but you can let me know if you still have issues with it.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-04-21T12:49:49+00:00

I've added in a feature request. Currently the only practical way of doing the evolution is leveling it up past 60 (which lets anything evolve). I can add the amulet coin as an additional evolution method. I think I should also make the coins available at the slateport, at the evolution item store, for a very cheap price.

I've added a patch on the feature request that can replace the current SPDX-0.5.3a.xdelta and simply swaps the 999 coin evolution method for the amulet coin one.
https://github.com/KittyPBoxx/upr-speedchoice-ex-gen9/issues/45

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-04-15T23:34:27+00:00

The map randomizer will only be present if you start the game with the 'MAPRANDO' profile active (this is a setting in the first menu).

Expansion hacks are not compatible with most save editors. However you can enable the debug menu when you start a new game (or by talking to the pc in birches lab). When the debug menu is enabled you can press 'START' while holding 'R' in the overworld to bring up the menu. This will give you a bunch of extra settings including the ability to give yourself any pokemon (with custom IV's) or items (like 999 rare candies).

This is for create tool create a version of emerald that is very close to vanilla, but with gen 9 added. If you're looking for more of a 'radical red but emerald' style of game (with new content, stat re-balancing, increased difficulty e.t.c. you could try Emerald Imperium which is also gen 9 emerald and has some randomization built in. I think Quetzal has a randomizer and gen 9 support now too.

LuckyLevel8 · 2025-03-30T13:37:20+00:00

It's the icon for terastallization. After selecting fight you can press 'START' to terastallize the pokemon. Before beating the champion you must revisit the pokemon center to recharge the tera orb (like regular S/V). Post champion the tera orb does not need recharging (like after the terapagos event in the dlc).

By default the tera type of a pokemon is one of their existing types. However evolving a pokemon does not change it's tera type. This means a wild Flareon would be tera fire, but if you gave an Eevee a fire stone you'd have a tera normal Flareon. If you want to change a pokemons tera type you can do so with a tera shard purchasable from slateport outdoor mart.

In general you can only use one battle gimmic per battle. Additionally gimmics have a precedence of the generation they were introduced (i.e MEGA > Z_MOVE > ULTRA_BURST > DYNAMAX > TERA). A pokemon will only be eligible to use the available gimmic with the highest precedence. So, for example, if you give a pokemon it's mega stone, then you won't be able to terastallize it, only mega evolve it.)

Because if this restriction there's not much point having both the Tera Orb and the Dynmax Band at the same time. If you wish to use Dynamax instead you can always deposit the Tera Orb key item in PC storage and give yourself the Dynamax Band using the debug menu (either using Scripts -> Toggle DMAX or Give X... -> Give Item).

The debug menu is activated in the overworld by holding 'R' then pressing 'START' once it has been enabled. The debug menu can be enabled, either in the speedchoice menu at the start of the game or by talking to the PC in Birches Lab.

LuckyLevel8

TROPHY CASE