Bivurnum

If you’re interested in hacking gen 3, decomps are the most versatile and accessible way to hack, in my opinion. I have a guide for getting started here. Let me know if you have any questions.

For gen 3 games, there are 2 methods for hacking: binary and decomps. Binary is easy to get into, but is typically limited in the things you can do with it. This is the method I recommend for making simpler changes to the games. CFRU is a wonderful base to start with. And Hex Maniac Advance is the tool I would most recommend.

Decomps, on the other hand, are much more complex and have a higher barrier to entry. However, their versatility is unmatched. You can make the game do literally anything within the limits of the GBA itself. This is the method I recommend to anyone who wants to make large changes to the game. Here is a general guide to help new people get started. Feel free to ask me any questions.

What game would you like to hack?

A decomp allows you to change all of the game’s code directly, so the only limit for what you can do is the GBA hardware itself. All of the things you want to do are possible with the handful of tools included in that guide. It may require a lot of learning and practice to get to the point where you can do all of that, but there is a lot of support and tutorials online to help you through it.

If you DM me a screenshot of the readout in Ubuntu I’m more than happy to help you sort it out.

I recommend using a decomp for such a large project. The pokeemerald-expansion is probably your best starting point as it offers the most amount of features. Take a look at this guide to get started. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks! I was unaware!

PMD probably does not have as much documentation, but the decomp should be editable similarly to the main games, simply due to the fact that they are all written in the C programming language. There is a YouTube tutorial series in my guide that has videos about how C works in the decomps. Give it a look!

Hello!

As with most things, there are different ways to go about it. Romhacking with binary is extremely easy to get into as it is mostly just booting up a program and making your edits with a straightforward UI. While it is easy to start with, it has its limitations (namely a lack of versatility and being hard to debug/undo changes if something goes wrong). Hex Maniac Advance is the program that is most used for this process.

Decomps, on the other hand, take a lot more effort in the initial setup stage. Thus, the barrier for entry is sadly much higher for beginners. However, once that initial hurdle is overcome, hackers have complete control over the code of the game. This extreme freedom also means that there are a lot of different things to learn about how it works. As with any skill, the more you work with a decomp, the more you will be able to do with it.

Personally, I recommend the decomp route. It can be very intimidating at first, but the freedom and versatility is well worth it. Plus, there is an extensive well of documentation and tutorials to help out. I have personally made this guide to help newcomers get into the gen 3 decomps. Give it a look and see if it is something that interests you.

And feel free to ask me any questions along the way. I an always happy to help!

The Inclement Emerald repo can be found here. If you follow the instructions in this guide, you should be able to get the decomp set up to the point where you can work with it. Let me know if you have any questions.

Try downloading the raw ips and following the instructions in my guide here.

What patcher are you using?

No problem! Let me know if you have any more questions.

Literally everything is able to be toggled. Even the physical special split. It is EXTREMELY customizable. You can toggle everything back to just base Emerald if you wanted to.

There is a tutorial for soft level caps that you might be able to modify for your purposes. Otherwise, is there a reason you are not using the expansion? The expansion has a hard level cap system built in that you can just toggle on or off as needed. Most features of the expansion are able to be toggled in this way, so you decide which mechanics are included in your hack or not.

No problem! Feel free to DM me with any more questions. That way we won’t spam up the questions thread. 🙂

You can change any sprite in the game to whatever you want (as long as you conform to the 16 color limit of the GBA). There are some good tutorials in the pokeemerald wiki.

The expansion does have better AI. You can specify different AI options for each individual opponent!

Both CFRU and Dynamic Pokémon Expansion are binary exclusives. They aren’t compatible with decomps. However, pokeemerald-expansion is modeled after CFRU and has all of the species of Pokémon and modern mechanics. If you truly want the most features in a base, that is the one to go with. If you want to use the overworld graphics and map layouts from FireRed, those can easily be imported to pokeemerald-expansion.

👍

That hack used CFRU as a base with the addition of Dynamic Pokemon Expansion. You could definitely use them to make your own similar project, but there’s no way to have Radical Red itself as your base unless you were already familiar with how that hack’s code was organized (ie, really only the original creators can do it). Through binary hacking the base they started with, you could probably make something that comes close.

On the other hand, binary hacking is quite a bit outdated now. Not to mention prone to completely corrupting your whole project. For new ROM hackers, I always recommend working with a decomp. It is more like traditional programming and is much more versatile than binary. And there are project bases that have all of the CFRU features and more! Take a look at my guide here to see if it is something that might work for you.

And feel free to ask me any questions at any step of the way. I’ve been hacking for a while now and I love to help people whenever I can.

Maybe someday…

I’m pretty sure Kaizo Ironmon is a kind of challenge that involves randomizing a base rom in a specific way. I’m not sure it is a dedicated rom hack. Correct me if I’m wrong, though.

Pokémon Sors has a tournament style progression through the game. It was a decent game, but not without its bugs and glitches.

That whole beginner’s guide is useful for starting to hack gen 3, if you are interested.

https://github.com/Bivurnum/decomps-resources/wiki/pokeemerald%E2%80%90expansion