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Kensuke Sano edited this page Feb 2, 2021 · 51 revisions

This page lists various things from studies by Polished Crystal players.

Disclaimers

  • Since this is a community-driven guide, it does NOT guarantee up-to-date or 100%-accurate information.
  • The master is always the official source code in this repository with commented-out documentations. You'll want to delve into it with the searching functions described below.
  • The official documents such as README and FAQ help you a lot as well, which are now being updated.
  • The game assumes that you're familiar with the main series games (MSGs), so you'll also want to learn about the game mechanics of the MSGs somewhere else.

General notice

Main article: FAQ § Which file do I need to play?

  • Be sure to play the latest build, namely v3.0.0-beta (as of Feb. 2021). You can run a full playthrough there, with some WIP elements for additional side quests and features.
  • Do NOT play the debug build unless you're going to work for the devs.
  • v2.2.0 was fixed in Sept. 2016—it's obsolete and out of support.
  • An upgrade of your save file from v2.2.0 to v3.0.0-beta is NOT available.
  • Cheating is NOT officially supported. See the .sym file guide for details.

Contents

List of to-do lists

#general 2020-10-06 13:25 UTC

Rangi: […] There are a lot of such things that anyone could contribute to: you could PM me, collaborate on a wiki page [this wiki] or Google Doc, whatever. I'll of course add you to the credits. =)

Updating

If you're playing a v3.0.0-beta build and it isn't too old, you can update your .gbc to the latest.

  1. Save in-game at a "safe" zone: preferably in a Poké Center (but NOT at the upper floor), near the exit to go out immediately
  2. As a fail-safe, keep a copy of your .gbc, .sav, and .rtc somewhere else
  3. Replace .gbc with the latest build you've grabbed
  4. Rename your .sav and .rtc to match the new .gbc
  5. Play the game and get out of Poké Center immediately to let it re-calc everything right
  6. Make sure that your Pokémon in your party (and box back in Poké Center) are safe and sound
    1. An update concerning crucial Pokémon data would force you to deposit and draw each of your Pokémon in your party to get them right
  7. Save in-game

Too old a build may have a "save break," where only the devs can currently handle the update. Tell your story in Discord, and a dev will help you.

Note: The devs are working on a one-go save patcher.

Searching on GitHub

FAQ lists most of the data you'll want to know, but you might as well want to look something up in the source code by yourself, e.g. items, trainers, flags, and procedures such as ifs and thens. GitHub's search functions come in handy for that purpose. Note that mobile browsers might put them in the toggle menu.

To search through the source code with…

  • Code strings: Go to the search box, which performs a case-insensitive search. You might also want to add extension:asm qualifier to narrow the results.
  • File names: Press the "Go to file" button to open the file finder. You can also use filename: qualifier in the search box.

The search-box results will only show you snippets. (See also GitHub's help page on searching.) You might as well open the link to have the page display the code lines for you to read through.

PC follows pokecrystal's style guide for coding, e.g. constants in SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE and labels in PascalCase.

Command line users can grep (or git grep), of course.

Search examples

  • The search box: ice_stone (or ice stone, a space in-between) ➡️ maps with the item(s), etc.
  • The file finder: ice_stone (or icestone, no other symbols in-between) ➡️ ice_stone.png, etc.

Move mergers and renames

Main article: FAQ § I don't recognize this move, what is it?

Polished Crystal has replaced some moves with the ones from later Generations to implement them. Some of the replaced moves gave way by getting merged into another, and some of the mergers come with renaming. Those moves let the move animation engine handle theirs appropriately.

  • Fury Swipes turns into "Fury Strikes" to merge Fury Attack.
  • Soft-Boiled turns into "Fresh Snack" to merge Milk Drink.
  • Morning Sun turns into "HealingLight" to merge Synthesis and Moonlight and gets its healing amount independent from the time of the day.
  • Defense Curl merges Withdraw and Harden.

EVs

Polished Crystal uses EVs with a maximum of 252 points for each of the six stats without limits to the total points. (It's a hybrid of the vanilla Stat Exp. and the modern EVs; it also serves to save some space code-wise!) You can now max out all the EVs of a Pokémon in PC. Each species has its EV-yield data defined as in the modern game mechanics.

EV grinding

Polished Crystal has the Power items and, as an exclusive QoL update, lets their EV boost apply to the Exp. Share holders as well. One of the Power items and five Exp. Shares can drive you the fastest. EV grinding won't become a thing until PC's Battle Tower gets updated, though.

Best EV training spot for each stat

  • HP: Swim in the water behind the counter in Cliff Edge Gate and you'll only find Wooper and Quagsire who give HP EVs.
  • Attack: In Ruins of Alph the Unown give EVs in both attack and special attack.
  • Defense: Swim in the small pond in Celadon City and you'll only find Grimer and Muk, who give defense EVs. Alternatively you can look for wild pokemon in Victory Road, as most pokemon there give defense EVs. If you pick the second option you might want to have a pokemon with multi-hit moves or the ability Mold Breaker, since many pokemon in Victory Road have the ability Sturdy.
  • Special Attack: In Ruins of Alph the Unown give EVs in both attack and special attack.
  • Special Defense: Swim in the water in either New Bark Town, Cherrygroove City or Olivine Port, and you'll only find Tentacool and Tentacruel who give special defense EVs.
  • Speed: Swim in the water in Blackthorn City and you'll only find Magikarp who give speed EVs. Alternatively you can fish using Old Rod or Good Rod inside most towns, you'll only find Magikarp and Poliwag who both give speed EVs.

Hidden Ability

Note: The Ability Patch has been implemented data-wise (i.e. not obtainable yet), so the game mechanics described below may change in future.

With the Abilities option turned on, an individual Pokémon in Polished Crystal can have a Hidden Ability as well. The game exclusively handles the HA as follows:

  • There's always a 5% chance (as of Jan. 2021) of getting a Pokémon with a HA. The general ratio comes with A1 : A2 : HA = 47.5% : 47.5% : 5%.
  • Pokémon spawning in a Hidden Grotto and hatching from an Odd Egg are guaranteed to have a HA.
  • In breeding, if either of the parents is holding an Ability Capsule ("Ability Cap" in PC), the baby has a 25% chance of having a HA; if both are holding, 50%. An Egg checks this first.
    • If the Ability isn't determined, the baby has a 60% chance of inheriting the Ability of the female (or non-Ditto) parent. The rest follows the general ratio.
    • Example 1.) Both parents are holding an AC, and the female has an HA. The baby has a total chance of having an HA by 50% + 50% * (60% + 40% * 5%) = 81%.

Breeding

Breeding in Polished Crystal is based on the Gen. VII game mechanics, barring PC's Hidden Ability features.

Here are some general tips as in the MSGs:

  • Make the most of inheritances in this order: Egg Moves; Ability; Nature with an Everstone; and perfect IVs with a Destiny Knot and a 6IV Ditto. The perfect Ditto of Polished Mr. PKMN is waiting for you to enjoy breeding!
  • Speed up the hatching process with Flame Body or Magma Armor. or your emu's fast-forward :P
  • The Masuda method works: PC takes all the OTIDs different from yours as coming from different languages. (In other words, the Gen. II Shiny breeding of 1/64 chance is no longer effective with the Shininess now irrelevant to IVs.)

Color variations

Main article: FAQ § My Pokémon is a different color, is it shiny?

Quite a few players forget about the IVs vary color option they've turned on among the preferences at the start of a new game. With that, the IVs* make subtle color variations for both Shiny and non-Shiny Pokémon, while the highest IV spread causes no changes. It has a complicated calculation so that players can't predict IVs from the tints and shades.

* Polished Crystal gives an "IV" of 0–15 for each of the six stats. (It's a hybrid of the vanilla DVs and the modern IVs.)

As for Shininess, a Shiny Pokémon in Polished Crystal comes with a colored star-shaped icon as in FRLG and later.

Regional Forms

Polished Crystal have been implementing Regional Forms (RFs), and that's WIP as of Feb. 2021.

The form table (major spoilers there!) has two sections: CosmeticSpeciesAndFormTable and VariantSpeciesAndFormTable. PC has also turned the Red Gyarados from the Shiny variant into an independent form; that's why it's red without Shiny animations or icons, while "Shiny" Red Gyarados is still red as well.

Note also:

  • The signature moves and Abilities don't necessarily come along due to technical limitations.
  • Some of the RFs have their animations (anim0/anim1) undefined. See the GFX folder for those lacking theirs.

Available from wild encounters

  • Alolan Sandshrew
  • Alolan Vulpix
  • Alolan Graveler

You can evolve and breed 'em all. The Ice Stone is available for those two icy species.

The core engine switches forms for wild encounters in accordance with <Type>Landmarks it defines.

Available via evolutions

  • Alolan Raichu
  • Alolan Exeggutor
  • Alolan Marowak

PC has added an evolution item named "Odd Souvenir" for those branched evolutions in post-game. It looks much like the Strange Souvenir from Alola.

Data in

  • Alolan Ratatta & Raticate
  • Alolan Diglett & Dugtrio
  • Alolan Meowth & Persian
  • Galarian Ponyta & Rapidash
  • Galarian Slowpoke, Slowbro & Slowking
  • Alolan Grimer & Muk
  • Galarian Weezing
  • Galarian Articuno, Zapdos & Moltres

These species have been implemented but haven't got their encounters/gifts defined yet. This means that your opponents may use them and that you can grind Wonder Trades for getting the non-Legendaries of them. or cheat for them :P

No data

  • Galarian Meowth
  • Galarian Farfetch'd
  • Galarian Mr. Mime
  • Galarian Corsola

PC has no rooms for their evolutions at the moment, and it'll need another major update.

Wonder Trade

Polished Crystal imitates Wonder Trade, a Gen. VI–VII online feature, in an offline gameplay. You trade a Pokémon through a machine at the PokéCom Center in Goldenrod, and the game loads its level and returns a random Pokémon of the same level that meets conditions of the level range and the form. The level range table tells that WT doesn't give the Legendaries, Unown, or Eggs.

Headbutting

The Headbutt trees in Polished Crystal can now give you Silver and Gold Leaves as well as wild encounters, the items you'll pay to the Move Tutors and Relearner or sell for cash.

Headbutt is itself a Tutor Move in Ilex Forest and, unlike that in HG/SS, costs a Silver Leaf as with the others—but whoa, the item happens to be hidden just near the Tutor. Some Pokémon learn the move via level-up as well, of course.

For the encounters, the trees work in the same way as in the vanilla: the rightmost digit of your Trainer ID determines which trees give rare encounters in each area. Look for a (vanilla) Headbutt-tree calculator if necessary. To get which area to go grinding, see the Headbutt-tree encounter tables and the Headbutt-tree map index.

Example 1.) Heracross appears in Azalea, but it doesn't for the digit of 7—from the eastmost Headbutt tree to the westmost, {0, 1, 2, 3}, {2, 5, 9, 2}, {9, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8}, {2, 5, 9, 2, 6, 9}.

Miscellaneous how-tos

  • Reset the clock: Down + B at the title screen.
  • Reset the initial options: Left + B at the title screen.

Easter eggs and trivia

  • Among the exclusive buffs on the learnsets, Eevee has taken a Tutor move that its evolutions can't be taught. It was a "Prism Tutor move" for Eevee.
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