Skeetendo

It's not the trainer names I'm having trouble with, it's the toggling between regular and special trainers. The code happens to be from "engine/battle/common_text.asm".

OK, next we've got the pointers for TrainerWantsToFightText and TrainerWantsToFightText2:

TrainerWantsToFightText: ; 58e4a (16:4e4a)
    TX_FAR _TrainerWantsToFightText
    db "@"

TrainerWantsToFightText2:
    TX_FAR _TrainerWantsToFightText2
    db "@"

which correspond to these:

_TrainerWantsToFightText:: ; 89c5e (22:5c5e)
    text "The @"
    TX_RAM wTrainerName
    db $0
    line "@"
    TX_RAM wCurTrainerName
    text " wants"
    cont "to fight!"
    prompt

_TrainerWantsToFightText2:: ; 89c5e (22:5c5e)
    text "The @"
    TX_RAM wTrainerName
    db $0
    line "wants to fight!"
    prompt

And, of course, I had to duplicate everything into separate SpecialTrainerIDs lists due to that idiot Cygwin yelling at me for three files pointing to the same list (and, of course, they have to for consistency's sake, since the files "common_text.asm", "core.asm", and "trainer_ai.asm" all have text pointers affected by this list):

SpecialTrainerIDs:
    db SONY1
    db GIOVANNI
    db ROCKET
    db BRUNO
    db BROCK
    db MISTY
    db LT__SURGE
    db ERIKA
    db KOGA
    db BLAINE
    db SABRINA
    db SONY2
    db SONY3
    db LORELEI
    db AGATHA
    db LANCE
    db "@"

SpecialTrainerIDs2:
    db SONY1
    db GIOVANNI
    db ROCKET
    db BRUNO
    db BROCK
    db MISTY
    db LT__SURGE
    db ERIKA
    db KOGA
    db BLAINE
    db SABRINA
    db SONY2
    db SONY3
    db LORELEI
    db AGATHA
    db LANCE
    db "@"

SpecialTrainerIDs3:
    db SONY1
    db GIOVANNI
    db ROCKET
    db BRUNO
    db BROCK
    db MISTY
    db LT__SURGE
    db ERIKA
    db KOGA
    db BLAINE
    db SABRINA
    db SONY2
    db SONY3
    db LORELEI
    db AGATHA
    db LANCE
    db "@"

Just being able to reference it from anywhere won't necessarily mean your routine can find the data you actually want it to though. If the list is in bank 22 and you're trying to reference it in bank 16 you're still going to run into problems unless you specify which bank it is in (which you haven't been doing, and just writing code assuming the list is in the same bank as the code that is calling it).

Last edited by Mateo (2016-03-01 00:35:49)

If you have room at the end of bank 0, it might be simpler to take all of the redundant instances you have and replace them with:

call IsTrainerSpecial
jr c, .whateverYouHaveNow

Then in bank 0, at the end, just add:

IsTrainerSpecial::
    ld hl, SpecialTrainerIDs
    ld a, [wTrainerClass]
    ld de, 1
    jp IsInArray

SpecialTrainerIDs:
    db SONY1
    db GIOVANNI
    db ROCKET
    db BRUNO
    db BROCK
    db MISTY
    db LT__SURGE
    db ERIKA
    db KOGA
    db BLAINE
    db SABRINA
    db SONY2
    db SONY3
    db LORELEI
    db AGATHA
    db LANCE
    db $FF

Also, IsInArray expects an array to be terminated with db $FF, not db "@" like you have it currently. As such, you're making it read past the end of the array until it hits $FF somewhere unrelated to get to the end of the list, which is probably why it thinks BugCatcher is a special trainer. "@" corresponds to $50 not $FF, and IsInArray is written to treat $FF (sometimes written as -1 in here, which is confusing to you I'm sure) as the end-of-array marker. "@" is the end-of-text marker, which is different.

1: Obviously, the lines of code that are identical to what I pasted into the new IsTrainerSpecial routine.
2: home.asm
3: You have duplicate checks on duplicate lists in multiple banks, none of which are terminated correctly. Therefore it is very likely that there are different values after the end of the list that are being read depending on which copy of the list you are checking.

Considering I literally just copy/pasted part of your code to make that routine (except I changed a call to a jp) it should not be difficult for you to see what to replace with a call to that new function. So anywhere you originally put a duplicate of that code, put a call instead.

Considering the routine you are calling is:

    ld hl, SpecialTrainerIDs
    ld a, [wTrainerClass]
    ld de, 1
    jp IsInArray

Clearly, you would replace:

    ld hl, SpecialTrainerIDs
    ld a, [wTrainerClass]
    ld de, 1
    call IsInArray

With a call to the new command, since the lines are identical. Then anywhere else you need to check if a trainer is special, you would do the same. That way you don't have a bunch of redundant checks and don't need 3 copies of that same table (just the one table, in home.asm, right after the routine.) And again, remember to end the list with either db -1 or db $FF but NOT db "@" because that is totally different.

New stumper! How do you clear up space in bank 0? Because Cygwin yelled at me for following your instructions.

What do you use GoodCopyVideoData for? And the whole Mart Inventories thing sounds like a fabulous idear. One question, though: does doing it allow you to customize a city's Poké Mart inventory depending on certain conditions in the game (e.g. adding Potions to Viridian Mart after certain conditions are met, and giving that Potion-loving guy the new dialogue to match)?

I think I've sussed out the problem. Apparently, the Trainer Battle section of "common_text.asm" doesn't include a PrintText call. What I am having a hard time figuring out is, would adding a PrintText call after each TrainerWantsToFightText pointer be of any help?