Pokemon Game Editor: Part 1

In this post, I will be looking at the Pokemon Game Editor (PGE) tool. This lovely little tool works across all the mainline Pokemon games on the Game Boy Advance, otherwise known as Generation III of the Pokemon games. Specifically, these include Pokemon Ruby, Pokemon Sapphire, Pokemon FireRed, Pokemon LeafGreen, and Pokemon Emerald. This hacking tool was created by Gamer2020 and published onto GitHub originally in 2010. The tool was last updated on May 13, 2017.

I will be using this tool often throughout the blog, so, if you wish to follow along, be sure to download it from the above hyperlink. Once downloaded, extract the contents of the .zip file and run PokemonGameEditor.exe.

This is how the screen should look upon initial startup.

Now, before the tool can actually be used, a ROM must be loaded with it. Simply click the big button that says "Load ROM" and select the .gba file of your Pokemon FireRed ROM.

NOTE: If you see an error upon loading the ROM, then there is likely a problem with the ROM file you are trying to use. A similar situation happened to me when I first tried using this program, and I had to find a ROM from another source.

To begin, let's examine the different tabs we have on the screen:

• Internal Programs: These are functions that PGE comes with and require no extra set-up to handle or use.
• External Programs: This section is used for ROM hacking tools that we can configure to open with PGE. 
• If you've downloaded the tools I listed in the previous blog post, you can add them to this tab. Click on "Settings" at the top and select "Add or Remove Programs." From there, you can enter the name of the program you'll be adding and the file path for it.
• Patchers and Expanders: This section includes installations that provide an "update" to the ROM file. These can be used to allocate more room in the file so hackers can add more content to the game rather than just editing already existing content.

This is how the "Add or Remove Programs" screen looks. Be sure you create the correct file path to the external tool.

With that out of the way, I'll explain the various functions of PGE's internal programs. I will not be using all of these throughout the blog (I cannot use any editors that correlate to Pokemon games I am not using, for example), but here is the rundown of most of PGE's features:

• Move Tutor Editor: This will edit the list of moves that the Move Tutor NPC can choose to teach to the player's Pokemon.
• Pokedex Order Editor: Exactly what the name says; this allows the user to edit where each Pokemon appears in the game's Hoenn and National Pokedex. This does not impact where they appear in the game's world.
• Pokemon Editor: A very hefty feature that allows the user to edit the game's Pokemon in a number of ways. This includes the Pokemon's base stats, sprites and colors, evolutionary lines, learnable attacks, Pokedex data, and "cry" (the sound file that plays when selecting the Pokemon).
• Attack Editor: Allows for editing the stats, descriptions, and effects of Pokemon attacks and skills.
• Ability Editor: Similar functionality as Attack Editor but for unique Pokemon abilities instead.
• Pokedex Data Editor: Allows for editing and rewriting various Pokedex descriptions and data for Pokemon.
• Habitat Editor (FR/LG): The user can edit the various habitats Pokemon are found in. Pokemon can be moved to other habitats, placed in multiple, and/or removed outright from areas.
• Trade Editor: Edits the Pokemon the player can give/receive in various Pokemon trades across the game. In Pokemon FireRed, there are nine total.
• Pokedex List Editor: A feature that takes quite a while to open. The user can edit the various categories Pokemon are sorted by in the Pokedex. 
• NOTE: Upon opening this recently, the program froze and I had to close PGE entirely. Use this feature at your own risk.

With the functionality out of the way, let's put this tool to use!

First, if we move over to the Patchers and Expanders tab, there will be a button that says "Pokemon Adder." Click on it, and we'll be treated to the screen below.

Make sure the number of Pokemon you wish to add is equal to the amount of Dex entries you want to add.

Specify the amount of Pokemon and Pokedex entires you wish to create and click "Add." After that, if we move back to "Pokemon Editor" and scroll to the bottom, we'll see a new Pokemon listed.

And here is the new Pokemon we generated! Or rather, the space the new Pokemon will eventually occupy.

As you can tell, this Pokemon is far from complete. In my next post, I will show how to use PGE to make this blank entry into a new custom Pokemon!

Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas for our new custom Pokemon! Additionally, feel free to ask if you have anymore questions regarding PGE.