Battle Autoprompts

In Generation 3 onwards, most battle texts don't require the player to click A. That's not the case in Generation 2, as most battle texts require prompts which the player must press A. Thus, players tend to spam it after making a move. This tutorial aims to remove prompts for most battle texts by making the game scroll through them automatically.

Contents

1. Add new charmap constants
2. Define new macros for autoprompts
3. Make functions for the new macros
4. Edit battle text to not require prompts

1. Add new charmap constants

We first need to edit charmap.asm to make the autoprompts possible. Each control character is assigned to a 2 hex digit. There are a lot of unassigned hex digits, thus we can use some of them.

...
	charmap "<_CONT>",   $4b ; implements "<CONT>"
+       ; While "<SCROLL>" this is used in sharply rose or sharply fell stat texts, this will be
+       ; adjusted to give the player time to read.
	charmap "<SCROLL>",  $4c
	charmap "<NEXT>",    $4e
	charmap "<LINE>",    $4f
	charmap "@",         $50 ; string terminator
	charmap "<PARA>",    $51
	charmap "<PLAYER>",  $52 ; wPlayerName
	charmap "<RIVAL>",   $53 ; wRivalName
	charmap "#",         $54 ; "POKé"
	charmap "<CONT>",    $55
	charmap "<……>",      $56 ; "……"
	charmap "<DONE>",    $57
	charmap "<PROMPT>",  $58
	charmap "<TARGET>",  $59
	charmap "<USER>",    $5a
	charmap "<PC>",      $5b ; "PC"
	charmap "<TM>",      $5c ; "TM"
	charmap "<TRAINER>", $5d ; "TRAINER"
	charmap "<ROCKET>",  $5e ; "ROCKET"
	charmap "<DEXEND>",  $5f
+	charmap "<ATPRA>",	 $60
+	charmap "<ATDNE>",	 $61
...

2. Define new macros for autoprompts

Next, we edit macros/scripts/text.asm to add new macros that we'll be using for autoprompts.

text   		EQUS "db TX_START,"    		; Start writing text.
next   		EQUS "db \"<NEXT>\","  		; Move a line down.
line   		EQUS "db \"<LINE>\"," 		; Start writing at the bottom line.
page   		EQUS "db \"@\","      		; Start a new Pokédex page.
para   		EQUS "db \"<PARA>\","  		; Start a new paragraph.
+ autopara  	EQUS "db \"<ATPRA>\"," 		; Automatically start a new paragraph.
cont   		EQUS "db \"<CONT>\","  		; Scroll to the next line.
+ scroll   	EQUS "db \"<SCROLL>\","  	; Scroll to the next line, pausing shortly.
done   		EQUS "db \"<DONE>\""   		; End a text box.
+ autodone   	EQUS "db \"<ATDNE>\"" 		; Automatically ends a text box.
prompt 		EQUS "db \"<PROMPT>\"" 		; Prompt the player to end a text box (initiating some other event).

3. Make functions for the new macros

We then edit home/text.asm and make functions for the new constants.

	dict "<MOBILE>",  MobileScriptChar
	dict "<LINE>",    LineChar
	dict "<NEXT>",    NextLineChar
	dict "<CR>",      CarriageReturnChar
	dict "<NULL>",    NullChar
+       ; You may not apply this step for "<SCROLL>". See Step 1 for details.
+       ; You may also not write this comment when editing text.asm.
-	dict "<SCROLL>",  _ContTextNoPause
+	dict "<SCROLL>",  _ContTextPauseShort
	dict "<_CONT>",   _ContText
	dict "<PARA>",    Paragraph
+	dict "<ATPRA>",   AutoParagraph
	dict "<MOM>",     PrintMomsName
...
	dict "<LF>",      LineFeedChar
	dict "<CONT>",    ContText
	dict "<……>",      SixDotsChar
	dict "<DONE>",    DoneText
+	dict "<ATDNE>",   AutoDoneText
	dict "<PROMPT>",  PromptText
	dict "<PKMN>",    PlacePKMN
	dict "<POKE>",    PlacePOKE

...

_ContTextNoPause::
	push de
	call TextScroll
	call TextScroll
	hlcoord TEXTBOX_INNERX, TEXTBOX_INNERY + 2
	pop de
	jp NextChar

+_ContTextPauseShort::
+	push de
+	call TextScroll
+	call TextScroll
+	hlcoord TEXTBOX_INNERX, TEXTBOX_INNERY + 2
+	ld c, 5
+	call DelayFrames
+	pop de
+	jp NextChar

...

Paragraph::
	push de

	ld a, [wLinkMode]
	cp LINK_COLOSSEUM
	jr z, .linkbattle
	cp LINK_MOBILE
	jr z, .linkbattle
	call LoadBlinkingCursor

.linkbattle
	call Text_WaitBGMap
	call PromptButton
	hlcoord TEXTBOX_INNERX, TEXTBOX_INNERY
	lb bc, TEXTBOX_INNERH - 1, TEXTBOX_INNERW
	call ClearBox
	call UnloadBlinkingCursor
	ld c, 20
	call DelayFrames
	hlcoord TEXTBOX_INNERX, TEXTBOX_INNERY
	pop de
	jp NextChar

+AutoParagraph::
+	push de
+	call Text_WaitBGMap
+	ld c, 10
+	call DelayFrames
+	hlcoord TEXTBOX_INNERX, TEXTBOX_INNERY
+	lb bc, TEXTBOX_INNERH - 1, TEXTBOX_INNERW
+	call ClearBox
+	ld c, 20
+	call DelayFrames
+	hlcoord TEXTBOX_INNERX, TEXTBOX_INNERY
+	pop de
+	jp NextChar

...

DoneText::
	pop hl
	ld de, .stop
	dec de
	ret

.stop:
	text_end
	
+AutoDoneText::
+	call Text_WaitBGMap
+	ld c, 20
+	call DelayFrames
+	jr DoneText

4. Edit battle text to not require prompts

Edit data/text/common_1.asm for the withdraw battle text:

_EnemyWithdrewText::
	text "<ENEMY>"
	line "withdrew"
-	cont "@"
+	scroll "@"
	text_ram wEnemyMonNickname
	text "!"
-	prompt
+       autodone

_EnemyUsedOnText::
	text "<ENEMY>"
	line "used @"
	text_ram wMonOrItemNameBuffer
	text_start
-       cont "on @"
+	scroll "on @"
	text_ram wEnemyMonNick
	text "!"
-       prompt
+	autodone

Also, edit data/text/battle.asm. Since the text is disorganized, just remember to edit the text related to type effectiveness, residual damage, item use, weather status, and more. Make sure to avoid editing fainting and EXP prompts. Feel free to edit the file by replacing the following macros:

1. cont to scroll
2. para to autopara
3. done to autodone.

That's it! You've made most battle texts have autoprompts! If you want to have an idea how it'd look like in action, you can watch this video or this video.