Building an Android UI wrapper around Universal Pokemon Game Randomizer.
This repo is forked from an old project that started on it but didn't get very far.
The goal for this project is to build a complete UI using Jetpack Compose that supports all of the features present in the desktop application.
- Download the APK from the Releases page.
- Open the downloaded APK from your web browser or file manager. You may need to allow your web browser or file manager to install apps by going to
Android Settings>Apps & Notifications>Advanced>Special app access>Install unknown apps. - Once the app is installed, you should see this after opening it:
- Pressing "Open ROM" will allow you to select a ROM from your file manager:
- Once the ROM has been loaded, you can replace the settings string by pasting one or selecting a preset. You can also customize the seed or re-roll the random one. The filename will automatically be updated with the new seed to keep filenames unique. For both of these fields, you need to press the check button to save your changes, it will show an error if the value is invalid.
- If you want to manually customize the randomization settings, open the menu by swiping to the right or clicking the icon in the top left corner. From here you can choose which category of settings to modify. Pressing the back button will return you to the home screen.
- Pressing "Save ROM" will allow you to select where to put the randomized ROM in your file manager:
- Pressing "Save Log" will allow you to do the same with the randomization log. It is saved with the
.txtextension so that it can be viewed properly. Do note that some log files can be very large depending on what randomization settings you use.
Q: What versions of Android are supported?
A: Officially, only Android 10+ is supported, however there is a compatibility APK built for Android 8+ that may work on older devices. This version is missing many of the newer features and fixes.
Q: Are 3DS games supported?
A: 3DS games will not work due to the large size of the ROM not being feasible to load into the limited amount of RAM Android gives to apps.
Q: Why does the randomizer fail?
A: Most likely this is due to the source ROM being invalid (for example if you have incorrectly applied a patch). It can also happen if you select a setting not supported by the generation of game you have. This should not happen if you are using a valid settings string for that generation.
Q: Why does it take up so much storage?
A: The app has to copy every ROM that is opened to its internal storage. This copy is only made once for each unique filename, so after you open a ROM once, it will load faster each subsequent time that same ROM is opened. All copies are kept permanently, so to delete them, you need to manually clear the app storage. You can do this by long pressing on the app icon and choosing App info>Storage & cache>Clear storage. Keep in mind that clearing the app storage will also delete any custom names you have made. Alternatively, you can force the app to delete temporary directories by using the back button to close the app (not by closing it on the recents screen). This may free some storage space if you use the batch randomize feature for DS games.
Q: How to make multiple ROMs at once?
A: If you press the "Batch Randomize" button, it will open a dialog that allows you to choose a prefix, starting number, and ending number. This will generate a ROM for each number between the starting and ending numbers. The file name will simply be the prefix with the current number (0 padded so they sort correctly). Every time you create a new batch the numbers will be automatically incremented. The files will be saved to a folder using the "Choose Directory" button. Progress will be shown as a notification. On Android 13+ you will be required to grant the notifications permission to see it. This will continue to run in the background, so you can leave the app if you wish (just don't close it in your recent apps).
Q: What does the X setting do?
A: If you are curious to see what a certain setting does, tapping on the text label will bring up a hint dialog with a description. Tapping outside of the dialog will close it.
Q: How to disable extra berries?
A: The newest version of the randomizer introduced extra berries for Generation 4 games (HGSS, DPPt) that some consider "useless." If you prefer to play without them, uncheck the box below the settings string.
The source code includes the randomizer itself as well as the Android app.
The project should work when imported into Android Studio with support for Kotlin 1.9. There is an additional configuration to run the randomizer JAR file from the IDE.
The randomizer was included as a subtree rather than a submodule so that I don't need to maintain a separate fork of the randomizer due to needing to make some changes:
- Fixed invalid characters in source code
- Generated Java code for the GUI rather than using
.formfiles - Included Gradle build file
- Ability to make other changes as necessary