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RAManimator adds animated graphics to emulated games with no ROM editing

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Back in April we covered the ROM hacking efforts to add fifth-generation animated sprites to third generation Pokemon games. It remains a thoroughly impressive project, though naturally requires whatever game you're playing to have implemented these sprites into the larger hack. RAManimator takes a completely different approach to the same problem, instead manipulating memory in real time through scripts running in an emulator. The results are seriously impressive.

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At the time of writing, all mainline Pokemon games from the first, second, and third generation are supported, with the design also being accommodating to ROM hacks using them as a base. It should be noted that there may be some additional setup required in these cases however. Other games will also apparently work with this project too, though again some work will be needed.

The latest version of mGBA does not currently support manipulation of colour palettes via scripting, meaning the animations will need to be using the same colour palettes as the sprites they're replacing. The creator, Jengolus, has added this functionality into a separate mGBA branch, though this is yet to be merged into the main project. Those wanting these features now will need to be comfortable building the emulator for themselves.

RAManimator is available now and can be downloaded via its GitHub page.

:arrow: RAManimator GitHub
 
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ertaboy356b said:
I wonder if it can be patched in instead for original hardware.
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Probably not without exceptional difficulty.

The problem with tying hacks like this to specific emulators is that they're no longer portable. Like, right now they only work with a branch of mGBA, but what if some other, better emulator comes along and there's no easy way to make it compatible? Or what if you want to use some other device that has a closed-source GBA emulator and can't run mGBA?
 
Kwyjor said:
Probably not without exceptional difficulty.

The problem with tying hacks like this to specific emulators is that they're no longer portable. Like, right now they only work with a branch of mGBA, but what if some other, better emulator comes along and there's no easy way to make it compatible? Or what if you want to use some other device that has a closed-source GBA emulator and can't run mGBA?
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I see this similar to stuff like PrimeHack, melonPrimeDS, LUA Red or bsnes HD. Editing the emulator to extend games in ways beyond the original console's capabilities to optionally add some neat stuff. Since those are non-standard features anyway, you have to conform to the platform of the creator's choice, if you want to use them.
"[...] what if some other, better emulator comes along and there's no easy way to make it compatible?" There used to be a LUA script that adds mouse and gamepad controls to Metroid Prime Hunters on DeSmuME, where you needed to install another program and have that running in the background everytime you want to use the mouse in MPH and you had to use an outdated emulator that doesn't support multiplayer.
But someone took it upon themself to create melonPrimeDS, which also adds modern controls, but is way easier to use and is based on melonDS, which works way better than DeSmuME. Where there's a will, there's a way to maybe even improve upon things, should a better emulator come along. If you're on a closed device, you already decided that you're only going to use the stuff provided by the manufacturer, so there's no getting around that.
 

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