I joined just for the LeafTools/RAM Editor discussions, hi guys. (Used to enjoy exploiting WW, excited to see the progressing options for NL.) Thank you to all the contributors and the tool creators!
If you are changing your native fruit in the Hex Editor per Sopheroo's notes, I finished testing the fruit types:
I'm an idiot.
I was looking for the hex codes for the trees when I was supposed to look for the hexcode for the FRUIT to determine native tree
NATIVE FRUIT IS MODIFIABLE AT 0X5C7B6
This is for the apple.
01 = apples as native fruit
02 = oranges as native fruit
03 = pears as native fruit
04 = peaches as native fruit
05 = cherries as native fruit
(That order also mathematically explains the probability of getting apples or cherries as your town fruit when generating a town. Ugh.)
I also confirmed that changing your native fruit in the HEX also changes your native fruit in the dialogue with all NPCs and characters; even if changed at the very beginning of the game when you are still talking to Isabelle about advice for living in town. If changed before you talk to Isabelle about the town native fruit, she will indeed state that the new fruit is the town fruit. So, town fruit can be changed at any time without any ill effect I have found.
Changing your native fruit type DOES NOT CHANGE ALL OF YOUR TOWN TREES TO THAT FRUIT. So, say you just started your town and you have peaches and want cherries. If you change your native fruit type to cherries, the change WILL go through. Everyone will now acknowledge that the town fruit is cherries. However, all of your peach trees in town will REMAIN peach trees (and yes, if one of them has the perfect peach on it, that tree will remain with the original perfect peach on it as well, and you can shake the tree and harvest the perfect peach if you wish -- however, planting the perfect peach would now cause it to produce a normal peach tree). You must now manually cut down all the peach trees and replace them with cherry trees if you want cherries to be your new fruit trees. Once you change your native fruit to cherries, however, you can plant perfect cherries at will and they will grow into perfect cherry trees as they should. All other fruits will grow into normal fruit trees.