Inconsistencies with trade-based evolutions and the log file

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Randomize one of the Pokemon games
2. Generate a log
3. Locate the part of the log about trade-based evolution changes

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
The log file says that Poliwhirl should evolve into Politoed at level 37. My 
Poliwhirl in LeafGreen actually evolved into Politoed at level 43.

This problem is also noted in this Reddit post and describes what happens to 
other trade-based evolutions (his/her version is SoulSilver): 
http://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonROMhacks/comments/17a6fm/universal_pokemon_random
izer_trade_evolutionsdont/c83njod

"I used it on SoulSilver and it said that Kadabra/Graveller/Machoke would 
evolve at 37 but they actually evolved by happiness. Onix evolved into Steelix 
by leveling up holding the item it needed to be traded with and I think all of 
the trade with item evolutions evolve like that.
It will also give you an option when you randomise to save a text file which 
will list all the changes made."

I suspect that Poliwhirl evolved through happiness just like that Reddit user 
said. I have only tested this with Poliwhirl, but I think these evolution 
problems happen with the other trade-based Pokemon also.

Some suggestions:
The first thing to do would be to clarify in the log file the correct way to 
evolve these Pokemon after being randomized.

Next, I think some thought may be put into how they evolve.

If the Pokemon that are supposed to evolve through trading without a held item 
actually evolve through happiness, I think it's a better idea than evolving 
through preset levels. This seems to be the way it works already so that is 
good.

For the Pokemon that are supposed to evolve through trading with an item held, 
there seems to be some inconsistency in the way it works right now. Poliwhirl 
is supposed to evolve to Politoed through holding a King's Rock in a trade, but 
seems to evolve through happiness. This suggests that it may have been 
purposefully done this way to make it easier to evolve these kind of Pokemon so 
the item is not needed. However, Onix is said to evolve by leveling up holding 
the Metal Coat by the Reddit user. This is inconsistent since Onix should have 
also evolved through happiness. According to the log file, Onix should have 
evolved at level 30 to Steelix, but the Onix I have in my LeafGreen game did 
not evolve at that level so I am inclined to believe the Reddit user's notes.

Special cases:
I do not know how Slowpoke or Clamperl actually evolves after using the 
randomizer, but if it is implemented exactly like how the log file states then 
I think it makes sense. The log states that Slowpoke evolves to Slowking with a 
Water Stone. This works because Slowpoke already evolves to Slowbro by leveling 
so it can't evolve to Slowking through happiness. Next, the log states that 
Clamperl evolves to Huntail at level 30 and Gorebyss with a Water Stone. This 
also makes sense if the intention was to remove the need of the 
DeepSeaScale/DeepSeaTooth since Water Stone is easily accessible (buyable 
in-game). Although, I think Clamperl to Huntail should be a happiness-based 
evolution.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
LeafGreen (US). Windows 7.

Summary:
The most important thing is to clarify how these evolutions actually work in 
the log file. Then, some thought may be put into how the Pokemon actually 
evolve. For most Pokemon this can be solved with evolving through happiness. 
There are some special cases to consider (like Slowpoke to Slowking and the 
Clamperl evolutions) which can be solved with evolution stones.

Sorry this was so long. I really felt the need to explain everything even 
though you probably thought about some of these suggestions already. I just 
really love the randomizer and want to help you improve it with this report =).

Original issue reported on code.google.com by jklph...@gmail.com on 21 Feb 2013 at 6:34

[GoogleCodeExporter]

First off, the way trade evolutions are modified is different between games 
because the ways of evolution possible in each game are different. For example, 
Generation 4 added the "level up holding a particular item" evolution method 
which is the cleanest way to replace "trade holding an item" evolutions - but 
before that was added, we had to resort to other methods like leveling up and 
stones.

Secondly, if something isn't evolving in the way the *log file* says, it's a 
bug with the program, not with the log file. I'll check out the specific 
example you have reported here, then work from there.

Original comment by dabomstew on 22 Feb 2013 at 7:07

• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I found the issue:

Generation 3, 4, and 5 trade evolution removal was setting all the ones that 
were meant to change to "levelup" to "levelup w/ high happiness" instead. This 
will be fixed in the next release 1.2.1.

Original comment by dabomstew on 27 Feb 2013 at 2:50

• Changed state: Started

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thank you for your hard work! Cheers!

Original comment by jklph...@gmail.com on 27 Feb 2013 at 2:51