Pokémon GameCube Randomizer

This tool randomizes Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness ISOs, providing a fresh gameplay experience with different trainer battles, Pokémon specifics and item placements based on the given settings.

Usage

Pokémon GameCube Randomizer requires Python 3. You can install it by downloading an installer from the official website or from a package manager for your operating system.

The randomizer is currently only available as a command line tool; a graphical user interface might be added at a later date. The only required parameters to invoke the randomizer are the path to a clean, unmodified input ISO as well as either the target filename or the --in-place switch, which will randomize the ISO without leaving the original behind. Thus in order to randomize an ISO with the default settings, something like this does the job:

python pkrgc.py --output GXXP01_randomized.iso GXXP01.iso

The default settings are designed to strike a good balance between complete randomness and vanilla experience: Pokémon rosters, learnsets, abilities and such are altered, while Pokémon evolutions and types, move details and such are kept as is. However, the randomization process is highly customizable through a variety of extra command line options. You can find out the list of available options by using the --help switch:

python pkrgc.py --help

For example, if you are craving for something more like the so-called "über randomizer", you can try something akin to:

python pkrgc.py --rng-pktypes --rng-pkstats --rng-move-power --rng-move-types --rng-move-accuracy --rng-move-pp --rng-pkevo --no-rng-pkevo-samestage --no-rng-pkevo-shuffle --no-rng-pokespot-bst-based -o GXXE01_randomized.iso GXXE01.iso

If you are curious about the specifics of the randomization, you might be interested in using the -l debug switch to see more detailed output while the program is working on your ISO.

Image support

This randomizer supports randomizing the following disc images:

Game	Game ID	Region	MD5 Checksum
Colosseum	GC6P01	EUR	`2be2607ae4826cbc77efb4ef4ada6385`
Colosseum	GC6J01	JPN	`ec80218d9079ccae07350e42356748ce`
Colosseum	GC6E01	USA	`e3f389dc5662b9f941769e370195ec90`
XD: Gale of Darkness	GXXP01	EUR	`f36d14bebf8fea6a046404bff6adb7e6`
XD: Yami no Kaze Dark Lugia	GXXJ01	JPN	`e92856cb965f8411e29ccfc818bd6d5b`
XD: Gale of Darkness	GXXE01	USA	`3bc1671806cf763a8712a5d398f62ad3`

Please consult other online sources regarding creating a supported backup image of your game disc.

Known caveats

The randomization process is very slow due to the currently not very well optimized implementation of the compression algorithm used to recompress the altered data files.
Many cosmetic changes are yet to be done. This includes details like adjusting TM descriptions to reflect the newly assigned moves, trade related NPC dialogue to refer to the correct Pokémon and such.
P★DA Snag List and Shadow Monitor entries are partially baked into the save files when the save file is first created. If you load a save started with a clean ISO, these lists will not be using the Pokémon that are actually available to you post-randomization. (The same obviously goes for already modified/randomized ISOs, though note that randomizing them is not formally supported in any case.)
It is currently not feasible to randomize Colosseum trainers with Shadow Pokémon in such a way that their with-Shadow and without-Shadow roster variations match, since there is no easy way to find out which rosters should be paired up. This should hardly be an issue, though.

Troubleshooting

If a randomized ISO crashes at the Nintendo logo or at the start of a Trainer battle, the randomizer has managed to write a file into the ISO in such a manner that the game fails to uncompress it. The game is pretty strict when it comes to this, and the randomizer occasionally compresses some corner cases in a slightly different way that should still be interchangeable. If this does happen, please file a bug report including at least the following information:

The ISO type and its MD5 hash
The options used for randomization
Where and how exactly the ISO hung or crashed

Acknowledgements

StarsMmd's comprehensive guide on where to find things in the ISO over at Project Pokémon. Having so much already documented by others has saved a lot of time.
gciso by Joel Schumacher for the basis for the high-level ISO handling code of this tool. gciso code is licensed under the MIT license.
This LZSS algorithm in Python by nucular which was amended to work with the particular flavor of LZSS that the ISOs use. Presumably in public domain, like the original C implementation by Okumura Haruhiko.

License

MIT