Move Data Structure Documentation

Moves each have a simple structure detailing various properties of the move. Not much to cover here. All of them can be edited as part of hg-engine in armips/data/moves.s.

The full structure:

struct MoveData
{
    u16 battleeffect;
    u8 split;
    u8 basepower;
    u8 type;
    u8 accuracy;
    u8 pp;
    u8 effectchance;
    u8 target;
    u8 priority;
    u8 flags;
    u8 appeal;
    u8 contesttype;
}

A short description of each parameter:

• battleeffect is the battle_eff_seq script that is run. See Move Scripting Systems Documentation.
• split is the category the move has in the physical/special split, either MOVE_PHYSICAL, MOVE_SPECIAL, or MOVE_STATUS
• basepower is the base power of the move as it shows up in the summary screen
• type is the move's type
• accuracy is the move's accuracy, expressed as a percent from 0-100
• pp is the base PP of the move
• effectchance is the chance that secondary effects happen. Relic Song has an effectchance of 10 because it has a 10% chance to inflict sleep on the target.
• target is the target of the move and is a bitfield (targets can be combined, I believe). It can have these values:
  • MOVE_TARGET_SELECTED
  • MOVE_TARGET_DEPENDS
  • MOVE_TARGET_RANDOM
  • MOVE_TARGET_BOTH
  • MOVE_TARGET_FOES_AND_ALLY
  • MOVE_TARGET_USER
  • MOVE_TARGET_USER_SIDE
  • MOVE_TARGET_ACTIVE_FIELD
  • MOVE_TARGET_OPPONENTS_FIELD
  • MOVE_TARGET_ALLY
  • MOVE_TARGET_ACUPRESSURE
  • MOVE_TARGET_ME_FIRST
• priority is the priority rank of the move, i.e. Quick Attack has +1. Can be positive or negative.
• flags is a bitfield describing parameters of the move. It can have these values:
  • FLAG_CONTACT determines whether the move makes contact or not (for activation of Rough Skin, Static, etc.)
  • FLAG_PROTECT determines whether or not the move is affected by Protect.
  • FLAG_MAGIC_COAT determines whether or not the move is affected by Magic Coat.
  • FLAG_SNATCH detemines whether or not the move can be stolen by Snatch.
  • FLAG_MIRROR_MOVE determines whether or not the move can be copied by Mirror Move.
  • FLAG_KINGS_ROCK determines whether or not the King's Rock's increased flinch chance applies to this move.
  • FLAG_KEEP_HP_BAR determines whether or not the HP Bar is kept during the move's animation.
  • FLAG_HIDE_SHADOW determines whether or not the target's shadow is made invisible for the duration of the move.
• appeal has something to do with contest effects and is unused in Heart Gold.
• contesttype has something to do with contest effects and is unused in Heart Gold.

An example movedata entry is as follows:

movedata MOVE_KARATE_CHOP, "Karate Chop"
    battleeffect 43
    pss SPLIT_PHYSICAL
    basepower 50
    type TYPE_FIGHTING
    accuracy 100
    pp 25
    effectchance 0
    target MOVE_TARGET_SELECTED
    priority 0
    flags FLAG_KEEP_HP_BAR | FLAG_KINGS_ROCK | FLAG_MIRROR_MOVE | FLAG_PROTECT | FLAG_CONTACT
    appeal 0x05
    contesttype CONTEST_TOUGH
    terminatedata
    movedescription MOVE_KARATE_CHOP, "The foe is attacked\nwith a sharp chop.\nIt has a high\ncritical-hit ratio.\n"