Proto:Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness/paladin.7z Leaks/Debug ROMs

This page or section details content from the September 2020 Nintendo Leak. Check the September 2020 Nintendo Leak category for more pages also sourced from this material.

This is a sub-page of Proto:Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness/paladin.7z Leaks.

4 of the 6 ROMs of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness found in the September 30, 2020 "paladin.7z" leak were affixed with "debug" in their filename:

pkd2_build157_toki_debug.srl

pkd2_build157_yami_debug.srl

pkd2_build163_toki_debug.srl

pkd2_build163_yami_debug.srl

As you would expect, these ROMs are versions of their respective build with all the debug features enabled. Many of the features here are either new or inaccessible in the retail games, but interestingly, there are many debugging features here that remain functional and accessible in the final games, their localizations, and even Explorers of Sky eventually.

Note that, while this ROM is in Japanese, most of the debug strings still exist in the localized versions of the games and were fully translated. This article uses the official translations whenever possible, but they may be inconsistent or not fully accurate. A note is added to most of these cases. Also, any unofficial translation is labeled accordingly.

Also note that, despite being different builds, the build157 and build163 debug ROMs appear to have functionally identical debugging features, so everything listed here applies to both versions.

General Notes/Differences

• These debug ROMs will boot to a white screen. Attempting to input anything other than a specific button combination will softlock the game. To get past this screen, follow these instructions: press and hold X, then Y, then L, then release Y, and finally press B. If the correct combination is inputted, it will boot normally. If you try to input the code too quickly after the game boots, it may not work; in this situation, you may be able to re-input the code to make it work. You also have to input this code whenever the game resets itself: for example, when exiting the Wi-Fi settings menu or deleting the save file.
• When the debug options in the Top Menu are highlighted, the bottom frame shows the ROM's build number and date. There is no build string present in the final game's files at all. Every time this menu is accessed, the cursor will automatically point to the Top Debug Menu option.
• The Debug functions are obviously enabled by default. Most of the debug-only lines are displayed in yellow, making it easier to differentiate the debug options from the normal options.
• When the game crashes, it will display an error message on the top screen. Here is an example of one:

!!!!! Assert !!!!!
file = 'ground_main.c' line =  1306
scenario  0 number check error 39[  0]-> 29[  1]

The first line will always say "!!!!! Assert !!!!!". The second line will display the offending file, with the exact line of the error. The third line will explain what went wrong.

• If you ever manage to load in-game without setting up a proper save file first (very easy to do), the game automatically provides you with a "default" file, with a level 1 male Charmander hero, a level 1 male Bulbasaur partner, and no items, money, recruits, or Rank Points. They have the default Team, Hero, and Partner names, which are "ポケモンズ", "いぬのすけ", and "ダネたろう" respectively in the Japanese version. If you're curious, this is also accessible in the final game, although it's much harder to get to.
• When the game is booted without a save file, the game allows you to skip the intro after the copyright screen fades, rather than forcing you to watch the entire intro cutscene.
• The game's speed is automatically set to Fast in the Options menu when a save file is created. (why did they change this?)
• Save files from the final Japanese Time/Darkness games will work here, and vice-versa.

Sub-Pages

These menus are so expansive that they need their own pages!

Top Debug Menus

Ground Debug Menu

Dungeon Debug Features

Script Debugger

Miscellaneous Debug Features

Sentry Duty Debugger

A very small menu appears when you enter Sentry Duty.

Japanese	Translation
デバッグ	Debug
ノーマル	Normal

Selecting "Normal" will just continue the game as normal. Debug opens another menu, with a total of 8 options. Each of these options will skip the Sentry Duty game and play the cutscene that corresponds to its rating, from Sad to Perfect. The ones with "N" prefixed to their names will play the same cutscenes, but act as if you got a new High Score. This will properly give you the corresponding rewards, but no score will be added to the scoreboard.

Japanese	Translation
しょんぼり	Sad
まあまあ	Decent
いいかも	Pretty Good
かんぺき	Perfect
Nしょんぼり	NSad
Nまあまあ	NDecent
Nいいかも	NPretty Good
Nかんぺき	NPerfect

Wonder Mail

A small change has been made to the Wonder Mail screen: if a particular reward or dungeon is kept secret on the mission's description, then the game will actually show the secret subject's name next to its listing, in yellow text.

Friend Rescues

Any Rescue Mail on these ROMs will also be shown with several lines of debug text.

Text	Function
FRI:	This appears on the very first line of the rescue, and can either be set to TRUE or FALSE. Not sure what this does, every mail I've seen has this set to "TRUE".
C:	This has a number next to it. This number is the amount of attempts you have to complete the rescue. This defaults to 10.
TYPE:	This can either say "SOS", "RESURRECTION", or "GRATITUDE". This shows whether the mail is an SOS, A-OK, or Thank You mail respectively. The ROM has more types in the files, but it's unsure whether they can be seen: "REQUEST", "UNPROCESS", "FINISH", and "SUCCESS".
RID:	This shows a hexadecimal number with 8 digits. This is most likely related to the Rescue ID, which was a number used by the Nintendo WFC Rescue Mail system that allowed you to find a specific mail within the database more easily. Mail that was obtained through a password or local communication have this field set to entirely zeros, supporting this idea.
BID:	Like above, this shows a hexadecimal number with 8 digits. Unsure, but based on the above, it may be an internal ID used to ensure that one does not receive the same mail twice. This does not reflect the RNG seed of the dungeon.

Oddities

Within the files of the game are these strings:

Japanese	Translation
デバッグ デバッグメニューを よびだします せいひんばんでは なくなります	Debug This is the Debug Mode. It won't be in the released version.

Japanese	Translation
イベントはいしん ワイヤレスつうしんを つかって イベントはいしんを おこないます	Event Upload Using wireless communication, you can upload events by Wonder Mail.

These are intended to be used as the descriptions for the Debug options in the Top Menu. However, these strings do not appear in the game; as mentioned above, when these options are highlighted, the bottom frame instead displays the build string.