Set up a VS bar trainer transition

PSDK ships three trainer transitions built on the vs_bar graphics: the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum gym leader intro, the HeartGold/SoulSilver one, and the Team Rocket one. This guide explains how to trigger them and which images each one expects.

What a transition is

When a battle starts, the map does not cut straight to the battle screen. A short animation plays first: the screen flashes, an effect sweeps over it, and only then the battlers appear. That animation is the transition.

PSDK ships a dozen of them, reproducing the ones from the official games. Three of them are the "VS bar" family, the dramatic intros reserved for important opponents: a bar scrolls across the screen, a VS logo flashes, and the trainer's portrait slides in with their name. They are the ones that need extra images from you, because they show the opponent's face.

Choosing the transition

The transition is chosen by game variable 31, which PSDK also exposes under the name Yuki::Var::TrainerTransitionType. Whatever value that variable holds when the battle starts decides which animation plays.

In RPG Maker XP, open the event that starts the battle and add a Control Variables command before the command that launches it. Set variable 31 to the value of the transition you want:

• 3 for the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum gym leader transition
• 10 for the HeartGold/SoulSilver gym leader transition
• 11 for the Team Rocket transition

Set the variable back afterwards

Variable 31 keeps its value until something changes it, and the same variable also picks the transition for wild battles. Leave it on 3 and every wild encounter that follows plays a different animation than usual. Add a second Control Variables command after the battle to put it back to the value your project uses normally, 0 by default.

If you prefer to do it from a script, the line is:

$game_variables[Yuki::Var::TrainerTransitionType] = 3

The three transitions

Value	On screen	Images you must provide	Size
3	A blue-and-white bar scrolls behind a white VS, then the portrait slides in	bar_dpp_<battle sprite> and mugshot_<battle sprite>	576x60 and 96x60
10	Same choreography, faster bar, a red crossed VS that vibrates	bar_hgss_<battle sprite> and mugshot_<battle sprite>	576x65 and 96x60
11	The screenshot splits in two, searchlights sweep past, the portrait crosses the screen	mugshot_<battle sprite> only	96x60

All of these files go in graphics/battlebacks/vs_bar/.

The bars are 576 pixels wide for a 320-pixel screen because they scroll in a loop: the extra width is what keeps the pattern moving without a visible seam.

The VS logos and the Team Rocket backgrounds ship with PSDK and are shared by every trainer, so you never have to provide them. The Team Rocket transition takes its backgrounds from graphics/transitions/assets/team_rocket/ and only borrows the portrait from the vs_bar folder.

Naming your files

The end of each filename is the opponent's battle sprite, the image used for the trainer on the battle screen. Open the trainer in Pokémon Studio, go to the Resources tab, and read the name under Battle sprite. A trainer whose battle sprite is dp_13 needs:

• bar_dpp_dp_13.png for the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum transition
• bar_hgss_dp_13.png for the HeartGold/SoulSilver one
• mugshot_dp_13.png for the portrait, shared by all three

Two trainers sharing the same battle sprite therefore share the same VS bar and portrait, which is usually what you want for a recurring trainer class.

You can also drop a file named after the prefix alone, with no trainer name: bar_dpp.png, bar_hgss.png or mugshot.png. PSDK looks for the trainer-specific file first, and falls back to that one when it does not find it. It is the practical way to give every opponent a decent default without drawing one bar per trainer.

If neither exists, nothing crashes: the image is simply missing from the animation. Running the game in debug mode shows a Defaulting to file line in the console telling you which name PSDK ended up looking for. A blank bar or a missing portrait almost always means a typo in the filename.

Adding your own trainer

1. In Pokémon Studio, open the trainer, go to Resources and note the name under Battle sprite.
2. Draw the portrait on a 96x60 canvas and save it as mugshot_<battle sprite>.png.
3. If you use transition 3 or 10, draw the bar too, 576x60 for the first, 576x65 for the second, and save it as bar_dpp_<battle sprite>.png or bar_hgss_<battle sprite>.png.
4. Copy the files into graphics/battlebacks/vs_bar/ of your project.
5. In the event that starts the battle, set variable 31 to 3, 10 or 11 before launching the battle, and back to its usual value afterwards.
6. Start the game and trigger the battle.

In the two gym leader transitions the portrait starts out darkened and only lights up when the screen flashes, so a silhouette that reads well in black is worth more than fine detail.

What ships in the pack

The vs_bar folder comes with sample bars and portraits you can use as reference, or as a starting canvas. A few things in it are worth knowing before you build on top of it:

• bar_hgss_001 to bar_hgss_005 are 320x128, not the 576x65 the transition expects. They belong to a different set and will not scroll correctly. Use bar_hgss_006 and the ones after it as your reference.
• vs_green.png, vs_transparent.png and hgss_border.png are not used by PSDK at all. They are leftovers of the pack and you can ignore them.
• The graphics were collected by SirLinfey. Keep that credit in your game if you ship them as they are, and prefer your own artwork when you can.

Conclusion

• The transition is chosen by game variable 31: 3 for the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum gym leader intro, 10 for the HeartGold/SoulSilver one, 11 for Team Rocket.
• The same variable also drives wild battle transitions, so set it back to its usual value once the battle is over.
• Every file lives in graphics/battlebacks/vs_bar/ and ends with the opponent's Battle sprite name, read from the Resources tab in Pokémon Studio.
• Bars are 576x60 for the DPP transition and 576x65 for the HGSS one; portraits are 96x60 and shared by the three transitions.
• A file named after the prefix alone, such as mugshot.png, serves as a default for every trainer without one.
• To build a transition of your own instead of using the shipped ones, see Create a custom battle transition.