Frequently Asked Questions

A. Pokémon

• A1. What are the starters and why?
• A2. How much of the dex is available?
• A3. Are there any Fakemon?
• A4. I have an idea for a Regional Variant or Mega Evolution!
• A5. How do I get x Pokémon?
  
• A6. Will you be implementing Pokémon from [most recent game]?

B. Mechanics

• B1. Type Matchup Changes
• B2. Move Changes
• B3. Pokémon Changes
• B4. How do I evolve trade evolutions?
• B5. My Pokémon stopped obeying me!
• B6. Challenge Modes?
• B7. New mechanics?
• B8. When do I get Mega Evolution?
• B9. Will there be online features?
• B10. What is a Deathmatch? / What are Circuit Trainers?
• B11. Can I revive a dead Pokémon?
• B12. What are Tree Holes?
• B13. What are Lone Eggs?
• B14. How do I get HMs?
• B15. What is the Umbreon/Espeon in my PokéBit?
  

C. Story and Sidequests

• C1. Is there any way to win against Zoltan's Haxorus/Zemith's Feraligatr?
  
• C2. How do I win against Zoltan in Ironis Black Market?
  
• C3. I can't figure out how to progress!
  
• C4. Where is Ophrys?
  
• C5. Where is Margot?
• C6. Where is the Ranger in A Short Bright Flash?
  
• C7. Where is the Ranger in The Sin Bin?
• C8. How do I get out of the cabin during the Landlady sidequest?
  

D. Common Issues

• D1. My Pokémon vanished after a Deathmatch!
  
• D2. I installed the fonts, but the game keeps telling me they aren't installed?
  
• D3. EVO says I'm not updated/not connected to the internet when I start the game.
  
• D4. Why did Pidgey do Super Effective damage on my Water-type?
  
• D5. Why can't I hit Ashley's Growlithe?!
  
• D6. The game is laggy.
  
• D7. I can't get the Mystery Gift!
  
• D8. Why isn't my Pokémon evolving?
  
• D9. My Pokémon went down in level upon evolving.
  
• D10. I entered a battle and ran into a glitch Pokémon...?
  
• D11. Using/picking up an item crashes the game!
  
• D12. An NPC called me or my rival by the wrong name or pronoun.
  
• D13. I got an error message (with or without a crash).
• D14. There are weird lines in some tiles like houses and trees.
  
• D15. You can softlock the game by following these very specific steps.

E. Contact and Support

• E1. What devices can I play on?
  
• E2. When's the next update?
  
• E3. I found a bug!
  
• E4. Can I help?
  
• E5. Can I use your assets?
  
• E6. Can I post this game on my website?
  
• E7. Can I be a Beta Tester?
  
• E8. Can I translate the game into another language?
• E9. Can you make the Graphics folder visible to the player? / Can you release an unencrypted version of the game?
• E10. How should I contact Ragnarok Raven?
  
• E11. Why am I banned?!

F. Recording and Streaming

• F1. Is this game family-friendly?
  
• F2. Does this game use copyrighted music?
  
• F3. I'm a beta tester. Can I record the beta?
  
• F4. Do you have any tips for my playthrough?
  
• F5. Am I allowed to show EVO's passwords on-screen?

A1. What are the starters and why?

The starters are Eevee, Mienfoo, and Solosis.

Pokémon Sardonyx: Raised to Win is heavily based on a roleplay that that Keileon and Lord X-Giga-X ran which lasted from July 2012 to June 2014. During the course of the roleplay, three characters (Jordan, Mary, and a character since replaced by Rhodie) visited Professor Spruce's laboratory in order to receive their starters. Not knowing what Pokémon to offer the players, Keileon generated ten random unevolved Pokémon; the ones selected by each character are now the starter Pokémon for the game. A few of the other choices can be seen in the lab's back room as a nod to this.

A2. How much of the dex is available?

Our goal is to have all official Pokémon up to the end of the current gen available through one method or another. Obviously, as the current build is an unfinished demo, not every single Pokémon is available currently; however, the player does have access to the National Pokédex from the very start of the game, and there are so many methods of obtaining Pokémon that it shouldn't prove to be an issue fitting all 900+ into the game by the end.

A3. Are there any Fakemon?

This really depends on one's definition of Fakemon. While officially no, we don't have any Fakemon in the game, we do have over 90 Regional Variants, over 60 Mega Evolutions, and several new forms that don't fit into either category. Our definition of Fakemon is a non-official Pokémon with its own dex number; we have none of these.

A4. I have an idea for a Regional Variant or Mega Evolution!

We don't take suggestions or requests for either of these, outside of very specific instances where we may ask the Discord server for ideas to fill a niche we're missing. This can be for several reasons: we have many unrevealed designs of both categories, the Pokémon may be too important to the story to change, there may already be a similar Pokémon which has gotten a variant, or it may be of a category we don't want variants of (such as legendary or starter Pokémon).

A5. Where do I get x Pokémon?

Try to find the Pokémon you want on our wiki, linked under Codexes on the header. If the Pokémon doesn't have a page there, chances are it's unavailable.

A6. Will you be implementing Pokémon from [most recent game]?

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: Yes, after a delay. We like to give the most recent games breathing room to avoid drawing attention to ourselves and interfering with Game Freak's latest major release. We also need to collect art assets and information on the introduced Pokémon, and there's always the matter of actually finding a place in the game for them to go.

B1. Type Matchup Changes

There are a number of alterations to the standard type chart. Click the image to the left for a full-sized version of the chart. New interactions are marked in cyan. To summarize: Normal Type is now Super Effective on and Resists Psychic and Fairy type. This was done to round out the type triangle of the starters, as well as to balance Fairy and Normal both a little better. Poison Type is now Super Effective on Water Type. This was done to power up Poison a little, nerf Azumarill, and provide some lore in Altaris's water being so clean that Water-Type Pokémon have fewer defenses against pollution. Ice now resists Ground, Grass, and Water. This was done for much-needed balancing. At this time we do not intend to make further alterations; however, any that are made will generally be done for balancing reasons centering around Regional Variant and Mega Evolution typings that bring new quirks to light.

B2. Move Changes

Several moves have had Base Power, PP, or Type changes. In most cases this is a buff. While not all of these changes will be listed here (you can find them on the wiki instead), the standouts most players will be interested in are:

• Cut is now Steel and has 60 Base Power.
• Strength is now Fighting.
• Hidden Power now has a flat Base Power of 80.
• Luster Purge and Mist Ball now both have 100 Base Power.

B3. Pokémon Changes

There are many changes to the stats, typing, learnsets, Abilities, and even Shiny colorations of several Pokémon. By and large, these will not be listed here, and aren't even complete on the wiki. However, standouts include:

• Nearly all Pokémon are being given secondary Hidden Abilities, as well as many gaining secondary normal or primary Hidden Abilities where they had none.
• All three of the starters have had stats tweaked to match canon starters, and both Mienfoo and Solosis have had their evolution levels decreased.
• Girafarig and Stantler are now counterparts, being Dark/Psychic and Normal/Psychic respectively, with matching stats and altered movesets.
• Despite it not making sense lorewise, Sinnohan Luxio and Luxray have been made Electric/Dark for balancing reasons.
• Celebi and Jirachi are now Grass/Fairy and Steel/Fairy respectively.
• Nidorina and Nidoqueen have been moved to the Monster and Field egg groups like the rest of their family.
• The entire Eevee and Rockruff families have had their level-up movesets reworked from the ground up.
• Ninetales now has an increased BST to match Arcanine.
• Absol has an increased BST because it's Keileon's favorite Pokémon.

B4. How do I evolve trade evolutions?

There are various held items that serve as catalysts for these evolutions. For Pokémon which require only trading, have them level up with Connecting Thread; for those that evolve while holding an item, simply level up with that item instead. Karrablast and Shelmet need to level up at the same time.

This also applies to Inkay; it needs to level up holding the Hourglass.

B5. My Pokémon stopped obeying me!

In order to try to prevent players from overleveling and breezing through the game or winning battles they're meant to lose and thus sequence breaking, we have implemented a system in which all Pokémon above a certain level threshold will disobey. This threshold is unaffected by badges and instead increases as the player progresses through the story. Pokémon above the threshold do not stop leveling up; we do not use the system of hard-capping the level until the story has progressed. This way, patient players are able to get that extra level or two for an evolution or move and decrease the level again with the Affogato item.

You can call Professor Spruce or ask EVO to check your current obedience threshold.

B6. Challenge Modes?

There is a Hard Mode for players who desire a greater challenge. This does various things such as making Deathmatches unescapable once triggered, increasing the levels of several important battles, preventing item use in trainer battles, forcing the player to use only as many Pokémon as the Gym Leader they are facing, and more. We discourage players from choosing this mode on a first playthrough.

There is a Randomizer Mode available. All this does is change most wild and trainer encounters, with rare exceptions. This may be removed in the future.

We will not be adding a Nuzlocke Mode. We actively discourage players from attempting a Nuzlocke in this game.

B7. New Mechanics?

Implementation of new mechanics that appear in the main series are largely on a case by case basis. We will not be adding Z-Moves, dual screens, Agile/Strong Style, or Wild Areas. Dynamax is already better covered by Mega Evolution. New shiny-hunting methods depend on relevance to our existing mechanics.

We have, however, implemented quality-of-life features introduced throughout the main series, such as nature mints, bottle caps, and changes to evolving Pokémon.

B8. When do I get Mega Evolution?

This is one of the mechanics slated for Demo 3.0.

B9. Will there be online features?

This requires us to have more knowledge of how RMXP connects to the internet, as well as having a server robust enough to handle multiple people connecting at once. Mystery Gift is already implemented, but online trading and battling may or may not be implemented at some point.

B10. What is a Deathmatch? / What are Circuit Trainers?

Deathmatches are the core mechanic of this game and are exactly what they sound like-- a 1v1 Pokémon battle to the death. It is a battle type that results from being challenged by a specific trainer class, the Circuit Trainer, named after the subculture of Deathmatches, commonly referred to as the "Circuit".

Players will be able to recognize Deathmatches by context, musical cues, and a prompt to select one Pokémon. Optional Deathmatches can be retreated from by selecting Cancel in this prompt, however most story-important battles and any battles on Hard Mode do not allow this option.

B11. Can I revive a dead Pokémon?

This is an eventual mechanic later in the game, but will most likely be a post-credits feature and thus may not come for a very long time.

B12. What are Tree Holes?

Tree Holes are large trees the player may encounter which have holes in the trunk. Every day, the player can interact with this hole for a chance to find an item or Pokémon. Many of these trees have Pokémon not found elsewhere in the region!

B13. What are Lone Eggs?

Lone Eggs are Pokémon eggs that spawn in out-of-the-way locations and contain a random Pokémon found in the area. Pokémon that hatch from Lone Eggs are guaranteed to have a Hidden Ability. These eggs respawn every week.

B14. How do I get HMs?

HMs as field moves are replaced by Key Items that are given to the player over the course of the game. HMs as learnable moves are given to the player by optional means, requiring exploration. Currently the only available HM is Cut.

B15. What is the Umbreon/Espeon in my PokéBit?

That's Educational Virtual Operator, or EVO! It's an AI in the PokéBit that appears as an Espeon during the day and Umbreon at night. EVO has a lot of options to help you on your journey, including tracking various stats, commenting on the area or recent story events, and having something more to say about your various quests than the Quest Log might.

C1. Is there any way to win against Zoltan's Haxorus/Zemith's Feraligatr?

No, not under normal circumstances. Any current method to directly win these two battles should be reported as a bug or oversight.

However, there are ways to avoid losing a Pokémon in either. The battle against Zoltan in Rubina is entirely optional, and Zoltan gives the player multiple chances to back out. You only need to talk to him, not to battle him. The battle against Zemith on Tempest Island is trickier, as the game doesn't directly tell you what to do. However, an NPC in Citrivale City gives a hint; the player can capture an Altaran Paras in Peridot Forest and use it in this battle. It will still be defeated and die, but as a special mechanic exclusive to this variant, the Paras will evolve and come back to life.

C2. How do I win against Zoltan in Ironis Black Market?

This battle is completely winnable without casualties. Jetstream himself is only level 30, even though his level is hidden from the player. Throughout the game, we give players many options:

• Sylveon (if the player chose Eevee), Mr. Mime, Mawile, Mimikyu, Altaran Gardevoir or Gallade, Altaran Furret, and Altaran Manectric are all available by this point and among the best Pokémon to use in this battle.
  • Altaran Sentret evolves with the Shiny Stone, which can be found behind Team Mortis in the Ironis Black Market after the cutscene and before battling Zoltan.
  • Altaran Ralts is the prize for the Landlady sidequest, and Altaran Kirlia evolves with a Dusk Stone, which can be found on Route 6 at night after the player gets the Pickaxe.
• The other two starters have proven useful. A properly-leveled Mienshao can two-shot Jetstream with Fake Out and another Normal move if lucky, and Duosion can learn Light Screen, which will halve the damage of all of Jetstream's moves.
• If the player is lucky, Azumarill, Alolan Raticate, Altaran Noctowl, Altaran Parasect, or Altaran Pidgeotto may be able to KO Jetstream without being killed.

C3. I can't figure out how to progress!

When in doubt, check your Quest Log or EVO for hints on what you're meant to be doing. Generally, trying to leave the area you're in will progress the story in many situations. The current demo ends while waiting for the ferry to Lapizuli City in Ironis, and will not progress past this point.

C4. Where is Ophrys?

Ophrys cannot be found until you've defeated Kaden in Amaris. At this point, you can find him in the southeastern corner of the city, north of the overgrown lot, between two buildings. There is a Ralts to the right of his house.

C5. Where is Margot?

Margot used to be in Amaris City, but has since been moved to an area that will unlock in 3.0. She cannot be found in the current build.

C6. Where is the Ranger in A Short Bright Flash?

This ranger can be found on Citrivale Docks, near the entrance and next to a shed.

C7. Where is the Ranger in The Sin Bin?

This ranger is in an area that unlocks with 3.0 and cannot be found in the current build.

C8. How do I get out of the cabin during the Landlady sidequest?

Interact with your surroundings. There are two ways to progress the first phase of the quest. After reaching that stage, you will need to find one more item. There are two battles in the quest that you are allowed to lose and still progress, but your reward at the end will be better if you win both.

D1. My Pokémon vanished after a Deathmatch!

Make sure your game is fully patched; if it is, tell us the Deathmatch that triggered this and we'll look into it. In order to fix the problem, talk to EVO, select Settings, and select Restore Team. Any Pokémon in your party that were not in the party when the Deathmatch was triggered will be lost, so make sure to deposit them.

D2. I installed the fonts, but the game keeps telling me they aren't installed?

This is a known problem with Pokémon Essentials rather than the game. The solution is to select Install For All Users when installing the fonts, even if your current session is the only user. This overwrites some data that simply selecting Install does not, and should fix the problem.

D3. EVO says I'm not updated/not connected to the internet when I start the game.

Obviously, make sure you have patched your game and/or are stably connected to the internet first. If the issue persists, contact us and we'll look into it and help you further depending on the cause of the problem.

D4. Why did Pidgey do Super Effective damage on my Water-type?

Altaran Pidgey has a signature ability called Piscivore, which allows Flying-type moves to do Super Effective damage on Water-type Pokémon.

D5. Why can't I hit Ashley's Growlithe?!

Altaran Growlithe has a signature ability called Oilslick, which allows it to dodge Physical moves 50% of the time. In addition, it is holding Brightpowder.

D6. The game is laggy.

We know. We're working on it.

Some users have had luck changing the core processing of the game via Task Manager. To follow this method, open Task Manager while the game is open, click into the Details tab, and find game.exe. From here, right-click the process, click Set Affinity, and select only one core. The game should run more smoothly after this is done.

D7. I can't get the Mystery Gift!

To begin with, make sure there is an active Mystery Gift in the first place. Changing your computer's clock to match a previous gift will not work; the game connects to our server to determine what the gift is, if any. This also means you need a stable internet connection to receive it.

For specific Pokémon:

• Groray is only available in April.
• Altaran Charmander and Altaran Aron were one-time gifts to celebrate the release of Demo 2.0 and the registration of this domain, respectively. The gifts will not be returning, but both Pokémon will be available to catch in the wild in Demo 3.0.

D8. Why isn't my Pokémon evolving?

Its evolution requirements may have changed, especially if it's a Regional Variant. Check the wiki.

Please note that Friendship evolutions are locked until the story in Rubina City has been completed.

D9. My Pokémon went down in level upon evolving.

This is a common bug that occurs when a Pokémon ends up in a different Experience group than its evolved form. Let us know which Pokémon it is and we'll fix it.

D10. I entered a battle and ran into a glitch Pokémon...?

You've somehow triggered our anti-cheat. The obvious answer is to stop trying to cheat, but this can appear sometimes as the result of a bug. If you're positive you haven't been cheating (even accidentally, through a version of the game downloaded from unofficial sources) let us know and we'll help you figure out what's wrong.

D11. Using/picking up an item crashes the game!

Let us know what or where the item was and we'll look into it. Make sure you've fully patched.

D12. An NPC called me or my rival by the wrong name or pronoun.

This has to do with how the game handles dialogue checks for player gender, and is generally usually an oversight or error on our part. Screenshot the dialogue and we'll fix it.

D13. I got an error message (with or without a crash).

Screenshot the error message and send it to us, along with basic information like where you were and what you did to trigger the error.

D14. There are weird lines in some tiles like houses and trees.

This is a known issue with RPG Maker XP games which are compiled, and should only appear on certain window sizes. The lines separate tiles which are on separate layers, such as the top of a tree or the roof of a building. It's a purely visual glitch that does not affect gameplay.

D15. You can softlock the game by following these very specific steps.

Yes, we like Pikasprey too.

In general, softlocks caused by a player doing something in an unintended way that they could not do by accident will not be fixed. You make your bed, you lie in it. However, if the softlock is easy to trigger by accident, then let us know and we'll look into it.

E1. What devices can I play on?

We can only guarantee the game to be playable on a computer natively running a modern Windows OS. Machines running Windows emulators should theoretically be able to run the game without problems, but players have had issues playing like this. Though we know it is technically possible, we do not offer support for playing this game on mobile devices or any machine that is not capable of running Windows or a Windows emulator.

E2. When's the next update?

There is no scheduled release date. You will know when we do. Check our Download page for progress; we're working on it, even in periods of radio silence.

E3. I found a bug!

Come by the Discord or tag us on Twitter and report it!

We have a Known Bugs page on the wiki; before reporting it, make sure that your error isn't already listed there.

E4. Can I help?

We appreciate the offer, and are specifically looking for the following roles:

• Musician/composer
• Spriters
• Secondary coder
• Artist able to do human art. Priority given to anyone able to replicate Ken Sugimori's art style.

Contact Keileon or Lord X-Giga-X if interested. Because this is a fangame and cannot legally make any profit, monetary payment is not promised. Keileon does do art trades for any sort of assets provided and is willing to hash out any details on that front.

E5. Can I use your assets?

Many of our assets are borrowed either directly from people who have given us permission, or from resources that are free for anyone to use with credit. We do not presume to give usage permission for assets not made by us, but we can direct you to the creators so that you can contact them directly.

For assets we have created for ourselves, this is purely on a case by case basis and the answer will usually be no. Do feel free to ask anyway.

E6. Can I post this game on my website?

The short answer is yes, but only if we are properly credited and any download links direct back to this website. We do not give permission for you to host a download of the game yourself, as we cannot verify that the version you are hosting is virus-free, updated, and does not contain unauthorized changes to the code. Of note, people who host their own downloads tend to run the link via Adfly, which earns them profit for work that isn't theirs. Don't do that either.

E7. Can I be a Beta Tester?

We are not actively looking for new Beta Testers. However, if you want to keep an eye out for when we are, join our Discord. Any announcements about this will be posted there.

E8. Can I translate the game into another language?

We really do appreciate the thought, but as the game is currently unfinished and any translations are prone to becoming obsolete, we're going to say no to this for now. This answer will likely change when the game is complete, so stay tuned!

E9. Can you make the Graphics folder visible to the player? / Can you release an unencrypted version of the game?

No.

E10. How should I contact Ragnarok Raven?

We prefer direct contact via the Discord server. Please do not DM staff unless it's sensitive information or related to applying to be on the team; simply posting in the relevant channel on the server will suffice.

E11. Why am I banned?!

Discord bans are rare and doled out usually because someone was being a nuisance. If you were banned it's most likely for one of these reasons:

• You came across as an obvious troll, especially if you joined and immediately started trolling the Politics or Other Fangames channel. We've dealt with raids in both of these channels before because some rando in the server didn't like what was being discussed, so bans in this regard are often swift and without question. Please note we don't ban over opinions, we ban over conduct.
• You had multiple warnings for conduct and either showed no signs of improving or left after being scolded. We try to at least hold a three-strike system for these kinds of warnings, but if you show that you'd rather storm off instead of improving yourself we don't want you here.
• You started spamming out of nowhere and we banned to either stem the flow of messages or, in the case of scams, protect the users in the server. We understand that accounts might be hacked and that this wasn't, in fact, you. You can contact us on Twitter if this applies to you.
• We typically don't ban for out-of-server behavior, but in the very rare case we do, it was something egregious. Bans for this reason are usually preemptive, to protect server members.

F1. Is this game family-friendly?

The game is not inherently family-friendly, and contains swearing, social commentary, and violent themes. We consider this game to be PG-16. Please note that despite this being a Pokémon fangame, we do not hold to Nintendo's standards of allowing all ages to play the game.

You are able to toggle a PG Mode upon starting the game, which will replace the swearing and greatly tone down the social commentary, but will not omit it. If you have a large, vocal audience, we highly recommend that you turn this mode on if for no other reason than to stave off the comment sections that disagree with our commentary.

However, even with PG Mode on, you will find that the game is centered on themes not suitable for children. If you are concerned about children being exposed to implied violence, on-screen death, blackmail, and worse, your best bet is to play this game on your own time rather than recording it.

F2. Does this game use copyrighted music?

We make it a point to only use official Pokémon music, Pokémon remixes we have either obtained explicit permission for or are free to use, and royalty-free music. Of these, yes, the official Pokémon music is copyrighted, but we try to avoid music that frequently gets claimed. If you receive a claim on a specific track, let us know and the music will be replaced.

F3. I'm a beta tester. Can I record the beta?

You are free to record the beta that we have provided testers. Please note clearly somewhere in the title or video that you are not playing a public release.

F4. Do you have any tips for my playthrough?

Yes, several:

• Don't rush through the game for the sake of getting to new content more quickly. This game is fairly long, and rewards patience. You're probably more likely to frustrate your viewers, especially those who have played before, by skipping optional content.
• Play on PG Mode if you have a vocal and varied audience, not so much if you simply have a young audience. A lot of the commentary in the game can and will start arguments in your comment sections.
• Don't try to Nuzlocke the game. It won't end well.
• If you need graphics, such as for thumbnails or putting your team on the overlay, look at our wiki; it has nearly everything you'll need.
• There are several important battles which you are allowed to lose, and/or that have a special cutscene if you do. We don't mind save-scumming to win these, but we do like it when people at least show what happens if you lose instead of resetting as soon as you realize you've lost.
• Feel absolutely free to reach out to us and tell us you're doing a playthrough! We love watching people play our game, and if you're on our Discord, we can give you a role that allows you to post your playthrough in our Sardonyx Videos channel.

F5. Am I allowed to show EVO's passwords on-screen?

We don't mind it. You're allowed to hide it if you want to, but showing it is fine as well.