The PBS file "encounters.txt" lists all the wild Pokémon encounters for each map. Each map has its own section, which begins with that map's ID number. The section is laid out in the following order:
Order | Information | Description |
---|---|---|
1 | Map ID number | The map's ID number. This can be found in the middle of RPG Maker XP's status bar (at the bottom) while the map is open for editing. |
2 | Encounter densities | This is a set of three comma-separated numbers, which sets the likelihood of an encounter while walking around in long grass, caves and when surfing respectively. This line is optional, and if it does not exist, the densities are set to "25,10,10". A higher number means a greater chance of an encounter with each step. |
3 | Encounter type | An encounter type followed by a list of Pokémon (each on a new line) that can be encountered this way. Possible encounter types are:
|
Pokémon to encounter | This is a list of the Pokémon associated with that encounter type. Each line in the list contains two or three comma-separated elements:
If the second level is defined, the two numbers define a range of levels that the species can be found at (inclusive). If that line is chosen for the wild encounter, then there is an equal chance of the wild Pokémon being any of those levels. The position of a species within the list determines the rarity of that species (higher up means more common). The list must contain a specific number of lines, depending on the encounter type. See the table below for the encounter probabilities and list lengths for each encounter type. |
There can be multiple encounter types and lists of Pokémon to encounter in a map's section. However, a map's section cannot have more than one of the same encounter type.
The "Cave" encounter type cannot be defined if one of "Land", "LandMorning", "LandDay", "LandNight" or "BugContest" is also defined.
Each encounter type must have a specific number of lines (entries). Each line in that list has a probability assigned to it, which states how likely it is for that line to be chosen to define an encounter. These probabilities are in relation to each other within the same encounter type, e.g. a line with a value of 20 is twice as likely to be chosen as a line with a value of 10.
The table below lists each encounter type, along with the number of lines and the probabilities of each line (in order) for each of those encounter types.
Encounter type | Number of entries | Probability of encounter |
---|---|---|
Land LandMorning LandDay LandNight Cave BugContest |
12 | 20, 20, 10, 10, 10, 10, 5, 5, 4, 4, 1, 1 |
Water RockSmash |
5 | 60, 30, 5, 4, 1 |
OldRod | 2 | 70, 30 |
GoodRod | 3 | 60, 20, 20 |
SuperRod | 5 | 40, 40, 15, 4, 1 |
HeadbuttLow HeadbuttHigh |
8 | 30, 25, 20, 10, 5, 5, 4, 1 |
These are the default values. The probabilities sum to 100 in each case, which means they can also be seen as percentages. They don't have to sum to 100, but the default ones do for convenience.
You can have the same species in several different lines in a defined encounter type. For example, putting Rattata in the first three lines of the "Land" encounter type means that there will be a 50% chance of encountering a Rattata: (20 + 20 + 10) / 100.
019 25,10,10 Land SENTRET,12,15 PIDGEY,12,15 RATTATA,12 RATTATA,12 RATTATA,13 RATTATA,13 RATTATA,14 RATTATA,14 RATTATA,15 RATTATA,15 RATTATA,16 RATTATA,17
This example sets the encounters for map number 019. The probability of an encounter in tall grass is 2.5 times higher than an encounter while surfing or walking in a cave (although the cave probability is ignored here because this map has Land encounters and therefore cannot have Cave encounters). There is one encounter type (Land), and the listed Pokémon (Sentret, Pidgey and Rattata) can be encountered at the given levels. The chances of encountering a Pokémon are as follows:
The chances of encountering a Pokémon at a given level are more complicated, as this chance includes not only the probability of choosing the line(s) naming that species, but also the probability of choosing a particular level in the ranges given. For example, there are four possible levels Sentret can have (12, 13, 14 or 15), and the 20% chance of choosing a Sentret for the encounter is divided evenly between each of these possible levels (i.e. 5% chance of encountering a level 12 Sentret).
These probabilities can easily become very complicated.
011 25,10,10 Land PIDGEY,16 PARAS,16 PARAS,16 RATTATA,17 RATTATA,18 PIDGEY,17 RATTATA,19 RATTATA,18 PIDGEY,19 RATTATA,18 PIDGEY,20 RATTATA,20 Water MAGIKARP,2 GOLDEEN,3 POLIWAG,3 FEEBAS,3 FEEBAS,3 OldRod MAGIKARP,2 GOLDEEN,3 GoodRod MAGIKARP,2 GOLDEEN,3 POLIWAG,3 SuperRod MAGIKARP,2 GOLDEEN,3 POLIWAG,3 FEEBAS,3 FEEBAS,3
This example shows how multiple encounter types are defined. The encounter types here are "Land", "Water", "OldRod", "GoodRod" and "SuperRod" (highlighted).