Randomizer Guide
Hello, world! This is a guide to the esteemed Twilight Princess Randomizer!
As TPR is still very early in development, a lot of things may change with every update. This guide will be maintained as much as possible to be current with releases. Note that this guide does not cover beta/alpha releases, it will only cover public releases.
For setup instructions, go here!
The current version is: v0.20b. The latest version can be downloaded from the official Github repo!
The console window
There is an interactive console that can be accessed via
+ File:ButtonIcon-GCN-Z.svg. The controls are as follows:
- Open/close console window: Error creating thumbnail: 'convert' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.+ File:ButtonIcon-GCN-Z.svg
- Start randomization: Error creating thumbnail: 'convert' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.+File:ButtonIcon-GCN-Start-Pause.svg
- Increase value by 1:
- Decrease value by 1:
- Increase value by 10: File:ButtonIcon-GCN-X.svg
- Decrease value by 10: File:ButtonIcon-GCN-Y.svg
Page 1 - Settings
Page 1 of the console has general console settings. The settings are:
- Color Change the RGBA color of the background of the console overlay. R=red, G=green, B=blue, A=alpha/transparency
- True pause Puts the game in a semi-paused state when the rando-console is active where all actors are frozen and none of the inputs are being sent to the game itself
- Input buffering Holding a button will fire that button every frame. No need for mashing (good for 1 cycle Bo wrestling and auto-rolls)
Page 2 - Seed
Page 2 of the console has custom seed data.
This page is useful for when you want to resume an ongoing seed after having closed the game. See the section "Resuming a seed" for info!
Has an option "Rando enabled" which enables/disables randomization. Changing this option does not affect your seed, it just gives you the vanilla items until you turn it back on. But doing this mid-seed will most likely causes issues!
Page 3 - Debug Info
Page 3 of the console contains item check debug (useful for reporting bugs)
Shows the active seed and checksum so you can share/resume the seed.
Function/Source/Dest
Technical stuff used by devs for debugging. Send them this info if you have an issue with getting a specific check!
Total Checks/Layer Checks
As it is right now, items are randomized into layers, or states. Each layer needs a specific item to access it.
Total Checks: The total number of checks in the game
Layer Checks: The total number of checks in your current accessible layer
See the section "How the randomization works" for more info on how the layers work!
Active Seed/Checksum
Seed-specific stuff that must be noted down if you intend to share/reload the seed!
Seed: The starting point for the randomization process. The checksum is determined from this. The seed and checksum work together to ensure that the set of randomization is unique.Checksum: The definite identification of the current active randomization, which derives from the seed and is identical between randomizer versions (unless the amount of checks changes between versions). This is the verification that the randomization set is unique.
See the section "Resuming a Seed" for more info!
Page 4 - Item Search
Page 4 of the console is the item search! Here you can search for an item via its hex value and it will show you the location of said item. Useful for debugging, or cheating.
See the section "Using the item & check search" for more info!
Page 5 - Check Search
Page 5 of the console is check search. Similar to Item Search, check out the "Using the item & check search" section for info!
Page 6 - Shuffled Checks
Page 6 of the console contains a list of settings that change what items are shuffled. Bugsanity
(if true) Golden bugs will give random items and the bugs will be added to the item pool.
(if false) Golden bugs will be vanilla. Does not affect Agitha rewards.
Poesanity
(if true) Poes will give random item when killed and poe souls will be added to the item pool.
(if false) Poes will give poe soul when killed. Does not affect Jovani rewards.
Shopsanity
(if true) Most shop items will be randomized. As this is an early version of Shopsanity, there are some caveats:
- Ammo refills are not randomized
- When you purchase an unlimited item, first purchase will be randomized, but subsequent purchases will give a green Rupee
- To purchase Bottled items (eg. milk, larvae, potion, etc.), you must have an empty bottle in your possession.
- Scoopable items (eg. Trill's shop) are not randomized at this time
(if false) Shop items will be vanilla.
Note: This is a very early version of Shopsanity, so it will be improved as time goes on.
Dungeon items
(if true) Dungeon items will be randomized within their respective dungeons. Semi-Keysanity coming soon!
(if false) Dungeon items will be in their vanilla locations.
Note: Currently only affects Big Key, Compass, Dungeon Map, and Ooccoo)
Key Shuffle (if true) Randomizes Small Keys (in dungeons and overworld). Small Keys will only shuffle within there respective areas as currently keys are added only to that areas key count. Obtaining a key in a location that normally has none will not add that key to the area where it should be used but rather the current area the key was found in.
(if false) All Small Keys will be vanilla.
Skybooksanity (if true) Randomizes each Skybook Character, so you can get a Skybook Character from anywhere, and it randomizes the vanilla check for them as well.
(if false) Skybook Characters will be vanilla.
Page 7 - Skips 1
Page 7 of the console has some quality of life settings and skips.
MDH skip: Skips the Midna's Desperate Hour segment of the game between beating Lakebed Temple and getting the Master Sword.
Faron escape: Removes the Midna trigger that normally prevents you from leaving Faron to Hyrule Field before completing Forest Temple.
Open HF gates: Opens the gates in Hyrule Field allowing for early Lanayru province.
Skip twilight: Skips the 3 twilights. They are auto-completed when you get vessel. You receive any missed portals as well as the Ending Blow hidden skill (as that is required to beat the game).
Skip goats: Skips the 1st and 2nd goat herdings!!!
Skip MS Puzzle: Skips the Master Sword statue puzzle, as the door to Master Sword is opened from start.
Skip Escort: Skips the wagon escort with Telma because who really likes doing that? :p
Skip Sewers: Skips the sewers (where you would meet Midna) and automatically gives you Midna and sense ability.
Also shows debug info such as current stage/room, Link's position, and more.
Page 8 - Skips 3
Page 8 of the console has a couple more quality of life skip options available.
Early CiTS: This option puts the sky cannon repaired in Lake Hylia so you can access the City in the Sky as soon as you have Clawshots and clear Lanayru twilight.
Early Desert: Allows entering Gerudo Desert without having obtained Auru's Memo. If you talk to Fyer after clearing Lanayru twilight, you will have the oasis option without showing him the memo.
Boss Keysey: Allows entering dungeons' boss rooms without the need for the boss key.
No shop bottle: Allows you to buy shop bottled items (potions, bee larvae, etc.) without requiring an empty bottle. Useful in shopsanity.
Fast transform: Allows you to quick transform (like in HD!) once you have the Shadow Crystal. To do so with the crystal in possession press
Skip intro: Automatically skips the intro (fishing, buying Slingshot, goats 1/2), otherwise known as Ordon days 1 & 2. Starts you off in Link's house.
Midna ToD Skip: Allows you to instantly swap the time of day to early night time or morning time akin to the Sun's Song. Once you have the Shadow Crystal press File:ButtonIcon-GCN-Z.svg choose to Talk to Midna and wait till she is done speaking then press
+ File:ButtonIcon-GCN-Y.svg to activate the effect as well as reload the current map.
Early ToT: Having this option on opens the Temple of Time without needing the Master Sword and additionally adds the Sacred Grove portal for easy access to the area. The shortcut block after the skull kid section is also pushed down to skip needing to cross through the forest to enter the dungeon.
Early PoT: Having this option on opens the Palace of Twilight without needing to repair the Mirror of Twilight and also adds the chambers warp portal.
Open HC: Having this option on removes the barrier on Hyrule Castle that appears after Midna's Desperate Hour allowing access to the dungeon though this sequence will still need to be completed or skipped to remove the guards.
Page 9 - Skips 3/ Event Info
Page 9 contains more skip options and some debug information.
GM Story Flag: Having this option on gives you the dungeon clear flag for Goron Mines which have the following effects:
- Friendly Gorons reside in Kakariko Village and Death Mountain.
- A poe will appear in Death Mountain.
- Bulblins disappear in Death Mountain.
- Talo sets up an archery game at the Kakariko Village watch tower.
- Barnes will start selling bombs.
- A goron child sets up a shop at night in Kakariko Village.
- Malo Mart will start selling Arrows additionally if Talo's archery is started the Hawkeye will appear in stock.
Start w/ Crystal: This option gives you the Shadow Crystal at the start of the game enabling the ability to transform and warp immediately after meeting Midna for the first time.
Hidden Skills: This option adds the Hidden Skills to the item pool (these are currently represented by large black chests that appear after you howl with the golden wolf).
No Desert Requirements (No Logic build): This option removes the developer softlock prevention attached to entering Gerudo Desert without the ability to warp.
All Portals (No Logic build): This options automatically unlocks every portal except Upper Zora's River (this portal triggers an event sequence with Iza warping the player to ask for help with a boulder).
Story Items (No Logic build): This options adds the trade sequence items (ie Auru's Memo) that start appearing during the mirror shard portion of the game.
Page 10 - Cosmetic
Page 10 includes a couple extra add ons to customize certain aspects of the game.
Lantern Lighting: Seen in window as LTN IN LTN OUT these two values allow the user to edit the lighting color seen when holding the Lantern item.
Page 11 - BGM
Page 11 contains options for randomizing the game's BGM (Background Music).
BGM Rando: This option shuffles around all the games music tracks and properly plays them in stereo sound on all maps.
No Enemy BGM?: This option toggles enemy encounter music to play or not though it does not affect special encounters that use specific tracks.
Item Fanfares: This option shuffles the sounds that play when you receive an item.
Page 12 SK Tracker
Page 12 features a live tracker for small keys that updates as you obtain them (No Logic build).
Custom chests
There are 37 custom chests added in current release, that replace now skipped items.
You can find them in the List of Randomizer Checks
Resuming a seed
Currently, the randomizer requires a little setup to pick up where you left off in a seed. If you play on the Dolphin emulator, you can make a save state and skip this process, as save states remember your seed data. Otherwise, read on!
Page 2 of the console has custom seed settings. Go there and put in your seed data.
Example: Let's say page 3 says your active seed is 76ab5bee1a56fdce. When you want to resume that seed, your custom seed data should look like this:
Seed 1: 76
Seed 2: ab
Seed 3: 5b
Seed 4: ee
Seed 5: 1a
Seed 6: 56
Seed 7: fd
Seed 8: ce
You must also have the same settings. Press
+File:ButtonIcon-GCN-Start-Pause.svg to load the seed. Then verify that the checksum on page 3 is the same (in the example, it was 82e6).
Using the item & check search
Page 4 of the console has the Item Search tool. This is somewhat technical, but you need the item list and the stage list. You go to the item list page, do CTRL+F (or OS equivalent) and search for item you're looking for (eg. `Ordon Sword`). It will take you to the part of the sheet that has that item. You want to look at the far left column, the Hex column. The number you want is after the 0x. So in the case of Ordon Sword, that's `28. Take that number and plug it into the `Search ID` value in the console. It will return a result of the stage name (eg. `F_SP108`). With the stage name, go to the stage list and search for that stage name. In the case of `F_SP108`, it will return Faron Woods. Furthermore, if you add -> + room number, it will give you the room within that stage. In an example seed, Ordon Sword was in Room: 4. So search the stage list for `F_SP108`->`04` and that says Ordon Sword is in the Faron Woods Coro area (presumably either Lantern check or his bottle). At this time, Item Search does not support showing which exact check the item is at, just narrows it down to stage and room. The `ID` it shows before the stage is the vanilla item.
How the randomization works
As it is right now, items are randomized into layers. Each layer requires 1 item to access that layer (eg. Stallord layer requires Spinner). This means you are guaranteed Spinner before required to do Stallord. The same logic applies to all items. It ensures you'll have the item required to access the next layer before needing to do the next layer.
The layers are in this order:
| Layer | Everything before (and including) | Minimal item(s) to place in this layer |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Coro | Fishing Rod, Lantern, Slingshot, Wooden Sword |
| 1 | Ook | Boomerang |
| 2 | Goron Mines | Iron Boots, Ordon Shield, Hylian Shield (Malo) |
| 3 | Dangoro | Hero's Bow |
| 4 | Lanayru Spirit | Bombs |
| 5 | Enter Lakebed | Zora Armor, Water Bombs |
| 6 | Deku Toad | Clawshot |
| 7 | Master Sword | Master Sword, Shadow Crystal, Ordon Sword |
| 8 | Desert | Auru's Memo |
| 9 | Death Sword | Spinner |
| 10 | Snowpeak | Coral Earring, Ashei's Sketch |
| 11 | Darkhammer | Ball & Chain |
| 12 | Darknut | Dominion Rod, Hawkeye |
| 13 | Sky Cannon | Full Sky Book |
| 14 | Arealfos | Double Clawshots |
| 15 | Palace of Twilight (2 Sols) | Light Sword |
| FF | Everything | Everything else (including Agitha's bug rewards) |
Each item check has two attributes to them: a `Source Layer` and a `Destination Layer`. A Source Layer asks at what layer can I place items here? And the Destination Layer asks at what layer can I place the item that was here?
Note: A different randomization system for 1.0 is in the works that is better than the layers.
Some items are not randomized currently. The following items will always be vanilla:
- Fishing Rod
- Horse Call
- Scoopable items (eg. Trill's shop, SPR Pumpkin Soup, etc).
No Logic
This seperate build of the randomizer changes all of the shuffled items to appear absolutely anywhere with no concern whether or not the game is completable. Some extra features were added to this build in an attempt to make completion more doable in addition to a completely brand new one; Full Keysanity which allows the small keys to appear anywhere in the world.
Known issues/softlocks
As the randomizer is still just a wee baby right now, you have to expect some issues in its current state. This is a list of known issues.
- With a certain combination of skips on its possible to enter the Prince Ralis escort sequence in wolf form and it will not be possible to complete the sequence without resetting/powering off the game.
For the most part, it's safest to get every check in every location before doing a major event (such as beating a dungeon). That will keep you safe from most current and future issues.
FAQ
Q: Are there any trackers for this randomizer?
A: Yes. There are 2 trackers in fact! Lunar Soap's tracker has a map and is more frequently updated, while Taka's tracker is good if you just care about marking off the items. Note that the trackers are not updated as frequently as the randomizer is, so they may lack some features.
Q: Are glitches required?
A: No.
Q: I can't find the 3rd mist chest. I swear I looked everywhere!
A: It gets us all... until we see the image to the right ->
Q: Is Master Sword in the item pool/randomized?
A: Yes, and so is the Shadow Crystal (the item getting Master Sword gives you in vanilla that allows transforming/warping). Both Master Sword and Crystal are separate items, and are therefore randomized separately as well.
Q: Why is this randomizer so annoying to set up?!? I'm mad!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!
A: Calm your tits. It's very early stages of the randomizer, so a lot is still influx at the moment. If you want to play randomizer, you gotta do the setup. Otherwise, you're free to wait awhile for a better way to be made.
Q: Why is this not more like x randomizer??
A: Twilight Princess is a different beast. Every game has their quirks and TP is no exception. It's also much less developed than many other randomizers in its current state (got its start in mid 2019)
Q: Can I use a premade savefile that's after goats/fishing because I really hate the beginning stuff?
A: Yes, but be sure you didn't use any randomized checks yet. And you have to enable randomization with R+Start inside the console to start it! The ideal spot to be is save after the cat steals your fish. When you load up that file, you can go straight into the shop and get 2 checks in the first 10 seconds.
Q: Does disabling the `rando enabled?` option and getting a few vanilla checks, then turning it back on, have a chance to break anything?
A: It could, depending on what those randomized checks were. Let's say you turned off rando, talked to Coro and he gave you Lantern (vanilla). Turn it back on and you won't get that check. But what if that check was Ball & Chain for example? You'd lose out on Ball & Chain forever.
Q: Can I read?
A: If you've made it this far, the odds are in your favor!
I can't find an item! Help!!!!!
If you can't find an item, the first step is to use Item Search (see section `Using the Item Search` for info!). If you verified that you checked all locations in that area (or if for some reason, search doesn't work as it should), it could very well be a bug. Here's what you can do to help diagnose it:
In page 3 of the console, look at the `Function`, `Source`, and `Dest` values.
- If Function, Source, and Dest did not change for this item, that means it wasn't randomized due to devs not knowing the trigger that gets called for that item
- If Source does not contain some -> and the Dest line says no replacement found for this source, it means the item check wasn't found, which could mean:
- The item check is absent from the code, or
- It could be in the code, but with incorrect data
- If Source looks something like F_SP08->5->7 and the Dest says No replacement here, it means the item check was found and already collected, which could mean:
- The trigger for getting the item might have been fired more than once
- There could be a problem with the logic
- If source and dest look like F_SP08->5->7, then the item check was randomized properly, so the item should be in the world
If you can't find the item and any of the above happen, make sure you're on the latest version of the randomizer. Check at the top-right of the console window to see something like v0.14a © AECX. That number after the v is the version number. Check out the Official GitHub to download the latest release!
You can also join the Discord server for TP Randomizer here!
Miscellaneous
If you're playing the randomizer on the Dolphin emulator, you may find this guide useful. It has tips on lag reduction, how to use the recommended GCI folder and more.