In-Depth APK Teardown 0.265.0

Damn you Niantic. You put out an update that we are excited about. This doesn't help us make jokes, so we'll need to come up with something else.

We don't know the full picture yet, we just have a few very exciting pieces, but something big is coming to raids and it's looking pretty awesome from what we have seen so far, so let's dive in.

New Forms

Bet you thought we were going to talk about the new raids first right? GOT'EM.

SPRING_2023
SPRING_2023_MYSTIC
SPRING_2023_VALOR
SPRING_2023_INSTINCT

Clearly for the new Spring event but they don't seem to line up with the flower crowns recently pushed. Assuming we'll be getting more pushed soonish

Shiny Jirachi Scene

Oh boy, we are really teasing you. You just want to read about raids. That stinks.

ShinyJirachiSceneLightSetup
ShinyJirachiEncounter
get_PlayShinyFx
shinyJirachiSceneIntro

We now know why there are so many time gates on the Masterwork research... Because they never finished the assets in time.

But just like other mythicals, it'll get a fancy catch screen.

Big Raid Update

Okay enough teasing, you've stayed on the site long enough for our ad dollars to roll in. Let's talk about raids!

New Shadow Raids. Hype!

+RAID_LEVEL_1_SHADOW
+RAID_LEVEL_2_SHADOW
+RAID_LEVEL_3_SHADOW
+RAID_LEVEL_4_SHADOW
+RAID_LEVEL_5_SHADOW

Additional XP for these raids, including remote XP (assumed to be less than in-person XP but at least remotable which is a good sign).

+ACTIVITY_RAID_LEVEL_1_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP
+ACTIVITY_RAID_LEVEL_2_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP
+ACTIVITY_RAID_LEVEL_3_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP
+ACTIVITY_RAID_LEVEL_4_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP
+ACTIVITY_RAID_LEVEL_5_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP
+ACTIVITY_REMOTE_RAID_LEVEL_1_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP
+ACTIVITY_REMOTE_RAID_LEVEL_2_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP
+ACTIVITY_REMOTE_RAID_LEVEL_3_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP
+ACTIVITY_REMOTE_RAID_LEVEL_4_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP
+ACTIVITY_REMOTE_RAID_LEVEL_5_SHADOW_ADDITIONAL_XP

A new ticket that is most probably for these Shadow Raids.

ITEM_S_RAID_TICKET

Remember way back in September when we reported on a new Raid Ticket that was purple? It's probably that if we were to guess - 249 Assets.

The first new Start Raid status result was added. After 5 long years, this is the status we've been waiting for!

ERROR_DATA

Helpful.

This goes along with other basic results like success, then a bunch of errors for why you couldn't start a raid.

There was also a horizontal group title layout added to the nearby tab for raids - raidTabTitleLayout.

Move Modifiers and Form Modifiers

Okay but here is where shit gets interesting. There is a new (somewhat unfinished from what we can tell) raid mechanic that looks to shake up raids and make them more interesting.

We reported on possible form changes coming to raids before, so we believe these new findings go with that, but now we have more details. Just like Mega Evolutions are wrapped in something called Temp Evos, a similar thing is going on here.

There is a Move Modifier, that changes how a move performs during battle, and what appears to trigger that move modifier can be a range of different things. That range is currently just form-changing today. But just like we predicted the Mega system would be used for Primals, if PoGo ever decides to bring Z-Moves or Gigamaxing to the game, this could build it into this system, just like Primals where built as Megas.

So what do these Move Modifiers look like? Well there is a Mode as mentioned, and right now the mode can only be nothing or

FORM_CHANGE

So pretty obvious on that front.

There is also a type, which the type can be either:

PERCENTAGE
FLAT_VALUE

So we would assume that would be something like the move becomes X% more powerful or it just becomes Y.

There is a value to go with these as well as you would assume.

Now this part is a little unclear, but there is a condition that goes with (we guess activating) the modifier. There can be several conditions per modifier, which look like this:

PVE_NPC
HP_PERCENT
INVOCATION_LIMIT
COOLDOWN_MS

So if we are reading this right, the obvious ones are conditions based on a cooldown (can only use it every X times), conditions based on usage (can only be used X times), when you (or the boss?) is at a certain HP percent, or... PvE NPC? That's exciting and we really don't know much about how that mechanic can work. But we would assume there would be some NPC that would be required to activate the condition? Whooooo knows.

The condition also has a value, as expected, but also a deviation value which is very interesting. Suggests that you don't need to hit these conditions bang on, so there is probably some level of RNG to when these conditions can be met to activate the move modification.

Form Rendering

As mentioned, the form change is the method used to trigger the modifier at the moment. Well, maybe we are wrong on the triggering part, but they are related at least.

The Form Render Modifier as it's called, also as a type (well it can be many types at once), which can be:

SUPPRESS_SELF
SUPPRESS_OPPONENT
DISPLAY_CHANGE

This combined with the possible effect targets:

DEFENDER
ATTACKER
ALL_PLAYERS

Suggest that these mechanics can be used in a wide range of different situations, and really does suggest a more dynamic raid experience with different combinations of form changing.

This form modifier is linked to a specific Pokemon (assuming the one that triggered the form change), and it knows the Pokedex family, the form, and if the Pokemon is Shadow or Purified. So this is the part where we start to link it back to these shadow raids, but to be honest we don't have a lot of hard evidence other than this to actually confirm that link.

And finally for these form renders, there is a transition effect and a trigger time.

Battle Items

But wait! There's more. Added to the main battle action section of the code, inventory items were added. Specifically the ability to have several items in one action. We'll have to see how this is used.

Two new battle action types were added (to the existing list like quick attack, dodge, charge move, etc):

USE_ITEM
DISPLAY_CHANGE

This may suggest items are not related to the form/move changing as they have separate actions. Could simply be a way to heal during a battle?

And speaking of actions, a new 'Notable Actions History' was added to the battle info as well. This specifically tracks when the action happened, the Pokemon's data, and the Move Modifier. So it's tracking when you did one of these changes.

XL Rewards

Holy batman there is more. Raids can now reward specific XL Candy for specific Pokemon. This is outside the normal loot table though, which implies it will play a larger role or at least be more focused on than regular loot items.

Oh not related, but while we are talking about XL Candy, the Journal will now show you your buddy's XL reward.

PvP Gets Move Modifiers Too!

And people say Niantic doesn't care about PvP anymore (I mean do you blame them, imagine playing GBL). But they did throw the PvP folk a bone because this new move modifier mechanic was also added to the PvP move settings as well. There is for sure more of a focus on PvE here, but PvP also gets these features (or at least, PvP would support these features).

Game Master Support

These new mechanics should be added to the Game Master, so we hopefully will be able to see them and report on them, so the fine folks at PokeBattler and PvPoke can update their sites when these features drop. Obfuscation will of course make this a pain in the ass. But. What else is new?

Photo Safari

Well, we thought Photo Safari was going to be used For Gimmi. We were clearly wrong on that. Damn TPC making us fake news again (but no legit, we got that wrong, we'll own up to it).

But that means whatever this is, it's still coming and this APK received more updates such as:

RevealPokemon
PhotoSafariLightManager
overrideSunOrientation
northDirection
sunHeightMultiplier
overrideShadowSettings
shadowState
shadowQuality
shadowCascades
shadowDistance
meshTransform
timeOfDayService
astronomyService
locationProvider
sunLight
previousSunOrientation
previousShadowState
previousShadowQuality
previousShadowCascades
previousShadowDistance

photoSafariCelebrationController
showCelebrationDelay
pokemonFootprintsVfx

Reveal
.get_PokemonModelComponent
.get_VisibleDistanceMeters
.get_PokemonBounds
.get_HasFootprints

Photo Safari knows about the sunlight, the time of day, and how it affects shadows, and there is even a little celebration. This actually might turn out to be a pretty nifty feature.

These are the tasks that go with the feature, we found references of before.

SetPokemonTaskComplete
RevealHiddenTasks

ROUTES

CreateNewRoute
createRouteButton

Holy moly they haven't forgotten. They added a button, folks! We might even see this feature go live before NBA All-World shuts down later this year!

Guest Accounts

Just a few small updates this time for this feature.

GuestNameEditButton
GuestSignUpButton
SignUpButton

Image Sharing

This feature is so lame it's barely worth a mention, but when you level up a buddy, friend (including lucky) or get a gym badge, you can now have the game auto screenshot and crop the image for you to share with other people.

IMAGE_SHARE
SaveBuddyLevelUpImage
ShareBuddyLevelUpImage
SaveFriendshipLevelUpImage
ShareFriendshipLevelUpImage
SaveBadgeAwardImage
ShareBadgeAwardImage
ShareLuckyFriendImage
SaveLuckyFriendImage

Squash

This was added as a feature flag to the Game Master (along with a number, probably the count), as well as added to your inventory as Squash Count. Literally no clue what this is, but if it's the food, that's gross. Imagine eating your vegetables.

Neutral Avatar Settings

Speaking of things we don't know what they are about, this was also added as a feature flag, and got a Unity asset container to go with it. Also some generic customization states.

NeutralAvatarCustomizationState
NeutralAvatarCustomizationGuiController
NeutralAvatarDeformationSliderWidget
OnDeformationSliderChanged

There is a deformation slider though, so that could be interesting.

Adventure Sync Debug UI

Pretty sure this is just for debugging based on the namespace, but a new Adventure Sync UI was added. It has a map panel that gets populated with events and geofences which is kinda interesting.

DispatchPopulateDebugUIPanelWithGeofences
DispatchUpdateEventRecords
DispatchUpdateGeofences
PopulateListWithEvents
PopulateListWithGeofences

regionRadiusValue
regionEnteredValue
visitLatLongValue
arrivalTimeValue
earliestStartTimeValue
latestEndTimeValue

FAKE_EVENT_DATA
FAKE_GEOFENCE_CLUSTER
FAKE_GEOFENCE_ENCLOSURE

Misc

• Coin bag received some new sparkly FX when you use it
• Map Pokemon can now have a RippleFxSetting effect on them. Maybe they will make splashes on the ground when it rains?
• Updates to updating the last fitness update sample timestamp
• Niantic removed EnableHttp3Network. Guess they weren't ready for the future yet.
• Telemetry added for the new map grid menu
• Some new obfuscated request reward thing was added to the Game Master... Unno what its for

Annnnnnd that's it. Look at that. All done. Good job, you get a gold star for reading to the end. Please contact your local Niantic Ambassador Program representative and tell them Marty sent you to collect your official PokeMiners gold star. They'll know what it means.