[Question] (Pokemon Essentials) How do I change the player's name to a variable?

[Mr. SU]

Hi! I'm still very new to rpg maker xp and pokemon essentials but I've been picking up a few more things on coding events and I've been having trouble with one specific thing. There's a character that I want the player to be able to name in the intro that I want the player to be able to play as for a brief section. I know you store the names of npcs as variables however I'm not quite sure how you could call the variable in regards to changing the name of the protagonist with either $Trainer.Name (which I haven't been able to get working) or pbTrainerName("X") (I'm aware this script is destructive but it's right at the start of the game so I don't think it will be an issue).

Basically

How do I call a player-inputted text variable to change the protagonist's name to?

 

[Swdfm]

I presume you're using an older version of essentials, but this is still possible on there:
Instead of changing the name, it would help to have it change based on variables.
So, what we need to do is go into where the name is stored in the Trainer class
It is stored in class PokeBattle_Trainer in your version, or class Player < Trainer in more modern version of Essentials.
So, anywhere you wish, (either in a page past the trainer pages, and before Main, or in a Plugin), put:

YOUR_ALTERNATE_NAME = 69 # Not the actual name, but rather the variable number attached to the name

def pbIsAlternateCharacter?
  # Change this to match the conditions that make the player this other character
  return true
end


class PokeBattle_Trainer
  def name
    if self == $Trainer # Stops it from affecting all NPCs. You DON'T need this line in more modern essentialls versions
      return pbGet(YOUR_ALTERNATE_NAME) if pbIsAlternateCharacter?
    end
    return @name
  end
end

However, this doesn't solve everything. there may be other problems that crop up as a result of changing only the name of the trainer. Everything else will be the same (Trainer type, pokemon party money etc.) Another suggestion is to create an entirely new Trainer object and save the old player using something like this)

ORIGINAL_PLAYER = 420
def pbChangeToAlternateCharacter
  new_trainer = PokeBattle_Trainer.new(pbGet(YOUR_ALTERNATE_NAME), PBTrainers::TRAINER_TYPE)) # Ensure you change TRAINER_TYPE to the trainer type of your proposed alternative character
  # Saves the original trainer into a variable
  pbSet(ORIGINAL_PLAYER, $Trainer.clone)
  $Trainer = new_trainer 
end

To get the original trainer back:

def pbChangeFromAlternateCharacter
  new_trainer = $Trainer.clone
  $Trainer = pbGet(ORIGINAL_PLAYER)
  # If you don't wish to save the alternate character, remove this below line
  pbSet(ORIGINAL_PLAYER, new_trainer)
end

Hope this helps!
Swdfm