Pokemon Games(and al DS and Wii games) are getting the WiFi services down

[Pipian]

Did you read Pipian's post? The information he's compiling is enough to allow anyone to trade freely without the need for any of the services that are about to be shut down.

Well, there's the caveat that you'll have to use a hacked ROM to do so because of the SSL-secured server that plays a role in the authentication process (no retail carts will work unless someone finds an exploit in the games themselves, which I find doubtful), but the goal is to have something which works reasonably well for that purpose, even if it's not documented well enough to allow other clients to exist.

[Honeyichigo]

Well, it's nice to hear this is being attempted, at least.

Question: A couple of people have said this could work with retail carts with the help of an Action Replay code to do what the ROM-hacking would accomplish. Is that likely to be true? Because buying an AR to continue using Pokecheck or what have you wouldn't be too bad, probably.

[Poryhack]

Well, it's nice to hear this is being attempted, at least.

Question: A couple of people have said this could work with retail carts with the help of an Action Replay code to do what the ROM-hacking would accomplish. Is that likely to be true? Because buying an AR to continue using Pokecheck or what have you wouldn't be too bad, probably.

Don't waste your money. If you're gonna buy anything buy a flashcart. They're cheaper than ARs and way more useful.

[Honeyichigo]

Don't waste your money. If you're gonna buy anything buy a flashcart. They're cheaper than ARs and way more useful.

Okay, thanks for the advice.

[mtbelley]

Don't waste your money. If you're gonna buy anything buy a flashcart. They're cheaper than ARs and way more useful.

The other option is to get hold of the NDS Adapter plus, it works with retail games and you can edit you save file with PokeGen. I have one and have been using it for ever.

[MetalMario]

I'm really interested in figuring out whatever we can do to save online play. For the past two and a half weeks, I've been working on a full replacement for the GTS based on Project Pokémon's documentation and a lot of my own Wiresharking to fill in the blanks. Right now I have it working for Generation IV running off my laptop and have conducted a trade with it.

https://github.com/mm201/pkmnFoundations/tree/master/gts

NAS going down will of course stop it from working. :frown:

I'm really optimistic we can find an SSL exploit. The GameSpy HTTP client they're using is already many years old. I'm just rather dumb stupid when it comes to disassembly. I'd rather stick to developing replacement servers but I'd be glad to lend a hand in any way.

One of the other things I had been researching is Platinum's "upload a box" function. (It would be very cool to be able to Pokécheck 30 Pokémon at a time!) The data seems to be encoded with a rather crappy RNG with a period of 256 bytes. Cracking it (or hard coding the entire pad) wouldn't be difficult but I stopped when it became apparent that it wasn't sending entire pkm data anyway. It was only sending barely enough to display the teasers they show you.

[Poryhack]

NAS going down will of course stop it from working. :frown:

Have you seen Pipians work from earlier in this thread? He's got some very promising things going on that front.

[MetalMario]

AFAIK his work still requires a ROM hack to strip the SSL. I'd love to hear from him anyhow.

[Poryhack]

AFAIK his work still requires a ROM hack to strip the SSL. I'd love to hear from him anyhow.

That's correct. Good news nonetheless.

[GycioS]

but if you change the NDS for things like the GTS doesn't that mean that it'll come from that other server?

[Kaphotics]

but if you change the NDS for things like the GTS doesn't that mean that it'll come from that other server?

No, every connection passes through the Authentication Server before the DNS redirection kicks in.

When the Auth server goes down, everything else will -- including GTS spoofing.

[MetalMario]

but if you change the NDS for things like the GTS doesn't that mean that it'll come from that other server?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X.509

In short, the DS can tell whether a server it visits is the official one or an impostor. (Impersonating the server perfectly would require a secret number kept in the basement of Nintendo HQ guarded by Magikoopas or something.)

The reason we can fake the GTS is because Game Freak opted not to use those protections (SSL) for the GTS. But since they're still used for the login stage of connecting to the GTS, all fake GTSes will become inaccessible once Nintendo Wifi shuts down.

One option is to get a flashcard and hack the ROM to turn off SSL. Pipian is working on a custom server which can be used in this way.

The other is to defeat the DS's security on the serverside. This is hard but something I'm interested in.

[MetalMario]

Update: GenV support added, and it's live for testing. It's such a beta I make no promises it will do anything sane with your pokemon.

http://foundations-gts.cloudapp.net/

[Poryhack]

Update: GenV support added, and it's live for testing. It's such a beta I make no promises it will do anything sane with your pokemon.

http://foundations-gts.cloudapp.net/

Haven't tested it, but congrats on the progress. I'm sure you'll get lots of attention after the shutdown!

[Killov]

I apologize in advance if this sounds really obvious (or stupid), but will we still be able to trade between two games if we have two devices? :grog:

[Poryhack]

I apologize in advance if this sounds really obvious (or stupid), but will we still be able to trade between two games if we have two devices? :grog:

Local trades will work fine. Trades over the internet won't work without some kind of hack.

[Killov]

Local trades will work fine. Trades over the internet won't work without some kind of hack.

Thank you! Would trading between DSi and 2DS work?

This move to shut down WiFi trading is probably to promote the PokeBank thing, right?

[MetalMario]

Anything that doesn't use your Internet connection will work. Anything that's done inside 3DS software (like Transfer) will work.

Anything done on the Internet with DS software (other than DSi shop) won't.

To answer your questions:

1. Yes

2. No. The NWFC shutdown is almost certainly because of the shutdown of the Gamespy network, on which they depend.

[BattleLegend]

Pokecheck will certainly have XY Support sometime after or before the shutdown. And especially PokEdit

[Killov]

Anything that doesn't use your Internet connection will work. Anything that's done inside 3DS software (like Transfer) will work.

Anything done on the Internet with DS software (other than DSi shop) won't.

To answer your questions:

1. Yes

2. No. The NWFC shutdown is almost certainly because of the shutdown of the Gamespy network, on which they depend.

Thank you! I didn't know about the GameSpy shutdown, nor its connection with Nintendo. I still remember when its software would install forcibly with some old game.

[Pipian]

I'm sorry I've been quiet of late. I've unfortunately been hobbled a little by some external things as well as my laptop responsible for running the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connector going bad. At the moment I'm currently rushing to log as much as possible (with simultaneous video capture so that I can more easily sync activity with the PCAP dumps I've been working with).

Platinum is pretty well understood, although I do need to make sure that NAT negotiation is the same (It's almost identical to Pearl/Diamond otherwise, though it would help if I could confirm the behavior of the Plaza Games and Poffin Cooking, which I will finish tonight). It'll also help if I do a clean friending/defriending log, but I plan on doing that when I confirm the behavior of HeartGold/SoulSilver tomorrow.

Black and White are a little different behavior, but from a cursory glance at a previous log I made of some activity there, I think I have a good idea how they will work. That said, I still plan on recording them (especially Black 2/White 2) in some detail tomorrow.

After the shutdown, I'll start going through my PCAP dumps and finishing the documentation of the protocols based on what I find within, as well as properly fleshing out those TODO packets that I haven't added yet.

EDIT: Finally, I've been giving some thought to setting up a server for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection purposes. I've got a domain, but am holding off on doing the dev work necessary to host it until after I've fully documented the underlying protocols.

[MetalMario]

Pipian: There's a fairly lengthy discussion going on at gbatemp.net. We also have an IRC discussion at #altwfc on Rizon.

[Pipian]

I've talked with ToadKing once before (I contributed the Pearl and Diamond NoSSL patches to his website) but haven't talked to him lately. I know that a group of them have had some significant success in hosting a number of games now (largely mirroring my own findings, evidently). My current plan is to develop my own server independent of that effort (for a number of mostly personal reasons, but also a technical reason or two). I'll drop by though, as I'd like to coordinate my efforts to the greatest extent possible.

[MetalMario]

You've heard about my GTS?

http://foundations-gts.cloudapp.net

I've also got Generation IV battle videos cracked but Generation V ones have some kind of pseudo-SSL which is causing problems.

I have a crawler for Generation IV battle videos running and I'll be adding them to my custom server once it's made.

What would really help with my crawling is if anyone has a complete list of GTS country and region codes. I could build a list myself but it would take way longer than I have time for.

[MetalMario]

If you want your Generation IV battle videos saved onto my server (for viewing after NWFC goes away), please add their codes into this form:

http://foundations-gts.cloudapp.net/BattleVideo.aspx

Generation V support coming maybe.