PokeBANK TSA Undefunded? It's more likely than you think.

[crackychan]

Hi everyone,

Need to question the collective knowledge on the current understanding of PokeBank legitimacy checking. Specifically, names and trashbytes. As of last week, I finally started uploading my collection into the bank. This included both legitimate and illegitimate Pokemon. To my surprise, a good number of illegitimate Pokemon made it through! So I did some exterminating with a legit-caught, wild Sableye in a retail copy of Sapphire.

Experiment 1: Edited Sableye

Wild captured in Retail Sapphire, Granite Cave to be exact.

Retail Sapphire -->[pal park]--> Retail Pearl

Retail Pearl -->[poke transfer]--> Retail White

Retail White -->[trade]--> Rom White2

Here, I opened the Rom and used PokeGen 3.1.13 to change some information.

1. Region changed to Japanese Emerald.

2. OT/OT-ID/OT-SID changed to a Japanese Emerald combo. Note, the one I used had been previously marked in PokeCheck as invalid trashbytes (ID / SID fine / Region fine). The name with trashbytes were copy and pasted directly. The trash bytes were not the FFFF\0000\...\0000\FFFF\ blank ones, but various numbers and letters.

3. Name was changed to ヤミラミ (copy pasted directly from bulbapedia) and filled in the \FFFF\0000\...\0000\FFFF\ missing.

4. PID changed to accommodate five 31 IVs and a different nature. Nature changed on main tab as well.

Rom White2 -->[trade]--> Retail White

Retail White -->[3ds poke transporter]--> Pokebank

It worked with no problems! I'm quite certain that PokeCheck would have thrown down a "bullshit" flag on the trashbytes. However, I decided to test PokeTSA again.

Experiment 2: Sableye to another species

Wild captured in Retail Sapphire, Granite Cave.

Retail Sapphire -->[pal park]--> Retail Pearl

Retail Pearl -->[poke transfer]--> Retail White

Retail White -->[trade]--> Rom White2

PokeGen 3.1.13 to change some information.

1. Region changed to Japanese Emerald.

2. OT/OT-ID/OT-SID changed to the same Japanese Emerald name as before.

3. Name was changed to nickname, ツンデレ (tsundere, lol. copy/pasted from Wikipedia) and filled in the \FFFF\0000\...\0000\FFFF\ missing.

4. Species changed to Mawile. Moves and ability changed to match a Gen3 wild Mawile.

5. PID changed.

Rom White2 -->[trade]--> Retail White

Retail White -->[3ds poke transporter]--> Pokebank

And wouldn't you know it. Went through just fine! I'm stumped as to how trashbyte sirens didn't go off during the TSA screening.

Questions for the subject matter experts here:

1. In the process I just described-

? In Emerald, Mawile cannot be obtained in Granite Cave. At the G5 level, after going through PalPark and PokeTransfer, would the .pkm file have any clue where it was originally obtained? Wouldn't that somehow be deduced by trashbytes?

2. Is there something about Gen 5 Pokemon having the dummy FFFF/0000 trashbytes that PokeBank reads as, "We must have lost his papers, carry on."

3. Does PokeBank or G6 care about trashbytes anymore?

4. Any additional knowledge you would like to throw at me? Am I missing a (un)commonly known process in G5?

Edited August 3, 2014 by crackychan
Indenting to help reader. Spelling error. I miss my secretary. She was banned from the office for her first name, Molva.

[KazoWAR]

Pokebank has no form of hack checking of any kind. Who knows if this will ever change.

[LEGOanimal22]

Let me just say this right now for you. Trashbytes = TRASH, they are just faulty programming in the game.

[Kaphotics]

There aren't trashbytes in Gen 6; all previous gens have them stripped out.