Online Ban Wave Strikes Again – Almost 8,000 People Affected

[theSLAYER]

According to the Japanese Pokémon Global Link website^[1] as reported by Serebii.net^[2],
7,651 more players have been hit with the 090-0212 ban wave, after being detected of having a modified game save.

This ban bars users from accessing Online Play services (Game Sync, Battle Competitions, Rating Battles, Global Missions).

Once again, The Pokémon Company has announced that they will continue their pursuit against people with edited save data.[1,2]

If you are affected by the ban, please let us know what kinds of edits you made,
so we can get a better idea what The Pokémon Company is looking for.

While we already some strong suspicions regarding the causes previously,
we urgently recommend not going online if you modified your save,
until we have more information on how these bans were triggered.

Sources:
[1] https://3ds.pokemon-gl.com/information/b87bc53f-7144-44ba-9a29-59bd00330d84
[2] http://serebii.net/news/2017/28-March-2017.shtml

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[suloku]

4 hours ago, theSLAYER said:

While we already some strong suspicions regarding the causes previously,
we urgently recommend not going online until we have more information on how these bans were triggered.

Since this is a somewhat official statement and this site doesn't endorese piracy, I would add something like "if you modified your savegame and don't want to get banned". I'm just saying because I got the impression the statement was somewhat meant to prevent "cheaters" from being banned, but englsih isn't my mother language so maybe it was just my impression.

[evandixon]

3 hours ago, suloku said:

Since this is a somewhat official statement and this site doesn't endorese piracy, I would add something like "if you modified your savegame and don't want to get banned". I'm just saying because I got the impression the statement was somewhat meant to prevent "cheaters" from being banned, but englsih isn't my mother language so maybe it was just my impression.

I don't know all the details, but it sounds like some of the bans are the result of in-game cheating (i.e. not cheating during battles or anything; only things like getting max items).  Because of how game sync works, they have access to the entire save file and can detect things like this when users do things online besides cheating.

[theSLAYER]

Yeah, it seems like they may be tracking the things you've earned by comparing before and after saves.

after all, the game does track some statistics and possibly not all is documented.

(after all, the statistics are used for global missions)

[Cronos_Ferion]

I Have Used Pkhex on a bunch of different ways to modify my saved data so far i am not banned, things that i did: all legal cloths for trainer, 199 wins on battle tree i modified the battle points earn and battle points that i had so it looks like i got all the wins waited like 6 hours of game time before resync my id, changed the eggs hatched to 8700 so it looks like shiny pokemons where hatched by me waited arround 48 hours of game time before resync my id getting 1200 eggs an every 10 hours is possible with magikarps, made alot of shinies but i changed the eggs hatched time to after the pokebank and all on different days (again 1200 eggs a day is possible and is easy to get shinies with swap method anyway), gave my self a couple of masterballs and bottle caps but i put them on the held item of pokemons, i guess the important thing is to make things look legit so the game sync cant detect changes also it seems that they ban ppl on tuesday after maintenance.

[Dillon J]

Yeah I'm curious myself, but it could just me, minors not understanding, "Legal" pokemon in pkhex and using online with lets say incorrect ability, pokemon that stay in mega form, IV's & EV's totaled above the legal limit, people using mega evolutions that aren't even released yet or even the possibility of having mega stones in inventory that aren't meant to be there, with shiny pokemon it is hard to say as they couldn't tally how many shiny pokemon you have (Hatched, SOS chained or Wild Encounter shiny pokemon. I would say if you are worried about shiny pokemon made in pkhex just make them with a different OT & SID. as then it could of just been from Poke' Bank, GTS, Link Trade and lastly Wonder trade as that is what I have done.

I think they targeting people that do that do things that make it "unfair" to others in competitive play. After all my theory comes from the fact why not ban everyone that play online in general connecting online? and just the ones playing rating battles, I don't play rating battles because of the bans I have edited my save file and there is most likely no turning back to fix it.

a little offtopic but I also don't understand why people frown upon pkhex as It is a time saver for those who dont simply have the time to hatch thousands and thousands of eggs and then hope for correct natures. I occasionally try to do "LEGIT ones" but then it's even more time consuming to EV & IV train & with all correct moveset. I myself and really thankful for pkhex because I don't like sticking with certain pokemon for a long period of time. I will end it here as its not on topic related.

Thank you I believe this goes for everyone else but mostly TheSlayer for all your contribution you have ever made and Kaphotics for PKHEX being so user friendly. just wish there was a legal checker for all generation pokemon.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Dillon J
Added why I don't play rating battles.

[theSLAYER]

4 hours ago, Dillon J said:

Yeah I'm curious myself, but it could just me, minors not understanding, "Legal" pokemon in pkhex and using online with lets say incorrect ability, pokemon that stay in mega form, IV's & EV's totaled above the legal limit, people using mega evolutions that aren't even released yet or even the possibility of having mega stones in inventory that aren't meant to be there, with shiny pokemon it is hard to say as they couldn't tally how many shiny pokemon you have (Hatched, SOS chained or Wild Encounter shiny pokemon. I would say if you are worried about shiny pokemon made in pkhex just make them with a different OT & SID. as then it could of just been from Poke' Bank, GTS, Link Trade and lastly Wonder trade as that is what I have done.

They potentially could track the amount of Pokemon you hatched and caught.

If you hack in a Pokemon, but no trades were made, no eggs were hatched and no more Pokemon was caught,
and no transfer count from Bank (if tracked), this might raise a discrepancy.

4 hours ago, Dillon J said:

I think they targeting people that do that do things that make it "unfair" to others in competitive play.
After all my theory comes from the fact why not ban everyone that play online in general connecting online?

Don't think that's it.
Seems like if you have unreleased stuff, you can get banned, as it's the biggest red flag that shows you are editing your save.

Perhaps the team handling this doesn't have the rights/permissions to ban consoles,
so they can only ban via an ID they can track, and Game Sync ID would be the easiest to track.

And game sync connection only runs during certain functions ^{<-- I'm not too sure about this.}

4 hours ago, Dillon J said:

a little offtopic but I also don't understand why people frown upon pkhex as It is a time saver for those who dont simply have the time to hatch thousands and thousands of eggs and then hope for correct natures.

Because truth to be told, you have to understand that that is cheating.
That is why people frown upon it. It's a large time saver via usage external programs.
That is an unfair advantage, no matter how you frame it.
<sup><partly justified, partly salt, likely>

(heck, some extreme purists will go as far as to say using in-game glitches, or unintended programming, or RNG is considered cheating too)</sup>

It may be contradictory (or ironic, depending on your view) that I'm a mod on a forum that creates such tools,
but once again, it depends on how the tool is used.

GameFreak wants it banned because it's cheating to them and they take it seriously, that is the fact of the matter.
(Plus, wanna point out that our rules are against cheating against unsuspecting players.)

7 hours ago, Cronos_Ferion said:

I guess the important thing is to make things look legit so the game sync cant detect changes also it seems that they ban ppl on tuesday after maintenance.

Yeah, that does seem to be the case.

They only thing I've ever done after game syncing (I wasn't using game sync before the first ban in Jan'17) was to add in Mewnium Wonder card.
(I reverted to the wrong save when doing my first sync)

Every other legal edit I did, was before the first game sync.

 

[BlackPyoVic]

I don't know if this would help but one of my friends changed the language of the game, exported and played, then returned to the original language and he got banned. So that's considered a big modification. I've also heard that starting a new game, getting a new Game Sync and using it with your old save file would unban you.

[evandixon]

35 minutes ago, BlackPyoVic said:

I don't know if this would help but one of my friends changed the language of the game, exported and played, then returned to the original language and he got banned. So that's considered a big modification. I've also heard that starting a new game, getting a new Game Sync and using it with your old save file would unban you.

In that case, they might just be programmatically analyzing the save file from different points in time to determine if anything has changed that cannot be changed in the game.

Other reports included how all items were obtained; maybe it's not possible to get max of every item.  Maybe the item-based bans were actually a result of a small subset of items obtained.  I mean, it's theoretically possible to get max Pokéballs, but probably not max Master Balls (or can Master Balls be farmed in S/M?).

[theSLAYER]

36 minutes ago, evandixon said:

In that case, they might just be programmatically analyzing the save file from different points in time to determine if anything has changed that cannot be changed in the game.

Other reports included how all items were obtained; maybe it's not possible to get max of every item.  Maybe the item-based bans were actually a result of a small subset of items obtained.  I mean, it's theoretically possible to get max Pokéballs, but probably not max Master Balls (or can Master Balls be farmed in S/M?).

Or perhaps the item amount gained at too huge a jump.

With all the lottery draws one could possibly win in a day, it's highly unlikely that one can go from 1 -> 95 Master Balls in a Day, without trading right.

1 hour ago, BlackPyoVic said:

I don't know if this would help but one of my friends changed the language of the game, exported and played, then returned to the original language and he got banned. So that's considered a big modification.

I can say with almost utmost certainty that any change that is related to the "Character's Identity" is definitely a cause of banning.

OT Name, Trainer ID, Secret ID and game play Language are things that will be registered on your PGL account (and displayed),
and these are values that shouldn't change in game-play.

By extension, it's certainly possible that they track other values that are not meant to decrease,
including but not limited to:
1. Steps Taken
2. Times Saved
3. Gameplay hours
4. Premier Balls received (this is an actual stat, apparently)
5. Shiny Pokemon Encountered (this is a thing!?)

There are many other stats in trainer info that only should increase, and can never decrease.
It's possible all of these are being tracked.
(furthermore, not all stats seems to be understood)

Edit:
Checking a private save of mine to see the living dex transferred from bank into the save,
there seems to be no statistic in the save itself that tracks how many Pokemon has been transferred using Pokebank.
(though possible offset is not known)

[adamsmith1790]

I think that this is due to having received a badly generated koko shiny tapu, 
because if I understood correctly as long as one respects the validity of the pokémon 
thanks to PKhex there is No problem, right?

Excuse my approximate English I am French.

[Garblon]

7 hours ago, adamsmith1790 said:

I think that this is due to having received a badly generated koko shiny tapu, 
ecause if I understood correctly as long as one respects the validity of the pokémon 
thanks to PKhex there is No problem, right?

Excuse my approximate English I am French.

I don't think that's the case since anyone can have generated Pokemon, even users that never hacked or has even heard of hacking.

Je ne pense pas que c'est le cas puisque n'importe qui peut avoir généré Pokemon, même les utilisateurs qui n'ont jamais piraté ou a même entendu parler de piratage.

Désolé pour les erreurs, cela a été traduit en utilisant google translate.

[adamsmith1790]

13 hours ago, Garblon said:

I don't think that's the case since anyone can have generated Pokemon, even users that never hacked or has even heard of hacking.

Je ne pense pas que c'est le cas puisque n'importe qui peut avoir généré Pokemon, même les utilisateurs qui n'ont jamais piraté ou a même entendu parler de piratage.

Désolé pour les erreurs, cela a été traduit en utilisant google translate.

Ah ok I understand. Thanks for the reply in French

[HyperDrill89]

I have had large numbers 800-900 of most items you can have multiples of even the Apriballs and my save wasn't affected I use the Game Sync constantly though lately I've dialed back the use of PkHex to just minor fixes to mons (Nature, Shiny, movesets, etc. ) all with in legal parameters. I also used Genned mons in both past competitions but they were perfectly legal sets and didn't even have perfect IVs and only a few were Hyper Trained because they were the only ones that needed it. Hope this helps. I also don't mess with the BP anymore after they announced the Global Mission, since now they can track how it is received, and I'm not sure how PkHex increases are registered so I might get banned later on but I can farm the Battle Tree and Bank for BP if I must

 

Edited April 1, 2017 by HyperDrill89

[Rei Keima]

On 3/29/2017 at 10:27 AM, theSLAYER said:

Perhaps the team handling this doesn't have the rights/permissions to ban consoles,
so they can only ban via an ID they can track, and Game Sync ID would be the easiest to track.

I think the major reason they only ban the Game Sync ID is to give cheaters a second chance to play legitimately.

Especially since this line is a thing:

If we identify that certain players are repeatedly engaging in such unauthorized behavior, further restrictive actions may be taken against them without warning.

I've received a ban in Gen 6 PGL, inquired customer support about it, and they told me to make a new game and continue playing legitimately.

 

Banned again in this recent wave, noticed a particular Pikachu wearing a cap in my boxes wondering how the hell it got there.  Or a shiny Tapu Koko wonder card tripped it.

[theSLAYER]

@Rei Keima that is true, it is possible that they may take further type of action.
We shall wait and see how the terror develops..

I wouldn't think it's the Koko wonder card (unless your 3DS isn't JP, then maybe).
Could be the Ash Hat Pikachu, since it's unreleased.

Anything else suspicious with your save?

[Holla!]

So a ban wave reportedly took place in late January and now recently late March so I guess the next one will be late May judging from the 2 month pattern?

Btw I just tried game syncing my main game to PGL which I haven't done so for the past month now only to find out I was banned.  Guess I shouldn't have edited in x999 Beast Balls, Apricorn Balls and Mega Stones.

Here's my error code:

http://imgur.com/louMd7p

[Invader TAK]

So basically, use different system and copy just for editing in items and trade them to your main game. Or edit the Pokemon then Bank them if you don't have a second system.

[Rei Keima]

On 3/31/2017 at 11:25 PM, theSLAYER said:

@Rei Keima 
Anything else suspicious with your save?

999 of every obtainable Ball and Berry.

However I've had these since prior to the last ban wave and I was spared.

 

The only other difference was this team that was in a Battle Team and locked for reasons that will get me banned from here:

 

 

However, considering I still got the reward, I don't believe any of these six tripped it.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Rei Keima

[TeddyHax]

Oh I forgot to say that I modified my Wins at the Battle Tree too and wasn't get banned yet @theSLAYER I hope this is good Information for you and you know what other modifications I have made so far (from the 6000 Bans Topic)

[Holla!]

Ok for real, the more suspicious edits I made to my save were modifying my TID+SID combination to match my previous 6-digit in-game one under the Trainer Info tab, made Pokemon such as Wonder Guard Xurkitree w/ Air Balloon in PKHaX that I only use offline namely Battle Royal and Battle Tree, giving myself x999 of legal items, 99999 FC, 9999 BP and I didn't get banned when I synced recently. I mainly think it's due to having unreleased Pokemon in the Dex and Items as well as modifying relevant player details used such as Player Name, Skin Tone, Gender or a G7TID other than the one you used to register with. As for the Global Missions, I think the scores are in their own separate tabs.

If anyone wants to hack in an unreleased Pokemon in their game such as Marshadow or Shiny Zygarde to use offline or anything that abides by the sites policy then to avoid it being registered into your PokeDex by PKHeX just goto

Options->Set to SAV->Untick "Modify Pokedex"

I've made codes for legal data for those who know hex editing in my research thread as well as what Key Items (don't advise touching those) and Z-Crystals are legal until PKHeX can add legal payloads for items and the dex.

[theSLAYER]

On 03/04/2017 at 9:53 AM, Holla! said:

If anyone wants to hack in an unreleased Pokemon in their game such as Marshadow or Shiny Zygarde to use offline or anything that abides by the sites policy then to avoid it being registered into your PokeDex by PKHeX just goto

Options->Set to SAV->Untick "Modify Pokedex"

While this works to not have it to Pokedex,
bringing those Pokemon to battle might still end up registering them in the Pokedex.

(It's a little oddity I noticed in XY. Bringing a Pokemon not in Pokedex to battle will end up having it registered into dex in that battle)

[Holla!]

1 hour ago, theSLAYER said:

While this works to not have it to Pokedex,
bringing those Pokemon to battle might still end up registering them in the Pokedex.

(It's a little oddity I noticed in XY. Bringing a Pokemon not in Pokedex to battle will end up having it registered into dex in that battle)

Your's, opponent's or both?

[theSLAYER]

5 hours ago, Holla! said:

Your's, opponent's or both?

Your own. It gets added to "owned".
 

(Opponent's just get added to seen, as per normal)

[Draexzhan]

I got banned. The only hacking I've done was giving myself certain balls, bottle caps, rare candies, and a handful of mega stones. I don't have anything impossible to obtain legitimately. A friend of mine who is much more reckless with his hacking has not been banned, I suspect the reason why I got banned and he didn't is because I've gone onto Battle Spot. Honestly, this wouldn't really bother me, except that since I can't Game Sync anymore, I can't unlock my battle box that I used in the most recent competition.