Possible Corruption in Shining Pearl Save File (?) - MD5 Hash Invalid

[KayoHinazuki]

Hello,

I've been restoring some old save files that I had lying around on a USB stick, i believe i had deleted them once before and restored them via EASE US. and I noticed that one of my save files (Shining Pearl) has some strange encounters. It's a save file from the beginning of the game (the town with the professor), and when I enter and leave the professor's building, Roark pops up from the underground, congratulating me for defeating the Elite Four and also the National dex is unlocked.  Obviously, this is not possible at this point in the game, and it was not like this when i exported the save file, so I suspect my save might be corrupted. 

Is there a way to check this? While this particular save file doesn't matter much, I do care about the other games, though I haven't encountered any strange behavior in them so far.

When I open the file in PKHeX, it loads fine, but when I click "Verify Checksums," I receive the message "MD5 Hash Invalid." Does this mean the file is corrupted?

Thanks for your help!

I have attache the file in case someone wants to take a look

SaveData.bin

[Kaphotics]

Checksums are valid upon opening the save file. Modifying things like changing the box might not be tracked as "edited", but the checksum will no longer match what is expected since the save was truly modified.

[KayoHinazuki]

Thanks for your reply, Kaphotics!

That makes sense. Do you happen to know if there is any way to check if this save file is corrupt? I haven’t unlocked the National Dex via PkHex or any other means, and Roark showing up after entering and then leaving the professor’s building is not intended on a fresh save file with 0 badges.

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Kaphotics]

If the story progression is misbehaving, then something you did to it would have "broken" progression. Whether it's impassible depends on what was messed up. If the save file restored without needing to be re saved in a save editor, then there was no external corruption.