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Preface Recently, it has been getting harder and harder to find legitimate affordable copies of Generation 3 Pokémon games online. For one reason or another, regardless if it is due to sheer ignorance or nonchalance, people have been acquiring bootleg Pokémon carts. Together with other sites, such as emulator support sites, we have noticed an influx of requests relating to reading and editing saves of such games. Frankly, I would much recommend that if you own such a cart, to nab the save and use it on a legitimate retail cart instead, as those are way way more reliable. But in any case: This tutorial isn't to judge why people get bootleg carts. This tutorial would not work for every bootleg cart; this tutorial is aimed at the carts that store the save files as part of the ROM. As a disclaimer, I would like to: 1. Remind everyone that ROM files are not to be uploaded to our site 2. Warn people to not do this many times, as I am not sure how many flash read/write cycles these carts can take (basically, do too many times, and risk breaking your cart) 3. This method will not work for every GBA repro in existence. You run the risk of bricking your GBA repro cart. 4. A minor issue, but due to how these carts handle saves, Hall of Fame data would not be intact. Necessary programs and files 1. Loads of patience, and also the ability to read and follow steps 2. A NDS or NDS Lite. (Neither DSi nor DSi XL nor any 3DS/2DS model.) 3. NDS flashcart of some kind 4. gbabf_1.2.7z (Source: https://gbatemp.net/download/gbabf.37005/)(https://gitlab.com/Fexean/gbabf) 5. Bootleg Pokémon GBA Extractor and Injector Must-do for first timers YOU MUST MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR ENTIRE BOOTLEG GBA ROM, IN CASE ANYTHING GOES WRONG! Make sure you keep this file as a safe unedited backup somewhere on your computer. If anything goes wrong, this is the file you'll restore to your cart. Regular steps I cannot stress this enough. I am not sure how many flash read/write cycles these carts can take, so constantly reflashing your cart is likely to shorten its lifespan. If you can, grab the save and transfer it to a retail legitimate cart and carry on playing from there. Also, I am aware there is a Flash data option, which you can specify size of save and location to flash to. But that doesn't seem to work for Pokémon games, as their saves are too far into the ROM, in terms of offset. In any case, congratulations on your quest to edit your save on your bootleg cart!

This guide to resolve any issues users get when they try to change their stats of a Pokémon from Gen 8. DO NOT USE ANY SIGNIFICANTLY HACKED POKéMON ONLINE! Foreword One reason why people get various PID-Mismatch or Invalid Encounter type of messages for Pokémon that originate from SWSH, is because they did not modify the Pokémon correctly. (Remember: if your encounter details are invalid, then doing this won't work. This assumes your other encounter details are valid.) In Generations 8, due to an in-depth understanding of how the game mechanics call stats for (mostly) Overworld Pokémon, the Personality Value (PID) is tied to various other values related to the Pokémon generation procedure in-game, such as Individual Values (IVs), Height, Weight, and Encryption constant. This method of correlation is known as overworld8. You can read more about it here: https://projectpokemon.org/home/forums/topic/58824-swsh-overworld8-pid-type/ Basic Preparation 1. Gen 8 OW PID Genner will be the tool we use to find correct information (PID/IVs etc) 2. PKHeX Plugin for OVerworld8 IV Searcher for searching by IVs (it would have similar UI as the one above, for the most part) 3. Time and patience. I cannot stress this enough. 4. Knowing whether your encounter can have any guaranteed IVs. 5. (Optional) For beginners, I recommend Searching for particular IVs, then Shinification (Keeps PID, changes TID/SID). Other options for beginners: If you want to search for IVs I recommend Searching for particular IVs. If you want to make any given legal overworld8 PID shiny I recommend Shinification (Keeps PID, changes TID/SID). If you don't care about IVs, and just want a shiny with your TID/SID combo I recommend Shinification (Keeps TID/SID, changes PID). If you want a Pokémon with a certain PID, TID and SID to be shiny I recommend Shinification (Keeps TID, SID, and PID). If you've become accustomed to how the tool works you can play around with other options, but all at your own risk. Searching for particular IVs Shinification (Keeps PID, changes TID/SID) Shinification (Keeps TID/SID, changes PID) Shinification (Keeps TID, SID, and PID)

PKHeX can be used to import wondercards from our event gallery using these steps. Please note that the below screenshots show what it looks like for Gen 5 saves, but the same procedure works for Gen 4, 6 and 7 saves. If you are using a Gen 4 save, please note the difference between PCD and PGF files: PCD files contain the entire wonder card, while PGF files only contain the gift. Start PKHeX and load your save file as described in a previous section. Click the Mystery Gift button. Click the Import button and browse to a wonder card. Right-click an empty slot and choose "Set". If you do not have any empty slots, you will have to overwrite an existing one. If this is the case and you wish to save it first, right-click the existing slot and click View, then click Export. If you are using a Gen 4 save, you must choose a slot that corresponds to the file you opened (PGT vs PCD). PKHeX will let you know if you choose the wrong one. Click Save Save your file

This guide to resolve any issues users get when they try to change nature or PID of a Pokémon from Gen 3 or Gen 4. DO NOT USE ANY POKéMON WITH MODIFIED PID ONLINE! Foreword The reason why people get various PID-Mismatch or Invalid Encounter type of messages, is because they did not modify the Pokémon correctly. In Generations 3 and 4, due to an in-depth understanding of how the Pseudo-Random Number Generator works (as well as game mechanics), the Personality Value (PID) is tied to various other values related to the Pokémon generation procedure in-game, such as Individual Values (IVs), Gender, Ability slot, Nature, and Encounter Slot. (Encounter slot refers to the programmed data in a table, that hosts a list of level and species that can be encountered in a map) TL;DR: Due to how RNG is called, PID, IVs, Nature, Gender, Ability, Encounter slot are related and can be derived. Basic Preparation 1. Pokefinder will be the tool we use to find correct information (PID/IVs etc) 2. Time and patience. I cannot stress this enough. 3. Know whether the specific Pokémon is Stationary/Gift or Grass/Cave/Surfing/Fishing/Rock Smash wild encounters. 4. Begin with 'priority of information' in mind. Which is more important: PID or IVs? That will be your starting point. This will be basis for choosing Search via PID or Search via IVs below. Note: Do know that there are scenarios where the PID or IVs you want would be impossible. Learn to adapt to such scenarios. 5. If you're trying to make a shiny, and TID/SID isn't all that important to you, ignore shininess for now. (There's a Shinification portion further down. Run through the regular steps first) Search via PID - Stationary/Gift Search via PID - Wild Encounters Search via IVs - Stationary/Gift Search via IVs - Wild Encounters Shinification